Near noon.
The air in the boxing gym was somewhat hot and dry, mingled with the smells of sweat, disinfectant, and rubber mats.
Zhou Kai was singled out.
“You. Come stand up front.”
“Today, you’ll be the assistant instructor and give everyone a demonstration.”
As soon as Chen Ping finished speaking, he clapped his hands and gathered everyone over for the final paired-move explanation of the morning.
“A lot of people think modern mixed martial arts has already left all that flashy ancient martial arts stuff far behind.”
“In theory, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Chen Ping clasped his hands behind his back and paced as he lectured with a solemn air:
“But ancient martial arts have never cared about science.”
“What does mixed martial arts pursue? Using every usable part of the body to inflict the greatest damage at the lowest cost. That places very high demands on your strength, agility, and reaction speed.”
“But in real combat, there’s something even more important than all of those.”
Chen Ping beckoned to Zhou Kai. “Come here. Stand in front of me.”
“Don’t be nervous. I’ll hold back.”
Zhou Kai stepped forward as told, raised both arms, and assumed a standard defensive stance.
He could feel that Chen Ping’s aura had changed.
Chen Ping sank his shoulders slightly, and his entire center of gravity seemed to drop into the ground. That sharpness was no longer in his eyes; it seeped from the tendons, bones, skin, and membranes of his whole body, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.
“The most important thing in actual combat is timing.”
“All that back-and-forth attacking and defending you people do in practice is nonsense. When true experts exchange blows, what they’re waiting for is one opening to kill the enemy in a single move.”
His tone suddenly shifted, his voice exploding like thunder. “Zhou Kai, your vigilance is far too poor!”
Before the words had even faded, in the very instant Zhou Kai was listening intently, Chen Ping caught the exact point where his breathing changed.
His body abruptly dipped, then shot out like a cheetah!
Zhou Kai instinctively inhaled and pulled back to defend, but that physiological reaction of a few tenths of a second became a fatal gap.
Chen Ping had already closed in before him.
Bang!
A muffled sound rang by his ear—not something he heard, but something resonating through his breastbone.
Chen Ping’s iron-hoop-like arm was already across his chest, while his other hand followed closely after, as inseparable as a shadow.
“Sink the hand, let the force penetrate!”
“Remember, this isn’t a contest of strength. It’s about guiding force!”
As Chen Ping explained, his waist and hips exerted power. A burst of ingenious force twisted in an instant, dragging Zhou Kai’s center of gravity sharply to the right.
He restrained his strength to perfection. The arm that should have locked Zhou Kai’s throat landed on his chest instead, and the knee strike that should have slammed into his ribs was also omitted.
Even so, Zhou Kai was still like a sandbag stripped of all its counterweights, easily flipped to the ground. His back smashed solidly onto the mat.
One had to know that the moment Zhou Kai was taken down, he had already instinctively activated all his skills.
But Chen Ping’s strength—or rather, his method of applying strength—was simply too bizarre.
The two of them were of similar height, and Chen Ping even looked a little leaner. But once they truly exchanged hands...
Zhou Kai felt like a ball of cotton, while the other man was a lump of iron tempered through a thousand hammer blows.
‘So this is the boxing gym’s secret martial art?’
A storm surged through Zhou Kai’s heart.
‘It doesn’t rely on brute force, but on the pinnacle of technique and timing. Mixed martial arts is only a tool. This... this is the art of killing!’
He lay on the ground symbolically for a few seconds, then sprang up with a kip-up, stood with his hands at his sides, and quietly awaited instruction.
Chen Ping glanced at him, then continued speaking to the crowd. “The human body can be very fragile at times. One fall may be enough to completely rob someone of their ability to resist.”
“So, in unrestricted combat, one clean and decisive throw often means the end of the fight.”
“And if you want your attacks to take effect, grasping the timing is everything! The instant your opponent clenches their fist, the pause in their speech, even the gap between breaths... all of these are killing opportunities you can exploit.”
He clasped his hands behind his back again. After that sequence of movements, his face was not red and he was not panting, as if he had merely dusted off some dirt.
Chen Ping walked down the aisle between the rows of students and frowned. “What are you all standing around for? Pair up and try it yourselves! The movement is very simple. If you can’t learn it, you might as well reroll!”
The members came back to themselves as if waking from a dream, immediately nodding and bowing as they began pairing off to practice.
Lu Yan and Ma Yifan craned their necks in the line, their eyes constantly darting toward Zhou Kai. Clearly, they wanted to come over and team up with him.
But Chen Ping seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He stopped Zhou Kai, who was about to return to the line, and his voice sounded very cordial. “Your talent isn’t bad. You pick up routines very quickly.”
“Until the break, I’ll train with you personally.”
...
“What the hell is that guy Chen up to? He knows you still haven’t fully recovered, yet he’s throwing you to the ground like a sandbag.”
Dinner was Lu Yan’s treat. As they walked along the road, she was still indignant on Zhou Kai’s behalf.
“No matter how I look at it, it seems like he’s deliberately targeting you.”
“Hey, Xiao Kai, be honest. Did you offend him somehow?”
Zhou Kai’s gaze fell on the empty air before his eyes. A line of subtitles that had just appeared had yet to fade away.
[You underwent a round of high-intensity sparring and seem to have gained some insight.]
[Mixed Martial Arts EXP +2]
That half hour of “sparring” with Chen Ping had actually been more effective than five or six hours of him training with his head down on his own...
If he could get this kind of special training every morning and evening, plus his own extra practice, then maybe before he entered the Nightmare the day after tomorrow, his Mixed Martial Arts could break through to Level 3.
If this counted as being targeted, then please, by all means, target him harder—target him to death!
Zhou Kai smiled faintly. “Maybe Coach Chen has a keen eye for talent and values my gift?”
“Tch. You?”
Lu Yan snorted disdainfully, purely out of habitual contradiction.
After spending the past few days together, she knew better than anyone that Zhou Kai’s rate of progress was simply inconceivable.
Zhou Kai was in a great mood and was happy to banter with her.
“What else? The minor assessment is the day after tomorrow. If I pass, what will you say, Sister Yanzi?”
When Lu Yan heard this, she clicked her tongue and propped her chin up, thinking with great seriousness.
A moment later, her eyes suddenly lit up. “If you pass, how about I introduce you to a job?”
She jogged a few steps to stand in front of Zhou Kai, pressed both hands on his shoulders, and swept her gaze over him from top to bottom again and again, as if appraising a commodity.
“You finally look somewhat human lately... Your sister told me about your situation.”
“Isn’t it just finding a job that matches your major? Leave it to your Sister Yanzi!”
She patted her rather flat chest and gave him a firm guarantee.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she scratched her head again and asked in confusion, “Wait, what was your major in college again?”
Zhou Kai was speechless. Then he said with a faintly teasing tone, “Classics, with a focus on language and literature.”
“Fuck.” Lu Yan instantly petrified.
Zhou Kai had long anticipated her reaction.
His bottomless-pit of a major had indeed been quite despair-inducing not long ago.
But now, the situation was completely reversed.
If he had not gnawed through those dry ancient Latin texts in university, how could he possibly have been able to understand that copy of the Morning Star Notes?
Lu Yan lowered her head and muttered to herself for a long time. In the end, she still gritted her teeth and said, “Don’t worry. Even if what you studied was grave-digging and tomb-robbing, I’d still find a way!”
“In any case, for now, you should focus on figuring out how to pass the assessment and become an official student of Falcon Wing!”
“Oh, right, I already transferred you the money. Go eat by yourself. I’ve got something to do, so I’m leaving first!”
Before Zhou Kai could open his mouth to stop her, she had already waved down a car and disappeared in a flash.
At some point, his phone had received a transfer of 300 yuan.
Zhou Kai sighed softly and tapped to accept it.
Prices in Xishan City were not high. Even if he ate out for every meal, as long as he did not spend extravagantly, he would not use up fifty yuan a day.
Lu Yan casually gave him three hundred, enough to feed him for six days.
Thinking of this, Zhou Kai raised a hand to his forehead and laughed despite himself. “Forcing dignity into living off others is also a kind of skill, I suppose. But days like this will soon be over.”
More than three months after graduation, plagued by Nightmare Syndrome, plus a disastrous starting hand with an obscure major.
The iron hammer of reality had indeed smashed the dreams of his youth to pieces.
“Let’s hope Sister Yanzi is reliable. Making money... really is troublesome...”
“Hm?”
Just as Zhou Kai was sighing, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning. He slapped his forehead, annoyed at his own previous stupidity.
...
That night, inside the rented apartment.
Staring at the second hand on the wall clock as it ticked forward one notch at a time, he quietly waited for the Nightmare’s hour to descend.
Zhou Kai was almost angry enough to laugh at himself.
It was true that he had not found hard currency like gold, jewels, or anything else that could be directly converted into cash in that damned place... but who said only those things were valuable?
Those tables, chairs, and stools had indeed lost any real value because they were damp and rotten.
But the antique ornaments in the house, the silver tableware, and those decorative items of unknown purpose should all be worth something, shouldn’t they?
After his survival crisis was temporarily eased, Zhou Kai realized that, in a certain sense, he, who was being pursued by the Nightmare, was also someone favored by an enormous treasure vault.