48 Hours a Day

Unconsciously, Gaby’s impression of Zhang Heng had turned up a notch.

So far, Zhang Heng’s current performance was enough to pass the final assessment. However, Gaby did not stop his battle with Garba. Except for the battle that would become a stalemate, the final assessment generally allowed the participants to finish the battle. Besides, Gabi also wanted to see what Zhang Heng could do to elevate the battle further. So, he just stood at the side, said nothing, and continued to observe Zhang Heng.

This was not the first time Garba surprised Zhang Heng. Under pressure, Zhang Heng gave up defending, but it did not surprise him. However, his boldness and decisive attacks were not something Garba expected. Zhang Heng’s attack moves were not that special, and his strength and speed were ordinary, but Garba was still at a disadvantage in this battle. And the reason was simple.

That was because Zhang Heng had two swords, but Garba only had one. Although the Dimachaerus had a relatively high mortality rate among gladiators, it was not without its advantages. Zhang Heng abandoning his defensive abilities allowed him to double up his offensive ability. Once Zhang Heng started to attack, Garba would have to focus on his defense. In other words, it would slow down his offensive moves.

Garba was not worried about it because the murmillo’s strength was not offensive but defensive. As long as the tower shield was in front of him, all the attacks would miss him. Other than that, he still had a giant helm on him. The defensive abilities of a murmillo were comparable to a well-constructed wall.

However, that did not mean that the murmillo was invincible in the arena. There were only a few types of gladiators in the arena, and each of them had been studied thoroughly. Zhang Heng was now adopting a standard method to deal with murmillo.

The tower shield that the latter carried could provide him with many defensive capabilities, but it would also reduce the murmillo’s agility.

During the battle, Zhang Heng kept circling Garba. The two swapped roles, and the person who was testing the opponent’s offensive abilities were Zhang Heng. On the other hand, Garba was staring at his opponent through the gap in the helmet. When Zhang Heng moved, he would turn to ensure that the shield could protect him.

So far, although Garba had not been able to gain any advantage, he was still very confident that he could win this battle. After all, he had experienced many fierce battles and was good at handling this kind of situation.

But then again, Zhang Heng’s calmness went way beyond his expectations. Still, Garba firmly believed that he would be the final winner in this battle.

Many people despised Garba because of his age, thinking that Garba’s physical fitness had deteriorated. And they were not wrong. Technically speaking, only his strength, speed, and agility had gotten worse. However, his endurance had gotten stronger over the years. Besides, he also figured out a way to fully utilize his stamina. If Zhang Heng thought that he could exhaust him just because he was young, it would mean that he had fallen into his trap.

However, Zhang Heng, on the other end, did not seem to realize this problem. He was still trying to circle Garba, trying to attack him from all angles and directions. All the attacks, however, were blocked by Garba’s tower shield. In order to avoid being too passive, Garba would strike at Zhang Heng a couple of times with his short sword.

And Garba was very cunning. Zhang Heng was deliberately exposing his weakness to trick him into putting down his guard. However, Garba did not fall for it. He would take a step back every time after he delivered a blow to Zhang Heng. And he managed to slice Zhang Heng’s arm when he tried to attack.

The trainer who served as the referee judged that even if they were using real swords, the wounds shouldn’t be too deep. Hence, the battle raged on. This successful strike had also managed to convince Garba that there was nothing wrong with his strategy. He looked at Zhang Heng and thought, ‘Boy, you’re still too young to fight me.’

Sure enough, everyone thought that the battle would be over soon.

However, Zhang Heng’s face still showed no expression. He figured it was almost time for him to put an end to the act. Next, employing every skill he had, he would need to create a memorable ending to this battle.

Zhang Heng’s plan, after all, was to pass the assessment in a low-key manner. After putting a stop to his previous pretentiousness, it was time to show off his real skills in the final showdown. Gaby’s current impression of Zhang Heng had changed from a non-talented, mediocre candidate to a cool-headed young gladiator with a promising future. He thought that it might be worth it for the school to invest in him.

That was more than enough for Zhang Heng. It was an impression he hoped to leave on others. He did not want to be a star-gladiator like Bach was but wanted to find a reasonable explanation on how he defeated his opponent in the arena in the future.

This was not a balance that one could easily achieve. However, it seemed like Zhang Heng had no problem in executing it. When all the gladiator candidates were thinking hard about how to pass the assessment, Zhang Heng was thinking about how to defeat his opponent as inconspicuously and reasonably as possible.

So far, he had done pretty well. Even Gaby, the well-informed man in charge of the gladiator school, could be deceived by him. He did not suspect that Zhang Heng deliberately concealed his strength, and he probably would not think that someone would be bold enough to hide their powers in the final assessment.

However, Zhang Heng did not manage to deceive some of them. Bach, as an example, who had fought against Zhang Heng, had kept his eyes wide open during the battle, afraid that he would miss some of the essential details.

Seeing Zhang Heng pretending to attack slowly, Bach could not help but criticize in his heart.

‘Where are the furious attacks you used on me that night?!’

And when he saw Zhang Heng getting hurt on the arm accidentally by Garba, Bach almost screamed out loud.

‘How the hell did he manage to hurt you?’ he thought. ‘I didn’t even get to lay my finger on you that night!’

Among many gladiators, Garba was considered a skillful gladiator, just not as capable as Zhang Heng. When Bach put himself in Zhang Heng’s shoes, he knew Garba would admit defeat soon, or he would be split in two by Zhang Heng.

During that night, when Bach fought with Zhang Heng, he knew that he would never be able to defeat Zhang Heng. The pressure was on him from the beginning till the end of the battle. Now, he had to pretend that he was not much stronger than Garba. No matter how one looked at it, something was not right. That was why Bach paid full attention to the battle, already replaying the battle between him and Zhang Heng in his mind countless times. Still, he could not figure out whether Zhang Heng had deliberately lost to him or that he lost the battle for real. And today’s contest might be able to answer this question that puzzled him for many days.

Other than Bach, another person in the corner was paying close attention to the battle. It was the old Persian trainer Zhang Heng met when he came to the school on the first day. He was not responsible for training the new people, and strictly speaking, this was only the second time he met Zhang Heng.

The old trainer seemed to be very interested in Zhang Heng. Since he was standing far away from the stage, Zhang Heng did not notice him.

Besides, the drama was about to come to an end. Zhang Heng had begun wrapping things up. After his left arm was injured, he changed his fighting style and became way more aggressive.

Garba was overjoyed when he saw Zhang Heng charging at him. Did the fish finally take the bait?

Gaby made the same judgment as well. He thought Zhang Heng had begun to lose his patience. Bach was the only one roaring in his heart.

‘It’s time! He is going to attack him now!’

Then he saw that Zhang Heng gave up on attacking Garba’s other vital areas. Instead, he focused on Garba’s eyes.

Garba was taken aback at first. After all, he was a murmillo with a giant protective helmet on him, never thinking the wooden sword in Zhang Heng’s hand could hurt him. But he soon realized that something was not right. Zhang Heng would not use his sword to penetrate the helmet’s tiny gap to hurt his eyes. Instead, he was actually trying to block his vision.

Although the almost fully enclosed helmet could effectively protect his head, it would also cause him to have blind spots. This was one of the reasons why Garba had to follow Zhang Heng’s movements. Once his vision was blocked, Garba could only judge Zhang Heng’s position based on his voice and position himself one second earlier.

But until now, Garba could still maintain his calmness because someone had used a similar tactic on him before. As long as he could defend himself well, Zhang Heng would not be able to hurt him. In fact, Garba also managed to figure out Zhang Heng’s intention. He knew that Zhang Heng was aiming at his left waist.

‘Caught you!’

A glint flashed in Garba’s eyes, and this time he did not put on his defense anymore.

Instead, he took the initiative to make himself vulnerable to attack. The training sword in his right hand was ready to strike at Zhang Heng. Before Zhang Heng could attack his left waist, he went and stabbed Zhang Heng’s neck first.

This battle was not going to end up a tie. Based on Garba’s calculations, he knew that his sword would reach Zhang Heng’s neck first. And he was right about that. However, what he did not expect was that the goddess of luck favored Zhang Heng at this moment. When Zhang Heng saw that his plan was about to fail, his other hand made the final struggle and gave up blocking his vision, but instead, he used his wooden sword to stab his helmet. And it went right into the observation hole in front of his helmet.

From far, Bach was about to curse Zhang Heng.

‘Another coincidence? Sure! Why not?! It’s just another coincidence! Can’t you do something new?!’