87: Chapter 7 Training 87: Chapter 7 Training Xiang Shan skillfully approached a thug, hacked into his prosthetic body, forced it to open, then removed the storage device, and connected it to the data interface on his own wrist.

“Hmm, I didn’t kill the wrong one.”

As he said this, Xiang Shan crushed the thug’s biological brain.

However, while he was doing this, he felt a tinge of annoyance.

–Speaking of which, shouldn’t I be a scholar?

Why can’t I just stay in my laboratory and contribute to society?

What exactly has this world done to me?

Why did that gentle scholar from 28 years ago turn into what I am now?

Xiang Shan couldn’t help but fall into deep contemplation.

While thinking, he also dealt with another member of the Green Forest.

Then, he pushed a motorcycle that had tipped over, caught up with another one that was still going forward, and brought it back next to “the donkey.”

“OK, let’s refuel a bit.” Xiang Shan dropped two bloody batteries and sighed.

With the area of these solar panels, it would probably take three days of sunlight to run for one whole day.

This calculation includes the electricity consumption of both teacher and disciple, plus the little girl’s prosthetic body.

The past few days of continuous traveling were just because the batteries were exceptionally strong.

Both motorcycles were hybrid electric/fuel.

They could burn ethanol and had batteries as well.

With the batteries Xiang Shan had just removed from that Green Forest member’s body, it should be enough to keep “the donkey” going for a while longer.

Yuki nodded and seemed to relax, “It’s great if they were Green Forest.

Master, you said before that seeing Green Forest members indicates we are getting close to other stockades, right?”

Xiang Shan nodded, “This here is another territory of the Green Forest Organization’s Excavator Group.

These two were the lowest ranked lackeys in that group.”

“We rest for these two days and save up some energy,” said Xiang Shan, “and then we will challenge that stockade.”

Yuki looked somewhat indignant, “Rest for two days?

How many more people will those Green Forest members hurt…”

Xiang Shan tapped his head, “Don’t overthink it.

We each have only one life, and there are no resurrection coins to use in this world.

If we die, it’s not certain that someone else will continue to overturn the third or fourth stockade.

Since we only have this one miserable life left, we must cherish it.

Even heroes are ‘human lives’.”

Yuki nodded, but still felt reluctant.

In the following time, Xiang Shan chose not to continue absorbing his past memories, but instead to teach Yuki the basics of boxing.

Cybermen cannot increase their muscle mass through training, so practices like “stance training” and “deep squats” are of little significance.

During these days, Xiang Shan kept instructing Yuki to treat the ground as a draft paper, to squat down and write while simultaneously practicing control over his center of gravity.

Over these few days, Yuki’s biological brain had basically adapted to the high-speed interaction with the dynamic balance system.

In plain terms, after being thrown, he now knew how to reestablish his posture before he landed.

And the next step was sparring.

Xiang Shan still activated the “spacing auxiliary thread mode” for Yuki.

This time, he preserved the assistance lines for both hands and feet and the “donkey’s” tires, simulating “if there were a Military Martial Path heavy cruiser titan-class martial artist lurking nearby, then how to engage in mobile combat.”

With Xiang Shan’s body’s central axis as the center, there existed a circle with a radius one third of the “donkey’s” cabin.

Only within this distance could Yuki ensure that the “simulated heavy cruiser titan-class martial artist” would hesitate to attack.

Moreover, his body should not, while Xiang Shan was outside the “donkey’s” impact range, touch the extended lines of the “donkey’s” tires—this would mean that in actual combat, he would be instantly killed by a nearby military martial artist.

As Xiang Shan casually slapped his disciple with his forearm and elbow, he said, “Pay attention, under the perspective of the assistive lines, you can see that every time I punch, the attack side’s air control circle shrinks.”

“When your opponent attacks, that’s your chance, you must seize it!”

“Air control circle” is a colloquial term for “maximum hand attack range.” Within the air control circle, any attack could be intercepted.

But outside the air control circle, there still exists a “0.1-second hand touch range”.

When Xiang Shan maintains a defensive stance, the “immediate hand touch range” almost completely overlaps with the “maximum hand attack range.” However, when Xiang Shan adopts an attacking stance, “the next moment’s movement” will be restricted by “this moment’s movement,” and the “immediate touch range” will shrink, detaching from the air control circle.

For a disciple still training in basic techniques, the gap created by this attack is the best moment to enter the air control circle.

“Also, pay attention to your steps!

Did you see my footwork when I was shooting earlier?” continued Xiang Shan.

“Watch the balance between your feet.

For you, fifty percent on each foot, front and back—with this balance, your motions will be more agile!”

“Also, don’t alternate walking.

When your center of gravity shifts from your left foot to your right foot, and your left foot lifts off at the same time, your whole body is in a vulnerable state…”

With a “snap”, Xiang Shan casually pushed Yuki, causing him to tumble.

Yuki quickly stood up, “Understood, Master.”

“Remember my footwork just now.

First, distribute your weight to the back foot, move your front foot forward half a step, then your back foot forward half a step, always keeping a consistent distance between your feet.

It’s the same when retreating.

First, move the back foot backward half a step, increasing the distance between your feet, then the front foot follows, retreating half a step!”

After being knocked down for the third time, Yuki stood up and said, “Master, I see that you occasionally don’t strictly follow these principles either…”

“For a novice like you, these principles must be strictly adhered to.” Xiang Shan shook his head, “Once you understand the combat logic under these stances, you can use your own wisdom to control the prosthetic body and become a true Martial Artist.

But until then, you still have a long way to go.”

The footwork Xiang Shan was now teaching was that of Boxing — especially the “Sliding Step” part.

Similar to Tai Chi, early Boxing stances also originated from the “Sword and Shield” stance.

However, as the most popular fighting rule in the Old Era, Boxing had high exposure and substantial prize money, drawing a great deal of talent continuously engaged in high-quality combat, making it a highly developed form of fighting.

The advantage of the Sliding Step is its rapid movement over short distances, allowing for sudden attacks without preparation, which gives an advantage in extremely close-range, infight combat.

Due to rule restrictions, Boxing does not consider kicks, joint techniques, or attacks below the waist.

However, this footwork, honed by thousands of high-intensity combats, can be slightly modified to adapt to fights outside of Boxing rules.

Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do absorbed such footwork techniques.

This is certainly basic training stuff, and many professional players who have developed their own styles do not fully comply.

Some Boxing Kings might even use street dance-like steps in the ring to evade, even abandoning the typical “Guard” that regular boxers must master – for ordinary people, this is akin to “giving up defensive stance.”

Under Xiang Shan’s guidance in hand-to-hand combat, Yuki’s movement was hugely restricted.

He tried to break free several times by surging left and right.

During his fourth retreat, he was once again caught by Xiang Shan and thrown half a meter away.

He pointed at Yuki’s last footprint, “If there was a real tank next to you, you’d be dead.”

Yuki’s last footprint was right on the “extended line” of the “donkey” wheel.

Yuki was greatly frightened.

“Conserve your energy, you still need to learn the basics of Inner Strength.” Xiang Shan shook his head, “That’s enough for external strength training.”

He needed to conserve electricity as well.

The little girl then patted Yuki’s head with a “pat pat”, “Don’t be afraid…

don’t be afraid…”

When Xiang Shan first practiced sparring with Yuki, it seemed to evoke some unpleasant memories for her, causing her to cry out loud.

However, she quickly realized that Yuki seemed quite willing to accept this activity, so she would come over and say this to him after each training session.

Yuki rubbed the little girl’s face, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…

I know now…”

Xiang Shan, however, was deep in thought.

“Training like this, even if we train for another year, he won’t be able to defend himself…”

In fight training, there is a lot of “Anti-strike Training” – for instance, during unavoidable attacks, techniques of tensing muscles and changing postures to minimize damage are used.

Boxers even allow people to continuously hit their foreheads with light punches to overcome their instincts and ensure that they don’t instinctively close their eyes when facing a punch head-on.

Additionally, accumulating minor injuries and then healing can significantly enhance the body’s ability to withstand strikes.

It can be said that a Martial Artist who doesn’t know “how to take a hit” certainly won’t be strong.

In Cyber Martial Arts, however, techniques such as “Avoid” are retained, but their meaning is completely skewed – for Cybermen, “Avoid” refers to tilting the body, adjusting the angle of the External Armor, and controlling the angle of bullet entry.

Anti-strike Training only needs to achieve “overcoming instincts and avoiding meaningless dodges.”

He also did not know how to “tense muscles to counter strikes” – for completely cyberized Heroes, this is an unnecessary technique.

But if he wanted Yuki to master the level of Martial Arts necessary for “self-defense”…

“It is indeed difficult.”

At that moment, Yuki suddenly remembered something, “Speaking of which, Master, you mentioned before that a Martial Artist can quickly master techniques by absorbing the experiences of others, right?

Can I try that too?”

He really didn’t want to continue advancing at such a slow pace.

Xiang Shan glanced at him sideways, “That’s also an option.

I’ll consider it.

I’ll find an appropriate file and send it over to you later.

Let you experience it firsthand.”