Chapter 350: Chapter 349

Once you’re close, even a harpoon or speargun becomes just a regular stick, perhaps even less effective than a regular stick.

As long as you get close, avoiding accidental discharge, these people, even if they are desperate, can’t possibly match the special training operatives.

Although there was a small mistake, the task was completed smoothly.

After the unexpected warning from a young crew member, it only took half an hour for the special operatives to finish the fight.

Ling Chengyan exhaled, made a gesture, left some team members to handle all the captured people, and divided the rest into two groups for a complete ship search to avoid any missed threats.

The entire process was completed smoothly with all captured and no casualties among the team.

Yet none of the team members could smile; each wore a solemn expression, hiding anxiety and unease.

The mistake made during the operation was substantial, exaggerated, and unforgivable.

In this operation, even though the smugglers were armed, with some being desperadoes, they were still regular people in comparison to the military. What’s more, the special training team is famed as a squad of ultimate soldiers; for them, dealing with smugglers should have been like a hammer cracking a nut. A complete triumph was the expected outcome; a mistake was inexcusable.

What if it were a different mission, facing equally skilled opponents? That seemingly minor mistake might lead to casualties, even total annihilation.

All the team members knew this, so even though the mission was successfully completed, they couldn’t smile.

After the mission was completed, someone came to take over, taking away both large and small ships with the people.

Ling Chengyan and her team didn’t make an appearance; it was Chen Changzheng and a few locals who handled the handover.

By the time they returned to the camp, dawn was breaking.

Most of the night had passed without sleep, yet none of the special operatives were in a rush to head back to the dorms to rest. They obediently awaited the captain’s punishment.

However, no punishment came. Ling Chengyan simply gave a short order: “Dismissed, go back and rest.”

Before she even finished speaking, she turned around and headed back to the dorm without a backward glance.

Everyone had been in and out of the sea, and their clothes were soaked. Ling Chengyan returned to her dorm to grab her toiletries and headed to the bathroom, took a shower, changed into dry clothes, and then went to the dining hall.

Since most people were out on a mission and just returned, the kitchen staff had only prepared a small amount of breakfast.

Ling Chengyan walked in, and the kitchen’s Xiao’ai greeted her with a smile: “Captain Ling, you haven’t rested, huh? We’ve wrapped some wontons this morning; shall I serve you a bowl?”

Ling Chengyan went over to look and saw the kitchen staff beating a half-basin of meat filling. Two people were wrapping wonton skins with both hands, skillfully turning them into wontons at speed.

The way they wrapped wontons here was different from Eastern Province, with no need for time-consuming folds and wraps. They held a wonton skin in the left hand, scooped some meat filling with chopsticks in the right hand, and squeezed it in the middle of the skin with the left hand. A goldfish-shaped wonton was formed.

The left and right hands worked in coordination, wrapping wontons at such speed that if Ling Chengyan didn’t have sharp eyes, she could hardly see their hand movements. It looked like they just grabbed skins and threw wontons, quick as rain, and small wontons were lined up on the bamboo tray.

The soldiers wrapping wontons even had the mind to be distracted, smiling at Ling Chengyan: “Would you like to try, Captain Ling?”

Ling Chengyan shook her head: “No, my hands are too clumsy for this.”

After declining the invitation to wrap wontons, she turned to the kitchen’s Zhang Xiao’ai and said, “Cut more ginger, put it in the wonton soup to drive the chill away for everyone!”

Xiao’ai agreed promptly and went to get the ginger to clean and prepare it.

Ling Chengyan looked at the particularly small pile of ginger, chuckled, shook her head, took her large bowl of wontons, and carried it out of the kitchen to have breakfast in the dining hall.

The ginger slivers were already in her wontons, finely cut small yellow ginger slivers scattered in the soup base, like chrysanthemum petals, quite pretty.

After eating a hot bowl of wontons, Ling Chengyan wiped her mouth with satisfaction and left the dining hall, not to train but to walk leisurely down the hillside toward the beach.

By noon, when she came back, she had collected some shells and conchs from the beach, along with a few decent-sized crabs.

With only a few items, she asked the kitchen staff to cook them for lunch, which she shared with Chen Changzheng.

As they ate seafood, Ling Chengyan said, “Help arrange for more assignments.”

Her team was excellent, but they lacked practical experience. Regardless of whether it’s against smugglers, real combat is irreplaceable, unlike simulated exercises.

Chen Changzheng was dealing with a red crab claw with pliers, smiled wryly, and said, “Such small matters don’t need us, do they? Like today, it’s using a sledgehammer on a nut.”

Ling Chengyan disagreed, saying seriously, “Our soldiers can’t just bury their heads in training; no matter how well they train, lack of combat experience isn’t enough. Many things can only be gained from repeated real combat experiences.”

Today’s mistake, for example, if they had a few real combat experiences and truly developed a combat mindset, they wouldn’t have made such a low-level error.

It’s like dogs and wolves, originally the same species. Dogs live with humans in relatively safe environments which smooths out their fighting spirit, while wolves live under constant threat, maintaining their battle readiness.—Over time, wolves and dogs evolved into two completely different animals.

Hence the old saying: ’A wolf travels a thousand miles to eat meat, while a dog only eats crap.’

Seeing her determination, Chen Changzheng raised his cup filled with boiled water in lieu of wine and gestured: “Don’t worry, they didn’t bring you all this way for training without intending for you to see combat. You won’t lack battle opportunities.”

Ling Chengyan looked at him and raised her cup: “I await your good news then.”

The captain didn’t lose her temper or punish anyone, and the operatives’ anxiety was soon overshadowed by their physical exhaustion. After washing up and changing clothes, they all crashed onto their beds to catch up on sleep.

Giving the soldiers half a day to recover, they gathered after lunch with their spirits rejuvenated; their concealed worry and anxiety only faintly lingering, with only a few still quietly observing Captain Ling Chengyan’s expression, trying to figure out what level of punishment might befall them.

Ling Chengyan’s face was calm, showing no hint of emotion, only giving a straightforward order, “Everyone, head out for training!”

They didn’t go into the sea that day, but got onto the boat.

The weather forecast predicted a typhoon would make landfall in a day, and all the fishing boats returned to port after receiving radio notifications to avoid the storm. Fishing boats clustered tightly at the pier like treeless forests with masts standing tall.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep