Chapter 467: Instinct
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Taylor looked at the spiritless young man in front of him. He was an experienced close range mech pilot, and could of course read his opponents well. What he saw was baffling - what was a man like this doing participating in this test?
There were two parts to the combat test. The first was in hand-to-hand combat, and the other mech combat. Both components were dangerous in their own ways. The hand-to-hand combat test right now could result in minor injuries, or even death.
"Are you sure you want to participate in this test?" Taylor asked the young man out of concern. Taylor was strong and looked brutish, but he was not unkind.
The other man did not react, his eyes half closed. It looked like he was sleeping.
Taylor knitted his brows together, offended. He had warned him out of kindness, but was completely ignored in turn.
With that, Taylor humped coldly, stepped forward and reached out with his right hand towards Ye Chong's shoulder. As the other man did not respond, Taylor decided to just fling him out of the arena.
Taylor's move won the admiration of the hiring staff who were watching. His move was clear cut and fast, as a professional would have done.
Taylor was an examiner, and it was only that he was capable. He had been conducting a few rounds of these combat tests earlier, and the audience had witnessed his moves. Everyone there believed that the young man was about to be thrown out of the arena. However, some of the hiring staff thought that they were too easy on the young man. However, knowing that Taylor was in charge of the test, they kept their thoughts to themselves.
What happened next in the arena was completely unexpected!
Ye Chong's condition did not improve. Shang's training conflicted heavily with his natural instincts. The mental strain on him caused his mind to simply blank out.
However, despite his terrible condition, there was one thing that he had yet to lose!
Instinct! Honed by thousands and millions of training sessions, forged in the crucible of repeated encounters with life threatening battles - his instinct!
Ever since his life began on the trash planet, Ye Chong had grown up with combat as an integral part of his life. After all these years, combat was already second nature to him.
Hence, when he detected the danger that was coming, Ye Chong's body moved on its own.
The rest of his body remained still while his right shoulder pulled back, and his hanging right arm reached up smoothly like a snake, striking towards Taylor's right hand like a thunderbolt. The power of the September Lan Family's secret technique - its second-to-none ability in muscle control was unleashed in all its glory.
If Taylor's right arm was caught by Ye Chong's right arm, the former's arm would surely be broken in several parts.
The unexpected turn of events shocked everyone outside the arena!
Taylor's eyes turned cold. He flipped his right wrist and met Ye Chong's right hand with his.
Slam!
The clear sound of forceful contact reverberated in the entire arena. It was not the sound of punching or blocking, but more like a the crack of a whip.
The clear sound was like the opening note of a melody.
Slam slam slam slam …
Without warning, a series of thunderclaps sounded rapidly, one after another.
Those who were watching stared in astonishment. They were thoroughly surprised. What was happening now was completely different from what they expected. The two men traded blows in moves so quick that it was hard to make them out individually.
Taylor's attack seemed to have triggered some part of Ye Chong. With the external stimulus, Ye Chong's body reacted in the most natural way - it retaliated!
The battle was unusually fierce. Within the arena, the two men moved quickly, leaving afterimages that blurred out the original fighters. The viewers could only see human-shaped shadows moving about.
However, the unceasing sounds of attacking and blocking one another made the fight even more exciting to watch. Such an awesome battle could hardly be found anywhere. The spectators leaned forward as much as they could, opening their eyes wide, for fear of missing a single detail.
From the looks of it, the two men fought with equal prowess. However, the level of ability that they showed was shocking. How good was Taylor? When he was testing the other interviewees, the people had roughly guessed his worth. However, from this current test, it seemed that the man had hidden most of his full potential. Even the few people who had passed the test earlier paled right now, grateful that they were not tested like this.
Taylor's true strength was impressive, but understandable. After all, how could a person become an examiner without the ability to back him up?
More shocking was the man fighting against Taylor right now - Number 231! From the beginning, everyone had thought that he was probably some useless hoodlum, but now it seemed that he was actually very strong. Of the few hundred people watching, none could tell that he was faking it. This skill that he demonstrated was an unpleasant surprise to many, and one of them was Brahm. He recalled the way he spoke to the young man earlier and felt a chill ran up his spine.
Finger, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee, leg - there was no body part that this young man could not twist to his own will. The usual physical logic that bound the average human body did not seem to apply to him.
Close range combat was Taylor's specialty. He never expected to be suppressed by someone else using the same technique!
Suppressed - that was the word. To outsiders, both of them seemed to be equally strong. However, Taylor knew that he was actually completely under the control of his opponent!
The other man could attack in physically impossible ways, his attacks coming from the most unimaginable angles. Moreover, the man had enough power behind his punches. Fighting in this small arena, Taylor could feel that the strength in his opponent's attacks never faltered, while his own hands were growing numb.
A strange body, making strange attacks, but stranger still was the expression on the man's face. It was wooden and inexpressive. The transparent gray eyes looked unfocused. Every time he met the man's eyes, Taylor felt a chill crawling up his spine.
Ye Chong's mind was blank. He did not know what he was doing. His mind was overly exhausted that he succumbed to a state of unawareness. Everything he did was not the product of prolonged combat training.
His condition was a very unusual state. Everything he did was out of instinct. If his body sensed danger, it would immediately react. The reaction was quick, requiring no explicit thought to execute it. That was why, driven by instinct, Ye Chong was able to move so quickly, and his reactions were more straightforward and sensitive. It was in this state that Ye Chong finally reached a whole new level in terms of the speed of his hands.
Ye Chong's hands could already move at a speed that would astound most people, and now, he was even faster. Taylor could only hold them off with no room to do anything more against his continuous attacks. However, little did he know that, due to lesser attacks from him, the degree of retaliation that he received from Ye Chong decreased as well.
Ye Chong's every reaction was in response to threatening external stimuli. When Taylor could not afford to make any attack moves, Ye Chong fought back less as a result of instinct.
While Taylor could not understand the reason for it, he did notice the pattern, and it was a huge relief. Once he stopped initiating attacks, the opponent would also fight back less.
A couple of times he slowed down in his moves, and as expected, the other man did not attack back as much. Once, he tried to first hold back his attacks, then suddenly strike out!
The strike nearly cost him his life.
Before he could even reach the corner of the other man's sleeve, his opponent seemed to have foreseen his attack, and suddenly hit back with an abrupt increase in intensity. Had he not been prepared for it, Taylor would have died right then. However, a few punches barely grazed past his face, and the pain and shock from it was enough to make him sweat.
This strange young man was like a hedgehog, not to be touched. If you leave it alone, it would be no danger. If you accidentally touched it, the sharp spikes would definitely prick you.
Taylor had the feeling that this strange young man was a little off in the head, but he was also grateful of it. Had his opponent been normal, this fight would have turned out differently.
Now, his highest priority was to make the strange young man stop fighting. As he tried desperately to block his opponent's attacks, Taylor thought hard. He dared to speak up and leave an opening. It would be fatally dangerous to present an opening when fighting against someone so strong.
Suddenly, an idea came to him.
Hence, the audience watched something weird happened.
Both men began to slow down their movements. The afterimages disappeared. It became easier and easier to follow their every move.
Both men traded blows in slower and slower rhythm. In the next moment, it was like watching two elderlies trade punches.
This was puzzling to the audience. What kind of fight was this?
Taylor slowly relaxed himself, moving his around softly like waving off mosquitoes, afraid to trigger any crazy reaction from the young man again.
It worked, to his surprise. He made himself move even more slowly and non-threateningly, and his opponent's attacks immediately lessened drastically.
When the time came, Taylor stepped back abruptly like a startled rabbit. Just as he was out of range of the young man, the latter immediately froze on the spot.
Taylor stared at the rigidly standing young man before him, making sure that he would not fight back again, and heaved a long sigh of relief. He wiped off the cold sweat gathering on his forehead, saw the people who were watching them with astonishment, and blushed.
Fortunately, he was as skilled in combat as he was in formalities. He cleared his throat and announced, "Number 231 has passed the test. The next test is mech combat."
Good thing he was only in charge of hand-to-hand combat. If this was an actual fight … Taylor shuddered at the thought.