Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Night falls, in the dormitory not far from the training ground of the Jinghua Military Region.

An entire floor had been temporarily set aside as accommodation for the eighty students from the National Defense University and the twenty college students from the recruit training company. The rooms were standard four-person rooms with neatly made beds, but no one was sleeping at the moment.

In room number 3, four graduates from the Information Engineering Department of the National Defense University were gathered together. Zhao Ming—the first boy to shout "Report!" during the day—was excitedly gesturing: "Did you see that? Blindfolded gun disassembly! Ten seconds! Last semester, when I took a small arms course, the teacher demonstrated disassembly and assembly, and even with my eyes open, it took at least twenty seconds!"

Li Wei, on the upper bunk, poked his head out: "What's even more outrageous is that sniping! A moving target at 300 meters, without a scope! Do you know what that means? It means he's incorporated every parameter—wind speed, humidity, ballistics—into his instincts! How many bullets would he have to fire to achieve that?"

"And tanks!" Wang Hao sat up from the bed opposite him. "Doesn't our department have an armored command major? Their instructors drive tanks normally, but Colonel Lin drives them like race cars! Turning on the spot, side-stepping... I bet even the top armored troops aren't that fierce."

Zhang Chen, who had been sitting in the far corner without saying a word, suddenly spoke up: "How old do you think Colonel Lin is?"

"Twenty-five." Zhao Ming remembered clearly, "The principal mentioned it yesterday when he introduced us."

"Twenty-five years old, senior colonel." Zhang Chen pushed up his glasses. "What were our ranks when we graduated? Second lieutenant, first lieutenant. How many merits and experiences does he have to accumulate to reach two stars at twenty-five?"

The room quieted down.

"That battle on the southwestern border..." Li Wei lowered his voice, "Those four masked men in the news... do you think they might..."

"He's definitely involved," Wang Hao stated confidently. "Otherwise, there's no explanation. What else could a 25-year-old colonel do so quickly besides those life-risking feats?"

The four looked at each other, their eyes filled with both shock and a strange excitement.

"Tomorrow..." Zhao Ming clenched his fist. "I'll definitely go. This kind of opportunity might only come once in a lifetime. Learning this kind of skill from someone like this... it's worth it."

"I'm going too," Li Wei said. "My dad is a veteran, and he said that if you're going to be a soldier, you should be the best. Colonel Lin is the best soldier, and I want to learn from him."

"Count me in." Wang Hao lay back on the bed. "Even though it might be tough, it's... worth it."

Zhang Chen didn't say anything, but silently took out his notebook from his suitcase and began to record what he had seen that day. He was the calmest of the four, but his fingers, gripping the pen tightly, turned slightly white.

Room 5 houses four college students from the basic training company. Their academic qualifications are not as high as those from the National Defense University, but they are still undergraduate graduates and were among the best students in their schools.

"Do you think what Colonel Lin just said... is true?" a new recruit named Liu Qiang asked. "Electronic warfare, network attack and defense, multiple languages... how can one person learn so much?"

Sun Hao, lying on the bed next to me, rolled over: "If someone else had told me, I definitely wouldn't have believed it. But you saw it today—guns, tanks, helicopters, he's proficient in them all. If someone like that said he knew all that, I'd believe it."

"But..." another recruit, Chen Yu, frowned, "We're just ordinary college students, studying mechanical engineering, computer science, and stuff like that. Can we handle the training of special forces?"

"We have to bear it, even if we can't," Zhou Feng, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. He was the oldest of the four, twenty-six years old, and had only joined the army after graduating with a master's degree. "Do you know how lucky we are? Out of millions of soldiers in the entire army, how many have the opportunity to join the special forces? Not to mention being personally trained by an instructor of Colonel Lin's caliber."

He sat up and looked at his three comrades: "I come from the countryside, and it wasn't easy for my family to support my postgraduate studies. I joined the army because I wanted to make a name for myself. Now that the opportunity is right in front of me, I'll seize it, even if it means going through a lot."

There was a moment of silence in the room.

"Then... shall we go tomorrow?" Liu Qiang asked.

"Go!" the other three said in unison.

At the same time, in the guesthouse's small conference room, Gao Cheng and several of Canglang's core members sat together smoking. The room was filled with smoke, and each person wore a complex expression.

"Captain, Colonel Lin's skills today... were terrifying." Demolition expert Lao Wei exhaled a puff of smoke. "I've been in the army for sixteen years, and I've never seen anyone drive a tank like that. Even our armored brigade's ace tank commander isn't that skilled."

Sniper Xiao Wang nodded: "And that sniping. Targeting a moving target at 300 meters without a scope... that's not just good marksmanship, that's magic."

Gao Cheng didn't speak, just silently smoked. He thought of the "ghost" who single-handedly destroyed their entire squad during the last exercise; he thought of Lin Zhe's confidence when he calmly said, "More people are just a hindrance"; he thought of the young man on the training field today who turned the impossible into possible.

"Which military unit do you think Colonel Lin came from?" Gao Cheng suddenly asked.

The group looked at each other.

Old Wei lowered his voice: "Captain, you mean... 'that unit'?"

"Otherwise what?" Gao Cheng flicked his cigarette ash. "A twenty-five-year-old colonel, an all-around elite soldier proficient in everything... Who else but the nation's 'war machine' could do that?"

Xiao Wang gasped, "Really...?"

"Most likely." Gao Cheng nodded. "I've heard the commander vaguely mention that every member of the team there is an all-rounder. From hand-to-hand combat and shooting to flying planes and tanks, from foreign languages ​​to hacking, there's nothing they can't do. What Colonel Lin demonstrated today is just the tip of the iceberg."

The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds. Although the Canglang team was also a special forces unit, compared to the legendary military units, they were like elementary school students compared to doctoral students.

"Then we..." Old Wei hesitated, "Will we be able to learn anything from following such a master?"

"Yes!" Gao Cheng stubbed out his cigarette, his eyes resolute. "Not only can we learn, but we must learn. This is our opportunity—to get up close and personal with the nation's elite combat forces and learn the most advanced training concepts and methods."

He looked at his comrades and said, "I have an idea. This time, when Colonel Lin is training these cadets, we can't just be his assistants. We also need to learn, follow along, and practice. Whatever Colonel Lin teaches the cadets, we'll practice; whatever high-tech the cadets learn, we'll learn too."

"But..." Xiao Wang hesitated, "We're all over thirty. Can our brains keep up with those high-tech things?"

"We have to keep up, even if we can't," Gao Cheng said firmly. "Modern warfare is changing, special operations are changing. If we don't keep up, we'll be eliminated sooner or later. Think about it, what if we encounter an opponent like Colonel Lin on another mission? Will we be taken down like weeds, just like in the last exercise?"

These words stung everyone. The crushing defeat in the last exercise remained a thorn in the side of every member of the Canglang team.

"The captain's right," Old Wei gritted his teeth. "It's just learning, isn't it? Back in my engineering unit, I started from scratch learning demolition. Now, learning high technology, we can just start all over again!"

"I'll learn too," Xiao Wang said. "Even though I only know how to shoot guns, I can still use computers. Electronic warfare, network attack and defense... I'll learn!"

The others also expressed their opinions.

Gao Cheng nodded in satisfaction: "Alright, starting tomorrow, we'll not only be instructors, but also trainees. We'll train ourselves the way Colonel Lin trains the trainees. In addition, we'll also learn from those top students—they understand the technology and theory, while we understand practical application and experience. We'll learn from each other and improve together."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the lit window in the guesthouse: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we seize it, Canglang will be transformed; if we don't, we'll just stay where we are."

Outside the window, the night was deep.

But in each room, a fire was burning.

The next morning, at 5:50.

The training ground was still shrouded in a thin mist, but it was already packed with people.

Lin Zhe arrived ten minutes early, and upon seeing the scene before him, a barely perceptible smile flashed in his eyes.

One hundred people.

All eighty cadets from the National Defense University and twenty college students from the recruit company were present. Dressed in their uniforms, they stood ramrod straight, their eyes no longer filled with yesterday's curiosity and excitement, but only with determination.

Gao Cheng arrived with six of Canglang's core members and stood beside the group.

Lin Zhe walked to the front of the line, said nothing, and just quietly looked at them.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

No one moved, no one spoke, only the sound of the morning wind blowing across the training ground.

"Very good." Lin Zhe finally spoke, his voice calm. "Since you have all chosen to stay, I will tell you the rules from now on."

He paused for a moment: "First, from today onwards, you will not have names, only numbers. Numbers one through one hundred, arranged by height."

"Second, during training, you are not allowed to contact the outside world, ask for leave, or quit. Unless you are disabled or dead."

"Third, I decide the training content, the training intensity, and the training standards. You can raise any opinions, but you still have to follow them."

"Fourth, and most importantly—" Lin Zhe's gaze was like a knife, "Here, education is useless, background is useless, connections are useless. The only pass is ability. Whoever can't keep up, gets out."

Someone in the line swallowed hard, but no one backed down.

Lin Zhe turned and pointed to the training field: "See those obstacles? This morning, it's an obstacle course, 20 kilometers. Requirements: fully equipped, 35 kilograms of load, complete in two hours. Those who exceed the time limit will not get lunch. Now, collect your equipment, let's begin!"

There was no mobilization, no encouragement, only cold commands.

The trainees were stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and rushed towards the equipment collection point.

Gao Cheng walked over to Lin Zhe and whispered, "Colonel Lin, isn't this intensity... a bit too much? They're still students..."

"Students?" Lin Zhe glanced at him. "From the moment they chose to stay, they were no longer students. They are soldiers, soldiers who will go to the battlefield. The battlefield will not show mercy just because you are a student."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Captain Gao, you guys get ready too. The members of the Azure Wolf team will train with us today."

Gao Cheng's eyes lit up: "Yes!"

He turned and ran to his teammates, relaying the order. Old Wei, Little Wang, and the others were initially taken aback, then their faces lit up with excitement—the opportunity had arrived!

On the training field, one hundred trainees, carrying heavy backpacks, began to run. Obstacle walls, barbed wire, mud pits... each one was a challenge.

Some people fell down, got up and kept running; some were out of breath, but gritted their teeth and persevered; some turned pale, but kept walking.

Lin Zhe stood at the edge of the training field, watching expressionlessly.

He knew this was just the beginning. Over the next year, these people would undergo hellish training, sweating, bleeding, and some might even actually collapse.

But those who persevere will undergo a complete transformation.

They will all become the knife he desires—sharp, resilient, and omnipotent.