Stable Progress

Imaginary Training was surprisingly effective, and it also whetted Gaoxin's appetite.

But no matter how much you could imagine, you still had to eat.

Physical Laws were extremely powerful, and the conservation of energy was unbreakable.

Gaoxin called out, and Qiao Long checked the time. It was just past 11 o'clock.

"It's just about lunchtime. Everyone stop for a bit. Let's all go eat together and welcome Boss Gao."

The crowd agreed with smiles. Over thirty people descended the stairs in a grand procession, heading for the mess hall.

The mess hall was large, and the ingredients were quite plentiful. There was meat, vegetables, and rice and bread to fill them up.

The taste, however, was nothing to write home about, as the mess hall staff were slaves from the Laborer Group.

Even if there were any good cooks, they would prioritize serving customers from all over at the commercial street or be transferred to other teams and departments. They would never get assigned here.

But in terms of nutrition alone, there was absolutely no problem.

"If it's not mealtime, can we still get food?" Gaoxin asked.

Qiao Long chuckled, "No problem. I know the guys in the kitchen well. If you're hungry at night, I'll have them make you a late-night snack."

Gaoxin ate quickly and then packed a lot of meat and vegetables with Sule to take to the training room.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard a commotion from a corner of the mess hall.

"Damn it, you think you deserve to eat too!" Two burly men surrounded a table. One of them swept the food on the table to the ground.

The thin man who had been eating was slapped and curled into a ball on the ground, trembling.

Another man hit him, "You didn't earn a single redemption voucher last month. If I didn't earn so much, you would have gotten our team killed."

The thin man said, "I'm not the only one without redemption vouchers. And I earned a lot the month before last. Why can't I..."

Before he could finish, he was kicked flying by the burly man, "You dare talk back?"

"You could earn it the month before last, so why couldn't you last month? Are you trying to screw me over? Are you trying to get me killed?"

The thin man clutched his stomach but stubbornly said, "If I can't earn it, I can't get redemption vouchers even if you throw me into the game."

"If the quota isn't met, you can use me to settle the debt. Send me to the Prey Group."

Gaoxin, not far away, found it amusing. This was tantamount to admitting that he wanted the captain to die.

Because if the team didn't meet its quota, the captain would be the first to die.

So, the captain used his previous savings to balance the accounts for the members who earned less, mainly to save his own life.

It was pathetic that this team's captain had reached a point where his members wished him dead.

You know, if Qiao Long had done the same thing, his team members would have remembered his kindness... This was a matter of leadership.

However, what the thin man said was a bit strange, as if he were confidently believing that he would definitely survive if he were sent into the game.

"Fine! Fine! You can't get it, right... Drag him to the execution ground!"

"A joke, you think I can't handle you?"

Soon, the two burly men dragged the thin man away.

Then, a mess hall worker came to clean up the mess, picked up the scattered food, and packed it away carefully.

The Redemption Squad members eating nearby all lowered their heads and ate, not paying any attention.

"Let's go, Gaoxin. That's the captain of Team 12. That team is known as the Meat Grinder," Qiao Long patted Gaoxin.

As they walked, they asked, "Meat Grinder?"

Qiao Long sneered, "You know, in the past, new recruits, except for the superior ones, had no choice. They were prioritized to join teams with fewer members."

"And Team 12 was often the team with the fewest members because their captain would gather a group of strong individuals and not go into the game much, while intensely exploiting the ordinary members and sending them into the game."

"Forcing them to bring back redemption vouchers, otherwise, even if they survived, they would face various punishments."

"This led to an extremely high mortality rate, but it didn't matter. As long as the quota was met in the end, new members would be brought in to replace them."

"Similar tactics were actually used by many teams, but none were as excessive as Team 12. This team would almost always be left with only a dozen or so people by the end of the month... and they were all the captain's loyalists."

Sule's face turned grim upon hearing this. No wonder it was called the Meat Grinder.

"But the system has been changed now. There aren't as many new recruits each time," he asked.

Qiao Long nodded, "That's right. This reform has dealt a particularly heavy blow to these Meat Grinder teams. It seems the Yakuza higher-ups felt that the Redemption Squad couldn't continue operating this way and decided to adopt an elite strategy."

Sule recalled, "It seems to be because there was a problem with the source of new prisoners..."

Qiao Long shrugged, "Whatever the problem is, my team has never been short of people."

"And Team 12 is left with only a dozen members. With this sudden reform, he couldn't get new recruits, so he's in a hurry, isn't he?"

Gaoxin suddenly frowned, "Wait a minute, wasn't Meimei assigned to Team 12?"

Qiao Long nodded, indicating that a woman had indeed been assigned to Team 12.

Gaoxin and Sule exchanged glances. Although Meimei wasn't sent to the Prey Group, being assigned to this team wasn't much better.

"Can we switch teams?"

Qiao Long frowned and said, "There are instances of trading between teams. If it were within one of my allies' teams, I could arrange an exchange."

"But I don't have a good relationship with Team 12; they're with Peter's group."

"Besides, Team 12 has so few people, they'd be lucky if Peter didn't ask me for members."

Gaoxin narrowed his eyes, realizing he had to attend the meeting scheduled for tonight.

Back in the training room, Gaoxin continued his high-intensity special training.

Imaginary Combat, Imaginary Body Tempering.

He even imagined himself standing on the coast, facing monstrous waves, punching relentlessly.

In short, he continuously utilized his brain, stimulating himself. The stronger his imagination, the more spectacular his training plan could be.

No coordination needed, no venue needed, no equipment needed!

This was probably the best training method in the world for the penniless.

Once he trained to the point of exhaustion, he would immediately soak in 'Sule's Homemade Exclusive Petal Bath' to recover stamina and injuries.

In just half an hour, he would be full of energy and ready to eat.

After eating, he would continue his special training, repeating the cycle, finding immense joy in it!

He continued training like this until evening.

Everyone else went to eat. When they called him, he refused, saying, "Just bring me a portion. More meat! Beef would be best!"

Regarding Imaginary Training, his experience was still insufficient.

Initially, he had overlooked the material foundation. When he realized that the training results later on were not as significant as the first time, he understood that a solid material foundation was still necessary.

No matter how much he could imagine, this was still a body whose potential was being pushed to its limit. To become stronger, he relied on external supplements, with an increase in his own body weight as the foundation.

He tried various foods but found that none were as effective as the beef he had eaten at Luo Yan's place that morning.

Two kilograms of beef had converted into 1.5 kilograms of muscle for him. In comparison, other foods were not as good.

Even so, by training diligently until ten o'clock at night, he had managed to push his weight all the way up to 80 kilograms!

And he could perfectly utilize his strength, with a bench press of 240 kilograms!

"Bang!"

Gaoxin delivered a powerful punch to the Punching Power Machine, measuring his violent punch at 400 kilograms!

In his community, there was an old boxing champion who was a regular at gambling matches. He had even defeated a Radiator because his punch could generate over 400 kilograms of force.

Many mediocre Radiators in the outside world only had about four or five times their weight in strength, which was nowhere near as terrifying as those on Sin Prison Island.

Of course, the Radiator who eventually lost had surpassed that old boxing champion. After a month of hard training, he easily defeated the latter.

The boxing champion eventually retired in dejection, left with injuries, and became a security guard working in a bar.

However, even so, he was considered the pride of the Glass People in their community.

Gaoxin didn't expect that he had now reached that level.

"I'm still far from Daishan Beida... I only have half of that guy's strength!"

"Thinking about it now, Daishan Beida was truly strong. With a weight of 150 kilograms, he could lift a 400-kilogram water buffalo, and his violent punch might have been 750 kilograms!"

"Hiss... No wonder the captains in the Redemption Squad showed me so much respect after I killed him. Peter, as the leader, was also extremely wary of me."

"It was pure luck that I was able to defeat such a monster before."

Gaoxin sighed, his eyes slightly red.

Who would have thought that just over a day ago, he was still a weakling.

He was moved by his own continuous life-or-death struggles, which had finally paid off.

"Praise the Great Holy Spirit."

He silently thanked himself and praised the cosmic mother who made everyone as divine as gods.

Just then, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the window.

"Team 09, get out here!"

"Gaoxin! Qiao Long, if you're scared, just beg for mercy. Don't force me to bring my men up there."

Peter's voice came from outside the window. It was very noisy, indicating that quite a few people had arrived.

Qiao Long rushed to the window and shouted, "What are you yelling about! Can't you let us sleep? My people have games tomorrow. Can you take responsibility if I'm delayed?"

"You want to fight your way in? Go ahead, come in if you dare."

He wasn't flustered because fighting their way into another team's territory would cause trouble for the Wa people.

Conversely, on the execution grounds, no one would care even if you screamed your lungs out.

Peter didn't lead his men inside. He just blocked the entrance outside, shouting insults and mocking Team 09 and other weak teams as cowards.

Qiao Long closed the window and said, "Ignore them. Just don't go out. Tomorrow, the games will proceed as scheduled, and everyone will rest as they should."

Gaoxin originally thought the same way. A bunch of slaves, and they even had to be ranked within the group. What a hassle.

But thinking of Meimei being in Team 12, he still asked, "How many fighters can you gather?"

Qiao Long was taken aback. "You're going?"

"Don't be impulsive. He'll leave when he gets tired of yelling. This guy has unified Teams 02, 03, 10, 11, and 12."

"All five teams have over ten Superior Glass Persons."

"Especially his Team 02, which has over twenty fighters. He himself is even more formidable, with 300 kilograms of strength, proficient in combat, and a full-power strike of 600 kilograms. No one in the entire Redemption Squad can defeat him in a one-on-one fight."

Gaoxin glanced out the window. There were over seventy people, clearly Peter had brought all the fighters he could.

He seriously considered, "I'll handle the leader. How many teams did you say you unified?"

Qiao Long replied, "Ten teams! But the fighters, at most sixty."

Gaoxin glanced at Qiao Long's waist. "I see you have a gun."

"We can't use guns. Fighting on the execution grounds, the Wa people won't interfere; they'll just see it as us punishing members. But if they hear gunshots, the Enforcer group will intervene," Qiao Long said solemnly.

Gaoxin nodded. "Alright, gather everyone you can call. Let's go meet him."

Qiao Long asked, "Okay, but... are you confident?"

Gaoxin smiled. "There are some moves I haven't even used on Daishan Beida. Now's a good time to test them out on him."

Qiao Long was shocked. What did that mean?

He didn't use his full strength when killing Daishan Beida?

p.s: Sorry.