Demons Beside You

“Are you having a party?” Leonardo asked.

“Nope. It’s just a normal gathering, but we were so engrossed that we forgot the time,” Chen Zhao said with a smile on his face.

“If I recall correctly, you’ve only been here for less than three months, right? Look at how many friends you have already! I grew up in Los Angeles but only have a few friends.”

“You’re my friend, too,” Chen Zhao said, smiling.

David also put his hand on Leonardo’s shoulder. “Buddy, we’re friends now as well.”

“Err... My birthday is this weekend. Can, can you attend my birthday party?” Leonardo invited, looking somewhat shy.

“Of course. Can all of us go?”

“Yes, all of you are very welcomed! I hope that you’ll all be there.”

In fact, Leonardo had knocked on Chen Zhao’s door just now only to invite him to his birthday party.

However, he did not expect so many people to be present.

Even more unexpectedly, he managed to know so many new people in a single night.

Leonardo was not really a loner, but he did not know how to socialize.

Even in the police station, most people were only his colleagues and not friends.

The number of friends that he made that night was perhaps almost equal to the number of friends he had before.

However, Leonardo could not stay for too long because he was still working.

“Leonardo, do you mind giving us a ride? We’re leaving too,” David said.

“Sure,” Leonardo agreed without hesitation.

Sienna and Chris left with David as well.

After two busy days, Chen Zhao could finally have a good rest.

...

The next day, Chen Zhao was awakened by Fali.

He did not have enough sleep, but he had things to do.

It was already over eight in the morning. After washing up, he still had to attend Gaia’s boxing lesson.

Chen Zhao had a rather tight schedule. He still had to check Rufford’s injury at noon.

After all, he was investing on Rufford, so he had to gain some profit from it.

When Chen Zhao arrived at the fitness center, he was somewhat anxious.

He still remembered Gaia’s threat.

Luckily, Gaia was just scaring him and the lesson was what they were supposed to have in the first place.

In the two hours, Chen Zhao spent an hour hitting the sandbag.

“Chen, you’re exerting your strength in the wrong way. You can’t just use all your strength in every punch. You’re learning how to fight, not going for a boxing tournament.” Gaia had been observing Chen Zhao’s punches.

“While street fighting also requires physical strength, the key lies in your techniques. Use minimal force to defeat you opponents. Therefore, pay attention to the angle and power of your attack. Maybe you’re not just facing one enemy, but two, or perhaps twenty. If you use all your strength in every punch, you wouldn’t last long.”

Gaia walked up. “The most popular boxing styles now are free sparring and military boxing. I’ll teach you free sparring.”

“Why not military boxing?”

As Gaia wore her gloves, she waved her hand at Chen Zhao. “Let’s fight.”

“For real?”

“No, just an example.”

“Do I attack or you?”

“You’ll attack.”

Chen Zhao formally put up a boxing stance and protected his head. Then, he slowly stepped forward.

Punch! In the instant he punched, Gaia dodged his attack. She made a turn and her elbow struck towards Chen Zhao’s face.

“Not my face...”

Gaia was not planning to injure Chen Zhao. Her elbow stopped five centimeters away from Chen Zhao’s face.

“Military boxing is used to kill. Do you plan to kill anyone?” Gaia asked.

“Err...”

“Before you’re ready to kill, military boxing is even weaker than free sparring,” Gaia said. “The moves in military boxing are crueler and designed to destroy you opponent’s body. They are mostly targeted at joints and weak points.”

“Gaia, since you’re so strong, you can certainly win any boxing competition, right?”

Gaia shook her head. “It’s not as simple as you think. I might not even win women’s boxing. The rules on the ring wouldn’t allow me to display myself fully, so don’t even talk about men’s boxing. I’ll be considered lucky if I can win just three opponents.”

“How about outside the ring?”

“I can kill ten top boxing champions in ten minutes.”

Chen Zhao shivered. He went to the restroom and when he returned, Gaia had already removed her gloves.

“Gaia, why do you hate Morgery so much?”

“It’s none of your business,” Gaia answered directly.

Chen Zhao scratched his nose in awkwardness. He was really stupid just now for finding trouble for no reason.

...

After leaving the fitness center, Chen Zhao went to Rufford’s house directly.

Bord was there as well. Rufford was doing some light recovery exercises under his guidance.

“Hello, Chen.”

Both of them stopped. Chen Zhao said, “Continue and finish Bord’s lesson.”

Ten minutes later, Rufford approached Chen Zhao.

After nearly one week of treatment, his leg no longer hurt. Indeed, he felt that he had already fully recovered.

However, Bord felt that it was not the case. It could only be confirmed after Chen Zhao’s examination.

Rufford’s feeling might not be accurate. Sometimes, an athlete may feel that he has already recovered, where in reality there is still some indiscernible damage. Once he starts to exercise vigorously, his injury would relapse. To prevent such a situation, one must be careful.

After some check-up, Chen Zhao patted Rufford’s shoulder. “Rufford, your recovery is excellent. You can already exercise as usual, but not too intensely for these few days. Bord, give me a copy of Rufford’s physical data over the next few days.”

“No problem.”

Chen Zhao was the person who had introduced Bord to Rufford, and he was also Rufford’s investor.

He was indirectly Bord’s boss, not to mention that he had saved Bord’s wife and daughter. Therefore, Bord would certainly listen to Chen Zhao fully.

After spending an hour in Rufford’s house, Chen Zhao received a call from Ethan.

“Chen, a new client. FDD Commercial Building, level 40.”

“What’s the pay?”

“Eight hundred.”

“That’s low. Who is it? What disease? I’m not going if it’s another gang leader or something.”

Chen Zhao was usually not picky about the pay or the client, but eight hundred was indeed relatively low.

If it was only a normal client, he would take it as an opportunity to widen his social circle.

However, if the client was someone dangerous, eight hundred was not sufficient for him to take the high risk.

“FDD Commercial Building is in downtown. Do you think a gang will work there?”

“Fine. I’ll go now.”