Chapter 366: All Actors
Three days later, at the base training ground.
Two hundred elites stood in this empty indoor training field.
Among them are outstanding staff members from various military and police forces, outstanding students from various military and police academies, and various undercover agents who have been recalled long ago.
Among them were soldiers who were among the first to embark on the path of cultivation, including Cheng Gan.
Among them were young scientists from major research institutes, national treasures in their class, whose eyes gleamed with rationality.
There were also some outstanding students from the first batch of students at Yunlan University. Their faces still showed some immaturity, but they stood upright and had a calm demeanor.
What they have in common is that they all possess spiritual roots, and they are all loyal to their country.
Every individual is a prodigy in their own field.
At this moment, they stand here, awaiting a selection that will determine their fate.
In the observation room, Commander Qi and Chen Jianguo looked down through the one-way glass at the group of future talents of China.
"They're all promising talents," Chen Jianguo couldn't help but exclaim. He saw several young people from his own department whom he was grooming as his successors.
"Whether they're mules or horses, we'll only know after we take them out for a spin." Commander Qi's gaze swept over everyone, as if he were assessing a series of sharp blades about to be sharpened.
Zhou Jue stood beside them, spoke into his earpiece, and said, "The first test begins."
Below, a middle-aged man dressed in an instructor's uniform walked onto the platform.
"Listen up, everyone!" His voice boomed through the loudspeaker, echoing throughout the training ground.
"Your first assessment will not be physical fitness, combat skills, or spiritual root testing."
He paused, looking down at the faces below, some filled with doubt, others with confidence.
"It's a disguise."
“Now, each of you will be randomly assigned an identity. You could be a beggar, a woodcutter, or an arrogant servant of a family of cultivators.”
"You have ten minutes to use the props around you to complete your disguise."
"Then, you will enter a simulated scenario and live a day as yourselves."
"There is only one criterion for evaluation: your true identity must not be discovered by anyone."
"Now, begin drawing identities!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a slight commotion arose in the crowd below.
camouflage?
Those undercover agents who were originally out there looked knowing; this was their old job.
But the scientists and students looked completely bewildered.
This was completely different from the selection process they had imagined.
Inside the observation room, Chen Jianguo witnessed this scene: "Xiao Jue, these scientists are also people with spiritual roots. If they can pass the selection, we can choose a group of them."
"Uncle Chen, I understand. Regardless of their status, if they pass the assessment, they are the right candidate."
Commander Qi nodded: "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."
Sun Jiuchou did not participate in the assessment. He stood to the side, glancing at the two hundred soldiers from time to time and flipping through the documents in his hand for comparison.
The assessment began soon.
A special forces captain who is used to giving orders draws the role of a "punished waiter".
He changed into coarse clothes and smeared ash on his face, but when the examiner, who was playing the role of a "rude guest" in the simulated scenario, deliberately poured a bowl of soup on him...
He instinctively turned to the side, swiftly dodging the attack.
Then, a sharp, murderous glint flashed in his eyes.
The loudspeaker on the platform announced: "Number 017 is out."
A meticulous and rigorous researcher in the laboratory was assigned the role of a "vulgar village woman".
She tried her best to imitate, but when bargaining with people, she subconsciously used her fingernails to count the seconds and calculate the best price.
"Number 073 is out."
One elite after another succumbed to their most familiar and deeply ingrained instincts.
They can fake their appearance, but they cannot fake their deeply ingrained habits and temperament.
In just the first round, a third of the people were eliminated.
The rest are all real "actors".
"The second test: character." Zhou Jue's voice rang out again.
Those who passed the first round were taken to individual rooms.
There was only one holographic simulator in the room.
A young warrior enters a simulated scenario and becomes a menial disciple of a sect. While cleaning a forbidden area, he "accidentally" discovers a tattered ancient book.
Soul-Devouring Demon Art
His breathing became rapid instantly.
Inside the observation room, Chen Jianguo frowned: "Is this... inducing them to make a mistake?"
“No.” Zhou Jue shook her head. Her gaze seemed to penetrate the walls and see into the hearts of everyone.
"This shows their most genuine choices when faced with temptation."
Her ability to listen to The Hague allows her to clearly "hear" the inner voice of each candidate.
The young soldier's thoughts echoed in her mind.
[Demonic arts? Such things must not be allowed to remain! We must report this to the sect immediately!]
Without the slightest hesitation, he tucked the ancient book into his robes and turned to run toward the "Hall of Affairs".
【pass. 】
Another room.
A student from Yunlan University plays the role of a herbalist gathering boy in the mountains.
He "accidentally" discovered a thousand-year-old "Red Blood Ginseng" at the bottom of a cliff.
His heart was pounding.
Zhou Jue heard his inner thoughts.
[A thousand-year-old Crimson Blood Ginseng! If this were mine, my cultivation would at least break through two minor realms!]
No... We're a team, this is collective property... I can't be so selfish...
But... but who would know? I ate it secretly, and nobody knows...
He was torn between his inner turmoil and his own conscience.
Finally, he gritted his teeth.
No! Principal Zhou said we are a spark, not a pile of loose sand! Individual strength is insignificant compared to the collective!
He carefully dug out the Crimson Blood Ginseng, wrapped it in cloth, and hid it in his innermost pocket, intending to hand it over when he returned.
【pass. 】
Zhou Jue's selection process was cruel and direct.
She doesn't need saints, but she needs a group of comrades who know how to restrain themselves, how to make choices, and who put the collective interest above their personal interests.
Anyone who harbors a侥幸心理 (a sense of侥幸, or a belief that they can get away with something) or is tempted by greed, no matter how outstanding their previous performance was, will have their name crossed out by her.
The third round of testing followed immediately.
"endure."
This time, they were still playing the roles of menial disciples.
The scene is set in a sect's dining hall.
The examiner, playing the role of an "outer disciple," arrogantly walked up to a candidate and kicked over his rice bowl.
"What are you looking at? New handyman, don't you even have any sense of propriety? Go and clean the latrine!"
That candidate was a top agent who had carried out missions overseas with a near-death experience; his hands were stained with the blood of at least a dozen enemies.
His fist clenched instantly inside his sleeve.
Zhou Jue heard the roar in his heart.
[You bastard! I can snap your neck in three seconds!]
But the next second, he forcibly suppressed that murderous intent.
[Hold back... Don't act impulsively...]
He slowly loosened his fist, lowered his head, and said in a trembling voice filled with fear and apprehension, "Yes...yes, senior brother, I...I'll go right away."
He bent down, not even daring to look at the food on the ground, and humbly retreated.
Inside the observation room, Commander Qi clenched his fists.
"These brats..." Her voice was filled with heartache.
These are the pride of the nation, the eagles of the military, yet now they must play the role of ants here, enduring humiliation.
“Commander Qi, once we reach the Cangyun Realm, what they will encounter may be a hundred times more humiliating than this. We must prepare for the worst.” Zhou Jue said calmly, “If you can’t learn to endure, you will die.”
Commander Qi remained silent.
The three rounds of assessments have concluded.
A final list of one hundred people was presented to them.
Looking at the young yet determined faces on the list, Chen Jianguo breathed a long sigh of relief: "Finally... the selection is complete."
...
One day later, at the post-apocalyptic base, in a newly built, fully enclosed training camp.
The one hundred selected elites lined up in formation.
They already knew where they were going and what mission they were entrusted with.
Each person's face bore a mixture of excitement, tension, and determination.
Zhou Jue stood in front of them, his gaze sweeping across each of their faces.
She didn't say anything to boost morale.
"Before you go, there is one thing you must learn first."
She stretched out her hand, and a hundred barely perceptible rays of light flew from her fingertips, disappearing into the center of each person's forehead.
"boom!"
A vast and unfamiliar flood of information instantly entered everyone's minds.
That was the language of the Cangyun Realm, the script there, and the accent and intonation of the locals.
From intonation to grammar, from writing to listening and speaking, everything is branded into their minds.
A few minutes later, everyone opened their eyes, their eyes filled with shock.
They discovered that they had completely mastered a foreign language, as if they were born with it.
"This is your first line of defense for surviving over there."
Zhou Jue's voice echoed throughout the training camp.
"Now, let me tell you what kind of place you are going to."
"Forget everything you've seen in novels and TV dramas, and learn the rules of the Cangyun Realm."
"Your mission here is only one—to survive, learn something, and then come back."
"Each of you is a spark."
“I hope that when I lead you to that land, each of you will be ready to become a ‘native of the Azure Cloud Realm’.”
One hundred people stood ramrod straight, completely silent.
But in their eyes, that flame called hope and mission is burning brightly.
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