Chapter 1 Folding Cots

The folding cots were naturally not prepared for Ye Tao and Dai Yun, but for the maids who also needed to reside in the tent… and Shiliu, who was no longer a maid but the battalion commander of the central army camp. Someone always had to be available to respond to any instructions from the two masters.

After partitioning the interior space, the maids' resting area was only two layers of felt curtain away from the "master bedroom" in the center of the tent. Everyone could hear clearly what was happening there. However, Ye Tao and Dai Yun had not been married long. Although this trip was to inspect the special forces camp selection, it was also their first trip together since their marriage. They were deeply in love, and although Dai Yun was not as bold as she usually appeared, and Ye Tao was even more reserved, it seemed difficult for nothing to happen.

In fact, Ye Tao was initially very uncomfortable in this environment where someone was always on hand to serve in every aspect of life. His every move was under observation, and some things made him feel very embarrassed. However, Ye Tao now seemed to understand that he had underestimated the professionalism of the personal attendants in this era. Not to mention hearing anything, even if they were doing the deed in front of them, the well-trained attendants could maintain a completely neutral expression and continue doing what they were supposed to do.

When discussing this matter with Tan Weixin, they both thought of a memorable example. It seemed that in some American drama called "Rome," the mistress and a man were sweating profusely in bed, while the servant waved a huge palm fan as if he hadn't seen anything, cooling down this hot exercise in the sweltering summer… Tan Weixin and Ye Tao discussed this privately and secretly consulted experienced old family members in attendant training, and finally confirmed that this was not their imagination or exaggeration. Almost all personal attendants in large aristocratic families could do this, and had to do this.

However, Ye Tao and Dai Yun did not simply hide in the tent to "sleep" to pass the time. At least a third of the space in this enormous tent was a simple office area. Those martial artists dressed as examiners, as well as the elite guards around Ye Tao and Dai Yun, had either entered the examination area before the assessment began, or were following behind the soldiers participating in the assessment.

Although the total number of "examiners" dispatched was only fifty or so, it was certainly impossible to monitor all the soldiers participating in the assessment. However, they could still report the current general situation and point out some particularly interesting individuals. Because the examiners were generally skilled in stealth and concealment, and were outstanding fighters, many of them were able to track and observe from a certain distance without being discovered, which ensured that they could continuously see clearly the various tricks of the soldiers participating in the assessment.

The soldiers who entered the examination area behaved differently during the two shichen (an ancient Chinese unit of time, roughly equivalent to two hours) when they were not allowed to attack each other. Some tried to run as far as possible towards the edge of the examination area, away from the starting area. There were too many people in the starting area, too densely packed. When the opportunity to attack each other arrived, there would inevitably be many battles. If they could run farther away, they could conservatively avoid these dense battles of attrition, or more proactively seize favorable terrain and prepare for ambushes later on.

Some people advanced slowly in the direction they had chosen, not caring. Although almost everyone had the idea of getting away from the starting point, these people were obviously not in a hurry. In particular, some of them paid attention to every detail around them as they walked, searching for those food and water packs, of which there were said to be several thousand. Some even began to collect branches and other things of suitable shape and strength, turning them into simple tools and weapons. Now everyone was relatively close together, and large carnivores hiding in the forest or rock crevices dared not come out. But at night, that would be hard to say.

Most of the soldiers participating in the assessment chose to set off alone, while a small number formed small teams at the starting point, forming search and combat formations, and set off in different directions. Forming small teams increased safety and combat effectiveness, but in this assessment, it might not really be much of an advantage. The larger the team, the smaller the chance of meeting everyone's needs in seven days, the smaller the chance of obtaining the target number plates they needed to hunt, the more non-target number plates they needed to collect, and the greater the possibility of internal disharmony as the time limit approached.

As night fell on the first day, the first report from the examiners arrived at the central army tent. It described an encounter between two small teams. After a scuffle between the two teams, totaling more than twenty people, four had to withdraw due to injuries, and nine lost their number plates. After the battle, the two sides involved in the encounter were evenly matched, and had to abandon their armed confrontation.

However, in the stalemate, those who had already obtained number plates from the other side were unwilling to hand over what they had already obtained. After another brief scuffle, the two teams reorganized into three teams. Those who had obtained extra number plates and those who had lost their own number plates formed two different teams, heading in completely opposite directions. Those who had kept their own number plates put aside their original disputes and formed a new team.

This situation was unexpected by everyone. The examiner was very interested in this change, and after hastily submitting the report, pulled two other examiners to track and observe these three teams separately.

It was not until the next morning that an "examiner" returned to the camp and delivered the second report. This second report concerned the various means that the soldiers participating in the assessment had begun to use to preserve themselves and attack their opponents. The soldiers' tricks were far beyond the expectations of Ye Tao, Dai Yun, and others.

For example, a Jingyun cavalry tribal soldier actually played the tricks of herbal medicine familiar to witch doctors on the grasslands during the assessment. This tribal soldier named Barrett found some plant leaves and fruits in the forest, and then found an inconspicuous corner to crush and mix these things together. Then he began to do some rather strange things: finding the supply packs, opening them, and mixing the medicinal mud he had prepared into the food. Then he hid the supply packs again. Except for one supply pack, he took almost nothing away. He completed these things before nightfall, and then ran far away.

By nightfall, he had run a full sixty li (approximately 30 kilometers) from the starting point. This kind of speed alone qualified him to apply for a special skill quota to enter the special forces camp without having to undergo assessment. The location of the supply packs he had tampered with was basically where people with ordinary speed would arrive relatively late. When some people, due to their far behind speed, finally ran wildly to these supply storage points, and after carefully searching, discovered these supply packs, they began to rely on a large tree, vigilantly watching the surroundings, and carefully eating the food in the supply packs, drinking a small sip of warming refined wine, hesitating whether they should light a small bonfire with the fire starter in the supply pack to spend the long cold night, at least to scare away the beasts hiding in the depths of the forest… suddenly they started having diarrhea.

After tossing and turning for a while, Barrett appeared in front of these people, smiling and taking away the number plates of these people who were too weak to resist, and then kindly asked each of them if they needed to blow their whistle, because the medicinal effect would last at least two days, and it would be troublesome if they didn't return to the camp…

Barrett had already collected eight points on the first night, which could be said to be a great advantage. With his extraordinary speed, in an assessment where everyone had no mounts and no means of transportation, as long as he was not surrounded, almost no one could threaten him, and he always had a way to shake off pursuers. Even if he encountered someone who was more difficult to deal with, the extra number plates in his hand would be a good bargaining chip… As long as he followed the steps and didn't make any mistakes in the following days, he should be able to pass the assessment very easily.

However, the triumphant Barrett still did not expect that one of the guys he had drugged and knocked down had not given up easily. He boiled a lot of hot water with a small bonfire to drink, wiped his body, and used that small jar of refined wine to speed up the blood circulation in his body, finally getting him through the night. Although his body was weak, he finally found a safe supply pack the next morning and began to slowly recover his strength.

For him, Barrett's medicine did not seem to really have a two-day effect. A large amount of excretion and sweating had greatly accelerated his metabolism. By the afternoon of the next day, he had completely gotten rid of the effects of the drug. The temporary situation of not having a number plate made him worthless to other soldiers he encountered, and he actually had plenty of time to find ways to get six points. And this soldier, who had become firm and experienced after suffering a loss, was named Song Feng.