"I don't see the difference," Zhou Sisi cracked a smile and said.
"The difference is huge! They got more money, that's for one, and it's also a lot less dangerous... oh, and they have beautiful female officers!" Wang Tong said as he counted with his fingers.
Zhou Sisi paused for a second and then burst out laughing. She found Wang Tong ridiculously funny at times.
Wang Tong felt slightly embarrassed, he scratched his head and then asked, "You think I am a chicken-sh*t?"
"NO! You are the bravest person I have ever met. I believe that no matter where you end up at, the Army or the Space Force, you will stand out to be an excellent soldier. Ah, and of course, I would not be much less than you. After all, I am that attractive officer you were talking about," Zhou Sisi spoke with a delightful tone, green and fetching. It was a voice that could let a man's blood boil.
"What about your dream?"
"From now on, I only want to become a good captain, so I can make sure you don't make any trouble and take care of you," Zhou Sisi said, and she licked the cream off the ice coffee.
Wang Tong caught a glimpse of Zhou Sisi's cute little tongue and felt a wave of heat shot through his body. "What is happening to me? Am I in love?" he thought.
"Well, I think that would depend on your ability, perhaps you will end up calling me Sifu for the rest of your life."
"Oh, really? Catch me at the dance pool! Howbow dah?"
Wang Tong held the soft and small hand of Zhou Sisi and felt the urge of conquering the little wild beast in front of him. Unable to think, Wang Tong accepted the invitation.
A wave of cheers erupted among the onlookers as soon as Wang Tong and Zhou Sisi stepped into the dance pool again. Wang Tong's performance was more fluid than the first time, and the Zerg-like movement started to look more human.
Without knowing it, Wang Tong took the center stage as his body turned and swayed wildly, releasing all the passions a sixteen-year-old boy had.
Wang Tong's dance mesmerized the girls from the A-Class. Ever since the tournament, Wang Tong's victory had spread throughout every corner of the school. His classmates called him the "secret weapon", or "the silver bullet". The manliness that had turned him from a boy to a man had tugged at the heartstrings of many girls.
After the girls had watched his arousing dance, he was no longer just a stoic soldier that only knew how to fight, but also a man full of wild passions.
Zhou Sisi followed Wang Tong's lead, willingly.
Wang Tong then remembered that he still had a lot to do the day after; therefore, he didn't stay overnight and sneaked out with Zhou Sisi soon after the dance was over. Wang Tong felt that he had started to like dancing. Unlike fighting, dancing had no restrictions, and therefore he could pour out the emotions as he moved his body.
The two of them walked home together, holding each other's hands. Wang Tong didn't over think of this new found intimacy; it just felt right.
After Wang Tong had settled down to bed, he fell asleep quickly. In his dream, he saw his life turning more colorful from the dull, ceaseless fighting.
Saturday was the group meeting of "S".
So far there were only ten members in the group. However, no one had the intention of expanding the group just yet, as they all agreed that they needed to focus on running this club more efficiently.
Wang Tong was well rested after a night of good sleep and the release of stress from the evening before.
Zhou Sisi had already collected everyone's thesis and was ready to commence the meeting.
"Let's begin our meeting. There are no strict rules to follow at this table, so if you have any question, please feel free to ask. Let's start with our group leader." Zhou Sisi gestured Wang Tong to speak.
Wang Tong cracked a smile and said, "Sure. I will break the ice then. I am certain that all of you have watched the fight between Einherjar Wannabe and Cisco, so I'm just going to talk about what we should learn from that fight, especially from Cisco. I think we should emphasize the importance of controlling the GN force at the finest level."
That fight had been a sensational event, therefore even if one didn't watch it live, he or she must have watched the recording the day after. The fight had attracted even more attention after it was labeled with the lurid titles such as "Real-life genius gets owned by a mysterious no-account! MUST WATCH!!"
Although Cisco's opponent was only 16 years old and was relatively unknown, Einherjar Wannabe was able to copy Cisco's power and defeated him in the most humiliating way. Unable to handle the weight of his failure, it was said that the day after the fight, Cisco had lost another fight against a classmate who challenged his number one title at Capth. If the rumor was true, then it had not only revealed the intense competition at Capth but also spoke loudly of the importance of one's confidence.
Wang Tong went on to explain what was his plan. He clarified that by saying "learn from Cisco", he did not mean to learn to use a kunai but to pay more attention to the subtle changes of the GN force and fine tuning of the channeling process. Since this was a relatively new training to most people, they had to start with baby steps, but eventually, it would pay off. A set of nimble fingers would not only be helpful during space battle simulations but also beneficial for real life combat.
Wang Tong demonstrated the training method with an object in his hand. He intentionally picked a light-weight, tiny, and soft object because it was much harder to control than larger and more tangible objects.
When Wang Tong finished his demonstration, he was met with even more questions. Ma Xiaoru told him that her Tactics of the Enchantress had already focused a great deal on the control of GN force, and therefore, any extra training in that aspect would be redundant. Wang Ben, on the other hand, was hesitant to follow Wang Tong's instruction because he had noticed how different the style was when compared with his Fist of the Racing Tiger. Carl and others had also raised their own concerns although for different reasons.
Wang Tong's ice breaker session had lasted over an hour, much longer than they had initially anticipated. They had then conceded that they had only enough time to cover at most four topics per day. Restrictions on time aside, it was also unrealistic to expect members of S to give up all their weekends for studying and training. Therefore, everyone had agreed that increasing the efficiency of the club to get through tropics would be their top priority.
The members of S had spent the entire morning discussing Wang Tong's proposal. Wang Tong's unique training method had quickly gained popularity after the members started to realize its benefits. Rumi was particularity interested in the training method, despite the fact that she found it difficult to follow Wang Tong's instructions. Wang Tong ended up spending a lot more time on helping Rumi to get her hands on things.
To ensure the effectiveness of the training, Wang Tong ordered everyone to practice after the meeting and informed everyone that there would be a self-assessment before their next meeting to measure their progress.
Wang Tong knew that everyone had a lazy bone, especially those at his age, and therefore he decided to give members a little bit more pressure to keep their foot on the gas pedal.
During lunchtime, Zhou Sisi had come up with another list of things to improve based on their morning discussions. Her efficiency had impressed most members of S.
In the afternoon, members attended the physical training session led by Wang Ben.
As most people had expected, both Wang Tong and Wang Ben had excelled in their physical conditions. However, Ma Xiaoru's extraordinary endurance had caught other members off guard. In addition to the three, Tita also did well in the physical training. The other members, including Zhou Sisi, had done well at the beginning but fell short very quickly as they collapsed on the ground one after another.
Wang Ben had proven to be a good leader for this session since he had focused on physical training ever since he was a kid. Although there didn't seem to be any connection between physical conditioning and the power on the battlefield, a strong body had many potential benefits to a METAL fighter. A fighter with a good physic would fatigue less, and therefore help them to avoid unnecessary fatal mistakes. It was imperative during a prolonged battle.
Once a fighter was fatigued, his or her focus would decrease regardless of how hard he or she tried to concentrate, and therefore, the only solution would be to increase the fatigue threshold by intense physical training.
As a leader, Wang Ben was much stricter than Wang Tong. He had kept a solemn face from the beginning to the end and wasn't any more lenient toward the girls. At the end of the session, Wang Ben announced the test results. Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru had exceeded the requirement set by Wang Ben by a considerable margin and were followed by Hu Yangxuan who had barely passed the test. All the rest of S had failed the physical test.
Tita sat in his chair and looked disappointed. He had thought that he would come out as the number one since he was the only member from the physically-demanding field of heavy METAL combat. However, he didn't even pass the test.
Tita was not convinced that this was all he could achieve, and therefore, he made up his mind to train harder from now on. His goal was to be ranked within the top 3.
Everyone was exhausted after the excruciating physical training session, and so they decided to move the rest of the agenda to the next meeting. Before they ended the meeting, they agreed to focus on two things for the coming week: controlling their GN force and their physical conditioning.
The physical training session hit Rumi the hardest. She was a small-framed girl and was astonishingly weak, and Wang Ben had given her a zero without any hesitation.
The students at Ayrlarng had a clearer picture regarding the strength of their star performers ever since the tournament, and they all ranked Wang Tong, Ma Xiaoru, and Wang Ben higher than Hu Yangxuan. After the physical training session, Hu Yangxuan had finally realized what was bogging him down, and therefore he made up his mind to focus on physical training from now on.
Wang Ben didn't rush into the promised spar with Wang Tong. He had noticed Wang Tong's extraordinary power during his fight against Apache. Wang Ben decided to wait and prepare as much as he could before making the next move.
On the other hand, Wang Ben also appreciated the challenge posed by Wang Tong as he recognized that the challenge had given him a lot of motivations.
Defeating Wang Tong was not Wang Ben's ultimate goal; his goal was to grow in his own capacity as the best fighter.
At the end of the first meeting of S, most of the club members had a sore body and were exhausted, but for Wang Tong, it seemed to be just the right amount of exercise.
All the while, Ma Xiaoru didn't approach Wang Tong like she used to. Wang Tong didn't overthink it; instead, he enjoyed the distance.
Zhou Sisi was also busy with her training and had no time to hang out with Wang Tong. Sitting alone in his room with no one to disturb him, Wang Tong finally had a quiet weekend that only belonged to himself.