Age of Evolution

Chapter 336: 336: Rope Gun

Langfang is a satellite city of Capital Base City, with a population of 4 million, which was considered a large city in the AD era.

Lin Zhen landed outside the city, put on his metal mask, and made contact with the person who delivered the mask.

Another benefit of buying this mask was the inclusion of an ID card, a privilege only available to those above the War God level.

Lin Zhen certainly qualified for this, and as soon as he showed his identity, the delivery man became extremely respectful.

However, Lin Zhen wasn’t worried about this person revealing his whereabouts, as online shopping still had some credibility to it.

Lin Zhen put on the mask and looked in the mirror. The face was that of a young man, not as handsome as Lin Zhen himself, but still above average. Combined with Lin Zhen’s tall and upright figure, it looked quite attractive, except for the scars on his body.

Lin Zhen put away his aircraft and followed people into Langfang.

He couldn’t quite remember the location of Zhang Ye’s gym, but it should be in the civilian area.

The civilian and martial artist districts were easily distinguishable; the more prosperous and wealthy areas were martial artists’ districts, while the more chaotic and ordinary areas were civilian districts.

Lin Zhen arrived in the poor area and first found a relatively clean hotel to stay in.

His ID card bore the name Chen Fan, a resident of Ice City.

With this name, Lin Zhen got a room and started to heal his injuries in the room.

With the recovery of the light molecules and various wound medicines readily available, Lin Zhen looked unharmed after three days.

He had not been idle during these three days, and finally found the gym where Zhang Ye worked.

Zhang Ye’s current living conditions were not very good. Although he was a Warrior, his injuries prevented him from using his previous strength, and he was no different from ordinary people. He could only spend his days in the gym, barely supporting his family with a wife and children, belonging to ordinary people.

The gym was called Cloud Sky Fitness Center, not too far from the hotel where Lin Zhen stayed. Zhang Ye worked there as a gym equipment instructor.

Today’s gyms were quite different from those in the AD era. In addition to basic fitness, martial arts fitness classes were offered, as everyone had learned at least a few moves in this post-apocalyptic world, even if they were not martial artists.

Lin Zhen put on a casual sportswear, simply packed up, put on his mask to cover his real face, and his Dantian energy did not leak at all, looking like an ordinary young man.

Leaving the hotel, Lin Zhen went directly to the Cloud Sky Fitness Center.

“Hello, sir. Do you have a membership card?” The receptionist at the front desk was a pretty-looking young woman who gave a good impression.

“No, I’ll apply for one.”

“Alright, we have three types of membership cards: regular membership card, gold card, and platinum card. The regular card costs 3,000 a year, the gold card 10,000 a year, and the platinum card 30,000 a year. Which one do you want?”

“What’s the difference?”

“The regular card allows you to use the gym equipment in the main hall, without any instructor guidance. The gold card includes instructor guidance, while the platinum card allows you to take classes taught by martial artists.”

“I’ll take a platinum card.”

Lin Zhen took out 30,000 and placed it in front of the receptionist.

“Alright, sir. It will be ready in a moment.”

The receptionist was overjoyed, not expecting to sell a platinum card today and earn herself a bonus.

It didn’t take long for the platinum card to be processed, and the receptionist handed the card and ID to Lin Zhen: “Mr. Chen Fan, we have more than a dozen fitness instructors here. You can choose whose class to take. You can choose up to three courses.”

Lin Zhen picked up a flyer and began to look at it, only to see the first page filled with beautiful women.

“Want to swim freely in the water like a fish? Youyou will teach you how to swim step by step.”

A hot-bodied beauty clad in a bikini posed playfully, her eyes full of spring.

“Close combat wrestling, learn for a month, enough to take on three. Yan’er teaches up close.”

Another girl in a robe, who seemed to carry a hint of promise, caught Lin Zhen’s eye. But with one glance, he could tell that she was only a Second-level Warrior, not much stronger than an ordinary person.

“The essence of flexibility, Xiaoyu can strike any pose waiting for you.”

This was a slender beauty who effortlessly struck a negative-angle split, wearing thin clothes that caused men’s minds to wander.

Lin Zhen was speechless as he looked at it. What was the point of learning these things? He wondered what kind of people would take these beauties’ classes.

It wasn’t until the last page that Lin Zhen asked the receptionist, “Are there no male instructors?”

“Ah! You’re not satisfied with any of these beauties?” The receptionist was surprised.

“I think I made myself clear. I want to see the male instructors’ courses.”

Lin Zhen was somewhat at a loss; did he look like he came here to pick up girls?

Not wanting to waste time on the receptionist, Lin Zhen browsed through the male instructors and quickly found gym equipment instructor Zhang Ye on the last page.

There was also an introduction about Zhang Ye. He used to be a soldier in the army, and after being wounded in the army’s battle of exterminating Mutated Beasts, he retired. A fifth-level warrior, he is proficient in cold weapon combat.

Zhang Ye does look quite handsome, with sharp and distinct features, exuding a masculine charm. He’s 27 years old.

“I’ll sign up for his class.”

“Great, it’ll be done soon.”

Lin Zhen smiled and didn’t talk to the receptionist anymore. After everything was done, he turned and left.

Entering the fitness center hall, there were quite a few people. Lin Zhen walked through the crowd and directly entered the equipment training room.

He knocked on the door and entered. Inside, there were about a dozen people.

Lin Zhen met Zhang Ye and handed over his registration paperwork.

Zhang Ye, who was about 1.8 meters tall, was teaching a group of students how to use a stick.

There were male and female students in the group. They were holding white wooden sticks, playing with stick flowers, swinging back and forth, looking quite skillful.

Zhang Ye came over and looked at Lin Zhen: “What kind of weapon do you want to learn?”

“Spear.”

“Then wait a moment, we’ll start teaching spear techniques soon. You can familiarize yourself with the equipment here first.”

Lin Zhen nodded, went to the weapon rack nearby, and saw many weapons: knives, spears, swords, and halberds, but none of them had sharp edges.

Lin Zhen picked up a Red Tassel Spear, and its weightlessness made him feel very uncomfortable, feeling like it weighed only about six or seven pounds.

He put back the Red Tassel Spear and picked up a stick. It had good elasticity, but it was too light, and he didn’t find it very interesting.

He tried all the weapons one by one, and finally, Lin Zhen simply sat on a rest bench on the side, waiting for the training here to end.

A few more minutes passed, and Zhang Ye clapped his hands, “Almost there, take a break now. The spear technique class starts in ten minutes. Those who want to learn spear techniques can stay.”

These people went to the rest area one after another. Some chose to leave, leaving six or seven people behind.

Zhang Ye was also drinking water to rest. He glanced at Lin Zhen, then waved to Lin Zhen, “Come over here.”

Lin Zhen walked over, and Zhang Ye asked him, “Chen Fan, do you want to learn spear techniques?”

Lin Zhen nodded slightly, “Yes, I want to learn the best spear techniques you know.”

Zhang Ye chuckled, “Then, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. I’m not particularly skilled, and my spear techniques are quite ordinary. If you want to learn proper spear techniques, you should go to a formal martial arts gym, like Gale or Dragon Slayer.”

“Instructor, I’m not a Martial Artist, so I can’t enter those places. I’m satisfied with learning from you.”

“Alright, since you insist on learning, let me see if you have any foundation in spear techniques.”

Lin Zhen nodded and went to pick up a Red Tassel Spear. He shook it up and down a few times, using very little force, but the series of spear flowers still caught the eyes of the people around.

Lin Zhen didn’t really show his true skills, but this move was already enough to impress ordinary people. He thought Zhang Ye would look at him more highly, but Zhang Ye just frowned slightly, “What I teach here is just ordinary spearplay. I see that even when you casually make a move, there’s a murderous aura overflowing. Perhaps you have killed people or Mutated Beasts before?”

Lin Zhen was stunned. This Zhang Ye indeed had some skills. Even though his spear had killed many people and Mutated Beasts, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to see the murderous aura just by his casual movement. Yet Zhang Ye could see it.

“Yes, I’ve killed a few small Mutated Beasts before.” Lin Zhen nodded.

“You already have a good foundation in spear techniques. What are you doing coming to a place like this to learn?” Zhang Ye asked.

“To protect my family and my country, to fight on the battlefield.” Lin Zhen had studied Zhang Ye’s background in the past few days. He is a standard soldier who had been passionate about the army. He is an upright person who should appreciate grand principles.

As expected, when Zhang Ye heard Lin Zhen’s lofty reason, a look of admiration crossed his face, “Although your reason is almost impossible to achieve, since you have the heart, I can teach you something.”

Lin Zhen was overjoyed and looked at Zhang Ye expectantly.

Zhang Ye walked over, fetched a rope and handed it to Lin Zhen.

Lin Zhen looked at the rope. The front end had been twisted into a point, like a spear tip.

“This rope is called a rope spear. Take this rope, and when you can practice piercing a wooden board with a single rope spear, then I’ll teach you some techniques.”

As he said this, Zhang Ye pointed to a corner in the distance, where there was indeed a wooden board standing up. It seemed to be more than ten centimeters thick.

Lin Zhen was stunned. How could a soft rope possibly pierce a wooden board?

Zhang Ye didn’t continue to pay attention to Lin Zhen but instead called the other students to start his new class.

Seeing Zhang Ye start training, Lin Zhen went to the corner.

The wooden board in front was made of solid wood, very thick and sturdy. It could be seen that there were some marks on the surface, probably caused by the rope whipping.

But there wasn’t a single hole.

It seemed that Zhang Ye had troubled many people with this move.

If it were an ordinary person, they might have given up at this point, but Lin Zhen couldn’t. He had to meet Zhang Ye’s requirements.