In the 15th floor of the underground base where the training area was located, a vague silhouette was sprinting back and forth continuously. The amazing speed had a strong wind that was blowing in the open hall.
Other than the captain who had yet to return and the vice-captain who had passed away, the rest of the team were watching nearby. Such speed was unheard before, even Xu Qianshen who had the fastest speed and was known internally as the "God of Wind", could compare to such speeds.
However, Xu Qianshen knew clearly that he could not run at high speed as smooth and lightly as Luo Yuan. If they were to compare the both of them, he was like a rampaging rhinoceros while Luo Yuan was as light as a leopard pouncing on its prey. He was definitely lagging behind.
What was more terrifying was that his speed seemed to have increased slowly along with each sprint.
"It's only been 3.6 seconds or 0.9 seconds per 100 meters," Li Dong said gloomily while looking at his stopwatch.
"When Luo Yuan started running, I recall that Brother Luo was going at a speed of 1.1 second per 100 meters and he actually broke his own record, bringing it down to less than a second! Don’t tell me he is still able to run faster!" Xie Junhui said unbelievably.
"Don’t you see that my master keeps adjusting his posture? He’s looking for better way to unleash his energy efficiently," Fang Peibin was staring at the blurry silhouette and said slowly.
The group was shocked and began to look at Luo Yuan silhouette. They realized that his running posture was extremely weird as his body was almost flat on the ground with his head almost touching the ground, only leaving a gap of 50 centimeters.
It took him about ten steps and a few breaths to reach the end of a runway of 400 meters. Each step he took brought him thirty to forty ahead.
With each step he took, it actually smashed the granite floor into powder, which raised a cloud of dust along with the strong wind he was causing.
"Stop looking, it’s after all useless for us since we won't be able to learn!" the crazy Mr. Wang said laughingly while a flicker of fear flashed through his eyes when he was looking at Luo Yuan from afar, "He can fly. Though it looked like he’s running on the ground, his body was kind of weightless. In fact, he was looking for just the right amount of Strength exerted to balance his body."
Even though the crazy Mr. Wang was mad, he was smart. Especially during the last chase whereby he experienced much hardship, he had been deeply impressed by Luo Yuan’s speed.
In fact, he was right. When Luo Yuan was running and using his Will simultaneously, a chemical reaction occurred had allowed him to go beyond his speed limit. Yesterday was just the first trial, which is why it was not perfect and was very ragged. Nonetheless, with more practice and adjustments, his speed was gradually approaching its maximum limit.
After running back and forth, his speed had finally reached a bottleneck of 0.8 seconds per 100 meters. He then continued to run for about five minutes so that muscle memory would register the strength he used to balance his body. It was then when he gradually reduced his speed and stopped.
Surely it was insufficient for him to practice for only a day. He needed another five to six days of continuous practice so that the skill could become muscle memory in his body and become an instinct to him. The strenuous exercise had turned his body red, water vapor evaporating from his skin while his body gave off extreme heat.
Fang Qianru who had been shy and silent, took out a towel and jogged towards Luo Yuan, "Brother Luo, let me help you wipe your sweat!"
She sized Luo Yuan daringly. He was a head taller. His tall and thin body appeared to be dashing while his well-developed muscles appeared to be glistering. Along with the movement of his hands, the muscles moved like waves in an ocean. Under his dense eyebrows were a pair of dark eyes, shiny like jade as if it was a deep bottomless spring.
Meanwhile, he was sweating profusely. The sweat had been dripping from his face and his singlet was even soaked in sweat but she could not smell any foul odors. In fact, she got a whiff of a unique odor instead of a bad body odor.
Luo Yuan was shocked and glanced at her.
Her face turned red because of her shyness; even her her thin, snow-white neck flushed a shade of red. Her watery eyes were staring at him and her supple breasts went up and down. These showed that she was very nervous.
Luo Yuan quickly rejected her and took the towel troubled feelings, "Oh, thanks. No, I can do it myself, thanks!"
"You are welcome!" Fang Qianru lowered her head soon after she handed over the towel as if what she did earlier had completely consumed all of her courage. She turned sideways and blushed before she said softly, "I'm sorry, I tore the clothes yesterday when I washed it but I'll get you a new one."
Fang Qianru scolded her cousin internally as she washed their clothes early in the morning for the first time. To top it off, she did not only wash her own but also Fang Qianru's together with the uniform. Their clothes were alright but the uniform was surprisingly torn. She was so angry that she did not have a proper breakfast when she saw the hole as big as a bowl at the back of the uniform.
The uniform was actually made of the plant fibers that Luo Yuan obtained after the apocalypse and was stronger than the jeans, which made it very difficult to be torn when washed.
Hng!
She apparently did it on purpose. It looked like something was up with her yesterday evening and yet she said she did not know Luo Yuan.
Both Fang Qianru and Wen Yujie were cousins of the same age. Since Fang Qianru was just a month older than Wen Yujie, they went to kindergarten all the way to high school together before they went their own ways during high school for a year before the apocalypse began.
They should have a good relationship but that was not the case. Since they were young, they had been fighting each other for toys and snacks and later over academic result as they grew older. Besides, their parents kept comparing their results by saying that your cousin was this and that while you were this and that. With all these things that happened, how could they be as close as sisters? It was only when the apocalypse began that their relationship got better.
Luo Yuan definitely did not understand her complicated feelings as he was not concerned about his shirt. So, he waved his hand while saying, "It’s alright since it was torn. It’s nothing much. How's your injury by the way?"
Fang Qianru expressed her excitement but shyly, she replied, "Thank you for your concern, I’m almost recovered now but I need another month to recover completely. For the time being, I can only do some adaptive training."
"This is also good. If you didn't already know, after your injury, your teammates were so worried. Please don’t be so careless next time," Luo Yuan said patronizingly because he felt that she was not that old, probably just a bit older than Wang Shishi.
Fang Qianru responded with a sweet sound.
Seeing that she was still dawdling, not wanting to leave, Luo Yuan scanned through the group and found out that the others had a weird expression on their faces, obviously enjoying themselves while they looked at them. He could not help but to beckon to Fang Peibin.
Fang Peibin ran over and with a chuckle said, "Master, what would you like me to do?"
Luo Yuan glanced at his face and said with an indifferent tone, "Since you call me Master, I’ll have to teach you something. Let’s start today, come with me to the training area."
Fang Peibing seriously said, "Yes, Master!"
Luo Yuan felt satisfied. If his apprentice kept grinning mischievously and was acting impolite, he would be uncomfortable even if he did not say anything. Though he did not give a good first impression, his performance later was acceptable for Luo Yuan to recognize him as his apprentice.
The two walked briskly in tandem towards the training area. Fang Qianru wanted to follow but she was stopped by Li Dong and the rest who went over.
Though they did not experience personally, they should have heard that learning martial arts in secrecy from others without their knowledge is taboo. Though unpalatable to many, it was after all, impolite to look at Luo Yuan’s teaching without his approval.
As they walked very quickly, they reached the training area in just a moment.
Luo Yuan threw his Zhanmadao aside as his hands drew a circle, getting into a Tai Chi post, "I don’t know your exact strength yet. Come... come attack me with your full strength."
His actions were slow and heavy, both his hands seemed to be stirring up in the air like his surroundings were not air but instead, sticky glue. This action attracted Fang Peibin because he looked like he was standing idly but he was actually standing as firmly as a mountain was rooted to the ground. It was like he was connected to the earth.
"Master, I’m sorry," Fang Peibin apologized in advance and he stepped on the ground and launched himself quickly and flexibly towards Luo Yuan. His was strong and had immense Strength that had reached 16 points. The instantaneous outbreak of energy within a short distance were like shotgun shells being shot.
Nonetheless, as he got closer a hand appeared on his arm with a slow-motion. Along with his strength, he felt a push and was thrown into the air before he had a chance to react; slumped on the ground four to five meters away.
When Fang Peibing stood up, Luo Yuan was still standing at the same place but with his eyes closed. He drew a circle with both hands and said, "Come again!"
Fang Peibin’s face became serious and dared not attack hastily anymore. Instead, he went around Luo Yuan and when he saw his Master was completely immobile with his eyes tightly closed, he thought it was his chance. He then lightened his steps and quickly went near Luo Yuan.
Nevertheless, he failed as soon as he threw a punch because the history repeated itself. Dazed, he found out that he was lying on the ground when he recovered.
Though Luo Yuan’s bare-handed fighting skills were not as good as his knife skills, it was already 19 points and was about to upgrade, becoming a professional skill. In reality, he had become a great master. Since Luo Yuan was practicing Tai Chi, he knew how to manipulate the strength from his opponents to maximize the impacts of his attacks. In addition, since he had clear knowledge on the structure of a human body, he could judge the force his opponent were exerting very precisely. Provided he put his hand on the opponent’s body, he would be able to know the direction his opponent was exerting their strength as well as the muscles that were involved. This made it easy for him to defeat his opponent even if the opponent was much stronger.
In fact, in this sparring session, he merely used half of his speed and energy to defeat Fang Peibin.
"Again. This time, use your abilities," Luo Yuan said.
Luo Yuan nodded and retreated twenty to thirty meters away. He stood firmly and dared not be careless. It was because he was used to the strength some super evolved humans that even he was afraid of many abilities.
After all, no matter how strong he was, he was not immortal. If he was hit by a powerful attack ability, he would die too.
Fang Peibin took a deep breath and growled. Then, all muscles of his body suddenly expanded with numerous veins that wriggled around like worms. Accompanied sounds of joints exploding, his original body of merely 1.69 meters had grown immensely.
In just about 30 seconds, Fang Peibin was already 1.8 meters high and because of his expanded body. His skin got thinner and his body fat seemed to have completely disappeared. It made his body muscles look so red, it was as if his skin had been peeled off. What was more surprising was that his nostrils kept oozing out a heavy breath with faint sparks that sputtered as he breathed. His dark, white eye balls had turned completely red as well. At the same time, a brutal and ferocious feeling gradually permeated the atmosphere.
"Mutation?" Luo Yuan was surprised to see this happen as this type feeling, was that of chaos, brutality, and evil, like a person who failed to evolve. Yet, it was not similar because Fang Peibin was at least normal when he was not in his mutated form. Luo Yuan was uneasy with this type of ability as he felt that he would lose all control.
Luo Yuan had his thought flashed through but Fang Peibin had already growled and came towards him.
His voice was as loud as a thunder, echoing in the 15th floor!