““A Martini cocktail, spicy and hot, quite a fitting drink for a hottie like you.” Long Zhan's voice was smooth, his delivery unhurried and effortless.
It was as if he were catching up with a longtime friend, instantly creating a relaxed atmosphere, putting her at ease.
The woman in the halter top turned toward him, undaunted by his formidable physique.
Slightly tipsy, she took a sip from her glass, her eyes half-closed as she spoke, "I think you need something even hotter."
Long Zhan was familiar with the look in the woman’s eyes, nothing he hadn’t already expected.
In the original TV series, this woman had a thing for strong men, especially those in the Navy SEALs.
It wouldn’t be too far off to say that she had a Navy SEAL complex.
The reason she'd drive dozens of kilometers every day, no matter what, to drink at a bar near the SEAL base was precisely for the chance to have a romantic encounter with one.
As long as Long Zhan used this information wisely, playing to her needs, reeling her in would be a sure thing.
After all, in the show, Clay had closed the deal in a mere two days.
Unfortunately, just as Long Zhan was about to properly introduce himself, get to know her and maybe even invite her to his place, an annoying buzz ruined everything.
Beep, beep, beep...
Three encrypted cell phones, uniformly issued by Green Team, rung simultaneously in the bar.
Long Zhan, Clay, and Brian all pulled out their phones and saw the text, sure enough, their first random summoning had happened.
Long Zhan realized that his chances tonight had just disappeared, in which case, rather than spend the next half hour chatting with the hot girl in front of him, he might as well leave immediately and give her something to think about.
It was his way of deliberately letting her think that he was a member of DEVGRU.
A trick to keep her interested.
He pulled out his wallet, pulled out a $50 bill, and said to the bartender, "Her drinks are on me. The rest is your tip.”
Then, turning to her, he said, "Sorry, it's urgent, I need to get back to my team. I hope we cross paths here again.”
He stood up abruptly, waved at Brian and Clay from afar, and made his way straight out of the bar.
Brian and Clay were reluctant, they were still waiting for Long Zhan to fail in his attempts to pick up the girl, both so that he would have to wash their socks, but also so that they could try their luck with the beauty.
But with this being their first summoning, they could not afford to screw up, as it could very well affect their future. They had to grit their teeth, rise from their seats and follow after him.
The woman smiled to herself as she watched Long Zhan and the other two walk out of the bar, shouting out as they reached the door, “My name is Stella, make sure you remember it.”
Long Zhan didn't turn around, but he raised his hand in response.
…
Random summoning training only required returning to the barracks. It was similar to emergency muster training back home, except with more time.
In his past life, Long Zhan had endured five years of three-minute scrambles in the Chinese army.
Now, he had an entire hour to respond to the summons, it was practically nothing in comparison.
Still, after returning to base and shuffling around, it was already approaching 11 o'clock by the time he was free again.
He no longer had the heart to go to the bar, especially since Stella was most likely already long gone. Going over there now would just reek of desperation.
Due to the circumstances, the three of them had to postpone their little bet.
This postponement ended up lasting an entire month, during which time they visited that same bar four or five times, but sadly, they never ran into Stella again.
Phase 2 of training was almost over, and the final assessment was about to begin, with the primary focus being on the S&T course.
In the afternoon before the official assessment, special training instructor Adam gathered the remaining 27 trainees in the lounge on the first floor of the dormitory.
In a relatively relaxed atmosphere, he told them what they needed to know about tomorrow’s assessment.
First, he started with the format.
This S&T course would consist of three scenarios, conducted consecutively in a very short period of time, with a unified score at the end.
Compared to their training, where the scenarios were conducted one at a time, this would be significantly more difficult.
Even if a trainee had solid fundamentals, completing three scenarios in such a short period of time is extremely mentally and physically demanding.
Second, the elimination process will continue as part of this assessment.
After all the trainees completed their assessment, they would then all vote for the top five performers and the bottom five. The instructors would then weigh the bottom five nominees against the bottom five in terms of score.
The worst-performing trainee as deemed by them would then be eliminated, putting an end to their Green Team journey.
Third, and perhaps the most shocking to the trainees, was the news regarding Bravo Team.
Bravo Team had suffered a casualty not long ago, creating a vacancy that needed filling. Additionally, their next deployment would be to the extremely dangerous African region, which definitely required a fully staffed Bravo Team.
Therefore, Bravo Team would be watching their final assessment and could potentially select one of them with their foreign aid spot to temporarily join Bravo Team for a mission in the Middle East.
Bravo Team was Red Squadron’s most elite assault team, a fact that was well known within the base.
If one performed well as a temporary foreign aid, fought alongside Bravo Team and was recognized by them, then joining Bravo Team after graduating from Green Team was almost a certainty.
SEALs adhered to the principle of admiring the strong, so all the trainees, despite being veterans themselves, were extremely excited when they heard that Bravo Team would be watching them.
Everyone secretly put in even more effort, in hopes of obtaining the coveted foreign aid spot by virtue of their exceptional performance during tomorrow’s final S&T course assessment.
Yet despite this, among the 27 trainees, it was Long Zhan who had the strongest desire to succeed.
This was because in the plot of the TV series, it was through this opportunity to be a foreign aid that the trainee, Clay, was able to eventually successfully join Bravo Team.
This meant that as long as Long Zhan could snatch Clay’s chance, he would have a very real chance of replacing Clay as the new member of Bravo Team.
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