In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

In the evening, Zhang Yong sat at his desk, the nib of his pen gliding across the paper.

He was writing the third chapter of "The Kingdom on Wheels," in which the protagonist's team salvaged a scrapped Toyota Crown from a junkyard. The six of them squatted on the ground, disassembling the automatic transmission and reverse-engineering the meshing parameters of the gear set.

As Zhang Yong was writing, something came to mind.

You can't go to Wei Dabiao's place empty-handed. At that time, it was considered impolite to visit someone without bringing anything.

The food in Jinsong is different from that in Tongxian. Tongxian has a more Hebei-style flavor. There are several time-honored pastry shops at the intersection of Jinsong Road, which offer a wide variety of pastries, including flaky pastries, fried pastries, and honey-preserved pastries.

Zhang Yong kept this in mind and continued to bury himself in writing.

I wrote until midnight, accumulating 5,000 words, then put down my pen and went to sleep.

……

Early the next morning.

Zhang Yong went downstairs and headed straight for the reception room.

Grandpa Chen was drinking tea from an enamel mug when he saw him arrive, and he pushed the telephone forward a little.

"Another fight?"

"Yes, it's for Tongxian County."

Zhang Yong dialed Wei Shuyun's number, and it rang three times before being answered.

"Feed?"

"It's me, Zhang Yong."

"Oh!" Wei Shuyun's voice brightened immediately. "Why so early?"

Zhang Yong got straight to the point: "I'd like to bring you some local food for the tasting event next Saturday. What would you like to eat?"

A soft chuckle came from the other end of the phone: "Don't you still owe me Honey Three Knives?"

Zhang Yong slapped his forehead: "Right! Honey-glazed sesame cakes! I'll get them for you. Anything else?"

Wei Shuyun thought for a moment: "The pastry shop at the intersection near your house, it looked really delicious when I passed by last time, but I never got to try it. Just pick a few of the nice-looking ones."

"no problem."

"Oh, right—" Wei Shuyun added, "My dad said you should come early on the day of the tasting event. He wants you to help check if the venue setup is okay."

"Okay, I'll leave early."

"Oh, and by the way, my mom... wanted to see you the other day to thank you for all the help you've given my family."

"Okay, then I'll buy more snacks. Otherwise, we won't have enough to eat."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yong came out of the reception room.

As soon as I stepped out the door, I saw someone.

Sun Lei, carrying a garbage bag, walked awkwardly toward the garbage can.

Hey, you're walking with the wrong gait now.

What's wrong with this kid?

……

The motorcycle started, and a puff of white smoke came out of the exhaust pipe.

Zhang Yong exited the community gate and turned north along Jinsong South Road.

The road was full of potholes, making it difficult to accelerate, so he rode slowly at a speed of 20 mph.

Just past the second intersection—

[Driving Lv.6: Ambient Perception - Approximately 60 meters behind, a vehicle is following at a constant distance and turning in sync.]

Zhang Yong glanced in the rearview mirror but couldn't see any unusual vehicles.

But this time it wasn't the vague intuition of yesterday; the system gave clear feedback.

He didn't turn around.

I kept the accelerator steady and turned onto the main road of Chaoyang Road.

Chaoyang Road is crowded with people and vehicles, with buses, tricycles and bicycles all mixed together.

After merging into traffic, the system reported again that the follower had been forced to move more than 150 meters away, and then the feeling of being watched disappeared.

With so many people around, the other party didn't dare to get too close.

Zhang Yong remained calm and headed straight for the Chaoyang District Gymnasium as planned.

Upon reaching the entrance, he parked his vehicle and glanced around—two old-fashioned bicycles and a three-wheeled motorcycle, exactly the same as yesterday. There were no extra vehicles.

Row.

Go upstairs.

……

On the second floor training ground, Coach Yang was leading Dazhuang and three other trainees in target practice.

The sounds of banging echoed between the concrete walls, mixed with Yang Cheng's energetic shouts.

Seeing Zhang Yong push the door open and come in, Yang Cheng shoved the target into Da Zhuang's arms.

"You're here? Dazhuang, you two continue."

Da Zhuang grinned, revealing his fangs: "Zhang Yong! I'm not going to go easy on you today!"

"Stop talking nonsense, come on."

Warm up for ten minutes. Running, stretching, and shadowboxing.

Then they went on stage.

Following Coach Yang's instructions, Dazhuang controlled his strength to 50%, focusing on jabs, hooks, and low kicks.

Use three techniques in turn.

Round 1.

Da Zhuang's swinging punch came from the right side, and Zhang Yong raised his arm to block it, his entire forearm going numb from the impact.

He was immediately followed by a low roundhouse kick to the outside of his thigh, which made him wince in pain.

But he didn't back down.

[Auto Repair Lv.5: Torque Perception], Da Zhuang's swing punch originates from the rear foot pushing off the ground, transmitting power through the waist rotation to the fist, with a lever arm of approximately 0.7 meters and a speed of approximately...

No need to calculate. Just remember this rhythm.

At the end of the first round, Zhang Yong had been hit three times.

second round.

Da Zhuang threw a similar swinging punch, but this time Zhang Yong didn't take it head-on. He stepped back, leaned his upper body slightly backward, and the punch grazed his nose.

Da Zhuang laughed: "Wow! That's awesome."

Following closely was a low whip kick, Zhang Yong raised his knee to block, shin against shin, a head-on collision.

pain.

In the second round, he was only hit once.

Round three.

Da Zhuang threw a jab, and Zhang Yong tilted his head to the left as the fist flew past his ear.

Following up with a hook punch, Zhang Yong braced his left arm and then delivered a right straight punch to Da Zhuang's arm guard.

It wasn't very powerful, but the timing was perfect.

Da Zhuang's low roundhouse kick came again, and this time Zhang Yong didn't block. He pushed off with his back foot and cut half a step to the front, directly closing in on Da Zhuang's inside.

Da Zhuang's kick missed.

"Holy crap!" Da Zhuang exclaimed in surprise. "How did you know I was going to kick?"

Zhang Yong didn't answer, but returned to his original position, panting heavily.

In the third round, he was not hit.

System pop-up window:

[Fighting Lv.0: Beginner Progress: 33% → 52%]

[High-frequency effective combat interactions detected; learning speed increased by 15%]

Coach Yang stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed, his expression shifting from serious to solemn.

He can see it clearly.

In the first round, this kid just got beaten up. In the second round, he learned to dodge. In the third round, wow, he could even predict his opponent's moves!

He doesn't rely on experience, but on instinct; he's really got some skills.

During the break, Coach Yang had the trainees drink some lightly salted water.

When it was Zhang Yong's turn, he asked, "You said yesterday you were a car mechanic?"

Zhang Yong took the water and nodded.

"When you tighten a screw, do you mentally calculate how much force to use?"

Zhang Yong paused for a moment, thought for a while, and honestly said, "It's somewhat similar. The brain directs the hands to work, and they can clearly explain how much effort to put in."

Yang Cheng nodded, fully understanding. Some things are innate; this kind of refined control is very difficult to teach.

He patted Zhang Yong on the shoulder: "Come on. I think you have potential. If you train well, I'll take you out to compete."

"Coach, the way you're talking sounds like you're trying to sell a course."

"You brat!"

……

at the same time.

Across the street from the stadium, under a crooked locust tree.

A man wearing a baseball cap propped up a large bicycle with its engine strapped to its triangular position next to a utility pole, pulled a small notebook from his pocket, and wrote a line:

"9:47, entered Chaoyang District Gymnasium."

He closed the notebook, put it back in his pocket, got on his bike, waited by the roadside for two hours, and then slowly headed south.

Fengtai District. Public telephone booth on the roadside.

The man in the baseball cap dropped in a two-cent coin and dialed a long-distance number in Baoding.

"Hey boss. The guy's gone into the stadium and's been there for almost two hours. He's probably going out for dinner now."

"Understood. Keep an eye on it."

Click. The call ended.

……