Qin Fen was intimately familiar with the temperaments of the instructors; every one of them was an untamable soul. If Du Peng were to truly pull strings and issue an order, those instructors would either completely disengage and let Du Peng have his way—thereby losing all respect for him immediately—or they would deliberately train with excessive severity, injuring Du Peng so badly that he’d miss the entire training camp from a hospital bed.

Regardless of the outcome, Du Peng would ultimately be disdained by these men. Conversely, this solitary demand for a spot might actually earn him a measure of respect.

Recalling the favorable impression Du Peng had made on Squad Leader Hao, Qin Fen felt genuinely happy for his comrade, who was usually even more taciturn than himself.

“The colder the exterior, the hotter the heart hidden within.”

This line, which Lin Liqiang used to tease Inzaghi, Qin Fen felt applied just as perfectly to Du Peng.

Turning a corner, Qin Fen encountered someone entirely unexpected: Park Jong-hwan, the new recruit from Hanzhou.

This young Taekwondo master, who should currently be confined to a hospital bed, was now heavily bandaged in several places and leaning on a pair of crutches to support his frame.

Even though he could easily have been wheeled around in a chair, Park Jong-hwan insisted on walking with his crutches, the martial artist’s pride perfectly manifest in his bearing.

Watching Park Jong-hwan, Qin Fen was suddenly reminded of that final battle in the War Net—those warriors had expressed their martial conviction through the very same actions.

They could be knocked down, they could be defeated, but they would never be crushed! Qin Fen found it strange; whether viewed from the perspective of the earlier vengeful visit or the future New Recruit Competition, the two of them were fundamentally rivals. Was he here to seek revenge?

The crutches supporting Park Jong-hwan struck the ground with a dull thud-thud sound as he painstakingly hobbled to a stop directly in front of Qin Fen, ceasing his difficult advance.

Park Jong-hwan stared at Qin Fen, his expression somewhat agitated. Few people could maintain absolute calm when facing the one who had put them into the hospital with grievous injuries.

A span of ten seconds wasn't long, but in the suffocating silence of their mutual gaze, it felt extraordinarily protracted.

Finally, Park Jong-hwan spoke, word by measured word: “Qin Fen. You are only permitted to be defeated by me. Until I have struck you down, I will not allow anyone else to beat you. The one who defeats you will definitely be me!”

“You sought me out just to say that?” Qin Fen nodded. “Alright, I understand. And I don't intend to go down easily for anyone, including you. /\”

“Is that so?” Park Jong-hwan’s face was far more troubled than Qin Fen’s. “Do you know Kanemoto Takeshi? Kanemoto Takeshi from the New Sumo Arena.”

Qin Fen felt that this was the true reason Park Jong-hwan had come to see him, and he responded with genuine seriousness: “I have met him.”

“How do you rate his strength?” Without waiting for an answer, Park Jong-hwan rushed on: “Very strong! Truly strong! I fought him, though I was already injured then. But I know that even at my peak, my chances of winning against him were very slim.” Qin Fen vigorously agreed, nodding repeatedly: “Exactly, I also think he’s formidable. A worthy opponent for a real fight.”

“You are likely to lose!” Park Jong-hwan’s expression was grimly dark. “As someone who has fought both of you, I can evaluate your strengths more objectively. You are a Four-Star realm martial artist, and Kanemoto Takeshi is also a Four-Star realm martial artist. But there are still gaps in strength even among Four-Star martial artists! Your chance of victory against Kanemoto Takeshi is less than twenty percent! Less than thirty!”

“Less than thirty percent?” Qin Fen gently wagged his index finger. “I will win. I absolutely will win! Interested in a wager? I’ll bet a hundred dollars on myself.”

Park Jong-hwan stared at Qin Fen in astonishment. Where did this man’s confidence stem from? In this situation, // did he still have the leisure for gambling?

“Not gambling?” Qin Fen sounded slightly disappointed. “Thank you for the warning. But I will not lose! I will definitely win!”

Park Jong-hwan watched Qin Fen’s retreating back, stunned in place for a long moment. Finally, he could only shake his head helplessly. “You haven’t actually fought Kanemoto Takeshi; you can’t know how terrifying his cotton-stuffed torso is when combined with his Great Slap technique.”

Qin Fen continued walking forward, constantly repeating a phrase under his breath so softly that Squad Leader Hao had to strain his ears to catch the words he mumbled incessantly.

“I won’t lose, I absolutely won’t lose! Before I see my brother, I must win! Keep winning all the way! Brother had zero losses in the New Recruit Camp, and I can do the same! I definitely can!” Hearing Qin Fen’s near-fanatical words sent a chill down Squad Leader Hao’s spine, and simultaneously sparked immense interest in the potential New Sumo final showdown involving Qin Fen.

Muttering under his breath, Qin Fen walked into the mess hall where the Head Chef worked. Gerile, the instructor for camouflage techniques who had been waiting there, first froze for a moment upon seeing Qin Fen, then immediately began examining him with eyes full of undisguised delight.

“The kid is here?” The Head Chef placed an exquisitely delicious meal in front of Qin Fen. “I knew you were coming, so I prepared this especially for you. \//”

“Thank you.” Qin Fen began to eat under Gerile’s persistent gaze.

The Head Chef also noticed that Gerile’s look was somewhat unusual and asked, “Hey, Hide-and-Seek, why are you looking at Qin Fen so strangely?”

Only then did Gerile speak, his tone imbued with ineffable relief: “He has changed. After that trip out, he’s undergone a significant transformation.”

“Transformation?” The Head Chef scrutinized Qin Fen closely as well and nodded in agreement. “Indeed! He’s killed people; there’s blood energy about him now. I suppose that qualifies him, barely, as a true soldier.”

“More than that, more than just that,” Gerile gestured with his wrist. “That’s not what I mean. I mean the qi of him as a martial artist has shifted. There is clearly an innate, sovereign dominance, yet he manages to barely conceal it within his body. This isn't just a change in strength; it's a change in martial cultivation.”

Several other instructors took the opportunity to look at Qin Fen again. Gerile was arguably the expert among them all with the most authority on camouflage.

A master of disguise is inherently a master observer. \\ One skilled at hiding their own aura usually possesses the ability to see through the hidden auras of others.

Gerile was undoubtedly one of the best in this regard. His words carried a significant weight of authority in the minds of the assembled instructors.

After scrutinizing Qin Fen for a long time, Gerile offered the concluding statement: “It seems that your mission outside was of great help to you.”

Qin Fen smiled but offered no explanation. The Hanzhou mission had indeed been immensely beneficial, but it wasn't the entirety of his recent strength boost. The relentless battles in the Sky Combat Network had also played a huge role.

“Instructor Head Chef, a friend of mine reviewed the nutritional supplements you gave me.” While eating, Qin Fen hadn't forgotten Inzaghi. “He says he hopes to learn from you for three—”

“Three months?”

Every instructor present, save for the Head Chef, displayed looks of utter disdain. Even though they were novices in pharmacology, they knew the depth of skill and effort the Head Chef had invested in this field—knowledge that might take thirty years, or even three lifetimes, to acquire.

The Head Chef also laughed. “Three months, you say? No problem. If he passes my assessment, he can stay for three years if he likes. But if he fails, Little Qin, don’t blame me if I don't show you any special courtesy then.”

Qin Fen smiled and continued eating. Inzaghi wasn't the type to boast; his quiet demeanor made his words worth their weight in gold, and anything he claimed he could do, he almost certainly could. Even with the Head Chef’s formidable prowess, given Old Yin’s strength, shaking them up should pose little real difficulty.

Squad Leader Hao was puzzled by Qin Fen’s composure. The young man’s demeanor was too calm; did his friend really possess something beyond the ordinary?

After finishing the lavish “feast,” Qin Fen stood up and gently stretched his limbs and ribcage. “Instructor Butcher, are you interested in a round of—”

Before the challenge could even be fully voiced, the two chopsticks Butcher had been idly playing with transformed into two streaks of dark green light, shooting toward Qin Fen’s chest.

Butcher had attacked immediately, displaying Five-Star Meteor-level power; the impact of those two chopsticks was enough to pierce wood and shatter stone.

Qin Fen was already accustomed to Butcher’s surprise attacks. His ankle joints suddenly swelled outward, causing the porcelain tiles beneath his feet to instantly crackle with fissures. The familiar Dragon Concealment technique materialized again, allowing him to evade the two projectiles.

Bang! Bang! The two chopsticks embedded themselves deeply into the wall, their tails still vibrating intensely, emitting a low humming sound. Butcher had already erupted forward and closed the distance to Qin Fen. The muscles in his palm writhed and shifted in form, silently stabbing toward Qin Fen’s heart.

Heart Excavation Hand! A unique technique Butcher had developed on his path of relentless killing. It involved compressing and reshaping muscle tissue until the entire hand was condensed into a blade harder than any iron plate. He had used this technique to perform heart removals on over thirty enemies on the battlefield.

Qin Fen dared not relax in the slightest. The swelling in his ankle joints instantly retracted, transferring all the tension to his soles. The floor shuddered with a boom, the tiles almost shattering into dust, just as he flashed to Butcher’s side. The pressurized Dragon-Elephant Prajñā accompanied by the Raging Tide burst forth in full force!

He thrust a palm forward, the resulting palm wind roaring, and the True Qi-driven blood inside his body echoed with a rushing sound! Butcher felt his vision darken, as if plunged into the middle of a vast ocean. The Assassin’s Blade was hastily loosened, and the muscle groups in his forearms rapidly expanded, forming two raised shields of flesh that met the attack head-on.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!

Qin Fen unleashed his palm strike without reservation, each wave stronger than the last, directly blasting Butcher, who was employing Five-Star Meteor-level power, out of the mess hall. His body slammed heavily into the trunk of a large tree, two men wide, before finally stopping its backward momentum.

The perpetually silent tree rustled, and a shower of leaves drifted slowly down from its branches.

Having established the advantage, Qin Fen did not press the attack further. This initial exchange had given him significant confidence.