105: Chapter 105: Welcome to the Second Layer of Hell

The lights in the screening room were a deathly white and piercing, shining on the bloodless faces of the female soldiers.

Su Han stood in front of the projection screen with his hands behind his back, the bloodstains on his combat boots having dried into a dark brown.

His gaze swept across every young face like a blade.

"What you just saw was only the tip of the iceberg."

His voice was low and cold. "On a real battlefield, the enemy will peel away your dignity and will like an onion, layer by layer, before finally taking your life."

No. 7 Li Xue's fingers dug deep into her thighs as tears fell silently.

No. 12 Lin Yu stared at her combat boots, her breathing as rapid as if she had just finished a ten-kilometer run.

"Women have unique advantages on the battlefield, but they are also their greatest weaknesses."

Su Han walked up to Li Xue, leaning down to stare at her trembling eyelashes. "The enemy will first break your legs so you can't run; then they'll break your fingers so you can't resist; and finally..."

"Enough!" No. 18 Zhang Meng stood up abruptly, her eyes bloodshot. "Chief Instructor, we didn't come here to listen to this!"

Su Han straightened up, a cold sneer playing at the corners of his mouth. "Then what did you come here for? To play house?"

He turned toward Su Qingcheng, his voice suddenly rising. "No. 5! If you were captured and the enemy used the lives of your grandfather or even your entire family to threaten you into leaking intelligence, what would you do?"

Su Qingcheng's pupils contracted sharply, her lips trembling, unable to speak.

"Answer me!"

"I... I will..." Su Qingcheng's nails dug into her palms. "I will..."

"You would hesitate," Su Han finished for her. "And in the three seconds you spent hesitating, the enemy would have already obtained the information they wanted."

The screening room was terrifyingly quiet, filled only with the rapid breathing of the female soldiers.

Su Han walked to the center of the room, his voice slowing down. "Over the next month, you will undergo training more brutal than hell. waterboarding, electric shocks, starvation, fatigue interrogation... every single one will make you wish you were dead."

He paused, his eyes burning like torches. "Now, I'm giving you 24 hours to consider. If you want to quit, leave your identification tags at my office door before sunrise tomorrow."

"Report!" No. 12 Lin Yu suddenly raised her hand, her voice hoarse. "If... if we can't hold out..."

"Then you'll be eliminated," Su Han said decisively. "The Special Forces don't need soldiers who give up halfway."

"If you can't even hold out during training, what happens when you fall into enemy hands? Wouldn't you just defect and commit treason then?"

He turned and walked toward the door, his combat boots making a dull thudding sound on the floor.

Before pushing the door open to leave, he took one last look back. "Remember, once the training begins, there is no turning back."

The heavy iron door closed behind him with a dull thud.

The female soldiers collapsed into their chairs as if all the strength had been drained from their bodies.

No. 7 Li Xue finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into loud sobs.

"I... I can't do it..." she sobbed. "Those images... they were too terrifying..."

No. 12 Lin Yu put her arm around her shoulder, though her own hand was trembling uncontrollably.

No. 18 Zhang Meng punched the wall, blood seeping from her knuckles. "Damn it! I don't believe in this nonsense!"

Su Qingcheng sat quietly in the corner, her eyes vacant.

Her mind kept flashing back to the enemy she had killed and the shocking images from the screening room.

"No. 5..." Lin Yu asked in a low voice, "Will... will you quit?"

Su Qingcheng slowly looked up, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible. "I don't know."

————

The night was as dark as ink, and the female soldiers' dormitory was deathly silent.

On the ten beds, the female soldiers tossed and turned; no one could sleep.

No. 7 Li Xue curled up under her covers, weeping silently;

No. 12 Lin Yu looked through photos of her family over and over again;

No. 18 Zhang Meng did push-ups in the dark until her muscles were too sore to lift her.

Su Qingcheng quietly got up and walked to the window.

The moonlight was like water, spilling over the training ground that would become their hell tomorrow.

"Can't sleep?" a low voice suddenly came from behind her.

Su Qingcheng spun around and saw Zhou Mo standing at the dormitory door at some point, holding a medical kit.

"Instructor Zhou..." She instinctively stood at attention.

Zhou Mo waved his hand, walked to bed No. 7, and gently lifted Li Xue's blanket.

The girl's eyes were already swollen like peaches from crying.

"Hand," Zhou Mo said briefly.

Li Xue reached out blankly, and Zhou Mo skillfully applied ointment—at some point, she had dug her nails into her palms until they bled.

"You all performed more strongly today than I imagined."

"It's already quite good that you didn't break down after seeing blood for the first time," Zhou Mo said while applying the medicine.

No. 12 Lin Yu whispered, "Instructor Zhou... how did it feel the first time... you killed someone?"

Zhou Mo's hand paused, his gaze drifting into the distance. "I vomited for a whole day, and then I had nightmares every night for a month."

The female soldiers looked at him in surprise—this iron-blooded instructor actually had such a past.

"What about the Chief Instructor..." No. 18 Zhang Meng couldn't help but ask. "Was he like that when he killed for the first time too?"

Zhou Mo suddenly laughed, his smile carrying a hint of awe. "Him? On his first mission, he took out over a dozen militants and came back to eat three bowls of rice without batting an eye."

The female soldiers gasped.

"Everyone has their own pace," Zhou Mo closed the medical kit. "What matters is why you came here."

He stood up and walked toward the door. "By the way, we also had a veteran who was captured; he almost didn't make it through his first anti-interrogation training back then."

The door closed softly, leaving the female soldiers looking at each other.

"Even a veteran..." Li Xue's eyes widened.

No. 18 Zhang Meng suddenly grinned. "Damn, suddenly it doesn't seem so scary anymore."

Su Qingcheng looked out the window. The training ground under the moonlight was still silent, but it no longer seemed quite so eerie.

————

At four in the morning, the sky was still pitch black.

On the floor by Su Han's office door, three identification tags lay quietly.

When the first ray of sunlight spilled into the corridor, Su Han bent down to pick up these two tags, gently rubbing the numbers on them before placing them in a drawer.

He turned and walked toward the training ground, where eight female soldiers were already standing in neat formation—three fewer than yesterday, but each of their gazes was firmer than before.

"Attention!" Su Han's voice was exceptionally clear in the morning breeze.

Seven pairs of combat boots snapped together simultaneously, creating a synchronized clicking sound.

"Starting today, you will experience the darkest month of your lives."

Su Han's gaze swept over every young face. "Remember, this isn't training; this is survival."

He turned and pointed toward a newly constructed black building at the end of the training ground. "That is your 'new home.' Inside is everything you fear most."

The female soldiers' breathing quickened in unison.

"One last time—" Su Han's voice boomed like thunder, "does anyone want to quit?"

Silence.

"Very well." The corners of Su Han's mouth curled up slightly. "Then, welcome to the second level of hell."

He made a gesture, and several War Eagle members immediately stepped forward, blindfolding the female soldiers with black cloth and tying their hands behind their backs.

"Remember the feeling of this moment," Su Han's voice was exceptionally clear in the darkness. "Because every second from now on will be more terrifying than this."

The female soldiers were shoved forward. No one knew what awaited them, but no one stopped.

At the end of the training ground, that black building stood like a crouching giant beast, quietly waiting for its prey.