Tomorrow's Ark, the journey of hardcore and ruthless people

Tallulah took a sip of coffee and asked, "Really? I don't think that guy Comander can spit out ivory from his mouth."

"Heh... To a certain extent, you are right." Patriot laughed dryly. "... When I said to him, 'The former emperor made the earth tremble because he didn't talk about the vision, he just stepped forward', he said:

"'Nonsense, how to be the emperor of a feudal empire, his ancestors have already demonstrated. He is a great man, but you are different. What you want to do is to create the world, you must be greater than him!

"'You followed the emperor of Ursus, gave almost everything for this empire, and found that your efforts made the results gallop in the opposite direction in the end! You only know the general course, and you know nothing about the wind and ocean currents, of course it will be now In this way, no matter which way the boat goes, it will be against the wind and the current!'"

Patriot seemed to be deeply impressed by this passage, and the retelling was smooth and natural, and even the tone of voice was perfectly reproduced, so that Tallulah couldn't bear to touch her neck——to her, this passage was also like Pointing at the nose and cursing.

The patriot paused and let out a long breath: "I felt at the time that even if he could only talk about it, I should have such a person who can sting me to remind me repeatedly. But later... I felt that I followed He is more correct.

"For our old comrades-in-arms, he is the least of my worries. If you were my leader, I would respect your ideals and enthusiasm, but I don't think you will necessarily bring victory. At most, as long as You didn't take the dark path of the black snake, and fell into the abyss, so I will accompany you on it. And he——I think the black snake entangled him is asking for trouble."

"Indeed..." Tallulah pondered for a moment, "I'm curious, what makes them have such unwavering faith?"

A calm voice came from not far away: "When you stand taller than Black Snake, you will not take him seriously."

The two people stood up in unison and stood at attention.

Comand didn't show any helpful expression, but just waved his hands: "Let's talk about the next test you will face."

**

Among Tallulah's old comrades in arms, Comand is definitely the most distinctive one.Tallulah only recently learned how different Commander was:

He is also a "political commissar" in the People's League.

The name "political commissar" is not exact.In the Red Sickle and Hammer Legion, the most important source of the People's Federation system, the name of this position is "political warfare sergeant".

In units of the Red Scythe bloodline, the political sergeant is one of the two commanders of the unit on the same level as the military commander.They are responsible for checking the psychological state of the commanders and fighters of the troops, alleviating their troubles, and ensuring that the troops have a good mental outlook.It's a daunting task - as we all know, in that cold and dark universe, the corruption and corruption of the army poses a terrible threat.

Becoming a political sergeant is no easy task.Only the strongest willed, sharpest minds and most passionate people can do it.Political and combat sergeants should always pay attention to the ideological trends in the army, unclog the psychological problems of the army officers and soldiers, and have the most important vote in the collective decision-making of the army;

At the same time, as troop commanders, political and combat sergeants must have no less technical and tactical qualities in combat and command than military commanders of the same level. They must also calmly "stop" impulsive and reckless partners and subordinates from time to time;

Finally, since they understand people's hearts so well, the political and military soldiers are often responsible for communicating with alien creatures that may be allied. At least proficiency in two foreign languages ​​​​is a minimum requirement for political and warfare soldiers...

When Talula was flipping through the related military textbooks of the People's Federation and the summary of Comand's notes, she raised her head endlessly and looked at Commande sitting opposite.When Comand finally couldn't help himself, Tallulah raised the note: "Is this written about you?"

"it's me."

"is it?"

"Yes... I was still a newbie preparing for the exam at that time."

Tallulah: "The writing is so awesome - I don't think this is you."

Conman: "What's wrong, you've watched too many movies, don't you want to leave? I think you don't want me to tutor you?"

"Fuck, don't, don't!"

There are no heroes in the eyes of servants.Tallulah knew intellectually that the citizens of the People's Federation who personally transformed Terra all had their own shining points, and many of them were extraordinary.But after working for a long time beside Comand and being in touch with his basic necessities of life, Tallulah has seen this guy's desire to pretend more or less; she has heard that when this guy was rescued in the field, it was... It's been a long time; I have endured this guy's habit of not brushing his teeth when he was active on the tundra, but after he settled down, he still didn't brush his stinky teeth every day.

Regarding the last point, perhaps it was because he had cleaned up the Total Integration Movement from top to bottom before, and no one dared to point out the leadership's shortcomings, so it was up to Tallulah, who could not bear it, to correct it with an iron fist...

In this case, Tallulah inevitably only noticed Commander's trivial remarks.To put it bluntly, Tallulah even felt that this member of a high-level civilization had more shortcomings than ordinary people, and his level might be a few degrees below average.Not as cute as the old couple in the Izyaslav family, not as respectable as the patriots and Froststar——

She knew that this kind of thinking was not correct, but she was inevitably affected by it, and it was difficult to associate the image of Comand with "tall".

Just like now, Commander volunteered to tutor Tallulah.This tutoring work is really not like a political commissar in the traditional definition—even just now, before the test started, he was repeating the test points like this:

"No problem, just relax. If you pass the written test, the interview is still very simple."

"Before entering the field, you can take a deep breath and relax, and believe in yourself."

"Don't think too much, just answer the examiner's questions according to your first reaction..."

The people coming and going outside the examination room of the Personnel Department were without exception, because the strange combination was whispering; and all of them quickened their pace in the face of the deterrent force of Comand's lieutenant colonel uniform and the "Red Scythe and Hammer" badge.

Although even Tallulah's expression began to look subtle, Commande still ignored the strange sights from all walks of life and helped Tallulah review the main points before the exam started. Tallulah, who was still yearning for the door when the exam started, emphasized : "Now check your appearance for the last time..."

As soon as Tallulah came out, Comand circled around her and began to check the points lost.It wasn't until just now that he let go of Tallulah, and left without knowing what to do.

No, it's back now.In front of the patriots, he was still rambling:

"As far as your ability is concerned, I'm actually not too worried about your results in the written test and interview. It must be much better than me at the beginning. But the problem is another matter.

"I have to say that Black Snake is a guy who is very good at playing with people's hearts, and he has almost reached the extreme in this regard. We are not necessarily smarter than him. But we are engaged in a cruel war with beings more powerful than him. Our main enemy It is a god who feeds on strong emotions, so the level of will and thinking is also an important battlefield. On this front, we have achieved certain results.

"We first set an unshakable principle: Let human beings survive with dignity and free development. Of course, surviving is the most common consensus, right? Then we make responses on this basis.

"Rationality is a way of thinking, not the vulgar materialism of 'firmly believing that there is no God'. The former 'Imperial Truth' has been overturned. Now we believe that it is impossible for people to understand the world completely and correctly. We must still have cognitive limitations. Weaknesses and loopholes. Therefore, our usual ending sentence in discussions is - 'I may be wrong'. Therefore, it is reasonable for us to correct our cognition and methods based on the results of practice."

"Let's look at you in turn." Comand pointed to Tallulah who was listening carefully, "Kosche has cultivated you to be an extreme diode, and he has cursed you to get on your body as soon as you shake it. You are like a hard but fragile piece Armor that does not improve one's worldview, looks strong in attitude and conviction, but is bound to crumble under the hammering of years and years."

"Don't slap people in the face..." Tallulah smiled awkwardly, and then asked eloquently, "Then what do you rely on for your firm belief?"

"That's a really long story." Commander hesitated, "Let me talk about the assessment we use to select Space Marine candidates and the backbone of ordinary people. The main part of the assessment is called the 'Dark Corridor'. The interview and written test just now, It’s just to earn admission for this test.”

Patriot commented from the side: "This name is very good. 'Fumbling forward in the dark corridor' fits our situation quite well."

Comand didn't say anything about the Patriot's comments, and continued: "The test is divided into three stages. Each subject will stay in a special cabin similar to a hibernation cabin for about a month. The subjects will connect to life. The sign maintenance system enters a state of deep hypnosis. The device in the cabin will conduct mental tests on several levels of subjects through mental suggestion and other means..."

His voice gradually dropped.Tallulah and Patriot looked at Command in amazement with a "frightened" expression——

When is this guy still afraid? !

Comand shrank his shoulders: "What kind of expression do you have, do you think I'm stupid and bold? In the first stage, the subject's consciousness will fall into such an environment: cold and dark, and there is nothing else at all except himself.

"He will feel utterly alone—for such emotions are specially amplified by the hypnotic device; and if he tries to seek help from other people, it will be useless, neither to friends nor to gods, nor to shouting or to praying silently. In deep hypnosis, there will only be a cold and dark universe surrounding everything.

"Only if you realize that the essence of the universe is cold and dark; realize that whether individually or as a whole, human beings can only face this cold and dark world alone; I can't save you, I can only rely on myself - only by realizing this from the bottom of my heart can the first stage of the dark corridor be passed and enter the next stage."

The Patriot breathed out a complex emotion: "Huh... a very useful test. I can understand."

—Hasn't he been in such a psychological environment for a long time?

Tallulah curled her lips: "This design team is quite ruthless, but... maybe I can challenge it. Anyway, my mental state will not be much better than this for a long time."

Instead, Comand sneered twice: "Really? This is only the first stage, and the second stage is even more uncomfortable. There must be something to support you through the first stage, right?

"In the second stage, the subjects must first list all their good and warm memories and the things they desire, and then create the subjects' experience when they lose them."

patriot:"……?"

Tallulah: "...that's ruthless enough."

Patriot reminisces about the moment when his son fell in sight, and Tallulah imagines how she felt when Comand and Alina died... Well, why this bastard?Even in front of Alina?

Tallulah shook her head while her heart was empty, throwing out the messy thoughts.

Comand went on to say: "The subjects were of course in great pain. Even if they tried to keep these things, the good things would only go further and further away. Once the subjects couldn't support it, and the mental fluctuations reached certain thresholds, the test immediately failed. It's over. Judging by your performance, I'm afraid it's hard to say."

The two listeners were greatly shocked.Tallulah smacked her lips and frowned: "What kind of superman are we trying to select from such a test?"

Comand looked solemn: "The second stage is to eliminate the subject's dependence on these things: in future struggles, our backbone must not rely too much on any 'tangible existence'. Because 'tangible' means Being able to obtain it means being able to be seduced by it, such as victory, honor, knowledge, and even... emotion.

"These things can be pursued, but they must not be regarded as the highest goals. A Red Scythe can pursue its own achievements, but it cannot hesitate to give up these things. This environment will force the subject to break away from their spiritual They walk alone on crutches. Their "source of motivation" must be something more metaphysical, such as "serving mankind"; for example, their pride as an independent being facing the universe alone - "Human beings are just a stick" Reed, but he is a thinking reed'. Something like this.

"In the second stage, you must learn to maintain your fighting spirit without any hope in your heart. Tallulah, yes, the purpose of the 'Dark Corridor' is to select 'supermen' in the philosophical sense, to select warriors made of special materials. .”

Tallulah looked at Commander seriously: "Like you? I really don't think so."

Commander rolled his eyes at her: "Well... okay, let's continue.

"After passing the second stage, the third stage with the highest elimination rate will start immediately. This stage is called the 'success test'. This test is very short, and it is the only one that specifies a time limit: ten in real time Hours. It has two nicknames: 'Later Test' and 'Huang Liang Yi Meng'.

"As soon as the third stage begins, the subject will face a dream that his own subconscious also participated in creating: this dream often begins 'after' the tragic bloody battle. At this time, the subject has become a powerful interstellar Warrior, he performed extremely bravely in this battle, and made outstanding achievements, even defeated the gods of Chaos. He was extremely revered, and he was going to speak in front of the palace of the holy Terra. Cruise the galaxy..."

The patriot finally couldn't help it: "This is too exaggerated. After defeating Gaul, the first emperor Ursus did not do this."

Tallulah spat this out for Commander: "Mr. Patriot, this is a literal daydream."

Comand continued: "This dream will last for ten hours in real time. The system of the test cabin ensures that the dream will constantly remind the subject with various details at the first time. There are many ways to remind, from others seeming Unintentional words to "acquaintances" who do not exist in the subject himself, and even dead relatives of the subject will reappear in the end.

"On the one hand, the will that can pass through the first two stages is not so easy to get lost; on the other hand, human needs will allow the subject's subconscious to participate in creating the false beauty in the dream. The third stage is the self in this dream The competition lasted until the end of the ten hours. The result of the third stage was very simple to judge, depending on whether the subjects could wake up and walk out of the test cabin within ten hours.

"Waking up on his own means that his spirit is strong enough to resist all kinds of temptations. He will stay awake in the test cabin until the ten hours expire and get out by himself. If he does not wake up by himself, the subject will be in the test cabin Afterwards, he is still in a dream, and he will be stabbed with an electric baton after opening the cabin. The third stage is to test the "purpose" of the subject. It is very easy for him to wake up from the dream if he wants to survive. But if a person's goal is to focus on his own glory and achievement... Humph.

"People who fail in the second stage may still join the auxiliary army or the administrative department, but if they fail in the third stage, even if the SUPP regime recruits the most ordinary staff, they will not be considered. Because he was in the first and The second stage has completely given up dependence on tangible hope, but the failure of the third stage shows what hope is in his eyes?

"It's him."

——In other words, this guy has a bit of xaotian mentality.

The patriot couldn't help but nod. This old man with extensive social experience said: "It's a very meaningful test."

Comand began to conclude: "Of course it makes sense. The 'Dark Corridor' test. It is the most important part in the selection of personnel in relevant departments. Whether it is the selection of space fighters or ordinary people who want to enter key positions, candidates must undergo this test .This is not only a test, but also a trial. It is to test whether people have faith, and it is an opportunity to strengthen people's faith. Those who survive will develop an extremely firm will. On our side, the total number of human beings is trillions , but the people who have completely passed it are just barely close to [-] million.

"The main body of the People's Federation comes from the Red Scythe Legion in the era of the human empire, and this test is also true. The Red Scythe has a slogan of 'everyone is a brother'. The Astartes of this legion are willing to assist ordinary people in the army Corps, mortal officers and soldiers outside the Legion, and even Imperial citizens are called 'brothers'. Other Astartes during the Imperial period would only use this title for Space Marines who were of the same blood as their own.

"However, for the Red Scythe, there is still another title with strict standards. Its distinguishing standard is not which primarch your gene-seed of a space warrior comes from, nor is it whether you are a genetically modified person or a standard person , but whether to pass the 'Dark Corridor' test. Those who pass all three stages are called—

"Comrade."

Comand finished the introduction.But the two listeners were also silent for a long time.Tallulah said slowly: "It's really not easy to be your comrade."

Comand suddenly came alive, laughing and telling jokes about the test in the dark corridor.For example, a certain unlucky guy said, "When I just opened the lid, before I said hello, that bastard stabbed me with an electric baton. Fortunately, I quickly dodged it. Are my eyes so small?!"

There are even more flirtatious buddies, this guy can already wake up clearly, but he just dragged himself into the dream, using his huge power in the dream to get all the girls he wanted to date, until he got stuck on the tenth day.The guy even went around bragging about the experience, and since he wasn't technically breaking the rules, even the Primarch couldn't do anything about him.

Tallulah was so teased that her flowers trembled wildly.But when Command suggested that we should go to the cafeteria when it was time for dinner, and she followed Comand to the cafeteria, Tallulah suddenly had a solemn expression: "So did you pass through the dark corridor?"

Commande turned his head and stared at the bustling people coming and going outside the window, showing a very eager and determined expression: "That's not important, the important thing is that human beings can still exist, human beings control their own destiny, and human beings can pursue a better future I'm just a part of this cause, and I'm trying to live a wonderful life while contributing to it.

"In short, our species will continue to exist, and as long as it exists, we will fight one day. This is the key thing to remember."

Tallulah stared at the light outside the window raptly, and then replied: "Of course, to bring a better future to this world—who else but us?"

PS: 7000!Please vote!

Chapter 2 The Kazdel Problem

There are many hotspots of conflict on "this land" called Terra.And the biggest, the most anxious and the most intense one is none other than Kazdel.

The "Sarkaz" race living in Kazdel for generations has an extremely glorious history.The people on Terra hated, feared and despised Sarkaz, because the Sarkaz people once whipped the entire Terra because of their strength and superior witchcraft, and were crushed under the siege of the entire Terra.This country and nation have been unable to recover since then and can only survive with difficulty.And now, the situation in the Kazdaele Kingdom has reached the brink of war again——

The regent Theresis and the princess Theresia had different opinions on the question of "Where should Kazdel and Sarkaz go", and finally chose to go their own way.As the two merged, eliminated, and disintegrated various Sarkaz clans, Kazdel's domestic situation eventually became a confrontation between the Theresis Group and the Theresia Group.The Kingdom of Kazdel has no king now, and the combination of the regent and the queen has lasted for a long time, and their rise was earlier - the two-hundred-year-old patriot grew up listening to the stories of their brothers and sisters.

The Intelligence Service of the Integration Movement has a quizzical summary of Kazdel's demographics: "Our spies, enemies' spies, third-party spies, mercenaries."

In this barren land, there are a large number of Sarkaz people who are struggling to survive, and there is also a soil of witchcraft.However, in the age of industry, technology, and origin stones, it is about to be left behind.In this poor land, the only thing that is not lacking are unruly people and good soldiers.

Contrary to the common people's stereotype of mercenaries as a "rabble", Sakaz mercenaries are not only the top names in Terra's mercenary industry, but also the best infantry on the land except for the People's Alliance and the Integrated Movement troops.The combat effectiveness of this group of warriors who came out of barren mountains and harsh rivers far exceeds that of ordinary standing armies.Their horns look like legendary demons, and their personalities are extremely unruly.Even though they have declined to this point, these "demon clans" have built their reputation through cruel and bloody victories with less and more, so that the countries of Terra still dare not interfere with Kazdaele again.The feat of maintaining formation in the face of intense fire from warlocks and artillery is an immortal legend.

"For us, Kazdel is also a very valuable intervention point." The commander of the 113th Division pressed his giant hand wrapped in armored gloves on the three-dimensional projection Terra map in the air, "The Sarkaz people The ruling class, and even the entire Kazdel society, have a strong sense of crisis and national salvation. Even today, their survival largely depends on the legacy of the prosperous era. However, these legacy has reached the point of exhaustion; at the same time , In terms of social conditions, Kazdel has also come to the eve of change, and we may have a profound impact on it.