"Don't I still have a long way to go? Wasn't I mostly getting beaten up the whole time we fought just now?" Shen Heng asked.
"I specialize in close combat. If you could match me after training for ten-odd days, wouldn't all my years of training have been for nothing?"
Wang Hai looked at Shen Heng.
"For you, this level of mastery is about enough. Your ability has no combat power, so you'll still need to choose a weapon later. You don't need to learn too much hand-to-hand combat!"
Shen Heng nodded thoughtfully, then looked up at Wang Hai.
"Captain, are you usually busy in the evenings?"
"Busy, well..." Wang Hai stopped halfway through his sentence and stared straight at Shen Heng. "Do you want to keep practicing?"
"Yes!" Shen Heng nodded emphatically.
Hearing this, Wang Hai finally showed a hint of a smile on his usually stern face.
"Do you have a thing for getting beaten up?"
"I don't have that kind of fetish, but when something isn't dangerous and helps me improve, I've never minded doing a little more of it!" Shen Heng said with a smile of his own.
"All right, we'll continue tomorrow evening!" Wang Hai said with a smile.
"Okay!" Shen Heng nodded.
After Wang Hai left, Shen Heng rested for a while longer, then dragged his still-weary body back into training.
Tiger Form, Crane Form, Ape Form...
Origin Power flowed slowly through Shen Heng's body...
Early morning.
Whoosh-!
After throwing his final punch, Shen Heng slowly drew back his fist and stood upright.
Sensing the Origin Power inside him had run dry once again, Shen Heng stood where he was, adjusting his breathing as he waited for that familiar old friend.
A moment later, the noise swept over him again.
"One word from a girl that she can't dress warmly, and a lovestruck fool takes out a loan overnight..."
"Hehehe... so pretty!"
"Rustle, rustle..."
"..."
Shen Heng slowly let out a long breath, then walked toward the punching power tester by the wall.
Stopping before the punching power tester, Shen Heng tilted his head up slightly and gently rolled his shoulders back. His bones gave faint cracks, as though making their final preparations for the power about to erupt.
Then he slowly raised both fists. His right hand clenched and swung back, turning his body slightly with it, until he was like a powerful bow drawn taut and ready to loose.
Days of combat practice had given Shen Heng a deeper understanding of how to use his body's strength, as he did now.
With his right fist twisted back to its limit, Shen Heng paused briefly, the aura around him seeming to solidify.
In an instant, his feet drove down hard. Like a surging undercurrent, power rushed up from his soles through the muscles of his legs and gathered at his waist. In that instant, his waist acted like a hub of power, channeling that immense force toward his fist.
In a flash, his fist carried boundless power as it smashed toward the punching power tester like a bolt of lightning tearing across the sky.
Bang!
A deafening crash thundered through the training room.
The numbers on the punching power display began jumping and flashing wildly.
0, 100, 200, 300, 400...
The numbers on the punching power display changed at an astonishing speed, increasing by 100 with every flash.
Only after the number soared to 600 did its rise slow a little, yet it continued climbing stubbornly.
Driven by the remaining force, the number struggled past the 800 mark, then continued its stubborn climb at an extremely slow pace before finally settling.
814.4 kg!
Without stopping, Shen Heng threw another two straight punches.
Bang! Bang!
The numbers on the punching power display jumped once again.
This time, however, because he had not used any technique, the readings were far lower than before.
483.6 kg!
494.5 kg!
Shen Heng lowered his fists and looked at the screen before him.
"Have I reached the limit?"
He had already reached these readings three days ago.
During his punching power tests over the past three days, his daily readings had fluctuated between 480 kg and 500 kg.
Although Wang Hai had previously said the human body's limit was around 500 kg, these readings were normal considering Shen Heng's physical condition.
If someone over two meters tall and weighing a hundred to a hundred and fifty kilograms threw a punch, they might produce seven hundred kilograms with just a straight punch.
"Who knows how much longer I'll be stuck at this human limit!"
Shen Heng muttered to himself. Without thinking further about it, he turned and walked outside.
He made his familiar way to the dining hall, took four stuffed buns, two steamed buns, two eggs, two large bowls of soy milk, and four servings of special-recipe meat cutlets, and began eating.
After finishing, Shen Heng grabbed a specially made energy bar from the dining hall, then went upstairs for a shower before setting off for school.
Once at school, Shen Heng settled into his usual position, slumped over his desk, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Time drifted by.
In his sleep, Shen Heng once again felt someone shaking him.
He frowned slightly and opened his eyes again, and Yan Sheng's familiar face came into view once more.
"Yan Sheng? Does our homeroom teacher want me again?"
Shen Heng yawned and slowly sat up from his desk. Just as he was about to head to the office to see his homeroom teacher, Zhou Hong, he saw Yan Sheng shake his head.
"Brother Heng, no, our homeroom teacher isn't looking for you!"
"Then who is?" Shen Heng asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I am!"
"You?" Shen Heng looked at Yan Sheng in confusion. "What do you want?"
"Want to go to the restroom together?" Yan Sheng asked.
"..." Shen Heng fell silent for a moment, then asked in disbelief, "You woke me up just to get me to go to the restroom with you?"
"Yeah!" Yan Sheng nodded as though it were only natural.
Shen Heng: ...
You must have something seriously wrong with you!
"So? Brother Heng, are you going or not?" Yan Sheng continued.
Shen Heng was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes!"
The two rose and headed toward the restroom.
Shen Heng loosened up his body, which had grown somewhat stiff from sleeping slumped over his desk, and said, "Right, remember this from now on!"
"Remember what?" Yan Sheng looked at Shen Heng.
"From now on, don't wake me up when I'm sleeping unless it's something important!" Shen Heng said.
"Not even to go to the restroom?" Yan Sheng asked.
"..." Black lines covered Shen Heng's face. "Not even to go to the restroom!"
"Fine. Looks like I'll have to go to the restroom by myself from now on!" Yan Sheng nodded with some regret.
Suddenly, as though he had spotted something, he grabbed Shen Heng's sleeve with one hand and pointed ahead with the other.
"Hey, Brother Heng, look! It's Le Gu Nan!"
Shen Heng looked up.
Dressed in her school uniform, Le Gu Nan was walking alone through the corridor connecting the two classroom buildings, holding her textbooks.
Her black hair fell smoothly down her back, swaying gently with her steps, its ends brushing inadvertently across her fair neck.
A few stray locks hung beside her cheeks, making her eyes look all the more bright as stars, their shifting gaze filled with tranquility.
Sunlight poured through the corridor's glass windows, gilding her with a faint layer of warm light. She seemed to radiate a soft halo, shining brilliantly within the campus.