42: Chapter 42 The US Setting Up a Challenge on the High Seas? Perfect for a team-building event for the elders who've been cooped up for so long!

Xinhuo Bureau, underground command center.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Lei Keming sat at the head of the conference table, clutching a freshly printed official document, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

"This is too much!"

Lei Keming slammed the document onto the table.

"The Eagle Country is playing with fire! What 'Poseidon Cup' Unlimited Fighting Championship? This is clearly a hunt targeting our Huaxia martial arts!"

Jiang Chen sat nearby, trimming his nails with a nail clipper—it was polished from a fragment of a celestial sword, and it was ridiculously sharp.

"What's the story?" Jiang Chen blew away the nail clippings.

"They've set up a cruise ship on the high seas, claiming to host the first global no-rules fighting championship. They sent invitations worldwide, specifically naming the Huaxia martial arts community to participate."

Lei Keming pointed at the big screen.

On it was an incredibly arrogant poster.

A giant with bulging muscles and strange blue liquid flowing through his veins was stepping on an old man wearing a Tai Chi training suit, holding up his middle finger.

Below the poster, a line of large text read: [Huaxia Kung Fu? Just flowery fists and embroidered legs!]

"This is a provocation."

Lei Keming gritted his teeth.

"The people they've sent aren't fighters at all, but genetically modified soldiers codenamed Titan! They've been injected with the third-generation enhancement serum, their bone density is five times that of an ordinary person, and their pain nerves have been severed. That's a killing machine!"

"Did the domestic martial arts community go?" Jiang Chen asked.

"They went."

Lei Keming's voice was somewhat low.

"The sect leader of the Xingyi Sect and a monk from Shaolin. The result... they had their legs broken in a single exchange. Now, the foreign internet is mocking us, saying that Huaxia Kung Fu is just broadcast gymnastics."

"Those bastards."

Jiang Chen's eyes turned cold: "They want to break our backbone on a spiritual level."

Since being surpassed by Huaxia in technology, the Eagle Country has started playing these low-down tricks.

Using this kind of visually shocking violence to strike at the national self-confidence of Huaxia.

"We must fight back!"

Lei Keming slammed his fist on the table: "But who should we send? Special forces? That would be sending them to their deaths. Unless we use exoskeleton mechs, but it's a competition, and thermal weapons and mechanical equipment are prohibited."

"No need for mechs."

Jiang Chen suddenly smiled, with a bit of a devious look.

He put away the nail clipper and stood up.

"Didn't we just have a batch of international students arrive? These old folks are about to go crazy in the lab. It's the perfect time to find them a team-building activity."

"You mean..." Lei Keming's eyes lit up, but then he frowned.

"Elder Huoyun? With his temper, he'd probably dismantle the cruise ship if he went up there. Elder Qingxu? He only knows how to draw talismans; his melee ability is worrying."

"Not them."

Jiang Chen shook his head, his mind conjuring the image of that person who always kept her head down, spoke softly, but whose eyes would occasionally flash with a hint of red light.

"We have a ready-made martial arts genius here."

"Who?"

"Elder Qing Rou."

National Botanical Research Institute.

When Jiang Chen pushed open the office door, he happened to see Elder Qing Rou pruning a bonsai.

She didn't use scissors.

He saw her extend two fingers and gently pinch a piece of hardwood branch as thick as a thumb.

"Snap."

That hard branch was cut cleanly as if it were a noodle, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

On the table in front of her, a small mountain of wood fragments had already piled up.

"Ahem."

Jiang Chen coughed dryly.

Elder Qing Rou was startled, her hand trembling, nearly snapping the entire pot of Buddhist pine.

She quickly hid her hands behind her back and stood up, looking flustered: "Son-in-law? Why are you here? I... I was loosening the soil for the flowers."

"Loosening the soil by pinching wood with your fingers?"

Jiang Chen walked over, picked up a broken branch to look at it, and raised an eyebrow.

Good heavens.

This cut was smoother than laser cutting.

The wood fibers were crushed by instantaneous high pressure, not cut by a sharp tool.

This meant that in that instant, the explosive force in her fingers reached at least several tons.

If this were pinched on someone's neck...

Jiang Chen suddenly felt his own neck turn a bit cold.

"Elder, has work been boring lately?" Jiang Chen asked with a smile.

"It's... it's alright."

Elder Qing Rou lowered her head, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes, "It's just that those genetic maps make me a bit dizzy."

"Do you want to go out and get some fresh air?"

Jiang Chen pulled the Poseidon Cup invitation from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"A high-seas cruise, a luxury seven-day trip. All-inclusive, and there's a show to watch."

"What kind of show?" Elder Qing Rou's eyes lit up.

"An action movie."

Jiang Chen pointed to the muscular giant on the poster of the invitation.

"The live-action kind. And the director said you can go up and make a guest appearance, no wires, no stunt doubles, you can fight however you want."

Elder Qing Rou looked at the arrogant Titan on the poster, then looked at her own hands that had just pinched the wood in two.

She was silent for three seconds.

Then she raised her head, and on that gentle face, she revealed a sweet smile that even Jiang Chen found a bit chilling.

"Son-in-law."

"Do they provide food there?"

"Yes!" Jiang Chen waved his hand grandly, "Australian lobster, all you can eat!"

"Then I'll go."

Elder Qing Rou snatched the invitation, her movement so fast that Jiang Chen didn't even see it clearly.

"I'm not going to fight, I mainly want to go and criticize this kind of violent behavior. And try the lobster while I'm at it."

Watching this Elder, who usually couldn't bear to step on an ant, now having burning fighting spirit in her eyes, Jiang Chen silently lit a candle in his heart for that Titan of the Eagle Country.

This isn't going to a fight.

This is clearly a max-level character going to the newbie village to slaughter.

"Get ready, we leave tomorrow."

Jiang Chen turned to leave, but stopped at the door.

"Oh right, Elder, remember to bring that 'Junior High Physics' textbook. In case the fight gets too exaggerated, we'll at least have a basis for an explanation."

"Don't worry, Son-in-law."

Elder Qing Rou pulled a tattered physics book from the drawer and patted the cover.

"I've memorized the principles of mechanics."

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