HLM -Chapter 1214 Danger of Drowning

After hearing the instructor’s words, the surrounding trainees laughed.

Atulu, however, couldn’t bring himself to laugh. He widened his eyes and said, “Sh*t, no airbags during the test? What if someone can’t keep their balance…”

“If you can’t keep your balance, you could really break a leg,” the instructor said seriously.

Atulu sighed loudly. Sweet Guy grinned mischievously and started recommending wheelchairs to him. Atulu got angry, chased him to hit him, and others stepped in to help. Soon, the group was scuffling and laughing together.

Besides training on the iron cable glide, they also had to practice high-platform chasing.

This was even more difficult. On a sandpit, many high platforms were erected with gaps in between and varying heights—from one meter up to five meters. They had to run across them.

Compared to the iron cable glide, the high-platform chase was far more challenging. Some platforms were two meters apart, making standing long jumps difficult; running jumps were required.

Running on the platforms was terrifying. At heights of four or five meters, just walking made one nervous, let alone running.

Now, not only Atulu, but the others became serious.

But Atulu got excited: “You guys were mocking me, right? Go on, keep laughing at me! Hey, come on!”

Wang Bo looked at the platforms and said, “If these were wooden posts instead, it would be like the Plum Blossom Stakes in Chinese martial arts training.”

The instructor said, “It’s not that scary. Everyone, the platforms are treated with anti-slip surfaces. The narrowest width is still one and a half meters. As long as you don’t do anything reckless, you won’t fall.”

Some trainees began placing airbags in the sandpit, while others attached airbags to the four sides of the platforms.

Once the setup was complete, the instructor climbed the highest platform and did a dive, landing with a loud “thud” on the airbags, completely unharmed.

Seeing this, the group breathed a sigh of relief.

A trainee named Kevin asked, “Instructor, will there be airbags during the final test?”

The instructor smiled and said, “What do you think?”

“Of course there will be,” Kevin laughed nervously.

The instructor said, “I’ll give you a chance. Guess again.”

Everyone’s faces changed.

Without the relative ease of the iron cable glide, the high-platform chase was dangerous and challenging.

The instructor asked, “Besides Atulu, is anyone afraid of heights?”

Atulu’s face fell. “Instructor, I’m not afraid of heights anymore.”

Everyone shook their heads. “Not afraid, not afraid.” “It’s no big deal.” “I’m fine, I was just joking earlier.”

The instructor looked at Atulu with a faint smile. “Are you really not afraid of heights?”

The Maori man hesitated for a moment, looking miserable, then said, “Alright… still a little.”

The instructor said, “Since you’re afraid of heights, you’ll train on the one-meter platform first. Once you’re comfortable, we’ll increase the height. The rest of you will start on the two-meter platform.”

Now the Maori man was thrilled. He asked excitedly, “Really, Instructor?”

The others were dumbfounded. Someone asked, “Instructor, I didn’t catch your question earlier. Did you ask if anyone is afraid of heights? Actually, I am too.”

“Good. Trainee #18015, you go first and demonstrate for everyone,” the instructor said with a smile.

Atulu watched the guy with schadenfreude, waving his hand. “Go ahead, brother. It’s not scary at all. Watch me demonstrate first.”

The one-meter platform was of course not scary.

Watching Atulu run back and forth, jump here and there, the others were envious. “Damn, this flying pig!”

“Flying Pig” became Atulu’s nickname because he was fat but ran fast, jumped high, and dominated in basketball. It wasn’t an insult; NBA star Charles Barkley, who was also tall and heavy, had the same nickname due to his athleticism. After Atulu demonstrated his skills on the basketball court, the nickname stuck.

Wang Bo rubbed his hands and stepped onto the platform. Looking down from two meters wasn’t too bad, especially with the half-meter-thick airbags below.

The platform had anti-slip patterns, and jogging on it felt okay. As long as he didn’t look down, he wasn’t too scared.

However, the training was still challenging. When one got tired, fear could make the legs weak.

After just twenty minutes, trainees started falling into the airbags one after another with “plop, plop.”

Wang Bo also fell twice. He had reached the four-meter platform. At that height, parkour-style running was practically life-threatening!

After a total of forty minutes, the trainees were all panting heavily—not just from physical fatigue, but also psychological pressure.

The instructor said, “These two exercises are major components of your future exams. You need to train a lot. Once you become police officers, you’ll often need to climb walls or jump from buildings while chasing criminals. This will help a lot.”

Atulu muttered, “Who says? I’ve been a cop for four years and never climbed a wall once.”

“Have you ever rescued someone from drowning?” the instructor asked.

Atulu shrugged. “Yes. There’s a Haweya Lake where I’m from. Occasionally people fall in, and I have to rescue them.”

“I once rescued a girl who tried to commit suicide. She had been deceived by a love scammer, and we later caught him,” Wang Bo added.

The instructor said, “Your parrot found her, right? I’ve seen the report. Your parrots are amazing.”

Wang Bo smiled. “Instructor, do you want to see them? My wife is coming to visit me, I can have her bring the little guys along.”

The instructor said, “Of course. But now it’s time for swimming lessons. Head to the pool; someone will teach you water rescue.”

After two hours of falling onto airbags, being in water was a real treat.

At the pool, the instructor was considerate—letting them play freely in the water for half an hour before formal lessons.

He asked, “Any non-swimmers?”

Five or six people raised their hands.

Seeing this, the instructor nodded. “Change into your swim trunks and follow me. I’ll teach you how to swim first.”

The trainees were overjoyed. A young man named Morton said, “Good thing I didn’t sign up for a swimming class this spring. That would have cost four hundred bucks.”

Wang Bo and the others swam in the spacious pool when suddenly a scream came from the deep end: “Ah! Help!”

Everyone immediately looked and saw a classmate thrashing in the water.

Worried, they all rushed toward him.

Wang Bo, in the water, was outstanding—like a tuna. His legs kicked up splashes, his arms flailed powerfully, and in a few strokes he covered over ten meters.

The pool was only fifty meters long, and he quickly reached the struggling victim.

He surfaced, took a deep breath, then dove down to grab the person from behind, trying to pull him out.

But as he got close, the victim suddenly turned and grabbed him from behind, struggling violently, causing Wang Bo to swallow several mouthfuls of water.