Chen Feng and Zhu Xinyu weren’t wrong; it wasn’t long before Lu Xuanyu received the notification.
After putting on a thick down jacket, Lu Xuanyu followed several staff members into a car and headed to another location.
It was a newly completed building, only about ten minutes’ drive from the medical center.
This building was one that Lu Xuanyu had seen when he first arrived in Beiping. At that time, the construction was nearly finished, approaching completion around the time he underwent the prosthetic body surgery.
Another group of people almost arrived at the same time as him. This group was numerous, with a wide range of ages, skin tones, and hair colors.
A row of small cars directly filled half the parking lot.
Seeing Lu Xuanyu’s legs, some people recognized him and couldn’t stop glancing over.
When Lu Xuanyu swept his gaze over them, he recognized several individuals in this group.
They were all well-known boxers, fight athletes, and so on.
Guided by the staff, the group entered the building.
The building was originally very dim, only the spot they stood in was bright. After everyone entered, the lights gradually turned on—one by one, everything was automatic.
This was a training facility, complete with boxing rings, cages, and a dazzling array of training equipment on the other side.
It seemed there were even more functional zones inside.
By then, the crowd could finally see clearly that the source of the previous bright light was a person dressed in black, looking at a projection.
Xiang Shan stood on a boxing ring near the wall, arms folded across his chest, watching something being played by a drone. Only when the lights came on did he realize people had arrived, and with a snap of his fingers, he signaled for the projection from the drone to stop.
"Welcome, gentlemen, welcome to the ’Superhuman Sports Science Research Center’—of course, that’s what it was called at the outset. For you, however, this place might as well be equivalent to a training camp."
"What supports the operation here are three elements—science, science, and more fucking science. This is a place to explore how to better utilize technology to aid the enhancement of fight skills, exploring the boundaries of human martial arts."
"Coach Novich, please come up to the platform... Oh, and Lu, come up here, take a look at the team I assembled for you."
Lu Xuanyu quickly stepped forward. An elderly man stepped out at the same time. He was an older African gentleman, his hair snowy white. Although his body seemed somewhat slack due to age, his build was still exaggeratedly robust.
"Coach Novich, it’s a pleasure to meet you." Xiang Shan shook hands with the elderly man and then introduced him to Lu Xuanyu, "Lu, this will be your head coach. He’s the head coach and person in charge of a private club in the Federation; in his youth, he was a famous jiu-jitsu practitioner, and now he has coached several MMA champions. Coach, this is Lu Xuanyu, the first cybernetically enhanced martial artist."
"MMA?" Lu Xuanyu was a bit surprised, "Are we going to follow MMA rules?"
"No, those rules are rather exaggerated." The head coach looked at Lu Xuanyu, "Don’t you know what kind of suffering you’re about to endure?"
Lu Xuanyu tried hard to remember, "This..."
Indeed, when signing the contract, Xiang Shan had said he wanted Lu to become "the greatest in the world". But the specifics... Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novｅlfire.net
At that time, he seemed to be more concerned about the safety of the gene modification surgery. No, to be exact, safety was the emphasis when Xiang Shan explained it to him.
"You may have to defeat boxers under boxing rules, and throw wrestlers under wrestling rules." The coach explained, "If necessary, you might even participate in armed combat events, facing opponents with weaponry."
Lu Xuanyu was silent for a moment.
It seemed... indeed there was such an arrangement, wasn’t there?
"Honestly, I only understand the rules of hand-to-hand combat. Yet of all organized competitions, MMMA is already among the most open systems, covering a broad spectrum. My club also involves training professional boxers. If you really want to hold such preposterous competitions, probably I am indeed the most suitable coach. You cannot find a better candidate than me on Earth."
Xiang Shan added, "Indeed, besides this head coach, there are many other coaches, each training you in different disciplines. The head coach’s role is more about coordination and controlling the balance among the various disciplines."
"Next up are your sparring partners." Xiang Shan pointed to the people below the ring, "Professional boxers, MMA stars, professionals from various fight events, even the freestyle wrestling Olympic champions... These guys, in their off-season, have come for the hefty compensation and the excellent training conditions here. You can train with people from every field."
"You guys can get to know each other first."
With that, Xiang Shan stepped back, gesturing for the head coach to say a few words to the rest of the team.
Coach Novich’s speech lacked highlights. Of course, enthusiasm wasn’t necessary.
This place wasn’t his usual training camp, and the people below weren’t his camp trainees. Strictly speaking, they were "employees".
Coach Novich’s speech was naturally limited to hopes that "everyone will get along well and work together."
The real "trainee" here was just Lu Xuanyu.
After the coach finished speaking, Xiang Shan stepped forward again and said, "Before I let everyone move about freely, I have another great thing to show you."
As he spoke, he pointed towards a corner of the ring. At that spot, which was directly opposite from where Xiang Shan and the other two stood, appeared to be an entry point for fighters in a boxing match. There, a shape covered by thick cloth was visible.
At Xiang Shan’s gesture, the waiting staff pulled the cloth away.
To everyone’s surprise, it was a robot.
"This is a gift I’m presenting to you all, an advanced robot sparring partner." Xiang Shan said, waving his hand and immediately a staff member came over, handing him a pair of boxing gloves, which he put on with the staff’s assistance.
He then eagerly approached the robot.
As he walked, he said, "Offensive training, evasion mode—Chen, double-check it’s the offensive training’s evasion mode for me! If anyone carelessly activates the counterattack mode and causes a safety incident, I assure you they’ll be collecting unemployment insurance immediately."
A young man replied, "Don’t worry about it!"
Xiang Shan threw a combination of punches at the robot’s head—naturally, quite amateurish.
Before this, Xiang Shan had only ever dabbled in motion-sensing boxing games, so his punches weren’t exactly fierce.
Yet the entire room drew a collective gasp.
It wasn’t out of deference to the wealthy businessman, but rather because of the robot’s astonishing movements.
It swayed its upper body with professional skill, all while keeping its lower half still, gracefully dodging every single one of Xiang Shan’s punches.