Kaman, Despicable

Relying on the impression from his first visit, Zhang Tie held his key and returned to the locker room. He had been a bit dizzy last time, but looking closely now, he realized the Battle Hall occupied an astonishingly large area.

The sixth floor of the Battle Hall building alone spanned over 200 meters in length. More than half of this floor was a service area for Level 1 clients. The most prominent feature was a massive public training ground filled with equipment and apparatus Zhang Tie had never even seen before; there were even two standard 100-meter speed-testing tracks on this floor alone. Aside from the staff break rooms and locker rooms, the public training ground was the only place staff could access. Captain Colin's words hadn't been empty; if one could find time to train here during work breaks, it would undoubtedly lead to a massive improvement in strength and physical fitness. Compared to this, the training ground at school was as crude as a grain-drying yard on a farm. Looking at the unfamiliar training equipment, Zhang Tie almost drooled. These devices could exercise every single muscle on a person's body. Forget about raw strength—just in terms of physique, Zhang Tie was confident that with enough time, he could sculpt his body into something full of masculine beauty, like a statue, and elevate his physical fitness and stamina to a whole new level.

Next to the public training ground were individual training rooms. Baker had said those rooms contained even higher-end equipment reserved exclusively for clients, completely off-limits to laborers like Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was filled with curiosity about what kind of equipment those special rooms held.

One had to use separate employee stairs and passages to get from the first to the sixth floor; only Battle Hall clients and VIPs were qualified to use the elevators. Speaking of elevators, this was the first time in his life Zhang Tie had seen one. Although this era no longer possessed electricity, this building transport tool—said to have been invented by humans before the Great Cataclysm—had been preserved, and the name remained unchanged. Replacing electricity as the power source were steam engines and boilers installed within the building, and each elevator was operated by a uniformed attendant, looking quite high-class.

While ascending from the first to the sixth floor, despite the soundproofing throughout the building, Zhang Tie constantly heard loud impacts and shouts coming from rooms on various levels. Some sounds seemed to come from underground, rolling like thunder across the earth; the dull thuds made the entire stairwell hum.

The sixth floor served Level 1 clients, the fifth floor Level 2, the fourth floor Level 3, and so on. Zhang Tie hadn't understood the logic behind this arrangement at first, but once he reached the upper floors, it clicked: the higher the level, the greater the power and destructive force of the training. Therefore, the training grounds were arranged on lower floors to minimize damage to the building. Training grounds for Level 5 and above were already on the ground level, where the Battle Hall had several low-lying building complexes. However, what those complexes contained was not something Zhang Tie was qualified to know at the moment.

The locker number Zhang Tie received was 613. The other side of the locker room connected to a shower area, one of the perks of the Battle Hall. Every time he came, he could at least take a hot shower, and the facilities looked quite luxurious. If he ignored the fact that he was going to get beaten up later, being able to shower here every day was a wonderful thing.

When he arrived at the locker room, it wasn't very crowded. Only one burly man with bulging muscles and wearing shorts sat on a bench, laboriously rubbing something from his hand onto a clearly bruised patch on his back. The moment Zhang Tie saw him, he felt a sense of familiarity, recalling that it was this man who had woken him up when he fainted last time.

Seeing Zhang Tie, the man grinned honestly and raised a brown bottle in his hand. "Kid, it's you. Come give me a hand!"

Zhang Tie walked over and took the bottle. It smelled of medicinal wine—he didn't know what it was steeped in, but it seemed to be for bruises. Zhang Tie rubbed his hands together to warm them, poured some into his palm, and then vigorously rubbed it into the bruise on the man's back.

"By the way, you were the one who woke me up last time. I haven't thanked you yet!" Zhang Tie said while rubbing.

"Don't mention it. I'm Arno. What's your name?"

"Zhang Tie!"

"Hua Clan?"

"Yeah!"

"You Hua Clan people aren't exactly known for your physique. It's rare to see one working as a sparring partner."

"Who says? I'm going to keep getting stronger!" Zhang Tie retorted, unconvinced.

"Ambitious kid," the big man muttered.

Feeling that he had rubbed it enough, Zhang Tie capped the bottle and returned it. The man took it and stood up, seemingly about to put on his clothes, when he suddenly threw a punch. The strike was full of power and fast as lightning. Zhang Tie didn't react at all before the fist was right in front of his face. The wind from the punch made the fine hairs on his face sting. Just as the thought flashed through Zhang Tie's mind—wondering if this punch would shatter his head like a watermelon—the fist stopped less than a centimeter from his face. Only then did Zhang Tie's face pale with fright.

The big man ignored Zhang Tie's terrified expression, shook his head, and withdrew his hand. He proceeded to demonstrate two movements right in front of Zhang Tie. "The first basic move for a sparring partner is to protect your head with your arms when you duck. Never offer your head up to be hit. This must become your subconscious reaction..." The man quickly demonstrated it twice.

"The second move is to prevent your opponent from accidentally attacking your lower body. Although the Battle Hall doesn't allow clients to perform such attacks, when a real fight breaks out, sometimes these attacks are unconscious. So, your right leg..." The man patted his thick right thigh. "You must never put your full body weight on your feet at any time; that will make your reaction half a beat slower. Like this..." The man quickly lifted his right leg and performed a side-stepping motion. "This way, your opponent's unconscious attacks to your lower body will land on your most muscular parts—your thighs and buttocks—which your body can fully withstand!"

"Third..." The man crouched slightly and performed another movement. "Keep your spine naturally curved and your muscles tensed. Because the natural arch formed by a curved spine and tight muscles allows your back to withstand greater, more powerful impacts without damaging your bones or internal organs. This is also an effective way to protect your spine. If you truly cannot avoid an opponent's strike, try to guide it toward the parts of your body that can take more punishment, like your shoulders, back, or chest... Understand, kid?"

Recovering from his shock, Zhang Tie nodded. He hadn't expected this seemingly rough Arno to be so helpful. Zhang Tie felt a bit moved and didn't know what to say, but Arno just gave an honest smile, patted Zhang Tie on the shoulder, and said, "I'll be waiting for the day you get stronger!" Then, he put on his clothes and left.

Zhang Tie practiced the moves Arno had just demonstrated a few times in the locker room, then nodded slightly. He opened his locker, which contained two sets of training gear, a clean towel, and a pair of clean socks—very thoughtful. Zhang Tie quickly stripped naked, grabbed the towel, and took a comfortable hot shower in the bathroom. Just as he finished changing into the training gear and socks, a Battle Hall staff member came to notify him to get ready and wait in Room 4.

In the room adjacent to the locker room was the equipment room. As soon as Zhang Tie walked in, two staff members quickly brought over a set of form-fitting protective gear for him to put on.

"Kid, don't get knocked out and make us carry you back again this time!" one of the guys who helped him put on the complex gear laughed maliciously. After he was dressed, he patted Zhang Tie on the back twice, signaling he was ready to go out.

"Do you think this kid will get knocked out again this time?"

"I bet he will. Knocked out within 10 minutes. 20 coppers!"

"I bet he gets knocked out within 5 minutes!"

"Deal!"

Hearing those bastards behind him using him as a joke, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and decided that no matter what, he would hold on this time.

Arriving in Room 4, which was set up just like last time, Zhang Tie waited less than three minutes before the door was pushed open. He saw Mary walk in with a brat of about twelve or thirteen with his nose in the air. Seeing the cold smirk on Mary's face, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly—how could this woman be so petty?

The brat looked at Zhang Tie with a cocky expression. "Mary, is this the piece of trash you were talking about?"

"That's him!" the wicked woman Mary confirmed with a nod.

"What if I knock him out?" The cocky brat looked at Mary's bulging chest as he said this and swallowed hard.

Mary said nothing; she simply leaned over, smiled seductively, stuck out her tongue, and licked the brat's ear. She whispered something, and the brat laughed triumphantly.

Zhang Tie looked at the two of them coldly. Mary's flirtatiousness in front of him and the brat's arrogance made a fire ignite in the depths of his heart. He didn't even know if it was anger or lust.

"My name is Zhang Tie. Happy to serve you!" Following Baker's instructions, Zhang Tie said mechanically to the brat, who was cracking his knuckles and grinning as he stepped forward. At the same time, he cast a cold glance at Mary, who was standing on the sidelines watching him triumphantly.

Through the thick protective helmet, outsiders could only see Zhang Tie's two black eyes, with rows of air holes beneath them. Seeing Zhang Tie turn his head to glare at him, Mary, who had been feeling triumphant, suddenly felt that the helmet on Zhang Tie's head was radiating an indescribable sense of ferocity and coldness. Mary shivered, and the triumph on her face instantly froze.

"If you're smart, you'll kneel down, apologize to Mary, and slap yourself ten times right now. I'll let you off easy today and won't beat you too badly!" the brat said arrogantly as he approached.

Damn it, why are all these rich kids so damn annoying!

Zhang Tie said nothing; he simply beckoned to the brat with a look of contempt, curling his finger as if calling a puppy or a pet. "Kaman, despicable!"

"You're looking for death!" The brat, instantly enraged, lunged forward and kicked viciously at Zhang Tie's lower abdomen with a ruthlessness that didn't match his age...

Battle Report: From last night until now, Snowflake's combat power has been unleashed, capturing four cities in a row like a hot knife through butter. The Castle of Black Iron's weekly recommendation ranking has risen from 16th to 12th. Snowflake is mighty, and the brothers are awesome!