The Ultimate Firepower

Chapter 1: Life and Death

Ethan Gray woke up.

It hurt. He was cold. An overwhelming sense of weakness filled his body.

All of these sensations came from the wound in the center of his chest.

The surface beneath him was cold, with a steel-like texture. Someone was whispering beside his ear.

The smell of disinfectant filled his nose, mixed with the heavy stench of blood.

Was he about to die, or was he already dead?

Ethan slowly opened his eyes and saw two figures in white coats standing on either side of him.

White coats. Doctors?

Had he been saved?

But standing behind the two doctors was a middle-aged man wearing a floral shirt. He looked extremely excited.

“He’s actually still alive? How could someone survive after being shot in the heart?”

“This kid is a mirror-image person. In other words, his organs are reversed compared to a normal person. His heart is on the right side. Congratulations, Boss. This heart can fetch a good price.”

The doctor’s words made Ethan’s heart sink into an abyss.

The boss placed a hand over Ethan Gray’s chest. His heartbeat was so weak that it was almost impossible to feel, but relying on his extensive experience, the boss could still tell that his heart was beating.

“Excellent!”

The boss immediately turned around and said urgently, “We didn’t prepare a heart-transplant transport container. Go get one. Quickly! Hurry! This heart could be worth tens of millions!”

After hearing everything clearly, Ethan immediately understood his situation.

He had known for a long time that he was a mirror-image person. That was the reason he had survived until now. The bullet that should have pierced his heart had struck his lung instead.

But being shot in the lung was still enough to make a person lose the ability to move.

His main problem now was not the pain.

It was the overwhelming weakness that was truly fatal.

Nothing was restraining him, nor had he been injected with anesthetic, because the people who were about to remove his organs had originally treated him as a dead man.

But even so, he did not have the strength to get up.

Yet Ethan did not despair or lose his head.

He knew exactly what he had to do.

Squeeze out the final trace of potential from his dying body.

He had practiced Ironform Fist from the age of five, started learning Eightfold Palm at thirteen, began practicing Thunderforce Fist at sixteen, and started training in Heartforce Fist techniques at nineteen.

What Ethan practiced was not some flashy performance. He possessed genuine martial arts, with methods for both training and actual combat.

Although a lifetime of martial arts could not stop a tiny bullet, as long as he was still alive, he would ultimately have far more chances than an ordinary person to create a miracle.

As long as he was alive, there was still a chance.

The doctor did not rush to begin because he needed to make sufficient preparations. After all, preserving a living heart had extremely strict requirements.

That gave Ethan a little time.

And what he needed most right now was time.

At that moment, another voice suddenly rang out.

“Boss!”

A man walked over to the person called Boss and whispered, “Four have already been burned in the furnace. Once this one is finished, we can continue right away.”

Anger.

Extreme anger.

He could not die.

Even if he was going to die, he had to kill these scum who sold human organs before he did.

At that moment, the man known as Boss picked up his phone and made a call.

“Hello, how did the comparison results turn out? ... It matches? Excellent! I have another piece of good news for you. The donor’s heart wasn’t destroyed! Because he’s a mirror-image person, his heart can be used!”

The boss paused for a moment before saying cheerfully, “I’ll start immediately on my end. Also, you’d better discuss the price with Mr. Matthews. It would be best if you could raise the price a little... Listen to me, there’s a reason I’m asking for more money.”

Ethan could not hear what the person on the phone was saying, but the boss spoke very seriously.

“I’ll put it simply. The donor killed one of the Andeck Group’s assassins with his bare hands. He was shot once in the lung, and three and a half hours have already passed, yet he’s still alive. With physical strength like that, don’t you think the price should be increased?”

Ethan Gray could hear the entire conversation.

He felt no fear.

Only anger and an overwhelming sense of urgency.

“Boss, everything is ready.”

“The doctor is ready. I’m about to start cutting. Hurry up and make the arrangements on your end. That’s all.”

The boss ended the call and walked over to the operating table, greedily examining Ethan’s body.

Four people.

Four pairs of eyes were fixed on Ethan.

The boss twisted his neck, waved his hand, and said cheerfully, “We want the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys. The corneas too. Especially this heart. It’s extremely valuable. You two must be especially careful.”

After giving his instructions, Fifth Brother began backing away.

He raised his phone and pointed it at Ethan.

“Wait a moment. Let me record this... All right.”

The knife in the doctor’s hand descended toward Ethan Gray.

The doctor did not notice that Ethan had opened his eyes because his gaze was not focused on Ethan’s face.

Ethan suddenly extended his hand and grabbed the doctor’s wrist.

The doctor, whose wrist had been seized, let out an extremely terrified scream.

With a speed completely inconsistent with that of someone suffering such severe injuries, Ethan sat up.

Then, using his left hand, which had been supporting him against the operating table, he raised it, twisted it around, and moved rapidly.

He snatched the surgical knife from the doctor’s hand and, like lightning, plunged it into the carotid sinus in the doctor’s neck.

It was a move that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

Familiar because he had practiced it countless times.

Unfamiliar because Ethan had never used it on anyone before.

Blood sprayed out, covering Ethan’s head and face.

As the doctor on the right collapsed, Ethan turned sideways and stabbed the surgical knife directly into the eye of the doctor on the left.

The blade pierced deep.

With his palm pressing firmly against the end of the surgical knife, he pushed with all his strength until the entire blade disappeared inside, his palm finally pressing against the doctor’s face.

The two people standing beside the operating table were plunged into extreme shock.

The middle-aged man who was the boss instinctively took a step backward.

But he only took one step.

Ethan felt slow.

Very slow.

His body was weak and completely powerless.

The overwhelming weakness made Ethan extremely uncomfortable. At that moment, he had absolutely no idea how much strength remained in him.

He had never been this weak in his entire life.

If he had no strength, then he would choose the method that required the least strength.

Attack the enemy’s most vulnerable points.

Ethan lightly thrust two fingers toward the boss’s eye sockets, using almost no force.

But in the boss’s eyes, he was unbelievably fast.

Ethan’s fingers met a slight resistance. Even though his hands were now weak and powerless, they were still more than enough to overcome the resistance of an eyeball.

Blinding both eyes could not kill an enemy immediately, but it could disable the enemy’s ability to fight as quickly as possible.

A shrill scream suddenly rang out.

To Ethan’s left was a rack filled with surgical instruments.

After Ethan blinded the boss with his right hand, his left hand had already picked up a surgical knife from the rack.

When the boss raised both arms and began wildly swinging them, Ethan’s left hand passed through the obstruction of both arms and plunged into the boss’s throat.

Then he sliced through half of his neck.

There was still one person left.

And the last person finally pulled a handgun from inside his clothes.

If Ethan had not been severely injured, this person would never have had the opportunity to draw his gun.

But now, Ethan could do nothing except desperately keep himself from collapsing.

He no longer had the strength to throw another punch.

He had no strength.

Fortunately, he still had technique.

He leaned forward, then reached upward with his right hand from below.

After suddenly grabbing two spherical objects, he squeezed them until they burst.

Monkey Steals the Peach.

It was a technique he had never had the chance to use before and had even disdained to use.

But at this moment, for the extremely weakened Ethan, it was a life-saving move.

He exerted all his remaining strength.

Suddenly, everything before his eyes went black, and his head spun violently.

A shrill scream rang out.

The man, who had already gotten the gun into his hand but had his two precious orbs seized, bent forward uncontrollably, his body arching as he convulsed violently.

Unable to control himself, he thrust his head forward, presenting it directly before Ethan.

Right hand on the peach.

Left hand with the knife.

The blade entered the last opponent’s neck from the side.

None of this had required much effort, but it still made Ethan feel as though the world were spinning.

He reached out and grabbed the operating table, waiting for the intense dizziness to subside.

After gathering enough strength once more, the first thing he did was take the gun into his hand.

A gun really was better.

With just a curl of his finger, he could kill someone.

He had never touched a gun while he was in his home country, and he had not even seen one before.

But Ethan at least knew how to fire one.

With a gun in his hand, even in such a weakened state, he now had the ability to fight back.

The screams just now should have attracted people, and Ethan could already hear footsteps.

Ethan lay on the floor and hid the handgun behind a corpse.

Just after he finished doing this, the door to the room was suddenly smashed open.

Someone was shouting, but nobody entered.

At that moment, there were only five corpses on the floor inside the room.

Yes.

Ethan looked even more like a dead person.

He was completely naked, with a bullet hole in his chest and blood splattered all over his head and face.

The two people who could not make sense of the situation entered one after another.

One had a gun in his hand, while the other was holding an iron hook with both hands.

The two were terrified. They were speaking rapidly about something, but Ethan could not understand them.

The instant both men entered, Ethan suddenly raised his hand.

Bang!

After the gunshot rang out, the man holding the gun shuddered and collapsed to the ground.

Less than three meters away.

At this distance, even if Ethan had never fired a gun before, he could still hit a person in the head with a single shot.

A gun really was useful.

Ethan pulled the trigger again.

The bullet struck the man holding the iron hook, but the second shot was not as effective.

The man holding the iron hook charged toward Ethan and brought the hook crashing down toward him.

Another shot.

Then another.

Ethan fired two shots in succession.

Then he tilted his head to the side as quickly as possible.

The iron hook slammed heavily into the tiles beside his ear, while the man holding it lost control of his balance and fell forward, crashing down beside Ethan.

Ethan Gray pressed the muzzle against the top of the man’s head and fired.

Only after these four shots was the last opponent finally killed.

Ethan took a breath.

Then blood foam began emerging simultaneously from his mouth and from the bullet hole in his chest.

He did not know whether the gunshots would attract more people, but Ethan no longer had the strength to do anything else.

Ethan swept his eyes around and carefully examined his surroundings.

The room was not very large, but it was empty.

The walls were covered with white tiles, as was the floor.

There was only one operating table in the room, with several pieces of equipment arranged around it, along with two racks.

There were no windows.

He could not see what was outside, but Ethan knew that there must be a cremation furnace outside.

Ethan struggled to get up and took a piece of medical cotton from the rack beside the operating table.

When he stuffed the cotton into the bullet hole in his chest, Ethan felt a pain that seemed to tear his soul apart.

Trembling uncontrollably, Ethan pushed the cotton into the wound and could not help taking a deep breath.

The pain was still excruciating, but perhaps because of psychological effects, the piece of cotton plugging the wound seemed to prevent air from escaping through the bullet hole.

Ethan slowly opened the door and looked outside.

It was obvious that there was a temple outside.

Within Ethan’s line of sight stood a pagoda, but flames were emerging from its base.

Inside a temple, this was called a Transformation Pagoda.

Outside a temple, it was called a cremation furnace.

The corpse currently burning inside the cremation furnace had nothing to do with Ethan.

He looked around, but there were no other living people in sight.

That made sense as well.

A place specifically used to destroy corpses and eliminate traces did not need too many people.

Then now was the time to call for help, wasn’t it?