Chapter 173: Four Forces Complete, Terrifying Stats!

The next morning.The alarm clock had just rung.

Cheng Ye rolled over and got out of bed. Ever since he no longer needed to be oppressed by information-type skills, his sleep quality had skyrocketed, and when he woke up, he felt refreshed and clear-headed.

After washing up, he picked up his bag and prepared to go downstairs. Just as he walked to the door, he saw Wang Kang also carrying his bag as he opened the door to come out.

"Why are you up so early today?" Cheng Ye stopped in his tracks, somewhat surprised.

"Big Brother Cheng, it's been over a week since we've been on duty. If I keep being lazy like this, that won't do," Wang Kang scratched the back of his head and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

These past few days, Cheng Ye had been so busy at the Works Department that his feet barely touched the ground, with no time to take him along for martial arts practice.

The first two days he was quite happy about it, sleeping until ten o'clock every day.

After eating, he would go to the training ground to practice until four in the afternoon, and spend the remaining time following Cheng Ye's instructions, immersing himself in books at the survival library.

His days were fairly fulfilling, but as time went on, his routine inevitably became regular.

Especially his wake-up time, which unconsciously adjusted to six in the morning along with Cheng Ye's schedule.

"That's perfect, I'm going to find Instructor Miao later. Do you want to come along?"

"Yes!" Wang Kang didn't even think about it and immediately nodded in agreement.

After going downstairs, Cheng Ye didn't head directly to the Works Department, but first led Wang Kang around to the parking lot behind the community.

When six brand-new vehicles came into view, Wang Kang's eyes indeed went straight, and he unconsciously let out an exclamation of surprise, "This..."

"I got them. How are they? Not bad, right?"

Cheng Ye opened the door of one of the transport vehicles and raised his chin at him, "Come on, let me take you for a spin first."

"Great, great, great!"

Wang Kang immediately jumped excitedly into the car, the smile on his face never fading.

Although he wasn't clear about the value of a vehicle in the buffer zone, nor did he know how much it would cost to own one, just the fact that they were rare in the buffer zone was enough to excite him.

The car started up and drove toward the Works Department.

Wang Kang pressed against the car window, occasionally sticking his head out to look around, his eyes full of curiosity, like a child discovering a new continent.

"You've ridden in cars before, why are you so curious?" Seeing his appearance, Cheng Ye couldn't help but tease.

"That's not the same! Before I only rode in buses, which aren't nearly as comfortable as this."

When the car drove into the Works Department parking lot, Cheng Ye reversed and parked properly, then plugged in the charging cable to begin replenishing the pendant's energy.

Taking advantage of the charging time, the two first did some exercises in the open space, stretching their muscles and bones.

Cheng Ye casually took out his defense communicator and called Miao Yang, arranging the time for training later.

Hearing that it was him coming over, Miao Yang immediately agreed cheerfully, his tone full of anticipation.

"Big Brother Cheng, I heard on last night's evening broadcast that construction of the second batch of satellite cities is about to begin. Will you be involved this time?" During the exercise break, Wang Kang suddenly remembered this matter and couldn't help asking.

Hearing this, Cheng Ye shook his head slightly, "Hard to say, depends on the inspection station's arrangements."

It was normal that the first batch didn't include him. After all, the pressure was great at that time, so the inspection station would definitely prioritize sending more experienced people.

But if the second batch still didn't include him, that would indicate the higher-ups weren't optimistic about Dapo Town's planning for now.

Although Cheng Ye wasn't in such a hurry temporarily because he needed to set up the merchant caravan, if the merchant caravan was really going to develop, the core still depended on Dapo Town's industry.

If Dapo Town remained inactive, the money he could ultimately earn would probably be pitifully small.

"What, do you want to go out with me?"

"That won't work. When you took the assessment, you never called me along the entire time." Wang Kang scratched his head again, his tone carrying a hint of embarrassment, but soon he raised his face again, his eyes full of pride, "But Instructor Miao says I have great talent. Probably in another half month, I'll be able to forge my martial body!"

"Not bad, looks like you haven't been slacking off during this time."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly.

Actually, back when the original owner and Wang Kang were still in the inner city, he could already perceive that Wang Kang's physical talent was quite a bit better than ordinary people.

Now with systematic training, it indeed hadn't disappointed.

Ordinary people need at least two months to forge their martial body, those with good talent can shorten it to about a month. By this calculation, Wang Kang's talent was only slightly inferior to those top-tier exceptional ones.

At this pace, probably within a year he'd be able to complete the four powers and start practicing the tendon gates.

When the energy level recovered to 56%, Cheng Ye unplugged the charging gun and drove to the training ground.

The open space behind was spacious, so parking a car wasn't troublesome.

However, it inevitably surprised Miao Yang quite a bit again.

"This feeling really does have a bit of that prestigious vibe from the early 2000s, driving around everywhere."

Cheng Ye thought to himself.

Although he was born in that era, he didn't have many concrete memories of it, yet now he inexplicably found some of the rumored flavor.

The three of them walked into the training ground with laughter, with most of the conversation between Miao Yang and Wang Kang along the way.

Sometimes they chatted about recent training progress, sometimes they mentioned that the Blood Dragon Corp's recruitment was going to start early.

"There are just too many people flowing in from outside. Recruiting new soldiers can also share some of the resettlement pressure. I heard this time they plan to select thirty to fifty thousand people for concentrated training." Miao Yang spoke with a grave tone.

"That many?" Cheng Ye was somewhat surprised.

"That's right." Miao Yang sighed, "This year's situation is too special. The area Happiness City needs to defend is at least ten times larger than in previous years. Just in the past few days, there have already been three consecutive waves of tide-level infection surges passing through. If we really wait until winter comes..."

Halfway through his words, he suddenly paused, unable to hide a trace of worry in his eyes.

He had never mentioned these things to Wang Kang before, because even if Wang Kang knew about it, he couldn't help, and it would only add to his anxiety.

But facing Cheng Ye, he couldn't help wanting to voice some of the panic in his heart, seeking some comfort.

"Tide-level..."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly, instantly understanding. So the intense battles that occasionally erupted at night recently were because infection surges had come.

As the second-level threat category of infection surges, tide-level scale involved at least thousands of infected entities.

If all these infected entities were infected with the same infection source, dealing with them would be somewhat easier.

But the trouble was that infection surges often mixed various types of infected entities, some excelling at defense and resistance, some specializing in violent assault, and others that could ambush and release area-of-effect influences.

With so many types mixed together, the difficulty of dealing with them was definitely greater than handling plague-level substitute starfish with an even higher scale.

"Instructor Miao doesn't need to worry too much. This hurdle will eventually be overcome."

Cheng Ye paused and consoled, "Even if Happiness City maintains its current scale without development, as the outside environment further deteriorates and the next great pioneering era arrives, sooner or later we'll encounter such winters. Rather than dragging it out and letting problems accumulate, it's more stable to face it early while we can."

"You make a good point."

Miao Yang's heart settled somewhat, and he forced a slight smile. Changing the topic, he said, "Speaking of which, Inspector Cheng's temperament cultivation has improved again recently. I was worried before that you were holding in that anger with nowhere to vent it, and you'd make yourself miserable. If it exploded someday and hurt you, that would be terrible. Now it seems I was worrying for nothing."

He paused, then asked curiously, "Have you already inherited Master Wu's physical limit-breaking school?"

"No." Cheng Ye shook his head and answered honestly.

Although Liu Bi had already arranged for someone to deliver the martial arts videos left by Cheng Long, his martial arts talent really wasn't very good, and he couldn't grasp much of the essence from videos alone.

Moreover, the so-called physical limit-breaking school was essentially a complete set of high-intensity training plans.

By constantly increasing training volume, it forcibly improved the body's tolerance limits.

But obviously, this school wasn't suitable for his current state and goals. It was more suitable for those with mediocre talent but extremely firm will, used to defy fate.

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Miao Yang suddenly stopped walking, the curiosity in his eyes growing even stronger.

He raised his chin and pointed at the empty training ground, "Want to try?" rated through his guard and directly shook his vital energy and blood into turmoil.

"Instructor Miao, don't hold back. Defense isn't your strong suit."

Cheng Ye stood in place without pursuing, smiling as he teased.

"Cocky enough!"

Miao Yang's anger was provoked. His toes forcefully tapped the ground, and this time he completely abandoned probing, truly treating Cheng Ye as an equal opponent.

His left arm whipped like an iron rod to deflect Cheng Ye's right punch, while his right fist struck at even greater speed directly toward Cheng Ye's face, the punch wind carrying a sharp whistle as it tore through the air.

But when the punch reached halfway, Cheng Ye's left hand had already risen like an iron clamp, steadily catching his wrist.

The moment their arms crossed, Miao Yang felt a tremendous force transmit from the other's arm, shaking his vital energy and blood to stagnation, his body floating back half a step beyond his control.

He stepped repeatedly with his feet, borrowing the retreating force to spin around, his elbow stabbing toward Cheng Ye's ribs like an awl.

This was so-called close-quarters short striking.

Cheng Ye turned sideways to avoid the sharp edge, his right arm blocking horizontally.

Elbow met arm with a dull "thump," like two giant stones colliding.

Miao Yang's attack completely failed to penetrate the defense, and as Cheng Ye pushed forward with the momentum, he immediately lost his center of gravity and could only retreat three steps to stabilize his form.

Then he charged forward again, his fists alternating at extreme speed as they hammered toward Cheng Ye's chest, fist shadows flying, trying to use rapid attacks to find an opening.

"Character-thrust punching?"

Cheng Ye neither dodged nor avoided, his arms also rotating like windmills in alternating blocks, his footsteps only slightly retreating, appearing passive yet blocking all offensive moves in front of him.

Just when Miao Yang finished his set of rapid punches, his moves becoming stale and his strength slightly depleted, Cheng Ye suddenly raised his left leg, his knee striking directly toward the abdomen.

The movement was still simple and direct, yet the timing was cunning.

Under the Dao Embryo Realm's perception, such movements naturally couldn't escape Miao Yang's detection.

He instinctively contracted his abdomen and lifted his energy, his left arm urgently blocking the knee strike.

But this time, he made the same mistake as before, only blocking the action but unable to block that brutal force.

Boom.

The tremendous force exploded through his arm. Miao Yang staggered back five steps, his back heavily hitting the ring ropes, nearly falling to the ground, his chest also feeling stuffy, somewhat unable to catch his breath.

Wang Kang, standing at the edge of the ring, watched with his mouth agape. Although throughout the entire process it was Miao Yang who was actively attacking, with punches landing on flesh and attacks like a tide.

Cheng Ye looked more like a passive punching bag being beaten, only able to wildly block and counterattack.

But strangely, with every collision, it was Miao Yang who retreated, and each time he retreated further, as if Cheng Ye's body was equipped with springs that would bounce back anyone who touched him.

"If I don't use killing moves, I can't beat you anymore."

Miao Yang leaned against the railing to catch his breath, looking up at Cheng Ye with undisguised shock in his eyes.

"Your strength, defense, speed, reaction ability..."

"Special talent, activated." Cheng Ye spoke lightly, attributing everything to talent.

Miao Yang was stunned for a moment, then understanding flashed in his eyes, followed by undisguisable envy.

Obviously, he had also encountered ability users before, naturally understanding the chasm between ordinary people and ability users.

He just never would have imagined that Cheng Ye's so-called talent wasn't an ability, but transcendence!

"No wonder..." he murmured, his tone carrying some resignation, but more of it was amazement at this kind of "heaven-sent genius."

"So what's your real strength now?"

"Want to try?" Cheng Ye glanced at the upper right corner of his panel. Miao Yang's cooperation level had already shot up to 81%.

Instructor Miao was indeed straightforward, directly admitting defeat when he couldn't win, without any hesitation.

"Forget it, forget it." Miao Yang quickly waved his hands, though his tone was full of regret, "Now is a troubled time, with recruitment imminent. I don't want to get injured at this time and delay things."

He smacked his lips, savoring the feeling from just now, "The force of your punches just now... have you mastered Tiger Force?"

"Yes."

Cheng Ye nodded.

Since completely mastering Tiger Force, his punch wind carried an unstoppable ferocity.

When practicing killing moves again, he no longer felt that "insufficient strength" sluggishness.

"I'm envious..." Miao Yang was sighing, but before he finished speaking, Cheng Ye's words interrupted him.

"It's all thanks to Master Miao's good teaching." Cheng Ye smiled and cupped his hands, his tone sincere.

Master Miao?

Miao Yang was suddenly stunned, his facial expression freezing completely.

But immediately after, all the envy, all the regret, all those indescribable emotions in his eyes transformed into a gentle warmth, an exceptionally moved comfort.

"Good! Inspector Cheng is so modest, he'll definitely be another great figure who can establish schools in our Happiness City, even in the entire wasteland!"

He turned his head, looking toward the several weathered statues of old-era warriors placed at the front of the training ground, his gaze becoming infinitely nostalgic, "The old era had abundant resources, everyone was like dragons, martial arts grandmasters emerged endlessly. Now in the new era, with harsh environments and scarce resources, the new martial arts that have been passed down have also gradually declined."

"I thought I would never again see the prosperity of those years."

"Now, with resources becoming abundant again, everything is indeed developing in a good direction."

As he spoke, Cheng Ye's eyes flickered, suddenly noticing the upper right corner of his panel.

Miao Yang's cooperation level had actually soared from 81% to 100% during those few sentences just now.

Could search for Lv3 skills now?

But at this moment, Cheng Ye didn't feel the usual joy, instead smiling and cupping his hands.

"Master Miao, if there really comes such a day, everyone will know that Inspector Cheng once learned martial arts from Instructor Miao Yang for a period of time."

"Haha, Inspector Cheng, what are you saying? Whether it's you or Inspector Wang, if you want to learn, I, this old soldier, should naturally teach everything I know."

Miao Yang laughed heartily, unable to help stepping forward to pat Cheng Ye's shoulder, "Back then my master said the same thing to me..."

He imitated the tone, speaking in an old-fashioned manner, "The future ultimately belongs to you young people."

Using just one month, Cheng Ye had already caught up to roughly his level.

What remained was just grinding work, completing the remaining four powers and opening the twelve tendon gates.

But given Cheng Ye's current momentum, when that day truly came, probably only experts at the Unity of Heaven and Man realm would be able to truly spar with him.

"Xiao Kang, you start training with Master Miao."

Cheng Ye jumped down from the ring without mentioning sparring again.

He was very clear that with recruitment imminent, Miao Yang would most likely have to head to the wilderness front lines again.

At a time like this, even minor injuries could cause accidents when facing infected entities.

If he really wanted to test limits, finding Jiang Chuan, that Unity of Heaven and Man expert, would be more appropriate.

"Alright." Wang Kang was still in a daze but nimbly climbed onto the ring.

But the look in his eyes no longer held the former refusal to admit defeat, only naked admiration remained.

Taking this opportunity, Cheng Ye sat down beside the ring, his mind stirring slightly as he continuously searched for Lv2 skills.

With the 100% cooperation level boost, the success rate for Lv2 skills reached 75%. Eagle Force and Snake Force arrived without any surprises.

"Dragon, Tiger, Eagle, Snake, finally all four powers are complete."

Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief, unequipped Mobile Shooting, freed up two skill slots, and equipped both the newly acquired Eagle Force and Snake Force.

Indeed.

There wasn't the anticipated impact.

His body just swayed slightly, then completely "absorbed" the enhancements brought by the two powers.

No muscle-tearing pain, no chaotic surging of vital energy and blood, everything was natural.

What made him even more delighted was that the life force enhancement brought by Green Field Physique seemed to be actively supplying energy for the new skills.

The green field totem on his chest grew slightly warm, streams of gentle heat flowing through his blood vessels, perfectly suppressing the hunger that was about to surge up.

"This is convenient!"

Cheng Ye was delighted and reached into his bag to pull out yellow-packaged nutrition paste, tearing open the packaging and pouring it into his mouth.

He drank seventeen packets in a row. The heat flow in his body perfectly merged with the energy from the nutrition paste, and all abnormal phenomena completely disappeared.

He shook his head and stood up, trying to throw left and right punches and spin kick.

He felt that all the muscles and bones in his body were like noodles soaked in warm water. When exerting force, they were incredibly smooth, as if he were dancing, without any stiffness or sluggishness.

Just as he wanted to further sense how long it would take to master Eagle Force and Snake Force, his defense communicator suddenly vibrated.

It was Big Dragon.

Cheng Ye pressed the answer button, and Big Dragon's voice, clearly filled with excitement, immediately came through the earpiece.

"Sir, Target Five returned this morning again. Should we close the net?"