I am hurt

"Do we really have to fight?"

"We really have to."

Su Yang leaned back on the sofa, looking helplessly at Zhuang Mengli in front of him. "Are you a martial arts fanatic? What era are we in that you still want to fight all the time? A young lady like you should be more elegant. All this fighting and killing all day isn't a good look."

"Besides, you're already very strong. There are hardly any people in this world who can beat you. Plus, we're in modern society, not ancient times. You aren't trying to be the number one in the world, so what are you fighting for?"

"I never said I wanted to be number one in the world," Zhuang Mengli replied.

"Then what's the point of fighting?"

"I just simply want to spar with you, to see if you've made any progress lately."

"Sigh." Su Yang sighed. He really didn't want to fight Zhuang Mengli, but seeing the look of anticipation on her face, he didn't want to be a killjoy either.

Su Yang thought for a moment and said, "Fine, we can fight, but it has to be on my terms."

"Sure, tell me!" Zhuang Mengli smiled immediately.

"First, we set a time limit. Just five minutes. Second."

"Second what?"

"You know how fighting is. If we aren't careful, there might be some physical contact. If I accidentally touch you somewhere later, you can't get mad."

"Alright, no problem, as long as you don't intentionally smack my butt like you did just now."

"Okay, okay, deal."

"Then bring it on. We'll spar right here in the living room!"

Su Yang stood up, rolled his neck, and glanced around the room. "Later, if your furniture..."

Before Su Yang could finish, Zhuang Mengli quickly interjected, "You won't have to pay for it."

"What do you mean pay for it? Do you think I'm short on cash? I mean we should be careful not to hit the furniture."

"It doesn't matter. They're all my things anyway. If they break, it has nothing to do with you."

"Anyway, let's try to keep it light. It wouldn't be good to disturb the neighbors this late at night."

"No one lives downstairs, there's only one unit per floor, and the soundproofing is great. Stop worrying for nothing!" Zhuang Mengli stomped her foot anxiously.

Seeing this, Su Yang laughed. "Alright, alright, come on. This is pure torture late at night, but I guess I'll risk my life to accompany a beauty."

"Good, are you ready? Here I come."

"Bring it on." Just as Su Yang finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly raised his hand. "Wait!!"

"Now what?" Zhuang Mengli, who had already dashed forward two steps, was halted again.

"I suddenly remembered the last time we fought in Ya'an. You hit me with a palm strike from a distance and sent me flying. Don't tell me you have inner energy?"

"Uh... hehe, I do have a little. But you can't really call it inner energy. More accurately, it's inner strength. My grandpa taught me." Zhuang Mengli scratched her head and gave a silly smile.

"Are you kidding me?! Then why the hell would I fight you?! If I'm not careful and you blast me into oblivion with a Dragon-Subduing Palm, who am I supposed to complain to?" Su Yang yelled.

"Ugh, I just won't use my inner strength, okay?!"

"You mean if I hadn't brought it up, you really planned to use inner strength to beat me up?"

"No, I just forgot. Under normal circumstances, I never use inner strength when fighting others. It consumes a lot of my stamina, and it's so powerful that I'm afraid I might accidentally kill someone."

"Good grief! Then back in Ya'an, weren't you afraid of killing me?"

"You definitely wouldn't die. You were the first person ever to force me to use my inner strength."

Su Yang shook his head helplessly. "Fine, fine. Just don't use your inner strength!"

"Don't worry, it'll just be a pure brawl! We'll compare our hand-to-hand combat skills."

"Then come on."

As soon as Su Yang's voice fell, Zhuang Mengli's eyes changed, and she swiftly closed the distance.

Her movements were incredibly fast. Out of everyone Su Yang had fought so far, she was the fastest.

She also had the highest combat power: A-Class 90. Any higher, and it would be a qualitative leap into S-Class.

Su Yang was currently only A-Class 86. Though there seemed to be only a 4-point difference, in a real fight, it wouldn't take long for Su Yang to gradually fall at a disadvantage.

Bang!!

The first collision of their official exchange.

Zhuang Mengli launched a flying kick at Su Yang's head, her smooth, fair leg sweeping toward him with heavy momentum.

Su Yang blocked with one hand, flipped his wrist to grab Zhuang Mengli's ankle, and then abruptly thrust his right hand toward her chest.

Zhuang Mengli was caught slightly off guard by Su Yang's grab. She never expected him to aim straight for her vital areas.

Su Yang did this on purpose, naturally. He had two reasons: first, to disrupt Zhuang Mengli's rhythm, and second, purely to take a little advantage of her.

Of course, whether he actually managed to cop a feel or not, he did it intentionally. After all, his combat power was slightly lower. If he fought her head-on, he could last a hundred rounds at most.

Therefore, Su Yang decided to play dirty.

Seeing this, Zhuang Mengli didn't wait for Su Yang's hand to reach her. Pushing off with both feet, she spun in mid-air and smoothly pulled away to dodge.

"Oh ho, not bad!" Su Yang chuckled, turning from passive to active as he fiercely charged at Zhuang Mengli.

Bang!

Crash!!

Swish!!

The sounds of various combat clashes echoed throughout the spacious living room.

It was three o'clock in the morning.

Who would have thought that two young people—a handsome guy and a gorgeous girl—would be having a real, literal brawl in the living room instead of taking their fight to the bed.

Since they were young—one having practiced martial arts since childhood, and the other backed by a System—staying up for a night or two wouldn't make them sleepy.

The more they fought, the more fired up they got. Su Yang hadn't wanted to fight at first, but as the match went on, he suddenly discovered the exhilarating thrill of battling someone evenly matched.

So, he stopped using dirty tricks like smacking her butt or grabbing her chest to mess with Zhuang Mengli's mindset, and began fighting seriously.

The same went for Zhuang Mengli. Su Yang was the strongest person she had ever met in her entire life, aside from her grandfather and father.

Thus, the two fought with absolute delight. The agreed-upon five minutes had unknowingly stretched into ten.

For the first half of the time, Su Yang could handle it normally, but as the fight dragged on, he increasingly felt overwhelmed.

Zhuang Mengli's moves were starting to blur before his eyes.

Bang!

In a moment of carelessness, a heavy punch landed squarely on his cheek, sending him flying two or three meters away.

Fortunately, the living room was large enough for them to maneuver, otherwise, Su Yang would have definitely crashed into some furniture.

"Damn! That really hurt." Su Yang rubbed his cheek as he stood up.

However, the pain quickly vanished as his Healing ability kicked in.

If Healing could restore my stamina and endurance anytime and anywhere, keeping me at my peak, then even if I can't beat her, I could definitely outlast her and tire her to death!

It's a pity that Healing is only at Level 2 right now. I wonder if it will reach that level of effectiveness at Level 3 or 4.

Seeing Su Yang standing still, Zhuang Mengli, with a glisten of sweat on her forehead, tilted her head and called out, "Continue?"

"Bring it!"

"How come you aren't sweating at all? I'm getting a little tired," Zhuang Mengli asked.

"That just means my stamina is better than yours."

Although Su Yang had better stamina than Zhuang Mengli, fighting for over ten minutes still left him somewhat fatigued. His strength and speed had dropped significantly compared to the beginning.

"Then watch out for this!!"

......

Another five minutes passed, and the two of them threw punches at each other with all their might.

However, this wasn't a clash of fists against fists, but rather, their punches landed squarely on each other's chests.

Bang! The two of them took a solid punch to the body from each other before stumbling backward.

Zhuang Mengli retreated about two meters, while Su Yang clutched his chest and stumbled back three or four meters before finally coming to a halt. Because Zhuang Mengli had some natural cushioning on her chest, most of the impact was absorbed.

But Su Yang was in miserable shape; he had taken Zhuang Mengli's full-force punch head-on.

He tasted something sweet in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Pfft!"

Seeing this, Zhuang Mengli was immediately startled and quickly ran over out of concern. "You... why are you coughing up blood?"

"No... kidding..." Su Yang squeezed out through gritted teeth. He puffed out his cheeks, trying to hold back the blood that was still welling up in his throat.

His healing ability was rapidly working at this moment. After four or five seconds, his internal injuries finally recovered.

"Phew!!" Su Yang let out a heavy breath and looked at the anxious Zhuang Mengli. "You were trying to kill me, weren't you..."

"No, no... I didn't mean it. I just got a little too carried away with the fight and couldn't hold back my strength."

[Ding! Detected that the host has engaged in continuous combat with an expert, gaining insights in all aspects. Combat Power increased by 2 points. Current Combat Power: 88. Physique increased by 1 point. Current Physique: 96]

—Oho, not bad at all. I didn't take that beating for nothing.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Su Yang's eyes darted around. He clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground, faking a severe injury.

"Oh man, I'm dying. I'm hurt, my chest hurts so much."

......