The majority of the expedition team's training was conducted in simulation pods, with intensity and content closely resembling actual combat. Daytime involved simulated confrontations, while evenings were dedicated to intensive theoretical study.
Don't assume piloting a warship is easy; each position requires a dictionary's worth of theoretical knowledge. Normally, four years are needed to learn these technical theories, but time is extremely tight now, so they can only prioritize memorizing the most crucial aspects. If they encounter a situation requiring immediate action but not critical, they can consult the technical manuals later.
There's no other way; like a bride preparing for her wedding, they have to pierce their ears for earrings on the spot.
Group A was the target for the other two groups to catch up to. They faced immense pressure from superiors and relentless pursuit from Groups B and C. Everyone was under extreme stress.
Even Ling Xiao, usually carefree and rarely seen smiling, found himself unable to do so.
After a period, even his dreams were filled with swarms of alien species flying through the sky.
"I heard a female officer upstairs cried herself to sleep from a nightmare last night!" One day, Ling Xiao, spreading news he'd somehow acquired, spoke with feigned emotion and感慨.
This was news from the female soldiers' quarters. Well, everyone understood.
"Really?" Ou Zhanpeng was surprised. "It's only been a few days? Which group is she from?"
"Ours," Ling Xiao whispered.
Ou Zhanpeng recalled carefully but couldn't think of anyone showing unusual signs. "Whether it's true or not, don't spread this nonsense."
"How am I spreading nonsense? I'm only telling you," Ling Xiao replied.
Despite his words, the news spread throughout the entire training contingent in no time, reaching even Shan Qiuyu.
Ou Zhanpeng quickly identified the target: Liu Wenwen, not tall, with short hair, and a charming dimple when she smiled. She was originally a very cheerful girl, but now her face showed unconcealable exhaustion and fatigue.
She still persevered with training, still smiled heartily, and her performance in every simulation was commendable, as if trying to prove herself this way.
However, her mental state deteriorated day by day.
Ling Xiao found it incredible. "It was just a dream, is that such a big deal?"
Ou Zhanpeng had a completely different perspective. "What you think about by day, you dream about by night. The more she wants to do well, the greater the pressure she puts on herself... Falling behind is pressure, and being strong-willed is also pressure."
Ling Xiao looked at Ou Zhanpeng in surprise. "I didn't realize, your theoretical level is at least half that of a political instructor!"
Ou Zhanpeng was speechless. "Stop beating around the bush, just say I should join the catering squad!"
The two were accustomed to such pointless banter and didn't take the teasing to heart. However, after training concluded that day, Liu Wenwen was summoned to Shan Qiuyu's office for a private talk and emerged with red-rimmed eyes.
The next day during training, Liu Wenwen was gone, her position filled by a male officer from Group B.
After all, they were comrades in the same team, having cooperated for so long and developed a certain rapport. The sudden replacement with a new person felt awkward for everyone.
The male officer felt wronged: I just worked hard to move from Group B to Group A, I didn't provoke anyone, why is this happening?
To placate everyone's emotions, Shan Qiuyu specifically took some time before training to explain the situation: "I believe you've all noticed Liu Wenwen's departure. The reason is simple: the pressure she placed on herself became too much, pushing her to her limits. I must emphasize, she was truly hardworking and an excellent soldier. However, the expedition mission allows for no carelessness or oversight, nor does it permit me, you, or anyone else to inject personal emotions into it."
After a pause, Shan Qiuyu added, "She's the first, but she won't be the last... Let's begin training."
Ling Xiao was stunned on the spot and kept glancing at Ou Zhanpeng: You were actually right!
The others were equally shocked, but what made them more uneasy was that they had initially thought poor performance would lead to elimination. It was only then they realized that good or bad performance had nothing to do with elimination at all!
Everyone wondered, what exactly was the standard for judgment?
The military, a much simpler place than society, often employs crude, quantitative management.
A neat bed, minus one point; a button not fastened, minus 0.5; showing up to assembly with disheveled appearance, minus another point...
The training team had never implemented quantitative management, but Shan Qiuyu clearly possessed a more complex and stringent evaluation standard.
Realizing this, everyone felt a heightened sense of urgency.
Training proceeded as scheduled, but everyone's state was noticeably affected. A few individuals even showed significant signs of distress and were called into Shan Qiuyu's office by noon that day.
"It's over, the sky is falling!" Ling Xiao sighed, worried about the fate of his companions.
However, after they emerged, they learned that Shan Qiuyu had only offered them words of comfort, urging them to let go of their psychological burdens and not put so much pressure on themselves.
It was all counseling; no mention was made of leaving.
But everyone knew that those few were likely in trouble.
As expected, over the next few days, more people left the team. The pressure on everyone intensified. Daily, someone would suffer a mental breakdown, arguing or even fighting over trivial matters, regardless of the occasion or location.
Not only did people leave Group A, but only a few from Groups B and C were promoted to Group A, while a large group departed.
Some lacked the necessary skills and were politely encouraged to withdraw by Shan Qiuyu after individual talks. Others couldn't handle the pressure and voluntarily quit. A few individuals even left because their personalities did not meet the mission requirements!
This was truly outrageous. It seemed Shan Qiuyu wasn't selecting the best candidates for the mission, but rather finding fault with the most suitable individuals, systematically eliminating them.
Later, they learned that those who argued and fought were only a small fraction of natural occurrences; the vast majority were deliberately orchestrated by Shan Qiuyu.
The reason was simple: prolonged voyages would inevitably involve immense pressure. If they became volatile on the ground, imagine the trouble they might cause when suddenly erupting on a ship far from Earth.
Therefore, anyone with a bad temper, regardless of their training performance, was not retained and was excluded from the final list. Only those with strong stress resilience, good training results, and relatively calm temperaments could successfully qualify.
However, Shan Qiuyu wasn't acting arbitrarily. He first defined a broad range through psychological assessments, then arranged for people to induce conflict using appropriate reasons.
When Ou Zhanpeng and Ling Xiao learned this news, they were both stunned – they had come so close to elimination. It was only by choosing to suppress their reactions rather than explode that they embarked on completely different paths, altering even the fate of their lives.