185: Chapter 184: The best way to overcome fear is to face it!

Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters... The sandy ground on the floor rapidly enlarged in her field of vision; she could even see the lines on Su Han's face suddenly tightening.

Just then, there was a crisp "click."

The backup safety rope, which had been tightened in secret long ago, suddenly activated. Like a suddenly awakened giant steel python, it violently yanked her falling body.

The immense pulling force caused a tearing pain in Lin Yu's shoulder, but the momentum of the fall was forcefully halted.

She hung three meters above the ground like a puppet on a clothesline, her limbs swaying weakly.

"Lower her down quickly!" Zhou Mo shouted urgently.

Da Xiong and Shan Mao immediately rushed over, working together to undo the buckle of the safety rope.

As soon as Lin Yu hit the ground, she slumped onto the sand. Her tactical cap rolled to the side, revealing a forehead covered in cold sweat and lips trembling too much to speak.

"It's okay, it's okay." Li Xue hurriedly handed over a canteen, but it was pushed away—Lin Yu was covering her mouth and gagging, her stomach churning.

"Cough, cough..."

She coughed and raised her head. The stray hairs on her forehead were matted into strands by cold sweat, and her eyes still held the terror of the fall.

That brief few seconds of weightlessness just now felt like a dull knife repeatedly slicing through her taut nerves—memories of falling from a tree as a child suddenly surged up, and the old injuries at the bone fractures seemed to throb with pain.

At that moment, Su Han also walked over.

Zhou Mo walked quickly toward Su Han, his tone carrying a trace of an imperceptible request for instructions. "Chief Instructor, should we pause the training first?"

Da Xiong stood to the side with his thick arms crossed over his chest. The smile was gone from his face, which was usually cheerful.

He looked at Lin Yu hanging in mid-air, then at the expressionless Su Han. His Adam's apple bobbed, but in the end, he didn't dare to speak—he knew better than anyone that on the training grounds of the Special Forces, pity was the most useless thing.

Only Su Han remained standing in the center of the training ground, his posture as upright as a pine tree.

The morning wind blew the hem of his military uniform, making a snapping sound, yet it couldn't move a single expression on his face.

His gaze was like an ice-tempered blade as it fell on Lin Yu. There was no worry, no comfort, not even a ripple of emotion, as if the soul-stirring scene before him was just an ordinary part of the training plan.

"What are you crying for?"

His voice suddenly rang out. It wasn't loud, but it was like a piece of ice dropped into boiling water, instantly silencing the noisy chatter.

Lin Yu's whole body trembled as she looked toward the source of the voice.

She saw Su Han looking down at the tactical watch on his wrist, his fingertip lightly tapping the dial as if he were calculating the time.

"Chief Instructor..." Li Xue bit her lip and summoned the courage to speak. "Lin Yu, she..."

"I'm asking Lin Yu." Su Han interrupted her, his gaze still fixed on the watch dial. "Do you still have the strength to grip the rope?"

Lin Yu was stunned.

She thought what awaited her would be comfort, or at least an order to pause the training.

But in Su Han's tone, there was only unquestionable calmness, even a hint of... cruelty.

The sharp pain in her wrists was still spreading, the shock from earlier had left her body weak, and tears were already welling up in her eyes.

But looking into Su Han's cold eyes, she suddenly remembered the oath she took when joining the team—to become a special operations member who could stand side-by-side with the male soldiers, not a delicate vase that needed protection.

"I... I have the strength!"

She took a deep breath and forced those words out through gritted teeth. Her voice trembled slightly from the effort, but it was exceptionally clear.

Only then did Su Han look up. His gaze swept over her hands tightly gripping the rope, then over her pale but stubborn face.

"Very good." His tone was flat, as if the danger from moments ago had never happened. "Then continue!"

Su Han looked at Zhou Mo. "Remove the safety rope for me!"

"What?!"

The expressions of Zhang Meng and the other female soldiers all changed drastically.

Su Han said coldly, "The best way to overcome fear is to face it head-on!"

"Remove the safety rope?"

Zhou Mo's voice rose sharply, and the tactical tablet in his hand almost slipped.

He looked at Su Han in disbelief, as if he were seeing this Chief Instructor for the first time—the thrill of Lin Yu's fall was still fresh in his mind, and now he wanted to remove the only safety guarantee?

Not just him, but the rest of the War Eagle Squad also looked uneasy.

Hou Zi clicked his tongue and wanted to say something, but he was stopped by a look from Zhou Mo.

Da Xiong frowned directly, his thick fingers unconsciously tightening around the rope in his hand until his knuckles turned white.

The female soldiers' reaction was even stronger.

Zhang Meng took a step forward and blurted out, "But Chief Instructor! This is too dangerous! Lin Yu almost had an accident just now..."

"Dangerous?" Su Han interrupted her, his gaze sweeping over everyone like a cold blade. "Do you think enemies on the battlefield will give you that much time to tie your safety rope before sliding down?"

"On the battlefield behind enemy lines, especially for a Special Forces Soldier who needs to immediately enter a combat state after rappelling, every second is vital!"

"Perhaps while you are down there unbuckling your safety rope, the enemy's bullets will already be whistling toward you!"

"Perhaps the time you spend unbuckling that safety rope will delay the precious time needed to rescue hostages!"

He bent down to pick up Lin Yu's tactical cap from the ground, his finger lightly tapping the brim. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a heart-palpitating weight. "Why did Lin Yu lose control just now? It wasn't because she's afraid of heights, nor because she didn't memorize the key movements."

He suddenly threw the hat toward Lin Yu. The brim brushed past her cheek and landed on the sand.

"It's because she was afraid!"

Lin Yu trembled and looked up sharply.

The sunlight was piercing, and she couldn't see Su Han's expression clearly. She could only hear his clear voice echoing across the training ground. "When you were falling, your pupils were constricting, your breathing frequency was erratic, and your grip on the rope was inconsistent—these are all physiological reactions to fear. At an altitude of three hundred meters, even a single second of hesitation could turn you into a pulp!"

"I..." Lin Yu wanted to defend herself, but her throat felt blocked by something, and she could only make a dry rasping sound.

"I know you broke your arm when you were a child." Su Han's voice suddenly softened. "But that was in a tree, and there was soft mud below. Now you are fifty meters in the air, with a hard training ground below. In the future, it could be an enemy minefield, a cliff, or a mountain of blades and a sea of fire!"

He walked to the hanging rope, reached out to grab it, and gave it a violent tug.

The rope let out a dull "hum" and shook violently in the morning breeze.

"The training of a Special Forces Soldier isn't just about muscles and techniques; it's about courage! It's the ability to force yourself to stay calm in desperate situations!"

"Safety ropes? Those are for green recruits. From today on, it will only become a psychological crutch. It will make you subconsciously rely on it in times of real danger instead of relying on yourself!"

Su Han's gaze swept over all the female soldiers, his tone devoid of any emotion. "Lin Yu, I'm giving you two choices now. Either admit you're not good enough and quit the Womens Special Operations Team to go back to your original unit, where there are comfortable barracks and safety ropes that will never be removed."

"Or," he pointed to the hovering helicopter, "climb up right now and jump again. No safety rope, no second chance."