Chapter 24 - 18 Taekwondo Challenge
Chapter 24 - 18 Taekwondo Challenge
Chapter 24: Chapter 18 Taekwondo Challenge
After taking down the burly man, Yan Fei finally let his guard down. And with that relaxation, he immediately felt all his internal organs begin to ache. Under the violent attack of the burly man, he had sustained serious injuries. Thankfully, his physical condition had greatly improved, otherwise, he would have been lying down already.
But now was not the time to rest, the burly man had said that he had already sent out information about this place, so Yan Fei had to leave immediately. The drone had already scouted the surrounding environment; this place was a valley with no other way out, so Yan Fei still had to climb up using the vines.
Enduring the discomfort in his body, Yan Fei grabbed the vines and climbed up the cliff, fortunately not finding any of Zhang Baocheng’s people above. At this point, he had barely any combat power left, and even the steel ball bullets from the drone had dwindled to less than 20. Encountering Zhang Baocheng’s forces now would be unimaginable.
Yan Fei retraced his original path back, and by the time he reached the highway outside, he saw Zhang Baocheng’s villa engulfed in a large fire, with everyone busy fighting the blaze, and nobody coming out to look for the burly man. His heart harbored some doubts, could it be that the burly man had lied about sending out a message?
However, after considering the terrain of the valley, Yan Fei had a sudden realization. In such a remote place, how could there possibly be a telecom signal? Therefore, the burly man’s signal definitely had not gone out, which was why Zhang Baocheng hadn’t sent people to search.
Understanding the key point and knowing there was no risk of exposure, Yan Fei felt thoroughly relieved. Tonight’s operation had been a success; he had managed to destroy evidence unfavorable to himself and taken out a fearsome enemy. Although he was also badly hurt, he had fully achieved his goal for this sortie.
Yan Fei began to tend to his wounds, took out a new set of clothes from the Universal Space to change into, and then took out the Motorcycle once more to return by the original path. The Drone Avatar also followed Yan Fei in the air until he reached a Safe Zone, then returned to the room in Yan Fei’s house, while he himself went back to the Bathhouse.
When he re-entered the rest room of the Bathhouse through the window, Yan Fei was utterly exhausted. After carefully checking the secret mark he left on the door handle, which showed that no one had come in, and changing back into his previous clothes, his vision went black and he collapsed onto the bed, unconscious.
The next morning, Yan Fei shouted suddenly and awoke with a start. He sat up, his body drenched in cold sweat, his face revealing a puzzled expression. He had just had a strange dream, a very odd one.
In the dream, Yan Fei found himself lying in a hospital bed, encountering a beautiful nurse, and then fell in love with her at first sight, wanting to get to know her. But when the nurse turned and left, and he called out to her without response, he grew so anxious that he yelled, and that’s when he woke up.
The dream was identical to another he had experienced before, right down to the dialogue and emotional details. Since that lovely dream, as time passed, he gradually forgot the appearance of the beautiful nurse until this identical dream brought her image into sharp focus once again.
There’s a saying, “What one ponders by day, one dreams of by night.” Wouldn’t that mean one has to consciously or subconsciously think of such things to dream about them at night? Yan Fei didn’t know if his subconscious mind had ever harbored such thoughts, but he was certain that he had never envisioned such a scene while awake.
Besides, Yan Fei was in his prime, rarely got sick, and hardly ever needed to stay in a hospital, giving him little chance to interact with nurses. All this made the dreams even more curious. How did the Dreamland come about? Besides, he didn’t recognize the nurse in the dream, nor did she resemble anyone he knew. What was going on? What was even weirder was that after dreaming twice, Yan Fei himself actually began to feel some affection for the nurse in his dreams…
Like before, Yan Fei had this dream after killing someone. Could it be a premonition? Why wasn’t it a nightmare? Or could it be that something was off with him?
As Yan Fei was lost in thought, someone knocked on the door from outside the room. The attendant reminded Yan Fei that breakfast was ready, prompting him to stop his speculation and put all thoughts aside. After all, it was just a dream, no matter how bizarre, and he could accept even stranger things, like having a drone avatar of his own.
Once he stopped dwelling on it, Yan Fei noticed that his injuries had mostly healed, and all external wounds had vanished. It seemed that at midnight, during the data refresh, some Mysterious Power acted on him from afar, also healing his body in the process.
While having breakfast in the dining room, Yan Fei paid special attention to the local news but found no report about the fire at Zhang Baocheng’s villa, nor any mention of the charred corpse of the burly man.
He didn’t know whether Zhang Baocheng simply hadn’t called the Police Department, whether the police had Blockaded the information for investigation purposes, or whether there was some other reason, but whatever the case, it seemed like the events of the previous night had been ignored by everyone except those involved; nobody else knew.
That was fine with Yan Fei, who preferred to avoid complications; it was better that nobody came looking for him.
When Yan Fei returned home, it was ten in the morning. He continued to monitor the news, but there were no reports about the previous night, sometimes making him doubt whether it had all been a dream. However, the injuries on his body assured him that his experiences the night before were unequivocally real, not just his imagination.
In the evening, Yan Fei left Shanghai far behind, driving a Minivan to a secluded mountain in Lin Province. He found a sparsely populated area and took Xiao Kong’s corpse from his Portable Space to search the body.
Yan Fei found only a spherical object on Xiao Kong’s body, a black sphere about the size of a longan fruit, its material indecipherable. Although light, it was immensely hard, rendering Yan Fei utterly incapable of damaging it.
Besides that, there was nothing else found on Xiao Kong’s corpse.
Holding the black sphere before his eyes, Yan Fei examined it but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. He wondered if this black sphere was really what the burly man was concerned about.
After observing it for a while and discerning no anomalies, Yan Fei placed the black sphere back into the Universal Space to study it at leisure later.
The ability of the Universal Space to halt time meant that, despite Xiao Kong’s body lingering there for an extended period, it remained unchanged when retrieved, just like when it was first placed inside.
Looking at Xiao Kong’s mutilated corpse on the ground, Yan Fei pondered and decided to dig a deep pit to bury it. After all, having a corpse, especially one in such a ghastly state, within his Portable Space and carrying it around daily was disturbing.
After dealing with Xiao Kong’s body, Yan Fei returned to Shanghai on the same night. Over the following days, he watched the news carefully for any mention related to him, while diligently attending Beyond Fitness Center daily to learn Kung Fu from Wang Yong.
The brawl with the frenzied bruiser that night had revealed Yan Fei’s own weakness; his perceived great progress was insignificant before a true expert, barely worth mentioning and not even enough for a counterattack. Even his trump card, the Drone with Steel Ball Bullets, proved too weak; against an expert like the bruiser, it could only serve as a diversion.
With no better options at hand, Yan Fei chose to improve his strength. The Kung Fu techniques taught by Wang Yong were the best way to do so.
Wang Yong still taught the basics of Kung Fu, occasionally explaining some points relevant for combat. With his own experiences, Yan Fei made substantial gains and increasingly appreciated the depth and breadth of Chinese Kung Fu. As for his fellow students, without much faith in Wang Yong, their intermittent effort yielded no results.
One day, while Yan Fei was deeply engrossed in training, he heard a clamor outside; then, a group of people entered, led by a tall, beautiful, fashionably dressed young woman who captivated the onlookers with her charm.
The Taekwondo coach at the fitness center ceased training upon seeing the group and went to meet them. While engaging in conversation, he repeatedly gestured towards Yan Fei’s direction. Subsequently, the group, accompanied by the Taekwondo coach and his students, made their way toward Wang Yong’s Kung Fu training ground.
Yan Fei and his classmates ceased their training, uncertain of what was happening.
A Taekwondo coach from the fitness center stepped forward and introduced a handsome man behind the young woman to Wang Yong, saying, “Coach Wang, let me introduce you. This is Han Junxi, Vice President of the South Korean Taekwondo World Promotion Alliance. He wishes to meet you today.”
Although the Taekwondo coach introduced Han Junxi, he did not disclose the identity of the young woman, who curiously surveyed Wang Yong’s training ground.
Before Wang Yong had a chance to speak, the man known as Han Junxi stepped forward and said in broken Mandarin, “Coach Wang, as an instructor of Chinese Kung Fu, you represent Chinese martial arts. Our World Taekwondo Promotion Alliance is preparing to promote Taekwondo worldwide, so we would like to challenge your Chinese Kung Fu to see which is more formidable, Taekwondo or Kung Fu.”
That’s when Yan Fei and the others realized that these South Koreans were here to issue a challenge. To promote Taekwondo globally, they had to prove that it was the most formidable martial art in the world; only then could they enhance their prestige and attract more people to learn Taekwondo.
To achieve this, defeating Chinese Kung Fu was necessary, thus targeting Wang Yong and his students for the challenge.
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Thank you to the book friend “Wanli Wuyun” from QQ Reading Android for the reward!