Chapter 369: You Use This to Test the Officers?

"May I try?"

Pan Yuan watched from the side, also clicking his tongue in amazement.

He'd only been away a little over a year, yet he felt already out of step with the pace and trends.

The former Sixth Company, though quite capable, still trained step‑by‑step; whatever the Training Section arranged, they followed that pattern.

But now everything's completely different—these odd yet practical drills are exactly what the Training Section's folks couldn't devise no matter how hard they racked their brains.

Even the wildly imaginative name "land swimming device" is likely derived from Lu Yang's surname.

LiMin got down from the bench, and Pan Yuan took his place, but just as LiMin was about to start, he suggested.

"In our daily drills, we fill a basin with water and sprinkle salt to simulate seawater."

"Oh wow, this thing, this thing, put one on me too!"

Navy Colonel Zheng Chengfeng's face was full of impatience, looking eager to give it a go.

After Pan Yuan tries, he'll have to lie down and experience it too.

Soon a basin of salt water mixed with table salt was brought over.

Pan Yuan looped both feet onto an elastic rope, lay his body on the bench, and immersed his face in the small yellow basin.

In an instant, the feeling of naval training returned—the same salt, the same buoyancy, the same resistance.

He began moving left and right, swinging his arms like oars, while his head kept turning side to side and he periodically breathed.

Having spent a year and a half in the Navy, Pan Yuan's swimming skill was quite good, far superior to LiMin, who was barely a half‑learner at swimming.

"How's it feel?"

Pan Yuan tried it twice, got up and wiped his face with his sleeve; beside him, Zheng Chengfeng impatiently asked about his impression.

After testing, Pan Yuan said, "Chief, I feel it's much tougher than when we were first thrown into the water when we first joined the Navy; for the Army, transition and buffering are important, and this thing nicely fills the intermediate adaptation process."

Zheng Chengfeng scrambled up to try, but looking down he saw a teal‑green raisin floating in the basin.

Pan Yuan, quick‑eyed and swift‑handed, scooped it out and, embarrassed, said he'd get him a new basin.

Zheng Chengfeng wasn't too bothered; he just wanted to try it himself and see if it was really that impressive.

After two tries, he indeed found there was something to it!

Especially when he learned that the soldiers' adaptation process starts with breath‑holding, then underwater apnea, and finally salt water and the land swimming device.

Such a step‑by‑step adaptation might not suit Navy recruits taken in directly, but it perfectly patches the code errors and mismatches that arise when Army personnel transfer to the Navy.

LiMin explained, "Our Platoon Leader said that to cater to different users' tastes, we can customize privately; tea lovers toss a tea bag in, health fans add goji berries, those wanting skin care pour in some milk."

Zheng Chengfeng clapped continuously, "That's good, that's good, very inventive!"

He impatiently asked, "Platoon Leader Lu Yang, what other ingenious ideas or fun little inventions do you have? Show me more."

LiMin said, "The electronic classroom is running extreme survival drills, also related to breath‑holding and lung capacity. Want to take a look?"

"Let's go, let's go!"

Zheng Chengfeng pushed LiMin, urging him to lead the way.

At that moment, he felt like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden.

He was clearly the Navy, and they were the ones with the authentic naval training.

But for some reason, after coming here he suddenly felt like a country bumpkin entering the city—eyes widened, utterly shocked.

A person who'd never been to the Navy, with only a year and a half of service, could devise such a comprehensive adaptation training plan.

It gave him a premonition that if that kid Lu Yang ever made it to the Navy, he'd cause quite a stir and lead many toward better development.

A few hurried up to the upstairs electronic classroom, but the windows that should have been clear were clouded.

It wasn't the curtains being drawn; inside was packed with dense smoke.

Even standing in the hallway, one could smell the pungent odor seeping through the door cracks.

"What's going on?"

Tan Yuanzhou furrowed his brows and covered his mouth and nose with his hands.

When he came two days ago, this training hadn't existed.

Why the sudden change, and they didn't tell him anything?

LiMin was about to explain when the door was opened from inside, and two soldiers wearing gas masks burst out of the swirling smoke.

They ran to the hallway, took off their masks, gulping fresh air; their heads were drenched in sweat, and red marks were pressed into their faces.

"Good day, Chief!"

Liu Ziqiang and Sun Chen gasped twice, then finally noticed several chiefs standing nearby.

Especially Zheng Chengfeng, dressed in a white Navy uniform that seemed to glow, drew extra attention.

Zheng Chengfeng stepped forward, "What kind of training is this? Why is there swirling smoke inside, and why are you wearing gas masks?"

"Report!" Sun Chen stood at attention, "We are simulating the frogman unit's diving training; the gas masks are oxygen masks, and the dense smoke is generated by smoke generators."

"The purpose is to simulate the extreme environment of no oxygen underwater."

Liu Ziqiang shook his body, and a tinkling sound immediately rang from his gear.

"The weighted gear can simulate excessive underwater pressure and bodily overload."

"In short, this is an ultimate test of lung capacity, willpower, and the flesh."

Zheng Chengfeng turned his head toward Pan Yuan and Tan Yuanzhou, grinning so broadly his mouth couldn't close.

This time truly wasn't in vain, truly not in vain.

What a learning experience, far too much learning.

I originally thought the land swimming device was already Lu Yang's limit.

But it turned out that was only the limit of his own imagination.

"Report, nothing else, we'll head back to training!"

"Wait!"

The two were just about to put their gas masks back on and return to the electronic classroom.

Just then Zheng Chengfeng raised his hand to stop them; he also wanted to go in and experience it himself.

He was nearly forty, an age that should be mature and steady, but Zheng Chengfeng's playful spirit suddenly surged.

Liu Ziqiang and Sun Chen's expressions suddenly changed; feeling guilty, they began looking for various excuses to refuse, in short, not letting them in.

Again, the smoke was too thick, worrying about choking the chief.

Again, they said they had eaten garlic in the morning to avoid being smoked.

Tan Yuanzhou noticed the two seemed annoyed, turned his gaze toward the electronic classroom obscured by thick smoke, with visibility under half a meter, and grew even more curious.

He directly reached out, ordering the two to fetch their gas masks; then he and Zheng Chengfeng each put one on and walked into the thick smoke.

"It's over, over, over, over!"

Just as the two stepped in, Liu Ziqiang and the other both cried out that something was wrong.

Pan Yuan asked curiously: "What's over? It's just going in to take a look, why are you two so nervous?"

Liu Ziqiang panicked: "Can't watch, can't watch!"

"Why can't we watch?"

LiMin was very curious: "It's just cats and mice, what's there that can't be watched?"

Liu Ziqiang glared at him: "Cats and mice is a kids' show; after you left, we watch adult programs!"

LiMin scratched his head: "News Broadcast? Or Focus Interview?"

Pan Yuan paused, then suddenly realized: "Holy shit, you guys, you wouldn't fucking be watching... hair...? That brat Lu Yang, using this thing to train your will?"

"No wonder you guys can hold it in and endure it so well, not a single one coming out for half a day!"

"If it were me, I could damn well stay in there until death, until I fathom the mysteries of the universe's black holes!"

All around was thick smoke, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Tan Yuanzhou and Zheng Chengfeng, who knew each other, walked into the mist together.

It was like being lost in a pitch-black deep sea, only able to grope forward by feeling the tables and chairs.

Soon, countless silhouettes appeared in the fog ahead, looking like they had stumbled onto a horror movie set, sending chills down one's spine.

They all wore gas masks, gathered in three layers inside and three outside before a light source, frozen like stone.

Because the smoke was so thick, they only knew the light source was a television, but couldn't make out what was on the screen.

Only when the two squeezed into the crowd and strained their heads forward did they suddenly realize that the television screen was playing the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

On screen, one after another long-legged foreign models in skimpy swimsuits, sexy and alluring, graceful and varied, made the viewers' blood boil.

Thus, Zheng Chengfeng and Tan Yuanzhou secretly gave a thumbs-up, then pulled over a small stool and simply sat down to train their lung capacity and willpower alongside the soldiers.

Such perfect integration shows wholehearted unity and a shared hatred of the enemy!