The Ultimate Firepower

Chapter 3: I’m Definitely Making This Money

Ethan Gray woke up.

It hurt, and he felt extremely weak. But this time, his back was no longer cold. When he slightly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was an IV bottle hanging above him.

Following the IV bottle downward, he saw the infusion tube, then a medical monitor. Looking past the monitor, he saw a man sitting in the corner.

Why was he here? What had happened?

He was still somewhat dazed after waking up, but with just a little recollection, his memories came rushing back like a tidal wave, causing his heart to ache.

For the first time, he truly experienced what heartache felt like, because Ethan suddenly realized that he had not actually been rescued yet.

The man sitting in the corner was his creditor!

Ethan was not the kind of person who refused to repay his debts, but he seemed to have promised a reward of one hundred thousand dollars.

Ten thousand dollars might be manageable if he thought of a way, but one hundred thousand dollars was something Ethan absolutely did not have.

One hundred thousand dollars was six hundred thousand Draken. Six hundred thousand... What could he sell to gather that much money?

He had not been afraid even when he was on the verge of death, but now he was genuinely frightened.

The situation that was about to unfold would be no problem for a deadbeat who refused to repay his debts even when he had money. But for Ethan, who felt miserable owing someone even a single cent, what frightened him was the embarrassment of being pressed for payment while being unable to produce the money.

His brain raced frantically. Countless thoughts flashed through Ethan’s mind, but the idea of refusing to pay his debt never crossed his mind.

Since he did not want to refuse to repay the debt, there was no other choice. He would just have to face it bravely.

Ethan decided to greet him first.

His throat was dry and painful, as if a piece of charcoal had been stuffed inside it. He wanted to speak, but when he opened his mouth, only strange sounds came out.

The sound Ethan made immediately caught the attention of the white man.

The man woke with a start, raised his head, and looked at Ethan on the hospital bed. He suddenly stood up and quickly walked over to Ethan.

“You’re awake!”

“Water...”

His voice was extremely hoarse, but Ethan finally managed to say a word. The white man seemed to have prepared for this. He picked up a tube from beside the bed and placed it directly into Ethan Gray’s mouth.

“Drink. You finally woke up! You’re alive!”

He was not thirsty, but his dry throat finally received some moisture. He did not drink much before releasing the tube.

The white man said with relief and happiness, “The bounty is one hundred thousand dollars, and the medical expenses are thirty-one thousand and forty-six dollars. How are you going to pay? Let me make this clear in advance. I don’t accept checks!”

Ethan opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say. After hesitating for a long time, he finally said quietly, “My belongings, my identification...”

“You were cleaned up by scavengers. All your belongings, including your identification and bank cards, were inevitably burned. But don’t tell me that without those personal belongings, you have no way to pay the bounty.”

An excuse? Yes, everything being burned was the best excuse.

He suddenly felt relieved inside. Then he put on a shocked expression and said, “They were all burned? Then I really have no way to pay you. I’m sorry... But don’t worry, I’ll definitely pay you.”

Ethan spoke in English, and his English was not very good, so his speech was somewhat halting.

The white man’s expression darkened. He said calmly, “To save you, I advanced thirty-one thousand and forty-six dollars in medical expenses. In addition, I prepaid twenty thousand dollars to the cooperating party as a rescue f*e. Now that you’re alive, it also means I need to immediately pay the remaining twenty thousand dollars.”

Ethan’s expression began to turn ugly. He struggled to swallow.

The white man said seriously, “I haven’t received the one hundred thousand dollars you promised, yet I’ve already advanced seventy-one thousand and forty-six dollars. According to the emergency rescue terms, the Dark Web won’t reimburse me a single dollar. If I don’t get paid, I have to bear all the losses myself. So now I have only one question.”

His gaze moved downward and fixed firmly on Ethan’s eyes. Then the white man asked sternly, “Do you have this money?”

Ethan closed his eyes. His mind was in complete chaos, and eventually he whispered, barely audible, “No. Not for now...”

He opened his eyes, but he did not dare meet the white man’s gaze. Ethan said quietly, “But I’ll definitely repay you. No, I’ll definitely give you every cent of the money.”

The white man was not in a hurry. After studying Ethan for a long time, he suddenly said, “Actually, I anticipated that something like this might happen, but I still chose to save you.”

Ethan did not need to think much. He immediately understood.

Of course, if someone invested, they expected a return. Since this man had saved him without merely seeking money, then naturally, he must have taken an interest in Ethan himself.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Lucan Veyrath. I’m an agent. So, what’s your identity? Assassin, mercenary, scavenger, arms dealer? Information broker?”

Lucan leaned forward slightly and said seriously, “Since you used the Dark Web to request help, you can’t possibly be just a target who needed to be cleaned up, right?”

Ethan answered Lucan with silence.

Lucan showed no disappointment, much less anger. Instead, he even smiled.

Ethan could no longer respond with silence. He said quietly, “I’m just an ordinary person. But since you were willing to save me, you must have a solution for the fact that I don’t have the money to pay you, right?”

Lucan answered casually, “Yes. I have a big job on hand, and I happen to need an Eldorian-descended assassin who specializes in unarmed close-quarters killing. You fit the requirements perfectly. Most importantly, this mission has a bounty of one million dollars. One million!”

After emphasizing the one million dollars, Lucan waved his hand and said, “I have no intention of investigating your background, and I don’t want to know your secrets. Now I’ll take on this major job. I’ll handle the operation, and when we receive the bounty, we split it fifty-fifty. That way, you’ll not only have money to repay me, but you can also make a huge profit. How about it? Want to cooperate?”

Sure enough, that was how it was. It should have been this way.

Ethan felt relieved and answered without the slightest hesitation, “I’m not an assassin, but I can cooperate with you. However, you have to answer some of my questions first.”

“As partners, I can answer many of your questions for free. But if you refuse to cooperate, I’ll have to charge you. I have to make that clear in advance.”

Whether he charged or not did not matter anymore. After all, Ethan could not give him the bulk of the money anyway.

What Ethan wanted to know most at this moment was what exactly had happened.

But how should he ask?

After thinking for a moment, Ethan said heavily, “Who were the people who tried to kill me yesterday?”

Lucan smiled and said, “First, let me correct one mistake. You’ve been unconscious for four days, so this didn’t happen yesterday. Also, the people you killed were scavengers, the ones responsible for destroying corpses and cleaning up traces.”

Ethan hurriedly said, “No, no. I’m not talking about the people I killed. I mean the people who shot me.”

Lucan took out a cellphone. It was the very phone Ethan had found on one of the scavengers’ corpses and used to request help.

“I got this phone from you. It contains some information you want. First of all, those scavengers received a temporary mission from the Dark Web. The commission was posted by a high-level account. As far as I know, this account has a very close relationship with the Aldren Syndicate.”

After saying this, Lucan placed the phone beside Ethan’s bed. Then he said seriously, “The assassins of the Aldren Syndicate were responsible for killing you, while the local scavengers, who also dealt in the organ trade, were responsible for cleaning up your traces. That should be a reasonable assumption. Now tell me, why does the Aldren Syndicate want to kill you?”

Ethan shook his head in confusion.

Lucan said earnestly, “I have no intention of investigating your background, and I don’t want to know your secrets. I didn’t even ask your name. But since we’re going to cooperate, I need to know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into. So, be a little more honest.”

Ethan looked helpless. He said quietly, “I just came to Thalvaria as a tourist. I didn’t get into any trouble. I just found a boxing gym and wanted to exchange techniques with the people there.”

“What boxing gym?”

“Kareth Combat Hall.”

A look of understanding immediately appeared on Lucan’s face. He continued, “Good. Go on.”

“I had just entered the boxing gym and didn’t even know whom I should greet when two people suddenly rushed in and started shooting at everyone. I was hit by one bullet. When I passed out and woke up again, I was in an operating room, and someone was about to remove my organs. Then... you know the rest.”

Lucan said with great interest, “Then you killed six scavengers, posted a rescue request on the Dark Web, and managed to hold on until I arrived?”

“Yes.”

Lucan exhaled and said, “In other words, you were accidentally hit, or rather, you were caught up in the cleanup?”

Ethan was silent for a moment before nodding.

Lucan seemed much more relaxed. “That’s good. I mean, then there’s no problem. If you were a target of the Aldren Syndicate, it would be extremely troublesome. But if you were only accidentally caught up in it, then there really isn’t a problem.”

Ethan asked quietly, “What’s the background of the Aldren Syndicate?”

“The Aldren Syndicate is an assassin organization, the largest assassin organization. Once the Aldren Syndicate accepts a mission, it will definitely be completed. In other words, the target is as good as dead.”

Ethan had actually heard the name Aldren Syndicate before. With Lucan, he was simply confirming it once more.

There was something he did not know whether he should say: Ethan had not only killed six scavengers. He had also killed the two gunmen.

After remaining silent for a moment, Ethan asked quietly, “Then do you know who issued the commission to the Aldren Syndicate?”

“That’s Aldren’s business secret, and it’s also a core secret of the Dark Web. How could I possibly know? But I know Kareth Combat Hall is involved in underground boxing. Perhaps someone who lost a huge amount of money got angry and hired the Aldren Syndicate to kill the fighter who caused him to lose money. Things like that happen all the time.”

To Ethan, encountering something like this was an utterly undeserved disaster, no different from the sky collapsing. But to Lucan, such things were truly common.

Lucan said casually, “I’m not trying to investigate your background, but at least give me a name. Then tell me what skills you’re good at. That way, we can cooperate better.”

Giving him a name meant that any name would do. Whether it was real or fake did not matter. Lucan clearly did not care.

Ethan looked at Lucan, then suddenly said, “My name is Ethan Gray. What I’m good at is Eldorian Martial Arts. I’ve practiced Eldorian Martial Arts since I was five years old, and I haven’t gone a single day without practicing until now.”

Lucan froze for a moment, then pointed at Ethan. “Wait a second. Eldorian Martial Arts? Eldorian Martial Arts? You mean you killed those scavengers using Eldorian Martial Arts?”

“Yeah. Is there a problem?”

“Don’t joke around. Eldorian Martial Arts is just for performance.”

“The Eldorian Martial Arts I practice is real combat training meant for killing enemies, not those flashy moves. Forget it. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”

Lucan said seriously, “But the way I saw you kill those scavengers looked more like an assassin’s style. As for Eldorian Martial Arts... forget it. If you don’t want to say, then forget it. Don’t use something like that to deceive me. I’d rather believe you were actually an underground fighter at Kareth Combat Hall.”

Ethan had long been accustomed to people’s misunderstandings and stereotypes about Eldorian Martial Arts.

In the eyes of most people, the image of Eldorian Martial Arts was extremely polarized. Some firmly believed that Eldorian Martial Arts could make people fly through the air, burrow underground, and do anything. Others firmly believed that Eldorian Martial Arts was nothing but flashy moves meant to deceive people.

Moreover, more and more people believed Eldorian Martial Arts was merely flashy showmanship, because modern Eldorian Martial Arts truly lacked impressive achievements. At least from what the public could see, all the so-called Eldorian Martial Arts masters were frauds.

Therefore, it really was not strange for Lucan to say such things.

Ethan helplessly sighed and said, “The Eldorian Martial Arts passed down through my family is Ironform Fist. When I was five, my grandfather began teaching me Ironform Fist. Then, when I was thirteen, my grandfather took me to seek instruction from a master of Thunderforce Fist...”

Lucan smiled. “Actually, I don’t care what kind of Eldorian Martial Arts you use. I only care about your ability to kill people barehanded. All right, now let’s talk about how we’ll cooperate. And speaking of cooperation...”

Ethan said seriously, “Don’t interrupt me. I’m talking about my martial lineage. This is a very serious matter.”

Lucan could only make an inviting gesture.

Ethan continued, “I started practicing Thunderforce Fist at thirteen. At sixteen, I learned House Merrow Thunderforce Fist. When I was nineteen, I obtained the boxing manual and restored the inheritance of Heartforce Fist, which had been interrupted for more than thirty years.”

Ethan spoke very seriously and solemnly. Although he knew Lucan could not understand him at all, this was an inheritance. Since he had decided to explain it, he could not leave out a single detail. This was his duty as a practitioner who carried on the inheritance of Eldorian Martial Arts.

He had to let Lucan hear it all. It was etiquette, and it was also dignity.

After finishing his explanation of his martial lineage, Ethan sighed and said, “Eldorian Martial Arts is a killing art. It’s not quite like what you see in movies. It isn’t that magical, but it is more efficient.”

Lucan nodded repeatedly. “All right. If you’re good at Eldorian Martial Arts, then it’s Eldorian Martial Arts. Actually, I only care whether you can efficiently kill a target barehanded.”

Ethan said in confusion, “But in my opinion, Eldorian Martial Arts has already become useless in this era. I’m very strong, but one bullet was enough to kill me. The only reason I’m still alive is that my heart is in the wrong place.”

What Ethan said made Lucan somewhat uneasy.

“You’re wrong. How can Eldorian Martial Arts be useless?”

Lucan said sincerely, “Killing someone with a gun is indeed very easy, but you have to understand that for an assassin, in most situations, there simply isn’t an opportunity to use a gun. Sometimes, there isn’t even an opportunity to carry or use any weapon at all.”

“Uh... that does make sense.”

Lucan became extremely excited. “You were born to be an assassin. You’re a genius assassin. If we cooperate, Eldorian Martial Arts can make you a fortune!”

Could Eldorian Martial Arts really make money?

Before today, Ethan had always been skeptical about that.

There was an old saying: scholarly pursuits are poor, martial pursuits are rich. Practicing Eldorian Martial Arts cost a lot of money.

Ever since he was little, Ethan had needed to eat better than other people and eat more than other people. The food expenses alone were a huge burden.

He devoted a large portion of his energy to Eldorian Martial Arts, and once he entered middle school, his grades became poor. After barely making it into high school, he eventually only managed to attend a junior college, and on top of that, he studied tourism management...

After graduation, he could not find a job. He was unwilling to carry bricks at construction sites, and delivering packages seemed too exhausting. He had practiced Eldorian Martial Arts for so many years and could at least consider it a skill. How could he do those kinds of jobs?

The best option would have been becoming a movie star. Unfortunately, nobody watched Eldorian Martial Arts movies anymore, and besides, Ethan’s Eldorian Martial Arts did not look good on screen.

Then Ethan thought becoming an internet celebrity could make him a lot of money, so he started live streaming. After streaming for three months, he gained more than one hundred and forty followers and earned eighty Draken. Then he gave up.

Live streaming did not work. He simply was not suited for it. Ethan thought becoming a combat sports star might be a good option.

But practicing real Eldorian Martial Arts required a partner to train with. When he was young, his grandfather had always been his training partner. But when Ethan reached his teenage years, his grandfather had grown old, and his health was not very good, so he could no longer train with him. Once Ethan entered university, he had even fewer opportunities to spar with anyone.

Ethan began visiting the homes of Eldorian Martial Arts masters who were quite famous online and challenging them. Yet every time he fought, they fell silent. Online, they were all masters, but once they actually exchanged blows, they were all frauds.

The worst was one master who simply collapsed after they exchanged blows. In the end, Ethan had no choice but to sell his house in the county town and compensate that old bastard with one hundred and twenty thousand Draken.

Then Ethan understood one thing: if he wanted to become a combat sports star, he could not fight those who practiced traditional martial arts. There were simply too many frauds.

So Ethan went to gyms and sought out people who practiced Ironring Combat and mixed martial arts to fight.

At first, this was the correct path, until Ethan injured an Ironring Combat coach.

Ironring Combat practitioners really could fight. They had to go all out. Ethan failed to control himself and ended up paying the man four hundred thousand Draken in compensation.

In the end, Ethan decided to come to Thalvaria because he had seen online that the combat sports environment here was much better. As long as he could enter a boxing gym, he would have training partners, become familiar with the rules and styles of the ring, and perhaps one day he could make a name for himself and become a major star.

But then he got shot.

If his heart had not been located on the opposite side, he would have died.

After practicing Eldorian Martial Arts for so many years, Ethan’s final result was that he had earned eighty Draken, paid out five hundred and twenty thousand Draken in compensation, accumulated another one hundred and thirty-one thousand and forty-six dollars in debt, and ended up with a bullet hole in his body.

At this point, the only thing restricting Ethan from making money was a matter of morality.

There was nothing left to consider.

Ethan looked at Lucan and said, “First, tell me who the target worth one million dollars is. I also want to make one thing clear in advance: if you want me to kill a good person, an ordinary person, I won’t do it!”

“Would a good person be worth a one-million-dollar bounty?”

After throwing the question back at Ethan, Lucan said confidently, “The target’s name is Garrick Horven, a warlord in Valeria. He controls a huge territory, and the land under his control is a living hell. He was tried in absentia by neighboring Seravon and convicted of crimes against humanity, with a sentence of four hundred and sixty years. What do you think about killing someone like that?”

For scum like that, killing him would simply be delivering justice on behalf of heaven!

Ethan answered without hesitation, “I’m in. We have to cooperate. I’m definitely making this money!”