039: The Truth About Being Strong on the Outside But Weak on the Inside

Thump—

The moment Tang Jian's fist connected, it felt like punching into a deep pool.

Water splashed everywhere as the ripples surrounding his opponent swirled rapidly, forming twisting currents that immediately deflected Tang Jian's punch, forcing it out of the watery shield.

But just then, a light green energy bullet shot his way. Without hesitation, Tang Jian powerfully pushed off with his right leg, quickly shifting his exposed upper body to the left to dodge.

Screech!

He felt a sharp, stinging pain, as if his right arm had been grazed by a keen dagger.

The light green energy bullet zipped past him, striking directly into the water shield opposite him.

Thud! The water shield immediately caved in from the impact. The boy inside grunted, his expression panicked and annoyed, as the water shield visibly thinned.

The girl who had fired the energy bullet looked even worse. She shrieked, constantly shifting her aim, but the close proximity of Tang Jian's teammate hindered her, making her hesitant.

"How foolish!"

In the large conference room at the external science museum, several teachers had already noticed the performance of these two students. A middle-aged teacher, seemingly their instructor, angrily rebuked them, shaking his head with a look of disappointment.

At this moment, Tang Jian seized the opportunity he'd created, quickly throwing punches without hesitation.

He punched like a boxer, knees slightly bent, back heel lifted, twisting his waist with each punch, leaning forward. Each punch was more powerful than the last.

Thump thump thump—

His powerful fists landed at an incredibly fast pace, blow after blow. Even the most turbulent water couldn't stop a massive boulder falling madly, and the shield shook violently from the impacts.

Softness can overcome hardness.

But when hardness reaches a certain degree, softness will only be crushed.

After several powerful thuds, Tang Jian's fists, like a pile driver, fiercely broke through the water shield, striking the boy on the other side.

His dark grey stone fists were incredibly hard and exceptionally powerful.

The boy, protected by his water shield, was like a sandbag, unable to fight back, screaming and grunting as he was hammered, quickly collapsing to the ground.

"Impressive, impressive, Teacher Sun," a balding male teacher said with some surprise, looking at Tang Jian in the corner of the large screen. He smiled at Sun Yiying, "I didn't expect your class to have such a promising talent besides Liu Kun. He acts very decisively and ruthlessly. It seems your class's usual combat training is very strict?"

Sun Yiying smiled and nodded at his words, but she simply watched Tang Jian in the corner of the screen without speaking, a hint of surprise and complexity in her heart.

She knew Tang Jian's combat skills were very good. During the intensified training recently, only Liu Kun could contend with Tang Jian; others' combat skills were somewhat inferior to his.

And yesterday, she had secretly witnessed Tang Jian's fight with Mosquito firsthand. Although Tang Jian still had some shortcomings in that fight, his performance was still excellent.

However, today, the fact that Tang Jian could so quickly familiarize himself with the Cards in his hand and expand his advantage to resolve the enemy was still somewhat beyond her expectations.

"Perhaps this is a kind of outstanding combat talent?" Sun Yiying thought to herself.

This wasn't uncommon.

At least, while some of Tang Jian's current performances were commendable, they weren't overly heaven-defying.

After all, his opponents were simply too weak: one hadn't even mastered the correct way to fire an Energy Bullet Card, and the other was a fool who only knew how to defend and not counterattack.

Other teachers simply gave a few brief praises to Sun Yiying, then many of them shifted their attention to other battles, especially focusing on the performances of elite students like Wu Chun and Wang Ba.

Tang Jian's success might have been due to his strength, but his opponents were also too weak, which didn't really prove much.

But Wu Chun and Wang Ba, those two, appeared much more dazzling.

Firstly, they were already famous, and secondly, both had extremely strong combat talent and high Life Force. From the very beginning of the assessment, they immediately demonstrated superior strength.

Aside from these two, many others performed very poorly.

Either they couldn't adapt to such a brutal life-or-death struggle, lacking decisiveness in their attacks and not striking hard enough.

Or they weren't familiar with the initial Cards they received, or rather, they were familiar but couldn't control them skillfully, leading to unsatisfactory performances.

"Ah, this batch of students is even worse than the last. It seems the times are truly getting better, and people are becoming too comfortable. Once they engage in this kind of practical combat, they perform poorly," a teacher said, shaking his head regretfully. His students performed far worse than he expected, which disappointed him greatly.

"This isn't even a true life-or-death struggle. Even the death scenes in the Interstellar Tower are somewhat softened; bodies are swept away immediately after death. Otherwise, I estimate even more students would be vomiting and weak-kneed," a stern-faced middle-aged teacher grumbled.

He was speaking the truth.

Real death scenes were far more terrifying than what was shown in the Interstellar Tower now. Guts and brains splattered everywhere were commonplace.

But now, almost every student's body was cleared away immediately after death, failing to create a terrifying and bloody atmosphere. It was almost like an overly realistic game.

Yet, even so, some people still found their hands and feet trembling, or even vomited, after killing someone, giving others an opportunity.

"Ah, they are just a bunch of kids after all. They haven't experienced such life-or-death situations, so we can't put too much pressure on them," a kind-faced teacher sighed.

"They all have to experience it. The Old Kingdom Organization is becoming increasingly rampant, and the entrances to other worlds that our Federation suppresses are constantly experiencing disturbances. I'm afraid the future will only get worse.

The Federation needs talent, not hothouse flowers in an ivory tower, but iron-blooded warriors who can endure being watered with blood!"

Deputy Principal Zhou Dongbo stated firmly.

Thump—

Tang Jian took an Energy Bullet head-on, his face cold, and slammed his fist into the screaming girl's cheek across from him, knocking her straight to the ground.

Seeing she wasn't dead yet, he immediately stepped forward and quickly delivered several more punches, finally beating her to death.

He watched as the bloody, mangled corpse was swiftly cleared away.

Tang Jian feigned being unable to stomach the revulsion of killing, collapsing onto the ground and breathing heavily, his eyes blank. But in reality, his peripheral vision and mind were already observing any enemies who dared to approach.

Sun Yiying watched Tang Jian on the corner of the big screen, sitting on the ground in a daze after beating his classmate to death, and couldn't help but find it amusing.

That kid was so ruthless just now; I thought he was born cold-blooded.

Turns out, the moment the fight ended, he immediately exposed himself as someone who's all bark and no bite.

Please vote! And thanks to Brother Gentle and "Illusion Knight Asks Me" for the tips! I bow to all of you, esteemed sirs!