Shackles of Humanity

Luo Kai tightened his grip slightly and said in a low, threatening voice, ”What are you doing here? Talk or I’ll kill you!” His tone was bone-chilling, laced with a sharp killing intent. The things he’d been through lately had changed him more than he realized; he wouldn’t go easy on her just because she was a woman.

The woman wore a one-piece leather suit with a matching hood, and her face was concealed by a black cloth. Her furtive movements made her look like a secret agent from an enemy nation. This military camp wasn’t just a training ground for new recruits; it was also a critical logistics hub. Huge quantities of military equipment, food, and ammunition were shipped from here to the front lines. Even though he had no particular fondness for the Xingma Kingdom, now that he’d run into this, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

The woman’s body trembled slightly as she answered obediently, ”I... I’m a student from Jinlan Physical Arts Academy, here to gain experience. I... I just made a quick trip home.”

Luo Kai was taken aback. He could tell she wasn’t lying, which complicated things. He couldn’t kill her, but he certainly couldn’t take her with him. ’Might as well just knock her out,’ he thought. He gently applied pressure to her carotid artery. An ordinary person would have quickly fainted from the restricted blood flow to the brain.

A moment later, the woman’s eyes rolled back and she went limp in his arms. Feeling her soft, fragrant body, Luo Kai couldn’t help but feel a Qi and Blood Surge. ’Damn it,’ he cursed inwardly. He had lived a life of abstinence for so long; it had been ages since he’d been this close to a woman. He quickly took a deep breath to calm the turmoil within him.

Suppressing the inappropriate thoughts, he was just about to set her down when the woman in his arms suddenly moved. She drove her elbow viciously into his side. The blow was powerful, and the point of impact seemed to be a major nerve center. Half of Luo Kai’s body was instantly overcome with Paralysis. The tables had turned. With a knife-hand strike, she chopped at his carotid artery.

A red light flashed in Luo Kai’s eyes. He accelerated his Qi and Blood Circulation, blocking her strike while simultaneously throwing a punch.

The woman seemed surprised that he had recovered so quickly. She faltered for an instant, then hastily withdrew her hand and deflected his wrist.

Luo Kai’s ferocious punch was led astray by a gentle Soft Power, causing him to hit nothing but air.

The two were locked in a fierce exchange of blows. Luo Kai’s Fist Power was ferocious, but his opponent specialized in using Soft Power, employing a peculiar Dharma Gate to redirect his strength every time.

Fortunately, both were afraid of alerting the sentries and did their best to keep their fight quiet.

Luo Kai cursed inwardly without end. ’I can only use twenty percent of my peak Power at most right now. Otherwise, this little wench would be no match for me.’ Growing frustrated, he began to gradually increase the speed of his Qi and Blood Circulation. His punches became as swift as the wind, hammering her so relentlessly she had no chance to counterattack. But the woman’s movements were too fluid; as long as she focused purely on defending, it would be difficult to defeat her quickly.

Gradually, the woman’s breathing grew more labored. Her large eyes were a mixture of anger and anxiety. ’What rotten luck, running into a bastard like him. He was obviously trying to sneak out, just like me. We could have just minded our own business, but we had to go and start a fight for no reason. This is a military camp! A patrol could come by at any second. If we get caught, we’ll face disciplinary action. The punishment is one thing, but if my identity gets exposed, that’ll be a huge problem.’

As if on cue, a dog barked nearby, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps approaching their position.

In this military camp, the most effective sentries weren’t the men, but the military dogs. They already possessed hearing and smell far superior to humans, and after generations of enhancement since the Great Cataclysm, the military dogs of today were more sensitive than radar. Nothing stirred within a several-hundred-meter radius without them hearing it. Without realizing it, the commotion from their fight had gotten a little too loud and had naturally triggered the dogs’ alert.

Both of them startled and stopped fighting at almost the exact same moment. After shooting each other a hateful glare, they both vaulted back over the wall and fled.

On the way back, Luo Kai silently lamented his bad luck. Tonight’s fight had drained a significant amount of his stamina. Things were different now. His current Recovery rate was nothing like it used to be. Without external help, he doubted he could ever regain his peak strength in this lifetime.

His condition was somewhat similar to Li Gui’s; both suffered from physical decline caused by overdrawing their life force. To recover, his only hope was to rely on things like high-potency Active Energy from a Genetic Potion or Blood Essence. Such items were things one could only hope to stumble upon, not actively seek out; they couldn’t be bought even if one had the money.

Back in the barracks, he was immediately struck by a headache from the thunderous snoring. The day’s high-intensity training had exhausted the soldiers to the point that they passed out the moment their heads hit their pillows. For Luo Kai, whose hearing was exceptionally sharp, the snores were as loud as Thunder. He found two clumps of cotton to stuff in his ears, lay back down on his small cot, and slowly lowered his heart rate, cutting off his Perception of the outside world to force himself into sleep.

In the instant before he fell asleep, a thought surfaced in his mind: ’Next time I run into that wench, I’m going to teach her a good lesson!’

The next day, Luo Kai went through his training listlessly, his mind preoccupied. As his understanding of the Mighty Dragon Fist and the Soft Body Technique deepened, he began to imagine the power they would have if he could achieve a Fusion. In short, the Soft Body Technique granted him incredible flexibility, while the power-generation skills of the Mighty Dragon Fist gave him immense Explosive Power. If he could perfectly merge and stack them, it wouldn’t be a simple case of one plus one equals two, but one plus one equals N. His strength would undergo explosive, ladder-like growth.

But how was he to achieve this Fusion? Other than techniques for contracting and expanding his bones and muscles, the Soft Body Technique had no other combat applications. ’Should I learn some Yin Soft Body Skill and use that to experiment with integration?’ The only Yin Soft Body Skill he knew of was that of the Snake-man Body Techniques, but he could only manage a crude imitation, with no real grasp of its core principles.

”9527, train hard! The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war!” a tall officer yelled at him.

Luo Kai snapped back to reality and smiled at the officer. ’This guy sure learns fast.’ He grabbed the pull-up bar and began to mechanically lift himself up. Many of the Slave Soldiers had no names and were only addressed by codes or nicknames. The number on Luo Kai’s chest had become his designation.

This officer was none other than Dom. Because he was tall and built like a tank, the Slave Soldiers had nicknamed him Big Bear. He was now the leader of their squad of Slave Soldiers. For his excellent performance during training, he had even been granted the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest rank for an enlisted man. He could just barely be considered an officer. The next step up was a commissioned officer, which was part of the real officer hierarchy.

Come to think of it, Squad Leader Big Bear was a pretty decent guy. He always looked out for the seemingly frail and weak Slave Soldiers like Luo Kai, and he wouldn’t let the others bully them.

The Slave Soldiers came from the lowest rungs of society and were accustomed to brawling to get their way. They loved solving problems with violence and were classic bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. Someone like Luo Kai was the perfect target.

Luo Kai had originally planned on showing a bit of his strength to establish a deterrent, but the squad leader’s big fists always flew first. It had even made Luo Kai consider bringing him along when he made his escape.

Warfare with firearms was on a completely different level than warfare with melee weapons. Technology hadn’t just brought a leap in civilization, but also an upgrade in the methods of slaughter. In his past life, the casualties from the Second World War alone had exceeded the combined total from all other military conflicts in human history. The word ”perilous” was not enough to describe it; only a word like Hell would suffice.

The morning of dull, grueling training finally came to an end. Every soldier trudged toward the mess hall, completely wiped out. Fortunately, the afternoon session was marksmanship training, which meant they could rest a little.

Luo Kai sat across from Big Bear, wolfing down his food while trying to get friendly with him.

”Squad Leader Big Bear, where’s your home?”

Big Bear was eating just as fast as him. He mumbled in reply, ”The Northern Cold Icefield. M-my home is super cold. A skinny guy like you would probably freeze into a popsicle if you went there!”

”Do you have any family left back home?”

Big Bear stopped chewing and stared blankly for a moment. ”None left,” he said. ”They were all eaten by Ice Beasts.”

Luo Kai said apologetically, ”I’m sorry.”

Big Bear shook his head nonchalantly and pointed at Luo Kai’s plate. ”Hurry up and eat. Eat more. You have to eat a lot if you want to get big. Once you’re big, you’ll be strong enough to fight, and then no one will dare bully you.”

Luo Kai sighed to himself. ’I was hoping to stir his longing for home and then figure out a way to get him to leave with me. But it looks like he doesn’t have a home to go back to. I can’t exactly carry this huge guy on my back when I escape, can I?’

After a few more bites, Luo Kai suddenly noticed that Big Bear had stopped eating. He was staring blankly at something behind Luo Kai, his head tilted up and drool trickling from the corner of his gaping mouth like a little stream.

Luo Kai couldn’t resist turning to look as well. A group of soldiers in light green uniforms had appeared at the entrance to the mess hall. There were both men and women. The men were mostly handsome, with an air of extraordinary arrogance. The women all had delicate features and slender builds. Dressed in their crisp uniforms, they were truly a dashing group of young people.

The men were one thing, but in a military camp full of men, the female soldiers were particularly eye-catching—especially ones this beautiful. The mess hall fell into an immediate Silence, all the soldiers staring dumbly at the newcomers.

Luo Kai’s attention was also drawn to one of the female soldiers, not because of her looks, but because her bright, almond-shaped eyes seemed familiar. He quickly searched his memory. He hadn’t encountered many women in this world. Then it hit him—wasn’t that the woman from last night? The one who had also eaten in the mess hall the day before yesterday!

The female soldier’s gaze was also sweeping across the room. The moment their eyes met, Luo Kai thought, ’Crap!’ He hadn’t been wearing a mask last night. He quickly feigned fear and lowered his head.

The female soldier scanned him with a hint of confusion. She didn’t share Luo Kai’s ability to see in the dark, so she hadn’t actually gotten a clear look at his face. However, she had returned to the scene first thing in the morning and found several strands of grayish-white hair on the ground. Her target, therefore, was a person with white hair.

There weren’t many people in the camp with white hair; those who did were mostly older officers or soldiers who had gone prematurely gray. It wouldn’t be difficult to find her man if she was dedicated. But... ’Could this frail-looking, middle-aged soldier really be that savage, brutish bastard from last night?’ she wondered.