Two Pieces of Trash

Zhang Shuai's punch struck empty air, and he visibly froze. He clearly hadn't expected Tang Yu to neutralize his attack so effortlessly.

"Again!" Zhang Shuai shouted softly as his fist technique changed once more. No longer attacking head-on, he turned his fist into a claw and reached for Tang Yu's lower ribs with five fingers spread wide. It looked like a direct grab at Tang Yu's lower ribs, but that was not the case. Before unleashing the claw, Zhang Shuai had taken half a step forward and leaned in, while his other fist shot straight toward Tang Yu's lower abdomen. The false and real attacks could switch in an instant. If the opponent defended high, the low strike would be real; if they defended low, the high strike would be real. Such shifts between feint and substance made it difficult for an opponent to discern his true intentions.

This move felt familiar. Though it was a different technique, the underlying principle was the same. Faced with Zhang Shuai's move, Tang Yu showed no fear. His arms split high and low, each blocking one of Zhang Shuai's hands. It seemed he was going on the defensive, but was that Tang Yu's style? Obviously not!

The instant their four arms met, Zhang Shuai's other foot moved. His waist suddenly arched, his back straightened, and his knee drove directly toward Tang Yu's groin. Tang Yu was startled when he noticed Zhang Shuai's movement, but fortunately, he had been prepared. The moment Zhang Shuai had attacked, Tang Yu had already noticed that half-step feint.

Whenever two sides fought, neither would make a meaningless movement. If they did, it meant that movement contained a possible variation. Tang Yu's hands seemed to be defending against Zhang Shuai's attack, but in reality, they had been guarding against this very move.

Tang Yu suddenly lowered his body, overlapping his hands to press down Zhang Shuai's rising knee. Then he thrust forward. Like an enraged bull, he unleashed Bull's Horn Charge, sending Zhang Shuai staggering back several steps before he finally managed to steady himself.

Both exchanges had happened in the blink of an eye, yet the techniques involved were incredibly complex.

In their first exchange, Tang Yu's light tap appeared to use the clever force of four ounces shifting a thousand pounds, but it actually contained the power-generation technique of Spiral Force. Otherwise, there was no way he could have deflected Zhang Shuai's punch so easily.

During their second exchange, Zhang Shuai's feint could not truly be called a feint, because whether it was false or real depended entirely on his own intent. It could become either. Tang Yu alone had seen more than ten possible variations in that claw strike. It incorporated the force and hand-form changes of the ancient martial arts Dragon Claw Hand and Eagle Claw Technique. Its grabs and seizes could pierce through metal and stone; one careless mistake, and several bloody holes would appear on the body. As for the punch aimed at Tang Yu's lower abdomen, Tang Yu could tell that it was a straightforward strike without any variation whatsoever. Yet moves like that were the hardest to deal with. And these two powerful moves had merely been setting up the final dirty trick.

After putting his clothes back on, Zhang Shuai looked at Tang Yu with a smile in his eyes. "Not bad. Leaving everything else aside, your current strength is already close to that of a third-year student!"

"Only in terms of strength and technique. I'm still far behind in other areas." Tang Yu remained neither arrogant nor humble in the face of Zhang Shuai's praise. Third-year students already possessed a deep understanding of their own genetic analysis, mecha weapons, and the nature of biological evolution. They could clearly understand exactly how to train their bodies to become stronger. Tang Yu had clearly not yet reached that level.

Just then, the wristband on Tang Yu's wrist rang. Seeing that Meng Xuanxuan was contacting him, he said goodbye to Zhang Shuai and headed straight to the front of his building. Meng Xuanxuan had already been waiting there for quite some time.

"Where did you go?" Meng Xuanxuan had thought Tang Yu was upstairs, but apparently that was not the case.

"I went to look around the school's training hall. What is it? Did you need something?" Right now, the most important thing for Tang Yu was preparing for military training. Yet Meng Xuanxuan did not look worried at all. He had no idea where her confidence came from.

"Can't I look for you if there's nothing wrong? Don't forget, you're this young lady's boyfriend now!" Meng Xuanxuan looked both smug and annoyed as she said this. That stupid Tang Yu actually made this young lady come looking for him—and wait for so long, too. If he hadn't seen me naked last time, I wouldn't have wanted this blockhead as my boyfriend at all. She could only be angry with Tang Yu in her heart, so Meng Xuanxuan comforted herself that way.

"Xuanxuan, use these next few days to get yourself into top condition. I heard the casualty and death rate for this military training is very high, and the deployment will be random. You must be careful."

For once, Meng Xuanxuan actually heard concern in Tang Yu's words. It excited her as though she had discovered a new continent.

"Alright! I know!"

"Good. Then hurry back! I'm going upstairs to train first!" With that, Tang Yu walked upstairs. It was only after he had completely disappeared that Meng Xuanxuan suddenly came to her senses!

It would have been one thing if that stupid Tang Yu did not walk her back, but he had not even waited for her to leave before going upstairs himself. Meng Xuanxuan ground her silver teeth in anger. Her brows, as delicate as willow leaves carved by a blade, bent into two thin arcs, and her face was full of gloom. After all, anyone would feel depressed after ending up with a boyfriend as unromantic as Tang Yu!

The moment he returned to his dormitory, Tang Yu immersed himself in cultivation. He silently circulated the Force Guidance Art, filling his body's cells with Force, then began cultivating according to the methods in Cell Strengthening Theory. He increased the strength of his cells so they could withstand more Force. Another day passed in cultivation. Over the next several days, aside from eating, Tang Yu spent nearly all his time cultivating.

July 10th, the day military training was about to begin. Tang Yu ended his cultivation early. After practicing Cell Strengthening Theory for several days straight, he had finally sensed changes in the cells of his body. This feeling was not confined to any single aspect; his entire body's functions had improved. His internal organs, muscles, bones, tendons, skin, and flesh had all been greatly strengthened.

The human body itself was made up of countless tiny particles, and in biology, these particles were known as cells.

By the time Tang Yu arrived at the academy's central plaza, it was already packed with people. Following the information on his wristband, Tang Yu quickly found his position, and Zhang Shuai was the one leading them.

There were more than two hundred thousand first-year students, yet the plaza did not feel crowded at all because it was simply enormous. At Tang Yu's speed, it would take him around half an hour just to run one lap around it. One could imagine how vast the entire Asian Military Academy was.

Suddenly, the sky darkened. Looking up, Tang Yu saw a dense black mass filling the heavens—large transport warships hovering in the air, blotting out the sky and sun, even blocking the sunlight.

At that moment, a figure emerged from the largest flagship in the center. The distance was so great that, to Tang Yu, the figure looked only a little bigger than an ant. Yet the person relied on no external force at all, simply walking down from the flagship step by step through the air, as though there were a heavenly staircase beneath his feet.

Tang Yu knew this person had to be an expert at the Divine Transformation level. Hovering in the air was something only Divine Transformation experts with a gene count exceeding one thousand could accomplish.

At once, discussions broke out among the crowd, and cries of astonishment rang out without end.

"Silence!"

The crowd was restless and deafeningly noisy, yet that one word seemed to carry magic. The moment it was spoken, more than two hundred thousand people fell silent in unison.

"You are all the Federation's future elite, the sparks of humanity's hope. In the future, humanity's conquest of the sea of stars will require you to become pioneers..."

It was a standard speech, yet strangely, Tang Yu did not feel the slightest impatience. The others were the same, quietly listening until the man finished.

Then the transport warships descended. Each warship took away one formation of students. With two hundred thousand people, it took nearly two hours before everyone had been transported.

Everyone had ridden this type of transport warship before, so they were not particularly curious. But Tang Yu had never even left Earth, so naturally he was curious about it and could not help studying it carefully.

"Country bumpkin!" Seeing Tang Yu's inexperienced expression, a short, fat man sitting opposite him could not resist sneering at the person beside him.

Tang Yu frowned when he heard the voice. Suddenly, the entire warship shook, and Tang Yu knew it had begun accelerating.

"Hey, brother, what's your name?" A student sitting right beside Tang Yu suddenly spoke up.

"Tang Yu. What's your name?"

"Fang Zheng! Nice to meet you, Tang Yu!" Fang Zheng grinned when he heard Tang Yu's introduction, revealing a mouthful of bright white teeth.

"Tang Yu, don't lower yourself to Zhou Tao's level. He only throws his weight around because his brother has an expert bodyguard here!" Fang Zheng said, glancing at the male student who had called Tang Yu a country bumpkin. His voice was neither loud nor soft, and he made no attempt to avoid being heard.

Tang Yu was taken aback. "Zhou Tao? Is his brother called Zhou Kang?"

"That's right, him. Zhou Kang has a guy with a gene count of one hundred and fifty at his side. His name is Luo Shan. I heard he once entered an arena in the black market and is incredibly strong!" Fang Zheng lowered his voice as he spoke to Tang Yu.

At those words, a proud look flashed across Zhou Tao's face. He seemed to enjoy the feeling, but Tang Yu's next sentence instantly turned his face the color of pig liver.

"Zhou Kang? Luo Shan? Aren't they the two pieces of trash I crippled a few days ago?"