195: Chapter 195 Facing Reality

After confirming the classified information on the note was correct, Yu Yang calmly unscrewed an ordinary ballpoint pen, pulled out the internal refill, and rolled the intelligence-filled paper into a thin tube. He firmly tucked it into the empty pen barrel before sliding the pen into his inner pocket.

The security level of this Ethereal Energy Base was top-tier, with checkpoints everywhere and no blind spots in surveillance. However, for the logistics support staff, there was still a degree of leniency. The base had an explicit regulation: every half month, logistics personnel could submit an application in advance to have a brief meeting with family members under the full accompaniment of base security personnel.

Yu Yang happened to possess this privilege. Now, he only needed to wait quietly for the meeting date to arrive, and he would be able to successfully pass the pen containing top-secret intelligence to his wife, who was also a spy lurking outside.

Time flew by, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Within the base, the first batch of soldiers participating in Ethereal Energy cultivation had experienced a leap in strength, with their physical fitness generally exceeding double the level of an ordinary person. Especially for Zhang Xiaochuan and a few other gifted top students, their physical fitness had broken through consecutively, reaching terrifying levels of two or three times the norm.

However, the rapid increase in strength caused some soldiers to develop feelings of complacency and arrogance. The rigor and hard work of past training were gradually replaced by impetuousness.

On this day, a soldier whose physical fitness had reached 2.4 times the norm intentionally slacked off during training and was sternly reprimanded on the spot by the lead instructor. The soldier immediately felt resentful, feeling that the instructor was deliberately targeting him. His eyes turned red as he barked back, "Why are you picking on me every single day? I'm a human, not a machine that never stops! With such high-intensity training every day, everyone needs a break! I only relaxed for a moment, and you start yelling at me—it's too unfair!"

“Are you talking to me?” The full-time Blue Star Defense Department instructor in charge of training pointed a finger at himself, his face filled with an expression of disbelief.

“Yes, you!” The soldier stiffened his neck, his face full of resentment. “I admit you're the instructor, but shouldn't an instructor lead by example? Why is it that every day you only know how to make us train like crazy while you just stand aside and give orders? Who knows if you're just a flashy show-off with no real skill! If you have the guts, let's have a match face-to-face!”

“Hahaha, just you? You dare challenge me?” The instructor was first laughed out of anger, but then his face suddenly darkened, and a sharp sense of pressure emanated from him. “Fine! I know this period of training has been dull and arduous, but don't forget, what you carry on your shoulders has never been just your own lives! Just because your strength grew a bit recently, you think your wings are fully grown and you can look down on everyone?"

“I'll put it bluntly right here: you're still far from it! You all come from military backgrounds, so you should know the principle of ‘sweat more in peace, bleed less in war’! The medical testing team says you've made rapid progress, and that's true, but with your current meager strength, you would have no power to fight back against invading Alien Creaturess—not even the lowest-tier Common Xenomorph!”

“Since you dare to cause trouble on the training ground, I'll grant your wish and let you see exactly how much you're worth!”

As his voice fell, the instructor said no more. He walked straight to the center of the open training ground, standing as tall and straight as a pine tree. He then raised his right hand and used only his index finger to beckon the provocative soldier toward him.

The commotion of their argument had long since attracted the attention of every soldier on the field. During this time, the base instructors had only been responsible for directing and teaching, never revealing any of their true strength. This had already left these strength-revering soldiers full of doubt and curiosity; this conflict happened to give them a chance to find out the truth.

The provocative soldier was straightforward enough; he didn't retreat in the slightest. He strode to the opposite side of the instructor, his whole body tensed and ready for battle.

“You can make your move,” the instructor spoke calmly, still maintaining a casual standing posture. He neither took a defensive stance nor made any move to build up power, watching the other party with a calm gaze.

This appearance of completely disregarding him thoroughly ignited the soldier's fury. He clenched his fists, his muscles tight, exploding with all the physical fitness he had increased several-fold. With the sound of wind breaking, he threw a punch at maximum speed directly at the instructor's face!

At this moment, his speed and power had increased several times compared to when he first entered the base; the power of one punch was enough to dent a several-millimeter-thick steel plate. But just as his fist was about to touch the instructor, the figure in front of him vanished into thin air, leaving not even an afterimage behind.

A second later, a cold voice suddenly rang out behind his ear: “Is that it? Your speed is pitifully slow; it seems I overestimated you after all. With this bit of strength, you don't even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder on the front lines right now. If you really encountered an alien organism, you'd likely be insta-killed before you even saw what it looked like!”

Before the voice finished, a massive force slammed into the soldier's abdomen. He felt his internal organs churning as he was sent flying like a kite with a broken string. He flew a good seven or eight meters before crashing heavily onto the ground, instantly twitching in pain and gasping for breath, having completely lost the ability to fight.

“What incredible speed! What overbearing power!”

The watching soldiers witnessed this scene and were all dumbfounded, frozen in place. One move! With just one move, a soldier ranked among the top in the base's strength was effortlessly insta-killed by the instructor!

And through the instructors' usual explanations, they also knew in their hearts that even with this instructor's strength, it would take several people working together to barely manage to kill a single common alien Xenomorph. By comparison, just how powerful were those invading alien organisms? The original complacency and impetuousness in their hearts were instantly replaced by bone-deep clarity and awe.