Chapter 70

Xiezi was successfully captured, Liu Xiaotian and the four's training resumed back on track; on the surface, everything had returned to normal.

But Liu Xiaotian faintly felt that the undercurrents beneath the calm were actually more turbulent than before Xiezi appeared.

Of course, he was not the only one who realized this.

That evening, in the principal's small building, the Chief Instructor sat on the sofa again, in the same spot as last time, without even the slightest shift.

It seemed that spot was exclusively his.

「The second phase of training is about to begin; you must be careful, absolutely no accidents. 」

「You know, the accidents I speak of are man‑made. 」 Principal sat in his chair, voice calm.

But beneath his lowered eyelids, his eyes concealed anger.

Obviously, as the principal of the Warrior School famed as the 'cradle of special forces', this elderly man was not as gentle as his appearance suggested.

Almost no one knows where this principal comes from, and his past is completely unknown.

It seems he has been the principal of this school since birth, never changed.

The Chief Instructor nodded solemnly: 'Rest assured, I will surely find that hateful guy!'

"No, no, you misunderstood my meaning; now we must act as if nothing happened, everything proceeds as usual, aside from routine investigation, with no overt actions."

Because that would alert the mole hiding at the cave mouth, making it harder to catch later.

Remember, to expose someone hidden in the dark, you must first give him a sense of victory.

Only the pleasure of victory can thoroughly paralyze a person's nerves, causing him to make mistakes.

Only then can we find that person.

Saying this, the Elder Principal let out a light sigh:

"Ah…… These people in the school haven't been changed for many years, right?"

"It seems they have forgotten something…"

Having said that, the principal slowly rose from his chair and silently walked toward the door.

But at the moment he spoke those last words, the Chief Instructor, who always held his head high and looked down on everyone, unconsciously lowered his head.

No one saw the fleeting fear in his eyes, nor knew that at that instant a fine layer of sweat quietly appeared on his forehead and back.

He still remembered what had happened in the school after the principal last spoke in a similar tone…

Seven days later, before the afternoon training ended, the Chief Instructor gathered everyone and loudly announced: the first phase of physical training is over; starting tomorrow, they will all begin the next phase—shooting.

Unlike the shooting training they had received before, the Warrior School's shooting training is entirely simulated combat.

That is, in the upcoming training, these soldiers will face live ammunition.

What is meant by facing live ammunition here is not that they use live ammo for shooting practice, but that they must face live ammo shooting at them……

Of course, their 'opponents' are not real people, but computer‑controlled concealed weapons.

To be frank, not only the three who rely purely on manual skill—He Chen Guang—but even Liu Xiaotian, who uses a 'cheat', is actually somewhat worried about this training method.

Their actual combat experience, aside from the previous time in that small village, is just the operation a few days ago targeting Xiezi.

But even Liu Xiaotian, He Chen Guang, and Wang Yanbing, who entered the village and exchanged fire with Xiezi's men, only faced one or two pistols; the upcoming training, however, is said to give them a battlefield feel.

What… will that feeling be like? Even the usually thick‑skinned, gallant Wang Yanbing now feels a bit timid.

Leaving safety aside, just the thought of gunfire possibly as dense as firecrackers is already a bit creepy.

After all, those are real guns, not firecrackers!

Of course, they also know the Warrior School trains special forces, not 'eliminates' them; even in simulated combat, safety is considered as much as possible when setting shooting aim.

But there will still be some deviation; if luck is bad……

Damn, who knows if we'll even make it to graduation alive!

The next morning, training officially began.

The Chief Instructor sat far away on a raised platform, with a sunshade overhead and drinks and fruit on the table; if you didn't know, you'd think he was just there to watch the show.

Assistant instructors came to organize the soldiers into groups, each entering different training grounds.

It is a training field enclosed by steel plates, with an additional high‑density material coating on the plates that ensures bullets hitting the steel are trapped by that layer, preventing ricochets.

Soldiers form three‑person teams, tasked with rescuing hostiles while eliminating all 'enemies'.

Each gun, fully computer‑controlled, has a humanoid sensor; if it doesn't hit a vital spot, sorry, the gun won't completely cease fire—it merely simulates a wounded person's reaction, and may even fire again.

This time, Liu Xiaotian and the four were each assigned to four different squads.

In Liu Xiaotian's squad, the other two are Cha Cai and that private.

In the operation a few days ago to capture Xiezi, the private also participated, and was the first to be tied to a stake and beaten.

After witnessing Liu Xiaotian fire four shots in a row at his own temple, the private was completely convinced.

Even after the mission ended, he still addressed Liu Xiaotian as 'Commander'.

Meanwhile, in a basement of the Warrior School…

Xiezi, who had received no effective treatment, sat weakly in the corner, head lowered, unknown what he was thinking.

Opposite him is a fence made entirely of solid round steel welded to the thickness of an infant's arm; outside the fence stand a table and a few chairs, and only then is the door of this room.

When he entered, he noticed that the door alone is fifty centimeters thick.

Needless to say, the interior is likely reinforced concrete with rebar; not only guns, even a sufficient amount of explosives, short of blowing up the whole basement, could not destroy this door! In other words, for him to escape, the only way is for someone to open the door and let him out—there is no second route.

At that moment, a man in his forties sat on one of the chairs, calmly observing Xiezi.

After a while, the man whispered something to his two aides; one immediately turned and pressed the wall intercom, the door opened, and that person walked out.

The other stepped forward and, through the fence, shouted twice at Xiezi.

Xiezi slowly raised his head, but said nothing.

The person shouting at him did not notice that the man seated in the chair, seemingly absentmindedly rubbing his hands, made a motion that looked rather strange……

(End of chapter)