NOVPUB55: Chapter 43 Assessment
55 -43 Assessment
After resting and training at home for a day, it was time for Gu Yanlin to undergo the assessment to join Special Forces Team 532.
Early in the morning, Gu Yanlin met with the team members of Squad 532 on the 14th floor, and together they went to the temporarily constructed testing site that they had been using for the past several days.
The new member’s assessment was a big event for any rescue squad, and today all members of Squad 532 were not out on missions but instead at the competition site.
Due to military assessment confidentiality, family members were not allowed to participate, Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao specially got up early to cheer on Gu Yanlin before he left, but they did not go out the door with him.
The location for the squad-joining assessment was at an open space near Building 10.
By now, the area had been cordoned off, surrounded by a circle of high military-green cloth.
Soldiers were stationed all around it.
In the future, this place will become one of the military bases of City C.
To save on manpower and resources, the original buildings on the land were directly requisitioned.
However, inside they were still noisily constructing necessary training grounds and renovating the buildings.
The training grounds set up by Squad 532 were actually exclusive to their Special Forces, but due to time constraints, they had only temporarily set up a site barely meeting the assessment criteria.
This site would continue to be developed later until it met the standards Chu Guodong wanted.
Gu Yanlin’s assessment consisted of just two parts: one was to win against one-third of the original members of Squad 532, he would spar with all members of Squad 532, excluding Chu Guodong, and just needed to win two bouts.
The other was the basic routine physical fitness assessment, which would take place on this temporary training field, and he simply needed to meet the time requirements.
The combat test was essentially real fighting with actual punching and hitting.
Of course, since everyone had missions afterward, it was to be stopped when enough was enough; as long as you could see the strength, that would suffice.
Gu Yanlin had been a black belt in Taekwondo since he was very young, and before the apocalypse, he trained regularly three days a week.
In the past six months, he had been training almost every day, and his skills were quite impressive.
Gu Yanlin won four consecutive fights, until he faced off against Lin Cheng, the deputy captain of Squad 532.
After a fierce battle lasting half an hour, Gu Yanlin, exhausted, collapsed to the ground.
“Good kid, we’ll have another go when there’s time,” Lin Cheng said excitedly, patting Gu Yanlin’s shoulder.
Gu Yanlin had expended too much energy earlier, and despite resting between bouts, it still affected his performance.
Under normal circumstances, it was uncertain who would have won between them.
Lin Cheng thought to himself that when he had the time, he would like to have a proper match with Gu Yanlin.
Sitting below and watching the competition, Chu Guodong’s face darkened; his own soldiers were so ineffective that they had lost one after another to a student who had just graduated from high school.
His deputy captain only won because of Gu Yanlin’s lack of stamina, a rather inglorious victory.
The assessors weren’t only Chu Guodong; there were several other leaders and one of his old Special Forces comrades who currently served as the captain of Squad 628.
Coincidentally also on a mission in City C, he was invited by Chu Guodong to attend.
Embarrassed in front of his leaders and comrades, Chu Guodong felt the need to give his troops extra training—a stern session.
If they couldn’t even defeat an 18-year-old, they were definitely undertrained.
However, on second thought, such an excellent soldier was soon to join his ranks; Chu Guodong’s mood brightened, and he was somewhat pleased with himself for a moment.
“Dongzi, look, you’re not lacking men now.
How about you let me have this one?
We could really use someone else on our team,” said Zhang Tong, unable to stand Chu Guodong’s increasingly smug expression, and he spoke up to poach the candidate.
“What do the chiefs think?” Not liking his smugness was one thing, but being short-staffed was also true.
Their squad member Zhang Wu from Squad 628 had died in a rescue mission just before the apocalypse, and they hadn’t found a suitable replacement.
Zhang Tong saw that Gu Yanlin was just right and was growing more and more fond of him.
He continued, “I think he ought to join our squad.”
“Get lost, dreaming of such a pretty picture,” Chu Guodong pushed Zhang Tong aside with a slap.
He had finally found a good prospect, and this young talent might also attract two other good prospects; he certainly wouldn’t let go.
In just a few exchanges, it was a foregone conclusion that Gu Yanlin passed the assessment to join Squad 532.
Although he still had to participate in the routine physical assessment, no one thought such a strong contender would fail those simple tests.
After enough rest, Gu Yanlin began his routine physical fitness assessment.
The routine physical assessment consisted of six items: long-distance running, weightlifting, rope climbing, explosive strength assessment, balance assessment, and endurance assessment.
“Applause erupted all around”
Gu Yanlin completed the last assessment item, and a round of applause broke out.
His performance in each item was very good, above the excellent threshold set by Squad 532’s members.
Chu Guodong and other chiefs acting as judges decided on the spot to approve Gu Yanlin’s inclusion in the team.
Normally, military recruitment, especially for Special Forces squads, involves multiple rounds of rigorous assessments and selection.
After all, soldiers are the nation’s guardians, entrusted with the mission of protecting the country.
But the current situation is special, and traditional methods no longer apply.
In addition to unified large-scale recruitment, the military, after consultation, decided to grant individual Special Forces squads the authority to recruit autonomously.
As long as you could pass the squad’s assessment, all procedures would be simplified.
This was all to alleviate the current shortage of personnel as much as possible.
“Congratulations, congratulations, from now on you are the seventh member of our Squad 532.”
“I knew you could do it, lad.”
Gu Yanlin successfully passed the assessment, and Zhao Rui, who had been watching the excitement at the side, was the first to congratulate him, slapping Gu Yanlin on the back.
The assessment had just ended, and the breathless Gu Yanlin almost stumbled and fell on the ice.
“But we’re screwed now, looking at how the captain is, our future isn’t going to be easy.
You have yourself to thank for this.”
“Rui, ease up!” Seeing that Zhao Rui seemed to want to vent further, Gu Yanlin quickly pleaded for mercy.
Chu Guodong gave Gu Yanlin three days off, informing him to formally report for duty after three days, and to find him on the 14th floor of Building 10.
“Sister, brother-in-law, I passed!”
Gu Yanlin got home, burst through the door, and shouted joyfully into the room, showing his excitement.
“Bang!”
“Congratulations, congratulations, my brother is amazing!”
Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao stood at the door on either side, each holding a party popper.
As soon as Gu Yanlin walked in, they burst the poppers, showering him with colorful streamers, reflecting the good mood of everyone in the room.
“My little brother is truly impressive,” praised Gu Yanzhi, moving forward to give Gu Yanlin a big hug.
Song Zhao also patted Gu Yanlin on the shoulder in encouragement.
“Heh heh, heh heh.”
Gu Yanlin, a bit embarrassed by the attention from both, forgot what he wanted to say and just kept grinning sheepishly.
