Chapter 291: Heading Out For The Country, Challenging The World!!
The selection competition gathering the entire army’s top Soldier Kings, with each competition project having great difficulty, presents an immense challenge even for Soldier Kings.
If ordinary company warriors were swapped in, they probably couldn’t pass even one stage of the competition.
High-difficulty challenge projects came one after another.
The competition passed day by day…
In this intense contest of sweating profusely, the competitors each gave their all to vie for results, and the competition selection also reached its final conclusion.
Although the ten teams all brought out their best-kept skills and displayed their strongest strength.
Unfortunately, there was only one quota!
Only the victors could stay, while the losers could only be eliminated.
The Steel Seventh Battalion team representing the Capital Military Region ultimately won with a staggering total score of 215 points, far ahead of second place by over 50 points in a crushing gap, overpowering the other nine teams to secure the precious quota to compete for the country.
The strength of Chen Jun and his group of eight was simply too overwhelming, practically a crushing level existence, and the competitors from the other teams were convinced in defeat.
Besides envy, all that remained was blessing.
After all, they were competitors internally, but once abroad, they would be comrades.
No matter how intense the competition was during the selection, once out of the country, they would represent the entire Chinese army’s troops, and likewise represent all those who were eliminated.
One’s honor is everyone’s honor, one’s loss is everyone’s loss.
If Chen Jun and the others could win glory for the country, they too would bask in the light; if they lost face abroad, it would be their faces lost as well.
Naturally, everyone eagerly hoped that Chen Jun and his group could seize the championship.
When the news that the Steel Seventh Battalion team had secured the competition quota reached the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment via the military region, it made the anxiously awaiting crowd burst into smiles.
“Our regiment’s Special Operations Platoon soldiers actually defeated the Soldier King elites from special operations brigades across the nation? This is too surprising. I was just hoping for a top five, which would already be very satisfying, but I never expected this—truly unexpected.”
Political Commissar Zhou Yunhai looked as if he had seen a ghost. If not for the black-and-white document already arriving at the regiment, he wouldn’t dare believe it was real.
The Special Operations Platoon had taken down all the special operations brigades in the entire army—it did sound incredibly unbelievable.
“Worthily our Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment’s fine men. This time they truly brought honor to our regiment. No matter the results abroad this time, when they return to the regiment, I will personally toast them a few cups.”
Regiment Commander Wang Qing Rui grinned until his face was full of wrinkles, every pore in his body exuding pride.
Smugly deciding in his heart that next time he went to the division for a meeting, he must properly boast to the other regiment commanders about this.
With such awesome soldiers in his regiment, if he didn’t show off now, when would he?
“Old Chen is still the fierce one. I can only strut around in the regiment, but he’s gone and strutted across the entire army, haha.”
Gao Cheng lay at home laughing his head off, his mouth unable to close.
If Chen Jun and the others could secure a top three abroad in the competition, then the “acting” prefix before Gao Cheng would be rightfully removed.
The leaders of the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment were all beaming, and the warriors below were equally thrilled.
Especially the warriors of the Steel Seventh Battalion Special Operations Platoon; their pride was the most intense, walking out to enjoy the reverent gazes from other warriors, feeling ever more that their initial decision was wise.
If they hadn’t accepted Chen Jun’s recruitment back then, being eliminated by A Brigade would mean returning to their old troops.
Not only would they lose the current honor and bear the stigma of failure, becoming objects of ridicule in their old troops.
They would also lose opportunities for advancement, their military careers thereafter unremarkable.
But now, recruited to the Steel Seventh Battalion, not only had their personal strength reached unprecedented heights under Chen Jun’s various unique and advanced training methods.
But also in such an honorable team, they had repeatedly achieved highlights, fulfilling their life’s dreams.
The Special Operations Platoon warriors could foresee…
As long as they maintained an upward attitude, each of their futures would be filled with sunshine, step by step toward their life’s peak.
When the Special Operations Platoon became a Special Operations Company, then a Special Operations Battalion, they would inevitably grow into backbone officers.
Becoming future platoon leaders, company commanders, battalion commanders.
…
The old troops were honored by the achievements of Chen Jun and the others, and the morale of the entire Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment reached unprecedented heights, with even greater anticipation for the upcoming world battle.
Hoping Chen Jun and the others, representing China, could shine on the world stage.
If they could bring back the world championship…
Everyone dared not think about it.
Just thinking about it was exhilarating beyond measure.
Meanwhile, Chen Jun and his group, who had smoothly secured the precious quota, were also very satisfied with this result, each one excited with flushed faces and thick necks.
If not for maintaining military discipline, they would definitely roar a few times on the spot.
As captain, Chen Jun was thrilled enough. That very evening, he took the other seven to the guesthouse and ordered a grand feast to properly reward everyone.
Thanking everyone for their hard work during this time, and encouraging them to press on.
…
According to the event organizers’ requirements and rules, each country could send eight formal team members, plus two alternate team members.
To prevent irreversible accidents from causing inability to compete on schedule.
The day after announcing that the Capital Military Region team had secured the quota to represent China in the Elbe Assault International Special Forces Soldier Competition, two alternate team members were also announced.
Ran Feng and Chen Xiaopan from the Southwest Military Region became alternates due to outstanding performance.
Chen Jun had long guessed that for this special forces soldier grand event, the Wolf Fang Special Operations Brigade, transitioned from an old reconnaissance unit, would definitely send experts to participate.
During this time, he had specifically gone to observe the Southwest Military Region team, but unfortunately didn’t see Doghead Old Gao or Gray Wolf Ma Da.
For these two soul figures among special forces soldiers, Chen Jun was quite looking forward to seeing them here, but unfortunately their ages seemed to exceed the standard.
In the end, he only spotted familiar faces: Earth Wolf Ran Feng and Tian Lang Chen Xiaopan.
Both had very strong strength, displaying formidable power in the competition, but with only eight people per team, the two simply couldn’t carry it.
Even giving their all, they only managed to bring the team to second place.
Fortunately, with this second-place result, both gained unanimous approval from superior leaders and smoothly secured the precious alternate quotas.
“If Little Zhuang and Ostrich were here, they might have caused us a bit of trouble, but with only two, a lone palm can’t clap—they were destined to be stepping stones, green leaves accompanying our Steel Seventh Battalion.”
Chen Jun felt some regret; clashing with experts made him even more excited.
Unfortunately, it was only the second half of 1998 now; Little Zhuang wouldn’t enlist until 1999, and Lone Wolf B Team would appear even later, after
By then, when Lone Wolf B Team appeared, the Steel Seventh Battalion would probably have already become the Steel Seventh Regiment.
The two sides would no longer be on the same level!
With the International Special Forces Soldier Competition quotas officially confirmed and the two reserve personnel list finalized, next was preparation for going abroad.
A soldier’s identity was extremely special and sensitive; entering another country without agreement was tantamount to invasion.
So after the list was confirmed, not only passports and visas needed handling, but the list also had to be sent to the organizers for confirmation.
Only after all procedures were completed could Chen Jun and his group represent China to compete.
Time flew to October in the blink of an eye.
Autumn had arrived, leaves had yellowed, weather had cooled.
Yet the hearts of the special forces soldiers representing China to compete grew ever hotter.
With national-level handling of procedures, the entire process was smooth sailing, all formalities completed in less than a week.
Chen Jun and his group, specially donning brand-new military uniforms, boarded the international flight in high spirits under the leadership of the delegation headed by Senior Colonel Li Dayong.
When a group of people in military uniforms appeared on an international flight, it was indeed very eye-catching.
Every passenger on the same flight cast curious glances at Chen Jun and the others, with some fellow travelers whispering among themselves.
Soldiers going abroad were rare, but not unique; many went abroad for official study.
But these officially dispatched soldiers always changed into casual wear when flying, their identities needing to be more concealed.
Those like Chen Jun, traveling in military uniforms on civilian flights, were almost unique.
How could encountering them not be rare!
Cheng Cai, Xu Sanduo, Wu Liu Yi, and the others were equally excited once on the plane.
Though they had flown on military planes and helicopters before, this was their first time on an international flight, let alone representing the nation this time.
This kind of exhilaration was hard for ordinary people to comprehend.
However, with many passengers on the international flight, Cheng Cai and the group in military uniforms needed to maintain the image of a soldier.
Forcing them to suppress their inner excitement and take out the materials on this special forces soldier competition issued by superiors before departure to study.
Through researching past competition materials, preparing for the upcoming competition.
The Elbe Assault International Special Forces Soldier Competition— “Elbe” being the transliteration of the English words for “Infiltration Reconnaissance”—full name Infiltration Reconnaissance Assault International Special Forces Soldier Competition.
The competition began five years ago in 1994, initially hosted by the Estonian National Guard.
Later changed to joint organization by the Estonian Ministry of Defence, Defense Forces Headquarters, and other institutions, inviting foreign special operations forces to compete and exchange techniques on the same stage.
It was an international military competition activity!
Prior to this, only Europe and America countries were invited to participate; China was participating for the first time, and indeed the first Asian competition team.
The competition format was also very special.
Unlike ordinary competitions where projects are compared one by one on various venues, with the one gaining the most individual firsts becoming the final champion.
Elbe Assault was based on actual combat, simulating special operations on the battlefield.
Simply put.
It simulated a special operations squad starting from beach landing, conducting long-distance, multi-subject reconnaissance combat in “enemy-occupied territory”—a confrontational exercise.
The competition aimed to test whether each country’s competition team, in complex terrain and extreme physical consumption, could proficiently use their equipment and demonstrate cooperative combat ability to complete a series of tasks assigned by superiors.
It not only tested the willpower, stamina, strength, and technology of each country’s special forces soldiers, but also strategy and tactics.
It was a comprehensive battlefield showdown for special forces soldiers!
It could be said this was a confrontation identical to actual combat in every way except not causing death, and a real-troop, real-equipment contest displaying each country’s special operations forces’ physique, willpower, wisdom, and other comprehensive combat capabilities.
Precisely because this competition’s difficulty was extreme, all exceeding special forces soldiers’ physical limits.
Competitors had to carry 35-40 kg loads, with no supplies, blockades ahead and pursuers behind, in what could be called the world’s harshest and most complex combat environment—the primeval forests in eastern Estonia—for a 4-day, 3-night long-distance raid, completing 14 high-difficulty technical subjects.
In every past edition, the imaginary enemy conducting pursuit and interception—the Estonian Defense Forces—numbered over a thousand.
Equivalent to an entire regiment of regular troops pursuing and intercepting just over a hundred people.
A few people against a thousand.
To survive, one could imagine the difficulty.
Not to mention the competition venue was mainly set in the desolate and uninhabited primeval forest area southeast of Estonia’s capital Tallinn region.
The competition area spanned over 2400 square kilometers, with 90% coverage of unmanned primeval forest.
In the forest, pine branches and decaying leaves layered thickly; in some places, stepping down felt like stepping into snowflakes, able to sink an entire foot sole.
Various dead branches and rotten wood crisscrossed, slippery moss everywhere.
Basically no paths, forced to blaze trails oneself.
Not to mention this area had 50% swamp land, with some swamps hiding quicksand underneath; if careless and trapped, even quitting and requesting emergency rescue might be too late.
Thus, special forces soldiers coming to compete could possibly die during the competition.
Additionally.
Estonia already had large diurnal temperature swings and variable climate, and now entering autumn, temperatures had already dropped.
Nighttime temperatures in the primeval forest were even lower, basically below zero.
For a competition already testing special forces soldiers’ stamina and perseverance—with no time to sleep over four days and three nights, tasks arranged throughout—the rules greatly increased difficulty and challenge under low temperatures with no rest for recovery.
According to the documents Chen Jun reviewed, in every past Elbe Assault competition, several teams had been defeated by this difficulty, forced to quit midway out of fear of dying in the competition.
European troops had surrender in their bones; prioritizing life over pride in a competition was normal.
For them, honor was inevitably less important than life.
But Chinese soldiers were the world’s most unique, indeed the only ones worldwide who valued honor above life, engraved in the bones of every Chinese soldier.
From the moment they secured the quota to compete for the country, every contestant including Chen Jun had only one thought in their hearts—
Win glory for the country!!
Even if it meant paying with their lives, they would not hesitate.
However, though neither the leading Chen Jun nor team members like Cheng Cai and Wu Zhe feared the death threats from harsh environments.
Thinking of the competition environment so brutal, where a slight mistake could lead to fiasco, everyone felt pressure double.
Chen Jun even secretly gritted his teeth—
This trip: either win, or die—no third path.
