Start with push-ups to gain experience

As Zheng Hongxin recounted the former president's great achievements, Fang Cheng's movements remained steady as he picked up food, without even disrupting his chewing rhythm.

He mentally visualized tearing a squid apart with his bare hands and made a silent assessment.

It sounds impressive, but it's only effective against certain mutated creatures.

If it were me, I think I could do it too.

He only needed to use his Qilin Arm to unleash a powerful strike to completely shatter the squid's skull, without having to struggle with it in the water for ten minutes.

"President Su is not only incredibly capable, but also a pioneer with a grand vision."

Zheng Hongxin stared intently at Fang Cheng and continued:
"He devoted half his life to studying countless ancient books and researching the secrets of the Silver Key, trying to find the legendary underwater secret realm."

"All the efforts we made during that time, and the immense risks we took, were all for the purpose of breaking the inescapable bloodline curse on everyone and giving us a new life."

At this point, Chen Jiandong, who had been listening quietly, immediately picked up where the teacher left off:
“Mr. Fang, since Chairman Su chose to entrust the Silver Key to you before his departure.”

"Presumably, he also hoped that you could take over his responsibilities, lead our True Thought Society to regroup, and enter that mysterious world together in the future, following in the footsteps of Chairman Su."

"Jian Dong is right."

Zheng Hongxin nodded repeatedly, earnestly echoing his sentiments:

“Mr. Fang, right now, if we really want to find out what's going on, only you have the key and can pinpoint the exact location of that door.”

"The lives of us old bones, and hundreds of brothers in the guild, are all in your hands. As long as you nod your head, we will follow your lead without hesitation."

As he spoke, Zheng Hongxin raised his wine glass with both hands.

"This glass of wine, I'll drink it first as a sign of respect."

After speaking, he tilted his head back and drank the emerald green wine in the glass in one gulp.

Seeing the other party's unreserved praise, Fang Cheng remained calm, his slender fingers holding the glass of wine.

The remaining emerald green liquid in the glass swirled gently with his movements.

The master and apprentice worked together seamlessly, and the praise they received was truly overwhelming.

In truth, Fang Cheng, holding the token of the True Desire Society, should logically and emotionally agree to their request.

If he hadn't been accidentally teleported to the sacrificial site and discovered by the original owner, he could have simply left without getting involved in any trouble.

After all, he had just founded the Illuminati in Dongdu, so he didn't have the energy to manage another organization.

But he took the town's prized possession, the "Silver Key," and just now, due to a misunderstanding, he received such a warm welcome, sitting here eating and drinking for free.

It's simply unacceptable to just walk away and get something for nothing.

Fang Cheng has always taken the concept of cause and effect very seriously.

Of course, he definitely didn't want to be this damn chairman and stay on the island to clean up the mess left by a bunch of mutated old men.

The best solution is to help them eliminate some potential problems, or leave a promise to lend them a hand at a critical moment, as a way of paying the toll for taking the keys.

Once this favor is repaid, we'll go our separate ways and neither of us will owe the other anything.

At that moment, everyone in the private room stopped what they were doing.

The eyes of high-ranking officials, including Feng Kehai, were all focused on Fang Cheng, waiting for his response.

Should they back down, shirk responsibility, or accept this great power?

Fang Cheng placed the wine glass on the table with a soft sound.

"President Zheng, what you've been saying..."

He was about to say a few polite words to brush it off.

boom! boom! boom!
Suddenly, the heavy double wooden door of the private room was slammed shut.

Immediately afterwards, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

A guard in a black suit, responsible for the building's security, stumbled in.

The guard looked disheveled, with a swollen left cheek and a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, clearly indicating that he had just been in a fight.

"What's the panic!"

Zhao Lei flew into a rage, slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and shouted:
"Are you blind? Can't you see that the hall masters and Chairman Fang are having a meal?"

The guard, clutching his chest, didn't bother to apologize and reported breathlessly:

"Vice President Zheng, Hall Master Zhao! There's...there's someone causing trouble downstairs!"

"what?"

Zheng Hongxin's originally amiable face instantly darkened, and his eyes became as sharp as a hawk's.

"Dare to cause trouble at the Truth Society headquarters? How many people have come? Which organization do you belong to?"

"Just...just two people."

The guard swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly:

"One of them was muscular and had a fierce, bear-like physique. The other was lean and wielded a long, narrow samurai sword."

"Judging from their accents, they seemed to be from Japan, and they were extremely ruthless. As soon as they entered the gate, they forced their way in, calling out Vice President Zheng's name by name."

"The brothers rushed up to question and stop them, but they couldn't even touch the hem of the other side's clothes before they were overturned more than a dozen people. Four patrolmen were seriously injured and are now being held in the lobby downstairs."

"Those two Japanese men asked me to tell you that you must come downstairs to see them immediately, or they will execute those four brothers on the spot."

The atmosphere in the private room changed drastically as soon as these words were spoken.

Wu Yingshan suddenly stood up, her high heels leaving a shallow dent on the carpet.

Feng Kehai also put away his businessman's smile, his thin palms pressed on the table, his fingernails faintly revealing a bluish-black hue.

"I really don't know how to live or die!"

Zhao Lei stretched his thick neck, his knuckles cracking like popping beans.

He turned to Zheng Hongxin and volunteered:

"Vice President, let me go and cripple them."

Zheng Hongxin did not answer immediately, but instead turned his gaze to Fang Cheng, who had been sitting comfortably in the main seat.

"President Fang, what's your opinion?"

Faced with the sudden tension, Fang Cheng's hands remained steady as he picked up food, without pausing for a moment.

He showed no surprise, reached out with his chopsticks, picked up two plump, grilled abalones, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed them heartily.

After struggling for a long time at a depth of 10,000 meters, he was indeed very hungry.

As the cheeks puffed out, the sweet juice burst in the mouth.

After swallowing all the food in his mouth, Fang Cheng put down his chopsticks and slowly wiped his mouth with a napkin.

He raised his eyelids and glanced at the crowd, who looked as if facing a formidable enemy:

"It seems you really do have a lot of troubles on a regular basis, even a simple meal can't be peaceful."

Zheng Hongxin blushed, his originally straight back hunched slightly, and his expression revealed a hint of embarrassment.

Their headquarters was wrecked by just two people, and their VIP guests laughed at them. They've really lost face.

"Mr. Fang, please excuse my poor governance..."

Fang Cheng didn't reply, casually tossed the napkin on the table, and then stood up.

"Let's go down and see which blind fool has to ruin the fun when others are eating."

Upon hearing this, a gleam of joy suddenly flashed in Zheng Hongxin's cloudy eyes.

The fact that the new president personally intervened shows that he has not abandoned the True Thought Society.

The old man quickly nodded and stepped back to make way.

Chen Jiandong immediately straightened his back, strode to the door, opened the heavy door of the private room with both hands, and assumed a leading posture.

Feng Kehai, Wu Yingshan, and Zhao Lei, the three senior executives, exchanged glances, their anger replaced by curiosity and anticipation.

The young man personally chosen by Chairman Su was finally about to reveal his hand. Fang Cheng strode towards the door.

Perfect timing! I was just finding it a bit boring to just listen to these people telling stories.

Since someone has come to my door looking for trouble, I might as well stretch my muscles and let these high-ranking officials in charge of the Truth Association see what I'm capable of.

It will be much easier to deal with them again in the future.

....................................

I really wanted to go back to the headquarters building. The luxurious lobby with its ten-meter-high ceiling on the ground floor was now a complete mess.

The giant crystal chandelier that had been hanging in the center of the ceiling crashed to the ground, the broken glass reflecting the flickering alarm lights from all around.

The expensive Persian carpet was torn apart, and a faint smell of blood filled the air.

"Cough...cough..."

A guard in a True Thought Society uniform lay in a pile of broken glass, foamy blood gushing from his mouth.

His sternum was noticeably sunken in, and each breath was accompanied by a hissing sound like a broken bellows.

Click!

A foot wearing wooden clogs stepped on the guard's shoulder, slowly applying pressure.

"The people of Xia have bones that are too brittle."

The speaker was a muscular man who was over two meters tall.

He had a buzz cut and was wearing a black, tight-fitting stretch T-shirt.

His muscles bulged like granite blocks, and his bronze skin even had a faint metallic sheen.

At this moment, he was looking down at the dying guards below him, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

As he stomped his foot, the guard's shoulder blade made a sickening cracking sound, and he was in so much pain that his eyes rolled back and he couldn't even scream.

"Stop! Let him go!"

Outside the hall, more than twenty members of the Truth Society patrol, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, raised their rifles, all pointing them at the uninvited guest in the center of the hall.

The captain leading the team had veins bulging on his forehead, and his hands, gripping the gun, trembled slightly with anger and tension.

"Put down your weapons and surrender. This is the headquarters for the real purpose of returning to China, not a place for you to run wild!"

The captain shouted orders, attempting to overwhelm the enemy with numbers and firepower.

The muscular man turned his head and glanced at the dark gun barrels around him. Instead of showing any restraint, he burst into a wild laugh.

"Running wild? We're here to collect a debt."

The burly man suddenly raised his foot and kicked the seriously injured guard in the side of his waist, like kicking a ball.

boom!
The adult man, weighing over 160 pounds, was sent flying into the air by his kick, like a cannonball, heading straight for the patrol team dozens of meters away.

"Get out of the way!" the captain roared.

The crowd scattered in panic.

The guard crashed heavily into a load-bearing pillar in the hall, causing dust to fall from the pillar. He was already dead when he hit the ground.

A dozen or so hot-blooded young guards, their eyes reddening, roared and drew their short swords from their waists, charging towards the muscular man.

"court death."

The burly man sneered, his legs slightly apart, assuming a standard karate starting stance.

Facing the slashing blade, he neither dodged nor avoided it, but instead swung his thick arm to meet the blade head-on.

The clanging sound of metal clashing suddenly rang out.

The sharp dagger struck his forearm, sending sparks flying, but it didn't even break the skin.

The burly man strode forward, his shoulders and back suddenly slumping, like a charging rhinoceros, crashing heavily into the crowd.

A series of dull thuds echoed.

The guards who rushed forward didn't even see the other side's movements before they felt as if their chests had been run over by a heavy truck.

With the cracking sound of bones breaking, more than a dozen people flew out like rag dolls, smashing the reception desk, knocking over potted plants, and falling to the ground howling in pain.

"Too slow, too weak."

A cold voice came from the shadows on the west side of the hall.

A thin man dressed in a black kimono slowly approached.

He had a samurai-style haircut and was holding a long, narrow, and simple samurai sword in his arms.

Unlike the muscular man's ferocity, this skinny man didn't exude any aura; he was like a block of ice without any temperature.

"If you really want to learn, apart from that old guy named Su Jing'an, you're all useless."

The gaunt man, speaking in broken Xia language, glanced contemptuously at the patrol members who were trembling with fear around him.

"Shut up! You're not allowed to insult Chairman Su!"

The guard captain, his blood boiling, suddenly raised his assault rifle, aimed at the enemy's head, and pulled the trigger.

Thump thump thump—

The gun muzzle spewed out a scorching tongue of fire, and the bullets fanned out, covering the area where the gaunt man stood.

However, at the very instant the gunshot rang out, the gaunt man's figure abruptly vanished from his spot.

There were no afterimages, no sound of wind breaking, as if a piece of space had been directly sheared off by some force.

The next second, the captain of the guard felt a faint chill on the back of his neck.

Startled, he instinctively ducked and lunged forward, relying on his years of fighting experience, to avoid a possible sneak attack.

However, the gaunt man had already appeared beside him like a ghost.

The katana had been drawn at some point, its blade unstained by a single drop of blood, hovering silently in mid-air.

The guard captain froze for a moment, and as he fell to the ground, he was about to turn his gun.

*Pfft*

His entire right arm, which was holding the gun, along with half of his shoulder, slipped off his body without warning and crashed to the ground.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and it wasn't until two seconds after the arm hit the ground that scarlet blood gushed out from the cut like a fountain.

"what--"

The belated, excruciating pain caused the captain to collapse to his knees with a thud, letting out a piercing scream.

"You do have some skill."

The gaunt man gave a soft snort and twisted his wrist.

The samurai sword twirled in mid-air before being sheathed with a "clang".

The entire movement was fluid and fast, so fast that it was impossible for the naked eye to catch it.

The remaining guards were completely stunned by this overwhelming power that defied all reason.

Their palms were sweating profusely as they gripped their guns, and their feet involuntarily retreated.

"Shoot! Why aren't you shooting?"

The muscular man walked up to the skinny man, patted his chest muscles as hard as steel, and mocked him arrogantly:
"The people of Xia only know how to hide in the back and use fire sticks to bolster their courage. Is this your way of treating guests?"

"Yugoro, don't waste your time."

The gaunt man frowned slightly and said in a deep voice:
"Since the president who really wants to join is going to hide like a coward, then we'll go to him ourselves."

Ding--

Just as the words were spoken, the VIP elevator at the end of the lobby emitted a crisp notification sound. (End of Chapter)