The moment the words fell, Yu Huaiting gave Fu Songcheng no time to prepare.
He kicked off the ground, his whole body shooting out like an arrow loosed from a string, the greatsword in his hand carrying a sharp whine of wind straight at Fu Songcheng’s face.
Fu Songcheng’s eyes sharpened. He swiftly dodged sideways, while the dagger in his hand slid along the greatsword’s blade, producing a grating screech of metal.
He didn’t counterattack—only probed Yu Huaiting’s strength and speed.
“Too slow!”
Yu Huaiting shouted. With a twist of his wrist, the greatsword’s momentum instantly changed, sweeping horizontally at Fu Songcheng’s waist.
Fu Songcheng shifted his footwork, quickly retreating half a step, the greatsword’s edge barely grazing past his combat suit.
Yu Huaiting was indeed seriously fulfilling his sparring partner duties.
Though the attacks were fierce, they left room, deliberately giving Fu Songcheng space to observe and dodge.
His sword swung wide and sweeping—every strike demonstrating power generation and attack trajectory to Fu Songcheng.
But soon, he forgot what he’d originally been doing.
The Bitter Couple identity’s special bonus quietly took effect between them.
Every clash of blades, every narrowly avoided brush past each other, produced a strange resonance.
It brought no direct damage, yet acted like a catalyst—multiplying the fighting spirit in their bodies, then feeding it back double to each other.
Yu Huaiting felt his blood flowing faster, his heartbeat pounding in his eardrums. The innate combativeness in his bones was being ignited bit by bit.
His sword swings grew faster and faster, the power greater and greater.
The greatsword carved afterimages through the air, the space left for Fu Songcheng to dodge gradually compressed.
Bang!
The greatsword slammed viciously into the metal floor, smashing out a dent.
Fu Songcheng used the force to leap back several meters, and once steady, looked calmly at Yu Huaiting.
He’d seen the change in Yu Huaiting’s state.
Yet Fu Songcheng didn’t feel flustered—in fact, he found it somewhat amusing.
Yu Huaiting as a sparring partner really wasn’t professional.
He’d sneaked in little touches before, and he was doing it now too.
But that was how raising a dog went—if you didn’t take the puppy out for high-intensity exercise, a pent-up puppy would eventually develop psychological problems.
What’s more, what Fu Songcheng needed right now was precisely this kind of real, no-holds-barred fight.
He had to rapidly raise his practical combat ability under extreme pressure. He was confident that no matter how heated Yu Huaiting got, he’d never truly take his life.
But as they fought on, Fu Songcheng couldn’t hold back his temper either.
He and Yu Huaiting almost simultaneously put away their weapons and started hand-to-hand.
Without the barrier of weapons, the distance between them instantly closed.
Yu Huaiting threw a straight punch at Fu Songcheng’s face.
Fu Songcheng didn’t retreat—he raised his left arm to block.
Smack!
Their arms collided without obstruction.
The instant of contact, the negative effect swept through both their nerves.
Fu Songcheng felt a piercing sting in his arm, accompanied by brief muscle numbness; Yu Huaiting’s movement paused briefly, then he continued applying force.
Fu Songcheng expressionlessly flung him off, then immediately raised a leg to kick at Yu Huaiting.
Yu Huaiting lifted a knee to block—another contact.
The stinging worsened.
They didn’t stop.
In fierce hand-to-hand combat, defense and counterattack inevitably involve bodily collision. Every contact triggered the negative status.
After nearly half an hour of fighting, both were gasping for breath.
They gradually figured out the pattern of the Bitter Couple’s negative effects.
The type of negative effect updated every ten minutes.
Over the half hour, the first ten minutes were pain and numbness, the middle ten were vertigo, and the last were intensified stamina drain. Moreover, the longer the contact, the stronger the effect.
Once, the two tangled on the ground for a dozen seconds, and the negative effect nearly cost Fu Songcheng his ability to move.
Now the intensified stamina-drain negative effect made both their movements somewhat sluggish.
Fu Songcheng’s brain raced, searching for a way to break the deadlock.
He suddenly recalled a long time ago, when he’d first met Yu Huaiting. Yu Huaiting had been like this then too—like a suicidal madman, always ending up covered in wounds in instances, dragging a pile of negative statuses onto Fu Songcheng along with him.
Back then, to counter Yu Huaiting, Fu Songcheng had stroked the Sympathy Doll to gain attribute bonuses.
Now that they’d become Bitter Couple, was the Sympathy Doll still useful?
Fu Songcheng decided to try.
He leaped backward, trying to widen the distance from Yu Huaiting.
But Yu Huaiting stuck to him like taffy, biting down hard, giving him no chance to breathe. Yu Huaiting’s fist wind howled in, sealing off his retreat.
Fu Songcheng had no choice but to raise one arm in defense and take the blow.
Bang!
Fu Songcheng’s arm went numb from the impact, his body sliding back half a step involuntarily.
But he used that gap to pull out Yu Huaiting’s Sympathy Doll and rub hard on the doll’s head.
The next second, a cold system notification sounded in both their minds simultaneously.
[System Notification: Interaction successful! Gained 3S bonus: Speed +8%, Damage +3%.]
Yu Huaiting’s movements froze.
He felt as if his head had been violently rubbed in a circle, the technique casual and perfunctory.
He stopped attacking and stepped back two paces, his cheeks instantly flushing red, his voice even trembling slightly: “You fight dirty!”
Fu Songcheng couldn’t hold it in and laughed softly.
This was the first time he’d used the Sympathy Doll in front of Yu Huaiting.
Yu Huaiting’s reaction was even more spectacular than he’d imagined.
Had this been before, Yu Huaiting would have felt awkward but would definitely have taken the opening to act coquettish and extract some benefits for himself.
But now it was a little different.
The Bitter Couple identity had stirred up the anger and competitiveness in their hearts. Yu Huaiting was indignant: Fu Songcheng actually used such a method!
“You haven’t experienced it yet, have you.”
Yu Huaiting didn’t hesitate. With a backhand reach, he pulled out the Sympathy Doll representing Fu Songcheng from his own system backpack.
He unceremoniously pinched the belly of Fu Songcheng’s doll.
[System Notification: Interaction successful! Critical hit!]
Fu Songcheng let out a muffled grunt, cold sweat breaking out.
Numbness and pain struck at once—especially since the shared-senses system had judged the location with its wicked humor. He was feeling for the first time what it was like to be touched there.
All fighting spirit vanished—he even wanted to flee.
His body went somewhat weak, yet his pride wouldn’t let him say anything to stop Yu Huaiting, so he could only maintain his combat stance, stuck in limbo.
But Yu Huaiting couldn’t see anything unusual about Fu Songcheng and slapped Fu Songcheng’s doll on the back.
[System Notification: Interaction successful! Gained mental resistance bonus!]
Fu Songcheng’s spine tingled. He somewhat regretted it—pulling out the doll was asking for trouble.
Compared to the current Yu Huaiting, he suddenly felt that the Yu Huaiting who obediently told him he liked him, whined and acted coquettish, and pretended to be surprised while deliberately creating contact was practically a spirit pearl.
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