Shackles of Humanity

The moment class ended, the classroom immediately erupted in noise. The High Rank students were all eighteen or nineteen, still in their restless, youthful phase. They gathered in groups of three or five, chatting loudly, filling the air with cheerful energy. Only the girl in the front row kept her head down, seemingly writing something.

Luo Kai smoothly pulled a cigarette from his pocket and offered it to the chubby guy on his left. "Hey, what’s your name?"

The chubby guy, startled from a light doze, jumped. He first glanced out the window, then hastily pushed the cigarette back. "No way! We’re screwed if a teacher sees!"

Luo Kai felt a bit awkward. ’Right, I forgot I’m a student now.’ He put the cigarette away and extended his hand instead. "I’m Luo Kai."

The chubby guy hesitated for a moment before shaking Luo Kai’s hand with his plump one. "My name’s Ma Junkai."

There was one more class, taught again by Chang Lu. This time, the topic was military science. Luo Kai’s mind wasn’t on it at all, and he found himself growing drowsy.

"Luo Kai, why don’t you come up and answer this question." From the lectern, Chang Lu stared at him with wide eyes.

The question on the board was to explain the advantages of special operations. Luo Kai was a bit stumped. He didn’t know much about military theory and couldn’t come up with an answer no matter how hard he thought.

"You don’t know, do you? If you don’t know, you should pay attention in class. You’re High Rank students now. You could be sent directly into battle at any time. Don’t underestimate theory classes! If you become commanders, every single decision you make will determine the life or death of thousands of soldiers!"

Luo Kai was thick-skinned. He just nodded sheepishly and sat back down. Now he felt too embarrassed to slack off and started to pay proper attention. Modern warfare was vastly different from his previous life, having almost regressed to the World War II era. Frontline battles primarily relied on charges by large-scale mechanized armies, followed by infiltration and surprise attacks from powerful small squads of Martial Artists. Besides a nation’s overall strength, a formidable Martial Artist force played a huge role in determining the outcome of a war.

Martial Artist units could be seen as a type of elite special forces corps. They were mainly responsible for assassinating enemy commanders, sabotaging ammunition depots and important military installations, gathering intelligence, and so on. They were also more than capable in direct combat; there were even classic examples of just five or six Martial Artists completely annihilating an enemy force of several thousand.

This was true for internal wars, but Martial Artists were even more of a cornerstone in the fight against external threats. Only the powerful physiques of Martial Artists, combined with various types of mechanized armor, could directly confront the onslaught of a Fierce Beast Group.

The Fierce Beasts had managed to knock humanity from its throne as the dominant species on Earth, and not just through sheer brute force. Most Fierce Beasts possessed high intelligence. They also understood group tactics and infiltration warfare. Furthermore, many Fierce Beasts had special Abilities. Take Bone Beasts, for example. Not only was their entire body covered in an exoskeleton, but they were also extremely skilled at burrowing and tunneling. Even human buildings of reinforced concrete couldn’t stop their sharp claws.

Often, a massive horde of Bone Beasts would suddenly burst from underground, turning a human city in the rear into a Purgatory almost overnight.

Humanity was still helpless against such terrifying Fierce Beasts. Fortunately, the Fierce Beasts themselves were not a monolithic entity. They were divided into social and solitary types, and they hunted each other, with the strong devouring the weak. It was only because of this that humanity was able to survive with its back to the sea.

By the end of the class, Luo Kai felt he had gained a lot, and his opinion of Chang Lu had changed. The greatest difference between humans and animals is the ability to pass down knowledge and experience intact from generation to generation. People like Chang Lu were the ones who carried on that legacy.

When school let out, Luo Kai habitually reached into his pocket for a cigarette, then realized he was still in the classroom and headed outside. In any school, the only place to smoke was the bathroom.

The bathroom was thick with the smell of smoke. A few teenagers in short robes were gathered together, puffing away. They all started when a stranger entered, only relaxing when they saw it wasn’t a teacher. When they saw Luo Kai light up a cigarette and start smoking just like them, they were all taken aback. A skinny teenager crooked a finger at Luo Kai. "You, come here."

Luo Kai walked over. The teenagers eyed him with ill intent. An ordinary person would probably be terrified, but he’d walked the line between life and death several times. He wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Instead, he smiled and said, "Something I can help you with?"

The leader of the group was thin but tall. A faint scar remained on his cheek, giving him a roguish air. He looked Luo Kai up and down. "What class are you in? Haven’t seen you around."

Luo Kai kept his smile. "High Rank, Class Three. Just got to the sports school."

"Hmph... the old hag’s class. Hey, kid, you know the rules?" The other boys closed in around him, their expressions unfriendly. It looked like they wanted to give him a "new student orientation."

It took Luo Kai a moment to figure out what "rules" they were talking about. He found it a little funny. Pulling out his cigarettes, he offered them around. "Name’s Luo Kai. Hope we can all get along."

The boys’ expressions softened immediately. One of them, a pretty sturdy-looking kid, clapped Luo Kai on the shoulder. "Not bad, kid. From now on, we’ve got your back here at Pan Shi Sports School. If you run into any trouble, just drop my name, Brother Da Fei."

After finishing his cigarette and leaving the bathroom, Luo Kai wanted to go see Xiaozhuo and Erya. However, they were in the Beginner Area, and each school section was separate, so it wasn’t easy to get there. The school was so big that he ended up getting lost wandering around. In the end, he could only return to the one place he knew: the library.

The afternoon class wasn’t theory but a training session. The students of High Rank, Class Three all changed into white training uniforms and flooded toward the nearby training hall.

Only Luo Kai was wearing an out-of-place, thick jacket. The new jacket Xiaozhuo had bought for him had become tattered over the past few days. Thankfully, Luo Kai no longer cared about his appearance and didn’t feel the least bit awkward standing among a group of boys and girls in clean, white training uniforms.

Men will always notice a pretty girl first, no matter the occasion, and Luo Kai was no exception. He finally got a good look at the girl from the front row. She was indeed a beauty. She had a delicate, oval face and a slender figure, giving off a frail impression that could easily stir a man’s protective instincts.

The Body Techniques training instructor was a short, stocky, and muscular man named Gudo. He was a Martial Artist who specialized in an elbow-and-knee-based fighting style.

The High Rank students were nearing graduation, so the Body Techniques they learned were geared toward practical combat. This elbow-and-knee style was one such powerful, practical technique. Unlike styles based on fists and feet, it focused on—as the name implies—the power of the knees and elbows. The knees and elbows are the hardest parts of the human body and are also points from which it is very easy to generate force. In a real fight, its power far surpassed that of ordinary fist-and-foot Body Techniques.

When Luo Kai saw Gudo burst a sandbag with a single knee strike, his interest was piqued. The elbow-and-knee style was extremely flexible and impressively powerful—far more versatile than his own Mighty Dragon Fist.

For some time now, he had been trying to create a Fusion of his Mighty Dragon Fist and Soft Body Technique. Mighty Dragon Fist was all about overwhelming the enemy with force; every punch required unleashing all of his Power. But if he wanted to incorporate flexibility, he couldn’t use his full strength, which would naturally reduce the technique’s power. It was a fundamental, unsolvable conflict.

Gudo was a man of few words. After briefly demonstrating a few moves of the elbow-and-knee style, he returned to his seat on the sidelines, letting the students practice on their own.

Luo Kai felt like asking him some questions, but seeing Gudo’s extremely cold personality, he figured the man wouldn’t be very approachable. He dropped the idea and turned to observe the other students’ movements instead.

The High Rank students were mostly past practicing basic moves and were now focused on practical application. They paired up and began to spar with one another. In an instant, the whole training hall filled with all sorts of shouts, leaving Luo Kai standing alone on the side.

After watching for just a moment, Luo Kai found it completely dull. This rigid, turn-based "you attack, I defend" sparring had neither speed nor Power. ’It’s more like a performance,’ he thought. ’The prisoners on Nanya Island are probably stronger than these students.’