On the deep night of July 31st, at Villa 199 of the Mingyue Residential Quarter, there were four enormous rooms on the second floor of the villa: a bedroom, an audio-visual room, a reception hall, and an exceptionally large martial arts training hall. This training hall alone occupied one hundred and twenty square meters, nearly half of the total area of the second floor.
At this late hour, the glow of the streetlights from the residential quarter filtered through the glass of the audio-visual room, refracting into the martial arts training hall on the second floor.
Luo Feng, dressed in loose martial arts attire, sat cross-legged in silence on the floor. Two streaks of radiant light continuously circled his body at high speed, then darted joyfully throughout the training hall like birds, soaring, diving, and twisting with great agility and swiftness.
After a while, the two streaks of light slowed down and came to a stop, hovering in front of Luo Feng. They were two throwing knives.
“At the moment, my ability to control objects from a distance can only handle two at once. If I try to control four or five knives… their speed and power would sharply decline.” Over the past month, Luo Feng had not only trained his physical strength to the point of precise control, but had also focused most of his efforts on developing his mental powers.
During this month, living in the Mingyue Residential Quarter, Luo Feng had met many martial artists. Through conversations with them, he had confirmed one thing—he truly possessed mental powers!
“Tomorrow is the martial artist practical examination. Tonight, I should rest well.”
Luo Feng rose, slid open the glass door, and entered the bedroom to rest and sleep.
…
On the morning of August 1st, under the guidance of a martial artist from the Limit Gym, more than thirty aspirant martial artists, including Luo Feng and Yang Wu, headed toward the train station.
“Kuchi—kuchi—” the faint friction sound of the speeding train was barely audible, while inside the train carriage, the atmosphere was lively and noisy. The carriage was fully enclosed, with no windows to view the outside. On large screens within each carriage, a figure now appeared.
Inside the train carriage, many aspirant martial artists were seated.
“Ladies and gentlemen aspirants, future martial artists, I come from the HR Alliance,” a middle-aged man’s speech was being broadcast live on the carriage screen. “I believe you’ve all heard of the HR Alliance! The world’s most powerful, wealthiest, and largest organization with the most martial artists! You’re probably also familiar with another name for our HR Alliance—the Underground Alliance!”
The aspirants gradually quieted down inside the carriage.
Luo Feng and Yang Wu sat side by side, gazing at the large screen.
“Fengzi, you know about the Underground Alliance, right?” Yang Wu chuckled. “They’re the big spenders! The wealthiest organization in the world, richer than entire national governments.”
“I know.”
Luo Feng smiled. During the past month living in the Mingyue Residential Quarter, he had learned a lot of basic information from other martial artists in the same community. Before the Great Nirvana Period, countries like the United States and various European nations were controlled behind the scenes by powerful families who influenced political parties. Families like the Morgans, Rockefellers, Onassis, and others…
These families once controlled nearly half of the world’s immense wealth!
However, with the arrival of the Great Nirvana Period, many small countries were destroyed by monster attacks, and even major powers were preoccupied with their own survival. The control of governments with military forces became unprecedentedly strong. At this time, the world’s ancient and powerful families feared being suppressed by government armies. Thus, they joined forces to form the HR Alliance—also known as the Human Rights Alliance.
While it sounded noble as the Human Rights Alliance, it was actually a coalition formed to consolidate the power of these super-rich families. Martial artists referred to it as the “Underground Alliance.”
“Our alliance is the world’s largest platform for martial artist exchanges! Here, you can take on missions with huge rewards.”
“Our alliance has tremendous influence worldwide! Join us, become part of us, and even in the United States, the European Union, or any other region, you will enjoy the finest services.”
“Our alliance possesses formidable military and political power. Join us…”
…
The middle-aged man on the carriage screen continued speaking for a full fifteen minutes.
“My fellow future martial artists.”
The screen switched to another serious-faced man. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Deputy Director of the Jiangnan Base City Security Bureau, and my surname is Liu. In our country, the government’s military power is undoubtedly the strongest! Join the government, join the military, and no matter where you are in China, you will receive the best support.”
…
“Everyone,” the screen then switched to another individual. “I am the manager of the Lightning Grand Gym in Jiangnan Base City, and my surname is Wang. Our Lightning Gym was established by the invincible speed master known as ‘Thunder God,’ and has branches all over the world…”
…
“Future martial artists, the previous three have already introduced themselves. Without much explanation, you all know I represent the Limit Gym!” The screen switched again to another person. “My surname is Zhuge! The Limit Gym… this is the world’s largest gym, established by the world’s strongest martial artist! Our gym possesses the strongest power in the world…”
…
The promotional speeches from the four representatives stirred up a wave of discussions among the aspirants inside the carriage.
“Second Brother, which faction do you plan to join after becoming a martial artist? I think the Limit Gym is pretty good.”
“Join the Underground Alliance—they offer the most money, hahaha.”
“The Lightning Gym offers better benefits for martial artists than the Limit Gym. Joining the Lightning Gym is also a good choice.”
The aspirants excitedly discussed everywhere inside the carriage.
Luo Feng and Yang Wu also whispered to each other: “Fengzi, my instructors and former seniors all joined the Limit Gym. Now you’ve joined it too, so naturally I will as well! Besides, even if you join the Limit Gym, you can still take on missions from the Underground Alliance. As for buying and selling items, you can do that within the Limit Gym or through the Underground Alliance.”
“Limit Gym, Lightning Gym, Underground Alliance, government military…” Luo Feng was well aware.
Within the homeland, the government military was the strongest.
Next was the Underground Alliance, a coalition of super-rich families worldwide. Even national governments dared not provoke them easily, as the Underground Alliance practically controlled the world’s economic arteries!
The Lightning Gym and Limit Gym ranked lower in strength.
However, joining the two major gyms meant freedom!
“Yang Ge, look at how many aspirants are actually on this train?” Luo Feng glanced around. In just one carriage alone, there were over a hundred people.
“There are a lot of people,” Yang Wu smirked. “Earlier, I overheard others talking. They said there are two martial artist practical exams each year, and for each exam, over a thousand aspirants from the entire Jiangnan Base City come to participate.”
“A thousand people?” Luo Feng was greatly surprised.
But it made sense. With a population of 200 million in Jiangnan City and ten million in Yangzhou City, the average number was just a few dozen.
Soon—
“Attention all aspirants, the train will be arriving at the station shortly. Please prepare to disembark.” The loudspeaker inside the carriage announced. As the train gradually decelerated and came to a stop, the carriage doors opened, and aspirants from all carriages disembarked.
Quickly, a massive group of aspirants entered a large military camp. The camp covered a vast area, especially with heavy thermal weapons visible around the perimeter. Cannons were aimed outward, and numerous soldiers held high-quality weapons.
Luo Feng and his group of aspirants looked around.
“Look outside the camp fence,” Yang Wu excitedly pointed into the distance.
Luo Feng looked carefully and saw some emaciated monsters beyond the camp’s security line, their stomachs sunken, roaring loudly. However, these monsters dared not approach the camp.
“Ga—”
With a piercing cry, almost simultaneously, all the aspirants looked up. In the azure sky, hundreds of flying beast-monsters swiftly passed overhead in a dense formation.
“As the books say, once you leave the base city, monsters are everywhere. The books were indeed correct,” Luo Feng’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Humans can only live within base cities or gather in military camps. To venture alone into these areas and battle powerful monsters—only martial artists can do that!”
“Everyone—”
A loud voice rang out, reaching every aspirant’s ears. “Welcome to the Northern Military District of Jiangnan City! This time, your martial artist practical examination for 1,680 candidates will be held right here in our Northern Military District. I hope that most of you will pass this examination, and I also hope that all of you will survive this practical test!”
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