The wind of the punch scraped past Zhou Kai’s ear, yet it did not stir the slightest sound.
His figure was like a weightless fallen leaf, drifting half a step to the right.
Lao Yang’s punch, packed with power, simply struck empty air.
Not only that—at the instant his stance became unstable and he was anxiously searching for his next chance to attack, Zhou Kai’s hands had already pressed in like ghosts, accurately locking onto his joints.
A joint lock?
Naive!
Before an absolute gap in strength, technique was a joke.
Lao Yang gave a cold snort. The muscles in his arm and shoulder bulged in an instant, and with a violent shake, he tried to use explosive force to throw his opponent off.
But Zhou Kai did not budge in the slightest.
A force not at all inferior to his own—indeed, even more condensed and more profound—clamped down like iron pincers, locking his resistance in place and strangling his response in the cradle.
Thud!
A dull sound of impact.
Arm lock, leg trip—all in one smooth motion.
Lao Yang only felt the world spin. His entire body lost balance completely, and like a toppled stone statue, he smashed heavily into the soft grass.
Of course Zhou Kai had not used his full strength, and with the grass cushioning the fall, the impact was not severe.
Lao Yang landed on his back with a muffled groan, then used the momentum of the fall to roll with it and was still able to get to his feet.
But his face had already turned the color of pig liver.
He had actually been taken down in one move by some greenhorn brat?
With that, there was no saving face.
Without another word, he let out a low roar and charged forward again.
“Not bad! He’s way faster than Lao Yang!”
Feng Mingtai’s eyes lit up. That clean, decisive throw just now had been immensely satisfying to watch.
Ma Yifan, meanwhile, let out a long breath; sweat had even broken out in his palms.
Brother Kai really hadn’t let him down.
Before they could say much more, Lao Yang, who had lunged forward again, was already closing in on Zhou Kai.
This time, he no longer had the slightest intention of holding back. Heavy white breaths sprayed from his mouth and nose, and every punch was thrown with full power.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several feinting jabs tore through the air, meant to disrupt Zhou Kai’s judgment.
At the instant Zhou Kai raised his hand to block, a fierce look flashed in Lao Yang’s eyes. His body suddenly sank, and a tricky hook, carrying the force of wind and thunder, drove straight toward Zhou Kai’s waist and ribs.
The punch was both fast and vicious. His teapot-sized fist was about to slam heavily into Zhou Kai’s waist; there was simply no room to dodge.
If it landed, it would be a liver shot, taking him out on the spot.
Seeing this, a deeply hidden worry flashed through Fischl’s beautiful eyes, and she nearly called for them to stop.
She could tell that Lao Yang had truly lost his temper.
The fact that Zhou Kai had forced him to strike heavily despite their agreement was already more than enough to prove his strength.
“Lao Yang…”
Fischl’s heart pounded wildly, and she was just about to speak.
Then she saw Zhou Kai neither dodge nor evade. Instead, he directly extended his right hand and steadily caught Lao Yang’s heavy punch. Following the momentum, he bent forward, his left hand seizing Lao Yang’s fist while his right hand clamped down on his upper arm like an iron claw. Both arms exerted force at the same time, yanking and pulling Lao Yang toward him!
Finally, his shoulder drove into Lao Yang’s chest like a battering ram.
Bang!
With a muffled impact,
everyone saw Lao Yang’s sturdy body of over eighty kilograms actually being lifted by Zhou Kai at an inconceivable angle.
He flew like a sack knocked into the air, tracing a clumsy parabola before crashing heavily two meters away.
Bang!
This fall was ten times harsher than the last.
Lao Yang could not catch his breath, and his face turned a dark purplish red from suffocation.
He struggled to climb up, his eyes gradually becoming bloodshot, his voice hoarse. “Young man, you want to go for real with me?”
“Up to you.”
…
A moment later, without the slightest suspense, Lao Yang was once again easily taken down by Zhou Kai.
After being thrown hard several times in a row, although he had no obvious external injuries, his internal organs had been repeatedly shaken. His breathing was now completely disordered, and his complexion was frighteningly poor.
“Enough! Enough!”
“Yang Hao! Stop embarrassing yourself!”
Fischl’s eyes shone as she loudly stopped Yang Hao, who still wanted to get up.
Yang Hao still wanted to struggle, but Zhou Kai pressed one hand down on his shoulder, leaving him unable to move.
“Didn’t we agree? Stop when the point is made.”
“You’re not my opponent.”
At level-three mixed martial arts, Zhou Kai and Yang Hao might still have been evenly matched in terms of technique.
But Zhou Kai’s advantages were not limited to technique.
In strength, he was steadily a notch above him; in speed and agility, he surpassed him completely.
The bloodshot rage in Yang Hao’s eyes gradually faded, becoming clear once more.
He was silent for a long time before admitting defeat. “That’s right. I’m not as good as you.”
Only then did Zhou Kai let go and allow him to stand up.
Yang Hao avoided his young mistress’s gaze, lowered his head, and asked in a dry voice, “An enhanced human? Or… a true-force martial artist?”
Zhou Kai was drawn in by the key terms in his words.
But just as he was about to ask in detail, the excited Fischl and the other three rushed over, blocking his view.
“Enough! More than enough! Ten thousand a month!”
Fischl looked at Zhou Kai, her eyes filled with undisguised appreciation.
“Five lessons a week. If we’re not free, you get paid leave!”
Five hundred yuan per lesson?
Zhou Kai clicked his tongue inwardly. To rich people, money really wasn’t money.
Somewhat unused to it, he smiled. “Sure. Of course.”
Seeing this, Ma Yifan quickly cut in. “Then… does today count as the first lesson?”
Fischl thought about it. She really did not have any other plans today.
She nodded. “That works.”
“Now you’ll have something to brag about—this young lady’s private coach.”
“Oh right, Yifan said you wanted to start a club to increase your income?”
Fischl rubbed her slender fingers against her chin and said casually, “Hurry up and think of a name. When I get back, I’ll have someone help you handle the business license and other documents.”
That exaggerated?
Zhou Kai was slightly stunned. He had originally only planned to work as a private coach and had never thought of starting any club.
But since Fischl had brought it up herself, he had no reason to refuse.
A name flashed through his mind. It belonged to someone who had helped him a great deal.
“Morning Star.”
“Let’s call it Morning Star Club.”
Fischl’s gaze swept across Zhou Kai’s face, and she said playfully, “Morning Star? Your taste is rather special.”
Zhou Kai did not speak.
The Morning Star he was thinking of likely had nothing to do with the one she imagined.
…
Ten thousand yuan arrived in his account with ease.
Zhou Kai looked at the transfer record on his phone and felt a little dazed.
No wonder his university roommates had racked their brains trying to go to wealthy districts to tune pianos and repair coffee machines.
When working for rich people, the pay was high, the work was little, and it was easy.
Especially these young masters and young ladies—they were quite easy to fool.
Zhou Kai laughed self-mockingly in his heart, then shook his head and cast aside his stray thoughts.
After the first “private lesson” ended, Zhou Kai stopped Yang Hao, who was preparing to leave with Fischl.
True-force martial artist, enhanced human…
Zhou Kai was extremely interested in both terms and questioned him in detail.
Yang Hao replied with a gloomy expression:
“A true-force martial artist is the first realm of ancient martial arts. As for the specifics, I’m not clear either.”
“As for enhanced humans…”
He said with a face full of unwillingness, “The professional arena these days is completely filled with those monsters who’ve undergone all sorts of messy modifications. Pure naturals like us have long since lost any way forward.”
“Damn it… if I could keep fighting in matches, who would be willing to come out and be…”
Yang Hao almost said something he should not have, but Zhou Kai still keenly caught the key information.
The threshold for the so-called “modification” of enhanced humans was probably not low.
Aside from money, there had to be other unknown conditions behind it.
Otherwise, with Yang Hao’s status as someone who had won a golden belt and with the financial power of Fischl’s family, he would not have been unable to get aboard that ship.
Thoughts churned in Zhou Kai’s eyes, and he wanted to ask more, but Yang Hao was impatiently called away by Fischl.
He could only press his curiosity back down and plan to search online that night—or simply ask Senior Brother Chen Ping directly.
…
Night fell.
Ma Yifan drove Zhou Kai back to Lu Yan’s home. He slept in the bedroom Zhou Qing had once stayed in.
The Nightmare—Zhou Kai would still enter it once tonight.
It was to test whether the plant he had found could grow in the nursery.
And if it could, what kind of enhancement it would bring him.
As for the matter of a change in the place where he entered the dream causing abnormal effects on the Nightmare, he now already had a clear inference.
“The shelter is equivalent to an anchor point. It can firmly fix me within the same Nightmare space.”
“This is a good thing.”
Zhou Kai secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, when he had just contracted Nightmare Syndrome, he had not been running all over the place.
If he changed locations every night, that would be equivalent to switching to a brand-new, unknown death game every night.
He would have had no chance to accumulate any experience at all. He probably would have died long ago in some unknown corner.
“On the Nightmare Syndrome forum, no one has ever mentioned this… Did they not discover it? Or are they just eager for other patients to die sooner?”
The answer was self-evident.
For those with no fixed residence, Nightmare Syndrome was an outright terminal illness.
The most despairing thing in this world was not dying after giving everything one had.
It was having even the right to fight for one’s life stripped away.
…
Just after midnight,
Zhou Kai came to the bathroom.
After looking left and right, he simply hugged the flowerpot and lay down in the bathtub.