Chapter 97 - Outvillain The Villain

He did, of course, have another reason. Duststorm's large batch of antiques was somewhat different from regular antiques. Many antiques on the inventory list came with gimmicky descriptions about their original owners. Some of the more expensive ones had backstories attached to them, probably done to justify the antiques' inflated prices by making them seem more valuable.

There were actually quite a few antiques in the batch that had genuine stories, which was what Cassius was interested in. Perhaps the proportion of antiques with lingering attachment here would be greater.

He came back to reality. After scarfing down his breakfast in a few bites, he then walked toward Baichuan City's central district. Coincidentally, after just a hundred meters of walking down Flag Street, there was a tram heading straight to the central district.

Cassius bought a ticket and sat on one side. The layout of this tram wasn't much different from modern subways, with long seating areas on both sides. Except, the seats weren't metal in this era; they were wooden, like armchairs, with a dark red, soft leather seat, reminiscent of a sofa cushion. It made for quite a comfortable ride.

The tram doors opened at around eight in the morning. Cassius alighted from the train, checked his location, and started walking.

He spent the entire morning rushing around. First, he went to a tailor shop to order a closet full of clothes and even went so far as to order two more batches of larger-sized garments based on his estimated measurements. Cassius had learned his lesson. He wasn't going to allow himself to make the same rainy day mistake again. Otherwise, unless he had amnesia, it would just be too stupid.

Cassius's era already had specialized stores for larger clothing. However, Cassius was a special case. At about 1.9 meters tall, he was a giant, and the clothes that fit him were few and far between. If his physique got any bigger after another time-travel, he would need even larger clothes, so it made sense to have them tailor-made all at once.

At the same time, Cassius didn't think he'd grow any taller. His next physique enhancements would likely focus more on muscle and bone density. For example, after his physical enhancement from the Shadow Demon the day before, Cassius stopped bulking up and instead, his overall weight shot up, although his body shape didn't change much. His muscle density and his physical defense capabilities increased in tandem, complementing each other.

Aside from clothes, Cassius was also searching for another place to live since he had quite a bit of money now and wanted to move. As nice as Jessica Apartments was, there were too many people around so it was quite crowded. Moreover, with neighbors in such close proximity, it wasn't easy for Cassius to install workout equipment or do any kind of heavy exercise because if he did, his neighbors would likely file a complaint. Therefore, finding a small house to live alone in was the best option.

Cassius had quite a bit of money. A hundred fifty thousand Hongli Federation dollars from the gang, plus the seventy thousand from Phil's father, plus around twenty to thirty thousand dollars from Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall. Even after subtracting his expenses, he still had over two hundred thousand dollars in his hands, which was enough for a small house.

Unfortunately, after spending the morning searching and visiting two to three real estate companies, Cassius couldn’t find a place that was to his liking. Then, he thought of his student, Phil. Maybe he could visit the Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall in the afternoon, and ask Phil and his brother Matthew. After all, their family ran a company and had a wide network, so they might have connections in the property business.

Cassius decided not to waste his time and energy searching blindly. After eating lunch in the central district at noon, he boarded the tram, wearing the new black jacket and baseball cap that he had just bought.

Since it would take some time for him to receive the tailor-made clothes, Cassius went to the famous Green Lotus clothing store in the central district and bought a few sets to wear until the custom ones were ready in half a week.

Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was the afternoon.

A tall, strong figure pushed the door of the Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall open, and walked in, toting a shoulder bag. Cassius glanced at the counter by the door where the bat-haired old man was as focused as ever, thoroughly engrossed as he perused a colorful magazine with a lecherous expression.

He walked over and thrummed the table with his fingers. "Old Mike."

"Oh, Coach Li Wei. Your keys are right here." The old man looked up abruptly and wiped the drool from his mouth. He then opened the drawer of the counter, yanking out a bunch of keys. Each key on the keyring was labeled with Cassius's name, including the coach's room, the training room, and the lockers.

Cassius picked them up. "Thanks." He remembered to add, "Take care of yourself."

"Hey, all I'm doing is looking. This, here, is a feast for the eyes. Besides, when you get to my age, it doesn't matter how much the spirit wants. Nothing can be done when you don't have the energy for it." Old Mike sighed. "Coach Li Wei, I envy how strong and tall you are. You haven't noticed it but you've had a lot of pretty female coaches and students in the martial arts hall watching you."

"Is that so?" Cassius raised his eyebrow slightly. He picked up his bag of clothes, grabbed a white towel off the wall rack, and draped it around his neck with a flick.

As he walked along the corridor, people kept greeting him on both sides. He was quite the popular guy in Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall.

"Hi, Coach Li Wei!" A pretty girl wearing gym clothes that hugged her figure waved at Cassius, beaming. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail. Her tight top accentuated her curves, while her skintight pants perfectly showcased her long, toned legs. Her name was Hannah, a frequent visitor of Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall who had recently been booking Cassius's combat classes.

"Ah, hello, Hannah." Cassius nodded.

He must've been influenced by Old Mike's reminder earlier because he found himself scrutinizing Hannah's gaze. He noticed her eyes lingering on his firm chest and toned waist, before occasionally drifting to his strong inner thighs.

"..." Cassius's sturdy frame shivered. He could now somewhat understand what it felt like for pretty girls to be ogled by men on the street. It was a complex mix of shyness and anger.

"I didn't expect Coach Li Wei to remember my name." Hannah smiled so wide she squinted. Her lips glistened like a juicy peach and there was an alluring hint in her face. Her subtly aggressive gaze swept over him. "Huh? Coach, you seem taller and stronger than before."

Fuck!

Cassius cursed inwardly and quickly walked away, pretending not to hear a thing. That woman was trying to seduce him, although that word was maybe a bit of an overkill. Perhaps "lure" was more appropriate.

Afterward, many people greeted Cassius from the foyer to the locker room. A large proportion of them were female, and at least half had strange glints in their eyes. Cassius hadn't realized before how popular he was.

He finally reached the locker room where he opened the locker and changed into the yellow combat attire of the Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall. He then pushed open the door and strolled out.

Cassius washed his hands in the restroom next door while he stared at the mirror. The man opposite him wasn't handsome, but he had deep and defined features, and his cold, silent demeanor gave off a cool vibe. Together with his tall stature and strong figure, Cassius had unconsciously developed a unique male charm. Was he considered a hottie in women's eyes?

"

Heh

." He smiled helplessly and splashed a handful of water onto his face. He left the restroom and headed toward the training room.

Click.

Cassius turned the doorknob and walked in. The room was quite spacious, and in fact, was much larger than his living room in Jessica Apartments. The floor was evenly covered with gray tiles, and the white walls were quite plain. There were no extra decorations other than the two or three pots of green indoor plants in the corner. The rest of the furniture consisted of exercise equipment.

Pulling open the window a crack, Cassius glanced outside at Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall's training field where he could see several students jogging. Upon checking the time, he saw he was half an hour early. Since he had some leisure time, he immediately started working out.

Many habits from his time-travel continued to make its mark on Cassius. His desire to not waste a single moment gradually increased. He felt incredibly uncomfortable when he had a moment of free time and he wasn't practicing the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts. If practicing martial arts were a disease, he was definitely terminal.

Half an hour later, the sunlight slanted into the room. A dozen students were combat training under Cassius's guidance, and among them were three familiar faces: Phil, his friend Milo, and combat enthusiast Tifa.

"Next, I want you to pair up and practice the combat techniques I've taught you from previous lessons," Cassius said. He took a few steps forward until he stood next to Phil. "Let's begin."

Immediately, everyone started looking for their partners. Very soon, some familiar pairs began sparring with each other.

Next to Cassius, Milo glanced at Phil who was staring at Tifa, a faraway look in his eyes. He was about to make his way over to her when Cassius, who standing by the rectangular window, called out, "Tifa, Phil, and Milo, come over here."

The four of them gathered together in the corner.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"How has it been practicing the Explosive Techniques I taught you?" Cassius stroked his chin and glanced at the three of them.

"Not bad," Phil said.

"Same here," Milo echoed.

Tifa stood very straight and admitted somewhat reluctantly, "It's difficult, I've only just started to get a feel of it..."

Cassius chuckled inwardly. It might sound like Milo and Phil had a better grasp of the technique than Tifa, but that wasn't the case at all. Tifa was undoubtedly much more proficient with the techniques Cassius taught than those two.

None of them were wrong though. Phil and Milo claimed they were doing well because they, in their somewhat clueless minds, thought they'd made decent progress. In contrast, Tifa, who had been diligently practicing combat for years, had a much clearer understanding and knew the progress she'd made was seemingly negligible in comparison to fully mastering the Explosive Techniques. The reason why she said she'd only begun to get a feel for it was because she had only used a small portion of the technique.

Tifa could tell her coach was truly skilled. The Explosive Techniques he'd recently taught her alone were far superior to what she'd learned at the Edelweiss Middle School Combat Club.

Hence why Tifa was eager to take her studies more seriously and planned to formally ask Cassius to be her teacher after she familiarized herself more with the techniques. She wasn't going to bring it up right away since they hadn't known each other long and Tifa was worried that Cassius might reject her request to be his student.

"Phil, you said you were doing well, right? Then spar with Tifa so I can see just where you're at," Cassius said, a slight smile playing on his mouth.

Previously, he had taught the three teenagers an Explosive Technique. It wasn't the complete version from the Wind Elephant Basic Combat Arts, but a watered-down version.

The technique was limited to increasing someone's speed by about 1.3 times. While 0.3 appeared like an inconsequential number, it shouldn't be underestimated; in close combat, even an extra 0.1 could be lethal. Moreover, this 0.3 improved the user's basic physical capabilities. As long as they trained their bodies to be stronger and more powerful, the Explosive Techniques would naturally be more effective.

Cassius watched the two spar. Phil started enthusiastically enough, but he was beaten down like a wilted eggplant within seconds. He could no longer hold himself up, all of the energy he had moments ago was gone. He was completely and thoroughly beaten.

His so-called Explosive Technique was clumsy, and he was clearly inferior to Tifa who had become quite skilled at it. Phil couldn't help feeling a little frustrated.

"Don't be discouraged. You've only just started learning it." Cassius patted Phil on the shoulder.

The next few hours went by without too much incident. When Cassius heard that the Edelweiss Middle School Combat Club would soon be holding an internal ranking match, he encouraged Phil to give it a try. Smiling, he said that if Phil's ranking improved significantly, other people would definitely notice. It couldn't be more obvious as to who the "other people" were.

Cassius did this not only to encourage Phil but because he knew that the Explosive Techniques he taught were effective. If Phil participated in the ranking match, he would surely make remarkable progress. This would, in turn, significantly increase Cassius's value as a martial arts teacher.

Being closer to Phil's family also had its benefits since Cassius still needed Phil's brother and father's help. Cassius asked Phil to pass a message to Matthew, asking for the latter's assistance in finding a suitable new residence. Phil agreed without hesitation.

After finishing his work at the Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall, Cassius had dinner near Hongta Street, before returning to Jessica Apartments to prepare for his real job.

On July 5 at around 10:30 p.m., someone wearing black boots stepped onto the street corner of Baichuan City's main district on Beika Street. His steps made a snapping sound on the gray pavement, breaking the silence surrounding Beika Street. The streetlights cast a yellow glow on whoever was approaching's chest. A tall, burly figure silently surveyed the street, with one or two goldfish-mouth cars parked by the roadside.

The evening breeze blew, rustling the leaves. A matted stray cat was curled up on the lid of a bronze trash can, sleeping. Occasionally, leaves fell and scattered across the road.

The area he was in was neither a commercial area nor a residential district so foot traffic was sparse, especially after 10 p.m. It could be half an hour before a single person would walk by. The environment suited Duststorm's antique transport truck. Likewise, it was also perfect for Cassius who was hankering to cause a bit of trouble.

He was planning to outvillain the villain.

Time ticked by, and the massive clouds soon swallowed up the round moon, with only a few stray stars twinkling in the sky. Suddenly, bright lights turned on, shining in from the street in front. A black square-roofed Fotte truck drove into Beika Street.