Hearing this, Ian Song was slightly taken aback. After quickly searching the host's memories, he identified the girl's identity.
Her name was Helen Guo, Ian's distant younger female cousin on his mother's side. They had attended the same elementary and middle school.
The host's most vivid memory was of this distant cousin bullying him.
Later, when Helen's father was transferred for work, the whole family moved to another city.
Their contact gradually faded.
Unexpectedly, in college, they ended up at the same university again.
Maybe because the host had been badly bullied by Helen as a kid, he deliberately avoided her, so in two years of college, they'd only met a handful of times.
After sorting out their relationship, Ian smiled at her and said, "So you're Helen Guo."
Helen Guo raised an eyebrow at this. "Ian Song, you’re getting bolder. You don’t even call me ‘cousin’ anymore." As she spoke, she made a show of clenching her fist.
Ian's face darkened. He vaguely remembered that Helen was actually younger than him; when he was little and couldn’t beat her, he’d been forced to call her ‘cousin.’
So he said, "I’m pretty sure you’re younger than me. Shouldn’t you be calling me ‘cousin’ instead?"
"If you want me to call you cousin, you’ll have to beat me first. Take this!" As soon as she finished speaking, Helen raised her longsword and swung it at Ian’s chest with a backhand slash.
But aside from being fast, her attack wasn’t very strong—she probably just wanted to give Ian a little scare.
But she had no idea—this Ian Song was no longer the same Ian Song.
Clang!
Ian flicked his finger against the blade, striking it dead center. Instantly, the fine-steel sword rebounded, and to Helen's surprise, a surge of force traveled through the blade, nearly knocking it out of her grip.
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—fortune always turns. You’re no match for me now, so just be a good girl and call me cousin!" Ian teased, looking at Helen with a triumphant air, as if the tables had finally turned.
Helen was provoked by Ian’s words and sneered, “That last move was barely thirty percent of my strength. What are you so proud of? Try taking another one!”
Swish!
The sword flashed, slicing quickly toward Ian’s chest. Based on how Ian had just flicked her blade aside, Helen knew his strength was formidable, so this time she used at least eighty percent of her power.
Again, Ian flicked his finger against the blade, hitting it dead center and sending Helen’s sword rebounding.
“How…how is that possible?”
Helen stared at Ian in shock. Her move had been fast and powerful—most martial artists at her level, or even above, couldn’t have deflected the blade so easily.
“Come at me with your full strength. Let’s see if I can still flick your sword away!” Ian said with a smug grin.
“Damn it!”
With a cold shout, Helen twisted her waist, her longsword turning into a streak of white light as she stabbed toward Ian’s right shoulder.
Clang!
There was a dull thud. Helen felt her hand go numb, and she lost her grip on the sword, which flew several meters away and landed, quivering, in the ground.
“Well? Convinced yet?” Ian asked, looking at her.
“Convinced my ass!” Helen retorted, clearly annoyed.
Suddenly, Ian’s expression turned serious. He barked, “Get ready for battle!”
The commotion had attracted zombies from the dorm and surrounding area—at least a hundred of them.
“Lion Squad, follow me—kill those zombies!” Leo Liao shouted, leading his squad to charge left.
“Fat Dragon Squad, brothers—come with me!” Jimmy Zhu yelled, swinging a steel pipe as he led his squad to the right.
“Gale Battle Squad, charge!” Ray Wang called out.
Previously, Leo Liao and Jimmy Zhu had stolen the spotlight, but this time Ray Wang refused to be left behind and led his team to attack the zombies from the rear.
As for the zombies pouring out from the dorm—about fifty of them—Ian and Jason Long would take care of those.
“Helen, you rest here for a bit! We’ll catch up after we finish off these zombies!” Ian smiled at her, then blurred into motion, charging out like a phantom.
Thud thud thud!
Like leaves swept by a storm, the zombies crumbled under Ian’s steel pipe—five or six had their heads smashed in an instant.
Jason Long charged in after him, shouting, “Boss, save a few for me!”
Helen stood frozen, watching in disbelief as these people displayed incredible strength—each could finish off a zombie in just a couple of moves.
But when her gaze landed on Ian, her mouth dropped open in shock.
To Helen, it looked like Ian wasn’t even fighting zombies—he was playing whack-a-mole. With each swing of his steel pipe, another zombie fell. In less than ten seconds, more than twenty zombies lay dead. Then she noticed Jason Long.
Jason’s zombie-killing speed wasn’t as fast as Ian’s, but he still took out five or six in an instant.
“Why are there so many strong people at this school? How did I never know?”
She’d trained in martial arts and swordsmanship since childhood under her grandfather, and now she’d reached late Ming Strength. She was confident she could break through to Dark Strength within three years.
Observing the battle, Helen realized Ian was far stronger than her, and even Jason Long surpassed her. As for Leo Liao, Jimmy Zhu, and Ray Wang—they didn’t seem to know martial arts, but their strength was at least equal to hers, if not greater.
She was the president of the Martial Arts Club and had always considered herself unbeatable at South China University. But now she realized she’d been too arrogant—there were hidden masters everywhere.
Less than a minute later,
Ian and Jason Long had already killed more than fifty zombies together.
Meanwhile, Leo Liao and the others were finishing up on their side.
As Ian approached, Helen took a deep breath and stared at him. “When did you start practicing martial arts?”
“Back in high school,” Ian replied playfully.
“You started martial arts in high school?” Helen asked, suspicious. She was shocked—counting from high school to sophomore year, that was just five years. In five years, Ian had reached at least Transforming Strength. That was unreal.
“Yeah, is that a problem?” Ian winked at her.
“You’re a freak! To reach this level in just five years…” Helen couldn’t help showing a hint of envy.
Suddenly, Ian got an idea. He looked at Helen mysteriously and said, “Want to get stronger fast?”
“You have a way? How strong can you make me?” Helen’s eyes lit up, clearly tempted.
“Of course I have a way. I can get you to late Dark Strength in a single day!” Ian said confidently.
“Impossible!” Helen shot back.
“Jason, come here,” Ian called, waving Jason Long over. “Tell her—how long did it take you to go from early Ming Strength to early Dark Strength?”
“Less than an hour!” Jason Long replied seriously.
Helen’s mind reeled. To go from early Ming Strength to early Dark Strength in just an hour—was that even possible?
As unbelievable as it seemed, Helen couldn’t shake the feeling that Ian and Jason weren’t lying.