Demons Beside You

Chen Zhao was just a normal guy. How brave could he be?

Should he go straight up against Gaia Lope?

Before, Chen Zhao thought that Gaia was only good at fighting. Now, he finally knew her background. She was the f*cking former instructor of the Marines and a top wrestling coach.

And Chen Zhao was naïve enough to want to go up against her? He was just looking to get beat up.

Gaia had already walked out. Her six-foot-something body loomed before Chen Zhao.

“Uh...Umm...I have somewhere to be...Bye.”

Gaia pushed Chen Zhao back into his seat with her huge hand.

“Lope, you know Mr. Chen?”

“I made the bruises on his face.”

Ola shuddered and then looked at Chen Zhao with pity. Could there be anything worse than this? He’d been beat up and wanted revenge, but then came to his enemy’s territory to ask her to teach him how to fight.

“You want to learn wrestling?”

“Uh...I was kidding.”

“Bord called me earlier. You want to take revenge on me?”

“I’m seriously busy.”

“Sit down,” Gaia barked and Chen Zhao instantly grew obedient.

“Does it hurt when I squeeze your shoulder?”

“Huh? Ow...”

Ola rolled her eyes. Chen Zhao’s acting was so fake.

“Your fitness is much better than I’d imagined. I used 80% of my power, but you only have a few bruises on your face.”

“It’s okay, it’s not much...” Chen Zhao’s smile was quite forced.

“Arm wrestle with me. If you win, you can leave.”

“Uh...you sure?” Chen Zhao instantly grew spirited again.

I can’t beat you in wrestling, he thought, but with arm wrestling, I can go easy on you.

“Come on.”

Gaia already had her arm resting on the table. Ola looked at her in shock. She’d been Gaia’s assistant for six years and she knew how terrifying the woman was.

There were many gym members with similar physiques as her, but none of them were Gaia’s match. It wasn’t only in wrestling. No one could even beat her in arm wrestling. Gaia’s grip and instantaneous burst of power were both at a world-class level.

No—she was at a beast’s level.

Ola glanced back at Chen Zhao. His physique, arms, and weight weren’t in the same weight class as Gaia. How could Gaia request Chen Zhao to arm wrestle with her?

This is completely bullying, Ola thought. Boss, if you break his arm, you’ll get sued.

But what Ola didn’t expect was that Chen Zhao actually agreed.

Grasping Gaia’s hand, Chen Zhao said, “I’ll let you—”

Thud—

Chen Zhao had wanted to act cool, but Gaia started without warning.

“I wasn’t ready,” Chen Zhao complained. Can’t you let me finish acting cool?

“Fine, I’ll give you another chance.” Then Gaia said to Ola, “Ola, you say ‘go’.”

The two clasped each other’s hand and Ola asked, “Ready?”

They nodded at the same time. Ola waved her hand. “Go.”

Gaia’s power burst forth immediately. She didn’t underestimate her enemy because she knew that Chen Zhao wasn’t a simple figure. But when she used all her might, she discovered that she couldn’t move.

So strong!

Gaia looked up Chen Zhao to see that he looked relaxed. He even had a sh*t-eating grin.

“Should I go easy on you? You can use two hands.”

Ola gaped. This guy was crazy. In all these years, no one had ever dared to act arrogant before Gaia. Paired with Chen Zhao’s expression, even Ola wanted to beat him up.

Acting cool felt great.

Watching Gaia use all her might, Chen Zhao grinned. “Don’t kill yourself. You can use two hands. I won’t mind.”

Chen Zhao’s arm felt like it was made of metal. Gaia couldn’t make it budge.

Her expression hardened and grew serious. She didn’t use two hands because arm-wrestling needed a place to apply power. Holding onto the table with one hand would give her more strength.

Using two hands would actually make her weaker.

A minute later, Chen Zhao felt that Gaia’s strength had weakened.

Gaia let go. She’d used up all her power. If she couldn’t take care of Chen Zhao in a minute, it was useless to keep going.

“I lose. You can go.”

“Huh?” Chen Zhao wasn’t used to Gaia like this. “I can leave?”

“As you wish.”

“Then I’m going.” Chen Zhao picked up his tool kit and prepared to leave.

“You really don’t want to learn wrestling from me?” Gaia asked.

“Uh...for free?”

“F*ck off.”

“What price?”

“If it’s two hours per day for a month, I can charge you $5,000 per month. If you want a flexible schedule, then we’ll go with an hourly rate. It’ll be $150 per hour.”

Chen Zhao thought for a moment. This was even cheaper than what Bord had said earlier.

“How about nine to 11 every morning?”

“Sure,” Gaia said.

“So I can leave now?”

“You haven’t paid yet.”

“Uh...”

“Oh, and don’t tell anyone what happened,” Gaia said.

“What, you think it’s embarrassing?” Chen Zhao looked at her quite proudly.

“If you want to get challenged by the people out there, you’re welcome to do whatever,” Gaia said nonchalantly, shrugging. “Ola, help him do the paperwork.”

Not everyone in the gym were muscular beasts, but most of them were. They were all familiar with Ola, so when they saw her, most would walk over to say hi.

“Hey, you’re new, right?” A muscle guy in an undershirt put his arms over Chen Zhao’s shoulders as if they were close friends. “Want me to be your coach? I’m the best here. I’ll only charge you $30 per hour.”

“Atai, Lope is his coach and he’s not here to work out either. He wants to practice wrestling.”

“Bro, you have guts. You actually went to Lope to practice wrestling.”

Chen Zhao glanced at Ola. “Is Ms. Lope really scary?”

“Don’t worry. All her past students are still alive.”

“Haha...” All the surrounding people started laughing at Ola’s words.

“Can I still back out now?” Chen Zhao felt like he’d made an incredible decision.

“Of course you can, but you better pray that Lope won’t find where you’re living.”

Chen Zhao paid the money very unwillingly and signed all the papers. He left the gym in low spirits.

It felt like he was paying money to get tortured. No, it didn’t just feel like it. It was the truth.