The thing Long Zhan worried about the most—joining Bravo Team—was now almost certain. Having turned away from the wrong path, Clay had made a timely comeback, returning to the right track. This gave Long Zhan a reliable swimming partner.
Life during the Green Team selection process became much more comfortable for Long Zhan.
From Monday to Friday, he participated in training in an orderly manner, improving his comprehensive skills in counter-terrorism special operations.
When weekends and holidays came around, Long Zhan would call his best friends, Brian and Clay, and have Stella bring along two female friends. Together, they'd head to a bar to drink, relax, and unwind.
Work and life were perfectly balanced.
Life couldn't get more comfortable than this.
Painful times seem to drag on endlessly, while joyful moments always pass by in the blink of an eye. The three-month CQB (Close Quarters Battle) training was over before they knew it.
On the last day of Phase 3 training in Week 24 of the Green Team's new recruits' program came the most daunting phase assessment...
It had arrived!
The reason the Phase 3 CQB assessment was called the most terrifying test was because it was comprehensive.
It not only tested the recruits' combat abilities but also assessed their stress tolerance and command capabilities—a dual physical and psychological evaluation.
This was the final professional skill test, as well as the last "Top 5, Bottom 5" elimination.
As long as the recruits passed this test, they wouldn't have to worry about being the bottom-ranked and eliminated in the remaining three months of training.
Every new recruit who made it through this assessment would "safely" get through the next three months, leading up to the final graduation evaluation.
For recruits eliminated within the first six months, it was just elimination. While disappointing, it didn't leave much room for regret. After all, the road ahead was long, and failure was often due to one's own lack of strength.
But to be eliminated at this final juncture, during the last elimination assessment, and to fail at the doorstep of success...
That would be devastating.
Under such intense unwillingness and oppressive tension, the pressure on the recruits participating in the Phase 3 assessment was immense.
Whether they could withstand the pressure and successfully complete the assessment became a major challenge.
In addition to coping with overwhelming stress, the unconventional format of this CQB assessment pushed the recruits' comprehensive combat skills to the limit, elevating the difficulty level of the Phase 3 test to "hell mode."
What kind of assessment could be called "hell mode"?
The answer was this: the remaining 12 recruits were each promoted from team member to squad leader. They were tasked with leading three "sparring partners" from retired DG Action Squad members, forming a four-man assault team.
Using CQB assault operations, the squad leader had to command their team to complete a high-difficulty HVT (High-Value Target) mission.
The assessment had no absolute standards and imposed no restrictions on how the rescue was carried out. The final results were based entirely on the actual outcomes.
This lack of definitive standards often represented the highest level of difficulty.
It was like dining out with a woman who insists she's fine with "anything," only to find that every choice risks upsetting her.
Applied to this assessment...
Any mistake or deviation in a single command could cause a recruit to lose everything and become the "lucky one" eliminated from the Green Team.
What made things worse for Long Zhan and the other recruits was that none of them had ever led a team of DG-level operators, nor had they undergone any prior "team leadership" training.
It wasn't until they assembled at the kill house early that morning that Instructor Adam explained the assessment format.
In counter-terrorism special operations, the roles of team members and team leaders differ significantly, as do their ways of thinking and decision-making during missions.
In simple terms:
Team members operate on a single thread—just doing their jobs well.
Team leaders operate on multiple threads—they not only have to perform well themselves but also coordinate others, communicate flawlessly with the command center, and manage multiple aspects simultaneously.
Excelling as a team member doesn't necessarily mean you can command a squad effectively.
If you couldn't quickly shift your mindset from team member to leader, the odds of leading your squad into failure during the assessment would be extremely high.
Failing to complete the mission exceptionally meant one outcome: elimination.
The abrupt shift in roles brought overwhelming pressure.
Even for seasoned newcomers like Brian and Clay, this sudden change was daunting. As for Long Zhan, who had been the leader of a mercenary group in his previous life, the news still left him momentarily stunned.
Yet, despite their initial shock, Long Zhan and the other 11 recruits understood one thing clearly:
The Green Team wasn't a place for excuses. Instructor Adam wouldn't go easy on them just because they'd never been squad leaders before.
No matter how tricky the rules or abrupt the format, all they could do was scrape every corner of their minds for memories and adjust to their new roles as leaders as quickly as possible.
Even if they couldn't complete the mission perfectly, their mission completion rate had to surpass the others'.
It was like that popular dark joke in America that most people knew:
If you encounter a grizzly bear in the wild, you don't need to fight it, nor outrun it. You just need to run faster than the others in your group. That's how you survive.
Every recruit who made it this far was highly skilled.
Faced with this extremely challenging assessment, no one had absolute confidence in completing it flawlessly. The only option was to outperform the others.
The atmosphere of competition began to ignite, and the air in the kill house became thick with tension.