"Don't move."
The moment Adrian entered the forest, he heard the sound of engines behind them.
As the two of them followed the narrow trail, they immediately dived into the grass beside the path when they heard movement behind them.
Before long, two sets of headlights shone toward them from the distance.
"Didn't they say they'd start hunting from the foot of the mountain? Why are they driving straight up in off-road vehicles?"
"Damn, Adrian, you were right. They really did bring thermal imagers."
Garrett's voice carried a note of admiration.
"Don't celebrate yet. Look."
There were six vehicles in the instructors' convoy. The first four were packed with personnel, while the fifth was an enclosed cargo truck.
A flatbed truck brought up the rear.
The mountain road was rough, forcing the convoy to move slowly—about as fast as a person jogging.
"Look at what?"
Garrett followed Adrian's gaze toward the last vehicle, puzzled.
"Ever heard of Railroad Guerrillas?"
Rather than answering Garrett, Adrian mentioned a name he had never heard before.
"Railroad Guerrillas? What's that?"
"Climb aboard a speeding train, like mounting a galloping horse."
"They're moving slowly, and no one's guarding that last truck. We'll catch a ride."
It was a bold idea, but it would save them a great deal of stamina.
Who knew whether those sadistic instructors had more tasks waiting for them at the summit?
"You're completely insane, Adrian."
Garrett stared at Adrian in astonishment.
He had expected Adrian to come up with something crazy, but not this crazy.
Hitching a ride on the instructors' own convoy.
Still, the most dangerous place was often the safest. Who would imagine that the recruits they were hunting were hiding inside the convoy itself?
"Stay with me. Their thermals can't see us."
The two waited in the grass around a bend in the road.
The convoy gradually drew closer.
Adrian had made it sound easy, but he was tense as well.
His heart pounded faster, and his body temperature began to rise.
The engine noise closed in, and the headlights swept across their patch of grass.
Adrian and Garrett were wound tight.
If their ponchos could not block thermal radiation, they would be spotted for certain in this position.
The first vehicle drove past. Then the second.
The enclosed cargo truck passed without detecting Adrian and Garrett as well.
At last, the flatbed approached. Adrian noticed that its driver was not wearing thermal imaging gear. To see the road clearly, none of the drivers wore thermal imagers; they relied on their headlights for illumination instead.
Thermal imagers could only reveal objects that emitted heat. To make out an object's contours, a person had to use their own eyes.
"Go!"
Adrian burst from cover first, with Garrett right behind him.
The engine noise masked their movements. They ran after the flatbed for a short distance, then Adrian leaped up and grabbed the rear railing.
Garrett was no slouch either. Agile as a monkey, he seized the flatbed's railing and swung himself aboard.
The mountain road was brutally uneven. The two scrambled onto the flatbed as fast as they could and hid themselves.
"This mountain trail is a nightmare."
"And they didn't even give us weapons."
A young man and woman climbed up the mountain with maps in hand.
Using the faint beams of their flashlights, they pushed aside the grass and could barely make out a narrow path.
There were many routes to the summit. Besides the mountain trails, there was also a main road.
But no one had chosen to take it.
After all, if the instructors searched the mountain, the main road would surely be the first place they checked.
Yet none of the recruits taking the assessment could have imagined that the instructors would begin their search from the summit—and that they had brought thermal imagers.
"We've been walking for over an hour. Why haven't the instructors caught up with us?"
The girl's short bangs clung to her face with sweat.
Her once-neat camouflage fatigues had become damp as well.
The temperature difference at night was considerable, especially in the mountains.
Heavy dew had gathered on the vegetation.
That made the already difficult trail even more slick and treacherous.
"Isn't it a good thing they haven't caught us? It means we're moving faster than they are."
The young man in front spoke as he swept his flashlight over the surrounding area.
"Another half hour and we'll reach the objective. Let's take a break."
They were both exhausted. Everyone selected for the special forces assessment was among the best their academies had to offer.
Their physical fitness naturally went without saying.
They had covered three kilometers of mountain trail in only an hour.
The two found a large tree whose exposed roots formed a windbreak.
"We'll rest for ten minutes, then move out again."
The young man sat down first, and the girl sat beside him.
"Ethan, the starlight is beautiful tonight."
They switched off their flashlights, plunging the surrounding forest into darkness.
That only made the stars above stand out more clearly.
"Yeah."
The young man answered quietly.
Neither said anything more. With pursuers behind them, talking in the silent mountain forest could easily expose their position.
Rustle.
"What was that?"
The forest in front of them suddenly stirred.
Their guard went up at once.
There were wild animals on the mountain, after all.
Ethan raised his entrenching shovel and stepped in front of the girl.
"Don't be afraid."
The girl behind him was Ethan's childhood friend, Claire.
They had grown up together, and back in school, everyone in their class had considered them a perfect match.
They had earned their soldier qualifications at the same time and had come to the special forces selection together.
The grass shook more violently, and they could hear faint footsteps approaching.
"You two are awfully affectionate, aren't you?"
Just as they prepared to fight a wild beast, a low voice came from the darkness.
Then a face covered in camouflage paint poked out of the grass, a thermal imager mounted on its head.
"An—an instructor?"
Both of them let out a breath of relief.
"Instructor, you scared the hell out of us. We thought you were some kind of wild animal."
Ethan relaxed and lowered his entrenching shovel.
"Trust me, running into me is a lot worse than running into a wild animal."
After reaching the summit, the instructors had split into pairs and begun searching their way down the mountain.
With thermal imaging, they found nearly every candidate taking part in the assessment.
But their goal was not to eliminate everyone. It was to drive the recruits away from the objective.
The instructors' real objective was not to catch the students. Of course, if someone was particularly weak, they did not mind getting in a little exercise.
Clearly, the pair in front of him fell into that category.
Whenever the other candidates spotted an instructor, they immediately turned and ran.
The instructors were in no hurry to chase them, merely following behind.
With thermal imagers, even recruits hiding in the grass could not escape their sight.
"Aren't you two going to run? If I catch you, you'll lose your qualifications."
Only then did the pair react. But when Ethan saw that there was only one instructor, another idea immediately came to him.
Ethan was only nineteen, but he already stood two meters tall. At the academy, his hand-to-hand combat scores could even crush those of the instructors.
And the instructors had never said they were forbidden from attacking them.
Clearly, Ethan was not the obedient type.
"Instructor, you're alone, aren't you?"
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