"Boss, are we just going to take this?"
Early in the morning, inside an abandoned factory in the Iron Ring District.
Rust-colored iron filings littered the ground, and black oil drums stood in the corners.
Following the angry voice, one could see seven or eight figures gathered around. In the center of the clearing lay two people, covered in blood and barely breathing.
"No matter what, they're still our Rock Gang's men. How dare he be so ruthless."
"Yeah, he's showing you no respect at all, Boss."
The voices of gang members echoed from all around. Rock, who had a strong and sturdy build, had a grim expression, a cold light flickering in his eyes.
"What? You want to get revenge?"
he said coldly, looking at the crowd. His fierce gaze made all the gang members shudder and lower their heads.
"They were lucky to be alive after provoking a Fighting Level practitioner."
"If you think you're so tough, you can go give it a try."
he said mockingly. No one dared to respond.
The gap between a Fighting Level practitioner and an ordinary person couldn't be bridged by numbers alone.
"These two good-for-nothings... strip them of their cybernetics later!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Rock gave the order in a cold voice.
No one dared to object. Then, someone asked, "Boss, what about Xu Peng and the other one..."
"Throw 'em in the garbage dump!"
A flicker of impatience crossed his eyes as Rock waved his hand dismissively.
The crowd fell silent and did as they were told.
Only faint rustling sounds remained in the vast factory. Rock's expression was stormy as he watched the two men, Xu Peng and the other, being carried away unconscious and severely injured to have their cybernetics removed. An unnameable fire of rage burned hotter and hotter within him.
'He may be a Fighting Level practitioner, but to disrespect me like this...'
"Where's Ah Bao? Is he back yet?"
"Not yet, Boss."
The subordinate's reply made Rock even more agitated. Ah Bao was his most trusted man, in whom he had placed high hopes. He had already become their second Fighting Level member.
'If I let him handle this matter...'
VROOOM!!
The sound of an engine came from the entrance of the abandoned factory, suddenly interrupting his thoughts.
Before he could react, the few underlings standing guard at the entrance turned pale and ran inside in a panic.
"B-Boss!"
"It's, it's the Hongyi Society..."
VROOM!
Before the underling could finish his sentence, a black Sharp Light sedan drove past the iron gate and into the factory.
His pupils contracted. Rock stared intently at the lowering car window.
A man in a black suit revealed his face.
He had a cigarette between his teeth, a scar by his left eye, and a defiant look on his face.
...
The night passed without incident.
Although he had already broken through to the Fighting Level, Lu Chao still woke up early.
His unwavering biological clock had long since become instinctual; he would wake up on his own every day between six and seven in the morning.
Just then, his watch vibrated gently, and he glanced down at it.
[Brother Hao: OK]
"It's been taken care of?"
Looking at the message, although it was just two short letters, Lu Chao roughly guessed its meaning.
'Did Brother Hao personally go to put the Rock Gang in their place?'
He breathed a small sigh of relief.
He wasn't afraid of retaliation, but it was always better to avoid trouble if possible.
"This feeling... isn't half bad."
The Rock Gang, which he once had to be wary of, no longer posed much of a threat. Lu Chao suddenly found that he quite liked this feeling of gradually growing stronger.
With a faint smile, he spread his arms and quietly savored this moment of peace.
Then, he changed his clothes and walked out onto the balcony.
Thin sunlight penetrated the dome, scattering across the land.
The clouds high above were perennially gray. Neither in the original owner's memories nor in the six months since his arrival had he ever seen a blue sky.
The reason for this could be seen by looking far off toward the port docks on the western shore of the Iron Ring District, near the inner ring canal.
Numerous giant smokestacks soared into the clouds.
Steel-roofed factories rose from the ground like crouching behemoths, their silhouettes visible even from a great distance.
White smoke billowed out continuously, merging with the sky.
It gradually swallowed even the long trails left behind by several speeding hovercars.
"The New Industrial Zone..."
Zhao Yuanqing's voice sounded. He had appeared at Lu Chao's side at some point, holding a washbasin. He turned on the tap to fill it while curiously looking in the same direction.
Neither of them mentioned what had happened yesterday. Instead, they found themselves intrigued by the distant scenery.
"Factory Street was once just as glorious, but unfortunately, it's been replaced by the New Industrial Zone now."
"It's only been twenty years since we joined the Alliance Country, but the changes in Ring City have been truly immense."
He seemed to be sighing with emotion. Looking east, one could see a large expanse of derelict factories behind Factory Street, their bricks and concrete stained rust-yellow and black.
The contrast between the two areas was like comparing two different eras, all a result of Ring City joining the Alliance Country.
Back then, although the Alliance Country had long been established, not all sanctuary cities had agreed to join.
The post-apocalyptic wasteland had left Earth Star riddled with scars. Wilderness Warlords, who had inherited the legacy of old-world nations, and numerous armed factions from various bases posed a huge threat.
During that time, the Iron Ring District, also known as the Rust Belt, had constituted the entire city. And the Ring City of that era was just an ordinary sanctuary city in the wilderness, often embroiled in warlord conflicts and plagued by threats from wilderness Mutant Beasts.
It wasn't until it later joined the Alliance Country that it received aid, gradually expanded its scale, and established a firm foothold.
As emotion welled up, Lu Chao couldn't help but have a stray thought.
'The tides of an era always sweep people along. Perhaps I, too, am now standing at some historical turning point?'
BANG!
However, the thought had barely formed before it was interrupted.
The sound of a door slamming came from the apartment next door.
Lu Chao and Zhao Yuanqing exchanged a puzzled look, and then they overheard a conversation.
"I'm so pissed! Old Li has really lost it."
"What's wrong?"
"His daughter went missing a while ago, and everyone told him to report it to the police. But now, for some reason, he's started believing in religion and worshiping gods. He's even saying his daughter received a divine blessing and was taken away by a Celestial God."
"Has Old Li gone mad? Believing in religion and worshiping gods is a serious crime in our Alliance Country, isn't it?"
"It's worse than that! I ran into him downstairs just now, and he actually stopped me and told me to believe in the Celestial God with him, or else a great disaster would befall me. Isn't that just cursing me..."
Hearing this, Lu Chao and Zhao Yuanqing were both a little stunned.
Their next-door neighbors were a young couple who were usually quite friendly. They hadn't expected them to get so angry.
"Old Li?"
Lu Chao was slightly taken aback, his thoughts turning to the recent string of disappearances.
"Old Li's daughter still hasn't been found?"
"Yeah."
Zhao Yuanqing nodded, his expression complicated. "And he's been acting all weird and preachy lately. The neighbors have all been talking about it, but I never thought it was like this..."
His daughter had been missing for months. Old Li clearly couldn't handle the blow and had completely snapped.
Lu Chao's brow furrowed upon hearing this. He felt that something was off.
"Believing in religion and worshiping gods..."
It was rumored to be an ancient taboo from the wilderness. Ring City had issued repeated orders and injunctions, strictly forbidding anyone from imitating or participating in it.
The City Defense Department investigated such matters with extreme rigor. 'How could Old Li have come into contact with it?'
Lost in thought, Lu Chao looked out from the balcony.
Low-rise concrete buildings rose and fell in a jumble, exuding an indescribable sense of decay.
His gaze followed the rust-colored pipes, stretching over the potholed concrete roads. A missing person notice on a utility pole fluttered in the wind before falling.
Subconsciously, he once again thought of the two strange figures he had encountered on the street.
Especially their cold eyes, which had sized him up like prey.
...
A dozen or so minutes later.
After Zhao Yuanqing left, Lu Chao suppressed his distracting thoughts and walked into the kitchen.
Factory Street was like a sinking ship, with more and more strange things happening.
His desire to move grew stronger.
However, before that...
Snapping back to his senses, Lu Chao looked at the back of his right arm.
He unwrapped the gauze and looked closely. The wound from yesterday's fierce battle had already healed, leaving only a few tiny scabs.
He pressed on it with his finger; there was no pain.
Lu Chao knew this was the work of [Basic Tenacity] once again.
'It's not just stamina; even injuries recover quickly...'
Realizing the powerful effect of his talent on a deeper level, Lu Chao nodded to himself.
Then he looked at the panel before his eyes.
[Potential Progress: 99%]
Just a little bit more, and his Potential Progress would be complete.
Last night, he had practiced martial arts and dealt with the men from the Rock Gang, so he hadn't gotten back until the middle of the night.
On top of that, his body was quite fatigued and not in peak condition, which might affect his talent awakening, so he hadn't rushed to eat right away.
But now that his energy was fully restored, it was time to make it happen.
He immediately walked forward and opened the refrigerator.
Inside the crisper, there was a large bag of bread, two boxes of protein energy bars, and two large, unopened bottles of Mutant Beast milk.
There was also a piece of Black-Horned Beef, the size of a palm and three fingers thick, wrapped in plastic wrap.
'This should be enough, right?'
he thought to himself. Lu Chao skillfully took out the Black-Horned Beef, tore off the plastic wrap, and placed it on the cutting board to chop it up.
He turned the gas valve, boiled some water...
In the midst of this activity, he also chewed and swallowed the protein energy bars.
Half an hour later.
Looking at the Black-Horned Beef, which had been simply boiled in water, Lu Chao didn't care about the taste. He picked it up and began to tear at it with his teeth.
His teeth slowly bit through the tough muscle fibers as he chewed and swallowed.
A small amount of energy seemed to be mysteriously drawn from the food in his stomach, integrating deep into his body.
Lu Chao silently felt the change, his eyes fixed on the glowing panel in front of him, his gaze locked on the Potential Progress bar.
Ten seconds, thirty seconds, sixty seconds...
Just as he swallowed the last piece of meat, finishing it all...
VMM!
The glowing panel suddenly flashed, and the information on it changed.
[Potential Progress: 99%→100%]
[Potential Unlocked!]