The Angel steamed steadily north, the ambient temperature dropping ever lower; the sea was beginning to show patches of pack ice. Phone readout: α. Sorting ice fragments...

The Angel's prow armor crashed against the ice with a dull thud.

Sailing past Greenland and plunging straight into the Arctic Circle, just as the world outside dissolved into a vast expanse of white shrouded in polar night, Captain Yu An's summons echoed through the ship’s hold.

"Hey! My heroes, my stout hearts! The Angel's journey ends here, but yours is just beginning! Everyone grab your personal gear and report to the foredeck—if any of you possess such things! You have ten minutes to reach the foredeck. This is the starting line for you villains to strike it rich!"

For the first time since boarding, Gu Xiechen stepped out of the cabin and onto the deck.

The frigid, biting Arctic wind greeted him with the utmost enthusiasm. The first gust slammed against his face, making him feel as if he’d been brutally slashed. "Minus thirty degrees, at least!" Gu Xiechen shivered violently, barely acclimated after the warm interior of the ship. He hurriedly circulated his Zhenqi, and his complexion immediately improved. But the other 'heroes' who followed him out were trembling like plucked quail, their faces frozen pale.

Before they even reached the Angel's foredeck, a heavy roar sounded from the sky.

At least fifty twin-rotor, multi-engine helicopters descended from high altitude like gigantic demonic birds from myth, all with their doors wide open. Standing on the outer footboards were hulking men clad in black uniforms, every one radiating lethal intent, watching the newly gathered recruits below with the savage gaze of a butcher surveying a herd of lambs.

One helicopter descended directly onto the Angel’s foredeck. A bald man, his face crisscrossed with perhaps thirty scars, beckoned ferociously toward Gu Xiechen: "Get up here, you little wretches, get up here! Damn it, we don't have time to play games with rookies like you, understand? Move it! Anyone who wastes time, I’ll blow their ass up with a rocket!" Vulgar, rude—this was the standard of the mercenaries of the Hell’s Angels corps.

Gu Xiechen glanced back at the direction they had come from, equally consumed by the polar night, then resolutely turned and charged into the helicopter’s cabin. Once sixty men were packed in, the aircraft lifted off, flying directly toward the depths of the Arctic ice cap shrouded in darkness. Inside the cabin, aside from a few dim indicator lights, there was no illumination whatsoever; he couldn't even make out the faces of the men sitting beside him.

Gu Xiechen peered out the porthole, but saw nothing. The Arctic was ruled by the polar night, and thick cloud cover obscured the stars. Even with his sharp vision, Gu Xiechen could barely make out the vast white landscape of ice and snow rushing past beneath the helicopter.

Surrounding them, only the roar of the storm and the thrum of the engine could be heard, when suddenly a tempting aroma of cigar smoke drifted through the cabin. A small red light blinked near the front cabin door. The bald man who had just roared for Gu Xiechen to hurry up had lit a cigar. Gu Xiechen, accustomed to the luxuries of his upbringing, immediately recognized the scent as top-shelf, hand-rolled Havana stock.

The new recruits in the cabin simultaneously swallowed hard, their eyes—greenish in the dim light—fixated on the glowing ember in the darkness.

"Heh heh!"

The bald man, inhaling deeply, let out a sinister chuckle.

"Bitches, you want a smoke too? Hey, authentic Copper Seal Havana hand-rolled cigar, the best stuff! How long has it been since you sluts had one of these?"

The heavy breathing in the cabin grew more pronounced. The bald man deliberately baited them, nearly evaporating the scant sanity the recruits possessed.

Gu Xiechen pursed his lips into a silent smile and subtly shifted backward, tucking himself as far into the corner as possible.

The bald man’s gravelly voice sounded again: "Hey, I know you were already sizing each other up on the ship. Among you broads, who ranks in the top hundred for toughness? Beat me later, and you get twelve cigars! Or... three hot little chicks! Hey, how long has it been since you felt a woman?"

All the recruits glanced toward Gu Xiechen’s corner. The bald man immediately tracked the glance toward the darkest recess of the cabin where Gu Xiechen was shrinking away. The rich scent of cigar smoke spread faintly through the cabin. After a moment of silence, the bald man suddenly laughed: "Hey, a sharp one! Smart guys usually live a little longer."

Gu Xiechen spoke coolly: "You're not smart enough!"

The bald man chuckled a few times and didn't speak again for the rest of the journey.

Ahead, a towering snow ridge appeared, the oncoming gale whipping snow spray high into the air as it struck the slope. The helicopter's engines labored heavily, straining against the wind as it struggled over the crest. Suddenly, the landscape ahead was illuminated by brilliant light.

Looking out the porthole, several kilometers away in the basin, a massive military compound dominated the view.

The square camp measured over three kilometers on each side, surrounded by a circular wall of metal ten meters high. Every hundred meters along the wall stood a sentry tower nearly fifty meters tall, beams from their searchlights piercing the distance, shining directly upon them. The brilliant beams sliced through the porthole, casting every face inside the cabin into stark patches of black and white.

The helicopter slowly hovered over the camp, two searchlight beams locking onto it. In the blinding white light, Gu Xiechen saw a flagpole over a hundred meters tall in the center of the compound, a gigantic blood-red banner snapping fiercely in the wind. The furious gale occasionally stretched the flag taut, clearly revealing a black skeleton with six wings spread wide before Gu Xiechen.

The Blood-Scarlet Skeleton Flag—the standard of the Hell’s Angels mercenary corps. This was the headquarters of the Hell’s Angels, ranked second in the Federation!

The aircraft landed one by one in an open area in the center of the barracks. The three thousand recruits were herded out into organized ranks on the snowfield. The rotors spun violently, whipping up snow tens of meters high. Amidst the gale, the helicopters lifted off once more, gradually vanishing into the inky clouds.

The three thousand new recruits stood shivering in the vast, empty snowfield under the stinging cold wind, illuminated by hundreds of distant searchlights. Except for Gu Xiechen, every body was trembling. The surrounding barracks were lost in the darkness; it seemed the only patch of light in the endless night was the ground where these recruits stood.

After being left standing on the ice for at least half an hour, the surrounding searchlights suddenly extinguished simultaneously. Darkness slammed down upon them, and angry curses erupted from recruits who could no longer contain their frustration.

A sudden, piercing scream drowned out the sound of the wind and snow. A beam of light shot out from a distant sentry tower.

In the column of light walked a towering man, bare-chested, wearing only black training trousers and high combat boots. He held aloft a struggling, bald giant by the throat. The man he held weighed at least two meters and his massive muscles suggested considerable strength. Yet, this formidable man was held in the newcomer’s grip like a rabbit in a giant’s hand.

Gu Xiechen looked on in surprise at this tall man who made such a grand entrance.

This man stood well over 2.20 meters tall. His brilliant blonde hair shone like burning flame under the intense spotlight. His skin, fairer than the accumulated snow, and the faintly discernible golden striations beneath it, confirmed his lineage.

He was an Rm (Roman) mixed-blood.

At least a thousand of the recruits let out sharp whistles, many shouting: "Go back to your Martian home, you mixed-blood bastard Rm!"

The mixed-blood man coldly swept his gaze over the wildly shouting recruits. He violently slammed the struggling, screaming man onto the ground, then stomped down with his boot. The man's head exploded like a rotten melon, spraying blood and brains several meters away. The arctic wind quickly froze the warm gore into ice. The cursing recruits fell silent simultaneously, staring in terror at the mixed-blood man whose boot was smeared with gore and fluid.

"Heh heh, let me introduce myself! My name is Maha. For the next year, I will be your drill instructor. I will attempt to turn you bunch of sons-of-bitches into real heroes!"

"However, if any of you cannot endure this hardship, speak up now, and I will personally shove you back into that dark, stinking Federation prison!"

Maha’s lips twitched, perhaps indicating a grim smile.

He waved his right hand and spoke coldly: "But if you choose to stay, and yet cannot endure the trials of special training—if you try to run away like the waste on the ground—then... you have seen his fate."

He raised his right index finger and sneered: "First rule: Obey orders. Those who disobey will be executed."

He raised his right middle finger and continued his cold smile: "Second rule: Complete all training modules. Those who fail will be executed."

He raised his right ring finger, shaking his head: "Third rule: Never try to escape. The North Pole is less than one hundred kilometers from here. Escapees will be executed!"

These three cold, ruthless rules stunned every recruit; only Gu Xiechen watched Maha with relaxed composure. Gu Xiechen had seen plenty of performances designed to make an example of one to warn the others.

Seemingly sensing Gu Xiechen’s gaze, Maha looked toward him in the ranks and sneered: "You have one chance to avoid a year of special training. Defeat me, or withstand my attacks for half an hour without being eliminated, and you can officially become a mercenary of our Hell’s Angels corps right now! Massive piles of cash, fiery strong liquor, and beautiful women from all over the world, including pure-blooded Rm women, will be yours to command!"

"Bitch, do you dare?" Maha hooked his right index finger toward Gu Xiechen.

Stamping his feet hard, Gu Xiechen sprang up a dozen meters high, hurtling toward Maha head-first like a cannonball fired from the muzzle.

A pale white Gang Qi wreathed his claws. Gu Xiechen swept his left hand down toward Maha’s head while his right hand thrust mercilessly toward Maha’s sternum.

Maha laughed contemptuously and casually threw a punch toward Gu Xiechen.

Gu Xiechen smiled wickedly. The Gang Qi on his claws erupted, and a bizarre sonic crack tore through the air. Ten visible white streaks ripped through the atmosphere. In less than a second, Gu Xiechen unleashed eighteen punches and thirty-six claw strikes upon Maha.

The force of his blows exploded against Maha’s punch. Maha grunted, and his body from the waist down plunged into the snow. From the back of his hand to his elbow, the skin on his right arm was shredded into pulp by the violent Gang Qi. Blood poured out in a stream, dripping onto the snow, mixing with the brains of the mercenary who had just been killed.

Gu Xiechen’s slightly chilled claws pressed against Maha’s eyeballs. He chuckled softly: "With just a slight squeeze, your eyes will be gone."

Maha stared at Gu Xiechen in shock, grinding his teeth as he muttered fiercely: "Innate Gang Qi?"

Gu Xiechen nodded slowly: "Innate Gang Qi."

"Damn it!" Maha suddenly spun around, pointing toward a snow wall behind the distant barracks, roaring: "You tricked me?"

Gu Xiechen also vaguely sensed someone watching him from that direction. He looked up at the snow wall, which appeared utterly normal on the outside.

Inside this snow wall, which stood over three hundred meters high, was a circular hall covering over two thousand square meters. The hall was crammed with various instruments, and at least a hundred uniformed men and women from the corps busied themselves around the equipment. On a massive monitoring screen, the footage of Gu Xiechen suddenly attacking and subduing Maha was being replayed.

A dozen high-ranking leaders of the Hell’s Angels corps, dressed in black uniforms, surrounded a powerful, bearded man standing at the center of the hall. The bearded man squinted at the playback showing the Gang Qi erupting from Gu Xiechen’s claws, a look of delight, as if he had found a treasure, spreading across his face.

"A master of the Innate level? Heh, do our rivals have any masters of the Innate level this young?" The bearded man stroked his thick beard and asked his subordinates standing behind him with a smile.

"Impossible. We know all the trump cards held by our old rivals. How could they possibly cultivate an Innate Master this young?" a stern-faced middle-aged woman replied coldly.

Another, a pale-faced man wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, added: "By all logic, even if he were a spy, no one would be willing to dispatch such a young Innate Master as a spy. If it were us, we wouldn't do it."

"Then we are simply lucky! Heh, regardless of this kid’s background, hehe, even if he raped the Federation Chairman's granddaughter? According to mercenary rules, he now belongs to my Hell’s Angels! Forge a resume for him—let’s tentatively grant him the status of a Second Lieutenant!" The bearded man slapped his thigh forcefully, making an immediate decision about Gu Xiechen.

Gu Xiechen had found his footing in the Hell’s Angels mercenary corps.