A massive manta ray floated on the surface of the sea, upon the corpse of which the slain creature, Gu Xichen sat cross-legged with his five vital points facing the sky, silently circulating his vital energy. The novel à.1κ.０ text version first release.
The lean body exhibited muscles, hard as rebar, rising and falling. Gu Xichen's heartbeat pulsed at a steady rate of 210 beats per minute, and powerful surges of energy continuously poured from his heart to every part of his body. The vital energy raced through the meridians; after circulating nine full cycles throughout his body, the energy flowing from the heart merged with the vital energy, becoming a part of Gu Xichen's cultivation.
No breakthrough without destruction—this saying was indeed correct.
Although last night he had faced the greatest danger of his life and sustained severe bodily trauma, Gu Xichen had gained considerable benefits. He had forcibly activated the latent Dao Embryo within his heart, causing immense energy to flood his entire body in a single breath. While this had wreaked havoc on his meridians, after a night of careful regulation and rest, the damaged channels had been repaired. What were once meridians equivalent to a two-lane road had transformed into spacious eight-lane highways; Gu Xichen’s vital energy circulated with effortless mastery—the feeling of having absolute control was truly magnificent.
After circulating his vital energy for eighty-one cycles and feeling his cultivation advance by another small step, Gu Xichen stopped his practice and rose to his feet.
He bounced a few times on the manta ray’s back, then carved out a large chunk of flesh from it. The pungent, fishy meat was far from a delicacy, yet Gu Xichen forced himself to swallow a full kilogram. This manta ray had lived for an extremely long time, and its flesh contained abundant essence and blood. After swallowing the meat, a wave of warm energy rushed straight up from his stomach, and Gu Xichen let out a contented burp. Gu Xichen’s physical functions were incredibly robust, and the fish meat was quickly digested and broken down, rapidly infusing his body with vitality.
Gazing around, Gu Xichen realized he had no idea where he was after drifting all night. His watch, which could have been used for navigation, was destroyed in last night's fierce battle. He could only confirm that he was not far from New York, but he lacked the ability to pinpoint his exact location.
Gu Xichen’s most pressing concern was escaping the sphere of influence of the Gu Corporation. Not just near New York, but the entire American region was perilous for him. The Gu Corporation's hidden power in the Americas was astonishingly vast; should Gu Xichen dare to show himself anywhere in North or South America, he would be discovered instantly. Gu Juechen had tried to assassinate Gu Xichen to seize control of the Gu family’s power, and if he discovered Gu Xichen had survived, the second and third assassins would surely follow in quick succession.
This time, Gu Xichen had escaped by sheer luck because Gu Juechen had misjudged his strength, and a large contingent of family death-sworn loyalists had fought desperately to carve a bloody path for his escape. Next time, Gu Juechen would deploy far greater and stronger forces to kill him.
His escape last night had exposed Gu Xichen's long-hidden personal strength completely. The family forces loyal to him had also been utterly eradicated by Gu Juechen. If Gu Juechen moved to kill him again, Gu Xichen alone would be absolutely unable to contend against the entire Gu family. Furthermore, among those who attacked Gu Xichen last night were some strange figures of unknown origin, suggesting Gu Juechen had colluded with other external factions.
“Where to go?” Gu Xichen frowned.
Having never left New York since birth, Gu Xichen had always been under the comprehensive protection of the family. It was not easy for him, lacking worldly experience, to hastily devise a viable plan.
A ship slowly passing by about a thousand meters ahead made the decision for Gu Xichen. This vessel had clearly departed from New York Harbor. Since it was an outgoing ship, its destination was unlikely to be New York. Gu Xichen pondered this with a furrowed brow, then leaped off the manta ray.
Relying on a breath of Innate Vital Energy, Gu Xichen swam rapidly underwater like a fish. Every movement of his limbs generated immense thrust; he darted forward along the three-meter-deep seabed like a torpedo. In just three minutes, Gu Xichen covered over a thousand meters and pressed tightly against the ship's deck. Taking a deep breath, he employed the Gecko Climbing Wall Technique to slowly ascend onto the vessel.
As soon as he reached the deck, several black muzzles were pointed directly at him.
A middle-aged man in a First Mate’s uniform stood on the upper deck, holding a liquor bottle. He cheerfully raised the bottle towards Gu Xichen with a broad smile.
“Tsk tsk, look at this, a guest who arrives uninvited! How peculiar! Was this esteemed guest robbed? Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”
Several armed sailors laughed loudly, pointing and commenting on the naked Gu Xichen’s physique. It had to be said that Gu Xichen’s build was excellent; although lean, the defined muscle knots, sharp as if carved by axe and chisel, possessed striking visual impact and exuded an incomparable sense of power.
Touching his bare scalp, Gu Xichen looked up at the middle-aged man and smiled, “I ran into pirates on the way. I want to catch a ride on your ship anywhere.”
“Pirates?”
The middle-aged man burst into exaggerated laughter, and the sailors laughed so hard they nearly choked. The man shook his head, “Young man, encountering pirates just outside New York Harbor? Do you think those Federal Fleet bastards grew up eating dirt?”
He tossed the bottle to Gu Xichen, shaking his head. “No matter what you are, it makes no difference to us, none at all. Are you a villain who kills and sets fires? Even better! Take a swig of liquor to warm yourself up. You have one minute to decide whether to join our mercenary corps, earn money to buy a ticket, or jump back into the sea.”
After taking a gulp of the strong, pungent cheap liquor, Gu Xichen looked at the middle-aged man with surprise. “Mercenary corps? This is your mercenary ship?”
The middle-aged man leaned against the railing of the upper deck, scrutinizing Gu Xichen with interest. “This is the recruit transport vessel for the Hells’ Angels Mercenary Corps. Onboard, we have three thousand new recruits we just acquired—all heroes bought at a high price from Federal Prisons! After a year of our training, they will go out and make big money!”
Swallowing, the middle-aged man spouted boastfully, showering saliva, “After a year of training, the qualified tough guys will sign a twenty-year employment contract with us. If they are lucky enough not to die after twenty years, or if they earn enough merit for our corps, all their criminal records within the Federal judicial system will be cleared, and the tough guys can settle down wherever they wish with a hefty golden retirement pension.”
“Fifteen seconds left, young man, what do you think?” The middle-aged man smiled, looking at the contemplative Gu Xichen. “Are you one of those tough guys? Are you willing to go to our training camp, or will you jump back into the ocean right now? Uh, we are a mercenary corps, not a charity; free passage is impossible.”
Clearly, the middle-aged man did not believe Gu Xichen’s story about being robbed by pirates. In his eyes, Gu Xichen was already categorized as a scoundrel, just like the other three thousand recruits on the ship. Would a law-abiding federal citizen appear nude on the high seas? Would a law-abiding federal citizen possess the ability to climb onto a ship's deck dozens of meters above the water barehanded? A person of unknown background with such skill could only be one of the ‘tough guys’ he mentioned!
Slamming the liquor bottle onto the deck with force, Gu Xichen lifted his head and laughed loudly, “I’ll join! But, uh, I don’t have any identification!”
All his identification documents had been turned to dust in last night's fierce battle, and Gu Xichen’s naked body clearly explained the situation.
“Oh, we don’t need ID!”
The middle-aged man and all the sailors erupted in laughter again. The man, bending over with mirth, chuckled hoarsely, “Your naked body is the best ID! We only need tough guys, and there is no doubt you are not a woman! Hahahaha!”
“Damn it!” Gu Xichen’s face flushed slightly. He strode up to a sailor holding an assault rifle and knocked him unconscious with one punch before the sailor could react to what he was about to do. Under the appreciative gazes of the middle-aged man and the other sailors, Gu Xichen stripped the unfortunate sailor of everything except his underwear. Thirty seconds later, the fully clothed Gu Xichen was ushered into the ship’s hold as a ‘promising’ tough guy.
This gigantic 320-meter vessel, the Hells’ Angel, belonged to the Hells’ Angels Mercenary Corps. The hold featured a vast rectangular atrium, with honeycomb-like cabins densely distributed around it. As Gu Xichen entered the hold, it was filled with deafening roars.
Thousands of hideous, fierce, savage, and brutal burly men were dancing and shouting excitedly on the skybridges in front of the decks of cabins. In the huge atrium was a ring twenty meters long and wide, where two extremely muscular, naked men were fighting fiercely. Both dark-skinned men were nearly two meters tall, equally large, equally thick, and equally ferocious. Their fists cut through the air, emitting sharp cracking sounds, and faint ripples of fist-wind agitated before their blows.
The moment Gu Xichen stepped out of the passageway into the atrium, the two fighting men in the ring had just decided the victor. One man’s arm was twisted and broken by the other. The victor held the howling, struggling loser high above his head, strutted twice around the ring triumphantly, and then slammed the loser down off the stage.
Whether intentionally or not, the massive body of the loser was flung towards Gu Xichen, who had just entered.
The middle-aged First Mate, who introduced himself as John Lawrence, swiftly retreated several steps. Only when Gu Xichen was about to be struck did he shout, “Watch out!”
Gu Xichen kicked the fallen man, sending the howling loser flying over twenty meters. A mouthful of blood sprayed from the unlucky fellow’s mouth as Gu Xichen’s violent kick cleanly knocked him unconscious. Gu Xichen, his face grim, stared coldly at the victor still standing menacingly in the ring and sneered, “Did you do that on purpose?”
The thousands of hulking men on the surrounding skybridges froze for a moment, then simultaneously roared, “Kill this kid! Kill this yellow monkey!”
Many excited men jumped onto the railings, bouncing and cheering, “Oh yeah~~~, someone else has come to deliver himself to death!”
A rain of boots and foul-smelling socks poured down. John Lawrence deftly slipped back into the passageway, shouting back over his shoulder, “Kid, knock that guy on the stage down! Heh heh, they’re fighting for the throne of the strongest among these three thousand recruits! Heh heh, the most powerful warrior gets the best treatment!”
Gu Xichen awkwardly dodged the relentless assault of boots and stinking socks, glared angrily at John Lawrence, and then strode onto the stage.
The men on the skybridges applauded simultaneously. Some shouted for the huge black man to tear Gu Xichen apart, while others incited discord, demanding Gu Xichen finish off the black devil in front of him.
The massive black man in the ring contemptuously shook his head at Gu Xichen, who was barely 1.8 meters tall. He crossed his arms over his chest and haughtily lifted his head.
Gu Xichen stepped forward without a word and drove a palm strike into the black man’s chest, sending him flying directly off the stage. The black man’s arm, along with several ribs on his chest, were pulverized. The victor, who had been so arrogant moments before, lost consciousness without even letting out a groan.
The vast hold fell into dead silence; thousands of burly men stopped their clamor at once. The strong man sent flying by Gu Xichen’s palm strike had defeated over a hundred challengers in the past few days, and everyone had tacitly accepted him as the strongest among the three thousand. The loser thrown off the stage just now had been the last person brave enough to challenge him.
Seeing such a powerhouse sent flying by a single palm strike from Gu Xichen, these 'heroes' just pulled out of the Federal Prison simultaneously clamped their mouths shut on their frenzied shouts.
“I am the strongest!” Gu Xichen smiled faintly. He extended a middle finger towards the thousands of brutes on the surrounding skybridges and loudly demanded, “Any objections?”
No one objected. Gu Xichen, having just boarded the Hells’ Angel, became the recognized strongest among the three thousand recruits.
In the cockpit of the Hells’ Angel, the captain, holding a corn-cob pipe, watched Gu Xichen swaggering arrogantly on the ring monitor with a wide smile.
“John! You seem to have found a very good little fellow! Did he really climb up without any aid?”
John Lawrence stood respectfully beside the elderly captain and smiled, “I saw it with my own eyes, respected Mr. Yuan. If we hadn't installed monitors on the hull, he could have snuck in and fooled everyone.”
“Very good. Mark him down as a priority training subject.”
Yuan viciously tapped his pipe against the sole of his boot.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There will be another chapter in the afternoon. Hey, clicks, votes, and reviews—I want them all!
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