Chapter 194: Close-quarters Combat
“Comrade? Who is your comrade?
Get this straight: right now you’re the bandit and I’m the official. Killing you is perfectly justified.”
Dog Head Old Gao’s words left Chang Ning speechless. According to the exercise rules, what he said was spot on.
“Then let’s see what you’ve got!”
“I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”
With that, Dog Head Old Gao didn’t give Chang Ning any chance to attack first. He closed the distance with big strides and launched a fierce and swift assault.
Could it be that Dog Head Old Gao set such high conditions to fight Chang Ning just to bully a newbie?
Of course not. If the goal was to bully a newbie, Dog Head Old Gao wouldn’t have needed to do this at all—it would ruin his reputation too much.
Don’t forget, this exercise is being watched by superior leaders, unless Dog Head Old Gao doesn’t care about his future.
The reason he was pressing Chang Ning step by step in his offense was that he and He Zhijun wanted Chang Ning to show off big time in front of the military region leaders.
Showing off was just a tiny, insignificant part of He Zhijun’s plan. The main thing was considering Chang Ning’s future.
Promotion to officer isn’t something He Zhijun can just give to whoever he wants; it requires approval from superiors in a meeting.
If Chang Ning performs well this time and the leaders remember him, it’ll be easier for him to earn merits, awards, and promotion later.
It could be said that He Zhijun and Dog Head Old Gao had racked their brains for Chang Ning’s future.
Seeing Dog Head Old Gao curl his fingers into claws heading straight for his heart, Chang Ning immediately pried them open as soon as the claws touched his pectoral muscles.
When studying combat with the medic, Chang Ning had heard him explain the strengths and weaknesses of various common fist styles in our country.
Like the dragon claw hand that Gao Zhong Dui was using now— you absolutely couldn’t let him grab and follow up with a second burst inward. With Dog Head Old Gao’s finger strength, if he succeeded in the second burst, the lightest consequence for Chang Ning’s pectoral muscles would be tearing.
If the opponent wasn’t Chang Ning but a real enemy, the enemy’s muscles could be torn off by Dog Head Old Gao with one claw.
After controlling the hand Dog Head Old Gao was attacking with, Chang Ning’s other hand grabbed his abdomen’s clothing hem, used his waist and abdomen to exert force, and directly threw Dog Head Old Gao out.
There wasn’t time for Chang Ning to start practicing kung fu from scratch, so with the medic’s help, Chang Ning majored in wrestling and minored in the military unit’s combat technique.
In this matchup with Dog Head Old Gao, most of the techniques Chang Ning used came from various wrestling moves.
Having finally thrown Dog Head Old Gao down with great difficulty, Chang Ning naturally wouldn’t miss such a golden opportunity. He pressed the advantage, quickly closed in, and unleashed a heavy downward heel kick on the half-rising Dog Head Old Gao.
Facing the aggressive Chang Ning, Dog Head Old Gao wasn’t a pushover either.
If Chang Ning landed this, wouldn’t all his years of actual combat experience become a joke?
He rolled to the side to dodge Chang Ning’s downward kick, then Dog Head Old Gao quickly got up and launched a counterattack.
Looking at the hand reaching out again, Chang Ning didn’t dare relax. He couldn’t let Dog Head Old Gao’s hand touch him.
Dog Head Old Gao surpassed Chang Ning by a wide margin in both kung fu and experience, but he didn’t know much about Chang Ning’s superhuman physical quality, so there was a significant difference in their strength.
Bending at the waist to dodge Dog Head Old Gao’s attack, Chang Ning wrapped his arm around the attacking arm from the side, yanked Dog Head Old Gao close with great force, and used arm break shoulder dislocation to control him.
Arm break shoulder dislocation folds a person’s arm behind their back; with just a slight force, the captured person would feel pain.
It is one type of joint technique, widely used.
Considering Dog Head Old Gao was his superior, Chang Ning didn’t go all out to pin him to the ground. He just used what he thought was enough force to control and capture him.
Just as Dog Head Old Gao didn’t fully understand Chang Ning’s strength, Chang Ning didn’t know much about his superior either.
In an expert’s eyes, breaking arm break shoulder dislocation is easy, especially since Chang Ning hadn’t gone all out.
Although Dog Head Old Gao’s strength wasn’t as great as Chang Ning’s, it was still not to be underestimated. The instant he was captured, he burst free.
As the saying goes, failing to return a favor is impolite.
The moment he broke free from Chang Ning, Dog Head Old Gao used a lower sweep kick to attack Chang Ning’s lower body.
This was a feint. Once Chang Ning dodged, the next attack followed right up.
Chang Ning’s disadvantage was his inferior combat technique and actual combat experience compared to Dog Head Old Gao. His move transitions were too clumsy, giving the opponent an opening, so Chang Ning easily fell into his opponent’s offensive rhythm.
Gao Zhong Dui, after Chang Ning dodged his lower sweep kick, threw a straight punch right at Chang Ning’s abdomen diaphragm.
How powerful it was could be seen from Chang Ning’s flushed cheeks and pained expression—it definitely wasn’t pleasant.
Even suffering such immense pain, Chang Ning didn’t cry out. If he let out that breath, his impact resistance would drop by half.
Dog Head Old Gao pressed his advantage relentlessly. Before Chang Ning could react, he used his thumb to heavily press the Conception Vessel acupoint.
As martial artists who both practiced the military’s hard qigong, Dog Head Old Gao naturally knew how to break Chang Ning’s hard qigong.
Striking the Conception Vessel acupoint could make the opponent weak and powerless.
After taking the acupoint strike, Chang Ning’s hard qigong broke instantly, and he staggered back two steps.
“Gao Zhong Dui, there was no need to hit so hard.”
Chang Ning said bitterly while rubbing his chest. If he’d known it would be this tough, he wouldn’t have agreed to fight.
Those hits earlier had nearly made him unable to catch his breath. If not for his tough body, he’d have passed out by now.
At this moment, though, Chang Ning would rather have weaker impact resistance and just faint.
“If I don’t hit hard, how can I take you down?”
On the surface, Dog Head Old Gao seemed calm, but inside he was shocked by Chang Ning’s rapidly improving combat technique.
He knew Chang Ning had been cramming combat lately, but he hadn’t expected him to learn so quickly.
In those few exchanges just now, aside from the transitions not being smooth enough, there were no other flaws.
Thinking of this, Dog Head Old Gao felt fortunate inside. If the exercise had been held a few months later, he might really not be Chang Ning’s match.
If Chang Ning had beaten him, he wouldn’t be able to show his face.
Seeing Chang Ning silently gathering his energy and circulating his qi again, Dog Head Old Gao smiled: “No more fighting. I’ve got a clear picture of your combat level now. Continuing is pointless.”
“So, who won?”
Chang Ning thought he couldn’t take a beating for nothing.
“Did you win?”
Fine! Dog Head Old Gao was even questioning him back.
Chang Ning immediately realized this beating was for nothing.
The situation was stronger than the man; Chang Ning could only accept his fate.
In the end, the exercise ended with Group B’s failure.
Outside the anti-interrogation training house, the faces of Group B weren’t looking good.
The trap they had carefully set—Group A didn’t fall for it at all. A high altitude low opening directly reached the hostage area and launched a strong assault on them.
“Do you know why you failed?”
Gao Zhong Dui’s stern questioning made the whole Group B feel the pressure.
“Report, we didn’t expect you to enter with a high altitude low opening.”
Ostrich said while holding his gun.
“High altitude low opening is just a method. Your problem isn’t the method, but here.”
With that, Dog Head Old Gao tapped his head.
“It’s your thinking. Your thinking isn’t meticulous enough!
You are trained by our Group A, so I know Group B, and likewise you should know Group A.
Because we live and train together, but today your stupidity disappointed me greatly!
And Chang Ning, why did you protect your head but expose your rear in the fight?
If I were the enemy, you’d be done for already!
All of you, go back and write a two-thousand-word report. Chang Ning, four thousand words.”
Hearing his word count doubled, Chang Ning didn’t dare say anything.
He knew Dog Head Old Gao; with his personality, if he spoke up now, the word count could double again.
“Everyone understand?”
“Understood.” Group B replied in unison.
“At ease, attention, right face.
Board the vehicle, return to barracks.”
The Dongfeng troop transport vehicle carried the Lone Wolf Special Assault Team toward the barracks. The atmosphere in the vehicle was very oppressive along the way.
Having lost the battle, everyone’s mood was bad.
Among them, Chang Ning was especially down.
The others were okay, just in a bad mood.
But he had been bullied like a newbie by Gao Zhong Dui in the house, leaving him battered both physically and mentally.
