Chapter 264: The Fear Of Death
About five hundred meters to the west of the chemical plant, there is a small factory building occupying less than two thousand square meters, which appears to have been idle for a long time.
However, at this moment, it has undergone significant changes.
Not only can one clearly see fully armed soldiers on duty and standing guard on the periphery, but several internal areas have also been obviously renovated.
One low-rise house with a tin shed is even covered with a camouflage net and turned into a command center.
The sturdy man sitting inside the house is none other than Squadron Leader Yuan Lang, who Tie Lu claimed had gone out on business and never returned.
Sitting across from him is a tall man, who is Chen Jun, specially invited to participate in the assessment.
“Company Commander Chen, among the newcomers participating in this assessment, three are from your company. To be honest, which one do you think the most highly of? Who do you think among them can complete the rescue mission?”
Yuan Lang asks Chen Jun seemingly casually, but in reality, he wants to probe Chen Jun’s thoughts.
Chen Jun knows what happened in the original plot. If nothing has changed, he naturally knows the answer: Xu Sanduo is the only one who completed the mission.
But now, influenced by the butterfly effect, the outcome will inevitably undergo great changes.
Chen Jun really cannot guess who can complete the mission.
So he can only say ambiguously: “The soldiers who went out from our Seventh Company are all elites. I have confidence in all three of them.”
“We’ve known each other for quite a while, so we’re at least friends, right? Are you still beating around the bush with a friend?” Yuan Lang teases.
“I’m not beating around the bush.”
Chen Jun smiles and explains: “Cheng Cai has very good personal talent, Wu Liu Yi is hardworking and willing to learn, and Xu Sanduo is just a stats monster.
All three of them have their own advantages. If they perform well, any one of them has a chance to complete the mission.
However…”
Chen Jun suddenly stops at the end, not continuing, which makes Yuan Lang itch with curiosity, and he presses: “However what? Tell me.”
“However, I’m actually more interested in Wu Liu Yi and more anticipatory of his performance,” Chen Jun says.
As a future time traveler, Chen Jun has some understanding of Xu Sanduo and Cheng Cai’s performances in this assessment.
Even with the butterfly effect now, the overall tone won’t change much.
Only Wu Liu Yi is participating for the first time. What kind of performance he will have in such an exercise indeed attracts Chen Jun’s curiosity more.
“Wu Liu Yi is a very competitive stubborn guy. His performance shouldn’t be bad.”
Yuan Lang still thinks highly of Wu Liu Yi, showing undisguised fondness for him in his eyes, but then he changes the subject: “But I’m more interested in Xu Sanduo and Wu Zhe. They two are completely different from the others.”
Xu Sanduo is indeed a very unique person. No matter who is with him, they can feel his distinctiveness.
And Wu Zhe, as a top student with three degrees, has the crushing-level strongest brain among the newcomers, which is indeed worth looking forward to.
“Wu Zhe is indeed excellent, but I don’t think special forces is the most suitable path for him.”
Chen Jun’s words are very sudden, immediately making Yuan Lang feel a strong sense of crisis. He stares straight into Chen Jun’s eyes and says: “Let me tell you first, this Wu Zhe—you can’t have ideas about him.
I know you have five quotas. You can pick anyone else however you want, but not him. We A Team need talents like him too much.”
A highly educated top student with good personal qualities—who wouldn’t love him?
Yuan Lang, who cherishes talent, doesn’t need to be mentioned!
Wu Zhe has long been on Chen Jun’s talent list. The future information battalion commander is already earmarked for Wu Zhe, and he definitely plans to poach him.
Seeing how nervous Yuan Lang is about Wu Zhe, bringing it up now is a bit premature.
Chen Jun, unable to give an answer, decisively changes the subject, picks up the handheld game console next to him—which is as thick as a brick and a rare item these days—and says: “Captain Yuan, there are quite a few game types in this thing, right?
The assessment has just started now. It’ll probably take a while for the results to come out. Waiting is really boring. How about we find a game to compete in?”
“Sure.”
Yuan Lang doesn’t want to force the topic either, so he goes along: “Then let’s play Metal Slug. One life, see who lasts longer.”
“Metal Slug? That’s my strong suit. You’re in for it with this one,” Chen Jun boasts.
“Anyone can brag. We’ll know after we play.”
Yuan Lang confidently takes the handheld game console, skillfully enters the game, and starts operating.
…
While Yuan Lang and Chen Jun are leisurely here, even playfully competing in a game.
Outside the main gate of the chemical plant, the situation has already entered a high-pressure state. Over a dozen chemical defense vehicles arrive, and dozens of fully armed people get out.
To further test the newcomers’ combat abilities and maximize the effect of this combat simulation.
All newcomers are broken into pairs, teamed with two old A members each to form an action group, launching rescue operations from four different directions.
To ensure relative fairness in the competition, all four groups have the same entry point.
The teams assigned to the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest directions all enter the factory through the villains’ only “loophole”—the sewer—based on intelligence specifically provided by the command post.
Group A, with Xu Sanduo and Cheng Cai, takes the west side; Group B, with Wu Zhe, is assigned to the south; Group C, with Wu Liu Yi, is assigned to the east.
In each group of four, from team leader down, the action codenames are 1 to
Before the official action begins, Qi Huan gathers all teams and announces: “There was another conflict early this morning. Two explosions occurred inside the factory, causing massive poison gas leakage. Everyone must wear protective equipment during the operation.
The villains are now holding a large number of hostages and have retreated to the factory’s largest warehouse, which is the last bomb site.
Your mission is not only to rescue the hostages but also, at all costs, to dismantle the bomb inside. Note: at all costs.”
Everyone understands upon hearing this: dismantling the bomb is more important than rescuing the hostages.
After all, even in the worst case, if all the hostages die, it’s just a dozen people. But if the chemical raw materials are detonated by the bomb, it’s an entire city.
The priorities are clear!
Seeing Qi Huan describe the situation so seriously, and with the entire factory filled with biochemical poison gas, the newcomers’ faces immediately turn very unpleasant.
From their unusually tense expressions, it’s clear that everyone’s emotions have become very nervous.
Among them, Xu Sanduo has the most intense reaction. He is actually experiencing a physiological reaction due to nervousness, with intense nausea surging in his stomach.
This is a bodily spasmodic reaction that occurs when a person is excessively nervous.
Fortunately, Xu Sanduo manages to hold it in. To not disgrace Steel Seventh Company, he forcefully swallows down the rising vomit.
After explaining the relevant precautions, Qi Huan officially issues the action order.
The four abcd rescue groups participating in the operation all put on chemical protective suits and gas masks, and under the team leader’s lead, head straight to the latent entry point.
Before setting off, Wu Liu Yi, as a “Seventh Company veteran,” gives Cheng Cai and Xu Sanduo an encouraging look.
He then follows behind Group C’s team leader. The entire group maintains high vigilance and alertness, circling to the east side entrance from the right side of the factory.
The sewer entrance is covered with a stone slab, from which faint yellow smoke can be seen emerging.
Seeing this scene…
Although Wu Liu Yi is also very nervous and afraid inside, his sacred sense of mission as a soldier, along with his single-minded personality focused only on completing the mission, leaves him no room for retreat. His gaze becomes even more determined.
He coordinates tacitly with the other three teammates to lift the several dozen jin cement slab.
“Hoo~~”
As soon as the stone slab is lifted, thick smoke immediately surges out.
Once the smoke has an intense color, especially rare ones like red or yellow, it always stimulates people’s nerves more.
The instant Wu Liu Yi sees the yellow smoke, he instinctively holds his breath.
It takes a few seconds for him to react.
He is now wearing a full set of chemical protective suit, with a fully enclosing gas mask on his face. His tense body gradually relaxes a bit.
“Potassium hydride compound, lethal concentration. Double-check chemical defense equipment.”
Group leader C1 takes out the detector, tests inside the sewer, reports, and then issues instructions to the group members.
It has to be said.
These old A members’ acting skills are truly on point, a hundred times better than some top-line young idols in later generations.
Wu Liu Yi is no longer doubting at all, fully immersed in the emotion of life-and-death combat, quickly checking his chemical defense equipment in obedience to the order.
Confirming no issues, he gives an OK hand signal, using tactical movements to respond.
“Down!”
The team leader decisively orders upon receiving the signal.
The four proceed one after another into the sewer, carefully advancing through the super-large sewer essential for large factories, amid thick yellow smoke.
Passing through the sewer, they soon enter the underground air-raid shelter.
Because the smoke in the air-raid shelter is too thick, and the passage layout is unusually complex.
Group C moves very slowly.
No one speaks.
Besides the sound of everyone walking, and under the gas masks, the abnormally heavy breathing due to labored respiration.
No other sounds can be heard.
After walking for about two minutes, Group C leader C1 escalates vigilance further, splitting the team into two parts: front scouts and rear followers.
Wu Liu Yi, as newcomer codenamed C4, stays at the back responsible for following up and covering.
Wu Liu Yi doesn’t know the situation ahead. The only information he can receive is the dialogue between the team leader and the veterans in his earpiece.
“C1, where are you? Over.”
“Right ahead of you. Keep following up. Over.”
“C1, pinpoint our current position precisely. Over.”
“Can’t pinpoint. 1950s air-raid shelter, structure blueprints long lost. Over.”
“Full of surprises, huh? I’ve got a question: if I die, C1, will you miss me?”
…
Listening to the intelligence exchange in the earpiece—not even knowing their position, even mentioning death specifically—makes the atmosphere even more tense.
Wu Liu Yi’s brows furrow deeper and deeper, the pressure mounting.
Creating greater pressure for the newcomers is exactly what these veterans need to do.
Along the way, such dialogue continues, guiding toward ominous directions, constantly outputting various danger information.
Not just Wu Liu Yi here, being led by language with pressure like a mountain.
Wu Zhe, Xu Sanduo, and Cheng Cai in the other two locations are the same, their mental pressure multiplying under their group old A members’ guidance.
Breathing becomes even heavier.
Panting like oxen!
Under such intense pressure stimulation, strong or weak stress resistance is crucial.
Stimulating the newcomers via language to increase pressure is far from the limit of this assessment. Yuan Lang has prepared an even higher second stage.
After the team advances for about five minutes, the planned accident erupts.
“We’ve entered the underground area of the plant. Enemy likely on alert. May encounter enemy at any time. Everyone stay extremely careful. Over.”
Just as C1 finishes reminding everyone on the walkie-talkie, intense gunshots suddenly come from ahead.
“Da da da da da…”
The gunshots come very suddenly, very densely.
Wu Liu Yi, unaware of what’s happening ahead and experiencing his first firearms exchange with the enemy in life, blanks out at the sound of the gunshots from the front.
The veteran next to him reaches out and instantly presses him to the ground.
“Careful, stay concealed. I’ll support ahead.”
The old A covering rear with Wu Liu Yi finishes speaking, rushing out without waiting for Wu Liu Yi’s reaction, soon disappearing into the dark passage.
Leaving only Wu Liu Yi, still dazed, lying on the ground listening to the intense gunfight.
And at the moment the gunfight erupts, the walkie-talkie, which had constant voices, suddenly goes silent, with no more sounds.
Besides the intense gunshots and the faintly visible flashing gun flames.
Nothing else!
After about half a minute, Wu Liu Yi finally snaps out of his daze. The fear from the exchange of fire can no longer suppress his instincts.
“C1, how’s it ahead?”
Wu Liu Yi calls on the walkie-talkie, wanting to clarify the situation ahead.
But no response.
“C1, can you hear me? Need me to support?”
No response on the walkie-talkie, as if they were all killed by the enemy. Wu Liu Yi’s heart suddenly clenches hard.
Fear of death, worry for comrades, anger at the enemy, craving to complete the mission…
Various emotions intertwine in Wu Liu Yi’s mind, making it impossible for him to calm down at this moment, his entire brain in chaos.
Not knowing what to do, Wu Liu Yi can only low-crawl forward.
Wanting to support ahead and see what happened.
But just as he pokes his head around a corner, intense gunshots come from ahead again, bullets sparking off the walls.
The whistling of bullets through the air clearly reaches his ears.
Feeling the lethality of bullets at such close range—just half a meter from hitting his head—death’s fear has never been so near.
Even with Wu Liu Yi’s steady mentality, he’s now thrown into complete mental chaos.
