Chapter 117: Gazing at the Starry Sky?

Sure enough, after the hands holding the list dropped, the staff announced, "The comrades listed above have failed the preliminary selection due to blood test results and other reasons. Please return to your original location promptly. You are all excellent candidates, but the strict requirements leave us no choice but to issue this notification. However, as compensation, before you leave, you may exchange your submitted card for five liters of clean drinking water and 350 grams of military compressed biscuits."

Thus, the remaining fifty-odd individuals were to undergo two weeks of training while awaiting the final selection.

Wang Ping regretfully collected the supplies and bid farewell to the other three. Aside from the water and biscuits, he emptied his backpack and distributed the rest of his belongings among the three. Before departure, it was Jiang Huan who packed the four backpacks, loading them with self-heating meals, canned food, water, a pack of cigarettes, a few band-aids, a roll of gauze, and a dagger. “Do your best to get selected. If you do, it’ll be like being on a pre-apocalypse roster—after a few hard years, your future might be secure,” she said.

Jiang Huan and the others watched him leave, then were immediately called over to arrange the upcoming training and group assignments, leaving no time for further conversation.

As one of the only three women, Jiang Huan, along with two others, was assigned to a small dormitory inside the office building, while the rest of the men stayed in shipping containers. Even though this was only training, they separated people to avoid incidents.

Jiang Huan’s roommates were a short-haired young woman named A-Lin and an older woman with weary eyes named Sister Chen. Sister Chen introduced herself as someone who had come for her child, while A-Lin had come with her two older brothers. Apparently, her whole family had military backgrounds; she could have been assigned to a comfortable base post, but her wild spirit made her insist on coming here.

Since she had come, her exceptional physical fitness allowed her to pass the preliminary selection with ease.

“I saw you didn’t come with the base group. That tall guy—is he your boyfriend?” Sister Chen, clearly a married woman, loved discussing such topics.

Jiang Huan shook her head. “We’re comrades.”

“Oh, so you haven’t settled down yet. I get it. You young people call it the ambiguous phase, right?”

Jiang Huan said nothing in reply. They weren’t close, and they might not spend much time together—explaining too much would only seem forced.

A-Lin showed little interest in the topic and instead asked why Jiang Huan’s breath smelled so fresh.

Jiang Huan was caught off guard. Someone just casually dropped that into the conversation.

She pulled out half a bottle of mouthwash. “When we started scavenging for supplies, we grabbed whatever we could. Later, I found some mouthwash, so I saved it.”

A-Lin, also a girl, cared about oral hygiene, but drinking water was a luxury now; proper toothbrushing was out of the question.

Jiang Huan then dug out a few dental floss picks from her bag—a box of a hundred, the kind that used to sell for under ten yuan before the apocalypse.

She gave each of them three. “I’ve already used the mouthwash myself, so I won’t share that. But you haven’t tried these. They clean your tongue and between your teeth, and you can rinse them without wasting water.”

Both women accepted the floss gratefully. A-Lin returned a small compact mirror, probably a promotional gift from a delivery, with a cute cartoon Hello Kitty design. Sister Chen gave a hair tie.

Jiang Huan accepted both and gave each of them another piece of floss. After exchanging these little gifts, the three chatted more freely until a summons called them to assemble. They tidied up and jogged over.

A few minutes later, a square-faced man stood on an elevated platform addressing everyone.

“First, welcome to this place, and congratulations on passing the preliminary selection. But this is not the end, nor is it a stepping stone. This is competition. This is a battleground...” He roused everyone with stirring words before introducing himself as Coach Jiang, the chief instructor for the next two months. Over the coming fourteen days, there would be a dozen or so training sessions, culminating in an assessment.

“All training content is announced on the fly; be mentally prepared. However, two activities are mandatory, requiring at least an hour of daily practice: swimming and deep diving. Those who only know rudimentary swimming—just splashing on the surface—are here.”

He pointed in a direction, and some began heading that way. Jiang Huan noticed that Uncle Kui and Xie Congzhou did not move. Sister Chen from her dormitory, however, went over.

Those who needed improvement were sent to reinforce their swimming skills first. Those who could already swim were required to don gear and stay underwater for ten minutes.

Jiang Huan’s eyes widened. What?

Although there was no official information indicating coastal waters were polluted, after such a long time—even with the ice delaying ocean currents—wouldn’t the temperature be extreme? Perhaps the sewage had already contaminated the shore.

Last time she’d spoken with Captain Wu, he mentioned that a few hundred nautical miles off the Wānwān Strait, they’d detected excessive levels of harmful substances to humans.

Maybe in these few days, the contamination had crept near the mainland coast.

Still, the gear distributors were waiting.

Jiang Huan held the equipment, reluctant to get in.

Better not take such risks—what if it involved radiation—

“They dumped some powder last night to extract seawater samples for testing,” Xie Congzhou came over, said this, then returned to the group.

Jiang Huan steadied her nerves. After all, they were selecting talent to combat sea beasts, not to harm people.

Perhaps she was just being overly cautious.

The gear resembled astronaut suits—waterproof fabric with oxygen tanks allowing underwater stays of several tens of minutes. Jiang Huan carefully checked and saw her oxygen gauge hadn’t reached the danger red line, so she followed others in putting it on.

Fully equipped, Jiang Huan and the two women queued.

At the shore, most people didn’t hesitate; they fastened their helmets and plunged in like dropping dumplings into boiling water.

Jiang Huan took three steady breaths, secured her helmet, and gracefully entered the water, swimming forward about ten meters. Seeing the crowd still clustered, she swam outward another ten meters, where it felt much more spacious.

As an outdoor adventure streamer, swimming was the most trivial yet essential skill.

Even wearing the equipment, Jiang Huan adapted fully within minutes. She floated on her back in the most energy-efficient posture. Nearby, others noticed and imitated her.

From the shore, it probably looked like a group of trainees gazing skyward.

Indeed, it somewhat resembled that famous foreign dark cuisine.

Jiang Huan felt she had floated for quite some time—definitely more than ten minutes—yet the shore had not yet called a halt or signaled to come out.

She gave her legs a kick, moving slightly closer to shore, when the chief coach’s voice boomed out via loudspeaker.

“All personnel, obey orders. All must dive—no heads above water. If your wrist indicator does not fall below the red line, do not surface. Otherwise, you will be shot at by firearms on shore!”

Everyone was stunned.

What?

Shot at?

I’m strong! Not small! Tomorrow I’ll try to update again, woohoo!