Thousand-Jin Stake

Military Floating Land No. 17, at the boundary between Zones G and F.

A barbed-wire barrier, thick with grease, stood here.

On this side lay the deathly silence and emptiness of the Recruit Camp. The air held only the cold smell of metal.

On the other side, a dark red neon glow shone faintly through, accompanied by the throb of heavy bass. The atmosphere was altogether different.

"This way. Stay clear of the cameras."

Xu Bo bent down and deftly pulled open a hole beneath the barbed wire, motioning for Jiang Yue to follow.

The two crawled through the barrier. A murky wave of heat hit them at once, carrying the mingled smells of cheap tobacco, strong industrial alcohol, and charred meat.

"This is the Grey Zone."

Xu Bo lowered his voice, a complicated note of awe in it. "The Supervision Team and veteran logistics troops are stationed here. As long as nobody gets killed, the higher-ups turn a blind eye to what these retired veterans do."

Jiang Yue straightened and looked around.

This "entertainment district" had been converted from a vast, abandoned engine hangar.

Flickering neon tubes covered the rough metal walls. Empty bottles and machine parts littered the floor.

Here, there was none of the Recruit Camp's suffocating discipline—only naked desire and release.

One spot was packed so tightly that no one could squeeze through. Hundreds of bare-chested men waved betting chips and roared at the top of their lungs.

"Crush him! Crush the bastard!"

"Three minutes! I bet he won't last three minutes!"

Jiang Yue looked up.

At the center of the crowd sat a bald man built like an iron tower.

A ferocious dragon was tattooed across his bare upper body and over one shoulder. His muscles bulged like rock, every one of them seeming to hold explosive power.

Most striking of all was his left arm.

It was not flesh and blood, but a heavy Mechanical Prosthetic with a brutal beauty of its own.

The silver-black metal casing was covered in scratches. It had clearly seen years of use.

"That's Butcher Zhang," Xu Bo said beside Jiang Yue's ear. "A Level 1 Martial Artist. I heard a Scythe Bug cut off his arm during the last bug swarm. He retired and became the bookmaker here. What he says goes in this place."

Jiang Yue nodded. Butcher Zhang's vitality was plainly formidable. Though he had lost an arm, he had experience fighting for his life, and his combat strength was clearly high.

With the Federation's medical technology, reattaching a severed limb or even rebuilding a body was not difficult. The cost, however, was beyond most people, so the majority of lower-level Martial Artists chose prosthetics.

For lower-level Martial Artists, a prosthetic with special functions could even be as strong as their own body, while costing less than a rebuilt limb. Naturally, plenty of them took that route.

Butcher Zhang sat on a raised iron chair, his eyes sweeping coldly over the crowd. His mechanical left arm slammed down on the metal table before him.

Boom!

The crash drowned out the noise.

"Next round: Thousand-Jin Stake!"

Butcher Zhang's voice was hoarse as a broken gong, yet it carried a chilling, blood-soaked edge. "New recruits pay three to one! Veterans pay even money! Place your bets!"

The crowd erupted again.

Several enormous hydraulic metal columns stood in the middle of the arena.

Beneath each column was an alloy platform with room for only one person to stand.

"That's the Thousand-Jin Stake," Xu Bo explained. "It's a test of endurance."

"The challenger stands under a column and holds it up with his shoulder. The pressure starts at three hundred kilograms and rises by fifty kilograms every minute. Whoever's bones crack first, or whoever drops to his knees, loses."

"It looks like a contest of strength, but it's really about bone density and how much pressure your organs can take."

Xu Bo pushed up his glasses. "A lot of recruits are strong enough to punch with four or five hundred kilograms of force, but their bones are brittle. One press and they're finished. Veterans have hardened their bodies for years. Their bones are tough. They're sure to win."

As he spoke, two challengers entered the arena.

On the left was an exceptionally burly recruit, his muscles knotted and his eyes fierce.

Jiang Yue remembered him. His punch had registered a full 420 kilograms during the day's test, making him one of the more notable recruits.

On the right was a veteran who looked scrawny and had even lost a leg.

Half a cigarette hung from his mouth, and his face was full of mockery. He looked as though a stiff breeze could knock him over.

"Begin!"

At Butcher Zhang's command, the hydraulic columns descended with a roar.

Three hundred kilograms of pressure bore down on each man's shoulders.

The burly recruit's face flushed red. He spread his legs, every muscle taut, and let out a low growl as he fought the weight with sheer strength.

The one-legged veteran, by contrast, swayed only slightly before steadying himself. He even had time to take a drag and blow a smoke ring.

"Arrogant bastard," the recruit muttered through clenched teeth.

A minute passed. The pressure rose to four hundred kilograms.

Veins bulged on the recruit's forehead. Sweat poured off him, his legs shook violently, and the grinding of bone in his knees was clearly audible.

His breathing had lost its rhythm, his chest pumping like a bellows.

The veteran, meanwhile, still looked utterly at ease.

His body rose and fell almost imperceptibly with the hydraulic column's faint tremors, as though he had turned into a spring.

"That's..." Xu Bo's expression darkened. "That's the Force Unloading technique. Their bodies aren't the only thing that differs—the gap in skill is even bigger."

Jiang Yue said nothing.

His eyes stayed fixed on the veteran while the panel at the edge of his vision ran silently.

From what he could see, every breath the veteran took matched a tremor of the hydraulic pump exactly.

The instant the column pressed down, the veteran exhaled, relaxing his flesh and drawing his frame in. The instant it rebounded, he inhaled and locked his joints.

Between each inhale and exhale, he canceled out at least thirty percent of the crushing pressure.

Clearly, this contest was not merely about their bodies. It was also about who could better control his body's rhythm.

The third minute came.

The pressure reached a terrifying six hundred kilograms.

Crack!

A sharp sound of breaking bone came from the recruit's knee.

"Aah!"

The burly recruit screamed. Blood vessels burst, and he dropped straight to his knees.

The hydraulic column plunged down. If the safety mechanism had not engaged, it would have crushed him to pulp.

"Trash."

The one-legged veteran spat out his cigarette butt and strolled out from under the column. He dusted off his shoulder with a mocking grin. "Go back and drink your milk. You thought you could win money carrying that little weight?"

The veterans around him burst into laughter, whistles rising from every direction.

The hotheaded recruits who had bet on their fellow recruit stood ashen-faced, watching the points they had worked so hard to save vanish in an instant.

On the raised platform, Butcher Zhang swept his mechanical arm across the table, gathering the mountain of betting chips into his lap. He tore into a juicy Exotic Beast steak, grease shining around his mouth.

"Well?"

Xu Bo watched the scene and shook his head in despair. "There's no way to win. We recruits haven't fully developed yet, and they outclass us in technique, too. Winning points from those veterans is harder than climbing to the sky."

He turned toward Jiang Yue, only to find an odd look on his face.

Jiang Yue gazed calmly at the hydraulic column, as though feeling out the direction of the crushing force.

"Xu Bo."

Jiang Yue spoke suddenly, his voice soft. "That veteran didn't win because his bones were harder."

"In terms of physical strength, the gap between them wasn't that wide. That man had even lost a leg and never had it restored—he only had a simple prosthetic. That cost him much of the improvement he'd gained from Body Forging, and his vitality was already declining. He shouldn't have been able to dominate so completely."

"The deciding factor was breathing."

"Breathing?" Xu Bo froze.

Jiang Yue touched his chest, feeling his blood and vitality circulate with each beat of his heart.

More precisely, the veteran had better control of his breathing and the rhythm of his exertion. That was why he had made it look so easy.

The commotion in the arena continued. Butcher Zhang opened the betting for another round.

"Let's go."

Jiang Yue withdrew his gaze and headed for the dark exit.

"Huh? We're leaving already?" Xu Bo struggled to follow his thinking. "Won't you try placing a bet? We might win some points..."

"No money."

Jiang Yue kept it brief.

With his eyesight and the data at his disposal, he could probably judge who would win and perhaps make a little money. But for Jiang Yue, it was clearly not worth it.

Better to spend that time improving myself. Judging other people's chances by watching them will always leave room for mistakes...

If I'm strong enough, I can decide the outcome myself.