With a light chuckle, the room returned to silence.
That night, Li Chonglou slept a night that was utterly helpless but still somewhat peaceful.
The next morning, before anyone had even woken up, he was roused by the sound of a bell.
"What's going on? Weren't we told that even training in the dorms wouldn't be interrupted?"
Li Chonglou got out of bed groggily and stretched.
When he got up and opened the door, he had expected it to be Chen Pingfan, but instead, it was Instructor Lin Guang.
"Get ready quickly. There's a temporary emergency mission. Gather at the training ground in five minutes."
Li Chonglou stood there stunned, watching Lin Guang cast him a somewhat complex glance before turning away to ring other people's doorbells.
Emergency mission?
With lingering confusion, Li Chonglou quickly tidied himself up, habitually slung his backpack over his shoulders, and headed downstairs.
He happened to run into Chen Pingfan in the hallway.
"Brother Li, good morning."
"It is a bit early. By the way, do you know anything about this emergency mission?"
Chen Pingfan knew what Li Chonglou was getting at and could only shake his head. "I don't know either. From what I'd gathered before, we weren't supposed to go on any missions for at least a week."
Something out of the ordinary is bound to happen!
Li Chonglou recalled the look in Lin Guang's eyes just now, and his vigilance immediately heightened.
Could it be aimed at me?
Before he arrived, Chen Pingfan and the others had been there for days without hearing about any missions, and their prior inquiries yielded no information.
Yet, now that he had just arrived, and hadn't even undergone any real training, they were being sent on some temporary mission. It was hard not to speculate!
The only thing that provided some reassurance was that this mission wasn't just for him alone.
When Li Chonglou and Chen Pingfan arrived at the training ground together, they discovered that it was the entire batch of new recruits who were to be deployed.
And everyone's expression was bewildered.
Only Liu Tixing appeared somewhat indifferent.
Before long, Lin Guang arrived with the last few trainees.
"I won't bore you with too many words. This is a designated mission issued from above. It's likely a test for you all, after all, you broke our sub-base's admission record of a hundred years."
He added the last sentence himself.
However, it did dispel the doubts of everyone, including Li Chonglou.
"Do you think they might feel we have too many people this time and want to eliminate some of us?"
Chen Pingfan suddenly spoke in a low voice, his tone full of worry.
"Uh, if you put it that way, it doesn't seem impossible..."
At this moment, some trainees couldn't help but ask.
Lin Guang paused.
Then he chuckled, "Regardless, just do your best. Strive to perform well."
This answer was essentially an evasion, which left everyone unable to discern the situation.
Many exchanged glances, growing worried.
There was a reason why the number of people recruited each year was so small. The conditions were set, and it wasn't a competition where one person's victory meant another's elimination.
The people eliminated each year were those whose conditions hadn't met the requirements or whose strength was insufficient. Otherwise, the General Bureau would have wanted to recruit more talented individuals.
And among those who passed the exam this time, there were naturally people of this sort.
Therefore, when they saw Lin Guang's ambiguous attitude, their hearts sank.
However, there wasn't much time for them to ponder. Several buzzing sounds were heard from a distance.
Helicopters again.
Li Chonglou squinted his eyes and murmured, "This isn't going to take us to some remote place again, is it?"
Lin Guang didn't tell them the mission location. After the helicopters landed, he only instructed everyone to hurry aboard.
"You'll receive the mission details on your phones. They will be sent to your phones once you're on board."
After everyone boarded the helicopters, they didn't linger and set off immediately.
Lin Guang did not go with them.
He just stood there, watching them depart until they completely disappeared from his sight.
"No, this situation seems a bit too deep. I need to find an excuse to take leave and avoid it."
Lin Guang gritted his teeth and turned away decisively.
Meanwhile, as no teams had been intentionally formed, Li Chonglou and Chen Pingfan sat together. Other teammates were nearby, but Wu Di and the other two were in another helicopter.
Perhaps due to the relationship between Wu Di and the other two and them, or perhaps purely because of Li Chonglou, everyone sat there in a moment of silence.
Their gazes even consciously avoided the two of them.
Li Chonglou paid no mind to this and said directly into Chen Pingfan's ear, "Stick close to me, don't get lost."
The latter nodded repeatedly. He would have done so even without being told.
After sitting for a while, everyone's phones finally received the mission information.
In fact, it was sent by Lin Guang.
The reason for informing them now was their usual practice, to prevent undercover agents from leaking information.
The mission details were not extensive, with the address and target clearly stated – it was a rescue mission.
However, the location made Li Chonglou frown.
While rescue missions were generally carried out abroad, they could also occur within China in certain special locations, such as border areas like Donghai Island.
Given the vastness of China, the occurrence of such situations was not entirely strange.
But this time, the mission location was completely outside of China, and in a jungle country quite a distance away!
As everyone knew, worldwide, aside from China, the jungle country was most proficient in guerrilla warfare and tunnel warfare. But unlike China, after that world war,
The jungle country's economy had not recovered. It had been lukewarm in recent years, and coupled with its people's belligerence and difficulty in management, it had gradually become a place where criminals most liked to gather.
In fact, if one were to speak of the complexity of forces in the jungle country, no other place in the world could claim to be first!
Within a single village, one could find over ten different factions!
In other words, their mission this time might be even more difficult than the one on Donghai Island!
More importantly, it seemed they didn't have any seniors accompanying them this time?
Upon realizing this, the trainees on the helicopter no longer cared about Li Chonglou and Chen Pingfan. They began to discuss amongst themselves.
"Could it be that they want us to go to our deaths? This is going to the jungle country."
"Yeah, it's not that we're afraid of death, but we fear this might be someone's scheme, designed to trap and kill us!"
They were all experts at the fourth or fifth level. Truly cowardly individuals wouldn't have come to participate in the examination in the first place.
However, many were cautious, some even bordering on paranoia. At this moment, they all began to worry!
They had survived in the realm of unaffiliated cultivators until now, even if some had joined the three major powers, they were still unaffiliated individuals with no background or connections, relying on that very caution!
If it were in the past, they would probably already be discussing how to hijack the plane and turn back!
Unfortunately, they were now part of the General Bureau. This new identity, despite their worries, prevented them from even considering hijacking the plane.