Undercurrents and Survival Training

The dull boom of the blast door closing echoed through the low barracks for three seconds before fading away completely.

Grey Falcon—the one-eyed, limping man—sat back down on his bunk. He did not look at Lin Xiao and the other two again. Instead, he pulled a flat metal flask from beneath his bed, unscrewed the cap, and tipped back a mouthful. The sharp scent of vodka spread through the air, mingling with mold and sweat to create a suffocating atmosphere.

The other men in the barracks continued with their own business. One cleaned a gun with mechanical focus, the smell of gun oil stinging the nose; another sharpened a dagger, its blade rasping rhythmically across a whetstone; a third lay on his bed with a battered magazine over his face, letting out faint snores.

No one spoke.

Lin Xiao's gaze swept across the entire room. The barracks were roughly thirty square meters, with twelve metal bunk beds, though only seven were occupied. The two beds near the door were relatively neat, their sheets old but washed pale. The farther in one went, the messier the beds became. The three beds at the very back near the ventilation duct—the ones Grey Falcon had indicated for them—had filthy sheets, and dark red stains could even be seen on the bedframes.

The ventilation duct overhead emitted a constant hum, like the beating wings of some giant insect. Condensation dripped from its joints, forming a small puddle on the floor, black mold growing around its edges.

"We're going over there," Lin Xiao said quietly.

Carrying the pitifully light duffel bag, he headed deeper into the barracks. His boots rang clearly against the concrete floor. The watching eyes followed him, pricking his back like needles.

Su Ying walked on his left, her pace slightly slower than usual. Her body still held that posture of being ready to explode into action at any moment, but Lin Xiao could sense her restraint—her breathing was steady, her fingers not clenched into fists, simply hanging naturally at her sides. Wolf walked last, his steps somewhat unsteady, his eyes anxiously sweeping the room like a rabbit that had wandered into a wolf pack.

The three beds stood together. Lin Xiao chose the lower bunk against the wall, Su Ying took the middle lower bunk, and after hesitating, Wolf climbed onto the bunk above Lin Xiao.

The bedframe was hard, with only a thin army-green pad. Lin Xiao set his duffel at the foot of the bed and reached out to touch the sheets—the fabric was coarse, stained with something unknown, and unpleasantly sticky to the touch. A complex odor of sweat, blood, and mold seeped from every crack in the bed.

"The armory is at the end of the corridor, turn right," Grey Falcon suddenly said. Without turning around, he remained facing away from them. "It opens for an hour at four every afternoon. Miss it and you're out of luck. Give them my name to collect basic gear—don't expect anything good."

Lin Xiao looked at him. "Thank you."

Grey Falcon did not respond. He took another swig of liquor.

At 3:50 in the afternoon, Lin Xiao left the barracks with Su Ying and Wolf. The corridor was dimly lit, its walls painted with peeling green paint. The floor was rough concrete, cracked in places. As they passed several other barracks, they could hear voices, laughter, and things being smashed inside.

The armory door was a heavy iron slab with a small window set into it. Lin Xiao knocked. The window slid open, revealing a pair of clouded eyes.

"Name."

"New reinforcements for Grey Falcon's squad," Lin Xiao said.

The eyes behind the window studied them for several seconds before it slid shut. The lock clicked and turned, and the door opened inward.

The armory was not much larger than the barracks. Several metal racks stood against the walls, laden with various equipment. The air was thick with the scents of gun oil, leather, and metal. The quartermaster was a skinny old man in filthy work pants, a half-smoked, extinguished cigar clenched between his teeth.

"Grey Falcon's people?" the old man rasped. "Over there. Pick for yourselves."

He pointed toward several crates in the corner.

Lin Xiao went over and opened them. The first contained several sets of old combat uniforms, the fabric badly worn and patched in places. The second held tactical vests, though many attachments were missing. The third contained weapons—several battered AK-74U compact assault rifles with rusted barrels; two Makarov pistols, the paint on their grips completely worn away; and a few daggers whose blades were dull enough to use as rulers.

"That's all?" Su Ying asked, suppressed dissatisfaction in her voice.

The old man glanced at her and exhaled smoke that did not exist. "A woman? Grey Falcon's squad really takes anything. Take it or leave it."

Lin Xiao pressed a hand to Su Ying's arm. He felt her muscles tense instantly, hard as steel.

"We'll take them," Lin Xiao said calmly.

He selected three relatively intact combat uniforms, three tactical vests, two AKs and one Makarov, along with three daggers. The old man scribbled a few strokes in the ledger, then waved them away. "Get lost."

When they returned to the barracks, Grey Falcon glanced at the gear in their hands, a flash of mockery passing through his one eye.

"I told you not to expect anything good," he said. "Base rules: newcomers use old junk. Only those who survive earn the right to trade up."

"We understand," Lin Xiao said.

He distributed the equipment to Su Ying and Wolf. Su Ying took the AK and ran her fingers along its body, checking the bolt, rifling, and trigger. Her movements were professional and quick; she completed the initial inspection in seconds.

"The rifling is forty percent worn, the trigger pull is too long, and the front sight is off by half a degree," she said quietly. "It'll barely work, but don't expect accuracy beyond fifty meters."

Lin Xiao nodded. He picked up his own AK. It was slightly lighter than the standard model he remembered—some component had likely been replaced. He pulled back the bolt and saw carbon buildup in the chamber, though it was still fairly clean.

"Wolf, your pistol." He handed the Makarov to Wolf.

Wolf took the gun, his hands trembling slightly. He tried pulling the slide, his movements awkward.

"I... I'm not very good with these," he said softly.

"Learn," Lin Xiao said. "Here, not knowing how to use a gun is the same as looking for death."

At six that evening, the barracks loudspeaker suddenly crackled with harsh static, followed by a rough male voice.

"Squad Four, Training Ground Three, fifteen minutes."

The training ground was on the surface level, a semi-open concrete field about the size of two basketball courts. Tires, sandbags, wooden obstacles, and several rusted targets were piled around its edges. Night had already fallen. Several high-powered searchlights flicked on, bathing the field in a sickly white glare.

Grey Falcon led the squad's seven members—including Lin Xiao's group of three—to the center of the field. The instructor was a bald, burly man over six foot three, wearing a tight tank top that exposed thick arms covered in scars. A Hydra emblem was tattooed on his neck, its ink somewhat faded.

"I'm Blood Axe." The instructor's voice was like a grinding wheel scraping metal. "Starting today, I'm in charge of your recovery training. I don't care who you were before or what background you had. Here, what I say goes."

His gaze swept over them, lingering two seconds longer on Lin Xiao and the other two.

"First, fitness test." Blood Axe pointed at the tires along the field's edge. "Each of you drags a tire back and forth twenty times. Timed. The last three get no dinner tonight."

The tires were heavy truck tires, each weighing at least a hundred kilograms. Grey Falcon went first. He bent down, gripped the edge of a tire, took a deep breath, and heaved. The tire moved, screeching against the concrete. His movements were awkward—his injured right leg prevented him from fully exerting himself—but he still gritted his teeth and dragged it forward step by step.

The other veterans followed one after another. Their movements were practiced; clearly, this was not their first time doing such training.

Lin Xiao looked at Su Ying and signaled with his eyes for her to control her strength. Su Ying gave a slight nod, walked to a tire, and bent down to grip it. She appeared to struggle, dragging the tire even slower than Grey Falcon—but Lin Xiao knew it was only an act.

When it was Lin Xiao's turn, he adjusted his breathing and bent down to grasp the tire. The rubber surface was rough and bit into his hands. He pulled hard, and the tire was heavier than he had expected, his arm muscles instantly tightening. He stepped forward, feeling the rough grit of the concrete through his bootsoles. He dragged it to the marker ten meters away, turned, then dragged it back. One trip, two trips, three trips...

His breathing began to quicken. Sweat slid down from his forehead and into his eyes, bringing a stinging pain. He could hear his own ragged gasps, the tires scraping the ground, and the panting and curses of the other squad members.

By the fifth trip, his right arm had begun to ache. By the eighth, his waist muscles felt ready to tear apart. By the twelfth, his lungs were on fire.

But he did not stop.

Grey Falcon finished all twenty trips and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. The other veterans gradually finished as well. Su Ying was on her eighteenth trip, her pace still steady. Wolf was on his fifteenth and already swaying on his feet.

Lin Xiao clenched his teeth and kept dragging. Seventeenth trip, eighteenth trip, nineteenth trip...

Twentieth trip.

He let go, and the tire slammed heavily onto the ground. He bent over with both hands braced on his knees, sweat pouring down like rain. His throat was filled with the taste of blood, and every breath sent pain stabbing through his lungs.

"Times." Blood Axe looked at the stopwatch in his hand, his face expressionless. "Grey Falcon, four minutes twenty seconds. Butcher, four minutes thirty-five seconds. Venomous Scorpion, four minutes forty seconds..."

He read out all the veterans' names, then finally looked at Lin Xiao and the other two.

"Woman, five minutes five seconds. Rookie, five minutes fifteen seconds. Skinny Monkey, six minutes thirty seconds." Blood Axe put away the stopwatch. "Skinny Monkey came last. No dinner tonight. Woman and Rookie, second and third from last. Half rations."

Wolf—Skinny Monkey—turned deathly pale, but he did not dare say anything. He merely lowered his head.

"Next, tactical drill." Blood Axe pointed toward the obstacle area at the other end of the field. "Simulated urban combat environment. Teams of two, attackers and defenders. Rookie, you and the woman attack. Venomous Scorpion and Butcher, you defend."

Venomous Scorpion was a lean man with hollow cheeks and narrow eyes that always squinted when he looked at people, like a venomous snake appraising its prey. Butcher, meanwhile, was a hulking man half a head taller than Blood Axe, with shoulders as broad as a door.

"Instructor, isn't this unfair?" Venomous Scorpion grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Two veterans against two rookies?"

"There's no fairness on the battlefield," Blood Axe said coldly. "Begin."

The obstacle area was a crude urban-combat environment built from wooden boards and sandbags, with corners, windows, and cover. Venomous Scorpion and Butcher had already taken defensive positions. Lin Xiao and Su Ying stood at the entrance, rubber daggers in hand—those were the rules: close-combat drills, no real firearms.

"Follow me," Lin Xiao said quietly.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the obstacle area. The light was dim, with only a few small lamps providing weak illumination. His eyes quickly adapted to the darkness, and his mind began analyzing the environment: a corner on the left, a window on the right, and a stack of sandbags directly ahead for cover.

Footsteps.

Very faint, coming from the right-side window. Lin Xiao raised a hand to signal Su Ying to stop, then pressed himself against the wall and slowly leaned his head out.

The window was empty.

But in the shadow beneath the sill, a wooden board had been moved—the gap that should have aligned was now displaced by three centimeters.

A trap.

Lin Xiao drew back and turned toward the left corner. Faint breathing came from beyond it, shallow but definitely there. Two people, one about three meters past the corner and the other farther inside.

"Venomous Scorpion is behind the corner, Butcher is deeper in," Lin Xiao said in an almost inaudible voice. "There may be a tripwire or alarm behind that corner. We'll go around from the right."

Su Ying nodded. The two pressed close to the wall and moved right. As they passed the window, Lin Xiao suddenly stopped.

There was a faint drag mark on the ground outside the window—as though someone had walked past while dragging a foot. The mark extended beneath the window, then vanished.

"Something's wrong," Lin Xiao said quietly. "Venomous Scorpion isn't behind the corner."

He looked at the corner again. The breathing was still there, but... it was too regular. Once every three seconds, identical in depth and rhythm, like a recording.

Bait.

Lin Xiao's mind raced. Venomous Scorpion was the sort who enjoyed toying with his prey. He would not obediently wait in a preset position. So where was he? The window? No, the drag mark was too obvious, deliberately planted. The breathing at the corner came from a recording device. Then the true ambush point...

His gaze swept over the ceiling. The obstacle area's ceiling was made of canvas, sagging in places and forming shadows.

The outline of one shadow was unnatural.

"Above," Lin Xiao said.

Almost at the same time, that shadow moved.

Venomous Scorpion leaped down from behind the canvas, his rubber dagger stabbing straight at the back of Lin Xiao's neck. He moved incredibly fast, like a real venomous snake striking.

But Lin Xiao had shifted aside half a second in advance. The rubber dagger sliced past his ear, stirring a gust of wind. At the same instant, Su Ying struck, driving her dagger toward Venomous Scorpion's ribs—where the body's nerve plexuses were concentrated. Even with a rubber dagger, a hard blow there could temporarily cripple someone.

Venomous Scorpion reacted quickly, twisting in midair and blocking with his other hand. The rubber daggers collided with a dull thud. He landed and retreated two steps, surprise flashing through his narrow eyes.

"Not bad luck," he said, licking his lips.

Lin Xiao did not answer. He looked toward the corner—Butcher should be coming out.

Sure enough, heavy footsteps sounded. Butcher emerged from behind the corner, gripping his rubber dagger like a battle axe. The pressure from his massive body was overwhelming; with every step, the ground seemed to tremble.

"Two against two." Venomous Scorpion smiled. "Fair now?"

In an instant, Lin Xiao assessed the situation. Venomous Scorpion was agile and skilled at ambushes; Butcher was powerful, and there was no chance of winning in a frontal clash. The obstacle area offered little room to maneuver. They had to end this quickly.

"Su Ying, Butcher is yours," Lin Xiao said. "Ten seconds."

Su Ying looked at him and nodded. She stepped toward Butcher. Her movements did not seem fast, but every footfall was precisely calculated—she was adjusting the distance.

Butcher let out a low roar and lunged. His dagger slashed straight down at Su Ying's head, with enough force to crush a skull. Su Ying did not block it head-on. She shifted aside and stabbed toward Butcher's wrist. Butcher withdrew his hand, his other hand reaching for Su Ying's shoulder. Su Ying ducked, then brought her dagger upward toward Butcher's armpit.

The two tangled together in combat.

Lin Xiao turned toward Venomous Scorpion. Venomous Scorpion had already adopted a fighting stance, his body slightly forward, like a venomous snake ready to spring.

"Rookie, let's see what you can do," Venomous Scorpion said.

Lin Xiao did not waste words. He stepped forward and thrust his dagger toward Venomous Scorpion's chest—the most basic stab, neither fast nor tricky in angle.

Venomous Scorpion easily parried it and countered with a stab at Lin Xiao's throat. Lin Xiao leaned back, the dagger grazing his skin. He could feel the burning heat of rubber friction.

Second strike, third strike.

Venomous Scorpion's attacks grew faster and faster, his dagger leaving afterimages in the air. Lin Xiao kept blocking and dodging, appearing completely disadvantaged. His breathing began to grow ragged, his footwork a little disordered.

"That's all you've got?" Venomous Scorpion sneered. "I really don't know how you survived."

Lin Xiao did not reply. His eyes remained fixed on Venomous Scorpion's wrist—before every attack, Venomous Scorpion made a tiny inward rotation of the wrist, a tell before he exerted force.

The fifth attack.

Venomous Scorpion's wrist rotated inward, and his dagger stabbed toward Lin Xiao's abdomen. At that instant, Lin Xiao moved.

He did not block or evade. Instead, he stepped into the strike, seized Venomous Scorpion's wrist with his left hand, and drove his own dagger toward Venomous Scorpion's Adam's apple—stopping one centimeter short.

Venomous Scorpion froze. His dagger was only two centimeters from Lin Xiao's abdomen, but his wrist was locked tightly and could not advance another inch. Lin Xiao's dagger was pressed against his Adam's apple.

"You..." Venomous Scorpion's eyes widened.

"Your habitual movement before attacking is too obvious," Lin Xiao said calmly. "You always strike 0.3 seconds after rotating your wrist inward. By the third time, I knew how to deal with it."

He released him and stepped back.

On the other side, Su Ying's fight with Butcher had also ended. Butcher lay on the ground, his rubber dagger discarded nearby, both hands clutching his abdomen—the liver area, where a heavy blow could cause a brief blackout. Su Ying stood beside him, her breathing steady, without even breaking a sweat.

Blood Axe emerged from the shadows. His face remained expressionless, but there was an extra trace of scrutiny in the way he looked at Lin Xiao.

"Drill over," Blood Axe said. "Attackers win."

Venomous Scorpion climbed to his feet and brushed dust off himself. His eyes were fixed on Lin Xiao. The look in them was no longer contempt, but a cold scrutiny carrying killing intent.

"Rookie, what's your name?" he asked.

"Lin Xiao."

"I'll remember you." With that, Venomous Scorpion turned and left.

Training continued until nine at night. The following events were shooting drills, obstacle courses, and combination-lock cracking. Lin Xiao performed "just well enough" in every event—average shooting scores, average obstacle-course times, and average lock-cracking speed.

But while cracking an old mechanical combination lock, he "casually" remarked, "The third gear set in this kind of lock has a design flaw. Turn it backward two notches, then forward, and you can save one attempt."

The instructor—a technician wearing glasses—looked at him. "How do you know that?"

"I saw a similar one at a flea market before," Lin Xiao said. "The vendor taught me."

The technician did not ask further questions, but Lin Xiao noticed him write something in his notebook.

After training ended, everyone returned to the barracks. Dinner was cold stew and hard bread, and the portions really were only half the usual amount. Wolf had no food at all and could only sit on his bed and watch the others eat.

Lin Xiao broke his bread in half and handed one half to Wolf.

"I don't..." Wolf tried to refuse.

"Eat," Lin Xiao said. "There's training tomorrow. You won't last without strength."

Wolf accepted the bread and quietly said thank you.

Grey Falcon sat on his own bed, watching the scene. There was no emotion in his one eye as he silently ate his food. Once he finished, he stood and limped over to Lin Xiao's bed.

"You did well today," Grey Falcon said in a very low voice. "But don't get proud too soon. Venomous Scorpion holds grudges. You made him lose face. He won't let you off."

"I know," Lin Xiao said.

Grey Falcon looked at him for several seconds, then pulled a small paper packet from his pocket and tossed it onto Lin Xiao's bed.

"Compressed biscuits. Black-market goods circulating in the base," he said. "Hide them well. Don't let anyone see."

With that, he turned and returned to his bunk.

Lin Xiao opened the paper packet. Inside were three military compressed biscuits. Their packaging was worn, but they were still within their expiration date. He looked toward Grey Falcon, who had already lain down with his back to him, seemingly asleep.

Late at night, snores rose and fell throughout the barracks.

Lin Xiao lay on the hard bed with his eyes open. The hum of the ventilation duct continued beside his ears, interrupted now and then by dripping water. He could smell all the scents in the barracks—sweat, mold, gun oil, and the faint smell of alcohol drifting from Grey Falcon's bunk.

His mind reviewed everything that had happened today.

Instructor Blood Axe was probably one of the radicals. Otherwise, he would not be so close to Venomous Scorpion. Grey Falcon belonged to the conservatives, or at least had no goodwill toward the radicals. The other veterans in the squad were ambiguous, still watching and waiting.

Venomous Scorpion's hostility had already become public. At the training ground today, he had tried at least three times to lure Lin Xiao toward preset traps. If Lin Xiao had not noticed in advance, he would have been "injured and forced to withdraw" long ago.

And that packet of compressed biscuits from Grey Falcon... was it a test of goodwill, or something else?

Lin Xiao did not know. But he knew that in this nest of snakes, every step had to be taken carefully.

At two in the morning, he got up to use the restroom. The barracks restroom was at the far end of the corridor outside, a stall without a door. After relieving himself, he heard faint footsteps outside while washing his hands.

Very faint, but definitely there.

Lin Xiao turned off the tap and held his breath. The footsteps paused outside the restroom for several seconds, then gradually moved away.

He waited a full minute before leaving the restroom. The corridor was empty, with only dim lights and shadows swaying across the walls.

When he reached the barracks door, he stopped.

Below the door crack was a faint drag mark—as if someone had kicked something toward the door.

Lin Xiao crouched down and inspected it carefully. The mark was fresh. Dust had been pushed aside, revealing the relatively clean concrete underneath. The trace extended to the gap beneath the door, then disappeared.

He gently pushed the door open.

The barracks remained dark, the snoring unchanged. He tiptoed back to his bunk without turning on the lights.

But as he passed the equipment locker, he stopped.

Each team member had been assigned a metal locker for storing personal equipment. Lin Xiao's was in the bottom row near the corner wall. At that moment, a black cylindrical object protruded from beneath its door.

Lin Xiao's heart skipped a beat.

He slowly crouched down and, by the faint moonlight filtering through the window, saw what it was.

A grenade.

An F-1 defensive grenade, an old Soviet Union model, but it had been well maintained. Its safety pin had already been pulled, though the safety lever was still held down—it could detonate at any moment.

The grenade had been carefully placed beneath the locker door. The moment someone opened it with even a little force, the door would strike the grenade and release the safety lever.

Four seconds later, it would explode.

Cold sweat beaded on Lin Xiao's forehead. He did not touch the grenade. Instead, he slowly backed away until his back met the wall.

His gaze swept across the barracks.

Grey Falcon was asleep, snoring steadily. Wolf was curled up on the upper bunk, completely motionless. Su Ying's bed... was empty.

Lin Xiao's heart suddenly clenched.

But the next second, he heard an almost imperceptible breath behind him. He turned and saw that Su Ying had somehow appeared at his side. Her eyes glimmered faintly in the darkness as she stared at the grenade.

"Venomous Scorpion," she mouthed.

Lin Xiao nodded. He pointed at the grenade and made a gesture for "disarm."

Su Ying shook her head. She pointed at herself, then outside the barracks—she was asking whether they should go catch Venomous Scorpion.

Lin Xiao considered it for three seconds, then shook his head.

Now was not the time.

He signaled Su Ying to step back, then crouched beside the grenade again. His fingers were steady as they slowly reached toward it. When his fingertips touched the cold metal surface, he could feel the indentations of its production serial number.

He carefully gripped the grenade and pulled a small object from his pocket with his other hand—a bent paper clip he had picked up at the training ground during the day.

He straightened the paper clip and carefully inserted it into the safety-pin hole. Slowly, he turned it, feeling for the internal mechanism.

The bomb-disposal knowledge he had learned in the military in his previous life surfaced in his mind. The F-1 grenade's structure, its safety mechanism, its detonation principles...

The paper clip touched some sort of catch.

Lin Xiao stopped moving, drew a deep breath, then slowly applied pressure.

Click.

A faint sound, almost too quiet to hear.

The safety mechanism was secured again.

Lin Xiao released his hand. The grenade remained where it was, but it was safe now. He carefully picked it up and held it in his hand. The metal surface was icy cold, and it weighed roughly six hundred grams.

He looked at Su Ying and signaled with his eyes: hide it.

Su Ying nodded, took the grenade, and vanished into the shadows.

Lin Xiao lay back down on his bed. His heart was still pounding, and his palms were slightly damp with sweat from the tension.

Venomous Scorpion.

That name kept repeating in his mind.

This was not a warning. This was murder. If he had been even slightly careless just now, there would already be chunks of flesh scattered all over the floor.

And Venomous Scorpion dared to do this, which meant he had nothing to fear—either he was certain he would not be discovered, or someone was backing him.

Lin Xiao closed his eyes.

The first night deep within Snake Belly was more dangerous than he had expected.

And when the sun rose tomorrow, this silent war would only just begin.