Chapter 546 - Gathering of Heroes

Wu Mu's suspicion of Yang Cao lessened considerably—surely a spy wouldn't torture herself with decades of scars just to establish a cover?

Yet, the icy calm and decisiveness Yang Cao displayed only deepened his misgivings. He brought his doubts to Zhao Manxiong.

"Do you think she is reliable?" Zhao Manxiong asked.

"Reliable, yes, but I worry..." Wu Mu hesitated. "I worry I can't control her."

"You have full responsibility for the cadet squad," Zhao Manxiong said. "If you feel she's unusable, expel her."

"But I feel it would be a pity."

"I'm afraid I can't make this decision for you," Zhao Manxiong said. "You are in a position of authority now; you must have the ability to make independent decisions. I will support whatever choice you make."

Wu Mu returned to his office and deliberated for a long time. Finally, he called He Chun and Ke Yun separately and questioned them carefully about Yang Cao again. No further suspicious circumstances emerged. In the end, he marked a check on Yang Cao's reflection paper, indicating she had passed.

Yao Yulan's "passing" was far more arduous. First, she had little resonance with the struggle sessions, so she couldn't feign "sincere feelings." Second, her usual flamboyance had sown seeds of resentment. During political studies, classmates who resented her superiority took the opportunity to attack her, rejecting her reflection several times. Yao Yulan had to rewrite it six times. Full of complaints, she thought about quitting, but felt it would be a waste after suffering so much already. Finally, with Lu Cheng's help, she barely scraped through. Naturally, after this ordeal, she became much more low-key in her conduct.

The deepening of political studies significantly boosted the enthusiasm of the entire training class. Wu Mu now understood some of the trade secrets—specifically, keeping cadets in a constant state of agitation. This excitement couldn't be sustained by study alone, so he arranged many cultural and sports activities: exhausting the body to leave no energy for stray thoughts. In particular, a weekly visit was arranged to let cadets witness the power of the transmigrated collective, establishing the unshakeable belief that the collective was "invincible."

The cadets' professional studies advanced day by day. The short-term class aimed for speed, so it couldn't start from the basics like the NCO training class. Zhao Manxiong invited a roster of experts to lecture: Ran Yao taught Political Security Overview; Mu Min taught Organization and Implementation of Political Security Work and Investigation Methods; Zhou Dongtian taught Interrogation Methods; Zhou Botao taught Secret Investigation; Liu Zheng taught Wilderness Survival Skills; and Xue Ziliang taught Traceology, while also overseeing team expansion training and combat instruction...

"The transmigrated collective is truly full of talent," Zhao Manxiong sighed. "A veritable gathering of heroes."

Because some instructors were too specialized, Zhao Manxiong had to remind them repeatedly: the cadets were a group of indigenous people without even elementary education, and their enemies wouldn't be much more sophisticated. Teaching overly specialized knowledge and skills was not killing a chicken with a butcher's knife, but vaporizing a chicken with a Gatling gun.

"Some knowledge and skills are too advanced; there's no need to let indigenous people master them too early," Zhao Manxiong told Xue Ziliang and Salina. Among all instructors, these two possessed the most outstanding professional skills, generally representing international standards. Since Americans were relatively casual about information sharing, Zhao Manxiong had to caution them specifically.

The cadets quickly learned how to establish secret networks, conduct covert investigations, monitor organizations and individuals, detect undercurrents beneath surface calm, and handle secret communications...

Many courses utilized field exercises. Once, Zhou Botao took them to East Gate Market and let them roam freely for three hours. Upon return, they were asked to recall details of the market as much as possible: street layouts, number and location of shops, etc. Most were stunned. Many had wandered the entire market for three hours but hadn't thought to note any specific details.

Most could only vaguely name the larger shops; many hadn't even entered the smaller, more secluded side alleys.

"Pay attention to details everywhere!" Zhou Botao admonished them. "Details will save your life!"

When escaping, knowing the surrounding terrain like the back of your hand prevents running into dead ends, allowing you to hide in secluded spots or blend into busy markets as the situation demands.

When pursuing or tracking, you can anticipate which direction the target might flee and where to intercept them.

To test if they maintained such observational powers at all times, sometimes they were sent to the streets for a routine internship task, only to be interrogated about completely unrelated details upon their return.

Once, Lu Cheng was ordered to observe the activity patterns of small vendors in East Gate Market. But upon her return, Zhou Botao asked her to report how many prostitutes she saw waiting for customers in the market that day and identify them from photos on the table.

Lu Cheng had never expected such a question. She despised such shameless women who sold their bodies voluntarily and hadn't deigned to look at them.

"Why didn't you look at them?" Zhou Botao challenged. "You are a political security cadre. In this world, there are no people you like or dislike, only our own people and enemies. Those who oppose us are enemies; those willing to work honestly, make money, and pay taxes are our people. You must remember this at all times!"

They learned tracking and anti-tracking, conducting field training in markets, wilderness, forests, and mountainous areas. Zhou Botao taught the common ABC tracking method, involving a three-man rotation.

"When tracking, two people follow behind the target, switching positions to avoid detection," Zhou Botao pointed to the street sand table model on the desk. "The third person is on the opposite side of the street. If in the wild, on the opposite bank of a river or similar barrier, maintaining a parallel and slightly lagging position relative to the target."

"The third person's role is to prevent the target from suddenly changing vector." Zhou Botao used a pointer to push the wooden piece symbolizing the target to the other side of the street. "If he suddenly crosses the street and there are many people and carts, you might not follow in time before he disappears into a side street."

Zhou Botao reminded them that the easiest place to lose a target during tracking or pursuit wasn't the desolate wilderness or secluded corners of a city—where people were scarce and movements easily exposed.

"The easiest place to be shaken off is a busy market, especially those with access in all directions. Once you lose the target's trace in such a chaos, it's very hard to reacquire them."

Cadets played the roles of tracker and target, taking turns in confrontation. Losers were punished by cleaning up for the winners for several days.

Zhou Botao was particularly adept at teaching tracking and had unique approaches to investigation. This made Mu Min curious. She knew Zhou Botao was a veteran who handled a pistol well, but he definitely wasn't from the public security system. And many techniques he used clearly had a "wild" flavor.

"I was a private investigator," Zhou Botao explained. "Specializing in investigating extramarital affairs."

Private investigators excelled at surreptitious evidence collection, so Zhou Botao had developed his own unique methods for tracking and covert photography.

To improve every cadet's physical fitness, Chen Sigen was placed in charge of physical training. Chen Sigen was a professional fitness coach and a PhD in nutrition. His current title was "Director of the Nutrition and Fitness Office of the Ministry of Health," and he set the menus for both Senators and indigenous personnel.

Because the recruits were immigrants who had been in Lingao for six months, their nutritional status and physical fitness were much better than the average indigenous person of this timeline. But Chen Sigen felt this wasn't enough for future political security operatives. Although secret police, like intelligence officers, spent most time doing office work, the transmigrated collective's manpower was tight, implying there wouldn't be a strict separation of internal and field staff. Every security cadre might have to do field work and take up arms to defend the regime when necessary. Their physical fitness directly affected operational efficiency.

Chen Sigen decided to raise the food rations of political security cadets to the same standard as the Army and Navy NCO classes.

"Is this too high?" Wu Mu hesitated. He was willing to feed his cadets better, but raising it to the highest level among indigenous cadets worried him about backlash from other departments.

"Have you ever fired a pistol?" Chen Sigen asked.

"A few times; there was organized training after D-Day." Wu Mu was a bit embarrassed. "I shot poorly."

"Do you know the physical requirements for pistol shooting?"

"What?" Wu Mu wondered what physical requirements a pistol needed beyond pulling a trigger.

"The most critical thing for pistol shooting is arm strength," Chen Sigen said. "The shooter must be able to easily complete 30 push-ups and a 5000-meter run to allow the pistol to be effective. And we're giving the indigenous cadets pistols made by our own machinery plant—they're heavy."

While improving the food, Chen Sigen began gradually ramping up their physical training, enhancing strength, coordination, and endurance. This was also physical preparation for the next step: combat skills.

Regardless of the combat style or martial art, the basic requirement was that the user had sufficient strength. Attacks without strength were ineffective.

Chen Sigen excelled in free combat and was responsible for part of the combat coaching. But the main combat course was taught by Xue Ziliang, who taught Krav Maga, widely used by US law enforcement agencies.