135: Chapter 135 Fighting

"Li Ming, you're not in top form today."

"Ah, is that so?"

Li Ming wiped his sweat and looked at the group of slumped students around him. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes. Your condition today is clearly not great... Is it a lack of sleep?" Lauren looked at him and noticed he seemed to have dark circles under his eyes. "Even though your physical fitness is excellent, you can't go without sleep."

"My mistake, Teacher." Li Ming raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Something came up yesterday, and I stayed up late."

Lauren nodded. She had naturally heard from the gatekeeper about Li Ming's sudden, hurried departure late at night.

When he returned, he had brought back a Ship Girl... likely a Destroyer.

His ship-salvaging skills were quite impressive.

Once the others had mostly rested, Lauren blew her whistle.

"Line up, stand tall!"

After finally getting the straggling line in order, Lauren began to announce today's training content.

"I don't expect you to personally dominate the battlefield; that doesn't fit normal combat scenarios," Lauren said. "However, you must possess the most basic self-defense skills! So now, I will teach you some fighting techniques."

Seeing their restless expressions, Lauren added, "Don't think that knowing the tricks is enough; training is a long-term process. Li Ming, come over here, let's do a demonstration."

"Coming."

Li Ming approached Lauren. She faced him directly and said, "First is the defensive stance. Li Ming, throw a punch at me."

"Throw a punch?" Li Ming crouched slightly, gathered power in his right arm, and threw a straight punch.

Lauren easily moved her arm to block it. "Good power. This is a common defensive move. If the opponent uses a light blunt weapon or a fist, your arm can withstand it. But this won't prevent you from getting injured, so dodging or parrying is always the top priority when under attack."

Cliff rubbed his red hair. He suddenly felt that if he sparred with Li Ming, he'd be spending the next month in the ICU.

"Now, Li Ming, prepare to defend. I will attack you."

Li Ming nodded and held up his hands in a defensive posture.

Lauren remained relaxed, but in the next instant, she punched out instantly.

Fortunately, Li Ming was prepared. He quickly took a step back to evade, and Lauren's follow-up attacks came immediately after.

The instructor's punches were sharp and precise, forcing Li Ming to constantly retreat and parry... To be honest, parrying and redirecting the force was extremely difficult; Lauren's strength was too great.

After several consecutive attacks, Li Ming had to take a large step back, then crouched to avoid Lauren's sweep before quickly rising to block a straight punch he had no choice but to take head-on.

His right arm felt a bit numb.

"Alright, alright, that's enough."

Lauren withdrew her hand. "Well done, Li Ming."

Even though Li Ming wasn't in good condition and wasn't fully focused on the fight, there was no doubt that Lauren hadn't been trying at all. Her attack telegraphing was obvious, which was why Li Ming could easily predict and dodge ahead of time.

"This is normal fighting, the absolute basics. You may never use this for the rest of your lives, but if you do, I hope you remember today," Lauren said. "Alright, find a partner and practice in pairs. I'll correct you as I walk by. Li Ming, you too... no, help me keep an eye on them, alright?"

"Okay, Teacher."

Watching the group find partners and start practicing, Lauren walked to the side to observe, making sure no conflicts escalated into life-or-death struggles.

Li Ming wandered through the crowd, observing their training... if it could even be called training.

At least for now, Li Ming felt most people were just slacking off.

Their punches and dodges were limp and weak, lacking any technical substance or training effect.

Well, that's right; this is what a normal university is supposed to look like.

Li Ming didn't have much desire to give guidance, but if someone really wanted to learn, he was willing to take a look.

"Have you practiced this before?"

As he passed Cliff, the latter asked him.

"Yeah, I have. Because of my environment, I've received some training."

Li Ming looked at the guy sparring with Cliff.

Brown hair, bulbous nose.

Was his name Emile? The one who was compared to Li Ming by Professor Stuart during the first class because he was daydreaming while Li Ming answered everything fluently.

If he remembered correctly, he hadn't succeeded in building a Ship Girl...

"By the way, do you think this combat training... is actually useful?" Cliff put his headphones on the ground. "Everyone uses guns now. Is using bare fists really helpful?"

"Not much use," Li Ming shook his head. "But bullets are always consumables. While this is actually to train our physical fitness, it doesn't rule out the possibility of needing to use your fists."

"What big use could it have..." Cliff's shoulders slumped.

"Suppose your Linde was inexplicably accused or someone tried to..."

"Alright, alright, stop. I get what you mean." Cliff hurriedly waved his hand.

Cliff threw a punch at Li Ming, which Li Ming easily parried away.

Then Cliff turned around and punched Emile. Emile didn't react at all and took a hit to the stomach.

"Ouch! Cliff, what are you doing!" Emile complained, clutching his stomach.

"We're the ones sparring; shouldn't you be on guard?"

"Who knew you'd be so sneaky! Take this!"

The two of them began to scuffle.

Li Ming looked at the two of them. Just as he was about to intervene, he suddenly thought of something and laughed out loud.

"Cliff, move right, left hook!"

"Yes, that's it! Use your knee!... Good, now hit him with your elbow!"

Li Ming's coaching wasn't exactly martial arts; it was more akin to a street brawl.

Everyone's attention was drawn over, and some troublemakers began to cheer.

Lauren watched them, seeing Li Ming circling around them while giving instructions.

He should know where to draw the line.

So Lauren stood in the crowd with her arms crossed, watching them cause a ruckus, only stopping them when both sides were exhausted.

"Enough! Cliff, Emile! And the rest of you, get back in line!"

Seeing them quickly reform the line, Lauren looked at Li Ming.

"As for you, a one-thousand-word self-reflection essay."

"Yes, Teacher." Li Ming nodded.

Lauren felt an inexplicable annoyance; it was her first time seeing a kid who wasn't afraid of writing self-reflections.

"Alright, again! Now we'll have formal pairings. When I call your names, start sparring in front of me!" Lauren didn't pull out a list, but instead...

"Cliff Rhodes, Amir Tanisi, you two first!"

Well, now these two poor kids were going to get scolded.

Li Ming chuckled to himself, having no sense of guilt for having aided and abetted the chaos.

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