Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yan Hai’s trainees protested after seven men disappeared during a dangerous swim back to shore, and he confronted them with the risks they had agreed to accept. The chapter ended with the trainees acknowledging that they had chosen to take part despite knowing their lives could be in danger.

• Bei Chen Xiang watched as 143 trainees struggled toward shore together, helping comrades who could not swim.
• When the first group returned, the soldiers demanded that He Chen Guang and the other instructors rescue the missing men, then threatened to withdraw from training.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered Chen Shan Ming to bring the trainees back so he could personally explain what had happened.
• Chen Shan Ming reported that 143 of the 150 swimmers had returned and seven remained missing in the ocean.
• Jiang Yan Hai questioned a protesting trainee about the signed agreement, the warnings, and the choice to participate, and the trainee confirmed that the soldiers had made that choice.

Jiang Yan Hai forced the trainees to confront the danger of their training by demonstrating his marksmanship and telling them they could quit. As one trainee withdrew and the others faced their choice, a rescued soldier asked why they were not told that the men presumed dead were actually safe.

• Jiang Yan Hai challenged the trainees over their wills and warned them that their training would not include time for emotional support.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered He Chen Guang, Wang Yan Bing, Song Kai Fei, Xu Tian Long, and Li Er Niu to balance mandarins on their heads, then shot all five mandarins from thirty meters away.
• Jiang Yan Hai declared that the trainees could quit or report him, and warned that later training would be far more brutal.
• The instructors ordered anyone quitting to carve their name on a wooden marker and place it in the graveyard, and one trainee stepped forward to withdraw.
• From another room, one of the seven rescued soldiers asked why the trainees were not told that they were safe and argued that they could become excellent soldiers with training.

Yang Rui and Jiang Yan Hai put the trainees through a dangerous sea-jump exercise that tested their swimming, composure, and willingness to protect one another. After revealing that the eleven apparent deaths were staged, Jiang Yan Hai regrouped the survivors and began dividing them for the next phase of training.

• Yang Rui rejected seven trainees for losing control after comrades appeared to die, but praised their choices and told them they would continue learning to swim.
• Thirty-two trainees withdrew after the first batch, while the second batch organized swimming partners for its non-swimmers and completed the exercise without anyone being declared dead.
• Across four batches, 103 trainees withdrew and eleven were presumed dead, leaving 486 trainees lined up after the exercise.
• Jiang Yan Hai revealed that the eleven apparent casualties were alive, and the 497 remaining trainees embraced them and wept before returning to formation.
• Jiang Yan Hai announced that the trainees would be split into two swimming groups, explained the limits on rescue, and ordered roll call.

Jiang Yan Hai split the trainees between sea training and cement-pit swimming pools, where he put the weaker swimmers through punishing practice. He monitored their condition and allowed rescue only after they passed out, leaving the trainees to endure the ordeal while he ensured they suffered no lasting harm.

• Chen Shan Ming and the others divided the trainees into 307 stronger swimmers for sea training and 190 weaker swimmers for pool training.
• Jiaolong instructors explained freestyle, breaststroke, and breathing before ordering the pool trainees into the water to practice.
• Jiang Yan Hai refused to let the trainees leave the pools to rest and told them they would be rescued only if they choked on water or faced danger.
• When a trainee began drowning, Jiang Yan Hai made the rescuers wait until the man passed out, then had them pull him from the water.
• Jiang Yan Hai used his Advanced Scanning Program to guide treatment and monitor the rescued trainee, preventing lasting harm.

Jiang Yan Hai put the remaining trainees through intensive swimming training before beginning artillery evasion drills. The chapter leaves him standing on a concrete platform as a rocket approaches, while the trainees take cover in nearby pits.

• After three days of pool training and a week of ocean swimming, the remaining trainees improved their abilities, while forty-one more withdrew.
• Jiang Yan Hai divided the remaining 456 trainees into groups and started a drill on evading artillery shells.
• Number 38 explained how to find cover, lie prone, and protect oneself during a bombardment, and Jiang Yan Hai praised his answer.
• Jiang Yan Hai placed a Laser Emitter Device on the concrete platform as the trainees took cover in pits.
• Bei Chen Xiang sent a firing order to a rocket artillery battalion, which launched a rocket toward Jiang Yan Hai's position 180 kilometers away.

Jiang Yan Hai tested whether the soldiers still needed evasive training by subjecting them to a live rocket and artillery barrage. After the soldiers survived and climbed out of their pits, the concrete platform where Jiang Yan Hai had stood was left blasted into a huge crater.

• Number 45 questioned why the soldiers kept repeating an evasive training drill, and Jiang Yan Hai told everyone to watch the western sky.
• Jiang Yan Hai, Chen Shan Ming, and Miao Lang moved beside pits as six self-propelled howitzers fired and a guided 300mm rocket streaked toward the training area.
• The soldiers panicked at the incoming rocket and dove into pits as it struck the concrete platform, sending flames, fragments, dust, and debris across the area.
• A rapid sequence of artillery shells exploded around the pits, forcing the soldiers to stay prone as dirt collapsed over them.
• After the barrage ended, Chen Shan Ming and Miao Lang ordered the shaken soldiers to assemble, and they emerged to find the ground cratered and the concrete platform blasted apart.

Jiang Yan Hai subjected the recruits to live artillery fire as an exercise in evading shells, then tested their knowledge of the weapons used. After they correctly identified the artillery, he showed them the devastation of a 300mm rocket’s high-explosive shell, leaving them shaken but still in training.

• Chen Shan Ming blew the assembly whistle, and the recruits gathered after surviving the artillery bombardment.
• Number 52 challenged Jiang Yan Hai for using live rounds, but Jiang reminded the soldiers that they had agreed to live ammunition and offered them the chance to withdraw.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked the recruits to identify the weapons used, and they named a 300mm Long-Range Rocket Launcher and 155mm and 122mm howitzers.
• The recruits declined to withdraw and followed Jiang Yan Hai to inspect the damage from a high-explosive shell.
• Jiang Yan Hai showed them the crater blasted through reinforced concrete, and the recruits saw how powerful the artillery was.

Jiang Yan Hai and Chen Shan Ming put the trainees through a realistic shooting exercise, where they shot lifelike corpse models and buried the remains. Afterward, a staged explosion made most of them drop their meals, leaving them to face Jiang Yan Hai’s no-waste order.

• Jiang Yan Hai sent the trainees to a shooting range filled with lifelike corpse models, which Chen Shan Ming identified as their shooting instructors.
• The trainees shot the models, many of them vomited, and they packed the remains into boxes and buried them beneath the gravestones.
• Jiang Yan Hai ordered the trainees to eat every bit of food that fell on the ground, then began eating beside them.
• A staged explosion startled the trainees, causing most of them to throw their trays down and dive for cover.
• The trainees saw their scattered food and remembered Jiang Yan Hai’s order to pick up and eat anything that fell.

Jiang Yan Hai forced the trainees to eat food spilled during an explosion, then assigned language study and nighttime training. After a second explosion jolted them awake, the exhausted trainees returned to sleep, while Jiang Yan Hai planned harsher training at ALS's main base.

• Jiang Yan Hai ordered trainees whose meals had spilled to wash and eat the food, then assigned them 1,000 push-ups for wasting it.
• Jiang Yan Hai gave the seven trainees whose food had not spilled 1,500 push-ups for failing to react to the explosion.
• Jiang Yan Hai handed out language textbooks and required the trainees to memorize at least twenty words or phrases each day.
• After physical training, the exhausted trainees went to bed, but a pre-buried explosive charge blasted apart the ground between their barracks beds and woke them.
• The trainees rushed outside, realized there was no assembly, and returned to their dirt-covered, smoky barracks to sleep.
• Jiang Yan Hai let them rest and planned to send future groups to ALS's main training base for more demanding training across different environments.

Jiang Yan Hai’s training program produced a stronger first batch for Dark Blade while the second batch prepared to begin, and his work drew the higher-ups’ attention. He arrived at the National Defense University to report to Old Commander and other senior officers.

• Jiang Yan Hai described how Dark Blade’s training would prepare soldiers for different terrains, while recruits continued to withdraw or be selected out.
• Jiang Yan Hai completed training with the first batch, leaving 273 of 600 special operations soldiers and raising the Dark Blade Special Operations Regiment’s strength to 651.
• A further 986 personnel completed the three-month Physical Training program and prepared to begin the full training under Gong Jian after a short vacation.
• Jiang Yan Hai noted that his soldiers’ physical fitness and combat skills had improved rapidly, though the first batch still needed experience and coordination.
• Jiang Yan Hai traveled to the capital to report on his work and met Old Commander, the deputy commander of the Eastern Theater Command, Principal Zheng, and several others at the National Defense University.

Jiang Yan Hai explained why Dark Blade could make a Blue Army occupation of Jinling nearly impossible for the Red Army to challenge in the planned urban-combat exercise. The chiefs recognized that his confidence came from his proven special-operations and command experience.

• Old Commander asked Jiang Yan Hai whether Dark Blade could fight in the Eastern Theater Command’s urban-combat exercise, and Jiang Yan Hai volunteered for the first battle.
• Old Commander assigned Dark Blade to the Blue Army, which would occupy Jinling, and Jiang Yan Hai warned that the Red Army would have little chance to play.
• Jiang Yan Hai described how Dark Blade could control Jinling’s surveillance systems and guard likely entry routes, making it difficult for Red Army special forces to enter the city.
• Jiang Yan Hai argued that even a decapitation strike could fail because he could command troops without a fixed headquarters and lure infiltrators into an explosive trap.
• The chiefs recalled Jiang Yan Hai’s past operations and recognized that his record and capabilities backed up his claims.

Jiang Yan Hai was tasked with guarding Phantom’s secrets and monitoring the security of its research networks while continuing to train his units. After months without leave, he was sent to Pearl City to see Li Ruo Bai and discuss their marriage before submitting a Marriage Report.

• Jiang Yan Hai declined to take part in the Eastern Theater Command’s city-defense exercise and said he would continue training his units.
• Old Commander ordered Jiang Yan Hai to watch for the Ghost Shadow virus, protect Phantom’s blueprints, and secretly monitor the networks at Taihang and Old Liu’s research institute.
• Old Commander warned Jiang Yan Hai that spies had been arrested while targeting Phantom and that his identity as Jiang Ling must remain secret.
• Jiang Yan Hai continued training and security work as Phantom production advanced, with twelve aircraft completed by September besides the two used for testing and research.
• Fan Tian Lei and Master Kang ordered Jiang Yan Hai to go home, discuss marriage with Li Ruo Bai, and submit a Marriage Report after his birthday.
• Jiang Yan Hai received leave and headed to Pearl City to meet Li Ruo Bai after nine months apart.

Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai spent the day together, discussed her worries about getting pregnant, and planned to submit their Marriage Report after his birthday. The next day, Jiang Yan Hai went shopping with Li Ruo Bai despite the risks of appearing in public.

• Li Ruo Bai asked Jiang Yan Hai about his health examinations and admitted she was worried that she had not become pregnant.
• Jiang Yan Hai reassured Li Ruo Bai that conception was uncertain and told her to let nature take its course.
• Li Ruo Bai said they would stay home until Jiang Yan Hai's birthday and then submit their Marriage Report.
• Li Ruo Bai asked Jiang Yan Hai to disguise himself so they could go shopping, but he explained that Jiang Ling was also unable to appear in public because foreign intelligence agencies were searching for her.
• Jiang Yan Hai went shopping with Li Ruo Bai the next day.

Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai shopped together and discussed buying a home of their own, though Sparrow reminded them that they would likely live mainly in the military compound. When a message upset Li Ruo Bai, Jiang Yan Hai chose to respect her privacy rather than press her, and she remained silent about what she had read.

• Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai browsed shops and talked about buying a home, with Jiang Yan Hai offering to pay for it.
• Sparrow reminded them that Jiang Yan Hai would probably live in the military compound and that any outside home would need security measures.
• Li Ruo Bai received a WeChat message, became unsettled, and asked Jiang Yan Hai to take her back.
• Jiang Yan Hai noticed Li Ruo Bai's mood but did not ask about the message, explaining that spouses should respect each other's privacy.

Jiang Yan Hai reassured Li Ruo Bai about keeping some privacy, then learned that Wang Xin Tian was back and intended to pursue her. Jiang Yan Hai encouraged Li Ruo Bai not to worry and went out with her, hoping Wang Xin Tian would show up so they could settle the matter before his birthday and visit to Old Commander.

• Li Ruo Bai showed Jiang Yan Hai a chat from Su Ya Xuan, and he accidentally saw their intimate conversation before she snatched the phone away.
• Jiang Yan Hai read Su Ya Xuan's message warning that Wang Xin Tian had returned and planned to pursue Li Ruo Bai in Pearl City.
• Li Ruo Bai explained that Wang Xin Tian had pursued her since they were young, but she had no feelings for him and found his persistence annoying.
• Jiang Yan Hai reassured Li Ruo Bai that Wang Xin Tian's pursuit was not her fault and said he was willing to face him.
• On September 27, Jiang Yan Hai took Li Ruo Bai out, hoping to resolve the situation before his birthday and his visit to Old Commander for a signature on his Marriage Report.

Jiang Yan Hai stopped to confront Wang Xin Tian, who had been following Li Ruo Bai, but a level-one combat alert interrupted them. He left to respond to an enemy takeover of a secret research base, while Li Ruo Bai promised to wait for him.

• Jiang Yan Hai and Li Ruo Bai pulled over, and Wang Xin Tian got out of his Bentley to introduce himself as Li Ruo Bai’s pursuer.
• Jiang Yan Hai received a level-one combat alert as Hound, Sparrow, and the other security personnel secured the intersection and ordered Wang Xin Tian back.
• A National Security officer held Wang Xin Tian at gunpoint, while a text warned drivers that the intersection was under temporary military lockdown.
• Jiang Yan Hai learned that a secret research base had entered lockdown twenty-two minutes earlier, indicating it might have been captured by enemies.
• Jiang Yan Hai asked for the base’s information and prepared to return to lead the response, while Li Ruo Bai hugged him and said she would wait.

Jiang Yan Hai escaped by helicopter under a sweeping effort to suppress photos and reports about the incident. After he left, Li Ruo Bai beat Wang Xin Tian and warned him to stay away, then asked Sparrow to teach her how to fight.

• Black Hawk ordered his team to block recordings and reports of the incident and erase related online posts and footage.
• Jiang Yan Hai boarded a departing Zhi-20 as two WZ-10 helicopters escorted him toward the nearest military airport.
• After the helicopters left, Li Ruo Bai ordered Sparrow and Hound to drag Wang Xin Tian behind a hedge, where she beat him and threatened him to stay away.
• Sparrow drove Li Ruo Bai away under protection, and Li Ruo Bai asked her to teach her how to fight.

Jiang Yan Hai arrived at Base No. 9, a sealed research facility whose power, communications, and sensors had failed during a lockdown. After learning that seventy-two researchers and twelve logistics personnel were trapped inside, he prepared a Special Operations Regiment team and ordered military units to deploy around the base.

• Jiang Yan Hai reviewed the base’s layout and learned that its only entrances were sealed or heavily protected, while a hidden route connected to an underground river.
• Qiao Fangyuan reported that the base had been locked down for two hours and forty-two minutes, trapping seventy-two researchers and twelve logistics personnel inside with limited air supplies.
• Jiang Yan Hai learned that the base’s electronics and external power equipment had failed after a sudden surge, and that its research involved material returned from Africa.
• Qiao Fangyuan and Black Hawk explained that infiltration through the underground river was possible but difficult, and that the sensors monitoring it had been destroyed.
• Jiang Yan Hai selected a sixteen-person team to lead into the base and ordered aircraft, drones, the 9th Rapid Reaction Brigade, artillery, and nearby guard units to prepare.

Jiang Yan Hai led a sixteen-man squad into the Qilian Mountains to investigate the sealed base, entering through an abandoned cave passage. The team reached an apparent dead end that Jiang Yan Hai’s Scanning System identified as a secret emergency route, and he prepared to breach its thin rock barrier.

• Jiang Yan Hai assembled an experienced operational squad, while the 9th Rapid Reaction Brigade prepared supplies and transport aircraft.
• Jiang Yan Hai and fifteen men parachuted into the target area, collected their equipment, and followed his assignments for weapons and communications gear.
• Jiang Yan Hai led the team to a cave entrance on the mountainside, and Xu Tian Long set up signal transmission devices as they advanced.
• Jiang Yan Hai guided the team through narrow, twisting passages until they reached a spacious dead end concealing the secret emergency passage.

Jiang Yan Hai led his team through a concealed room and into a supply warehouse inside the base, then cautiously advanced into its corridor. They found damaged cables but no one on their level, leaving the cause of the base’s blackout and the whereabouts of its seventy-four comrades unresolved.

• Jiang Yan Hai ordered the team to wear gas masks while Xu Hong set demolition charges to open the hidden room.
• Jiang Yan Hai checked the room’s air and declared it safe, then opened its concealed door into a logistics warehouse.
• He Chen Guang and Yang Rui cleared the warehouse and listened at its doors before reporting the corridor outside was quiet.
• Jiang Yan Hai contacted command and prepared the team to leave the warehouse, warning them to identify unfamiliar people before firing.
• The team advanced through an empty passage lined with warehouses and found increasingly severe damage to cables, but no people on their level.