Rules of the Strange: I Can See Through All the Weird

Closer to home.

Qin Yu placed the protective gear next to the mat and stood up straight.

The blush on his face hadn't completely faded, but he already gave off a different vibe.

Not the blushing part-time coach, nor the iceberg in the dungeon who coldly tells you to "get lost."

He stood on the training mat, his center of gravity slightly lowered, and the lines of his shoulders and back changed from relaxed to a controlled tightening, like a knife being held, not yet drawn, but already giving the impression that it has a blade.

"Martial arts are different from items in this world." He spoke, his voice lower than usual, his pace slow, as if to make sure every word was worth hearing.

"Items will run out. Skills won't be available until their cooldown is over. But actions your body has memorized won't disappear."

"Who among you has a foundation in this subject?"

Xu Ning: "I've seen the tutorial."

Qi Tong: "I've taken some kind of super-strength pills."

Qin Yu paused for a second. "...What?"

"The Body Improvement Pill, 300 points per pill, directly increases strength with no side effects." Qi Tong counted on her fingers as if reciting an instruction manual. "After taking it, I slapped my thigh and curled up on the sofa for three minutes in pain."

Xu Ning's lips twitched slightly. Qin Yu's expression remained unchanged, but his Adam's apple bobbed once.

He walked to the equipment rack, took down a grip strength tester, and handed it to Qi Tong.

"grip."

Qi Tong took it and squeezed it with one hand. The hand gripper jumped to 147, then made a "click" sound—not the sound of the reading reaching its limit, but the sound of the spring breaking.

Qin Yu looked at the broken hand gripper, took it from Qi Tong's hand, and put it back on the shelf.

Then he took a new one and handed it to Xu Ning. Xu Ning squeezed it; it was forty-three.

"The average grip strength for a normal adult woman is between thirty and forty. You are at the normal level. She—" Qin Yu looked at Qi Tong, "is more than three times the normal level."

"Then I'm pretty amazing?" Qi Tong's eyes lit up.

"No." Qin Yu's tone was resolute. "You're in the most dangerous state right now. You're strong, but you don't know how to use it. It's like giving a top-of-the-line sports car to someone who's never learned to drive—they'll flip over on the first bend."

Qi Tong's face fell. Xu Ning silently put the forceps back on the stand and retreated to a safe distance.

"Test it first. Xu Ning, grab her wrist."

Xu Ning stepped forward and grabbed Qi Tong's right wrist. Her fingers were slender, but her position was precise. Qin Yu noticed that her thumb and forefinger were positioned perfectly on the outside of her wrist joint, with her thumb pressing above the carpal artery.

This doesn't seem like the level of someone who "watched a tutorial".

"Did you use force?" Qin Yu asked.

"I used all my strength."

"Okay. Qi Tong, raise your hand."

Qi Tong raised his right hand.

Xu Ning was lifted off the ground, her toes dangling above the mat.

She glanced down at her dangling feet, her expression shifting from indifference to bewilderment, and then from bewilderment to a kind of indescribable helplessness.

Qin Yu closed his eyes briefly.

Then he let Xu Ning land, turned around and took out two weighted sandbags from the equipment rack, one weighing ten kilograms and the other twenty kilograms.

He hung both of them on the wrist that Qi Tong had raised, and then let Xu Ning grab them again.

"Raise it."

Qi Tong lifted it up. The sandbag swayed, but Qi Tong didn't budge.

"...Add two more."

Finally, Qi Tong had four sandbags hanging from her wrists, weighing a total of sixty kilograms.

Xu Ning was like a cat hanging from a tree branch, suspended in the air with her toes off the ground, her expression showing that she had given up struggling.

Qin Yu took a deep breath.

"Do you know what your problem was?" He gestured for Xu Ning to let go, and after they were both standing still, he faced Qi Tong. "When she grabbed your wrist, you could have easily broken free. But you only used brute force. You were competing with her in strength, not skill."

"What if you encounter someone stronger than you? Someone with more items than you? Someone who's unpredictable?" Qin Yu's voice wasn't loud, but every question hit the same point: "The strength you're so proud of now probably wouldn't even rank in the top three in a dungeon."

Qi Tong fell silent.

Qin Yu saw her purse her lips; it wasn't an angry look, but rather an expression of having been hit where it hurt.

She listened to what she heard.

"So what should I do?"

Qin Yu walked up to her. "Clench your fist."

Qi Tong clenched her fist. Qin Yu pinched her fist with three fingers and pressed down hard.

Qi Tong's wrist was bent at an angle, and her whole body was forced to bend her knees due to the shift in her center of gravity.

"You're several times stronger than me. But I can make you lose your balance with just three fingers. Because a person's wrist can only bend in one direction. Find that direction, and you can control the greatest force with the least amount of effort."

He released his grip. "Let Xu Ning grab you again. Try to break free. Don't use brute force, use a spin."

Qi Tong reached out her hand again. Xu Ning grabbed her wrist.

This time, Qi Tong didn't pull back, but instead twisted her wrist outwards slightly. The movement wasn't large, but her wrist bone pressed right against the gap between Xu Ning's thumb and forefinger. Xu Ning's fingers were forced to loosen one.

"Continue," Qin Yu shouted from the sidelines.

Qi Tong continued spinning in that direction. Xu Ning's entire hand was pulled away by her spinning motion, and her fingers slipped off her wrist.

"Does it hurt?" Qi Tong asked quickly.

Xu Ning flexed her fingers. "It doesn't hurt. But I can't grip anything; the bones are digging into my thumb and forefinger, making it numb."

"That's the skill." Qin Yu picked up the protective gear and handed it to the two of them. "Brute force isn't your weapon, it's just one of the tools you can use. Strength is a car, skill is the driver's license. Right now, you only have the car, not the license."

Qi Tong took the protective gear. "So my rotation was correct?"

"The direction is right. But the amplitude is too large." Qin Yu stretched out his hand. "Let me grab it again. This time, your goal is to achieve the same effect with the smallest amplitude."

Qi Tong grabbed his wrist—and then suddenly twisted it.

Qin Yu's arm trembled slightly, starting from his shoulder. His expression remained cold, but his ears began to turn red at a visible speed.

"...Not bad." Qin Yu withdrew his hand, a slight tension in his voice, "But this movement requires good body stability. Your lower body isn't stable enough."

He walked to the center of the mat and gestured for the two people to stand in front of him.

"The premise of using brute force to overcome all techniques is that your lower body is solid enough. No matter how strong you are, if your lower body is unstable, it's like putting a rocket launcher on a canoe; it will capsize before it even hits anyone. Next, I'll teach you how to stand firmly."

He squatted down and demonstrated a horse stance. Then he stood up and said to Qi Tong, "You do it. Squat down."

Qi Tong squatted down. Her posture wasn't quite right, but her core was engaged and her center of gravity was lowered. Qin Yu noticed that her knees weren't buckling inwards and her toes weren't pointing outwards.

"Have you trained before?"

"No. But I did move goods in the kitchen when I was working a summer job." Qi Tong kept in a horse stance and looked up at him. "A box of seasonings weighs twenty kilograms. It's easier to move it by squatting than by bending over."

Qin Yu was silent for a moment. Then he squatted down in front of Qi Tong, looking her in the eye.

"You don't need to start from scratch. What you lack isn't strength, but knowing how to use what you already have. Your body has already memorized many useful techniques; what you need to do is take those techniques from the kitchen to the fighting mat."

Qi Tong blinked. "Didn't you say I was a sports car without a driver's license?"

"The sports car is real. The driver's license can be replaced."

Xu Ning stood to the side, watching the two people, one squatting and one lying flat. She suddenly spoke up: "And me? What kind of car am I?"

Qin Yu didn't even look up. "You're an autopilot. You can solve any problem on your own. But you need someone to help you apply the brakes."

Xu Ning paused for a second. Then she picked up her water glass, took a sip, and said softly, "...Pretty accurate."

Qin Yu stood up, dusted off his knees, and resumed his coaching tone: "Keep practicing. Qi Tong, try combining the spin from before with your current lower body movement again. Xu Ning, grab her wrist again, with all your might."

Xu Ning gripped Qi Tong's wrist. This time, Qi Tong didn't rush to turn; she first made sure her lower body was stable, then twisted her wrist outwards. The range of motion was very small, Qin Yu estimated it to be no more than ten degrees. Xu Ning's fingers were completely pushed open by her wrist bones.

"I feel relieved," Xu Ning said.

"How was it this time?" Qi Tong asked Qin Yu.

Qin Yu did not answer directly. He walked up to Qi Tong, bent down, checked her foot spacing and knee angle, and then readjusted the protective gear by one notch.

"Practice ten more times," he said. "Each time, the movements should be smaller than the last. I want you to use the fewest movements and the shortest amount of time to make it impossible for the other person to catch you."