Shi Lang was dodging the attacks thrown at him by Jane at high speed, her fists were akin to a blur, and Jane’s aggressive behavior made her target all the attacks on his vitals. Sometimes the fist was only missing his forehead by a mere inch.
Jane was not simply slogging at him, her mind was calm, yes, she was not an idiot with rage and revenge. She was a technician, these points were taught to the whole class by Shi Lang that one must maintain absolute calm as soon as they enter battle or the rage will consume them instead. The surprising fact was that Jane’s skills were not bad, she was keeping up with her practice and maintaining what she learned in school.
The other factor that helped her dominate Shi Lang was the variety of skills she had learned from Yuu in the simulation. She was using a variety of fighting skills, just as Shi Lang got used to one style, she would switch to other. This display made the others appreciate her abilities and realize how they have grown in the short period of two weeks.
Yes, if it were before, Shi Lang would not have been on the dodging end, but Jane would have been floored by now. Suddenly, Ryan said, “The general has yet to make a move. He is only parrying and dodging the attacks and only using one arm to do that.”
His statement made everyone focus on Shi Lang who was swaying his body to dodge the attacks, making Jane miss by mere inches and using his hand to parry the attacks. His expression was as calm as the wind compared to Jane who was chasing after him akin to a hungry and wounded tiger.
Yuu and Amelia had come out of the control room to watch the proceedings of the duel. The instructor said, “Shi Lang is better than even me, if he decided to make a move, you all combined probably won’t last for more than one shot. His skills are not terrifying because of his strength but because of how he applies it.”
That was true, and Lucas nodded on the side as he said, “I agree, Lang has been precise about how to apply strength even when he was just a one-star level Terran. His ability comes from his mind, and that is why he is so dangerous. You all must have heard of Jenkins Edwards?”
The other people nodded, they knew that Jenkin Edwards was a rising star of the first fleet and had a lot of achievements under his belt, and has been in limelight because of his family background. Lucas said, “He lost to Shi Lang in the final mock battle during school time, even though Lang was weaker than him by a level. This thing was also made public by Jenkins during one of his recent interviews.”
The others knew about this. Jenkins was approached by the media to tell them about the wedding of the first general and to shed some light on the old memories and their friendship. Amelia said, “Shi Lang is about to shoot.”
They all turned their head to look at the two people fighting in some distance and found that Shi Lang took a quick step, closing the distance with Jane and his fist jerked, the next moment, Jane froze, and she keeled over gasping for breath. Shi Lang sighed and patted her back gently.
Jane puked out a mouthful of water before she passed out. The people were shocked to see that such a ferocious fight came to an end with a simple punch, and they did not even see the whole thing properly. Yuu spoke up from the side, “Inch strength. You people concentrated on his fist but did not look at his feet and abdomen as he generated energy from it. Stupid people.”
The people felt ashamed at this moment, they had no idea about this technique. Amelia said, “You can learn it with some effort, do not think too much. Also, you guys are in for trouble.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Shi Lang said, “Come, I challenge you, if any one of you can last for ten minutes in a battle, I will let him practice at his own pace.”
His words were tempting, but the people all knew they will be jumping into a meat grinder. Shi Lang waited for them to react for a few minutes and then said, “You all are cowards, now you do not have any off day. There will be a slight change in the practice plan.”
The people felt their hearts tighten. Shi Lang said, “You all will rush ahead, and I will chase, if I catch you, I will beat you half an inch to death. If you can run out of the maze, then I will spare you. You can have a head start of seven hundred meters. Then I will chase.”
That said, he went to the elevator on the side and headed to the second level of the maze. A person in the team asked, “Why is the boss heading to the second level now? Is the plan not for tomorrow?”
Milo said, “To familiarize himself with the maze. Do you think the boss is invincible? He is strong, because of his hard work. Do you understand?”
The people gulped in a mouthful of saliva as they heard this. They realized that Shi Lang was going to trample them tomorrow. Thinking about it they all entered the maze too and prepared themselves for the torment to come.
…
The next week was longer than what they expected, Shi Lang would catch one of them, beat them brutally, and dump them in front of the bots to be taken to the infirmary. What was even more, when they woke up, they found themselves at the starting point of the maze. They knew that the general was a cruel person but this was the limit.
This tyrant was treating them as toys for his entertainment. Shi Lang was surely not in the mood to deal with a rebellion, so when someone fought back in the chase game, he was even more brutal. After a week, the people decided to form a strategy, and that was to attack Shi Lang as a team. Once he tries to catch up with someone, everyone will unite and attack him.
The first time they did it, Shi Lang was indeed caught by surprise, and hardly managed to get away after putting them all in the infirmary. He was deliberately showing them that they can catch up to him together, to promote the spirit of teamwork. Another thing was that Shi Lang did not want to break their self-esteem.
The second time, though, Shi Lang had enlisted the bots to his help. If they can have a team, so can he. Everything is fair and he was not stupid to deliberately act like a weakling every time, since they took him as a tyrant then he would be the tyrant. The method was cruel and cowardly, but he did not want to go full-on against these people.
It took the people two weeks to clear the second level. Shi Lang gave them forty-eight hours to cultivate spiritual energy, and surprisingly they all made a breakthrough. The reason was that their bodies had been nourished by the constant chain of breaking and reconstruction. Shi Lang was cruel but for their own benefit.
The Ace Division was given the same treatment and even harder, they had to deal with Yuu and Shi Lang at the same time. Amelia was on the same level as Shi Lang but her skills were not as sharp as his. She was making the most out of it and even thought that calling over Jenkins and Hayley and Darcx would be good too.
Shi Lang thought about it and nodded to the proposal, but only after the contingent has finished training will this place be open for the others. He did not want to have time squeezed. The current plan was extremely beneficial and the level of the contingent was rising faster.
They still had two more months, a total of eight weeks to work on them. Shi Lang wanted to have them all reach the bottom level of the maze during this time. Amelia agreed, and two more weeks passed.
Along with the puppets, and Shi Lang chasing them, the contenders faced the Ace Division attacking them with full force in the third level. This time, they took three weeks to get through the level. Shi Lang was cruel, watching that their performance was dropping. He placed a stun grenade on their bodies, it was speed triggered.
If the contenders ran slower than the predefined speed, the bomb will go off, stunning their neural system and then the chasing party will beat the shit out of them. The purpose was achieved. After the first week of brutal torture, the people picked up the pace and they cleared the level. The intensity of the training was catching up to them, but now some people, such as Ryan, Steel, and Cosmo, an administrator, had begun to enjoy this.
Shi Lang had turned them into adrenaline junkies, however, their worst nightmare was yet to come true.