New Opportunity

"Awooo!"

Gu Xiechen let out a miserable scream.

Maria, syringe in hand, winked smugly at Gu Xiechen and sneered, "Honorable First Deputy Commander, mighty Realm Master, you're afraid of pain too?"

Rubbing the burning muscle of his buttock, which felt as if it had been stung dozens of times by killer bees, Gu Xiechen glared at Maria. He was still flesh and blood, of course he feared pain. The Bearded Commander had asked for a comprehensive physical examination, and Gu Xiechen had naturally cooperated fully. But Maria had been far too ruthless. Gu Xiechen felt like a slab of pork being hacked apart by a butcher.

"Were you drawing blood for testing?" Gu Xiechen gritted his teeth and asked Maria. "I've never heard of drawing blood from someone's ass!"

Maria shrugged, beaming as she winked at Gu Xiechen. "What's the difference? It's all your blood. As long as it can be tested, that's enough. Hmm, should we do a bone marrow aspiration too?"

Gu Xiechen abruptly raised his middle finger. A faint, almost imperceptible chill shot more than a foot into the air from it.

Maria wisely raised both hands. "Hehehe, that probably won't be necessary. Your bone marrow is very healthy! Uh..."

Maria looked at Gu Xiechen hesitantly, and her expression suddenly became strange. Gu Xiechen looked at her in surprise. "You... what's wrong? Menstrual cramps?"

An inexplicable fury surged into Maria's head. She glared at Gu Xiechen and roared, "Do you believe I can make you hurt like a woman for several days every month? Get out of my territory! Your body is very healthy!"

Gu Xiechen jumped off the operating table and grinned at Maria. With a dark expression, Maria put Gu Xiechen's blood samples and the rest into a refrigerated container, too lazy to even look at him. Gu Xiechen put on his combat uniform and said calmly, "Let me guess what you wanted to say just now. You wanted to ask what exactly a Realm is... Hmm, I can only tell you it has something to do with spiritual power. If you can understand the descriptions of the Purple Palace and Sea of Consciousness in the Daozang, you'll roughly understand what it is."

After frowning in thought for a while, Gu Xiechen lightly patted Maria on the shoulder. "Maria, it's a pity Realm Masters are too rare, and every one of them is absurdly strong. Otherwise, I'd be willing to catch one for you to dissect. Hmm, I can only describe it this way: the Cristo Crystal Ball fused with my mind—or rather, my soul—and opened up a new source of power within an extremely tiny point in my brain, probably around the center of my forehead. It's a source of power dozens of times more efficient than a martial artist's dantian. That's about it."

Maria frowned in deep thought as Gu Xiechen strode out of the medical center. After a long while, Maria finally sighed helplessly. "Without physical evidence, there's no way to imagine what a Realm Master is like. Sigh, catching a Realm Master for research? That's far too difficult. Bearded Uncle would never agree to my request. Hmm, researching this guy? How can I make him agree to cooperate with my research?"

Maria's sly gaze swept slowly over her body from top to bottom...

Half an hour later, Gu Xiechen entered the Hell Angels Mercenary Group's conference room on time. The Bearded Commander and more than a dozen senior civilian officials of the mercenary group were waiting for him inside.

"It's settled, then. We Hell Angels finally have a Realm Master of our own." The Bearded Commander was flushed with delight, striding in circles through the conference room with almost arrogant swagger. The heads of the dozen or so civilian officials turned with him like radar antennae, making for a rather comical sight. The Bearded Commander smiled like a blooming flower as he shouted, "Keep Evil Dragon's appointment as First Deputy Commander of the Hell Angels Mercenary Group secret for now. Especially from those bastards in the military and the Special Administration Committee."

Gu Xiechen asked in confusion, "Why?"

The Bearded Commander's eyes widened as he shouted, "Why? Because of that damned Federal Mutual Defense Act! If the military and the Special Administration Committee learn that you're a Realm Master, they'll be thinking about making you work for them all the time. How would you have time to handle mercenary group business? Hmph, a Realm Master is a huge juicy prize everyone wants a bite of!"

Gu Xiechen nodded. "I understand." Keeping others from knowing his true strength was beneficial to him. Still, as he looked around at the dozen civilian officials seated around the conference table, Gu Xiechen doubted this secret would remain secret for long. Back when he was in the Gu Group, he had seen far too many shady dealings. Who could guarantee there wasn't an informant among them?

The brief meeting established Gu Xiechen's status and authority within the Hell Angels Mercenary Group. No one objected to a Realm Master possessing the same authority as the Bearded Commander. Strength above all else was the supreme rule of the mercenary world. Not to mention the tangible benefits a Realm Master could bring to a mercenary group.

After the meeting, Gu Xiechen spent three days selecting one hundred elite soldiers from the base's Imperial Guard Regiment to form his personal guard. As for the direct combat regiment the Bearded Commander had promised him, Gu Xiechen decisively chose the Third Regiment. Prajna and Mahaka were among the few people Gu Xiechen knew in the Hell Angels Mercenary Group. The brothers cultivated strange but powerful techniques, and both had entered the innate realm through their own abilities. They were Gu Xiechen's best choice.

The hundred guards were all elites from the Imperial Guard Regiment, among the finest fighters in the entire Hell Angels Mercenary Group. But in Gu Xiechen's eyes, the soldiers were still far too weak. He specially devised a hellish training plan for them, intending to spend two or three months raising them to the next level.

Before the training plan could be implemented, the Bearded Commander rushed over, glowing with excitement yet furious beyond measure, and dragged Gu Xiechen out onto the vast ice sheet.

The icy wind hurled snowflakes against them, and the bone-piercing cold made Gu Xiechen's facial muscles twitch involuntarily. Even for an innate-level expert, being dragged from the warm ice-sheet base onto a plain more than forty degrees below zero was not a pleasant experience.

The Bearded Commander saw through Gu Xiechen's thoughts. Only after pulling him up a small ice ridge did he grin and say, "It's safe here. There's absolutely no chance of eavesdropping devices, so I had to bring you out here. You, our First Deputy Commander, need to get moving. Grand Rhine, commander of the Seventh Regiment, is at each other's throats with his two deputy commanders. You need to go over and take charge."

"What could be so serious?" Gu Xiechen knew the Bearded Commander's office was heavily guarded, practically eliminating the possibility of listening devices. What matter had made the Bearded Commander so cautious that he deliberately brought him out onto the ice plain to talk?

The Bearded Commander cautiously looked around before lowering his voice. "While Grand Rhine and the others were stationed in one of Danube Heavy Metal Company's subsidiary mining zones, they got bored and drove their patrol boats around. As a result, they discovered a new wormhole behind an asteroid belt. They went in..."

"And inside?" Gu Xiechen's eyes lit up. A new wormhole? Could there be...

"A planet twice Earth's diameter, with an atmosphere, surface vegetation, oceans, and lakes. But the upper atmospheric currents are extremely turbulent, and small patrol boats can't approach." The Bearded Commander's face was red with excitement as he rubbed his hands together. "Under Earth Federation law, if our mercenary group discovered this planet, we can receive a huge monetary reward."

"If our mercenary group surveys the planet's primary resource reserves, geographical environment, and other information before reporting it..." Gu Xiechen's heart began pounding wildly. "Then we can obtain mining rights to one-tenth of the planet!"

Discovering a new planet and surveying a new planet were entirely different matters. To discover a new planet, one only needed to pass by it in a spacecraft. Surveying a new planet required enormous manpower and resources, and no one could say what dangers might exist on its surface. Any organization that could mobilize personnel to survey a new planet's general conditions and report them to the Federation could obtain mining rights to one-tenth of that planet!

Gu Xiechen's and the Bearded Commander's eyes both gleamed.

The Bearded Commander said coldly, "No matter how powerful a mercenary group becomes, it's still just a mercenary group working for others. But if we can use one-tenth of a planet as our foundation, with you, a Realm Master, holding the fort, we may have a chance to develop into one of the Federation's major powers!" A chilling glint flashed through the Bearded Commander's eyes as he said in a low voice, "Once our mercenary group becomes that kind of major power, we should have the strength to confront the Gu Group head-on."

The Gu Group?

Gu Xiechen's heart clenched. It seemed this seemingly rough and imposing man knew everything. Of course, as the commander of Hell Angels and someone with deep connections in the military, it would have been absurd for the Bearded Commander to ignore Gu Xiechen's identity and background.

"Then what does the Commander mean?" Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes. They were both intelligent men; many things only needed a hint to be understood.

"You'll take a thousand men over there. The group's remaining two heavy patrol boats and three transport ships will all be assigned to you." The Bearded Commander gritted his teeth. "The two bastards under Grand Rhine have spent too long living easy lives. They don't even dare risk going to the planet's surface to survey it. Grand Rhine can't do anything about them, so you'll go keep them in line. There are another two thousand brothers over there, all under your command. I'm giving you two months to figure out the planet's general situation."

"I understand." Gu Xiechen felt heat flood through his body. This was an opportunity, an opportunity for him to gain the power to confront Gu Juechen's forces head-on.

He could not bring down Gu Juechen and reclaim the Gu Group by himself.

"I'll hold down headquarters." The Bearded Commander said with a grim face, "A newly discovered planet? This juicy prize will drive many people mad. I'll keep watch here. Once you've surveyed the planet's surface, immediately send all the information back. I'll report it to the Federal Parliament at once. A planet twice Earth's diameter, with one-tenth of its mining rights—whether we brothers eat meat or grass in the future depends on this gamble!"

Gu Xiechen slowly exhaled. The force within his body surged like thunder, and dense crackling sounds continuously rang out from within him.

The Bearded Commander raised his head toward the sky and sneered. "If the two useless men under Grand Rhine refuse to listen, cripple them. Mercenaries who have lost their edge are no longer mercenaries."

"I understand!"

Gu Xiechen's words carried a thick scent of blood.

The climax was about to begin. Little Gu's fortunes were about to change...

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