The Fighter's past life (III)

"Are you sure you want to personally experience the Fighter's past life?"

"Warning: when personally experiencing a simulated life, any beneficial or detrimental effects your body receives are irreversible. If your body dies in the simulation, you will also die in reality!"

"Yes!"

Having made up his mind, Su Wu no longer hesitated and answered at once.

"Selection confirmed!

You will personally experience the Fighter's past life.

To prevent the underlying logic of the past-life simulation from collapsing, a disguise will automatically be created for you, allowing you to retain the dagger owner's identity without being exposed."

"Deducting 180 + 30 Origin Jade. Your wallet balance is 3149 - 210 = 2939 Origin Jade."

The previous simulation had brought Su Wu no gains.

Thus, his wallet balance had remained unchanged after it ended.

The simulator's voice gradually faded away.

Su Wu's mind went hazy for a moment. When he came to, he was already in the medicinal bath in the small room, the medicinal liquid soaking his body, which still appeared bruised on the surface.

-the simulator had even replicated the original owner's bruises as part of the disguise.

The bruises all over him rapidly faded.

Threads of medicinal potency seeped into his open pores, weaving a web through his flesh and nourishing his body like gentle spring rain.

His physical attributes gradually improved.

Su Wu closed his eyes and let the medicinal liquid soak his entire body, feeling its potency weaken as the liquid in the metal tub slowly grew paler.

Inside the temple.

Jiang Yingying huddled in a corner, staring at Su Wu without blinking.

Su Wu had just given her instructions.

Now she was afraid that something uncanny might happen to him.

But after watching him for at least five minutes, she found that he seemed merely to have fallen asleep with his eyes closed. No strange changes had occurred.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, nothing beyond my understanding happened...

Jiang Yingying silently counted herself lucky.

Just then, a faint medicinal fragrance suddenly reached her nose. She wrinkled it and looked over the supplies piled in the temple, but saw no medicinal herbs.

Puzzled, she took off the thick coat draped over her shoulders and followed the scent, sniffing lightly, until she reached Su Wu's side.

Why does he smell so strongly of medicine?

The thought sprang into the girl's mind.

Only when she studied Su Wu's face up close did she notice that his skin, hair, and even his clothes had become translucent.

He seemed to have turned into an image made of light.

An illusory bubble.

Jiang Yingying covered her mouth, at a loss for what to do.

Recalling Su Wu's instructions, she decided this must be one of the strange phenomena he had warned her might occur.

She had promised him she would trust him.

So Jiang Yingying brought over a small stool and sat beside Su Wu, tightly gripping the Imperial Bell-something Su Wu had temporarily entrusted to her.

If anything uncanny happened that she could not handle, she could ring the Imperial Bell at any moment.

"Time's up."

The woman pushed open the door and entered the small room. She glanced at the medicinal bath. The liquid's reddish-black color had faded considerably, becoming reddish-brown.

Su Wu had already climbed out of the tub and put on the clothes from the rack.

She smiled faintly with her lips pressed together as she looked at Su Wu, noticing no difference whatsoever between him now and before. "Have all your injuries healed?

"If there are any marks left, you can take off your clothes, and I'll apply some more ointment."

"They've all healed." Su Wu had no desire to strip again for an inspection. Besides, the disguised bruises on the surface of his body really had healed completely.

His physical fitness had even surpassed its previous level!

"Good." The woman did not insist. She stepped aside and gestured for him to go ahead, leading him out of the room. "Go to the training area for now. The second training session should start in another ten minutes."

"What's the second training session?"

He followed the woman out of the room into a long corridor.

The medicinal bath room stood halfway down the corridor, with many other rooms on either side bearing signs such as "Bathroom" and "Dining room."

Overhead was a wooden ceiling inset with round lights stretching in both directions.

Training halls were faintly visible at both ends of the corridor.

As Su Wu surveyed his surroundings, he asked the woman whose name he still did not know, "What does the full training program include?"

"The full program has seven subjects.

"You've already experienced the first and second: taking a beating, and traditional massage and medicinal baths.

"After that come five more: coordination training, anatomy, lectures on fighting principles, combat training, and scientific health supplements and medicinal baths."

The seven subjects made for quite a comprehensive program, combining theory and practice.

They also complemented one another in a very methodical way.

For instance, after getting injured during the first session's beating, he could immediately recover through massage and a medicinal bath.

So was the owner of this facility really trying to reform compulsive gamblers like the original owner, making them earn money for him through underground fighting?

If all he wanted was to train fighters to make money for him, surely he would not need such a thorough, scientifically designed program?

What underground boxer or fighter wasn't riddled with injuries while still young?

Half of those injuries were hidden damage sustained during training, flaring up as they grew older.

The "backers" behind them would never arrange such a comprehensive, scientific training program.

Capitalists never stopped until they had fleeced a sheep bare,

unless leaving its wool intact could bring them greater profits!

That meant the facility owner's true objective could not simply be to send the fighters he trained into underground matches. He might have something deeper in mind!

Wariness stirred in Su Wu's heart. He nodded to the woman and said, "Thank you. I still don't know what to call you."

"Just call me Pharmacist.

"I'm in charge of three subjects: traditional massage and medicinal baths, anatomy, and scientific health supplements and medicinal baths," the woman said with a smile.

"Then sorry in advance for all the trouble." Su Wu exchanged a few pleasantries with Pharmacist.

Then, following her directions, he headed toward the hall at the left end of the corridor.

In fact, the halls connected by the corridor on either side were part of a single whole. Rooms such as the medical room and dining room were merely sections partitioned off within the facility.

No instructor for the next subject was waiting for Su Wu in the hall at the end of the corridor.

In an area that had been specially cleared out, there was only a display mounted on the wall.

Su Wu stood there and waited for a while.

About ten minutes later, black steel plates rose from gaps in the floor all around him, enclosing the area within perforated steel walls.

The screen on the wall lit up,

and a voice came over the speakers. "Third training session: coordination training.

"Perform the corresponding movements as instructed on the screen within three seconds.

"Failure to complete a movement will extend your training time!"