Chapter Twenty-Five: Give Me Half an Hour and I’ll Prove It to You

Staring at An Jing’s face, which shone with a misty, pearl-like radiance, as if a rose blooming at dawn, Lei Dong’s heart pounded uncontrollably.

Ten days ago, Lei Dong had returned to the academy, and the very first thing he did after dropping his rucksack was to dash like the wind to An Jing’s faculty dormitory.

In that small room, clean and orderly like a military barracks, yet vibrant and charming with the presence of a young woman, and imbued with the serene, refined air of a genius doctoral candidate, Lei Dong and An Jing lingered together. There was no excitement at their reunion after a long separation, no endless exchange of sweet words; they simply gazed quietly at each other, eyes locked, hearts filled to the brim, as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist. It seemed as though they wished to etch each other’s image deeply into their memories.

From that day on, the two were utterly captivated by the sweetness and happiness of their togetherness. For the past ten days, Lei Dong would visit An Jing’s cozy dormitory whenever he could, sometimes walking hand in hand, sometimes speaking softly. They were inseparable.

To be honest, if not for the brief moments he could spend with An Jing each day, Lei Dong’s holiday would have been unbearably gloomy.

Three days after returning to the academy from basic training, Lei Dong and his teammates from the Third Squad were granted a month-long holiday. Yet, he was deeply dissatisfied to discover that this so-called holiday only meant a full day off each Sunday; on all other days, they would “enjoy” the absence of extra training sessions after regular drills, but training otherwise carried on as usual.

Was this really a holiday?

Lei Dong managed to bear it, but Wu Yun, who was never one to keep quiet, stormed straight to the dean’s office to complain, only to be rebuffed by Lei Tian Gang in one sentence.

“Do you not understand what ‘all-weather combat standby units’ means? Was your language teacher a physical education instructor?”

“I…”

“If you want a holiday, this is it; if you don’t, you get nothing. Get back to the desert for a month of survival training! I refuse to believe—”

Before Lei Tian Gang could finish, Wu Yun had already saluted and retreated. Lei Dong and the others, who had stealthily eavesdropped outside the dean’s office, exchanged astonished glances.

Yet for Lei Dong, the holiday itself was not the most important matter. Thanks to the Republic’s military regulations, officers were not forbidden from falling in love. Three years ago, barely a month into the Furious Dragon Squad, Lei Dong had been awarded a second-class merit for an operation during his time with the Tiger Squad, promoted directly from private to second lieutenant, and three years later, advanced to first lieutenant.

Although his rank remained at the bottom within the Furious Dragon Squad, he was at least an officer.

A report was submitted, and the head of a department in the General Staff, the dean of the Reconnaissance Academy, and the Furious Dragon Squad’s commander, Lieutenant General Lei Tian Gang, signed off: “Permission granted for the two comrades to formalize their relationship.” Putting down the pen, Lei Tian Gang scoffed, “What’s the point of pretending? Would you not date if I didn’t approve? Don’t you know your mother can’t bear to go a single day without seeing that girl?”

And so, in this period, Lei Dong spent almost all his free time in An Jing’s dormitory, aside from training, studying, and refining his weapons. Even Wu Yun’s complaints that he was “neglecting friends for romance” were dismissed as nonsense. Each day, Lei Dong looked forward to those brief moments of reunion.

Like today—the first Sunday since returning to the academy, a day of full rest, no classes, no training. At dawn, Lei Dong knocked on An Jing’s door, and she seemed already prepared, opening it with a sweet smile.

Now, Lei Dong lay comfortably on An Jing’s bed, holding a dossier about the key leaders of a certain terrorist organization.

This dossier, reportedly obtained at great expense and effort, was sent back home by a mole who had infiltrated the group. But that was unimportant; what mattered was the softness and fragrance of An Jing’s bed, the exquisite beauty and alluring charm of her face, her whole being enveloped in a mysterious radiance. Lei Dong felt as if he were floating among clouds.

He glanced at her freshly trimmed, glossy black hair, her radiant features, and then at the dossier, his heart filled with delight. “The ancients paired books with wine, but I, your humble servant, read beneath the gaze of a beauty—such refinement!”

Growing smug, Lei Dong couldn’t resist his feelings and quickly leaned in to kiss An Jing’s creamy cheek.

“Smack!”

“Don’t be silly!” An Jing tapped his forehead lightly. This man never seemed to behave himself. “Read the dossier properly, or you’ll get scolded later!”

“Scolded? Impossible!” Lei Dong grinned and pursed his lips. “Even if I can’t compare to you—a genius with an IQ over 170 who transformed from a literature student to a doctoral candidate in military strategy in two years—I still have the knack for speed-reading and total recall. Don’t you know that within the entire Hanjing academic circle, the name Lei Dong is synonymous with genius, total recall, and unbeatable scholarly prowess?”

An Jing was amused by his exaggeration. Her delicate face bloomed like a flower. “You?”

“Don’t believe me? Give me half an hour and I’ll prove it to you!”

Half an hour later, Lei Dong closed the dossier and handed it to An Jing with a grin. “Instructor An, please check my homework!”

“Honestly!” An Jing smiled and rolled her eyes, but reached out her fair hand to take the thick stack of A4-printed pages.

A year ago, though she was a blank slate in military affairs, An Jing had completed her graduate studies in information warfare at the National Defense University, earned her master’s, and continued on to pursue her doctorate in military strategy.

Her thesis and archival recommendations praised her extraordinary memory and comprehension, and her advisor—a renowned national professor of military strategy—commended her insight in strategic layouts, creativity in campaign planning, and formidable organizational skills for battlefield coordination.

“If this were an era of war, Comrade An Jing would surely shine as a brilliant star of the Republic!” he sighed privately, regretting that An Jing was born in peacetime, and as a woman. Under the powerful tradition that “war keeps women away,” either factor alone would greatly limit a female soldier’s military career—let alone both together.

For such a prodigy, various military departments had long waged a silent contest for An Jing’s talents. Ultimately, thanks to the Furious Dragon Squad’s special status and Lei Tian Gang’s stubborn, unreasonable persistence, An Jing was formally transferred to the squad as a military theory instructor and operations staff officer. This left the General Staff’s Operations Department—hoping she would remain at the National Defense University and become a strategic reserve force—, the Strategic Missile Forces offering generous terms, the Navy and Air Force promising departmental leadership roles, and the frontline commanders of the Jinling Military District, all frustrated. They vented their displeasure by treating Lei Tian Gang to several rounds of good liquor before finally leaving in resigned indignation.

As an instructor at the Reconnaissance Academy and staff officer of the Furious Dragon Squad, An Jing certainly had access to this dossier; in fact, she had received the same material yesterday afternoon, and it now lay quietly in her filing cabinet.

An Jing did not believe that Lei Dong could truly memorize the entire dossier in just half an hour—even with her own exceptional memory and IQ over 170, it had taken nearly three hours to fully digest it.

Lei Dong had been training all yesterday afternoon, spent the evening with her until lights out, and returned early this morning. Most importantly, he opened the dossier for the first time in her room—he had not seen a single page before.

To memorize dozens of pages, over twenty thousand words, in such a short time? Unless his eyes were scanners and his brain a high-speed, high-capacity hard drive!