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**Bravo Team Selection: Week 37, Sunday Night**

Late at night on the Sunday of Week 37 of the Green Team's selection process, Long Zhan and Stella had just finished their "Sweat Gland Accelerating Exercises" when Stella, with her strong arms, lifted him onto her back and carried him to bed.

**"Beep, beep, beep..."**

The phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.

Long Zhan instinctively opened his eyes and reached for the phone.

He unlocked the screen and checked the text message.

It was, as expected, a random summons from the base.

Having been through dozens of these over the past 9 months, Long Zhan was already accustomed to these random calls. He gently patted Stella's arm and whispered, "Darling, I have to go."

Stella woke up from the motion, still clinging to Long Zhan's broad waist, her soft cheek rubbing against his chest.

With her eyes still closed, she murmured, "A mission at this hour? How inhumane."

"Well, I'm the one doing this job. I thought you, being so smart, would have already guessed. In our line of work, there's no time limit, no fixed hours. We need to be on standby 24/7."

Long Zhan propped himself up, turned on the bedside lamp, pinched Stella's cheek, and began getting dressed.

Stella made no attempt to stop him or complain, only expressing a hint of regret. She lay on her side in bed, silently watching as Long Zhan hurriedly got dressed.

"Such a little devil!"

As Long Zhan quickly dressed, he couldn't help but notice Stella's alluring figure as she lay on the bed, tempting him. He barely managed to keep his composure.

To avoid being entangled by this "devil," he quickened his dressing pace once more.

In less than 30 seconds, he was ready.

"I'll be off now. Go back to sleep. Sweet dreams. If you miss me, just hug this to sleep. Haha."

Long Zhan kissed Stella, turned the double photo frame on the bedside to face her, and with a big laugh, took two steps out of the bedroom.

"What a narcissistic jerk," Stella softly muttered as she watched Long Zhan's retreating figure. Then, she pulled the blanket closer, still warm from his body.

With him gone, she found comfort in the warmth left behind.

...

Stella's residence was not far from the base—only about 30 kilometers away. Long Zhan rode his motorcycle back in half an hour.

On the way back, Long Zhan had a premonition, and upon arriving at the base, his suspicion was confirmed.

He entered the designated assembly area indicated in the text message, only to find no other new recruits—just a dozen or so burly men waiting for him.

These men were all wearing bandit hats, and as soon as Long Zhan entered the room, he was surrounded.

Seeing this unique formation, Long Zhan immediately realized that the final ultimate test had arrived. The other recruits who had arrived earlier must have already been caught.

Although Long Zhan was confident that, with his abilities, he could take down at least half of these men by himself, he knew that doing so would be pointless. This was merely a step in the "counter-capture training." No matter how strong you were, you couldn't escape it.

Even if he managed to defeat the dozen men in front of him, Adam could call in more "sparring partners" immediately.

In fact, Adam might even want the recruits to show some resistance, stepping up to challenge the sparring partners, to exhaust their energy before beginning the real torture.

With Long Zhan's intelligence, there was no way he would make such a foolish mistake.

Rather than wasting his strength on these sparring partners, it was wiser to conserve his energy for the next test and perform better during the final stage.

Thus, Long Zhan offered no resistance and allowed the burly men to surround him.

First, his mouth was gagged, then a black cloth bag was placed over his head. His hands were restrained behind his back, and he was marched for nearly a minute.

Eventually, he was placed in a one-meter-wide iron cage.

His large frame felt uncomfortable in the small cage. He couldn't move much in any direction, though the cage was long enough—about 1.5 meters—so he could lie on his side without feeling too cramped.

With the black hood blocking his vision, Long Zhan had no idea where he was in the base or what kind of environment he was in.

The only thing he could tell was that he wasn't alone in this cage.

He could hear the clanging of other cages nearby, as well as the heavy breathing of other gagged individuals.

The door to the room would occasionally open, each time accompanied by the opening and closing of a cage door.

Clearly, the other recruits who had arrived before him were enduring the same treatment, being confined in this mysterious location like prisoners.

After the fourth door opened, however, the sound of the door ceased.

All the recruits, now confined, had mostly guessed what kind of training awaited them. There was no sign of panic or restlessness.

The room fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the recruits.

Time passed—maybe an hour, or the whole night, or even longer.

**"Creak~"**

The sound of the wooden door opening again, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

This was different from before.

"Finally, it's starting!"

Long Zhan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, thought to himself and opened his eyes.

He then heard the distinct sound of locks being undone. The locked iron door was opened, and the black hood was removed. Orange-yellow light flooded his vision, and his gag was finally removed.

The soft orange-yellow light allowed Long Zhan to see his surroundings clearly.

It was clearly a narrow basement with a ceiling barely two meters high, giving the place a suffocating atmosphere.

This oppressive ambiance had obviously been intentionally created.

In the less than 20-square-meter room, two rows of iron cages were placed on each side. All the recruits had been locked inside.

Long Zhan, through the bars of his own cage, observed the others, who were similarly watching hi

Standing between the two rows of cages was Adam, the special training instructor for the Green Team, flanked by more than a dozen instructors assisting with this training.

All of them wore bandit hats. If one didn't know better, they would have thought they had wandered into a bandit hideout.