Chapter 637: Physical Quality Is Being Enhanced

The selection test rules were clear, and no one had any further questions.

Zhang Su and the others fell silent and said: “Starting from the barracks detachment, ten people per group. Xiao Shuai, you, Da Kun, and Zhou Hao will organize everyone into lines. Teacher Yu, you handle recording the results. I’ll handle timing!”

With that, he pulled out a cellphone from his bag and walked toward the finish line.

Excluding members of the Yanluojuntuan , there were 152 combatants participating in the selection: exactly 130 men and 22 women, most of whom came from the former Women’s Army; new female combatants were extremely few—only four, fewer than the female members of the Yanluojuntuan .

This alone reveals the camp’s attitude toward female members: from the start, they were not thought through thoroughly. Men and women fighting together naturally creates a kind of aura that stirs men’s competitive drive in battle.

It would be even better if we trained women like animals, as the Yanluojuntuan does…

Two or three hundred people gathered on the wasteland to watch; over a dozen Yanluojuntuan members stood guard with rifles at the perimeter. With shouts of “Ready—go!”, dust flew across the testing ground as every participant sprinted with all their strength.

The 200-meter sprint test proceeded very quickly.

Each group of ten took less than a minute to complete; thirteen groups of men and two groups of women (22 total) made fifteen groups altogether—all finished in fifteen minutes, with exceptional efficiency at every stage.

Zhang Su’s standard approached the national second-class athlete level; the women’s standard was even stricter than that.

Over five months of the apocalypse, everyone had been thoroughly trained, pushing their limits at the edge of death—but even so, under such harsh standards, only 53 men qualified, over one-third, and seven women, nearly one-third. This result still seemed absurdly high. Zhang Su and Yu Wen exchanged a nod.

A few individuals’ performances caught Zhang Su’s special attention.

First was the winner—he’d expected it to be one of the fiercest fighters, but it turned out to be Fan Dahai, that skinny Light Knight!

Fan Dahai won with a time of 22.96 seconds; on a proper track with racing spikes, he’d easily break 22 seconds—national first-class athlete level!

The women’s champion was no surprise: Ma Xueyan, the one who’d voiced her opinion earlier. Her performance was dazzling, brushing against the first-class athlete threshold. According to Zhang Su’s judgment, electronic timing would have confirmed first-class status; the manual stopwatch was just slightly slow.

Among those who surprised Zhang Su was the limping Xie Guangfa. Due to his limp, his running form looked odd, and he didn’t qualify—but he missed by just 0.2 seconds, about a meter and a half. A pity.

The milkman Lao Wang also surprised people. Wang Guangjun was among the oldest combatants, yet he barely scraped through the passing line. Zheng Ziwen matched his level. Interestingly, Wang Zhetao, young as he was, was slower than his father—and even half a second behind Xie Guangfa. Among all testers, his score ranked around the bottom twenty. In the past, that might’ve been decent, maybe even winning a university award—but now, it was terrible.

Tian Fan, an acquaintance from Zhang Su’s neighborhood, even with one arm missing, ran faster than Wang Zhetao—but sadly, he didn’t qualify either.

Su Xiaoya also failed to qualify. Her base was weak; despite physical enhancement and training, her running speed remained the lowest among the women, which aligned with Zhang Su’s expectations.

As for the former powerhouses in their squads, none were surprising—all qualified. Since Zhang Su needed to provide results to Yu Wen, some participants heard their times and reacted with disbelief: either amazed at how fast they’d gone, or boasting, “I’m awesome!”

“Old Yu, your instincts were right!”

Zhang Su took the notebook from Yu Wen’s hands, glanced at the list of recorded times, and said softly.

“Yes. Without the enhancement, none of you would’ve performed this well.”

Yu Wen’s face showed delight and satisfaction. He was over fifty, nearing sixty—by modern human life standards, fully into old age, his bodily indicators should’ve been declining. Yet now, he felt a faint surge of vitality! The post-apocalypse physical enhancement had been confirmed: without fundamental physiological improvement, some people—even if they trained themselves to exhaustion—could never have run this fast, like those combatants in their forties and fifties.

They could be strong, swinging hammers with loud thuds, but running had always been their weakness—because life never required it. Now, each of them approached second-class athlete levels, even under such terrible conditions.

“If today’s test were held in a proper stadium with professional equipment, everyone’s speed would improve by at least two seconds! This is almost approaching national games level!”

Zhang Su whistled. These survivors were a mixed bunch—before the disaster, they’d done all kinds of jobs. There weren’t many professional athletes among them, yet now, each could compete in provincial games; some could even handle the Asian Games!

Of course, some in the group were still weak—but even the weak were much stronger than before. Probably due to individual differences in the degree of physical enhancement, plus lack of training, the gaps remained wide.

“If that’s the case, raise the standard for the next test!” Zhang Su thought, stepping forward to address the crowd.

“Speed and burst are essential for survival. From this test, your performance is acceptable, but I can see many of you barely made it. This is only 200 meters. Under current conditions, you’d barely pull ahead of ordinary zombies by fifty meters. If you need to run longer, you’re in danger. Keep pushing!”

The results were indeed good, but the danger remained. Everyone knew this was true and didn’t feel relieved—confidence isn’t arrogance.

“Next test: vertical jump. This isn’t a traditional sports event, but police departments have similar tests. Male standard: 2.65 meters. Female: 2.3 meters. But you know—police deal with criminals, while we face zombies as vicious as rabid dogs. The standard must be raised!”

Upon hearing Zhang Su’s words, the crowd grimaced.

Two point six five and two point three meters were now within reach for everyone—turns out good things don’t come easy.

“Come on, look here!” Zhang Su signaled for Pang Dakun to raise the pole: “This pole is the male standard: 3.2 meters—fifteen centimeters higher than a basketball hoop. I’m sure none of you have a problem!”

A regulation basketball hoop is 3.05 meters. Adult males over 1.75 meters tall, after training and with a run-up, can easily touch it. Now we’ve added fifteen centimeters—and you must jump from a standstill. Poor ground conditions and inferior gear added pressure to many.

(End of chapter)