48 Hours a Day

Chapter 970: Attribute vs Skill

Zhang Heng realized that the enemy had located his hiding place in advance when the enemy blocked his bullet. With Zhang Heng’s current stealth skills, he had a very low possibility of getting spotted. So, there was only one explanation for this situation: the enemy’s exoskeleton might be equipped with a heat detector.

The opposing man knew Zhang Heng killed all the enemies that crossed paths with him with his sniper rifle. From the very beginning, the man just stood there carelessly in the middle of the road. It was not because he wanted Zhang Heng to kill him. In fact, he appeared to be taunting Zhang Heng, even putting on an arrogant look on his face. If Zhang Heng were to fall for it, he would have been killed by the bombs.

Once Zhang Heng realized that he missed his target, he quickly vacated his hiding spot, which was why he survived the explosion just now. And afterward, Zhang Heng realized that the heatwave the explosion generated had messed with the heat detector. So, he took the opportunity to dash towards his enemy.

At that time, he had already ditched his sniper rifle. Although Zhang Heng had excellent marksmanship skills, he still needed some distance to fully utilize his sniper rifle. Since the enemy had a heat detector, it would be suicidal for him to hide at some spot.

Therefore, Zhang Heng decided to abandon the idea of killing with the sniper rifle, resorting to close-quarters combat instead. And his decision surprised his opponent slightly. An ordinary person would subconsciously avoid frontal contact with the enemy’s exoskeleton, especially after he displayed his enhanced reflexes with it, blocking the bullet with its alloy shield.

So, when he saw Zhang Heng charging at him, he didn’t panic, but yelled, “good job!” instead.

Suddenly, he threw his right fist at Zhang Heng. Zhang Heng’s movements were already fast enough, managing to escape the fire with only one step. Before he even approached his enemy, he had already pulled out his tungsten steel sword to slash at the opponent’s neck.

However, no matter how fast Zhang Heng was, there was only so much a human body could do. In contrast, his opponent could surpass the limits of the human body with the help of the exoskeleton.

His fist nearly landed on Zhang Heng’s chest.

The previous battle ended too quickly that Mr. G, who was looking at the projection, couldn’t even get to watch how Zhang Heng fought. The cameras were either facing the ground or the screen was a complete blackout. It was rare to be able to witness the whole process. So, Mr. G quickly paid full attention to the fight. He wanted to evaluate Zhang Heng’s true strength through this battle.

He did not say a word when Zhang Heng missed the shot and almost got killed by the bomb. It appeared that he was confident Zhang Heng wouldn’t die so easily. However, when he saw Zhang Heng charging towards the man with the exoskeleton, he could not help but twitch uncomfortably.

“It’s unwise to charge at an enemy with an exoskeleton.”

On the other side, Miss F sat silently without saying a word and watched the projection quietly.

Right before that first landed on Zhang Heng’s chest, the sword in his hand suddenly disappeared out of thin air. When it reappeared, it magically bypassed the opponent’s arm and struck his opponent’s neck.

Miss F was taken aback.

“Good swordsmanship. To be more precise, I should say he is good at using a bladed weapon,” she commended.

“Is his swordsmanship really that good?” Mr. G curiously asked.

Ms. F nodded.

“Since he is physically weaker than his enemy, he had to rely on his swordsmanship to pressure his opponent.”

“So he is programmed to use the sword too? What kind of clone is he?”

“No. His swordsmanship is not fabricated.

“To be more accurate, it is not possible to program such a high-leveled swordsmanship,” Miss F explained after a pause.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You should have heard of it. There is still a certain gap between the abilities given by the memory encoder and the abilities that you’ve mastered.”

“Well, I have heard of that research topic. It is said that with current cloning technology, two-thirds of the records are maintained by humans rather than clones.”

“Yes. And the scientists don’t know the reason behind it. Even if the previous owner’s memories are completely copied into the clone’s brain, it is still very difficult for the clone to break the previous owner’s record.”

“Is it because of muscle memory?” Mr. G asked with interest.

“Muscle memory is a factor, and then there is also a gap in acumen.”

“Acumen? Are you talking about the fusion of nature and man? I’ve always thought that such things are fabricated statements in martial arts novels.”

“That’s not the case. It is rumored that once real master masters a certain skill set, they have to rely on mental breakthrough if they want to improve it further. Something like that can never be copied and transferred to the clones.”

“Are you saying that his swordsmanship has reached such a state? But his memory was reset not too long ago. How could he achieve something like that in such a short time?”

“Now, that’s something I still don’t understand,” Miss F said.

While the two were talking, Zhang Heng had already fought with the man a few times. The sudden attack from Zhang Heng almost scared the man to death. However, he later realized that Zhang Heng’s tungsten steel sword could only make a scratch on his exoskeleton.

So he started to act arrogant again, yelling, “Hahaha! You can’t even penetrate my defenses. Just what the hell do you think you are doing?! I suggest you let me hammer you to death. I need your head in exchange for freedom.”

Zhang Heng ignored the man opposite him. Just like before, the actual reason why the man in the middle of the road was so excited was also very simple. Although Zhang Heng could not break his defense, there was nothing he could do to Zhang Heng as well. So, he could only use words to taunt Zhang Heng.

With the help of the exoskeleton, the man surpassed Zhang Heng in almost everything. However, he still found it hard to end the battle fast and clean. That was because Zhang Heng’s swordsmanship and the way he moved were more superior than him. In other words, Zhang Heng sort of had the upper hand in this battle.

The man’s current situation was not that great. Although he was now wearing the exoskeleton, he still couldn’t lay a finger on Zhang Heng if he were unwilling to make contact. However, his superhuman strength, speed, and responsiveness came with a cost. Although the exoskeleton had its power system, the man still had to withstand a lot of force. They only fought for two minutes, and he was already panting. The man clearly did not want to drag the battle.

But what he did not expect was that the opponent on the other side had the same plan.

Zhang Heng looked at the time on his bracelet, and he suddenly took two steps back. After that, he planted the tungsten steel sword in his hand into the ground.