novelMind Calming Agent (2)
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Chapter Chapter 50.2 - Mind Calming Agent translator: xiin editors: apricot & juurensha
After the second theory class, actual combat training finally filled up their schedules again. After all, the final exam--would be two people fighting for their lives in the underground arena, and not two people sitting on opposite sites and writing papers.
For the next three days, the A073 training room, which belonged to Wu Jin, was always entered at 7AM and turned off at 11PM.
The twelve recovery agents that the big boss had given him were just enough to cover four days of training, and Instructor Arjun had given him another six.
From start to finish, Wu Jin never understood why Instructor Arjun would 'apologize' to him.
With the accumulated training using powerful training resources, Wu Jin's tactical evasion changed almost completely.
The instance difficulty increased to 'medium high' on the second day, and moved onto 'high' by the third day. The six sets of tactical evasive maneuvers became deeply rooted in his bone marrow and firmly memorized by his muscles. Zoe even saw it happen a few times--Wu Jin would use a spoon to figure out how to connect the moves during a meal.
When the two finally teamed up to train together--even Zoe was amazed.
Some people might not have the best talent, but they might definitely be the hardest working one out of the people around them.
Outside the training base, the fog that covered Floating City remained day after day.
When the night view became as gorgeous as the daytime view, Wu Jin finally came to a realization that the first day of the weekend in Floating City had arrived.
For the first time, the training base allowed them two hours off. Wu Jin didn't think twice before allocating it all to training room A073. The rabbit spirit and the insectoid beasts happily huddled together inside.
After three days of hellish training, Wu Jin even felt that there would be no problem if he set up his bedroom using this kind of layout!
In the second hour, Zoe finally couldn't help pulling Wu Jin out of the training room in order to study the latest developments of the Crosson Show.
The arrival of the weekend was a sign that the show's holiday break was halfway over.
In order to canvas votes, Thin Fire photoshopped and posted a second fried egg from Thin Water.
Zoe: "Can that freakish Thin Water only fry eggs? Don't these two eggs look exactly the same?"
Wu Jin: "... The second egg is done in the shape of a heart. It should have been made with a mould."
There was no movement after he spoke.
Zoe: "Pass."
The organizers of the Crosson Show had already begun to make preparations for the layout of the third elimination round. The buildings covered by the curtains were scrawled with six-pointed stars, and the Star Net webpage from the sponsors link was also under construction.
Zoe: "It looks a bit like that... magic shrine? The theme for the next elimination match is a little hard to guess. Little magical boy Little Witch?"
Wu Jin retorted, "Magical boy Zoe!"
Zoe: "Fine then, we'll decide it this way. Magical boy Caesar."
The two continued to look into it, but when there was only twenty minutes left of their break, Zoe decided to go back to his room and get some sleep.
Wu Jin once again opened up the Star Net to research nuts, hard candy, and small steamed buns.
They were only half a day away from the next one-on-one guided class, but there were no merchants who dared to deliver goods to Floating City.
Every time Wu Jin contacted them privately, he would receive objections like 'too dangerous', 'single-use delivery couriers are not provided', and other various reasons.
The snack package that he'd originally intended to give to the big boss... was temporarily stranded outside.
At the end of their two hour 'holiday', Wu Jin rushed into Zoe's dormitory with an alarm and dragged out the sleepy sniper. By the time they'd returned to the theory classroom, their timetable had already been completely refreshed.
After three days of tactical evasion, only one special training session remained&#k2013;&#k2013;
Firearms foundation.
Zoe suddenly thought of something and gave Wu Jin a deep look.
Outside the firearms training room, the two of them snatched up their numbers in the queue one after another. Zoe waited for nearly twenty minutes before Wu Jin was finally let back out by the firearms instructor.
The youth who was wearing a white mask hung his head slightly, and Zoe patted on the shoulder, indicating that he should wait.
After entering the training room, the conversation between the two instructors could still be heard intermittently.
"That student just now... his judgement is good enough, but the problem is that he's not aggressive and can't get a sense of the gun. It's fine for him to play with dynamic targets, but the disadvantage when it comes to using guns in real combat is too big."
"His extroversion is only E. If the training amount is increased--"
"It won't have any obvious effect. It's a problem with his base character. The final examination is in only two days. Have him sign the L63 for stress training."
"Have him go straight into stress training??"
"Yes. There's no point in him coming here if he doesn't break his limits."
Zoe, who was just about to pick up a gun, paused.
Five minutes later, Wu Jin, who was preparing to sign a form in the hallway, was interrupted by Zoe.
"Little Witch!"
Wu Jin raised his head.
Zoe spoke quickly, "I didn't think that it would be stress training--it was banned by the Federal government decades ago, but it seems that Azure Cosmos kept it until now. It's illegal to stimulate the subconscious itself. You have the right to refuse."
Wu Jin blinked, "Thank you, brother Zoe... but I still want to give it a try."
The emphasis on rules would be reduced in the next elimination match, and the map would be smaller. The chance of having a gunfight in close quarters would be increased--if he wasn't able to break through this limit, it would become difficult for him to even pass.
Zoe paused for a few seconds and glanced at the training notes in Wu Jin's hands.
--"Stress can be divided into three stages: Shock, resistance, and collapse... Party A (Floating XX Training Base) shall be responsible for changes in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and metabolic level, and Party B (Trainee) shall bear responsibility for any psychological problems caused by excess stress..."
Wu Jin's name was signed in the lower right corner of the page.
Zoe: "Are you really sure?"
Wu Jin nodded.
The White Moonlight sniper no longer stopped him and instead gave Wu Jin a brief hug."You can do it. Don't force yourself if you can't hold on. This thing will stimulate your cerebral cortex. Come find your brother Zoe any time if you can't sleep at night."
Wu Jin smiled and nodded.
Two hours later, Wu Jin finished his dynamic target shooting warm up in training room A073, put on the protective clothing for the stress training, and opened the door to the base's basement second floor.
A female teaching assistant in uniform gave him a searching look, then gestured for him to put on a series of physical examination equipment.
The two of them shuttled through the dark corridors, during which the female teaching assistant spoke quickly and dispassionately, "Every person will have completely different reactions under stress due to their character, background, growth environment, and so on. Give me your gun."
Wu Jin immediately handed over his training gun.
In the next moment, the female teaching assistant pulled down the safety lock on the gun in a flash, set her finger on the trigger, and held the gun straight to Wu Jin's head--
Wu Jin's pupils contracted sharply.
The muscle memory formed over the past three days surged up, and he retreated directly towards the nearby wall faster than his consciousness could catch up--
The teaching assistant abruptly lowered the gun.
"A demonstration." She spoke coolly, "Some people can execute the target without any psychological obstacles, like me. Some people will hand their gun to strangers without any vigilance at all, and their first reaction would always be to run away instead of snatching the gun back, like you."
Wu Jin: "!! I actually..."
The teaching assistant interrupted him, "There is no right or wrong when it comes to character. On one hand, combat stress will affect your aggression, ambition, and initiative. On the other hand, it also determines your ability to bear pressure."
"From battle exhaustion to shell shock, to something as small as restlessness. If your character doesn't match the battle environment that you are about to face, then we recommend using direct stimulation to the cerebral cortex in order to get you into a simulated environment in advance, rather than cowering on the battlefield or in the arena."
"We're here."
The sound of high-heeled shoes on the floor paused, and the female teaching assistant returned his gun to him."Your stress training room. With less than two days to go before the final exam, your initial goal is to be able to remain inside for half an hour without being scared unconscious."
Wu Jin: "......"
Female teaching assistant: "The goal for tomorrow and the day after that is to pass the primary instance." After she finished giving out her instructions, she took a look at the terminal and pushed Wu Jin forward, closing the door to the training room behind him.
The room was pitch black.
The material of the floor beneath his feet was unclear. It was creepily cold and slippery, and it gave people the sensation of falling when they stepped on it.
Wu Jin put on the holographic equipment and projected the training contract into his view once again.
"Party B (Trainee) shall bear responsibility... excess stress..."
After that were the rules and regulations.
"If you need to vomit, go out and turn right to reach the bathroom. Violators will be fined a 600 credit cleaning fee."
"If you require instructor supervision (strongly recommended), swipe your card through the charging machine to the left. 1000 credits/hour, 20% off for a 10 hour package, half price for half a month."
Wu Jin was dazed. The figure of the big boss quickly flashed through his mind as he hurriedly flipped to the next page.
"Beginner scene selection: A) Year 3001 ~I Love Southern Cross~, classic anti-invasion campaign from the movie. B) Year 2912 ~Aquila Constellation Zombie Tide~, the war scenario that players complained the most about from the love strategy game."
Wu Jin was a little curious and selected the second option.
The surroundings finally lit up.
Wu Jin could feel his stomach churning as soon as he looked down. The ground beneath his feet wasn't the floor at all, but rather countless sticky chunks of flesh, blood, and biological tissue. Low level-zombies coated in mucus rummaged through the bodies, and when they saw Wu Jin appear, they quickly leaped towards his calves like blood-sucking leeches.
Wu Jin didn't hesitate to smash down with his gun handle and immediately pull back towards the bunker--
However, there was nowhere to hide at all in this scene.
Wu Jin's pupils shrank. This seemed to be the center of the zombie tide. In the distance were countless tall buildings that had been corroded by the mucus. Ten meters away, the defensive line had broken open, and low-level zombies poured in from the gap.
There were also advanced zombies that were closer to human form--they were more like skinned monsters rather than anything similar to a human, showing tangled red flesh and bare veins.
This particular monster was even holding a gun.
A bullet suddenly whizzed by along Wu Jin's ear--he covered his stomach with one hand and picked up his gun with the other, gasping as he shot at his opponent. His heart beat started to fluctuate as he panicked, and the sticky advanced zombie took advantage of the first opportunity it was given to send Wu Jin to the ground with a bullet.
The stench of blood and mucus swept over him, and Wu Jin's face turned increasingly pale by the second--
"Ding", the prompt sounded: "Highest record: 24 seconds."
Wu Jin struggled to stand up, but the next round began again before he could stand still.
The monster was reset to 20 meters away, and there was still no shelter. The only purpose of stress training was to force him to enter a gunfight.
This time, he managed to hold on for less time than before: 16 seconds.
Wu Jin couldn't help himself anymore. He pressed down on his abdomen and panted.
Unlike the dynamic target training room, the five overstimulated senses served as continuous sources of mental stimulation. It seemed that Wu Jin's operations were incorrect, and not only did it not force up his desire to fight, it also seriously affected his logic and judgement ability.
The scene refreshed again.
Wu Jin was numb as he raised up the gun, but he ended up stabbed in the back by a zombie that had spawned behind him--
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
Wu Jin's head was buried in the bloody mess in front of him.
This damned ~Aquila Constellation Zombie Tide~! And it was a love strategy game! How could there be a battle scenario like this!
At this time, the skinned human-shaped advanced zombie struck again, looking like it wanted to paste itself onto Wu Jin--
The zombie was kicked away by a booted foot.
Wu Jin covered his eyes with his arms and raised his gun to shoot at random.
The newcomer: "......"
Wu Jin became aware that something wasn't right. His elbows slid down and revealed half of a wary eye.
Wei Shi spoke indifferently, "Are you that insistent on saving 1000 credits?"
The man leaned over, pulled open the rabbit spirit's crumpled combat jacket, pulled the training card out of an inner pocket, and swiped it against the charge machine to the left side of the training room.
"Ding", the prompt sounded, "Stress training, instructor supervision monthly package. Activated."
Juurensha: Awwww WS coming in to help out his rabbit spirit!
xiin: Little Witch is just too good~ also, a quick reminder that you can subscribe to patreon for extra chapters if you want to read ahead! SURPRISE has two tiers - one week (~7 releases) ahead of schedule, and three weeks (~21 releases) ahead of schedule.
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