Chapter 76: You Are Mortal

Chapter 76: You Are Mortal

“Second event for the T800 group, the short-distance shuttle run, will begin shortly. Sergeant Chen Feng, please prepare quickly and tune up your machine.”

Over on his side, Professor Ouyang was working frantically with Chen Feng to adjust the machine. Inside, the electronic referee’s prompt sounded in Chen Feng’s ears.

He was taken aback. “Huh? When did I become a sergeant?”

Tang Tianxin’s voice came from outside. “We just received a notice from higher-ups. Given your outstanding performance in the cross-country long run, which set an example for the entire army, you have been specially awarded a one-rank promotion in military rank. From now on, you are Sergeant Chen Feng.”

Chen Feng was puzzled. “Is it that casual?”

In his past understanding, promotion in military rank was a very serious matter, emphasizing a sense of ceremony.

In his past three lives, he had only been a low-level recruit and never experienced the taste of promotion.

This time, he had become a corporal early on.

He didn’t feel much about it back then, since a corporal was only one rank above a private, still considered a bottom-tier soldier.

But now, he was just participating in a competition. Maybe his performance was a bit outstanding, but promoting him to sergeant just like that was somewhat unexpected. There wasn’t even a medal-awarding ceremony. He was even more confused. Without thinking much, he voiced his thoughts.

Tang Tianxin explained again, “The military has already entered a state of readiness for combat, so many procedures are simplified. Unless it’s a particularly important promotion, there are no ceremonies.”

“Oh, I see.” Chen Feng suddenly understood and was genuinely a bit surprised.

If she hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have realized they were in a state of readiness for combat.

In the past, he never paid attention to this issue, for the same old reason—his military rank was too low. He wasn’t even qualified to feel the urgency of a combat-ready state.

In this era, indeed, many people were constantly sacrificing themselves and striving.

But the daily lives of the Subsistence Allowance Recipients and ordinary civilians were protected very well until the final judgment arrived.

Chen Feng had many immature thoughts about why the leadership of the World Government decided to keep the news so tightly sealed.

He couldn’t fully understand their intentions, only infer a conclusion.

That is, letting ordinary people know would not be beneficial. Forcing a sense of urgency upon ordinary people would not enhance social productivity but might cause chaos and hinder progress.

Ordinary people did not have the capacity to bear such immense pressure and were more likely to break down or go mad before the Doomsday arrived.

The outside world seemed peaceful, but apart from the Subsistence Allowance Recipients who were just drifting along, other laborers and creators with creativity and initiative had already pushed everything to the limit under the refined division of labor and overall planning of the World Government.

“By the way, speaking of which, who are you, beautiful? You seem quite knowledgeable.”

Seeing that the second round of the competition was about to begin, Chen Feng himself wasn’t very nervous, but a tense atmosphere came from outside. Especially Professor Ouyang, who was so busy and tired that he was sweating profusely. His heavy breathing even reached Chen Feng’s ears through the communicator. Chen Feng deliberately cracked a joke to lighten the mood.

Of course, he was also a bit curious.

Earlier, when he stepped out of Simulator Eight, it was this slender beauty who spoke first.

Although he had no intentions of hitting on anyone, the love for beauty is something everyone has. He couldn’t help but take an extra glance, pay attention, and feel curious about her.

Now this clear and pleasant voice was talking to him again, making him even more curious.

As soon as Chen Feng said this, there was a stunned reaction outside.

As Chen Feng’s direct instructor, Ding Hu wished he could find a crack in the ground to hide in.

Are you blind!

Didn’t you see the big golden five-star on the General’s shoulder!

As a soldier of Great Snow Mountain, not even recognizing the big boss of your own base and asking “who are you, beautiful” is really infuriating.

Feeling guilty, Ding Hu stole a glance at Tang Tianxin’s face, worried she would hold a grudge.

Unexpectedly, Tang Tianxin showed no trace of anger on her face. Instead, she revealed a slightly amused smile.

“My name is Tang Tianxin. I suppose you could say I’m an instructor too,” she replied.

Professor Ouyang had finished the adjustments. Chen Feng began checking the parameters while reviewing the rules for the short-distance shuttle run. He wasn’t thinking deeply, absent-mindedly answering, “Hmm, then I really envy the recruits you train, having such a beautiful instructor.”

“Haha, of course.”

“Unlike my instructor, who has a terrible temper, is ugly, and not thoughtful at all. Which team are you in, beautif… Tianxin? I performed so well this time. I’ll submit a report later and join your team.”

Ding Hu felt a lump of old blood stuck in his chest, unable to rise or fall. He really wanted to rush in and strangle Chen Feng.

You complain about me, fine, but what’s with ‘Sweetheart beauty’!

You’re going to get me killed!

You really are over the top!

“Alright, after today’s competition, if you can really make it into the top one hundred, you can join me.”

“Absolutely.”

“Let me remind you, don’t think that just because you got first in cross-country you can let your guard down. The next few events test higher levels of operational difficulty, including actual combat. Don’t push yourself too hard when the time comes.”

“No problem.”

After Chen Feng answered, the communication automatically cut off as the referee took over the channel.

Outside, Ding Hu finally mustered the courage to speak. “General, why did you entertain his nonsense? What if he really makes it into the top hundred? Are you actually going to train recruits?”

Tang Tianxin turned around with a faint smile and asked in return, “Isn’t he already my soldier now? Isn’t he already with me?”

Ding Hu suddenly realized, that was indeed true.

“Professor Ouyang, when Chen Feng was eating earlier, you told him about the T800 group situation, right?”

Professor Ouyang was fully focused on the scene inside. Chen Feng had already started moving in sync with the others. The professor replied, “Yes, I did.”

Tang Tianxin said, “No wonder. He’s actually a bit nervous, so he deliberately found something to joke about to distract himself and ease the tension. What a clever guy, good at utilizing all external resources.”

“The General’s analysis is spot on. He’s promising material,” the base logistics manager chimed in from behind.

Tang Tianxin shook her head. “No, not promising material. He’s already a finished product. He doesn’t need shaping.”

Once again, Ding Hu began to doubt how well he truly understood Chen Feng.

The General’s analysis seemed so logical.

But why did he always feel that this guy simply had a playful attitude towards everything?

That was purely just flirting for fun!

What tension relief!

The distance for the short-distance shuttle run was only about one kilometer round trip. However, during this process, participants had to turn around fifty times back and forth on the short track.

This tested the participants’ acceleration and deceleration abilities to the extreme, keeping their bodies under sustained high G-force with tremendous physical strain.

Moreover, if the control wasn’t precise enough, they would cover a lot of unnecessary distance during the shuttle run. It wasn’t just about fast acceleration to achieve an excellent result.

Otherwise, you could just max out the acceleration immediately, zoom out 100 meters, but you still have to run back. Those extra tens of meters were meaningless and would only lower your score.

The less time taken, the better the score.

The shorter the extra distance run, the better the score.

The final judgment would combine both sets of data.

Even more challenging, the turnaround distance wasn’t fixed. It varied randomly between 10 and 30 meters. Each turnaround required a different judgment.

Because everything happened so fast, relying solely on machine-assisted calculations made timely reactions difficult.

The machine could react quickly enough, but there was often a delay from when a person heard a prompt to when the brain made a decision. By then, a mistake had already been made.

Therefore, this event not only tested acceleration capability but also precise control and operation.

This required rich experience, allowing for better intuitive judgment to strive for the shortest distance each time.

Seeing Chen Feng overshoot by over ten meters on his first try, while others at most went out two or three meters, Ding Hu said discouragingly, “Sigh, Chen Feng’s training time is still too short. He could rely on talent in the long run to catch up and triumph later, but the shuttle run relies too much on experience. He simply couldn’t possibly… huh…”

He immediately shut up.

Because on the very second try, Chen Feng reduced the excess distance to within one meter!

Tang Tianxin smiled.

“Instructor Ding Hu, you are mortal. You don’t understand the realm of genius. Sometimes, talent can truly crush everything.”