[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups":3,"chapter-starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-chapter-656":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},231681,282,"Chapter 656 - 357:","starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-chapter-656",656,"\u003Cp>On the balcony, the night breeze carried a coolness that dissipated some of the alcohol fumes in the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe leaned against the railing, exhaled a thick white ring of smoke, and continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bullshit, when I got there, I realized I’d been fooled; it was nothing short of Hell Week!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He seemed to sink into an unpleasant memory, his voice tinged with gritted teeth:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the middle of the night, just when you were sleeping soundly, tear gas would be thrown into the dormitory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Listening to Ma Donghe’s complaints, Fang Cheng’s lips curved slightly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ugh, don’t even talk about it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe waved his hand, looking utterly frustrated:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"On top of that, the selection is strictly watched, no one dares to fool around, everyone is treated equally.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, his expression suddenly grew serious:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe took a deep drag of his cigarette, snorted out two streams of white smoke:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"With their small frames, if they actually went through the official assessment and came out whole, it would be ancestral merit.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The intensity was something no normal person could endure.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Ma Donghe’s look of lingering fear yet itching to brag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Cheng smiled slightly, asking cooperatively:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What were the exam projects, let’s hear it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heh heh, I’ve been waiting for you to ask that!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe immediately perked up, leaned in slightly, and spoke mysteriously:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Earlier inside, I was afraid of scaring the aunties, so I held back.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gestured with his hands, then described vividly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You think that’s it? Those bastards also released genetically modified beasts in the forest!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then there was the ’Abyssal Echo’ psychological test, even more sinister.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe patted his chest in reminiscence and fear:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I saw my dead grandfather crawl out of the ground, calling me an unfilial grandson, raising a knife to chop me up.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Guess what? I went up and gave him a big slap, knocked him back!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The instructor said I had strong willpower and gave me a high score.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took a few more prideful drags of his cigarette, then continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The most twisted one is the last one, called ’Iron Cage Fight’.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They locked us in a constantly spinning iron cage that sprayed high-pressure water and made us fight with no holds barred.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ten minutes later, those who could still stand passed. After that fight, there wasn’t a single unbruised person.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By now, he looked at Fang Cheng beside him and sighed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Cheng didn’t say anything, just stared into the distant city lights, his eyes deep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment of silence, he casually asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When does the admission list come out?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not anytime soon.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe shook his head: \"This is just the initial test, next month there’s a retest and the final interview.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You guys have retests too?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Cheng asked, a bit curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe said matter-of-factly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two chatted while gazing at the city’s nightscape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The night wind grew colder, blowing the last spark of the cigarette end flickering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Donghe stubbed out the cigarette on the railing, then turned around with Fang Cheng to head back to the room.\u003C\u002Fp>",993,"2026-05-29T15:13:35.798Z","2026-06-01T04:29:35.325Z",1,"novelbin.me","09d723369e072f4b46e7a1185ba74ab61b4a1321e3e629c1ef5591398e062595","starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-chapter-657","starting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-chapter-655",1278,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-to-gain-experience-from-push-ups-cover.jpg"]