Underground Boxing Ring (Part 1)

In the arrival hall of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A young man with short hair and dressed in black was walking through the hall, pulling a suitcase. The upper half of his body was clad in a black, sleeveless, tight-fitting athletic shirt. His pronounced pectoral and abdominal muscles, combined with his near-perfect physique, drew the gaze of almost every woman around him.

This was Li Yang.

Li Yang had changed. After a year of intense training at the Life Research Institute base, coupled with the physical transformations brought about by the B1 Gene Potion, Li Yang's facial features had become more resolute. It wasn't just his face that had become resolute, but also his gaze and his entire demeanor! Perhaps Xue's departure had truly matured Li Yang, marking his transition from a boy to a man. This was a spiritual transformation, which accounted for Li Yang's current aura.

Li Yang's hairstyle had also changed. His formerly sunny, unconventional long hair had been cut into short hair, just an inch long! The inch-long hair, combined with Li Yang's resolute facial structure and his strong, almost perfect body, would undoubtedly make countless women scream. Yet, not a single woman in the entire airport approached him!

This was due to his aura – a cold, distant aura that kept people at bay. His black athletic shirt and black trousers, his all-black attire, further amplified this icy presence.

"To 57th Street, Manhattan!" Li Yang said to the taxi driver in English. As a top expert of the elite special forces unit Dragon Fang in his past, Li Yang was highly proficient in high-tech weaponry and English.

Upon hearing this, the driver's eyes widened as he looked at Li Yang. He wasn't surprised by Li Yang's fluent English; there were many Asians who spoke good English in New York. He was surprised by the destination Li Yang had mentioned.

57th Street, Manhattan!

57th and 58th Streets in Manhattan were undoubtedly the most dangerous places in all of New York. On these two streets, even the New York police dared not arbitrarily arrest anyone. The number of homicides occurring on these two streets alone was estimated to be half of the total in New York each year.

"Sir, do you know what kind of place that is? If you're a tourist, I'd advise you not to go there. New York has many enjoyable places to visit, such as the famous Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera House, and various art museums. You could also visit Chinatown for some authentic Chinese snacks; they're quite good. In the evening, you could head to Fifth Avenue or 42nd Street to enjoy the nightlife," the driver said, introducing New York to Li Yang like a tour guide.

"Don't worry, I know what 57th Street, Manhattan is. It's just a little dangerous, isn't it? Don't worry, just drive!" Li Yang said with a slight smile.

Hearing this, the driver nodded. "Oh! If you know, sir, then I won't waste any more words." The driver then started the taxi and drove towards the destination.

Why were 57th and 58th Streets in Manhattan so dangerous?

It was because these two streets were known in the underworld as the "Fighters' Streets." Top international fighters almost exclusively resided here. The fighters were powerful, but their tempers were not the best, so it was common for people to be accidentally killed during disputes.

New York was the economic center of the United States, and also one of the world's economic centers. New York had five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Of these, Manhattan had the smallest area, only about 50 square kilometers, which was even smaller than a small village in China. However, this tiny Manhattan was the center of the entire New York City. Major banks, large insurance companies, big industrial corporations, and the world-renowned New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and others were all concentrated here. Wall Street, in particular, was synonymous with American financial giants.

But – Manhattan was not just an economic center; it was also the place where international underground forces were most densely concentrated.

Central Park, America's Central Park, covered an area of over 40 hectares. The world knew how remarkable Central Park was, but how many people knew what lay beneath it?

Beneath Central Park was the headquarters of the Underground Boxing Ring, spanning 30 hectares!

Yes, the famous Central Park, a symbol of New York and America – beneath it was the headquarters of the Underground Boxing Ring, a haven for the most concentrated dark forces. While countless tourists visited Central Park, could they imagine that countless experts, only seen in movies and fantasy novels, were operating beneath their feet?

This was not surprising. The bosses behind the Underground Boxing Ring were the American Mafia and the Chinese Green Gang, both among the world's five major criminal organizations.

The world's five major criminal organizations were the Chinese Green Gang and the American Mafia in the United States, the Hong Bang and the Yamaguchi-gumi in Asia, and the Italian Mafia, which dominated all of Europe and was the head of the five major gangs! The American Mafia was a breakaway faction that had betrayed the Italian Mafia, so the Italian Mafia harbored hostility towards the American Mafia.

When Central Park was being built, the headquarters of the Underground Boxing Ring was also under construction. With the influence of the American Mafia and the Green Gang in the Senate and House of Representatives, and given that the United States was a capitalist country where some major capitalists had the shadows of these two super criminal organizations behind them, it was easy for them to build the Underground Boxing Ring headquarters beneath Central Park. (Disclaimer: This is a fantasy novel, and everything is fictional. Please do not be curious and go to Central Park in the United States to look for experts! Haha)

57th Street, Manhattan.

Li Yang arrived at the residential area of 57th Street. Of course, housing in Manhattan consisted of luxurious villas, each with a terrifyingly high price tag.

"Hmm, this is the one!" Li Yang looked at the villa before him. It was more luxurious than the dozens of villas around it. Based on Li Yang's estimation, it would cost at least a few million dollars. And that wasn't even the most expensive; a similar villa on Fifth Avenue would cost forty to fifty million dollars. Of course, that was due to Fifth Avenue itself. But Manhattan was prime real estate, and the fact that villas on 57th Street cost millions of dollars was telling.

As soon as the villa's security guard saw Li Yang, he walked over and said with a slight bow, "Are you Mr. Mu Yi from China?"

Li Yang nodded. Mu Yi was the name he had decided to use in America from now on. He chose this name to tell Xue. Perhaps Li Yang made this decision because he missed Xue dearly.

"Ah, Mr. Mu Yi, please come this way. Mr. Jack has been waiting for Mr. Mu Yi for a long time!" Upon hearing this, the security guard became even more respectful.

Li Yang nodded, thinking to himself, "It seems the Hong Bang's name carries quite a bit of weight!"

"Ah, my dear Mr. Mu Yi, I, Old Jack, am greatly honored to be your future manager!" said a kind, chubby old man, squinting and bowing to Li Yang.

Li Yang nodded slightly and said, "You understand my objective. I don't like wasting time. Tell me what needs to be done next!"

Old Jack immediately smiled and said, "My dear Mr. Mu Yi, please follow me to see my fighters. You will soon be one of them!" Li Yang nodded and followed Old Jack into the villa's massive training room. According to the villa's design, this large training room was supposed to be a spacious backyard, but Old Jack had converted it into a huge, enclosed training facility.

Inside, six burly men were training intensely.

A burly Caucasian man was exercising his arm strength with a massive barbell in one hand. The remaining five men were furiously kicking at sandbags. Li Yang immediately recognized them as specially made sandbags; ordinary sandbags would have been destroyed long ago by these underground boxing ring experts. The last person was an Asian, and Li Yang even judged him to be Chinese at a glance. He could sense the man's aura. This Chinese man was continuously performing frog jumps, with weights attached to his legs and body.

"Mr. Mu Yi, these are all my assets. Those four are high-level fighters, and the other two are top-tier fighters. That child doing frog jumps, yes, him. Look how standard his frog jump posture is. He's also from China and is one of the top ten super fighters!" Old Jack introduced Li Yang proudly.

Li Yang smiled slightly and casually walked over to a sandbag.

"Whoosh!"

Li Yang's right leg instantly became a blur and powerfully struck the sandbag. The immense leg strength even produced a terrifying whistling sound, causing the surrounding fighters to stop their training and stare at Li Yang in shock.

"Boom!"

Like a summer tire bursting, the specially made sandbag was kicked and broken. The sand within it slowly flowed out, much like sand in an hourglass...

"Old Jack, what level of fighter do you think I am?" Li Yang asked the stunned Old Jack with a smile.