101 Training Grounds

The inside of the flying car resembled a starry sky.

Everywhere he looked, points of light flickered.

An ordinary person would have been dazzled at a glance.

Even with Lin Xiaosu's Peerless Divine Eye, he could only see the lights flashing clearly, without knowing why they flashed.

There was no one inside. No driver.

Changye settled comfortably into a reclining seat and casually said, "101!"

Then a streak of light flashed, his body grew weightless, and Lin Xiaosu was carried away with the flying car.

He could not see outside. Not the slightest bit. Yet he could feel the speed; in an instant, it had reached an utterly unbelievable level.

"What does 101 mean?" Lin Xiaosu sat down beside her.

"It's a very interesting symbol." A faint smile touched Changye's lips.

"A symbol? Isn't it a number?"

"It is a number, but to understand what it means, it may be more accurate to look at its shape... '0' represents Earth, while the two '1's beside it represent pillars."

Lin Xiaosu tilted his head back slightly. "Earth's two pillars... You said I was narcissistic, but I think you people are the real narcissists... Can't we see outside from this flying car?"

"You can, but you currently don't have the authorization."

"When will I get it?"

"In principle, you'll need to obtain the Hidden Dragon Gold Medal. At the very least, you'll need to pass the training assessment. Any more questions?" Changye asked.

"One last question..." Lin Xiaosu touched the exquisite decorations inside the flying car. "With our salary, how many years would it take us to afford a flying car like this?"

Changye gently shook her head. "You still can't let go of income, can you?"

"Of course. Shouldn't that be what job applicants care about most?"

"Can't you think on a slightly bigger scale?"

"I can! Let me ask something wild, then... If I work hard in the future, could I buy a car and a house within a year? A car like this, and a house in the provincial capital..."

Changye's head bumped against the backrest behind her. She muttered, "Comrade Lin, don't talk like that in the base. Any words you say that are tied to worldly money will make your review more difficult. If a Qianlong member sets their heart solely on making money, that's a major taboo..."

"It seems our values differ greatly." Lin Xiaosu said, "I know you're wholeheartedly devoted to serving the country, but serving the country doesn't conflict with personal pursuits, does it? A little companion of mine once said something that sounded damn ridiculous, but made a lot of sense upon reflection. She said, if someone completely loses all personal pursuits, can you still expect them to seek benefits for the people? Extending that thought leads to that age-old saying: If one room is not swept, how can one sweep the world? If you can't take responsibility for your own wife and children, how can you take responsibility for everyone under heaven?"

Changye glanced at him. "That little companion of yours was Li Diandian, wasn't she?"

"No, how could it be? Her thoughts are very pure... The only one not so pure is me!"

"Mm..." Changye nodded lightly. "Though the stink of copper hasn't yet washed off you and hedonism has seeped into your bones, you at least possess one good quality. You're loyal enough not to drag your comrades into trouble. That's not bad. If our first meeting today had been an assessment, you wouldn't have been too far from passing..."

Now it was Lin Xiaosu's turn to lean back and bump his head against the chair.

This trip involved an assessment too.

Every word and action was being assessed. Damn it, I'm just an ordinary college student. I have a whole pile of human desires and emotions. If you assess me according to the rules used for assessment machines, I might as well roll up my bedding and go home...

About three hours later.

The flying car landed.

The moment the door opened, Lin Xiaosu was dumbfounded.

Before him lay an island. It was huge, with mountains, water, forests, and all kinds of modern buildings, like a lavishly built resort. Behind him, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but seawater.

There was not a second piece of land in sight.

Where he was amid the seamless meeting of sea and sky was unknown.

"Take a guess. Where are you right now?"

Changye's voice reached him. As the sea breeze rose, her hair did not flutter. There was only one reason: she was a poison wielder, and every strand of her hair was a killing weapon. Thus, under normal circumstances, not a single strand of her hair would be out of place.

Lin Xiaosu took out his phone.

The phone displayed the time, but his location was listed as unknown, and the signal showed restricted.

Changye smiled. "You were still hoping to use your phone to look up the address here? What were you thinking?"

"Completely cut off?"

"There are naturally satellite signals on the island, but you haven't been granted authorization for them. Fortunately, you already asked your mother for leave. Even more fortunately, according to the information I gathered, you don't have a girlfriend."

Not having a girlfriend was considered fortunate too!

Damn it, shouldn't that be tragic?

Lin Xiaosu's eyes flickered. "So this question you asked was also an assessment?"

"An assessment... Assessing what?" Changye asked.

Lin Xiaosu said, "You're testing whether, without any technological assistance, I can deduce where I am right now."

Changye smiled. "You're wrong! In theory, an assessment question only becomes an assessment when there is a possibility of passing it. What you imagined has no possibility of being passed, so this isn't an assessment... I merely wanted you to understand your current situation!"

Lin Xiaosu's heart gave a slight jump.

He seemed to have touched upon Qianlong's foundations. Those foundations were unfathomably profound, but they still had boundaries after all.

For instance, Changye, as an important figure in Qianlong, had also made a mistake.

She said that without technological assistance, it was theoretically impossible to deduce where one was.

That was a mistake.

In fact, such a thing was theoretically possible.

How could it be deduced?

As long as there was sunlight and time, it could be done!

Earth revolved around the sun, and as the seasons changed, the direction of sunlight changed in a regular pattern.

In winter, the sun shone directly on the Southern Hemisphere; in summer, it shone directly on the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, every latitude and longitude on Earth received different sunlight.

If this enormous database were implanted in one's mind, and one matched the variations in sunlight at every point in time, one could calculate one's location in reverse.

That was theory.

Of course, turning theory into reality was far from easy.

A supercomputer might be able to calculate it, but the human brain clearly could not.

But who knew just how powerful Humanity Orchidheart was?

Lin Xiaosu did not continue discussing this inconceivable matter with her. Holding the card she had given him, he entered his own training area.

Qianlong's training area for newcomers differed from ordinary military barracks. It was ten thousand times more high-end, grand, and classy.

The room was like a hotel guest room.

And it was a five-star suite.

There was a sitting room, a bathroom, a restroom, even a kitchen. What Lin Xiaosu had not expected was that there was actually a hostess as well...

The moment he entered, he saw a tall woman, as beautiful as Hu Ya, standing before him. Smiling, she told him, "Mr. Lin, I'm your personal assistant, Xiao Luo."

"A personal assistant? What do you do?" Lin Xiaosu asked.

"I cook for you, wash your clothes, and answer all your questions..."

The treatment was excellent. Training even came with a personal assistant. Lin Xiaosu sat down. "Xiao Luo, you said you could cook?"

"Mm, I can make all eight major cuisines and seventy-two kinds of local snacks!"

"Can you make Phoenix City's Snowflake Baba?"

"Yes!"

"Can you make me some?"

"No!" Xiao Luo said. "You haven't unlocked the authorization yet."

"Damn it, authorization again? I'm saying we're people in the same trench from now on. There's no need to talk about authorization for every little thing, right? Be flexible. Eating a meal isn't some matter of principle."

"No! Because I'm not human. I'm a simulated robot!" Xiao Luo said, blinking.

Lin Xiaosu's eyes widened.

His divine eyes truly perceived the smallest details, yet at first glance, he had genuinely failed to see that the person before him was a simulated robot. Only after her reminder, when he looked closely, did he discover that she truly was a simulated machine. Her hair, skin, eyeballs, lips, and teeth were all artificial.

Everything was perfected to the utmost, but perfection itself made it unreal.

"How do I unlock the authorization?"

"This is the authorization chart. You can take a look..."

Xiao Luo lightly blinked, and a holographic projection appeared in the room. Displayed upon it was a clear authorization chart.

Her functions were incredibly numerous and incredibly powerful, but the corresponding authorizations were also complicated.

The training area had five major categories, or perhaps five major directions.

One was combat.

One was firearms and equipment.

One was espionage and strategy.

One was medicine.

One was special operations.

No one was required to be proficient in everything. Anyone could choose the direction suited to them.

Every training area had its own assessment standards. Pass the assessment, and you could unlock your assistant's authorization.

Perhaps an assistant's true function was to set up a target of motivation beside you, making you think of passing assessments at every moment. Otherwise, while other people's assistants unlocked high-level authorizations, your own assistant would be pouting pitifully beside you. Could you stand that?

After reading all that, Lin Xiaosu was a little speechless. "Obviously, I have a little assistant beside me who's proficient in all eight major cuisines, yet when my stomach is growling like frogs, I can only take a lousy bowl to the cafeteria and get food myself?"

As if performing a magic trick, the assistant produced a bowl from behind her back and handed it to him.

Lin Xiaosu took her bowl and went to the cafeteria.

Along the way, he finally saw others traveling the same road.

In truth, there were quite a few of them.

Three long lines stood in the cafeteria ahead, with both men and women among them. What they had in common was their bronze-colored skin, clearly the sort that had shed several layers under the sun.

If nothing unexpected happened, nine out of ten of them were soldiers, and the king-of-soldiers kind at that.

Qianlong itself had two methods of selection.

The mainstream path was still to select kings of soldiers from the major military regions and the finest police officers from the public security system.

The unconventional path was civilian selection.

A fair-skinned pretty boy like him walking among a line of battle-hardened kings of soldiers was an oddity.

Another person who likewise clearly came from civilian society was a thin young man. He kept his head lowered, appearing somewhat shy.

Yes, in the face of these kings of soldiers who had risen above the rest in the military sphere, those selected from civilian society lacked a measure of confidence.