Hidden Assassin 264

Flames roared in a few dilapidated iron pans. Outside the factory, the snow-covered town of Bailin, in the middle of this rectangular field, two black youths were pushing and shoving, already in a brawl. This level of fighting wasn’t worth watching for Jia Ming. He and Ya Han stood in the corner at the back of the room. Ya Han was also randomly punching him, occasionally covering her stomach and bending over, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

“Hey, hey… okay…” Jia Ming glanced at her, unable to hide the smile on his lips. “It’s been half an hour, and you’re still like this. Did someone tickle your funny bone? You see, Mike and that guy are already fighting… Even if we’re being generous, you’re laughing, fine, but why do you have to laugh and punch me?”

“It’s just… It’s just you tickled my funny bone, huhu, my stomach hurts so much.” Ya Han bent over, her smiling face radiant beyond compare. However, even if she was beautiful, laughing for over half an hour non-stop was a bit exaggerated. The people nearby looked at her with admiration. “I… I saw your serious expression and knew you were going to pull a prank… But I didn’t expect you to be so shameless, haha… I remember that time you fought Han Gangcheng…”

“Han Gangcheng? Who is that?”

“No, you forget.” Ya Han stopped laughing and stared at him with a strange look. “That time, their soccer ball hit Lingjing’s head, and you spit on her on the ring, gave her a ‘cut off the lineage’ kick, and then used a self-defense spray to advertise. Remember?”

“Oh, that was so long ago, who remembers that… He’s lucky, if I really hit him, I’d knock him out with one punch…”

“Hehe, I remember that very clearly. Teacher Chen Gu Xia happened to be at school, I took him to watch. You dodged and dodged, and I kept trying to say good things about you in front of him, saying that you had good morals and didn’t like fighting, so when you fought, you just knew how to run, and Teacher Chen actually believed it. He said at the time that not liking fighting was a good virtue, and he even praised your talent and foundation. But before long, you spat on him… Hmph, you liar…”

“I didn’t lie to you about those things!”

“But you did lie to me about other things, and… Lingjing and Sha Sha only found out you knew martial arts after spending a long time with you. How much they worried about you. Like that time on Han Gangcheng’s ring, they thought you were going to be beaten up, they were so worried…”

“But I didn’t have any malicious intent…”

“Anyway… It’s your fault…”

Having made her conclusion, Ya Han began to pound Jia Ming’s back without restraint. In this situation, there was no point in reasoning with a woman. However, she wasn’t very strong, so even though she was pounding him, it was more like a back massage. The two of them bickered and joked, and to outsiders, they looked like a pair of deeply affectionate siblings. On the other hand, Mike in the ring was now knocked to the ground by his opponent, but he stubbornly got up again.

“Hey, it seems like Mike can’t beat that guy named Gamore. Should we help him? Why don’t you go give him some pointers.” Ya Han suggested, grateful for Mike’s help.

Jia Ming shook his head with a smile. “This is their custom, after they fight once, regardless of the outcome, their past grievances are settled. I think we’ll wait for them to finish fighting, and I’ll treat his wounds. I’m good at that.”

“Oh.” Ya Han nodded, then asked with a smile, “Are you really going to be a surgeon in the future?”

“Not necessarily, but now that I think about it, I am good at this. Ye Mama… uh, she also thinks I’m doing well. What’s wrong? Isn’t being a doctor good? Don’t people nowadays all hope that their children will grow up to be doctors or lawyers?”

“No, it’s just…” She rolled her eyes. “It’s hard to imagine you being a serious doctor.”

“Actually, my true nature is to be serious, okay.”

“Don’t you think that line is a bit unconvincing?”

“…”

What would a couple who had just taken their relationship to the next level talk about? Remembering the past, looking to the future, being silly and finding things to argue about, saying pointless things… In short, even with Jia Ming’s mature heart, he couldn’t help but engage in some sweet nothings with Ya Han in this environment. However, in this kind of setting, there were naturally other things to talk about. Their eyes fixed on the fighting in the ring, whenever a particularly impressive move appeared, Ya Han, who was also interested in martial arts, would ask Jia Ming about suitable countermeasures.

“Uh, this move, I can break it with a move from Wing Chun, but it requires a lot of strength… Um, like this…”

“Tai Chi’s four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds seems pretty good, how do you do that…”

“Turn around, side kick… Should you kick at the middle or the top…”

While talking, Ya Han practiced against a sandbag hanging nearby. Ya Han was good at self-defense, although she looked frail, she could still take down three or four strong men in a normal situation. However, her fighting style was a mix of most judo and karate moves with a small amount of Chinese martial arts. As a child of a wealthy family, she had been trained in more practical martial arts since she was young. As for the Chinese martial arts that are easy to learn but difficult to master, and have now mostly become a spectacle, she had learned them, but they were just a fancy exercise for her. Jia Ming could only smile and explain the principles of these things to her.

“What you’re talking about are just the beautiful moves in Wing Chun. If you really use them in a duel, you have to break them down. Actually, real Chinese martial arts are extremely vicious when used in combat, most of which are banned in competitions. For girls, kicking someone in the groin is definitely the most effective move. Just now, you can step back, step forward, and kick hard. Hehe, don’t hit me, I’m telling the truth, guaranteed to be a one-hit kill. You don’t have many opportunities to fight, but if someone really tries to hurt you, don’t be polite with this move.”

“That soft and gentle Tai Chi is a state of mind. It only looks beautiful, but it involves a comprehensive understanding of yourself and your opponent. You probably know this, when you can truly use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, you can also exceed a thousand pounds of strength with a direct strike. Uh, don’t think about it… Real Tai Chi used for fighting is very powerful, it’s even the most powerful type of fist. Tai Chi here teaches you how to use soft power to generate force. Simply put, it’s like a meteor hammer smashing down. You see…”

Since Ya Han was interested, he didn’t need to hide anything. After all, Ya Han wouldn’t really be eager to diligently study martial arts, she was just doing it for fun. While smiling and talking, he made random gestures. Of course, he couldn’t really hit the poor sandbag, but when his fist made a soft arc and landed, occasionally doing a strange side kick or a seemingly weak Chinese leg kick, Shirley, who had been watching the fight, leaned over with a smile. She had been knocked on the head by Jia Ming earlier, causing everyone to burst into laughter, but naturally, no one was angry about this little incident. Instead, she also covered her forehead and laughed for a long time.

“Are you practicing boxing? Interested? It wasn’t like that just now…”

After being played by Jia Ming, the crowd became even more fond of this foreign couple. Shirley seemed to find Jia Ming more appealing after being knocked on the head. She immediately started teaching the two of them the basic methods of punching.

—

“Your body must be stable, don’t clench your fist too tightly, bend your upper body slightly… You must have seen these postures on TV. The most important thing is to be completely focused. In this moment, the only thing in front of you is your enemy, and all your body’s strength must be concentrated in one point. At that moment, you punch out… Ah!”

With this shout, Shirley punched the sandbag with all her might. There was a loud bang as the heavy sandbag swung out. This punch was far beyond the strength of an ordinary person. She seemed very satisfied, nodded at Jia Ming with a proud smile, then straightened the sandbag and demonstrated a perfect spinning back kick for the two of them. Jia Ming pretended to be amazed, watching the sandbag swing in front of him.

This kind of gaze made Shirley feel very good, and she was immediately overjoyed.

“Women are always limited by strength, I’m not very strong, but I’ve been taught the right punching technique. Hans uncle used to be a member of the Marines. You know, this is military technique, it looks simple, but it takes a lot of hard work to achieve results… Gamore is the best at it now, just look at the fight… But don’t worry, I know you’re friends with Mike, Gamore isn’t going all out yet, he knows his limits, he won’t go overboard…”

The town was tough and wild. You could tell that Mike was also a long-time athlete with a lot of fighting experience, but in terms of actual strength, he was a notch below Gamore. Now he was already being beaten back step by step. There was no specific range limit in the factory, and the two fought wherever they wanted. The onlookers made sure to get out of the way. With no fear of Jia Ming, who seemed harmless, Shirley was in a good mood and started talking nonstop about her boyfriend.

“You know, Gamore’s dream is to be a boxer, but not the kind of boxer you see in the ring. There are some underground boxing matches in the US, those guys are the real masters, Gamore wants to fight in those kinds of matches, but his strength isn’t enough yet. The real masters in underground boxing can break a tree with one punch, and smashing a sandbag like this is easy. Their fists are almost as strong as steel, it’s hard to imagine… Uh…”

The words stopped abruptly, Shirley’s eyes were filled with terror as she stared ahead, and Ya Han also gasped.

It was just a moment, Mike was kicked by Gamore’s ferocious spinning kick. Although he defended perfectly, the immense force of the kick struck his arms crossed in front of him, sending his body flying backwards.

Their fighting position was only a few meters away from Jia Ming and the others. Behind Mike, there was a large box about 1.5 meters tall. The rough box was hand-welded from scrap steel, used to store things at the bottom and a disused loudspeaker was placed on top. I don’t know whose sense of humor or artistry, but the top edge of the box was surrounded by a fence of thin steel rods like a garden, with an iron gate in the middle. It looked ornate, but when Mike’s body flew two meters, those steel rods would definitely pierce his head directly.

Almost the moment Mike was knocked back, several people showed signs of fear, most of them were well-trained and reacted quickly, but because everyone subconsciously avoided the fighting range, no one could support him in time. Gamore hadn’t noticed the danger yet, and his whole body was still in the position of charging after the spinning kick. Shirley wanted to rush towards Mike, but she clearly had no chance of saving him.

The next moment, “Clang—” a dull thud echoed through the factory, followed by the rumbling sound of objects scattering. Shirley, who had rushed forward, bumped into Jia Ming’s back.

Mike’s body landed with a thud on the ground.

Ahead of him, seemingly stunned by the sudden sight, Gamore failed to deliver a second roundhouse kick, his center of gravity shifted, and he fell on his backside.

Underneath Mike was the damp ground revealed by the sudden movement of the huge iron box that had been there. Jia Ming was now standing next to him. His appearance was obviously sudden, because a moment ago he was still standing five or six meters away by the sandbag. Shirley, rushing forward, wanted to grab the suddenly appearing figure, but her feet slipped, and she half-kneeled and fell to the ground, pulling on his clothes.

No one even noticed how Jia Ming had suddenly crossed those few meters, but because everyone’s eyes had already focused on that area, almost everyone could clearly see that it was the seemingly harmless teenager who had just been the source of amusement, and that he appeared there and then threw a simple punch at the steel-plated box.

Now, on the Harley motorcycle, on the side of the box where it had been hit, a clear dent had appeared…

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