CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 34 SOFT PERSIMMON

"This gap is a bit exaggerated..." Wei Hong said.

Feng Wenhao looked at Zhou Leng and said, "Your progress recently has been unusually fast, dodging scores over 90? At Eighth Middle School, that’s Zhang Xinglie’s domain."

"Maybe I got lucky."

"I believe it."

Soon, the third event, the weighted run, began.

Everyone carried an iron sandbag weighing 100 kilograms on each shoulder, a total weight of 200 kilograms.

At Deng Zhijue’s command, the first ten people started running together.

Everyone watched as Zhou Leng darted ahead like a rabbit among turtles, with the other nine lagging further and further behind.

Tao Bing whispered, "Young Master Chang, if you don’t make a move now, it’ll be too late. Except for the obstacle run, the later events are unsuitable for making a move."

Chang Luan remained silent.

Tao Bing whispered again, "Those who took the Perfection Pill have backgrounds, more or less. Only Zhou Leng, with great martial arts test scores yet rejected by Martial Arts Academy, is the easiest to handle. Sometimes, you have to kill the chicken to scare the monkey."

Chang Luan gently brushed his slicked-back hair with his right hand and lightly hummed "Hmm" through his nose.

"Rest assured," Tao Bing said with a smile.

Then, Tao Bing left and spoke secretly with several classmates.

The fourth event, the long-distance obstacle run, started.

Classmates frowned as they looked at the obstacle running field.

The obstacle run is the most troublesome among the running events.

Through barbed wire, jumping over gravel pits, climbing ladders, scaling walls, high-speed rope descents...

In total, there are 39 obstacles, each timed, and going even a bit slow results in point deductions.

The obstacle run simulates a long-distance march, requiring ten laps back and forth, totaling ten kilometers.

Deng Zhijue said, "Just like the 5000-meter sprint, enter in succession. This field may get crowded, so be careful not to maliciously injure anyone. Some contact is allowed in narrow places, but keep it moderate."

The instructors wore smiles on their faces.

This chaotic obstacle run has always been a spectacle.

Wei Hong said loudly, "Instructor, what if I accidentally hurt someone?"

"In battle, self-protection is a basic ability. If you can’t protect yourself in this obstacle run, how will you fight demons in the future? Just go home early if that’s the case," an instructor said bluntly.

Some students were faintly uneasy, finally realizing that these instructors were Martial Guards, not just teachers.

"Alright, as before, starting with student number 01, every 20 seconds, begin the obstacle run."

One student after another rushed in.

Zhou Leng entered as well.

At the start, Zhou Leng didn’t speed up fully, instead focusing on familiarizing himself with the obstacles.

In the first lap, Zhou Leng ranked 19th, in the second tier.

Entering the second lap, Zhou Leng slightly sped up.

Third lap, fourth lap...

As he approached the nearly 20-meter-long barbed wire zone, Zhou Leng observed the surrounding classmates, calculated the lead time, and suddenly dived under the barbed wire, crawling forward quickly.

Just as Zhou Leng dived in, a classmate beside him suddenly accelerated, aiming directly at Zhou Leng under the wire.

Like a gecko, Zhou Leng swiftly shifted sideways to avoid him.

The student suddenly yelped as the sharp wire cut his scalp.

Zhou Leng didn’t even glance back.

Soon after, Zhou Leng climbed the wall and walked onto the high ladder.

Between two tall walls, only a long ladder was set up.

Zhou Leng ran quickly on the ladder, getting closer to the front classmate.

As they approached, the classmate in front suddenly stopped, leaning back towards Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng’s gaze turned cold. He retracted, then pushed forward with his hands, sending the classmate out of the ladder, continuing to run.

The student landed easily, raised his hand, and shouted, "Reporting to the instructor, Zhou Leng pushed me off the ladder."

The instructors smiled, unmoved.

That student looked awkward and had to climb the wall and run the ladder again.

Before long, Zhou Leng climbed the steep artificial mountain, five stories high.

As he was about to reach the top, Tao Bing suddenly charged over at an angle, his shoulder like a bull, with formidable momentum.

In this steep place, Zhou Leng had no room to dodge, his body lowered, and he steadied his stance.

His body like a rock.

Images from the Establishing Image Chapter flashed in Zhou Leng’s mind as he faced Tao Bing head-on.

He collided shoulder to shoulder, as spirited as an elephant.

Zhou Leng’s body swayed slightly, and Tao Bing was sent flying back from the artificial mountain.

"Hmm?" Zhou Leng looked curiously at the lightly thrown Tao Bing, rolled over to the top, descended, and continued running.

Suspended in mid-air, Tao Bing felt his whole body go weak, his meridians trembling, unable to circulate True Qi, and his body lost balance, crashing heavily midway down the mountain.

Crack...

"Ah..."

Tao Bing screamed as he rolled to the foot of the mountain, covered in blood, his right leg twisted, with the red bone piercing through the skin.

Deng Zhijue’s expression remained unchanged, rather he smiled and said, "Xiaojia, take him to the medical room."

"Yes!" Instructor Jia ran over, picked up Tao Bing, and headed to the medical room.

One instructor laughed, "Today’s kids are too impatient."

"They overestimate themselves, having no idea what it means for Zhou Leng to score over 90 in multiple subjects."

"Not bad today, there’s some entertainment to watch."

The instructors smiled, not taking it seriously at all.

In the background, Chang Luan saw everything, and his eyes were clouded with dark thoughts.

Chang Luan felt distracted, his pace slowing.

Lap after lap, until the eighth lap, Chang Luan climbed the tall wall and ran on the mid-air ladder.

Suddenly, he felt a strong force hit from behind, his body flying sideways.

Fortunately, it wasn’t high, and he was in the Blood Transporting Period, barely landing on both feet, staggering a few steps before stabilizing.

He looked up with anger on his face and saw Zhou Leng running over the ladder.

Chang Luan squinted his eyes, gave a cold smile, and continued the obstacle run.

The instructors watched everything closely.

"Zhou Leng is not bad, he has both courage and restraint."

"Friction creates motivation."

"Back in the day, we also fought until blood was drawn."

In the following laps, Zhou Leng progressed very smoothly.

The people ahead even took the initiative to make way for Zhou Leng.

With the obstacle run finished, new scores were released, and the class suddenly became much quieter.

Zhou Leng scored 93.8 points.

Only a few people were unaware of what happened.

Feng Wenhao and Wei Hong approached.

Feng Wenhao asked quietly, "Did they make the first move?"

Zhou Leng nodded.

"Hmph, it’s alright. We are martial arts students. As long as we’re not crippled, even a broken hand or leg won’t be recorded."

Wei Hong said in a low voice, "The other side is not easy to deal with, be careful."

Soon, Lu Juncai, who ranked first among the regular students of the class, came over and asked, "Did Chang Luan also come for you?"

Zhou Leng nodded.

Lu Juncai, tall and burly, with muscles like forged iron.

Lu Juncai said, "I’ve seen your supplementary exam results, which are much higher than mine in the college entrance exam. Don’t worry about that kind of character; your target is Xu Kang’an from the neighboring class. Compete for the first place for our class."

With the obstacle run concluded, the fourth test was weightlifting.

Before long, it was Zhou Leng’s turn. He stepped onto the demonized weightlifting platform.

It was an apparatus shaped like a large door, Zhou Leng reached up with both hands to brace the thick steel plate at the top.

With a light "beep," the thick steel plate slowly pressed down, and the blue demon patterns on the plate’s surface grew brighter.

On the display screen on the door frame, the numbers representing weight increased rapidly.

100...200...300...

The entire class focused on the numbers.

As the black steel block pressed down, Zhou Leng’s face became increasingly red, and his body slightly sank.

Suddenly, with a "beep," the thick steel plate slowly rose, and Zhou Leng stepped away, looking back.

496.5 kilograms.

90.5 points.

Returning to his classmates, Feng Wenhao sighed in relief and said, "Okay, finally normal. Zhang Xinglie, that freak, achieved a perfect score and even got ’super resolution,’ over 900 kilograms, truly a monster."

Wei Hong added, "Zhou Leng’s physique clearly belongs to the small genius category, not comparable to those great geniuses. Next, we’ll see about the comprehensive test, especially the qi manipulation weightlifting and maximum destruction intensity, which best show capability."

Subsequently, others continued weightlifting, resulting in three perfect scores, with a total of twelve students scoring higher than Zhou Leng.

Even Chang Luan’s weightlifting score surpassed Zhou Leng’s.

Some instructors focused on Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng shows such strength in other areas but is relatively weak in terms of power; there might be another reason.

The pills and meat herbal cuisines have not kept up since youth.

Strength requires slow accumulation over many years.

If supplemented with meat herbal cuisine and pills, to what extent would Zhou Leng grow?

Deng Zhijue considered for a moment and compiled Zhou Leng’s data and his own views into two brief reports, sending them to the chief instructor Huang Jingqiu and the Hall Master Wang Boxiong.

Wang Boxiong was handling Martial Guard Bureau matters, glanced briefly, and linked the monitoring equipment in the exam venue, projecting it onto the large front screen.

Next up was the punching power test.

It was Zhou Leng’s turn, he started with a few practice punches, then stood in front of the demonized punching power detector.

In front lay a thickly padded leather block, as big as a chair back, covered with scratch marks.

Zhou Leng took a deep breath, planted his right foot, twisted his waist, his arm like a whip, transferring power through his body, and punched out.

Everyone stared wide-eyed, it was clearly just a punch, yet it seemed like his entire body had collided with it.

The instructors nodded approvingly, a very standard collision-style force, equivalent to channeling all the body’s strength into the fist.

Bang!

Everyone looked at the display screen.

"507.25 kilograms."

"94.2 points."

Everyone flipped through their phones, checking Zhou Leng’s weightlifting power against his punching power.

Wei Hong said, "Punching power is closely related to body weight and basic strength, Zhou Leng’s weight is much lower, and his basic strength isn’t strong, yet his punch almost scored 95 points, indicating that Zhou Leng’s power application level is quite advanced. Without a doubt, Zhou Leng’s destructive capacity will also be very strong."

After a short rest, they proceeded to the True Qi assessment.

True Qi total and True Qi intensity were measured using the True Qi detector, very quickly.

Due to many in the class using Perfection Pills to advance to the Blood Transporting Period, many scored a perfect 100.

Zhou Leng, with Qi Nourishing Great Success Eighth Layer, scored 91.3 in total True Qi. True Qi intensity scored 92.8.

The third round was True Qi manipulation.

The project remained bubble basketball, the students started practicing, and the instructors all focused on Zhou Leng.

In the martial examination and supplementary exam, Zhou Leng scored 99 points.

Soon, it was the official test and Zhou Leng’s turn.

The bubbles flew out, ten shots ten hits, not touching the rim, and shattered upon landing.

points.

The audience fell into silence.

"Impressive..." Wei Hong marveled.

Chang Luan looked at the conspicuous 100 on the display screen, recalling the near bone-crushing encounter with Tao Bing, frowning deeply.

Chang Luan had a vague feeling that he might have underestimated the wrong person.

It seemed that the situation was not only not soft but possibly not a fruit at all.