The only sounds that could be perceived were the increasingly rapid heartbeat and the ever-quickening breath. There was no way to know if there were any companions nearby, nor where one might drift to in the next moment. This simulation of being exiled in space left an unforgettable impression on everyone who was punished.

No one knew how much time had passed. The overwhelming sense of despair had already thrown their bodies out of balance. No matter how these newly errant recruits pleaded, cursed, or raged, no one paid them any attention. After venting for a while, they completely lost any sense of normal time and space. Moreover, they couldn’t feel the presence of anyone else—despair and loneliness wrapped around each person.

A few recruits didn’t last long before blissfully fainting. As for Brian Carter, he pitifully remained conscious for a full six hours. After being released, he was first subjected to a battery of medical checks by a group of military doctors, forced to drink some nutrient solution, and made to watch a few short videos. Only after this brief examination was he allowed to return.

The other comrades experienced much the same; not a single person could maintain a normal state after six hours of space confinement. Even after a night’s rest and some physical recovery, the experience left them deeply shaken, and the very mention of confinement filled them with dread.

The lessons learned from these brothers made it clear to everyone around them that once basic training was over, the accompanying punishments would also escalate. From then on, whenever Instructor Hack issued orders with a smile, no one dared to take them lightly. Instructor Hack had already made it clear that the next punishment would be extended to twelve hours.

Some mischievous officers from the military discipline office, after this confinement incident, even posted a “confinement leaderboard” on the base’s bulletin board. It listed all those who had been punished with confinement and how long they managed to stay awake and endure it. At the top of the list was now Brian Carter, whose full six hours of conscious confinement made him a minor celebrity.

Of course, they didn’t forget to add the records from previous years as well. The longest was someone who managed to stay awake for forty hours straight in that environment—a veritable god of confinement. That person’s name, it seemed, was the same as the current captain of the army’s top special forces unit.

In any case, this advanced and highly effective method of stimulating training enthusiasm—space confinement—was dubbed the “nightmare of the barracks” by the recruits!

Chapter 5: Challenging the Limits (Part 1)

Some pranksters even made a leaderboard for the number of times people had been punished. As a result, Henry Brooks of Squad Three, Battalion Thirty-Two, at the Wei Six Recruit Training Base, immediately took the top spot during basic training, having been punished forty-five times in thirty days. The record stood high above all others—never in history had there been such a “brilliant achievement.” The second place holder trailed far behind with only twenty-one “hard-earned” punishments.

Henry Brooks’s squad instantly became notorious throughout the base for holding two punishment records, much to the annoyance of their accompanying Instructor Hack. The subsequent training became even more demanding, leaving the recruits of Squad Three utterly exhausted. Even with Henry Brooks’s increasingly abnormal stamina, he was often so worn out that he would fall asleep the moment he touched his bed.

Of course, Henry Brooks’s habit of daydreaming hadn’t improved at all, which continued to give Instructor Hack a headache. The recent training required a lot of physical strength, and when performing tactical maneuvers in full gear, many of the recruits who were still getting used to it performed the moves poorly, making Henry Brooks stand out less than before.

Lately, Henry Brooks had been troubled as well. For some reason, a certain awkward passage of text kept looping through his mind, and he couldn’t stop it no matter how hard he tried. His body also seemed to instinctively sense that something was off, though he couldn’t pinpoint what.

The most uncomfortable part was that the tactical maneuvers taught by Instructor Hack were said to be the result of generations of experience, combined with a century of intense research by countless experts in human ergonomics. They perfectly matched the mechanics and physiology of the human body and achieved optimal tactical results. Yet, for Henry Brooks, this was a source of inner conflict.

In fact, in Henry Brooks’s memory, the instincts and memories of many wild animals were far more effective than these standard combat moves. He didn’t understand why the moves had to be prescribed this way. According to his experience, there were better postures and actions to achieve the same goals. Because of these thoughts—almost instincts—practicing standard tactical maneuvers had always been a very uncomfortable experience for him.

With a soldier’s mindset of following orders, Henry Brooks wanted to perform the moves as Instructor Hack demonstrated. But his body seemed to have many uncontrollable instincts, always adjusting the moves at the very start according to the environment. Although the end result was the same, the process was always a bit off.