Chapter 125: Turmoil at the Gym

After a profound lesson, Xinyi finally understood what it meant to give a boy a "sweet treat"—holding hands, hugging, kissing, and finally… being the innocent girl she was, her pretty face immediately flushed red. Only then did she understand why Sister Lulu had such an expression when she said that, looking every bit like a "bad girl." Lulu, known as the number one "big sister" in the gym, certainly lived up to her reputation to come up with such a method.

"Hmph, you just love teasing me!"

With a coquettish pout, Xinyi quickly turned her head to avoid Lulu's suggestive gaze, refocusing her attention on Qi Lin inside the mechanical combat chamber, not giving her a chance to tease her any further.

However, the moment she looked into the room, she suddenly revealed a look of pleasant surprise!

The situation inside the chamber was clearly a notch higher than yesterday. The humanoid mechanical target had originally been able to hold its own against Qi Lin, with a balance of offense and defense. But today...

Qi Lin seemed to have taken some kind of stimulant; his speed was significantly faster, and his strength had increased as well. That wasn't all—the kid was treating the mechanical target as if it were the man who killed his father!

Heavy punches landed continuously on the target's joints without any restraint, leaving the machine completely unable to fight back. Any occasional counterattack was suppressed so heavily that it couldn't be executed at full power; not only did it fail to stop Qi Lin's rapid assault, but it actually made him even more excited, accelerating his rhythm of attack.

Inside the chamber, it was as if a fierce tiger were ravaging a defenseless opponent. The target frequently let out loud clangs from the heavy blows. As it stumbled back in defeat, the power gauge at its heart position surged, instantly breaking through from 278 to the 282kg mark.

"Ah! He broke it! It's 282!"

"He's so amazing!"

Although Lulu and Xinyi had watched Qi Lin perform several times, every time he made a breakthrough in his heavy punches, they became incredibly excited.

Lulu unconsciously clenched her own not-so-tough fists, mimicking Qi Lin’s rapid strikes. Even though she lacked a tenth of his power, she still wore an expression of intense excitement and thrill.

282kg!

That was already equivalent to the advanced level of a professional boxer!

It was hard to believe that this was the strength of a boy not yet eighteen...

Thinking that Qi Lin was about the same age as her, the two girls couldn't help but feel a strange sensation. Because... they still weren't used to equating the tiger-like man in the combat chamber with the boy who gorged himself at the Milai Restaurant—the contrast was just too great!

It was hard to believe that a young boy, who looked like an ordinary kid a moment ago, could become so manly... so powerful the moment he stepped into the gym!

Incredible...

As she sighed with emotion, Lulu, who loved sports and boxing, suddenly had a thought:

"If he were my boyfriend... that would be pretty great!"

Of course, this thought only lasted for an instant. There were plenty of people in this gym who wanted to protect her, and she didn't feel like she ever needed protecting anyway.

She just hoped that Qi Lin could help her resolve that particular trouble... nothing more.

***

Eleventh-floor Operations Hall of the Gym

Several staff members had also noticed that the situation in the mechanical combat chamber was different from usual, and they immediately forgot about the bets they had just placed.

Adjusting their glasses, they stared nervously at the gauge on the big screen that had climbed toward the 283kg mark. While breaking into a cold sweat, a middle-aged man who looked like a supervisor quickly ordered the person next to him:

"Something's wrong! The mechanical target seems different from usual. Pull up the data and take a look!"

"Right away!"

Small-time gambling was just for fun, but they didn't neglect their work. As he agreed, someone quickly used the voice-control device to call up the data from the combat chamber...

Seeing the initial data, the staff members immediately breathed a sigh of relief:

"Oh, it's not the first mode... I guess someone temporarily set a different data mode. It's much lower than the first mode Qi Lin originally set."

"Damn, I was wondering how the target could suddenly become so weak, getting beaten without being able to fight back. I thought the machine was broken..."

"Whew! You scared me..."

As the staff relaxed, someone immediately said:

"Uh, so, does that mean today's bet is void? The mode wasn't set right, and that kid Qi Lin didn't notice..."

"Screw you! We aren't betting on who wins or loses! Does this have anything to do with strength? By the way, you just bet that he wouldn't break 282.5..."

"Damn, why do you remember that so clearly?"

"Don't talk nonsense! Even brothers have to settle accounts clearly! Hurry up and transfer the money..." For a time, the monitoring hall erupted once again with the sounds of gambling and debt collecting.

***

Inside the mechanical combat chamber, I had no idea that this gym, which I thought was very quiet and rarely visited, had already gathered quite an audience.

I remained lost in my cathartic attack.

During this time, I couldn't remember how many punches and kicks I had thrown, nor did I know how many heavy blows had landed on me. I didn't care about that; I just poured all my strongest power into this temporary "enemy."

I shouted wildly in my heart:

"Ye Gang, you bastard!"

"Making me lose face in front of the ladies, I'm going to kick your balls off!" (The mechanical target trembled slightly.)

"I'll ruin your face, poke out your eyes..."

This release lasted for nearly twenty minutes. When the tireless "mechanical target" began to slowly realize that my rhythm was slowing down and started to pull itself together to counterattack, I, having no masochistic tendencies, immediately gave the command to abort the program. Then, I quickly adjusted to the warm-up program I had designed previously, letting my highly tense muscles slowly calm down, and finally...

I sat down on the floor, leaning back in the corner of the room to rest:

Whew! That felt good!!

I didn't know who set this program today... it was really not bad... I hadn't tried ravaging a humanoid machine like this in a long time. Experiencing it once in a while was a truly enjoyable pleasure...

Just then, an electronic chime sounded:

"There are people waiting outside. Please decide within three minutes whether to continue training or leave the mechanical combat chamber."

"Huh?" I glanced curiously at the closed electronic door: People waiting? Heh, that's a novelty! At this time, there were actually others coming here.

I stood up immediately and walked out of the room.

To my surprise, the moment I stepped out, I saw a big guy a head taller than me, standing at the door with his sturdy arms crossed, looking down at me with a very contemptuous expression. Standing next to him were the two girls who looked quite familiar. Wait? Aren't these the girls who saw me at the Milai Restaurant...

Uh!

Did they have any connection to this annoying "big ox"?

While I was secretly observing and feeling curious, the "big ox" seemed to notice my gaze falling on the beauties beside him and immediately roared with annoyance:

"What are you looking at? Get lost! Getting this tired from such a measly amount of training... you have the nerve to come to a place like this!" His tone was filled with extreme disdain and contempt, written all over his face. He was as annoying as could be.

I furrowed my brow, suppressing the urge to knock him to the ground, and replied in an icy tone: "Big ox... listen to me carefully. First, you don't own this place; second, you're the one blocking the way... pig brain! Move!" As I spoke, I had already quickly summoned the strength that had just calmed down... ready at any moment to teach this "big ox" who spoke with his muscles a lesson in "self-defense."

Actually, if it weren't for the ladies being present, I wouldn't have cared about their relationship and would have just taught him a lesson right there...

Considering I didn't want to leave a too-violent impression on the ladies, I decided to endure it for the moment—after all, this wasn't the Mecha Infantry Academy... ladies wouldn't like a violent boy too much.

Sure enough!

As soon as the words "big ox" left my mouth, the guy couldn't take it anymore...

His eyes glared, and he clenched his fists, ready to fight.

"Stop!"

A sharp, girlish shout came from Lulu, who was standing to the side. It not only stopped the big ox from his suicidal attempt but also made me retract my stance.

I looked at the girl who spoke with annoyance, then glanced at the big ox who was reluctantly pulling back his fists, wondering to myself: What is the relationship between this girl and the big ox?

However, the "big ox's" expression at this moment became even stranger...