Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups

On the balcony, the night breeze carried a coolness that dissipated some of the alcohol fumes in the room.

Ma Donghe leaned against the railing, exhaled a thick white ring of smoke, and continued:

"The day I went to sign up, the instructor said that before the official exam, there'd be a week-long training session, supposedly to help us adapt to the intensity and improve pass rates."

"Bullshit, when I got there, I realized I'd been fooled; it was nothing short of Hell Week!"

He seemed to sink into an unpleasant memory, his voice tinged with gritted teeth:

"Every day at four in the morning, while it was still dark outside, they'd blast loudspeakers to wake us up and drag us straight into the mud to roll."

"In the middle of the night, just when you were sleeping soundly, tear gas would be thrown into the dormitory.

"As for the food, don't even mention it, all we had were compressed biscuits, and we had to find our own way to boil hot water. Living like savages."

Listening to Ma Donghe's complaints, Fang Cheng's lips curved slightly:

"Didn't your old man say he knew high-ranking officers in the Special Search Team? Wasn't he able to give you some help for just an exam?"

"Ugh, don't even talk about it."

Ma Donghe waved his hand, looking utterly frustrated:

"Favors are favors; at most, my old man managed to get me a spot to take the exam, he couldn't possibly help me cheat, right?"

"On top of that, the selection is strictly watched, no one dares to fool around, everyone is treated equally."

As he spoke, his expression suddenly grew serious:

"I later found out that the reason for this training was because the pass rate in previous selections was too low, and there had been multiple incidents of candidates dying."

"The higher-ups were afraid of the bad impact, so they decided to first give us rookies some training, teaching basic self-rescue and survival skills, to avoid dying too embarrassingly."

"Quite a few people couldn't take it during the training and cried to quit, but thinking back, this might have been a blessing in disguise for them."

Ma Donghe took a deep drag of his cigarette, snorted out two streams of white smoke:

"With their small frames, if they actually went through the official assessment and came out whole, it would be ancestral merit."

"The intensity was something no normal person could endure."

Seeing Ma Donghe's look of lingering fear yet itching to brag.

Fang Cheng smiled slightly, asking cooperatively:

"What were the exam projects, let's hear it?"

"Heh heh, I've been waiting for you to ask that!"

Ma Donghe immediately perked up, leaned in slightly, and spoke mysteriously:

"Earlier inside, I was afraid of scaring the aunties, so I held back."

He gestured with his hands, then described vividly:

"Take that 'Extreme Survival' test for example; they dropped a group of fifty-something of us into a primitive jungle, only gave us a dagger and a canteen, and made us trek a hundred kilometers on foot in three days to reach the designated point."

"You think that's it? Those bastards also released genetically modified beasts in the forest!"

"I saw it with my own eyes, a guy got three ribs broken by a boar the size of a calf and was carried away by rescue personnel on the spot!"

"Then there was the 'Abyssal Echo' psychological test, even more sinister."

"They injected us with a Spirit Potion that amplifies fear, then locked us in a dark room with holographic projections to create illusions—whatever you fear the most would come at you!"

"The guy next to me was afraid of snakes since he was a kid, and he was 'bitten' by thousands of venomous snakes for half an hour, came out laughing stupidly, completely gone mad!"

Ma Donghe patted his chest in reminiscence and fear:

"I saw my dead grandfather crawl out of the ground, calling me an unfilial grandson, raising a knife to chop me up."

"Guess what? I went up and gave him a big slap, knocked him back!"

"The instructor said I had strong willpower and gave me a high score."

He took a few more prideful drags of his cigarette, then continued:

"The most twisted one is the last one, called 'Iron Cage Fight'."

"They locked us in a constantly spinning iron cage that sprayed high-pressure water and made us fight with no holds barred."

"The floor was as slippery as if it had been greased, couldn't even stand, let alone defend against cheap shots and randomly spraying water guns."

"Ten minutes later, those who could still stand passed. After that fight, there wasn't a single unbruised person."

By now, he looked at Fang Cheng beside him and sighed:

"Fang Cheng, it would be great if you could join too. With your skills, these test projects would be like child's play to you."

"The two of us going through it together, both getting selected, becoming official members, fighting side by side in the future, how awesome that would be…"

Fang Cheng didn't say anything, just stared into the distant city lights, his eyes deep.

After a moment of silence, he casually asked,

"When does the admission list come out?"

"Not anytime soon."

Ma Donghe shook his head: "This is just the initial test, next month there's a retest and the final interview."

"You guys have retests too?"

Fang Cheng asked, a bit curious.

"Of course!"

Ma Donghe said matter-of-factly:

"The Special Search Team selects elites responsible for capturing those monsters and maintaining social order in the future, they can't just let anyone through, every step has to be thorough…"

The two chatted while gazing at the city's nightscape.

The night wind grew colder, blowing the last spark of the cigarette end flickering.

Ma Donghe stubbed out the cigarette on the railing, then turned around with Fang Cheng to head back to the room.