246: Chapter 247 Crushing Victory! The Scavenger's Respect!

The Scavenger moved.

There was no fancy wind-up, no skill light effects, and none of those flashy buff icons from the System panel. It was the simplest combat style of a veteran—shield in front, body following close behind, with a half-broken blade hidden behind the shield, waiting for the right moment to strike.

But this charge was incredibly fast.

A deep drag mark was left on the ground. The surrounding air was compressed to the point of emitting a piercing shriek.

With the all-attribute boost of a Peak Second Transition and combat instincts honed over twelve years on the abyss battlefield, every movement The Scavenger made eliminated any redundant or wasted effort.

In one step, he was in close-quarters combat.

The face of the shield slammed directly toward Lin Qi's face, its edge tilted slightly upward—this wasn't meant to knock him back, but to flip his chin up and expose his neck.

Simultaneously, the broken blade had already emerged from beneath the shield, following an extremely tricky arc straight toward Lin Qi's abdomen.

Forcing the head up from above, stabbing the belly from below.

Simple, direct, and lethal.

This fighting style wasn't learned on a training ground. It was forged strike by strike in a sea of corpses and blood.

Lin Qi didn't retreat.

He took a step forward.

Facing the whistling shield, he reached out his left hand.

Fingers spread, palm facing forward.

"Bang!"

The fleshy palm slapped against the iron shield.

The sound was muffled, not particularly loud.

But The Scavenger's momentum was stopped dead.

It was as if a train running at full speed had hit a wall that shouldn't exist in the physical world. His feet plowed two half-meter-deep furrows into the ground, and the inertia of his forward lean caused his internal organs to shudder within his body.

The force coming from the palm wasn't a hard resistance.

It was neutralizing.

It was redirecting.

It was catching all your power head-on and then crushing, dismantling, and swallowing it like kneading dough.

The Scavenger's pupils constricted.

He had seen this method of receiving force before. That madman thirty years ago could do it too. But that madman could only neutralize the charge of a B-rank Void Beast, whereas the youth before him had neutralized a full-power strike backed by his entire body's strength and System enhancements.

The gap was too vast.

They weren't on the same level.

The broken blade stabbed into Lin Qi's abdomen.

"Clang!"

The sound of clashing metal rang out.

The moment the broken blade touched the skin of Lin Qi's waist and abdomen, the edge shattered. Shards flew everywhere, and several pieces lodged themselves into The Scavenger's own arm.

Physical attacks were still ineffective.

"Your blade is too dull." Lin Qi gripped The Scavenger's left wrist, which was holding the shield, with a force that was neither too light nor too heavy, just enough to render him immobile. "However, your fighting style is much better than those trash from earlier."

The Scavenger didn't struggle.

The moment his wrist was gripped, he knew that struggling was meaningless. It wasn't a matter of strength—the hand was clamped onto his pulse point with precision down to the millimeter. If the other party wished, one squeeze would completely ruin the Meridians in his entire arm.

Acupoint Striking and Meridian Severing.

Ancient Martial Arts Techniques that had been lost for untold years.

The veteran's prosthetic eye whirred as he stared at Lin Qi's face for a long time.

"How did you train to this level?" he asked for the second time.

Lin Qi released his wrist.

"I told you, self-taught. Whether you believe it or not is your business."

The Scavenger flexed his numb wrist and looked at the completely ruined broken blade in his hand.

"To break this thing like this, what exactly is under your skin? Diamond?"

"Something like that."

The Scavenger sheathed the broken blade back at his waist and slung the shield onto his back.

"I'm done fighting."

When these words were spoken, the few prying eyes still hiding in the shadows were all shocked.

"The Scavenger" Han Tie surrendered?

The old monster in the top twenty of the Bounty List just gave up like that?

"Are you trying to scam me out of my money?" Zhang Wei couldn't help but mutter from a distance—he was asking on behalf of those who were still hesitating whether to make a move.

The Scavenger ignored him.

The old man pulled a tin flask from his pocket, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig, grimacing at the spice.

"Back in the Northern Frontier, I fought Void Beasts for twelve years. I've seen every level of monster. I've fought S-ranks and killed quasi-S-ranks. Do you know how I survived?"

He didn't wait for an answer.

"It wasn't because of strength. It was knowing when to fight and when to run."

He pointed the flask at Lin Qi.

"This kid isn't human."

"I can't feel any System aura on him. No elemental fluctuations, no skill resonance, not even the most basic stat panel aura. But his Physical Body's strength exceeds any creature I've ever seen—including S-rank Void Beasts."

"Fight something like that? I wouldn't do it even for six trillion. Do I look like I'm tired of living?"

The Scavenger took another swig and turned to walk out of the port.

After a few steps, he stopped.

He didn't look back.

"Kid."

"Yeah."

"That madman thirty years ago was named Zheng Wujiang. He left a box of notes in the Northern Frontier, sealed by the military. His writings are a mess; no one can understand them. But you should be able to."

"If you ever have the chance to go to the Northern Frontier, you can go look for them."

"Consider it..." The Scavenger paused, "consider it an old soldier returning a favor on behalf of a dead old soldier."

After saying that, the old man hunched his back and walked into the afterglow of the setting sun.

The atmosphere of the port changed completely.

Even The Scavenger had left. The remaining figures still hiding in the shadows looked at each other in dismay.

Six hundred billion was a lot.

But there was only one life.

People began to retreat quietly.

One, two, three.

Ten minutes later, the hidden forces in the entire port had cleared out completely.

In the vast open space, only Lin Qi, Zhang Wei, and the wounded on the ground still moaning remained.

Zhang Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead, jumped down from the driver's cab, and ran all the way to Lin Qi.

"Brother Qi! You're amazing! You're so damn amazing!"

The fatty's face was flushed red, and he was incoherent with excitement.

"What was that move where you blew the fire pillar in half with one breath? And the one where you flicked someone to death with two fingers—no, not to death, you shot through them—Brother Qi, are you even human anymore?"

"Shut up."

"Oh."

Lin Qi looked at the items he had received from the Han Family. Three pieces of Thousand-Year Profound Ice Soul, good quality. A map of the core area of the Extreme Cold Ice Cave, with complete information.

"We'll settle the account with the Han Family later. There's still a big portion left." He handed the items to Zhang Wei, "Lock these up."

"No problem!" Zhang Wei cradled the items in his arms like a baby, "Brother Qi, who's next? The Xiao Family?"

"No rush."

Lin Qi turned to look toward the port's exit. The Scavenger had already gone far.

Zheng Wujiang.

Northern Frontier. Notes.

Another person who had touched the threshold of the Dao of martial arts in this digitized world. And a pioneer who had applied it in actual combat thirty years ago.

It was a pity his body couldn't keep up.

The phrase 'couldn't keep up' was equivalent to a death sentence on this path. No matter how exquisite the techniques, it was useless if the Physical Body couldn't withstand them. That madman named Zheng Wujiang had verified this iron rule with three minutes of his life.

But he had left behind notes.

This was interesting.

Lin Qi didn't lack techniques or experience. His memories as a Martial Saint from his previous life had already pushed human martial arts to the limit. But that was the world of the 'martial arts era,' and there were ultimately differences from this digitized plane. The combat notes of someone who had truly used 'internal force' to fight Void Beasts for twelve years in this world might provide some unique references.

"Help me look someone up later," Lin Qi said to Zhang Wei. "Zheng Wujiang, Northern Frontier Legion, from thirty years ago. See if he left anything else behind in this world."

"Leave it to me," Zhang Wei patted his chest.

As the two were about to leave, Lin Qi suddenly tilted his head.

"Did you bring money?"

"Huh?" The fatty was stunned, "I did, why?"

Lin Qi pointed at the wounded on the ground.

"Call an ambulance team."

"..."

Zhang Wei opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Brother Qi beat them into this state and still cared about the aftermath?

"What, are you waiting for them to crawl back themselves?" Lin Qi walked toward the truck without looking back, "It's annoying to see them paralyzed here."

"Fine, fine, I'll pay, I'll pay." The fatty muttered while pulling out his terminal, "Can't spend all six hundred eighty-eight point six billion, right? Now I even have to pay for their medical bills."

He made a call to the emergency team and then followed Lin Qi.

By the time they walked out of the port gates, the sun had mostly set.

The horizon was dyed a deep, inseparable dark red.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Zhang Wei couldn't help but ask: "Brother Seven, did you choose this place to collect debts on purpose?"

"Hmm."

"Just to let those people from the black market come?"

"Hmm."

"And then deal with them in front of everyone so the news would spread?"

"Hmm."

The fatty swallowed hard.

"You really are something else. Using yourself as bait to go fishing is one thing, but you also used it as a live advertisement—telling the whole Federation: the target with a 600 billion bounty is here to collect debts, so if you want to snatch it, you'd better weigh whether your neck is tough enough."

"You can think of it as free public relations."

"..."

The fatty was speechless for a long while.

"Brother Seven, you call this free public relations? You're using your life to do marketing."

Lin Qi got into the car, leaned back against the seat, and closed his eyes to rest.

"The news will spread," he said. "If I beat these people today, I won't have to beat them tomorrow. The truly smart people in the black market can do the math—600 billion isn't bad, but the premise is that you have to be able to spend it. If you lose your life, everything is for nothing."

"And what about the ones who aren't smart?"

"The ones who aren't smart came today. You saw them."

Zhang Wei looked at the abandoned port getting further and further away in the rearview mirror.

"Fine." He started the truck. "Where to next?"

"Find somewhere to eat first."

"Eat?"

"I haven't eaten anything since I came out of the Dragon Tomb. So what if I'm a human furnace? When you're hungry, you're hungry."

"Damn, Brother Seven, you should've said so earlier! What do you want to eat? My treat!"

"Something expensive."

"You've already got over 600 billion and you're still making me pay?"

"That's public funds, I can't spend it recklessly. If you're treating, it comes out of your personal account."

"...Wake up, you're a Martial Arts Devil King, brother, not a reincarnated miser."

The truck disappeared into the twilight.

The port went completely quiet.

The wounded on the ground waited for the emergency team. As those people were being lifted onto stretchers, a Second Transition bounty hunter looked at his armor shattered by True Qi bullets and muttered to himself.

"600 billion bounty... I'd rather spend fifty years in jail than take this kind of job again."

A companion next to him patted his shoulder with his only movable hand, deeply agreeing.

---

Chen Shu bowed slightly and walked out of the study.

The door closed behind him.

Li Qingcang sat alone in the empty room, with a table full of intelligence files and a cup of tea that had already gone cold in front of him.

He picked up the teacup, brought it to his lips, and then set it back down.

His hand was still shaking.

...

Meanwhile.

In a nondescript hole-in-the-wall restaurant deep in a remote alley in Tianhai City, Lin Qi was burying his head in his food.

There were fourteen dishes, three large basins of rice, and two pots of chicken soup on the table. The owner stood at the kitchen door, staring blankly at the lean youth shoveling rice bowl after bowl, his mouth never stopping.

The body of the Organ Refining Realm was a furnace that never went out, consuming an astonishing amount of energy. Since coming out of the Dragon Tomb, he hadn't had a proper meal, and now he was hungry enough to swallow a cow.

Zhang Wei sat opposite him, propping his chin up as he watched him eat.

"Brother Seven, the way you eat, my treat will cost at least tens of thousands."

"Reimburse it."

"Why should it be reimbursed?"

"You're my Chief Financial Officer, isn't dining with the boss a business meal?"

"When did I become the Chief Financial Officer?"

"Just now."

"...What about the salary?"

"We'll talk about that in the next life."

Zhang Wei rolled his eyes and lowered his head to drink his soup.

After a few sips, he put down his bowl.

"Brother Seven, seriously. That stunt at the port today, the news definitely can't be suppressed. Not only will the black market know how fierce you are, but those wealthy families will also re-evaluate their attitude toward you."

"There's been a reaction to the payment demand notice sent to the Xiao Family." He took out his terminal to check the messages. "The Xiao Family didn't respond directly, but there's an insider who says the head of the Xiao Family ran to the Capital overnight to find Li Qingcang. They might be banding together."

"Let them band together." Lin Qi finished chewing the pork rib in his mouth. "The tighter they hold on, the easier it will be to deal with them later."

"Aren't you afraid Li Qingcang will be driven to desperation and pull something big? That old thing has already gone crazy, willing to throw away 600 billion, who knows what other trump cards he has."

Lin Qi didn't answer, finishing the third basin of rice.

He wiped his mouth and leaned back in his chair.

"Fatty."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think is the easiest mistake for a gambler to make after losing until their eyes are red?"

Zhang Wei thought for a moment.

"Raising the stakes."

"Right. Raising the stakes. And blindly at that." Lin Qi picked up a toothpick and put it in his mouth. "Li Qingcang is now a gambler whose eyes are red from losing. He no longer cares about turning the tables; he just wants to drag others down with him. People in this state are the easiest to be exploited."

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for him to find that 'person who will exploit him'."

Zhang Wei didn't quite understand, but he knew from Lin Qi's expression that he shouldn't ask any more.

He understood Brother Seven. This man never fought a battle he wasn't prepared for. From choosing to collect debts in a high-profile manner at the port, to letting the black market people come to surround him, every move had a follow-up.

Those who thought they were hunting Lin Qi might just be the prey being hunted by Lin Qi.

Thinking of this, the fatty shivered and silently paid the bill.

Tens of thousands for a meal.

Heartless boss.

...

At the same time, on the other side of Tianhai City.

Cloud Top Palace, Instructor Su Qing's office.

Old Mo sat on the sofa, holding a cup of tea, his brow knitted into a knot.

"Northern Frontier Legion... Zheng Wujiang..."

He kept muttering the name over and over.

Instructor Su Qing stood by the window, silent.

Old Mo was someone she had invited. She had seen more than half of what happened at the port on the monitoring System. The words The Scavenger said before leaving, about the 'vigor' of the Northern Frontier thirty years ago and Zheng Wujiang's notes, made her think of Old Mo.

If there was anyone in this world who knew the name 'Zheng Wujiang,' it was only this martial arts scholar who had been crazy his whole life.

"Instructor Su," Old Mo put down his teacup, "Are you sure that old soldier said 'Zheng Wujiang'? Not some homophone?"

"I'm sure. Do you know this person?"

Old Mo was silent for a long while.

"Know him? More than that."

"Zheng Wujiang, captain of the 17th Task Force of the Northern Frontier Legion. His service record was classified as C-level secret by the military thirty-two years ago. The reason was that during a battle against an S-level Void Realm beast, he displayed 'abnormal combat behavior' that could not be classified by the System—he didn't use any skills, relied purely on physical combat, and caused damage to the Void Realm beast that exceeded the theoretical upper limit of his panel data."

"The military launched an investigation into this, and the conclusion was 'individual mutation, no promotion value.' Then they sealed all related materials."

Instructor Su Qing turned around.

"How do you know about the C-level secret?"

Old Mo coughed dryly.

"I read too many old books, inevitably seeing things I shouldn't. Don't pursue that. The point is—"

He stood up, a kind of irrepressible excitement appearing on his withered, old face.

"If Zheng Wujiang's notes are still in the Northern Frontier, if Lin Qi can get those notes—"

"Then it would mean that for the first time in the history of this world, there are martial arts combat records that can verify each other. One from the abyss battlefield thirty years ago, one from the present."

"What does this mean?"

Old Mo's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"It means that 'martial arts' is not just an accident for Lin Qi alone. It is a real, existing path of evolution that is independent of the System."

"Someone walked it before—even if they failed."

"Now Lin Qi is walking it—walking further than the predecessor."

"This path is real."

Instructor Su Qing stared at Old Mo's eyes, which were shining with excitement, and did not speak for a long time.

Outside the window, the night sky of Tianhai City was colorful, reflected by the neon lights.

Beneath this huge city, countless undercurrents were surging.

The person being hunted was eating a midnight snack. The people hunting him were plotting new killing moves. The people studying him were trembling—not with fear, but with excitement.

And that 600 billion was still hanging over everyone's heads.

The storm had just begun.