ICUGW Chapter 27

Chapter 27 Clues

Zhu Ning lost once.

A person with common sense would have chosen to participate in basic training and then decide to take the assessment again when they are finally ready. Unfortunately, Zhu Ning has no common sense. She directly skipped the basic training and went straight to the assessment, believing that getting beaten would help her improve more.

Zhu Ning's fighting skills can be said to be unconventional, but she has well-developed motor skills and learns things quickly. Moreover, there are no requirements in this assessment, so she can just fight freely.

She thought her unconventional ways would be enough, but when she met the witchers, she realized how far behind she was.

The mechanical girl didn't expect Zhu Ning to challenge her again, so she asked, "Are you sure?"

Zhu Ning nodded. She mainly wanted to test the effects of her genetic medicine. Not to mention that after the injection, she felt a surge of anger, but she had nowhere to vent it.

She was desperate to have a fight with someone.

The mechanical girl recalled how she had just broken Zhu Ning's shoulder blade and was a little embarrassed. "How about practicing with me first?"

This was meant to give Zhu Ning some leeway, but Zhu Ning shook her head, "No need to hold back."

The mechanical girl understood that for fighters, purposely holding back and letting them win would be disrespectful to them.

“Wow,” the onlookers said, “Where did her confidence come from?”

"Is she provoking the girl? Fight, fight!"

Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng watched worriedly. This time, they were under even greater psychological pressure. If Zhu Ning lost again, she would definitely be cursed to death.

People are keen on putting others on a pedestal, but once they see a flaw, they would be the first to drag the person down from that same high ground they put the person in.

In no time, a circle of people watching the fun nearby formed. Some brought snacks and small stools, while some were placing bets.

"I heard she just took a genetic drug. Who do you think will win?"

"Zhu Ning has a good chance of winning. She always surprises people."

"It's hard to say," another person replied, "Chu Ling is a member of the Grey Eagle team, and her record has always been excellent."

"Gray Eagle?" someone said. "Weren't they the team who thought they had completed their work, but ended up getting a contaminated area rating error? In the end, the whole team had to write a self-criticism paper and get a 50% pay cut."

"Yeah, do you think this is a case of an enemy meeting an enemy?"

Zhu Ning: “…”

She was just listening casually, but she didn't expect to catch a stray.

The good news was that she finally knew the name of the mechanical girl–Chu Ling. The bad news was that Zhu Ning seemed to have offended her before.

The last time they met in the sewer, the entire witcher squad was wearing armor. At that time, a man passed by Li Nianchuan and called them weaklings. Zhu Ning didn't even notice if there were any girls on the team.

No wonder Chu Ling immediately challenged her when she went up to take the assessment. Chu Ling was probably taking the opportunity to take revenge and beat Zhu Ning up.

She was really unlucky. Next time, she should just add her purification value to her luck value. Maybe it would increase her luck a bit?

"Get ready." The fighting teacher found the news very interesting and reminded the two to get into shape.

The rules of the fighting training ground were very gentle. After all, they are all colleagues, not enemies; no one would really want to kill. The rule states that only the feet can touch the ground. If any other part of the body touches the ground, they lose.

Zhu Ning shook hands with Chu Ling, and just as they backed away from each other, Chu Ling rushed over.

But it's different now.

Zhu Ning could clearly sense the change in herself. After becoming mechanized, Chu Ling's speed was faster than that of an ordinary person. During their first fight, Zhu Ning couldn't even see Chu Ling's moves clearly, and by the time she realized what was happening, she had already been knocked to the ground.

This time Zhu Ning could see clearly, as if a slow-motion effect was superimposed on her opponent. She could see Chu Ling's every move.

Zhu Ning reacted almost instinctively, leaning slightly sideways as Chu Ling's fist grazed her nose. At the same time, she bent her knees and kicked Chu Ling in the stomach. Chu Ling reacted quickly, pressing down with one hand to block the blow.

Looking at Chu Ling's mechanized hands, Zhu Ning thought she had kicked a wall. Half expecting her leg to be crippled, Zhu Ning quickly retreated.

Unexpectedly, her leg was still there.

At most, she felt strange on the tip of her toes, but there was no pain at all.

'Is this the power of the genetic drug?'

Her skin was hard and tough, like a layer of soft armor.

Zhu Ning tilted her neck. Before trying, she was a little skeptical whether she could defeat the mechanized girl. Now, it seems that she has a chance, and the chance was fat.

Chu Ling was a little surprised. In just three hours, Zhu Ning's progress could be considered a leap forward. Chu Ling had initially considered giving Zhu Ning a break, but now it seemed unnecessary. Now, treating Zhu Ning as a true opponent, she clenched her fists and attacked again.

Zhu Ning raised her hand to block. This time she was able to fight back and forth with Chu Ling, with each punch making a dull sound that could be heard when the fists landed.

Chu Ling realized that Zhu Ning was extremely ruthless. Once she identified a place, she would target it hard, like a wolf cub holding a sheep and refusing to let go. Unfortunately, she was still a little inexperienced. Once Chu Ling exerted her strength, Zhu Ning had no choice but to retreat.

This time, Zhu Ning took three of her punches, and retreated while fighting. She was almost at the edge of the ring.

Zhu Ning was good in all aspects, but probably due to a lack of systematic training, she didn't know how to deal with the onslaught of a real fighter.

Chu Ling pushed her into the corner, showing no mercy, locking Zhu Ning and preparing to throw her to the ground. If Zhu Ning was knocked to the ground this time, she would lose.

Watching the scene unfold, Xu Meng and Li Nianchuan were so nervous that their hearts were in their throats.

The mechanical girl could lift objects weighing ten tons. In her hands, Zhu Ning, a normal girl, was lifted high up in the air.

'Zhu Ning is about to lose.'

Li Nianchuan was a little afraid to see what was going to happen next.

When Zhu Ning was flipped over by Chu Ling and was about to hit the ground, Zhu Ning adjusted her posture, gathered strength and kicked Chu Ling's right knee–the one not mechanized.

Regardless of whether it has been enhanced by genetic drugs or not, a human's instinctive conditioned reflexes still exist.

Bang.

Before Zhu Ning landed on the ground, Chu Ling's right knee buckled.

Chu Ling:?

Zhu Ning landed awkwardly, adjusted her posture, and quickly stood up.

"Zhu Ning wins!" the fighting teacher announced.

Chu Ling: “…”

'Hey, wasn't that considered cheating?'

"Wow," someone said, "That's not really a win. Zhu Ning fell to the ground too."

"Even a second faster is still faster. Sister Chu Ling was too kind. Zhu Ning won because she was much more insidious and cunning."

The sinister and cunning Zhu Ning: "...?"

'Try living in the zombie world for a few days. I guarantee that when you come back, you will be even more insidious and cunning than me.'

Chu Ling accepted defeat and stood up, "You win."

Zhu Ning still had some shame, "You're more capable."

If there weren't some unmechanized parts on Chu Ling's body, Zhu Ning wouldn't have won today. She was just being clever.

The fighting teacher also didn't recognize Zhu Ning's strength. "Zhu Ning, stay and practice more."

Zhu Ning didn't care. She already guessed the reaction of the teacher before she won. She would just come here to get beaten more often in the future.

Chu Ling: "Want to be friends?"

Zhu Ning: “?!”

Chu Ling: "There are very few female witchers. I've been wanting to fight you after watching your video. You're really strong."

It turned out that the strong girl was not here to take revenge on her, but to admire her! She was admired by a female warrior!

After Zhu Ning finished fighting Chu Ling, her irritability had mostly vanished, and she felt completely refreshed. She happily added Chu Ling as her friend, putting aside any animosity behind them.

"Chu Ling!" Someone called from a distance.

Zhu Ning looked up and saw three men who should be members of the Grey Eagle team. The captain in the lead looked to be about 1.9 meters tall. They all looked at Zhu Ning with displeasure.

Chu Ling: "I'm leaving now. I hope we'll have the chance to work together."

Zhu Ning nodded. There were many opportunities for Witchers and Cleaners to cooperate.

Zhu Ning looked at the Grey Eagle team's back. Even though they were not wearing armor, they looked like a well-trained squad standing together. It was true that witchers were really different.

Zhu Ning retracted her gaze and asked, "By the way, what is the name of our team?"

The team Chu Ling belongs to is called Grey Eagle. What about her team?

Xu Meng: "Cleaning Team A70265"

Zhu Ning: “…”

Why does others team names sound so cool, while her team name sounds like a license plate number?

Xu Meng lowered his head and operated the panel for a moment: "Zhu Ning cheated and failed the combat class. You'll have to train again tomorrow."

Zhu Ning: “…Oh.”

For the next few days, Zhu Ning spent the entire time training in the fighting room. Oh no, training is not the word, more like getting beaten up. She was getting beaten up in various ways by various types of witchers.

She had attracted too much attention before, and many witchers wanted to come and challenge her, or to be more precise, beat her up.

People will eventually pay the price for their arrogance.

This made many onlookers wonder why she could beat Chu Ling on the first day, but was half dead the rest of the time. She was beaten so hard that she had lost her temper.

Zhu Ning made rapid progress in taking a beating. If she suffered a beating once, she could beat them back the next time.

The progress was so rapid that anyone else would have passed the test long ago.

After being beaten for a few days, Zhu Ning figured out the fighting teacher's criteria. If he felt that you still had room for improvement, he would continue to mark you failed. If he felt that you had no more room for improvement, he would find someone who was similar to you to end the course.

Unfortunately, this fighting teacher always felt that Zhu Ning had not reached her limit, and that this girl could still fight (get beaten up.)

So, Zhu Ning was "held back" in the fighting class, and was beaten every day.

After being beaten for three days, Zhu Ning felt that her inner depression was getting stronger and stronger. She later went to consult Dr. Fu again, and Dr. Fu said it was all normal.

Doctor Fu watched Zhu Ning's videos on the forum every day. He was a good doctor, but he acted like the president of Zhu Ning's fan club. He watched and shook his head: "You still don't understand fighting."

Zhu Ning: “?”

'If you know, then why don't you go ahead and try it!'

…

The new rule of the cleaning center was that all members of the team must be qualified before they can go on a mission.

Zhu Ning was held back in the fighting class, while Li Nianchuan was held back in the shooting class.

Xu Meng was very depressed. Their A70265 team obviously has Zhu Ning who has the highest mental value in the entire center, so why are they still ranked last in points?

Xu Meng: "The both of you still have training today, so we can't accept missions yet."

Li Nianchuan wailed.

Li Nianchuan: "What kind of rule is this? Won't it delay things?"

Xu Meng: "The cleaning center's workload has dropped dramatically in the past week. Aside from urgent tasks, many missions have been put on hold."

"Besides, most teams can pass within five days, especially witchers. Although there are five members in each witcher squads, all of their members could pass within three days. It was estimated that the cleaning center will gradually resume all operations after ten days."

Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan had been training for six days. If they fail again today, they might just get ridiculed by the entire cleaning center.

Every second of the day, all Zhu Ning thought about was fighting. While eating and before going to bed, she was pondering on how to win. As she was getting dressed in the locker room near the end of her class, her secondary brain buzzed.

Liu Niannian had a message. She sent a kitten face emoji and attached a file: "Boss, the information you asked for."

The only information she asked for Liu Niannian was information about Eternal Life Pharmaceutical.

Did she finally found leads on the pharmaceutical?

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The translator has something to say:

Hear ye! Hear ye! The third arc is starting!!

Edited:

Hello everyone~! I might have to drop my translations because of my academics... I think there's around 10 chapters (?) I have in stock here. I'll be uploading all of them after I finish translating all of the third arc! Thank you~

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