0430 hours came without mercy.
The lights snapped on.
"ON YOUR FEET!"
The shout tore through the barracks like shrapnel. Metal trash cans clanged as instructors kicked them down the aisle. Recruits jolted awake, bodies still heavy from the night before, muscles screaming the moment they moved.
Li Chen was already sitting up.
Boots on. Laces tight.
He stood as the first trash can hit the floor.
Grant noticed.
He always did.
"Move!"
They moved.
The beach was colder than the night before.
Wind cut in from the Pacific, carrying salt and sand that stung exposed skin. The horizon was still black, the ocean a dark, endless mass that swallowed sound.
"In the water!"
They went in.
Cold hit like impact trauma. Breath vanished from lungs. Bodies locked up as instinct screamed to escape.
Li Chen stepped forward and submerged without hesitation.
The water wrapped around him.
His heart rate dropped.
[System Status: Active — Passive Observation]
The System noted everything.
Li Chen ignored it.
They held them under.
Hands on helmets. Pressure down. Thirty seconds that felt like minutes.
One recruit broke early.
Another thrashed.
Li Chen stayed still.
He listened to his heartbeat.
He counted the seconds.
When they were pulled back up, men coughed violently. One vomited seawater and bile.
Li Chen exhaled once through his nose.
Grant's jaw tightened.
Breakfast was theoretical.
A few minutes to shove food down before movement resumed. Calories barely touched stomachs before they were gone again—running, crawling, lifting.
Obstacle course.
Ropes slick with dew. Walls taller than fear. Mud pits that sucked boots down like hands.
Li Chen moved last.
Always last.
Not slow.
Measured.
He watched others fail before he succeeded. Cataloged mistakes. Adjusted angles. When he climbed, it was clean. Efficient. No wasted motion.
Grant followed him with his eyes.
"So," Grant said quietly to another instructor, "what do you think?"
The man shrugged. "Strong. Calm. Won't last."
Grant didn't answer.
Predators didn't rush conclusions.
They isolated him by midday.
It started subtle.
Extra sandbag.
Longer holds.
Shorter breaks.
"Walker," Grant called. "You. Front."
Li Chen stepped forward.
"Push-up position."
He dropped.
"Down."
He held.
Minutes passed.
Sweat ran into eyes. Arms trembled across the line where muscle met tendon.
Other recruits were ordered to watch.
"This," Grant said, pacing, "is what happens when you look comfortable."
Five minutes.
Ten.
Li Chen's breathing never changed.
Grant crouched beside him. "You feeling it yet?"
"Yes, Chief."
Truthful.
Not weakness.
Grant stood slowly.
"Good."
The breaking point came during carries.
Fireman carries up the beach. One man on your shoulders. Soft sand. No rhythm. No mercy.
Li Chen was paired with a man nearly his own size.
The whistle blew.
They ran.
Thirty meters in, his partner slipped.
Knee popped.
Scream.
The instructors watched.
Rules were rules.
Li Chen adjusted without slowing.
He shifted the man's weight. Changed grip. Redistributed load across his frame.
He didn't sprint.
He walked.
Step by step.
Every instructor saw it.
Grant exhaled slowly.
"That's not normal," someone muttered.
"No," Grant said. "It's disciplined."
Medical pulled the injured man away.
Li Chen stood alone, shoulders squared, sand caked into his clothes.
Grant approached.
"Why didn't you drop him?"
"Mission incomplete, Chief."
Grant stared at him for a long moment.
"You think this is a mission?"
"Yes, Chief."
Grant smiled.
A thin, dangerous thing.
That night, exhaustion claimed most of the barracks.
Snoring.
Groans.
Quiet crying into pillows.
Li Chen lay awake.
The System finally spoke.
[System Analysis: User operating below capacity]
[Recommendation: Efficiency increase unnecessary]
Li Chen closed his eyes.
"I know," he thought.
The System paused.
[Acknowledged]
Somewhere deep in its logic, a variable shifted.
Grant wrote his report after midnight.
Subject: Walker, Li Chen
Observations:
No visible fear response
Pain tolerance exceeds baseline
Intelligence high — possibly strategic
Not breaking when targeted
Recommendation: Increase pressure.
Grant leaned back in his chair.
"We'll see what you do when it matters," he said to the empty room.
Outside, the ocean kept moving.
Inside the barracks, something else was waking up.
Pressure wasn't meant to crush Li Chen Walker.
It was meant to reveal him.
And the world was not ready for what that pressure would uncover.