Targeted?

Near noon.

The air in the gym was somewhat stifling, mingled with the smells of sweat, disinfectant, and rubber mats.

Zhou Kai was singled out.

"You, come stand at the front."

"Today, you'll be the teaching assistant and demonstrate for everyone."

After Chen Ping finished speaking, he clapped his hands and gathered everyone for the final drill explanation of the morning.

"Many people think that modern Comprehensive Combat has long left those flashy moves of ancient martial arts far behind."

"Theoretically, there's nothing wrong with that."

With his hands behind his back, Chen Ping paced around and lectured with a solemn expression.

"But ancient martial arts have never cared about science."

"What does Comprehensive Combat pursue? Using every useful part of your body to deal the greatest damage with the least expenditure. That demands high strength, agility, and reflexes from all of you."

"But in a real fight, there is something even more important than all that."

Chen Ping beckoned at Zhou Kai. "Come here. Stand in front of me."

"Don't be nervous. I'll hold back."

Zhou Kai stepped forward as instructed, raising his arms into a standard defensive stance.

He could feel that Chen Ping's presence had changed.

Chen Ping slightly lowered his shoulders, his center of gravity seeming to sink into the ground. That sharpness was no longer merely in his gaze; it seeped from every muscle, bone, and inch of skin, pressing down so hard it was difficult to breathe.

"The most important thing in a real fight is timing."

"All that back-and-forth attacking and defending you usually do is bullshit. When true masters clash, all they wait for is a single opening to kill the enemy in one move."

His tone abruptly shifted, and his voice exploded. "Zhou Kai, your vigilance is far too poor!"

Before his words had even faded, in the instant Zhou Kai was listening intently, Chen Ping caught the precise moment his breathing changed.

His body suddenly dropped low, then shot forward like a leopard!

Zhou Kai instinctively inhaled and moved to defend himself, but that fraction-of-a-second physiological reaction became a fatal opening.

Chen Ping was already right in front of him.

Bang!

A dull thud rang by his ear—not something he heard, but a resonance vibrating through his breastbone.

Chen Ping's iron-hoop-like arm was already braced across his chest, with the other hand following close behind like a shadow.

"Heavy hands, penetrating force!"

"Remember, this isn't a contest of strength. It's leverage!"

As Chen Ping explained, he exerted force through his waist and hips. A burst of deft power twisted Zhou Kai's center of gravity, violently tipping it to the right.

He held his strength back with perfect precision. The arm that should have locked Zhou Kai's throat landed on his chest instead, and he omitted the knee strike that should have rammed into his ribs.

Even so, Zhou Kai was like a sandbag stripped of all ballast, easily flipped onto the ground, his back slamming solidly into the mat.

It had to be said that, at the instant he was thrown down, Zhou Kai had instinctively activated every skill he had.

But Chen Ping's strength—or rather, his method of exerting force—was simply too bizarre.

The two were of similar height, and Chen Ping even looked leaner, but once they truly exchanged blows...

Zhou Kai felt like a lump of cotton, while his opponent was a block of iron tempered by countless hammer blows.

Is this the gym's secret martial art?

A storm raged in Zhou Kai's heart.

No brute force, but technique and timing brought to the absolute extreme. Comprehensive Combat is only a tool. This... is a killing art!

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 waited for instruction.

Chen Ping glanced at him before continuing to the crowd, "The human body can be fragile at times. One fall may be enough to completely rob someone of their ability to resist."

"So in unrestricted fighting, one clean and decisive takedown often means the end of the battle."

"And if you want your attacks to work, timing is everything! The instant your opponent clenches a fist, the pause in their speech, even the gaps between breaths... all of them can become killing opportunities to exploit."

He put his hands behind his back again. After that entire sequence of movements, he was neither flushed nor out of breath, as though he had merely dusted himself off.

Chen Ping walked down the aisle between the trainees, frowning. "What are you all standing around for? Pair up and try it yourselves! The moves are simple. If you can't learn them, you might as well start over!"

The members snapped awake as if from a dream and immediately began pairing off to practice.

Lu Yan and Ma Yifan poked their heads out from the crowd, their eyes constantly darting toward Zhou Kai. Clearly, they wanted to come over and pair up with him.

But Chen Ping seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He stopped Zhou Kai, who was about to return to the group, and spoke in an exceptionally friendly tone. "You have good talent. You learn forms quickly."

"Until the break, I'll practice with you personally."

"What is that Chen guy doing? He knows you haven't fully recovered, yet he keeps throwing you to the ground like a punching bag."

Lu Yan was treating him to dinner. As they walked, she was still indignantly standing up for Zhou Kai.

"No matter how I look at it, it seems like he's deliberately targeting you."

"Hey, Xiao Kai, tell me honestly. Did you offend him somehow?"

Zhou Kai's gaze settled on the empty air before him, where a line of text that had just appeared had yet to fade.

[You completed a high-intensity sparring session and seem to have gained some insight]

[Comprehensive Combat EXP +2]

That half hour of "sparring" with Chen Ping had actually been more effective than five or six hours of practicing by himself...

If he could get this kind of "special coaching" every morning and evening, along with his own extra training...

Then perhaps he could push Comprehensive Combat to Level Three before entering Nightmare the day after tomorrow.

If this counted as being targeted, then please, target him even harder—target him to death!

Zhou Kai smiled faintly. "Maybe Coach Chen has a sharp eye for talent and sees potential in me?"

"Please. You?"

Lu Yan snorted disdainfully, purely out of habit.

After spending the past few days together, she understood better than anyone that Zhou Kai's rate of improvement was simply unbelievable.

Zhou Kai was in a great mood and was happy to bicker with her.

"What else could it be? The mini-assessment is the day after tomorrow. If I pass, what will you say, Sister Yan Zi?"

Lu Yan clicked her tongue and seriously propped up her chin as though deep in thought.

A moment later, her eyes suddenly lit up. "How about I introduce you to a job if you pass?"

She jogged several steps ahead of Zhou Kai, pressed both hands on his shoulders, and looked him over from top to bottom again and again as though inspecting merchandise.

"You're finally starting to look a little more human lately... Your sister told me about your situation."

"Isn't it just a job related to your major? Leave it to Sister Yan Zi!"

She patted her somewhat flat chest and made the promise confidently.

But right after saying that, she scratched her head and asked with a puzzled look, "Wait, what did you major in at university again?"

Zhou Kai looked speechless, then answered with a teasing smile, "Classics, specializing in language and literature."

"Fuck." Lu Yan froze on the spot.

Zhou Kai had expected that reaction.

His dead-end major really had been rather despairing not long ago.

But now, the situation had completely reversed.

If he hadn't chewed through all that dry ancient Latin in university, how could he possibly have understood Morning Star Notes?

Lu Yan lowered her head and muttered to herself for a long while. In the end, she gritted her teeth and said, "Don't worry. Even if you studied grave robbing, your sister has a way!"

"Anyway, for now, figure out how to pass the assessment and become an official Falcon Wing trainee!"

"Oh, right. I've already transferred you the money. Go eat by yourself. Your sister has something to do, so I'm leaving first!"

Before Zhou Kai could ask her to stay, she had already waved down a taxi and vanished 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 weren't high. Even if he ate out every meal, as long as he wasn't extravagant, he couldn't spend fifty yuan a day.

Lu Yan had casually sent him three hundred yuan, enough to feed him for six days.

Thinking of that, Zhou Kai raised a hand to his forehead and chuckled to himself. "Eating soft rice with a hard attitude is a skill too. But these days will be ending soon."

More than three months after graduation, Nightmare Syndrome haunting him, and a niche major that had doomed him from the start.

Reality's iron hammer had indeed smashed his youthful dreams to pieces.

I hope Sister Yan Zi is reliable. Making money... really is a troublesome matter...

"Hm?"

As Zhou Kai lamented, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning. He suddenly slapped his forehead, annoyed by his own previous stupidity.

That night, inside the rented apartment.

He stared at the second hand on the wall clock ticking forward one notch at a time, waiting for Nightmare time to arrive.

Zhou Kai practically wanted to laugh at himself in exasperation.

He really hadn't found hard currency that could be directly sold for cash in that hellish place, such as gold or jewelry... but who said only those things had value?

Those tables, chairs, and benches had rotted from dampness and were indeed worthless.

But the antique ornaments in the house, the silver tableware, and those decorations of unknown purpose had to be worth something, didn't they?

After the immediate survival crisis was temporarily eased, Zhou Kai realized that, in a sense, while he was being pursued by Nightmare, hadn't he also become favored by an enormous treasure trove?