Chapter 394

Chapter 394: Astronaut?

“Hey! Hey! Major Lin, are you spacing out?”

Old Pan clearly noticed that Lin Mo’s pupils were unfocused. He waved his hand in front of Lin Mo’s face and then clapped his hands.

“Uh, what’s up, Old Pan?”

Lin Mo jolted back to reality from his memories of another world, realizing that Old Pan was staring at him. His face turned red, and he stuttered, “Sorry, I got lost in thought.”

“What were you thinking about? Thinking about beautiful women? Is it spring already? Did you find someone special during this break?” Old Pan playfully teased the young Air Knight, assuming Lin Mo was deep in thought about aircraft matters, not realizing he was pondering something as fantastical as that.

“Uh, where were we?”

“I was mentioning the ‘Special Forces Military Competition!’”

Lin Mo sighed and said, “Oh, the competition! I remember now. What a pity.”

“What’s so unfortunate?” Old Pan felt puzzled by Lin Mo’s tone.

“What’s the casualty rate in the competition? Is it seventy percent or eighty percent?”

Thinking about the candidate Dragon Knights’ elimination competition having a casualty rate as high as eighty percent sent chills down Lin Mo’s spine. In this world, a Special Forces unit made up of the best soldiers like "Night" was almost equivalent to the Dragon Knights of the Su Lan Empire.

“What are you talking about?” Old Pan sputtered in disbelief, completely shocked by Lin Mo’s line of thinking. “This is a competition, not a duel. There’s no seventy or eighty percent casualty rate! Military competitions are just individual tactical skill contests and team matchups. No one fights to the death. Even in team contests, they use special training gear. Nobody dies; the worst that could happen is a broken bone, and that’s pushing it.”

“Fake fighting?! ” Lin Mo’s eyes widened. From Old Pan’s explanation, it was clear that his understanding wildly differed from reality. He quickly added, “I thought it was a full-blown battle. I was worried about how many would die!”

Old Pan was genuinely surprised by Lin Mo’s thoughts. Which country’s military could withstand such exaggerated showdowns? The army was not like an underground black market fighting arena. Even the most high-level military competitions wouldn’t involve real guns and bullets. If everyone died, what would be the point of a competition?

Old Pan rubbed his temples, nearly overwhelmed. He decided to change the subject and tossed a thick folder at Lin Mo. “Here! This is for you. It contains a test, and this afternoon, go to the health department for a full check-up based on the inspection list in there.”

“Wait, tell me more about the competition.” Lin Mo was clearly interested in this seemingly non-lethal competition, which seemed different from competitions in his former world.

Old Pan, seeing that he couldn’t change the subject, said with a little irritation, “It’s all for infantry. How could an aviator like you participate? Among the dozens of Special Forces teams nationwide, you’re the only one with a jet fighter here. There’s no one to compete with you, so just focus on the paperwork.”

“Hey, can you sign me up? I want to participate too!” As an enthusiastic aspiring participant, Lin Mo clutched the folder but continued pushing his point.

“By the heavens! Now I understand what kind of lunatic pursues research!” Old Pan exclaimed. He jumped back into the electric transport vehicle, yanked the steering wheel, and sped off.

There was no way to continue the conversation. Old Pan couldn’t explain a ground army’s military competition to an aviator. The differences between their fields were immense. As a helicopter pilot, Old Pan only had a vague understanding. He had participated in a transport task just once, which had very few helicopter events, and there were many confidential regulations around the competition’s events. Thus, he couldn’t clearly explain it to Lin Mo.

“Ah! Old Pan sure knows how to tease,” Lin Mo thought, completely unaware of Old Pan’s frustration. He shook his head and opened the folder he received.

It contained a long survey, over one hundred pages filled with small print that made his head spin, along with a medical checklist that included genetic tests. The medical equipment at "Night" base rivaled that of a Class A hospital, capable of performing various health checks.

The supplies and facilities at "Night" base far exceeded many people’s imaginations, but the national defense system was ultimately designed to cope with a catastrophic crisis. This underground behemoth could quickly turn into a small city and fulfill the responsibility of preserving civilization.

“Okay, okay, let’s fill out the forms!” The hefty package was clearly something he couldn’t casually refuse. There had to be important reasons from the higher-ups.

“Lin Mo, do you want me to help you fill it out?”

Gold Coin hopped down from the plane, intrigued by the thick stack of printed papers and casually pulled out a pen from who knows where to gesture in the air.

“Get lost, don’t mess around. If you have some free time, go add a few more layers of alloy film to the cockpit. Also, help me see if those magic runes can be engraved onto the fuselage. It would be best to carve in an optical cloaking formation. Let’s put the testing on hold here; I need to fill out this paperwork first.”

Lin Mo waved Gold Coin away and placed the documents on a nearby workbench. Although he didn’t know when he’d submit them, the thickness of the documents suggested it wouldn’t be simple. It was best to fill it out and hand it in quickly, or else Old Pan would keep bugging him.

After four hours of hard work, Lin Mo could barely keep his eyes open, utterly drained as he finally completed the hefty survey.

The questions went beyond his expectations, not only covering logical reasoning and interests but also intelligence and emotional quotient assessments, along with some tricky brain teasers.

Filling out the surveys was a huge mental drain, twisting the mind of the Dragon Knight in ways far more tiring than fighting in a few hundred air battles.

After a dizzying bicycle ride, he finally reached the medical department, where he collapsed onto the examination table, immediately falling asleep.

Dragon Knights were never the sharpest in intellect. The sheer number of questions, nearly three hundred pages, completely overwhelmed Lin Mo.

When he awoke, it was already the next day. All the medical exams were completed, the reports piled high beside him on the nightstand. Multiple sensors were still attached to his body, linked to various machines.

The room seemed to have the air conditioning on; despite having his shirt lifted and sensors stuck to him, he didn’t feel cold.

Is this it? Lin Mo climbed off the examination table, noticing just a healed needle mark on his arm that was nearly healed and about to scar.

Seeing Lin Mo still looking dazed, the head of the health department, Nie Rong, chuckled. “Waking up now? You rushed in here yesterday and collapsed right into sleep, which startled us! You must have drained a lot of energy. We did a blood test and saw your blood sugar was low, so we gave you some glucose.”

“Finished the health check?” Lin Mo glanced around, confused about how they measured his height and weight when he hadn’t moved.

“Of course it’s done. Where did you get this health form? It’s so detailed! Are you trying to become a biochem soldier? But looking at your physique, I’d say you’re more like a warhorse! Proper breeding would help improve our population quality!”

Nie Rong, the head of the department, was quite shameless, indulging in his twisted imagination, while the female soldier nurses covered their mouths in amusement, their faces flushing bright red from his nonsense.

“…What warhorse? Old Pan gave me this health form, and I have no clue what it’s for. Yesterday, I filled out a mountain of surveys that almost exhausted me. I went through subjects like math, literature, physics – it was nearly as bad as summer homework. The sheer volume of cross-category questions made me dizzy!”

Lin Mo didn’t take Nie Rong’s teasing to heart. This cheeky director had his quirks, but he meant no harm. He stretched and pointed to the sensors still stuck to him. “Can I take these off now? What are they for?”

“Oh, wait! I’ll help you with that. Thankfully this bed has a weighing function by itself. All the other checks can be done right here. You slept all night, and I recorded your heart rate. It was fifty-five beats per minute, very steady, comparable to national athletes. Pilots really have enviable physiques!”

While shaking his head in admiration, Nie Rong walked to the bedside and began removing each of the sensors from Lin Mo’s body, then helped him pull his shirt back down.

“Just exercise more, and you could match a pilot’s fitness level,” Nie Rong stated. Lin Mo tidied up the health report, responding casually to Nie Rong’s comments. It was all about innate qualities. Although postnatal exercise could improve performance, the effects would still be limited. If one didn’t start strong, no effort later would be enough.

Considering the ultrasound and X-ray images along with extra documents, Lin Mo felt he was ready to turn everything in.

“Don’t forget a balanced diet! This health form is probably reserved for the gene bank. Make sure you keep the genetic data disk safe; don’t lose it,” Nie Rong said, noticing how thorough the health checklist was. Completing all those tests meant everyone at the health department worked overtime the previous night.

Doctors in combat units often specialized in their fields. Compared to private clinics, they were quite focused, prioritizing immediate utility. Lin Mo’s health check was treated as a training drill, and everyone reviewed it meticulously.

However, both Nie Rong and Lin Mo misjudged the purpose of that health report.

“What? An astronaut? Me?”

Lin Mo was astonished by the news Old Pan brought back from Captain Feng.