CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50 NEW FEATURES OF [IMAGINARY ENEMY]_1

No changes?

Lu Yuan carefully examined his [Fighter] professional panel once more, but he found no new skills had appeared.

There were also no information prompts.

But I clearly felt that I comprehended something with that punch...

As Lu Yuan wondered, a taxi suddenly screeched to a halt in front of him.

The cab driver rolled down the window and stuck his head halfway out.

"Are you getting in?"

"Yes."

Lu Yuan opened the door and got in.

The Mosa Fight Club was too far from his home. Even driving normally, it would take twenty minutes, and walking would take at least an hour.

His match had been late tonight; it was almost ten o’clock, and the buses had already stopped running.

The car started.

The air conditioner wasn’t on in the car, but with the windows open at this time of night, the night breeze rushed in, so it wasn’t too hot.

Lu Yuan was still thinking about the punch he had just thrown.

He instinctively threw a punch, trying to recapture the feeling of that punch in the ring.

WHOOSH—WHOOSH—

A punch backed by 12 points of Strength, delivering 250 kilograms of force, was thrown in the cramped car cabin.

Lu Yuan deliberately controlled the distance of his punches.

Although each punch was aimed at the back of the front seat, none of them actually connected.

Even so, the sound of his fists tearing through the air made the taxi driver in the front repeatedly glance at the rearview mirror.

"Hey, lad!"

After five or six minutes, the taxi driver couldn’t hold it in any longer.

"Be careful, this backrest isn’t very sturdy. Don’t break it..."

"It’s fine, I won’t hit it."

"You’re making quite a bit of noise. Why don’t you wait until we reach your destination to practice?"

"...Alright."

Lu Yuan had no choice but to lower his fists.

In fact, even after throwing so many punches in succession, he had achieved nothing.

Unwilling to give up, Lu Yuan told the taxi driver, "Driver, let me know when we arrive. I’m going to take a nap."

Then he closed his eyes and entered the Consciousness Space.

"[Imaginary Enemy], activate!"

An empty arena.

On the colossal stage, a tall young man wearing the Mask of the Tanuki stood silently.

The massive screens on all four sides of the arena were dark. There wasn’t a single spectator, and it was extremely quiet.

Lu Yuan looked around, then bent down to touch the surface of the ring beneath his feet.

It feels like the scene has become a bit more realistic, he thought.

Beyond that, there weren’t any significant changes.

This was a far cry from the effect of the Level 2 [Imaginary Enemy] he had anticipated, and he couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed.

But Lu Yuan didn’t care about this right now.

He just wanted to recapture the feeling of the punch he had thrown in the ring earlier and try to reproduce it.

HUFF—

Lu Yuan took off the mask from his face and casually tossed it to the ground with a CLATTER.

He took a deep breath, looked at the Tanuki-masked man before him, and lightly twisted his neck.

"Come on... you piece of trash."

As usual, he first taunted his opponent to infuriate him and trigger his full-strength form.

Indeed, provoked by Lu Yuan’s words, the Tanuki-masked man reacted.

The calm eyes beneath the mask flickered.

Then, with a BANG, the ground beneath his feet seemed to explode with a sharp crack, and his entire figure shot towards Lu Yuan at a speed far exceeding reality.

WHOOSH—

A thick leg shot out, tearing through the air, aimed directly at Lu Yuan’s face.

The shadow of a leg rapidly enlarged in Lu Yuan’s vision; his right foot twitched subconsciously but then quickly retracted.

This time... I’ll only use my fists, he decided.

BANG!

Five minutes later, Lu Yuan slowly retracted his right fist, his face expressionless.

The blond man knelt before him, his Mask of the Tanuki already shattered.

A fragment was deeply embedded in the flesh between his eyebrows.

The light in his eyes faded rapidly. His upper body swayed slightly, then he collapsed heavily at Lu Yuan’s feet with a THUD.

No, that’s not the punch... Is it the way I’m exerting force that’s wrong?

Mulling this over, Lu Yuan slowly exited the Consciousness Space.

The taxi was still moving. At some point, the driver had started a phone call, speaking in a rural dialect from the area around Burnt Rock that Lu Yuan couldn’t understand.

I’ll try again.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes again.

Same Consciousness Space, same opponent.

This time, he switched back to using Leg Skill and finished off the Tanuki-masked man much faster, attempting to completely replicate the previous battle.

But he still couldn’t recapture that Flash of Insight.

I remember when I threw that punch, it seemed as though the cry of a crane echoed in my ears...

Without triggering the Flash of Insight passive, can I really not reproduce the Crane Cry Punch?

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment and then entered the Consciousness Space for the third time.

This time, he changed his [Imaginary Enemy], switching his opponent to Lin Zhiquin.

Let’s try to feel it out again.

「The corridor on the second floor of the martial arts dojo.」

Lu Yuan wasn’t one for pleasantries.

He kicked the door directly.

His kick, backed by over two hundred kilograms of leg strength, sent the entire door panel flying.

He strode in.

Lin Zhiquin was sitting before the coffee table, slowly stubbing out a lit cigarette in the ashtray.

"So, you’re Lin Zhiquin, huh?!..." Lu Yuan pointed at Lin Zhiquin and began to speak arrogantly.

Before he could finish his provocative words, Lin Zhiquin, who had been sitting by the coffee table, suddenly vanished.

He’s coming! Lu Yuan’s heart tightened as a familiar, bone-chilling sensation welled up from deep within him.

If things went as expected, in the next second, or the one after, he would be struck on the forehead by Lin Zhiquin’s fist and "die tragically on the spot."

However, Lu Yuan didn’t want it to end so quickly this time. As his pupils refocused on Lin Zhiquin’s extremely cold face and the relentlessly enlarging fist, he attempted to retreat and disengage from the fight; even one more second of survival would be good.

But no matter how hard he tried, his body seemed to be enveloped by an inexplicable force, completely unresponsive to his commands. He couldn’t even shift his feet the slightest bit.

Damn it!

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth, forcing his eyes wide open, staring intently at the relentlessly approaching fist.

A voice screamed in his heart: Slow down! Slower! I want to see it more clearly, aaargh!...

And then... the assaulting fist actually seemed to slow down.

Huh...?

Lu Yuan blinked, somewhat dumbfounded.

Suddenly, he found he could move again.

He took two steps forward and discovered Lin Zhiquin frozen in a punching posture, standing perfectly still. It was as if he had been struck by some acupoint-sealing technique from a martial arts novel, completely paused.

What’s going on? Lu Yuan was a bit confused, but he quickly realized.

I get it! This is the new effect of the Level 2 [Imaginary Enemy]!

In that instant, Lu Yuan felt as if he had discovered a new continent.

He had originally thought the [Imaginary Enemy] was unchanged after leveling up; he hadn’t expected the real change to be hidden here.

Slow down, speed up, forward, even rewind...

Lu Yuan explored the new functions unlocked after the [Imaginary Enemy] leveled up.

Lin Zhiquin before him moved according to his mental commands: sometimes as slow as a crawling turtle, sometimes as swift as lightning; sometimes retracting his fist and sitting down, sometimes raising his hand and standing up...

It was as if Lu Yuan held a remote control that could manipulate another person’s life; he couldn’t help but exclaim how exhilarating it was.

Interesting!

He continuously made Lin Zhiquin repeat the punching motion.

To better observe the exertion of his arm and body muscles, he even roughly tore off Lin Zhiquin’s clothes, leaving him standing shirtless in the office.

The atmosphere in the office gradually grew oppressive due to Lin Zhiquin’s accumulating anger and resentment.

Fortunately, the imposing aura contained within Lin Zhiquin’s punch would only erupt when he was actually moving.

It’s like analyzing the mechanics of this punch under a microscope; something impossible in the real world...

Lu Yuan’s eyes shone, filled with delighted surprise.

Distracted for a moment, he inadvertently released the "pause" button.

Lin Zhiquin, whose resentment had peaked after being treated like a toy for so long, had a cold glint flash in his eyes. He delivered a clean, decisive punch to Lu Yuan’s forehead...

"ARGH!"

BANG!

Lu Yuan felt his head hit something soft and padded.

He snapped his eyes open to find that the taxi driver had slammed on the brakes at some point and stopped the car.

"Shit!" The taxi driver, still gripping the steering wheel with a shaken expression, muttered, "What the hell was that? Something huge just darted right in front of us. Nearly hit it, scared the hell out of me!"

Huh?!

Hearing this, Lu Yuan’s expression flickered.