He pointed angrily at Ma Xiaoling, "Is this the big move you mentioned?"
Ma Xiaoling shrugged, "What else? Do you expect me to yell ’Divine Roar Meteor Fist’ like in those fantasy drama series before launching a bunch of missiles at you? Do you think this is life-or-death or an opera? Doesn’t that feel awkward?"
Ren Zhong was speechless for a moment, then awkwardly said, "Didn’t we agree on real combat? But holding me up from the front and launching missiles from behind, what do you call that?"
Ma Xiaoling shrugged again, "Are you stupid? If it’s real combat, then the primary task is to find an easier way to kill you. I’ll use all the tactics I have, isn’t that the right thing to do? How naive are you city folk?"
Ren Zhong was at a loss for words.
He never thought he would be mocked by Ma Xiaoling for being naive.
It’s mostly his own fault, if the opponent had been Lin Wang, a real schemer, he wouldn’t have fallen for it so easily.
He was deceived by Ma Xiaoling’s "persona", focusing all his attention on the only enemy in front, not expecting her to use sneak attacks.
In the end, he was careless and didn’t dodge.
"True enough, thank you, Teacher Ma, for the reminder. I’ve learned."
"Hmm, you’re teachable."
Five minutes later, Ren Zhong fell once again.
This time, he was defeated head-on by Ma Xiaoling due to lack of proficiency.
Seven minutes later, Ren Zhong fell again, this time ambushed by a compression-triggered deceptive mine Ma Xiaoling had planted on the ground unbeknownst to him.
Ma Xiaoling truly lived up to being the strongest in town, displaying a fighting style entirely different from her usual demeanor when she went into a kill-or-be-killed state.
Not only did she have a fearsome frontal assault capability, but her sneaky tactics were endless, master of aggressive combat and ambush alike, simply unparalleled.
Unconsciously, two hours passed, and Ren Zhong kept losing, though his survival time was getting longer and longer.
After another fall, Ren Zhong weakly complained, "Teacher Ma, you are indeed amazing, but with all these dirty tricks, it looks quite systematic, how did you come up with them? You don’t seem like such a wicked person."
Ma Xiaoling spat at him, "You’re the wicked one. My mentors at school taught me all this, not my original creations, it’s all clearly written in the textbooks."
Ren Zhong understood now.
Maybe this was the difference between a self-taught warrior from the wilderness and a system-trained professional soldier like Ma Xiaoling.
No matter how cunning a person is, how can they out-scheme a battle system polished by countless sly ones over time?
Seeing his slightly dejected look, Ma Xiaoling rare praised him, "Don’t be like that. You’re not bad either. I feel you learn quite fast, and you have a talent for sneak attacks. Just now, the high-explosive grenade you hid in the pile of flames almost got me. If my gun barrel hadn’t just grazed the grenade, making my hand feel a bit off, I would have really fallen for it. Wait a moment..."
Ren Zhong: "What’s wrong?"
Ma Xiaoling waved a hand, "Let me think."
After a short while, she suddenly clapped her hands, "No, even without considering those flashy moves, your improvement speed is too fast! You couldn’t even last three minutes at first, now you’re holding on for ten minutes!"
Ren Zhong shrugged, "Yeah, isn’t that normal? You naturally become more proficient."
"No! When I first reached the Fourth Level, it took me almost half a month to reach your level of proficiency with the Five Senses Resonance. In just a few hours, your rate of improvement is too fast!"
Ren Zhong retorted, "Did my parameters not increase quickly?"
"Oh, true. Now you mention it, it’s not too hard to accept."
"Alright, less talk, more fighting!"
At 5:05 AM, Ren Zhong’s virtual reality training ended early today.
There were two reasons.
Second, during the last sparring session, he was pushed to the brink, holding on with sheer willpower while fending off various styles of attacks from the front, flank, and rear. Then he followed his intuition to make a decision. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward, slashing his long blade at an unexpected angle, striking directly toward Ma Xiaoling’s chest.
This time, Ma Xiaoling saw that she had no way to dodge and was about to be struck at the gap in her chest armor.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, he and Ma Xiaoling were both kicked out of virtual reality.
It seemed as though he was going to win, but didn’t truly achieve victory.
"What happened? You wouldn’t be the type who can’t accept losing, would you? Can you actually forcibly interrupt training ?"