Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 482 - 477: Formation of the Archery Team (Part 1)

Chapter 482: Chapter 477: Formation of the Archery Team (Part 1)

A night of silence, and it’s morning again in the blink of an eye.

After a night of fierce winds, the morning air is exceptionally fresh.

On the road outside the villa, Xu Renjie is leading a group of soldiers on a 5-kilometer round trip run.

This used to be a daily essential for the Sharp Blade Company, but after the apocalypse, due to various reasons, the soldiers’ training has been delayed.

However, now that the villa’s related construction matters have been settled, Xu Renjie immediately gathers the soldiers for intensive training.

After all, in post-apocalyptic survival, the most crucial thing is the survivor’s physical fitness.

Only by pushing one’s potential to the extreme can one break through a tight encirclement in extreme environments.

Why else would there be the military saying, "The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war"?

The soldiers of the Sharp Blade Company have always kept this in mind, so they are not only without complaint about Xu Renjie’s intensive drills but are also very committed.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Xu Renjie canceled the usual military songs and shouting.

So right now, all you can see are fully loaded soldiers running back and forth along the road outside the villa, in step with each other.

There’s no doubt that this is an exceptionally tedious and exhausting task, but for the soldiers of the Sharp Blade Company, it’s one of the essential skills for their battlefield survival.

On the other side, in the villa’s courtyard, Wang Qiang, Wu Chao, and two others, Wen Quanxin and Acheng, stand in a row.

In front of them are four simple bow targets made of cardboard and wooden stakes, which are their handiwork from the day before.

Seeing these, they basically guessed why Hu Xiaodong summoned them.

"Brother Hu? Is today the day we start learning archery?" Wang Qiang looked at Hu Xiaodong with anticipation. Without a doubt, if anyone in the team was most eager to learn archery, it would be Wang Qiang.

Back then, Hawkeye from the Avengers, Robin Hood from the tales of the Merry Men, and Ashe from League of Legends were all his favorites.

Especially after witnessing Hu Xiaodong’s incredible hunting and archery skills, he fantasized even more about one day mastering such archery skills and sniping enemies from "a thousand miles away."

Hu Xiaodong smiled and nodded. He certainly understood Wang Qiang’s eagerness to learn archery, which was one of the reasons he formed the Archery Team.

After all, interest is crucial when learning anything.

Because practicing archery itself is very tedious and boring, far less graceful and easy as it appears.

To put it bluntly, the reason he’s currently capable of such exquisite shooting accuracy is entirely the result of over a decade of rigorous practice through thick and thin.

Of course, selecting Wang Qiang for the team wasn’t just because of interest; more importantly, Hu Xiaodong hoped to use archery practice to temper Wang Qiang’s character.

Because the latter is too straightforward and easily irritable, which is obviously very unfavorable for both his personal growth and the team’s.

Initially, Hu Xiaodong also wanted to involve the equally impatient Wei Dazhuang in the training, hoping he could change his impulsiveness alongside Wang Qiang. However, Wei Dazhuang simply said, "I’m used to the scythe," and dismissed it.

As for the others, Wen Quanxin, Wu Chao, and Acheng, they are relatively young, have good vision, and have been his steadfast brothers from the beginning.

They understand each other fairly well, especially Acheng, as the youngest among the males in the team. Hu Xiaodong didn’t want him risking close combat in every battle, nor did he want the others to always protect Acheng, as this would not be helpful to his growth.

So, bringing him into the team was to teach him basic archery skills so he could provide necessary fire support during battles and have self-defense capabilities.

"Alright! Enough talk, let’s start today’s first lesson!" Previously a city team athlete, Hu Xiaodong’s knowledge of archery is naturally substantial, definitely superior to amateur club instructors.

However, as a rookie in teaching, to be frank, Hu Xiaodong has zero confidence in his lack of actual teaching experience.

But, to live up to Xu Renjie’s trust and for the team’s future development needs.

Hu Xiaodong spent the whole night preparing a relatively detailed training plan by lamplight.

He believes that as long as Wang Qiang and the others strictly adhere to this training plan, achieving "great success" is just a matter of time.

"Alright! Alright! Brother Hu, let’s start the lesson already! My hands are itching with anticipation!" Wang Qiang rubbed his hands impatiently, clearly eager and restless.

"Okay! I’ll first discuss the basics of archery: positioning, nocking the arrow, drawing the string, neck pull, opening the bow, aiming, releasing the string..."

"Emma, Brother Hu, could you slow down a bit? What’s after drawing the string?"

This was typical teaching inexperience; Hu Xiaodong habitually covered familiar knowledge without considering whether the beginners could digest it.

Realizing this after Wang Qiang’s interruption, he immediately slowed down, explaining again at a more manageable pace.

This time, the young ones caught on and remembered, though Wang Qiang seemed to have some ideas. He wasn’t one to mince words and straightforwardly voiced his thoughts, "Brother Hu, explaining all these principles isn’t very helpful! They say practice makes perfect; maybe you should hand out the bows and teach us in action—it’ll be quicker for us to learn and less tiring for you to teach."

Listening to Wang Qiang, Wu Chao and the others quickly agreed with "Yes," clearly eager to get their hands on the bows.

However, what Hu Xiaodong said next crushed their hopes: "No rush! No rush! It’s not time yet. Before you learn the basic skills, we will be doing bowless training!"

"What, bowless training?" Almost in unison, Wang Qiang and the others’ skeptical exclamations startled Hu Xiaodong.

But it’s understandable why they reacted strongly. Why had they come here? To practice archery, of course!

However, deep inside, they were attracted by how cool and dashing Hu Xiaodong looked killing zombies in the past.

So they’ve never taken archery practice too seriously, nor have they realized the inherent difficulty of archery.

"Yes, bowless training!" Hu Xiaodong reaffirmed once he regained his composure. To avoid further pestering from Wang Qiang and the others, he directly struck a pose and started demonstrating regardless of his students’ thoughts. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendations or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)