Five Instructors, Who Will Teach Me?

Worried that the agents would beat up Master Wang’s disciples and make things impossible to settle, Black Widow bent low, twisted her body, and sprinted to the training ground at a hundred-meter-dash speed before slamming to a stop.

Then she froze.

What was going on?

In the enormous training ground, only five people remained standing. Everyone else had fallen, and every last one of them was an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent!

About one-third had had their arms and legs dislocated. Unable to set them back themselves, they glared fiercely at the five standing figures, their narrowed eyes brimming with resentment, hatred, and unwillingness.

Another third had simply been beaten until they could take no more. Though they struggled to get back up, Gabe Reyes—the youngest-looking one, a perfectly ordinary middle school student, such an innocent boy—was running around the field. Whenever he saw someone trying to rise, he went over and kicked them.

His hands were shaking, his legs were shaking, his whole body was shaking—so why were his kicks so vicious?

He was incredibly strong. One kick hurt for ages. Young people really did not know their own strength.

And he was clearly not very accurate. Sometimes he missed the vital spots and had to kick them several more times. It hurt just to watch.

Sometimes he really did hit a vital spot. Then it was no longer merely painful—they hurt so badly they could not even scream, sometimes passing out. Their happiness for the rest of their lives might even be on the line.

Fortunately, the more he kicked, the more practiced he became. By the end, his legs were no longer trembling and his accuracy had improved. Every kick landed true, and every kick knocked someone out. In less than a minute, everyone would probably be unconscious.

The final third were even worse off, already unconscious. Could they all have been taken down by that underage boy?

As for the other four?

Elektra, dressed in a tight red outfit with her long hair flowing, was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Her breathing was slightly heavy, and a fierce glint shone in her eyes. She had clearly just been through an intense battle. Could she be the culprit who had taken down these elite field agents?

Skye stood against the wall with her arms crossed, as though none of this had anything to do with her. When Black Widow looked over, she shrugged innocently.

Stick stood on the other side. The old man leaned on his Guiding Cane, breathing steadily as he smiled and nodded at her, looking quite kind.

Matt stood not far from Elektra, saying nothing.

So what exactly had happened?

"Tell me. What happened?" Black Widow looked at a chubby, crew-cut man in his thirties.

His name was Eric Koenig. He was a secret agent Egghead had transferred in from somewhere, someone Black Widow had never seen or even heard of. He had Level 6 clearance and was probably one of the director’s secretly cultivated confidants.

Of the hundred-plus agents, nearly half were secret agents, and he had the highest clearance among them.

Of course, that was not why Black Widow was asking him instead of anyone else.

Though this chubby man was also sprawled on the ground, he clearly was not injured. Could he be faking it?

Where had Egghead found this oddball?

Gabe had just kicked the remaining agents unconscious one by one, leaving only him. He had also been the one to tip her off earlier. Who else was she supposed to ask?

"They’re terrifying! These people are terrifying!"

When the chubby crew-cut man saw Black Widow arrive, he scrambled up and hid behind her. His small eyes narrowed to slits, but rather than staring at Gabe, he fixed them on Elektra, who stood farther away. Even his voice trembled.

"At first, some agents wanted to challenge the instructors. Agent Romanoff, you know that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t the military. Combat training naturally involves fighting, and trainees challenging instructors is common. It’s normal for people not to be convinced. A beating would settle it—though who beat whom was another matter."

Black Widow frowned. "So who did you challenge? Instructor Matt? Instructor Elektra? Or Instructor Stick?"

The chubby man hurriedly shook his head. "We challenged all five at once!"

Black Widow: "…"

That was not how one went looking for a beating. She continued, "And then?"

"The woman stepped forward and said she alone was enough. One against a hundred."

Black Widow raised a brow. "And?"

Every one of these field agents was elite. Even if Captain America came back to life, taking on a hundred alone would not be easy. Girl, did she think she was the Immortal Iron Fist?

Black Widow did the math. In an open area, relying on her agility and exceptional endurance, if both sides fought barehanded, she really might be able to take down a hundred people. After all, while these agents were elite, none were on Melinda’s or Wood’s level.

Master Wang’s hand-to-hand combat ability was roughly on par with hers.

His disciples should not have been capable of taking on a hundred alone, especially in such a confined space.

The chubby man hesitated, then answered sheepishly, "A hundred against one was too embarrassing for us, so we decided on a hundred against five."

Black Widow did not know what to say.

A hundred against one was embarrassing, but a hundred against five was not?

"And then?" she asked.

Logically speaking, even a hundred against five should have been enough to win.

For one thing.

Gabe was just an ordinary middle school student. Although Skye had studied under Master Wang for three years, based on all the intelligence gathered, she was probably not even as strong as an ordinary field agent. Then there was one woman and two blind men, one of whom was already in his sixties or seventies.

The three of them had nearly been killed by dozens of ninjas before, only to be saved by the Immortal Iron Fist.

Their strength…

Though they were not weak, if it came down to it, the three of them together probably could not defeat her.

"And then? What you see now happened."

The chubby man edged farther behind her and helplessly pointed at Skye and Gabe. "Those two didn’t make a move. In reality, it was a hundred against three, and we all went down… She—she’s terrifying!"

The chubby man stared at Elektra, making himself very clear.

Not strong—terrifying!

Strength was one thing. Being terrifying was another.

Those two blind men should actually have been stronger than that woman. That much was clear from the battle that had lasted less than five minutes.

But it was different.

The younger blind man had held back. He had been afraid of hurting the agents, and the third of the agents whose arms and legs had been dislocated were his doing. In truth, he had been protecting them.

The older blind man had struck very heavily, directly knocking people unconscious one by one with his Guiding Cane. Yet he had also shown restraint, only knocking them out without injuring them. He had been protecting the agents as well—once they were unconscious, they would not have to keep taking beatings.

But that woman was different.

She seemed to enjoy fighting.

She did not attack vital points, nor did she knock anyone unconscious.

She was not foolish enough to meet force with force, but she fought with true madness. She did not look human at all, but like a beast—a king of beasts fighting to survive in the wilderness!

All those agents who had not passed out, whose limbs had not been dislocated, but whose bodies were covered in injuries—they were all her doing!

If the other woman who had not fought had not told the middle school student who had also not fought to use a stick to knock the injured agents unconscious, that woman in red definitely would not have stopped. The chubby man even suspected someone might have died!

It was only a challenge.

Was that really necessary?

Black Widow fell silent for a moment. Her gaze moved back and forth across the five of them as she sensed their heartbeats and breathing. Then she suddenly asked, "Elektra, have you cultivated Qi?"

The madness in Elektra’s eyes slowly faded after the battle ended. "I cultivated Qi yesterday."

Black Widow nodded, feeling a little envious. Then she looked at Stick. "What about you?"

"Three days ago," Stick replied.

Black Widow grew even more envious and looked at Matt.

"Four days ago," Matt answered.

Black Widow was beginning to feel jealous. She looked at Skye.

"A week ago?" Skye looked somewhat ashamed. It had taken her three years to cultivate True Qi. She had disgraced Old Wang.

Black Widow did not know what to say. She turned to Gabe. "Don’t tell me you cultivated Qi half a month ago?"

Gabe’s face flushed red at those words. Lowering his head, he said softly, "I haven’t yet…"

Black Widow let out a quiet breath.

Thank goodness he had not.

Otherwise, she thought she might go mad.

Matt, Elektra, and Stick should all be from K’un-Lun. Skye had studied under Master Wang for three years, so it was understandable that she had cultivated Qi.

But if Gabe, who had only been studying for a month, had also cultivated Qi, that would have been too terrifying!

"You may not know this, but there are actually 101 agents receiving this special training. I am the 101st."

Black Widow clenched her fists and swept her gaze over the five of them. "Five instructors, who will teach me?"