The memories of all humanity are awakening, except for mine.

Chapter 174 Did he get the script?

Yanjing Headquarters, Training Program Group.

On the project team's huge floor-to-ceiling screen, countless images were lighting up in turn.

This was the first day of the third phase of training for various institutions, and these scenes that were lit up in turn were the images that the trainees from various institutions were showing after entering "virtual reality".

Feng Xiaobo, the head of the planning team, and Wang Xuejun, the head of the technical team, were standing under the giant screen, looking up at the students who had entered the "training" session.

Behind them, the planning team's office was bustling with people. Although it was early morning, the staff were already busy.

This is, of course, to ensure the training of trainees in various institutions and to ensure their safety, so that they can be dealt with promptly in case of special circumstances.

Looking at the screen before him, Wang Xuejun, the head of the technical team, said with a hint of helplessness, "They just have to come up with this kind of worldview..."

"What if this scares one of the children and causes them serious injury?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaobo, the head of the planning team, scoffed, "What if you scare people into making things worse? Well, that's it!"

"These children are the future pillars of our organization, and they are the ones who will shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the stability of this land!"

"If it scares someone into something bad... then we'll eliminate them immediately!"

"This is completely ineffective for handling missions and is useless to the organization!"

"Being eliminated is embarrassing, but it's also a good thing for them, at least they don't have to go and die."

Feng Xiaobo from the planning team continued:

"This worldview is the most suitable way to train their mental resilience."

"The more extreme, the better."

"I was still considering whether to add some levels where death was inevitable, but in the end I compromised."

Wang Xuejun was stunned for a moment. He was completely familiar with the setup of all nine levels. He frowned in surprise: "Is this what you call a compromise?"

Feng Xiaobo was recalling his ideas when designing the third phase, completely ignoring Wang Xuejun's questions.

He simply continued:
"The amount of mental energy and the way it is used are different for everyone."

"What's more, there are also more than 60% of those who have awakened their physical abilities..."

"This means that the content of the third phase of training cannot be entirely teaching."

“In fact, we have never focused on ‘teaching’ when designing our curriculum.”

"Our teaching project planning team has always been designed with a practical approach in mind."

"In the previous bronze warrior formation, these children already possessed formidable combat abilities."

"But the bronze statues are, after all, inanimate."

"When they face real danger, when they face a real life-or-death choice, can they still be as calm as they were when facing the Bronze Men Formation?"

He paused slightly, then continued:

"These children are lucky."

"You can hone your character through technology without actually going to the battlefield."

Listening to his words, Wang Xuejun recalled what had happened since the establishment of the organization's headquarters a year ago, and silently agreed with what Feng Xiaobo had said.

Because over the past year, we have heard from time to time that some members of the field team have died during missions.

The organization will naturally assign tasks according to ability and difficulty. Those who are geniuses will be especially protected. When assigning field tasks, the difficulty will be reduced to ensure the survival rate of those with potential as much as possible.

Even so, the loss rate far exceeded expectations.

This unexpected loss left the field staff completely baffled...

A video recording of a field mission answered the question.

What was supposed to be an impossible mission was tragically thwarted by a series of misjudgments, leading the mission takers to their own doom.

When reviewing the reasons, the absurd judgment of the person who carried out the task in the video made those who participated in the meeting frown.

It's as if they've given up using their brains and are instead using the dead skin on their heels to think.

This unexpected cause of death, however, explained the enormous attrition rate problem that had been troubling everyone at the time.

Although I'm reluctant to admit it, the real reason... is fear.

Fear makes them want to escape, causing those on missions to panic when faced with danger, acting only on instinct and abandoning judgment.

Although the Awakened Ones' physical strength has increased, they were still ordinary people just a few dozen days ago.

While memory awakening brings abilities and knowledge from those memories, the awakened person is certainly not the person from those memories.

Even someone like Zhao Tianyu is considered a personality substitute, and ultimately not a reincarnation of the White Lotus Protector.

Most people will feel fear, panic, and helplessness when faced with a life-or-death crisis, which will hasten their death.

To put it bluntly, they lack the mentality to match their abilities.

These awakened individuals, who have grown rapidly due to the awakening of their memories, perfectly exemplify the meaning of "forcing seedlings to grow faster than they need to be."

They lacked a growth process and a tempering process; their strength improved rapidly, but their mental fortitude was completely inadequate.

Students who have just entered society may encounter setbacks, feel discouraged, and struggle. They need time to learn and grow in society before they can eventually enter the core of their respective fields and take over the baton from their predecessors.

But these awakened ones face life and death; if they encounter obstacles, they will perish.

If someone loses the ability to make calm judgments when faced with a life-or-death situation, what is their chance of survival?
The answer is obvious.

Therefore, the Ministry of War followed suit and launched their own talent training program, running parallel to the headquarters.

Therefore, the organization's headquarters immediately established a training program team, aiming to ensure that those who are awakened by the organization must undergo rigorous training before they can take up their posts.

These lessons learned through blood and tears collectively formed the core of the third phase of training.

That is to say——

Let them have a resilient heart.

Through training, they will not only possess great strength, but also the mindset to match that strength.

Organizations need powerful task machines and absolutely stable, trustworthy experts; this is the true meaning of training.

"This third phase of training will not only help them get used to the immense pressure as quickly as possible, but it will also effectively improve their mental strength under pressure, both for their physical and mental systems."

"This is a pattern summarized from data from too many victims."

"..."

"It's a win-win situation."

Wang Xuejun nodded, and said with a sigh in his heart:

"I wish everyone could be like Jiang Chuan."

"It will also save you some trouble."

This young man named Jiang Chuan encountered several major crises in just two months.

Instead of failing, he made rapid progress and achieved an absurd time of 49 seconds at the end of the second stage!

Feng Xiaobo nodded: "If everyone were like Jiang Chuan, there would be no need for our training program group to be established."

"Even Li Yu from Group Three back then didn't have such a rapid momentum as Jiang Chuan."

"He's grown up too fast."

"It even surpassed all our data, growing almost three times faster than everyone else!"

"If Jiang Chuan can grow up so smoothly, I'm afraid that in the future..."

As he was speaking, a gasp interrupted them.

"Jiang Chuan is online!!"

"Jiang Chuan is online!"

Feng Xiaobo from the planning team narrowed his eyes and immediately shouted, "Project Jiangchuan's live feed onto the main screen!!"

"quick!"

……

[Level 1: Zombie Siege]

[Mission Objective: Escape this zombie-infested city. There are no survivors left. You will not be able to use any abilities beyond those of an ordinary person. Good luck.]

What happened to the promised mental training?!

What happened to the promised increase in mental fortitude?!

What's with this zombie siege?! And why can't we use any abilities beyond those of ordinary people?!
Before he could even think about anything, the scenery around him suddenly changed!
In the blink of an eye, skyscrapers rose from the ground, streets appeared intricate patterns, and figures emerged out of thin air, filling the spaces between the buildings and streets.

As the sunlight rose from the east and reached his head, it was quickly blocked by the ceiling. The ground beneath his feet became the floor, and a room rapidly took shape around him: a bed, a desk, a television, a computer... a worn-out ashtray, and instant noodle bowls piled on the floor. Every detail of the light and shadow was incredibly realistic!

A world was created around him!
"Fuck..."

The initial shock upon seeing the mission report was completely dispelled by this scene, replaced by a sense of novelty and excitement.

Fully immersive! See this new world from your own perspective!

Jiang Chuan looked at his palm, then slowly clenched his fist. His strength had indeed weakened to the level of an ordinary person, and naturally, he could no longer use his mental power.

He couldn't understand how this was done. If he couldn't use his mental power, wouldn't he be invincible simply by putting the helmet on his enemy during combat? But then he thought, if he could really put the helmet on his enemy during combat, then he would already be invincible before even putting the helmet on...

But Jiang Chuan quickly banished his chaotic thoughts from his mind.

"I have eighteen challenges to overcome, I need to hurry..."

"That 200,000 is beckoning to me."

Jiang Chuan began to look around the room, and at the same time, he began to get used to his slightly heavy body.

The room was covered in dust, and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time, which meant that, according to the setting, I had been living here for some time...

Jiang Chuan walked to the window, and when he pulled back the curtains, he was met with blinding sunlight. It was midday, and the sun was blazing.

The floor I'm on is very high, roughly estimated to be above the fifteenth floor.

Downstairs in the residential area, besides dilapidated vehicles and wildly growing plants, there were only wandering zombies, though their numbers didn't seem to be many.

He pressed the computer's power button a few times, but the power had obviously been cut off, so the computer naturally didn't turn on.

"The mission objective is to escape the city..."

What constitutes a successful escape?

He glanced around the table and spotted a diary.

This task prompt is really well hidden.

After truly entering the virtual reality environment, Jiang Chuan no longer saw any text prompts.

This complete immersion feels like...traveling through time.

That's precisely the advantage of full-dive games.

He picked up the diary and looked at it.

The diary contained some irrelevant background information and recorded what was done at the very beginning of the disaster.

When will the power go out? When will the water be cut off? When will even the radio stop working?

The important part is coming up.

The zombies seem to be evolving; I saw some through my binoculars... It's terrifying.

The Ministry of War has established a reception station on the east side of the city; that might be my last chance.

The date was blurry and hard to read, but I kept a diary for a while after that, and finally had to stop because my pen ran out of ink.

"I've always planned to leave, but I've never had the courage to actually go?"

"It seems this containment facility is the place I need to go..."

He pulled out the map tucked inside his diary.

This map is a city map, and the location of the containment station is circled on it.

"To complete the mission, we need to avoid the zombies and get to the containment center as safely as possible."

"The question is, how can we be as safe as possible?"

As Jiang Chuan pondered, he searched the safe one-bedroom apartment for potentially helpful items or clues.

Tape, a few notebooks, a few pieces of clothing, a flashlight, a compass, a rope, a backpack, and a screwdriver.

"Um……"

"That's all."

"According to the map, the straight-line distance is about fifteen kilometers."

"It's definitely impossible to go straight; a simple estimate is a total distance of thirty kilometers."

"The average person walks at a speed of about five kilometers per hour, so the total walking time for the first stage is six hours?"

Jiang Chuan kept organizing his thoughts while studying the map.

"Considering the daily training time limit of only four hours..."

"Six hours is too long."

"It's too difficult to just rush through like this. We'll definitely encounter some zombies along the way. According to the diary, there are other types of zombies besides ordinary ones in the story..."

"I need to think of another way."

"With my current physical abilities, it's simply an impossible task for an ordinary person to get through so many zombies to the containment center..."

"..."

"Has Song Xi already gone out to start fighting?"

As Jiang Chuan thought this, he had already tightly wrapped the laptop around his arm with tape, not forgetting his calves and thighs as well. Then he put on several layers of clothes, put on his hood, gripped the screwdriver, inserted the flashlight into his belt, put the rope in his backpack and slung it over his shoulder... and then stood in front of the door. "There's not much of a choice now, and this house has been searched almost thoroughly."

“Since it’s a ‘barrier’, there must always be a possibility of escape.”

"What we need to do now is leave this building first."

As Jiang Chuan pondered this, he grasped the doorknob and gently pressed it down.

Even though I knew it was fake, my heart couldn't help but start racing.

It's like playing a horror game; even though you know it's fake, you still feel genuine fear... let alone when everything happening here right now feels so real?
Everything in the corridor outside is unknown; it's impossible to predict what might happen.

creak-

The security door was pushed open a crack, and a foul, stale smell wafted out. Jiang Chuan looked carefully at what was in front of him, then gradually widened the crack. His view grew wider with each push of the door, and a dimly lit corridor appeared before him…

Jiang Chuan looked around to make sure there was no threat in the corridor, then tiptoed into it without even closing the door.

Of course, you can't take the elevator.

Jiang Chuan walked along the corridor, approaching the entrance to the fire escape.

One security door after another passed before his eyes, and from some of them came the occasional faint sound of teeth clashing, which sent chills down his spine.

Some doors were even left ajar, but Jiang Chuan pretended not to notice.

He stood at the entrance to the fire escape, looking at the two rickety fire doors, and cautiously turned aside.

There was no light at all in the fire escape corridor.

The already murky air became even thicker here, and every breath seemed to inhale a bit of "suppression".

Jiang Chuan took out a flashlight and turned it on.

Under the light of the flashlight, he noticed the mark "17".

The steps are very steep, and the stairwell is very cramped, with almost only enough space for one person to move around.

Under the beam of the flashlight, Jiang Chuan took a step forward, as if heading deeper into the abyss.

……

Jiang Chuan's every action since entering the virtual reality was observed by the planning team staff in Yanjing.

In the upper left corner of the screen, there are several vertical rows of real-time information.

Except for numbers like [021-010101D: Jiangchuan] which remain unchanged, all other numbers are constantly fluctuating.

Heart rate, network latency, stress level...

All of this data is monitored and perceived by the helmet to prevent people from experiencing excessive stress and to facilitate immediate exit from virtual reality.

Wang Xuejun asked the person beside him:
"How to say?"

Feng Xiaobo remarked with some emotion, "This kid is practically living with a script."

"From the beginning until now, there has been no oversight. We have obtained all the intelligence we could, remained calm at all times, and never let our guard down..."

Wang Xuejun complained, "Isn't it because your intentions were too obvious?"

Feng Xiaobo scoffed: "The intention is obvious?"

"You have no idea how much people's attention can be diverted in this kind of environment."

“If it were any other student, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly for Jiang Chuan. They would probably have already stepped on several landmines by now.”

Wang Xuejun raised his eyebrows:

"It shouldn't be."

"It's obvious there are still zombies in other rooms. Making a loud noise will trigger danger."

"And even if things don't go as smoothly as they did in Jiangchuan, there shouldn't be too much trouble."

Feng Xiaobo snorted coldly: "What do you want? To bet something? Buy me a couple of drinks tonight?"

Wang Xuejun nodded: "No problem."

So, Feng Xiaobo picked up the remote and changed the channel several times.

As the screen switched back and forth, Wang Xuejun's eyes widened in disbelief.

Some have already failed and started over, while others are fighting zombies in the corridors...

Some rushed into the fire escape and fled while being chased by hordes of zombies.

More importantly, most of them were not fully armed like Jiang Chuan; some were even unarmed.

Wang Xuejun looked at the scene before him with a surprised expression: "These are the students your planning team selected?"

"A bunch of idiots?"

Feng Xiaobo shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm stupid."

"It's because it's not easy to uncover all the clues without any hints."

"When we look at it from a third-person perspective, of course it seems simple."

"It only seems natural to me because I see Jiang Chuan doing it."

"But if you're actually in it, it's a completely different story."

"Especially in this unfamiliar environment... there is a big difference between making connections and gathering intelligence in a familiar environment."

"After all, they are still just students and have never carried out a mission independently."

"In this environment, it's perfectly normal for the brain to be a complete mess."

"Even if you only treat virtual reality as a game, without clear task prompts or goals, wanting to achieve what Jiang Chuan did..."

"Disaster."

He paused slightly, then continued:

"The diary was placed in front of the birth site, so most people found it."

"Believe it or not, if I put the diary somewhere else, or hide it a little, most people would just walk away like that."

"But this is only the first hurdle."

"I lowered the difficulty level for them."

"Besides the diary, there were other tools I left in the room to aid in movement. Some people didn't even notice them, while others, even if they did, simply discarded them as useless items. Some didn't even notice the flashlight was there..."

"Furthermore, since this is a virtual reality, they don't take it seriously enough."

"Given various reasons, this outcome is to be considered normal."

Wang Xuejun nodded silently, thinking to himself that Jiang Chuan was indeed quite capable to play such a crucial role in Anle Tomb.

As he thought about it, he began to speak:
"So, what is the purpose of this first challenge...?"

"So it seems the purpose is to enhance their observation skills and cultivate their habit of analyzing situations?"

Feng Xiaobo nodded: "We also need to get them used to this high-pressure environment."

"..."

You owe me a drink tonight.

Wang Xuejun didn't care about the drinking session at all. He looked at the other classmates who had failed and reappeared in the starting room and cast sympathetic glances at them.

Virtual reality can mimic pain with over 50% accuracy. These children were eaten alive by zombies; the fear they felt will probably take some time to process.

I just saw a classmate sitting on the edge of the bed, breathing heavily. The pressure level was close to the limit, almost reaching the level that would kick him out of the virtual reality.

While I feel sorry for them, this is exactly the effect they wanted to achieve... so that they could survive longer in their future missions.

This is the real reason why virtual reality training is limited to four hours per day, to avoid mental health issues caused by excessive pressure.

……

Jiang Chuan was unaware that many eyes were watching him from the headquarters in Yanjing.

He felt extremely depressed, and this feeling was really bad.

As he descended the stairs, the nauseating stench grew stronger.

The occasional dripping sound from the stairwell only adds to the tension.

Walking in the pitch-black stairwell, the sound of my footsteps seemed to be pounding against my own heartbeat. I could only hear my own breathing. The beam of my flashlight was too narrow, illuminating only a small area. It seemed that outside the light, there were only huddled zombies.

Fear stems from the unknown, and in this darkness, the unknown seems to be everywhere.

You never know when a zombie face full of holes might suddenly appear.

There was darkness behind him, and he would often turn around to look, always feeling a chill down his spine, as if someone was behind him...

But when I turn around, I often grit my teeth, afraid that something might actually jump out from behind me...

It was pure torture.

"Second floor..."

"Second floor..."

"Second floor..."

He cautiously took his first steps down the path, already halfway there.

"7...6..."

Jiang Chuan's silent prayer stopped as he walked.

In the beam of his flashlight, he saw the first zombie.

The zombie stood silently facing the wall, its gray, shriveled body occasionally twitching.

Jiang Chuan held his breath, gripped the screwdriver tightly, and began to make a judgment in his mind.

Although it was being shone with the light of a flashlight, it did not react in any way.

"I'll do it..."

"Why is this thing so disgusting?"

"..."

"But it doesn't react when I shine a flashlight on it, so it seems like it's not sensitive to light?"

"If you're not sensitive to light, then you're sensitive to sound?"

"..."

Jiang Chuan shone the flashlight down again, and the chill on his back became even stronger.

The number of zombies below is increasing...

"How the hell am I supposed to get down here?"

Jiang Chuan gritted his teeth and tiptoed down, getting closer and closer to the zombie.

As they drew closer to the zombie, Jiang Chuan held his breath and raised the screwdriver in his hand.

The closer you get, the more details you can see on the zombie.

Jiang Chuan felt a chill run down his spine, but he still had to grit his teeth and keep moving forward.

When he tiptoed toward the zombie, the zombie did not react at all.

Although he kept the screwdriver in his hand raised, he didn't actually stab it when he got close to the zombie.

He carefully avoided the zombie, his body almost completely pressed against the wall, squeezing past it.

"6...6th floor..."

He controlled his breathing, not daring to exhale.

……

Wang Xuejun stared at Jiang Chuan's actions, then asked in surprise, "What's going on?"

"Aren't we going to take action?"

Feng Xiaobo said, "His choice was correct."

"Zombies don't react to light, but he can't be sure what actions will make them react..."

"If we take action now, there is a risk of triggering a horde attack from the zombies."

Wang Xuejun asked, "Risks?"

Feng Xiaobo put it another way: "It would trigger a horde of zombies attacking."

Wang Xuejun looked at Feng Xiaobo and said, "You're really vicious... How come every step you take is a trap?"

Feng Xiaobo chuckled at this assessment: "Otherwise, what's the point of training?"

"Even when clues could be found through analysis, they abandoned their thinking and rashly launched an attack..."

"This will teach them a lesson."

"Let them think things through before launching a rash attack in the future."

Wang Xuejun said, "Aren't you afraid they won't even get past the first hurdle?"

Feng Xiaobo said:
"There's nothing to worry about."

"Once their four-hour training session is over, they will definitely communicate and summarize their experiences. That's not a problem."

Wang Xuejun paused for a moment, then nodded again.

Then he looked at Jiang Chuan, who was carefully squeezing past the zombies, and found the look of utter disgust and loathing on his face rather amusing.

(End of this chapter)