Their Mistake, Her Rise - Chapter 512: Chapter 512

The slower trainees had already missed breakfast, and now lunch was off the table too. They felt that they'd collapse right on the spot after a few more rounds of these brutal drills.
Zoe and Shawn stood in line with the others.
The man who had been watching Zoe earlier stealthily positioned himself right behind Zoe.
Zoe didn't turn around, but she could feel a hostile gaze burning into her back. She realized that she was being targeted.
Ryan roared, "Look at you all, moving at a snail's pace! If this were real combat, you'd all be dead! From today on, none of you will eat until this dog has finished! Your meals come after him."
One guy cursed, "What the hell?"
Another trainee protested, "That's not fair! How can we possibly eat food after the dog has it?"
Ryan sneered, "Let me make this clear, you're all worse than dogs right now! Angry? Furious? Don't care. If you can't take it, get out!"
The trainees were all fuming, but none of them wanted to quit, so they had no choice but to swallow their anger.
Ryan looked at Zoe and demanded, "You, front and center!"
Without hesitation, Zoe strode out from the ranks, standing tall at the front.
Ryan said, "For a woman to have the guts to come to this training, that's commendable courage. But make no mistake. Here, we don't distinguish between men and women. Don't expect any special treatment just because you're a woman. That's not happening."
Zoe stared back at Ryan without uttering a word.
Ryan had expected to see Zoe break down, crying, begging for mercy, and walking away in shame. But not only did she refuse to yield, she remained completely unfazed by his intimidation. This only fueled Ryan's fury.
He suddenly whipped out his whip and lashed out at Zoe.
In a flash, Zoe seized the whip mid-air.
"How dare you! You defy me?" Ryan bellowed.
Zoe retorted, "Punishment for mistakes is only proper. But passively taking a beating? That's pure subservience, and I don't have any of that!" With that, she wrenched the whip straight out of Ryan's hand.
Seeing the scene, one trainee whispered, "She's toast! Pissing off Ryan, she's dead meat for sure."
Another chimed in, "Good, she needs to be taken down a peg, otherwise she'll never know her place."
Someone said, "All talk. Like some woman could ever be tougher than us real men?"
Humiliated in front of everyone, Ryan snapped, "You hadn't made a mistake before, but now you have. You dared to raise your hand against your instructor!'
"Did I lay a finger on you?" Zoe snapped as she stared coldly at Ryan.
"It's still wrong to snatch things from others," Ryan retorted.
"You gave it to me, why shouldn't I keep it?" Zoe shot back, her tone icy.
Everyone froze in shock. They wondered, 'What did she say? Ryan gave it to her? When did that even happen?'
Shawn stepped forward and said, "She's right. That whip was a gift from you, Sir. Otherwise, why would an innocent person deserve to be whipped?"
By doing this, Zoe and Shawn were essentially giving Ryan a way to save face. If he refused to back down, it would be clear he was singling Zoe out.
Not wanting to make his targeting too obvious, Ryan reluctantly conceded, "Correct. Consider this whip a gift to our female trainee here.
"Others, you call yourselves men? A woman outperformed all of you during training. You should be ashamed of yourselves! Zoe, you're hereby ordered to give five lashes to each tardy trainee as punishment!"
What started as punishment for Zoe alone had now turned into a group beating. Ryan had made Zoe the target of everyone's resentment.
Zoe didn't bat an eye at their resentment. Without hesitation, she strode forward and delivered five merciless lashes to each of them; not a single one was spared.