Ecosystem Niche

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Lei Long, who had been quietly standing off to the side, suddenly changed expression and hurried forward a few steps.

"Don't talk nonsense! Brother Fei's a man! He grew his hair out to commemorate his mother!"

After saying that, he stepped in front of the line of students.

"I forgot to mention! Brother Fei is male! Make sure you all remember!"

The round-faced female student tilted her head. "Ma... Liang?"

Lei Long's eyes widened. He stared in disbelief at the somewhat airheaded round-faced girl, his lips trembling.

"You..."

"Slap."

A hand landed on his shoulder.

"Aw, Little Lei, why are you so nervous?"

Lin Fei stood behind Lei Long. Despite the enormous difference in their builds, Lin Fei somehow seemed like the taller one.

With a casual tug of his left hand, he sent Lei Long flying.

After tossing Lei Long aside, he turned to face everyone, raised his chin slightly, and grinned.

"Let's get started, everyone."

"Oh, right. My technique is a little special, so it'll hurt a bit. Don't worry about it."

Lin Fei spoke in a pleasant, youthful voice, yet everyone inexplicably shivered and quickly took off their training tops.

Meanwhile, Lei Long, who'd been flung into a corner, heard Lin Fei say "hurt a bit" and edged farther into it.

Seeing this, the students all got a bad feeling.

But if it only hurt a bit, surely it wouldn't...

"Ah—Mom—!!"

"Help me! Help me! Ah—!!!"

The airheaded round-faced girl lay facedown, screaming.

Tears mixed with snot and saliva dripped from her chin onto the floor. She clawed at the floor with both hands, trying to crawl forward.

But it was no use.

Lin Fei planted one foot on her back and pressed his index and middle fingers together, repeatedly poking and tracing lines across it.

"Don't rush off. Focus on feeling the force."

"If you'd come to me to refine your fist force back when I was at the main hall, I wouldn't have lifted a finger for a hundred thousand."

"You're really getting your money's worth this time."

Lin Fei grinned as he kept working with his hands. "Hang in there. The big one's coming."

Hearing Lin Fei's voice, the airheaded girl looked horrified and frantically slapped the floor with her right hand.

"Coach, I was wrong! I was wrong!"

"I'll never call you 'ma—' again—!!"

Before she could finish begging, Lin Fei had already gripped her shoulders with both hands. "Here comes the big one~"

With a crack, the girl's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed face-first onto the floor.

"Oh-ho-ho~~~"

As she coughed out a puff of human-shaped white air, the entire boxing hall fell silent.

Nobody said a word. They all silently stared at the floor.

After letting go of the airheaded girl, who had peacefully fallen asleep, Lin Fei tossed his hair and flashed the students a dashing smile.

"Don't worry, everyone here gets a turn today~"

Near noon, Lin Ye slumped on the hall floor, his gaze still dazed.

Yan Yi was the same beside him. She stared blankly at the patterns in the floor, murmuring unintelligibly.

The other students were in much the same state.

Lei Long had gotten a tune-up too. Sitting in the corner with his mouth slightly agape, he breathed out hot air.

"Clap! Clap!"

Lin Fei clapped his hands in an odd rhythm, and everyone slowly came to.

"All eyes on me."

"Everyone, move in a little. And you over there, stop drooling."

At his words, everyone hurried to their feet, not daring to dawdle in case they had to go through it all again.

Before long, they were sitting in three circles around Lin Fei.

"Does anyone have anything else they want to ask? You can ask now."

Lin Fei sat in the middle of the floor, a bright smile on his face.

At the edge of the group, Lin Ye slowly regulated his breathing and felt the changes in his body.

With Yan Yi's help, he'd previously brought his force output up to ninety points.

That score put him well ahead of most of the students. He might have been behind only Wei Qian and Yan Yi.

Now, after Lin Fei had refined his technique, his force output had reached ninety-five points.

Ninety-five was the limit under normal circumstances.

A perfect score of one hundred was practically impossible; there would always be a slight margin of error.

"Coach, with my aptitude, how long will it take me to reach the third layer?"

Just then, Yan Yi asked. She sat upright with her legs crossed, looking directly at Lin Fei.

Lin Fei turned toward her, raised an eyebrow, and licked his canine tooth.

"Soul Whale Fist places willpower above all else. If you hadn't asked, maybe five years."

"But since you asked, at least five years."

Yan Yi lowered her head slightly and said nothing more.

Based on the body-tempering effects of the Eighteen Forms of Soul Whale Fist, she'd always thought it was a style that focused on the body. She hadn't expected it to value willpower above all else.

"The willpower of Long Whale Dominates the Sea?"

She repeated the words to herself. She really did lack that kind of willpower.

But soon, she raised her head, her gaze still firm.

Lin Fei was a little surprised to see Yan Yi's resolve. She was a determined one.

In that case, maybe it wouldn't take five years?

Lin Ye glanced at Yan Yi, then turned to Lin Fei as well.

"Coach, about how long will it take me to get started?"

Lin Fei looked at him. "You've got a good physique. It shouldn't take you more than seven days to get started with the fist technique."

"You've already mastered Heat Line, so it'll probably happen within the next day or two."

"Among this batch of students, I'd guess only Wei Qian and Yan Yi will be faster than you."

Lin Ye nodded, then asked, "Are there many people who get started in seven days?"

Lin Fei's eyes shifted. He looked straight at Lin Ye, his gaze unusually serious.

"Not many. Getting started in seven days puts you among the better ones in terms of aptitude."

"Wei Qian and Yan Yi might get started faster than you, but their aptitude isn't as good as yours."

Among this batch of students, those who could be counted on to reach the third layer were those three.

"Is that so?"

Lin Ye looked away and asked nothing more.

Beside him, Yan Yi showed no reaction to Lin Fei's assessment. She'd known that for a while.

Wei Qian, sitting on the other side, glanced over. He recognized Yan Yi; her performance in the punch-force test that day had left a deep impression on him.

But Lin Ye had kept such a low profile that Wei Qian had always assumed he was Yan Yi's sparring partner.

He studied Lin Ye, committing his appearance to memory.

Some of the other students looked over too. The head coach had more or less acknowledged that Lin Ye had the best aptitude in their batch.

"Ring-ring~~ Ring-ring~~"

A ringtone sounded. Lei Long took out his phone and turned off the alarm he'd set.

He looked at Lin Fei. "Brother Fei, it's twelve."

Lin Fei said nothing. He stood and glanced around.

"That's it for today. We have a guest coming this afternoon, so go wash up and get some sleep... wash up and head home."

On the second floor of the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall, in the head coach's office.

Lin Fei stood behind the reflective glass, watching the students leave. His gaze settled on Lin Ye's back.

"He gives me the feeling that... he's confident. Maybe even conceited."

"When he asked his question, it didn't feel like he was asking for information. It was more like a beast entering unfamiliar hunting grounds and trying to figure out where it stood in the food chain."

"He didn't really want to know how long it would take him to get started. He wanted to know where he stood in the ecosystem."

Lin Fei folded his arms and looked down from above.

Lei Long stealthily raised his eyes beside him, wrinkling his forehead.

Who? Who were you talking about?

"Exactly. The boss is right," he said.

Lin Fei shot him a sidelong glance. "What's going on with that cult the Police Department mentioned?"

At that, Lei Long took out a tablet and handed it over. It displayed a map of Coast City.

"We found several altars, but we haven't made a move. We're worried we'll alert them."

Lin Fei looked at the red dots marked on the map and nodded slightly.

"Keep monitoring them for now. Those annoying bugs—we'll have to find an opportunity to pull them out by the roots."