Two months passed in a flash.

Inside the elevator leading to the 647th floor, Long Yuehong, wearing a polyester shirt, looked at his reflection in the elevator's metal walls and made a muscle-flexing gesture:

"This high-intensity training is really effective. I think I could beat my graduate-self five times over. No, three times."

Moreover, his physique had become quite good, and his temperament had become much more masculine.

Shang Jianyao stared at the crack in the elevator door and said:

"Alas, I only reached 1.75 meters tall even after genetic modification, my appearance is ordinary, and my grades are just so-so..."

"..." Long Yuehong was momentarily at a loss for words.

He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily:

"Seriously, we've been eating meat every day for the past two months, so why haven't I grown even a centimeter?"

As they spoke, the two exited the elevator and skillfully turned into Room 14.

They didn't know what they would be training in this morning and couldn't determine whether to change into the Security Department's uniform or wear clothes more suitable for combat, so they could only report to Jiang Baimian first and then go to the bathhouse locker room.

At this time, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen had already arrived, surrounding the former's brown-red desk, attentively observing something.

"Good morning, Team Leader!" Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong had grown accustomed to shouting.

Jiang Baimian looked up and waved:

"Come, come, I have something to tell you."

Long Yuehong glanced at Shang Jianyao, finding that he didn't seem to know what was going on either.

The two walked over and saw a low-resolution map spread out on Jiang Baimian's brown-red painted desk.

Jiang Baimian lightly tapped the map with her fist and said with a grin:

"Today's training project is:

"Wilderness Survival Training!"

"Ah?" Long Yuehong exclaimed.

He knew that wilderness survival training would come sooner or later, but he never expected it to happen without any warning, not giving him time to prepare!

Shang Jianyao didn't say anything, but the smile on his face couldn't be concealed.

Jiang Baimian looked around:

"Originally, I planned to start it in a few days, but the higher-ups just gave us a small mission that requires us to deliver water purification filter chips to a wilderness wanderer settlement, so let's just set off today.

"Bai Chen, you tell them about the final destination and the general route."

Still wrapped in a dusty gray scarf, Bai Chen propped herself up on the edge of the desk with one hand and lightly tapped a spot on the map with the other:

"This is Qifeng Town, about three hundred kilometers away from the company. If there were repaired roads, there wouldn't be any danger along the way. We could take turns driving and arrive within a day. Unfortunately, there are no intact roads in the Black Marsh Wilderness. Perhaps, there is a small section of road from the Old World that is relatively well-preserved, but it's overgrown with weeds and the surface has some cracks, but that's just an exception."

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong both knew that "Black Marsh Wilderness" referred to the dangerous area outside the company.

It occupied a vast area, connecting to the ice plains in the far north, bordering the "Savior Army" in the northeast, the "White Knights Order's" sphere of influence in the east, and leading to the "First City" after a long journey southeast.

As for the south, it was another wilderness and several mountain ranges.

Bai Chen continued to explain:

"As you can see, we are separated from Qifeng Town by the 'Great Marsh,' with many places marked with high-danger symbols. According to my experience, these places either have no roads at all, are pure swamps, are occupied by distorted, terrifying monsters or monster groups, or contain ruins of the Old World, the kind that you go to and never return from.

"And after crossing out the heavily polluted areas, we don't have many routes to choose from. Moreover, we have to exclude the two routes commonly used by the company, which have sentry posts, otherwise, we won't achieve the purpose of wilderness survival training.

"Considering the above conditions and the geographical situation of the Great Marsh, I have planned two routes: they both require traversing back and forth within the Great Marsh, and the time they take is similar. It will take a week or even two weeks to reach Qifeng Town, depending on the weather.

"Which route do you prefer? Or, do you want to bypass the Great Marsh from the outside? That will take longer, and the danger level won't be much lower.

"Well, my understanding of the Great Marsh is not very detailed. I haven't been to many places. You can provide other opinions."

Before Jiang Baimian could speak, Shang Jianyao stepped forward and pointed to one of the routes:

"This one is good."

"Why?" Bai Chen asked subconsciously.

Then, she deeply regretted it, feeling that she shouldn't have asked.

"The lines are smooth, and the shape is beautiful." Shang Jianyao was sincere.

Bai Chen turned to look at the team leader, hoping she could "uphold justice."

Jiang Baimian stroked her chin:

"I agree with Shang Jianyao's choice. Since there is no essential difference between the two routes, we should definitely choose the more beautiful one.

"It's settled happily!"

After saying that, she looked at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong and pointed to her electronic watch:

"You have 15 minutes to prepare."

"Only 15 minutes?" Long Yuehong's face was almost crumpled up.

"14 minutes and 55 seconds." Jiang Baimian replied without looking up, watching the electronic watch.

Long Yuehong immediately turned around, following Shang Jianyao's back:

"Hey, wait for me!"

The two quickly entered the locker room of the nearby bathhouse and opened their respective lockers.

Because they trained so hard every day that they were covered in sweat, they kept a lot of clothes here for easy changing.

--Inside the company, because there is no sunlight and it is very cold at night, employees cannot dry their clothes. The "Training Support Department" sends people to collect them, wash them, dry them, and return them uniformly (small personal items can be dried above their washstands or with a basin placed underneath to catch the dripping water).

Shang Jianyao took out a camouflage backpack standard-issue by the Security Department, unzipped it, and stuffed a set of uniforms inside.

Then, he put the issued two-in-one yellow soap for washing hair and body into a small plastic bag and threw it into the backpack.

After putting in toothpaste, toothbrush, small personal items, and other miscellaneous items, Shang Jianyao quickly took off his clothes and threw them into the locker.

Wearing only his underwear, he immediately took out the remaining set of gray-bottom uniforms and quickly put them on.

After bending down to tie his leather boots, Shang Jianyao straightened up and walked to the half-length mirror, arranging his shirt.

In the mirror, his eyebrows were straight, his brown eyes were bright, his black hair was clean and neat, and the lines of his face were deep and tough.

Coupled with the well-designed and military-spirited Security Department uniform, Shang Jianyao looked both sunny and powerful.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Shang Jianyao slowly took out a nameplate from his pocket and wore it on his left chest.

The nameplate had a red background, and the surface highlighted four golden Ashlands characters:

"Pangu Biology."

…………

After leaving the locker room, Shang Jianyao waited for two minutes for Long Yuehong to get ready, and they returned to Room 14 together.

Long Yuehong glanced at Shang Jianyao, then glanced again, and finally couldn't help but say:

"Don't you think there's something different about me?"

Shang Jianyao glanced at him sideways without speaking.

Long Yuehong raised his arm:

"I'm not nervous! Didn't you notice that I'm not nervous at all?

"If it were before, I would definitely be scared and pessimistic, but now, it's just a wilderness survival training exercise. I think I can handle it.

"These two months of training have been really useful."

Shang Jianyao slowed down and sized up Long Yuehong.

Suddenly, he smiled:

"Your legs are shaking."

"..." Long Yuehong's expression immediately collapsed.

Shang Jianyao ignored him and walked towards Room 14.

Long Yuehong came back to his senses, looked down at his legs, and shouted:

"They're not shaking! They're not shaking!"

With this interruption, he felt that he was really not nervous at all.

The two quickly returned to Room 14. Jiang Baimian's gaze swept over and landed on Shang Jianyao's left chest.

She raised her eyebrows slightly:

"There's no need to wear the nameplate. It's not a company-level operation.

"Moreover, when there are very few people, the nameplate will only bring danger. The bandits and wanderers in the Ashlands don't care if you're from a big force or not. Sometimes, if they can't rob anything, they may not even survive today. It's meaningless to consider whether attacking members of a large force will bring serious consequences."

Shang Jianyao nodded lightly and said loudly:

"Ritualistic!"

"...Take it off once you leave the company. Let's set off now." Jiang Baimian rubbed her temples.

Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong carried the same camouflage bags and followed behind her to the elevator area.

After entering the elevator, Jiang Baimian took out her electronic card and swiped it, lighting up the number "650."

In just a few seconds, the elevator finished ascending, opening the car door and the hall door.

The 650th floor was the closest floor to the ground in "Pangu Biology's" underground building. Here, there were hardly any people freely moving about. There were only silver-white metal walls, passages separated by heavy doors, and armed Security Department employees on guard.

Jiang Baimian repeatedly swiped her electronic card, opening one heavy metal door after another.

She led Shang Jianyao and others through a long passage to the other side of the 650th floor.

During this process, several doors scanned the cardholder's irises and bodies to confirm whether they were imposters. The last door even added the step of entering a password.

At the end of the passage was a row of elevators. Jiang Baimian randomly selected one, swiped her card, and lit up the metal button corresponding to the "Surface Area."

The elevator slowly ascended, revealing to Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and others a wide square with a metal dome and steel supports above.

"Parking lot." Jiang Baimian said with a smile.

Parked here were not only various cars but also tanks and missile vehicles. They were neatly arranged, one vehicle after another, row after row, with no end in sight, deeply shocking Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and others.

Jiang Baimian quickly found the car assigned to her:

It was a gray-green four-seat jeep with a high chassis and large wheels, very imposing.

Jiang Baimian then opened the trunk and pointed to the left side:

"This is the weapon for this wilderness survival training. The company's standard 9mm bullet handgun, named 'Ice Moss,' is a copy of the 'First City's' 'Red River' gun. This type of bullet is the most common and easiest to replenish."

The "Ice Moss" handgun was silver-white overall, with non-slip patterns on the grip.

Jiang Baimian continued:

"One for each person, and also, 'Joint 202,' also one for each person.

"These two are assault rifles. You know them. The company's standard 'Berserker,' using 5.56mm bullets...

"This one is the 'Orange' rifle. With a scope, it can be used as a sniper rifle...

"This one is a grenade launcher, nicknamed 'Tyrant'...

"These are all the weapons, and the bullets are here too. You put the handguns on your bodies first and each take a few magazines."

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong had seen all kinds of weapons during this period and were very familiar with them. They calmly picked up the "Ice Moss" and "Joint 202" and hung them on their waist belts.

Jiang Baimian pointed to the cardboard box on the right:

"Military canned food, energy bars, compressed biscuits, this is our supply.

"Hehe, they definitely won't last until we reach Qifeng Town. The rest will need to be obtained in the wild. This is part of the training."

"Yes, Team Leader!" Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and others were not surprised at all.

"Okay, get in the car." Jiang Baimian waved her hand with great enthusiasm.

Because Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong didn't know how to drive yet, the two ladies sat in the front row, preparing to take turns driving.

They planned to let the two men learn once they reached a more open area.

Amidst the simulated roar, Jiang Baimian started the four-door jeep, allowing it to pass through one checkpoint and separating gate after another in the parking lot.

After a while, Jiang Baimian pointed to the front with her chin:

"The last gate."

It was a silver-white double door, guarded by nearly twenty Security Department employees along the way.

After undergoing the final review, Jiang Baimian drove the jeep towards the metal gate.

At this time, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong couldn't help but become nervous, holding their breath.

This was the first time since they were born that they were going to the surface.

As the jeep approached, the silver-white double door slowly opened backward.

Golden light suddenly shone in, neither as white as fluorescent light nor as yellow as candlelight.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong simultaneously shrank their bodies, raised their right hands, and blocked them in front of their eyes.

The light was a bit blinding.