A generation of soldiers begins with Feng Yuxiu traveling through time and space with Xu Sanduo

Chapter 214 Cheng Cai's Debate and Departure
On the edge of a somewhat desolate place, Li Xuanxuan stood alone quietly, her figure appearing somewhat lonely in the empty environment.

Not far away, Liu Mang slowly woke up from his coma. He opened his eyes groggily and looked around at the soldiers in camouflage uniforms with a blank expression. His eyes were full of doubt and confusion, and he had not yet recovered from the sudden change.

At this moment, Qi Huan stood beside Feng Yuxiu, very close. His face showed a hint of fatigue, yet he tried his best to maintain a serious expression, constantly explaining to Feng Yuxiu everything that had just happened.

"We've all come this far step by step. I assure you now, this is absolutely the last assessment. From this moment on, you are a full-fledged member of the Old A team."

Qi Huan's tone carried a hint of determination, attempting to reassure Feng Yuxiu.

However, Feng Yuxiu's face remained expressionless, his gaze fixed on the octopus that was gradually moving away, his eyes revealing an undisguised anger.

The shocking scars on his body were not just marks left by the exercise, but also a deep torment to his heart. All of this could not be easily resolved with a simple "exercise".

At this moment, only one strong thought kept echoing in Feng Yuxiu's mind: Wolf Fang Special Forces Brigade! This debt absolutely cannot be left unresolved!
Aside from the assessment of the exercise itself, Feng Yuxiu sensed a sense of contempt and disdain from the octopus.

He looked down on himself from the very beginning, even placing himself above others with an air of arrogance.

"Were they all unaware of this exercise beforehand?" Feng Yuxiu suddenly asked, turning his gaze to Li Xuanxuan and Liu Mang, who were not far away.

Qi Huan shook his head slightly. "They really don't know. The bulletproof vest Liu Mang was wearing contained blood packs and anesthetic. The moment the octopus fired, the blood packs would explode, and the anesthetic would be released rapidly, instantly stunning him. Of course, the injuries on my body are all makeup."

"As for Li Xuanxuan... I admit that this matter is indeed somewhat dishonest. But as special forces soldiers, anything can happen on the battlefield, and we must be prepared to deal with all kinds of extreme situations." Qi Huan's tone seemed to emphasize the necessity of this exercise.

"Liu Mang and Li Xuanxuan had a past relationship, and the captain specifically arranged for them to make it public in the cafeteria. Therefore, if Liu Mang and Li Xuanxuan have that kind of special contact under what appears to be a death threat, our test will be..."

Qi Huan paused, took a deep breath, and said, “This will test whether you can make the right choice between your comrades and the so-called ‘criminals.’ Will you protect your comrades by keeping the secret and not revealing the information, or will you use your own abilities to untie the bonds, and even take extreme measures if necessary, such as killing Liu Mang?”

"Of course, if you do anything that goes against the camaraderie of soldiers, the exercise will be declared a failure."

Feng Yuxiu remained silent for a long time, a struggle flashing in his eyes. He slowly raised his head and looked directly at Qi Huan. "Aren't you afraid that I will really kill him? That shot was a live bullet."

Qi Huan's expression remained calm, but a hint of hesitation was revealed in his eyes. "Only the first bullet was a live round; the rest were blanks. In fact, this exercise was like walking on a knife's edge, full of risks and challenges. When you fired that shot at the informant, the captain was even prepared to face a military court."

"Fortunately, you were shot in the chest, not the head. That's the only thing that was unexpected." Qi Huan's tone carried a hint of relief.

At this point, Qi Huan seemed to relax a bit, but he still couldn't hide his exhaustion.

After all, recalling the scene at the time, it was live ammunition from the Type 95 assault rifle. If Feng Yuxiu had made a mistake, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Just then, a sharp scream shattered the silence. "Get out of here!!!"

Li Xuanxuan erupted in anger, her voice filled with rage and despair as she shouted and yelled at the soldiers around her.

Her body trembled slightly, her face was covered in tears, and she truly felt that sense of despair and helplessness.

For a young college student officer like her, this was undoubtedly the first time in her life she had experienced such a brutal test.

After all, in peacetime, most officers have never suffered such severe torture.

Yuan Lang gazed at Li Xuanxuan quietly, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. "Let's send her home once she calms down."

As Wu Zhe once said, what's the point of having classes? How could a prestigious Special Forces unit like the Old A Brigade not find a group of excellent military commanders to teach? And bringing in a college student officer like Li Xuanxuan, while she may have rich theoretical knowledge, is far from meeting the needs of special forces in actual combat operations.

Special forces courses can only be taken by seasoned veterans who have experienced real combat.

From the moment Li Xuanxuan and Liu Mang arrived here, they became part of this final exercise assessment, a link in this brutal trial.

Feng Yuxiu remained silent for a moment, then slowly walked forward and stood in front of Li Xuanxuan.

He gazed at her silently, a complex emotion in his eyes.

Li Xuanxuan, who was on the verge of collapse, suddenly trembled when she saw Feng Yuxiu, and then threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.

Liu Mang stood silently in the distance, watching this scene with a bitter smile on his face.

He finally understood why Li Xuanxuan had developed such a deep affection for Feng Yuxiu, a military officer.

When faced with the threat of a group of mercenaries, Feng Yuxiu showed no fear. His courage and determination gave Li Xuanxuan an unprecedented sense of security.

Liu Mang knew that he had no chance in this competition for love, and his heart died completely.

-

As night fell, the bright moonlight shone on a vast, open meadow.

A helicopter sat there quietly, its rotor blades slowly beginning to spin, emitting a low rumble.

A powerful wind swept through the surrounding air, bending and deforming the leaves on the ground.

Most of the eleven people who participated in this assessment sat silently on the ground, burying their heads in their crotches, looking somewhat frustrated and disappointed.

It is clear that this assessment eliminated many people; they were unable to persevere to the end in this brutal test.

Qi Huan stood aside, looking at the soldiers, and sighed softly, "Out of eleven people, only six passed in the end."

"Fuck your mother!!!" Suddenly, an angry shout broke the silence of the scene.

Wu Zhe could no longer maintain his usual composure. His face flushed red, his eyes blazing with anger, and he pointed at Yuan Lang, cursing, "You really treat us like Japanese! Damn it, how can you torture people like this?!"

He no longer has any semblance of normalcy.

His voice was filled with anger and dissatisfaction, as if he wanted to vent all the resentment in his heart.

Yuan Lang glanced at Wu Zhe sideways, a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Warfare is based on deception. You're a master's student, how come you don't even understand this basic principle? How about I give you some psychological counseling during the exercise another day?"

Wu Zhe's face was still full of anger, and his body trembled slightly, as if he wanted to refute Yuan Lang's words, but couldn't find the right words for a moment.

He had no injuries on his body, which Yuan Lang found somewhat strange.

Yuan Lang turned to look at Qi Huan, his eyes filled with questions, "What happened? Didn't you do anything to him?"

Qi Huan sighed helplessly and looked at an old soldier beside him, "Wu Zhe is your responsibility, what exactly happened?"

The veteran shook his head with a wry smile. "Reporting, Captain, we simply can't continue interrogating him. When I say I'm Vietnamese, he speaks to me in Vietnamese. When I say I actually live in Thailand, he immediately switches to Thai. Next time you need someone with military foreign language skills, please assign them to someone else. I really can't handle this job!"

Yuan Lang raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "I didn't realize that someone with two master's degrees in optoelectronics would also know so many languages."

Wu Zhe sneered, a hint of smugness in his eyes. "Report to the captain, the mother mouse and her baby mouse encountered a cat and were chased and panicked. The mother mouse turned around and said to the cat: Woof woof! The cat ran away in fright, and the mouse returned to the team safely."

Yuan Lang was taken aback, a look of confusion on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Wu Zhe continued calmly, a slight smile on his face, "Do you know what the mouse's mother said to the little mouse? She said that this is the benefit of learning another foreign language."

Yuan Lang was stunned for a moment, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. His laughter echoed loudly across the open grassland. "Get on the plane."

Not long after, Cheng Cai walked out slowly with his head down. There were several soldiers beside him with their heads down as well, their faces filled with disappointment and frustration.

Yuan Lang's expression turned cold. "Where is he?"

Qi Huan sighed softly and slowly shook his head.

The plane roared to life and slowly departed from this desolate land on the border of Yunnan.

A tremendous roar echoed through the night sky, as if marking the end of the exercise.

The lush green forest was quickly left behind by the plane, gradually disappearing from sight and becoming a complete wasteland.

It was as if this group of people had never been here at all. All traces were swept clean, and all military weapons and equipment were moved out. Everything was restored to its original state.

On the plane, Feng Yuxiu sat quietly, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

As he recalled this so-called exercise, he gradually realized some of its flaws. In fact, from the very beginning, the exercise had its weaknesses.

The vulnerability didn't start with the informant's military maps, but rather appeared during the interrogation process after he was captured.

The informant once said that this was a large family of drug traffickers, and they were Vietnamese.

Since they were Vietnamese, why did they speak such standard Mandarin during the interrogation? It's important to know that learning Mandarin is very difficult for Vietnamese people; their pronunciation often includes strange accents, much like Thai pronunciation, making it difficult for them to speak such standard Mandarin.

Inside the Old A base, in a spacious conference room, Railway, Yuan Lang, and several lieutenant colonels sat quietly at the conference table, awaiting the upcoming meeting.

This test not only assesses the soldiers' operational capabilities but also scores their overall performance.

Of course, most importantly, we should give those who leave a dignified reason.

After all, these eleven people were selected from among thousands of candidates. Their military skills are top-notch in their respective units. If they were placed in any grassroots unit, they would be considered elite soldiers.

Their departure must be explained reasonably in order to account to their original units.

Soon, Cheng Cai became the first person to undergo the review.

He stood in front of the conference room door, took a deep breath, straightened his uniform, and shouted, "Report!"

"Come in." Yuan Lang's voice came from the conference room, his tone carrying a hint of authority.

Cheng Cai pushed open the door and entered. He stood straight, his eyes fixed firmly on the reviewing officers in the center of the conference room.

Yuan Lang stared at Cheng Cai expressionlessly, a hint of scrutiny in his eyes. "Why did you choose to leave during the exercise?"

Cheng Cai stood even straighter and replied in a loud voice, "Report! I've discovered this is an exercise, not a real war."

His tone carried a hint of confidence, as if he believed his choice was correct.

Yuan Lang asked calmly, a hint of doubt in his eyes, "You mean you discovered it was just an exercise, therefore you believed your captured teammates were not in danger, and so you left the combat zone alone? Is that what you mean?"

Cheng Cai answered loudly, without the slightest hesitation, "Yes!"

Yuan Lang stood up, slowly walked around the table, and stood in front of Cheng Cai. His eyes revealed a hint of sternness. "Is it permissible to abandon your comrades during an exercise? Is it permissible to leave without permission during an exercise? Did you really realize this was an exercise, or were you unsure if it was an exercise, so... you're running away? You've betrayed your comrades?"

His voice was full of questioning, as if he wanted to dig out all of Cheng Cai's thoughts.

Cheng Cai stammered, "No...no, I just felt I had to send the message back. I found there were no hostages inside, so I wanted to go back..."

His voice carried a hint of panic, clearly at a loss for words after being questioned by Yuan Lang.

Yuan Lang glanced back at the railway, a hint of helplessness in his eyes, then turned back to Cheng Cai, asking, "What is your mission?"

"Report, make contact with the informant!" Cheng Cai replied loudly, his voice carrying a hint of determination.

Yuan Lang glanced back at the railway again, then turned around and stared intently at Cheng Cai. "Your teammates walked past you under enemy fire, and you were thinking about how to get back to the unit and report their deaths? But they're not dead. What if they were being led to the execution ground by the enemy? If you leave your comrades, they will be killed by the enemy. You had every opportunity to rescue them."

Cheng Cai fell silent, a hint of confusion in his eyes, as if he were pondering Yuan Lang's words.

But he was still not completely convinced. He felt that he had done the right thing by sending the information back immediately. Couldn't he have grasped the overall situation?
Yuan Lang also noticed Cheng Cai's resentment.

Just as the original intention of this meeting was, it was to make those who left truly accept their mistakes and understand their errors.

Yuan Lang pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Sergeant, your performance has always been good, with a high score in military skills. You performed exceptionally well in this exercise, enduring torture that most people couldn't withstand. To be honest, deserting in the face of battle isn't surprising, since this is your first time facing a real battlefield. But I don't like the reasons you gave yourself."

Cheng Cai raised his head, a hint of stubbornness in his eyes, "I endured the torture, but I found there were no hostages inside, and I felt I hadn't done anything wrong."

His emotions suddenly surged, his voice trembling slightly, "I didn't make excuses, really I didn't. I don't think I did anything wrong! You always say, fighting is survival, and survival is fighting! I know this matter is beyond resolution! I preserved my chance to survive, leaving it for the next battle! What's wrong with that?"

Yuan Lang and Tie Lu exchanged a glance.

Yuan Lang's gaze finally turned cold, and his voice carried a hint of sternness, "Us? Weren't you one of us in this war?"

Cheng Cai's indignation vanished in an instant, and even his tone became stammering, "Of...of course...I am also one of you...no no no, I am also Old A."

Yuan Lang shook his head, his tone somewhat regretful, "Comrade Sergeant, what you said isn't wrong. As an army, of course, we can't risk everything at once. But as a soldier in the ranks, I'm always ready to shield my comrade from bullets, because I believe he would even shield me from artillery shells."

He stood up at the railway station, feeling that Yuan Lang had said enough and it was time to make a decision.

He looked at Cheng Cai and slowly said, "As a civilian, you are beyond reproach, but as a soldier, you have strayed from the core of this force. We are the people's army, and behind us are millions of Chinese people. We cannot retreat in the face of danger."

Looking at the two leaders' decision regarding him, Cheng Cai's voice became stubborn, "I don't accept it! I believe I'm right! Taking responsibility for one's own life is taking responsibility for this team! Does it mean that we have to all die to move forward? What's wrong with leaving hope behind?!"

Railway did not answer; only utter disappointment appeared in his eyes.

Yuan Lang stood behind Cheng Cai, his voice becoming deep and powerful, "You're right. If this is truly what you're thinking, I'd applaud you. But Comrade Cheng Cai, tell me, why did you plan this highly realistic exercise?"

"Of course it was for testing, but I didn't get the perfect result! But if you give me another chance, I believe..." Cheng Cai replied eagerly, his voice filled with anticipation.

"Don't rush to defend yourself, Comrade Cheng Cai."

Yuan Lang looked at this outstanding soldier; his military skills were more than enough to make him a special forces soldier.

pity……

"Comrade Cheng, you should know that in any battle, the most casualties are always the new recruits who are fighting for the first time, while the most enemy-killing are the veterans who have risked their lives."

We don't want you to face real combat for the first time, so we went to great lengths to design your first time.

Because...people who have faced life-or-death situations understand many things. Now tell me, Cheng Cai, what have you understood?

Cheng Cai fell silent. He seemed to want to say something, but his throat was blocked.

Yuan Lang turned around, his voice becoming low, "A thousand people will have a thousand different answers, but the ones that give a satisfactory response are always those soldiers who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others."

Chengcai, don't even think about it. I'm asking about your personal experience, but you haven't experienced this at all. You've skipped this hurdle, and you're missing out on one of the most important experiences for a soldier.

You gave up, and you lost.

The last sentence made Cheng Cai turn around instantly, his voice roaring, "I didn't give up! I just wanted to go back and report the intelligence! I never thought of running away! You can abandon me, but you can't say I gave up!"

“I came from the Fifth Class of the Grassland and have been standing here ever since. I have never known what it means to give up! I only have choices! And none of my choices have been wrong!”

My own choice...

Yuan Lang uttered his last words, "Some people give up their ideals because of reality, while others give up reality because of their ideals. Cheng Cai, you gave up your perceived stupidity because you were smart, and I can't say you did anything wrong."

But who told you that once you put on this uniform, you should make your own choices? Look at those who succeeded because of their stupidity; it wasn't just luck.

Honestly, which of them wasn't more convinced of their beliefs than you?

“No one here is worse than you; they are all top-notch. But those who stayed have persevered, and their actions may seem foolish to you.”

"But that's exactly what the Chinese People's Liberation Army needs."

"Protect the people, and forge ahead without hesitation!"

"I'm sorry, you're one of the best snipers I've ever seen. It's a pity you're not suited for Old A. Go back."

After saying that, he turned around and drew an X after Cheng Cai's name.

Cheng Cai trembled all over, managing to force a smile.

"Next up, Wu Zhe!"

(End of this chapter)