Next was the duel between Old He and Jia Liuli. Wang Zhi was actually quite curious to see how Old He would manage to counter Jia Liuli's long saber with his dagger.
Jia Liuli rested for a moment, and the two walked to the center. Old He bent low, ready to launch an attack at any moment, while Jia Liuli remained fully alert and guarded.
Old He made his move! He tested the waters with a few opening moves. The two exchanged blows back and forth; for now, Old He couldn't break through Jia Liuli's saber. As long as he couldn't get close to Jia Liuli, Old He had no chance. Wielding the dagger in his hand, Old He sought an opening in her defenses while parrying her attacks. The two remained locked in a stalemate; given enough time, an opening would surely appear. Just as Jia Liuli was passionately counterattacking, Old He suddenly launched an offensive. Jia Liuli immediately moved to block, but unexpectedly, it was a feint. Old He abandoned that fake move, ducked low, and rushed toward Jia Liuli, closing the distance! By the time Jia Liuli reacted, it was too late. Old He had grabbed her body, and the advantage of her long saber now became a disadvantage. If Jia Liuli had been holding a dagger, Old He's move would have resulted in his throat being slashed by the dagger, but the long saber in Jia Liuli's hand simply couldn't execute such a maneuver. She could only watch as Old He pulled her in close and slammed her to the ground, with the dagger pressed against her neck.
The scene at this moment was not significantly different from when Wang Zhi had just fallen to the ground. The only difference was that Jia Liuli managed to hold Old He in a stalemate long enough for him to search for an opening.
Moreover, the saber Jia Liuli was using was still sheathed. This resulted, first, in the weapon being cumbersome, and second, in the weakened force of her attacks giving Old He no pressure. If they had been fighting with real weapons drawn, Old He might not have survived Jia Liuli's recent counterattack.
Wang Zhi observed the duel between the two from the sidelines, analyzing it. Next up were Old He and Su Muying. Old He had already completed two rounds. Although he could rest, Su Muying had also observed some of his moves from the side. It felt like Old He was in a precarious situation in this fight.
"Uncle, are you rested up? Watching that just now made my hands itch," Su Muying said from the side, stretching her limbs, already eager to start.
"Let's go," Old He said, standing up after his rest.
"Don't overexert yourself. Don't say you're tired if you lose later."
"Heh heh, I won't. Friendship first, competition second."
It has begun! Wang Zhi watched the two walk to the center. Su Muying was casually brandishing her dagger, forming a stark contrast with Old He, who stood opposite her, completely focused and crouched low. One was confident, the other tense. The seemingly nonchalant Su Muying suddenly launched an attack, covering the less than five meters between them in an instant to get close to Old He, intending to strike a vital spot in one blow. Old He, who was already prepared, wouldn't let Ying succeed; he directly blocked her with the dagger in his hand. Su Muying's first strike missed. Her follow-up involved turning and circling behind Old He to thrust again. Old He dodged again and managed to grab Su Muying's arm—that grappling move again. Wang Zhi's eyes narrowed upon seeing it; he had suffered a major loss from this move just moments ago. However, he then noticed that after Old He grabbed her, Su Muying immediately jumped up, wrapped her legs around Old He's neck from behind, and with a hard wrench, forced Old He to abandon the grappling move as he tried to break free from her hold. Although Old He's stance was extremely stable, having his neck caught by her legs rendered his solid footing useless. Old He resorted to elbow strikes to attack Su Muying hanging on his back. *Bang!* Old He's elbow hit Su Muying's waist, but she didn't loosen her grip. With a twist of her body, she forcibly threw Old He down, landing on the ground herself afterward. Su Muying immediately got up, retrieved her dagger, moved in front of Old He, and lunged toward his chest. Old He braced himself with both hands, blocking her downward thrusting right hand, then kicked her away with his leg, and used that momentum to flip backward and stand up.
"Not bad, Uncle, you've got some moves," Su Muying said, clutching the waist where Old He's elbow had struck her.
"You... are also very strong," Old He gasped breathlessly, touching his neck where he had just been constrained.
In Wang Zhi's view, both had held back significantly. Since this was sparring, the goal was to stop before serious harm, meaning certain lethal moves couldn't be used. Just now, after Su Muying trapped Old He, she could have easily used a more ruthless finishing move, but she refrained out of consideration for it being only practice.
It truly was a spectacular fight.
"That's enough. Everyone, stop before going too far. The purpose of sparring is for us to discover our own shortcomings and find a direction for improvement. Let's get back to training," Wang Zhi said, standing up.
The five left the training room and resumed their exercises. All five focused primarily on physical fitness; after all, most of the opponents they dealt with were mindless Zombies. Excessive skill training was sometimes useless when facing them. If you couldn't win, you could run. As long as you could still move, the Zombies might not catch you, giving you a chance to escape alive.
On the treadmill, Wang Zhi thought of Jie Xi's ghostly agility. When would he be able to move like her? Lost in thought, Wang Zhi unconsciously increased the treadmill speed by a few notches. After a frantic run, Wang Zhi's stamina was completely depleted, and he collapsed onto the floor.
Lying on the ground, Wang Zhi gasped heavily, recalling Jie Xi's heroic figure clad in armor.
"Armor..."
With this thought, Wang Zhi suddenly sat up from the ground. Right! Jie Xi's armor was made of iron; that suit of iron armor must have weighed at least fifty kilograms. Jie Xi always wore that set of armor, and only now did Wang Zhi finally understand why she wore it all day long.
Firstly, it served as protection. Secondly, wearing the armor was equivalent to constantly training her physical fitness. One could imagine: a person carrying fifty kilograms of clothing every day, plus wielding a greatsword of unknown weight, yet still moving with such ease. What was even more terrifying was that the day she was in the training room, Jie Xi had been wearing her full battle armor!
Gods! Was she even human? If she took off that armor, wouldn't her speed create afterimages?
Thinking this, Wang Zhi decided he should also acquire armor like Jie Xi's, but that would be too cumbersome and too ostentatious.
If he concealed iron blocks inside his training suit, it wouldn't look so exaggerated—it would be low-key, something outsiders couldn't detect, just like ordinary clothing. By adding a total of thirty kilograms of iron weights into his shoes, pants, and shirt, and wearing this outfit for the entire day except when sleeping, once he fully adapted, it would be equivalent to having an extra thirty kilograms of burden. When he finally removed the weighted clothing, both his strength and speed would improve dramatically.
With this idea in mind, Wang Zhi immediately gathered his team and explained his concept to the four of them. Once they heard it, no one raised any objections, so Wang Zhi decided to start planning the clothing design.
After the team finished their training, Wang Zhi led them to the Trading Hall on the first floor. Wang Zhi first sat down on the side and sketched out his draft design.
Old He examined it and commented, "The steel plates in the shoes shouldn't all be on the sole; it will impede his gait. We need some on the upper part of the shoe as well to keep things balanced."
"Designing the pants like this, aren't you afraid they'll slip down? You should add a strap to secure the iron plates against the legs, ensuring the plates conform tightly to the limbs. Otherwise, the waist will bear the downward pull, concentrating all the stress there," Old He suggested further modifications.
"Exactly. Why did you design this shirt so loose? Change it to a compression fit," Su Muying said as she looked over Wang Zhi's schematic.
"Alright, how does this look now?" Wang Zhi showed the revised drawing to everyone.
"Mm... This is much better. Your ability to grasp the concept is quite high," Su Muying observed the design—a tight shirt, tight pants, and a pair of boots—with satisfaction.
As for the color, Wang Zhi chose the most low-key black. Wang Zhi handed the design drawing to the staff member, who then took the five individuals' measurements—height, build, etc. Wang Zhi requested that the weight of the steel plates be controlled to around 30 kilograms. Larger sizes could accommodate more weight, while smaller ones would have less. For someone smaller like Jia Liuli, it would probably only require 20 kilograms of steel plates, while the strongest member, Old He, might need to carry 35 kilograms!