Jab (Please Click and Bookmark)

A summer evening.

In the suburbs of Qing City, inside an old apartment building, Su Heng opened his eyes and stretched lazily on the bed.

After logging out of Gamia's body, Su Heng had not hurried to wake up. Instead, he had fallen asleep face-down on the bed.

He remembered that it had been around the same time when he last went to sleep. Now, when he opened his eyes and looked outside, the scenery was exactly the same.

"Doesn't that mean I slept for an entire day?"

After changing out of his pajamas and casually throwing on some clothes, Su Heng got out of bed and realized that every muscle in his body felt faintly sore and weak.

An intense wave of hunger surged up from his stomach.

Although he had been sleeping, logging into the game in his dreams and controlling Gamia's massive body was also extremely physically demanding.

Gamia's growth had indeed brought Su Heng many benefits, but he had not yet surpassed the limits of an ordinary person.

After sleeping for so long, it was only natural for him to feel this way.

After washing his face, he went to the kitchen, put rice on to cook, and took the prepared vegetables from the refrigerator to make himself dinner.

It took roughly half an hour.

Su Heng sat at his computer desk, shoveling down fragrant, soft rice while seriously watching a tutorial video on the monitor.

In the video.

A young man with bronze skin and sleek muscles stood bare-chested.

He threw punches while explaining the key points of each movement.

It was a folk martial art called Balai Jab. It was very simple, with only three movements in total, and the entire video was only around ten minutes long.

After fusing with the Gamia Great Serpent template, Su Heng had wanted to learn some boxing and martial arts to improve his combat ability.

Although Su Heng had never practiced martial arts before, he knew that when some experts fought, they did not rely solely on the strength in their arms. Instead, they gathered the power of every muscle group in their waist, thighs, and arms into a single force.

The power unleashed through such techniques was several times greater than that of an ordinary person.

If he could use these techniques for generating force while in a fused-template state...

Just thinking about it thrilled Su Heng.

And as it happened, the birth of the Red Moon had thrown order into chaos.

For ordinary people to protect themselves in such a social environment, learning some self-defense techniques was the best option.

Qing City maintained extremely strict gun control, and ordinary people had no access to firearms.

Where there was demand, there was a market.

A large number of martial arts schools had appeared as a result. Some even charged exorbitant membership fees, starting at hundreds of thousands.

The video Su Heng was watching had been leaked from a certain martial arts school in Wangjing City.

"Doesn't look that difficult."

Perhaps because of Gamia's influence, Su Heng's eating speed had visibly increased these past few days.

A pot of rice and a bowl of vegetables.

Before the ten-minute video had even finished playing, Su Heng had already cleaned his plate.

He rubbed his stomach. He did not feel particularly bloated, only about seventy or eighty percent full. Just right.

He tossed the bowls and chopsticks into the pot to soak.

Su Heng left his little home and headed toward the abandoned factory building by the Dragon River.

Though Balai Jab was called a martial art, it was actually more like a method of exerting force. The entire style had only three core movements.

Su Heng reviewed them several times along the way. By the time he reached the abandoned factory complex, he had already memorized Balai Jab by heart.

Inside a concealed warehouse in the abandoned industrial district.

Recalling the key points explained in the video, Su Heng took off his shirt, revealing a lean, muscular body, and began training with great enthusiasm.

First came three sets of warm-up exercises to loosen his joints and prevent muscle strains from causing unnecessary trouble.

Then.

He bent his waist, stepped forward, and threw a punch!

Bang!

A ring of fine dust burst from the wall directly ahead under the force of his punch, scattering through the bright moonlight.

The weather was clear tonight, and the moonlight was bright and pure, untouched by even a trace of blood-red. It was a rare stretch of good weather. Even so, Su Heng had noticed very few pedestrians on the streets during his walk here.

"This style may be simple, but it's surprisingly effective..."

Even without anything to compare it to, Su Heng could clearly tell that the punch he had just thrown was much more powerful than usual.

It was not because Su Heng's physique itself had improved, but because when he threw that punch, he had mobilized more muscles, causing the force he unleashed in that instant to become much greater.

"Hah!"

Su Heng took a deep breath.

He did not grow complacent over the progress he had just made. Instead, he imposed even harsher standards on his training.

Up in the sky.

That crimson moon hung above everyone's heads like the Sword of Damocles, capable of bringing disaster at any moment.

These days, even a centipede could grow to a hundred meters long under the influence of the Red Moon.

No one could say for sure whether, as the Red Moon's power grew stronger and stronger, there would come a day when even humanity's modern weapons would be useless against those monsters.

The danger had never been far away.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

A continuous series of dull impacts rang out from the abandoned factory. For a full two hours, they had barely stopped.

"More or less enough."

His final punch struck the wall, sending great clouds of dust cascading down.

Su Heng withdrew his hand, satisfaction showing on his face. After two hours of intense exercise, he did not feel particularly exhausted. If anything, he felt energized.

He took out the towel he carried with him, wiped away his sweat, drank some water, and waited for his muscles to relax and cool down.

Su Heng got dressed and prepared to leave.

Before departing, he sank his consciousness into the game. There, he saw Gamia sleeping peacefully at the bottom of the hot spring, her enormous body as tranquil and beautiful as a sculpture.

As a powerful Supernatural Creature.

Even while asleep, a large portion of Gamia's sensory organs remained constantly alert to changes in the surrounding environment.

The moment danger was detected, those extraordinary organs would swiftly activate, secreting large amounts of hormones to stimulate her body and enter a combat state.

Forget a limit-breaking king like Gamia.

Even an ordinary Level Two lifeform was extremely difficult to ambush.

What was more, before Gamia went to sleep, Su Heng had already arranged for four Supernatural Great Yokai to patrol the forest and maintain order.

Even so, Su Heng could not completely set his mind at ease. Whenever he had the time, he would enter the game and use a god's-eye view to survey and inspect the area around Gamia, guarding against any dangers that might be lurking there.

He had truly spared no effort when it came to his own template.

Everything was fine.

Su Heng got dressed, left the industrial district, and planned to take a shortcut home to rest.

Just then, two blinding high beams shone from around the street corner. Su Heng stopped in his tracks, his brows knitting slightly.

Thanks to readers Xiangni Naxienian, Luoshen Guo Huanghe, Xitong Ni Cai You Bing, Beifang Zuibang, Meiren Qingchengzui, and the others for their monthly votes. Thank you all for your support.