Sparring (Part 2)

"I'm done, I'm done. I can't beat him at all."

Tang Zheng climbed up from the ground. "I'd better stick to playing with guns."

Wang Ziyi said with a grin, "Brother Zheng is already calling it quits?"

"Young lady, don't talk nonsense." Tang Zheng waved a hand, his expression complicated. "The feeling of being watched by Dog Bro is terrifying. I didn't feel this much pressure even when fighting aberrant demons."

Suddenly seeming to think of something, he looked maliciously at the onlookers. "Didn't you all want combat training? Come give it a try and see if you dare attack Dog Bro."

At the end, he added, "This counts as willpower training, right, Dog Bro? What do you think?"

"No problem."

With the mindset that handling one sheep was the same as herding a whole flock, Bai Yi agreed.

"Is it really that exaggerated? I'll try!"

Wang Ziyi rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward.

Very quickly, she understood exactly how Tang Zheng felt. Under that kind of pressure, an untrained ordinary person would not even have the courage to throw a punch at Bai Yi.

At that moment, Wang Ziyi gritted her teeth. She felt her legs growing weaker and weaker, as if she might collapse to the ground at any moment.

Wang Ziyi stubbornly resisted the pressure Bai Yi brought. She edged forward step by step. Time seemed to slow more and more in her eyes, yet her steps became increasingly firm.

"I still have to find Mom and Dad. I still have to keep going with Xie Dog and the others. I still have to—survive!"

Unshakable conviction flooded her heart, slowly squeezing out the fear. Wang Ziyi finally dared to raise her head and face the man before her directly.

She raised her hand and threw a punch!

Bai Yi dodged, and Wang Ziyi suddenly felt her body go light as she lost her balance.

Just as she was about to fall, an arm reached out and caught her. It was Xie Xu.

Bai Yi stood to one side. When he saw Xie Xu approach just now, he had not tried to steal the spotlight.

After seeing Wang Ziyi's performance, everyone knew Tang Zheng had not been joking. Facing Bai Yi really was no easy matter.

Yet this only piqued their curiosity. There was no danger anyway, so why not give it a try?

After that, the others volunteered one after another and took turns trying. Though none of them lasted even a single exchange against Bai Yi, at least they all had the courage to attack.

After everyone had taken their turn, they turned their eyes toward Xie Xu.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Xie Xu felt uncomfortable under their stares, and even the smile he always wore became awkward.

Wang Ziyi poked him. "You're the only one left. Aren't you going to try?"

"Why would I go looking to get beaten up?"

"Wasn't combat training your idea?"

Xie Xu shook his head helplessly. The boomerang had come back to hit him.

He took his place opposite Bai Yi and displayed his attributes:

[Xie Xu: Healthy][Age: 22][Strength: 8][Spirit: 10.3][Constitution: 8.4][Sanity: 200/200]

"Dog Bro, here I come!"

With that, Xie Xu attacked Bai Yi head-on. Bai Yi's imposing aura had no effect on him whatsoever.

But the gap in their physical abilities was right there. In Bai Yi's eyes, Xie Xu's punch was like a slow-motion replay.

As before, he tilted his head to dodge, but something strange happened. Not only did Bai Yi's movement fail to avoid Xie Xu's fist, it instead seemed as though he had deliberately slammed into it headfirst.

Just as the fist was about to touch his face, Bai Yi raised a hand to block it.

At the same time, Xie Xu threw a punch with his other hand, aiming for Bai Yi's lower abdomen. Bai Yi blocked again.

The two traded blows, countering each move in turn. Neither took a single step back.

"Xie Xu is that good?" Tang Zheng asked in confusion. "But that doesn't make sense. No matter how good he is, the stat difference is right there. He shouldn't be able to exchange this many moves with Dog Bro, let alone have the upper hand."

That was right. In everyone else's eyes, Xie Xu had been attacking the entire time while Bai Yi had been blocking nonstop. It looked as if Xie Xu was suppressing Bai Yi.

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But Bai Yi had only one feeling about it—disgusting!

It was as though Xie Xu knew every one of his intentions. Every action was anticipated in advance, and Xie Xu adjusted his response accordingly.

Even though Bai Yi could clearly see Xie Xu's every movement, Xie Xu's tricky attacks forced him to keep blocking passively, leaving him unable to launch an attack of his own.

The experience made Bai Yi feel utterly miserable. He roughly guessed that this was one of the ways Xie Xu's talent ability could be used.

Since this was only a spar, he had not used his full strength. Instead, he held back and cooperated with Xie Xu.

After more than a dozen exchanges, Bai Yi had already come up with a way to deal with it. At the same time, he stopped holding back.

He suddenly stepped back, moving out of Xie Xu's attack range. Before Xie Xu could follow up, Bai Yi moved.

He sank his hips and drew in a breath. The muscles in his forearm instantly swelled into sharply defined blocks of iron. Power exploded from the soles of his feet, and the punch he threw tore through the air with a howl.

"I surrender!"

The instant he saw this, Xie Xu immediately raised his hands in surrender. The fist stopped two centimeters from his face, and the wind from it lightly lifted his hair.

"Dog Bro, you're amazing! You figured it out so quickly!"

Xie Xu gave him a thumbs-up.

Bai Yi smiled faintly. Because the gap in their attributes was too great, the way to counter it was actually very simple.

All he had to do was keep his distance, stay out of Xie Xu's attack range, and attack at a speed Xie Xu could foresee but still couldn't react to.

That was also why Xie Xu had to stay close and grapple with Bai Yi. He simply couldn't withstand a single one of Bai Yi's attacks, so he could only do his best to hold Bai Yi down and leave him no chance to strike.

Afterward, Xie Xu explained a new application of his talent: predicting a person's actions two seconds in advance.

After the sparring match ended, Bai Yi told them, "My shelter is planning to offer enhancement services. For now, I can raise Strength and Constitution to a maximum of 15 points."

"I've been waiting for this day!" Zhang Zhen was overjoyed.

He had kept up his training, but because of his age, his physical condition had never been able to match that of younger people.

Bai Yi continued, "Because of the abnormal status [The Displaced], we can't stay away from our own shelters for too long.

"And the enhancement surgery takes a long time, so I suggest undergoing two or three operations spread across several days. Also, there's no need to worry about the order—we can perform multiple enhancement surgeries at the same time."

At that moment, Wang Ziyi cautiously asked, "Dog Bro, does the enhancement hurt?"

"There's anesthesia."

"Long live Dog Bro!" Wang Ziyi cheered excitedly.

The others also looked delighted and began arranging times with Bai Yi.

As for the price, Bai Yi planned to set it according to the extent of the enhancement.

Although they were chatting, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

Gradually, the conversation stopped as well. Everyone held their breath and focused, feeling the passage of time.

Finally, the countdown ended!

["Wilderness Treasure Chests" have refreshed]

As the system announcement rang out, everyone's spirits lifted.

"Uncle Zhang!"

"I'm on it."

Zhang Zhen closed his eyes and activated his talent:

[All-Domain Perception (Active): Consumes 30 Sanity to conduct a scan within a radius of Mental Power × 500 meters, including minerals, equipment, special items, creatures, and more. Cooldown: 1 hour]

A few seconds later, Zhang Zhen abruptly opened his eyes.

"I see it!"