Sick man of East Asia?

Gong Gong defeated the challengers sent by "Peak Fitness" as easily as swatting a fly, using only his own strength. The news spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of the city's fitness and martial arts circles in an incredibly short time, and even disseminating online.

"Li Wang Club's Hidden Weapon Emerges, Slapping Away Baguazhang Master with One Hand!"

"Mysterious Giant Gong Gong, Suspected to Possess an Indestructible Body!"

"Is Traditional Martial Arts Worthless Against Absolute Strength?"

Posts and short videos with sensational titles (though the footage was blurry, Gong Gong's inhuman strength and defense were still shocking) circulated online, sparking heated discussions. Some marveled, some doubted, some revered him as a god, while others dismissed it as a publicity stunt.

But regardless, the "Li Wang" Club and the name "Gong Gong" had completely blown up. Every day, members and visitors flocked to the club, eager to spectate, challenge, or simply bask in his "divine power." A long queue even formed outside the club. Manager Wang was grinning from ear to ear, treating Gong Gong with the utmost care. Top-grade beef and nutritional supplements were delivered like a flowing river, lest the ancestor be displeased in the slightest.

However, fame brought trouble. Gong Gong's high profile not only attracted the covetous eyes of business rivals and underground forces but also drew "challengers" from afar with various intentions.

That afternoon, the club was as bustling as ever. Gong Gong had just finished a new "entertainment activity"—asking the strongest coaches in the club, along with Qin Tian, to try and bind him with thick iron chains. With a gentle tug, the chains, which were supposedly strong enough to lift a car, snapped like ropes. The coaches turned pale, and Qin Tian could only offer a wry smile.

As everyone surrounded Gong Gong, marveling and discussing, another commotion erupted at the club's entrance. This time, it was accompanied by gasps and... foreign languages?

A group of about seven or eight people, escorting a giant resembling a small mountain, walked in. These individuals were fair-skinned and blue-eyed, exceptionally tall and robust. They wore matching sportswear with an unfamiliar fierce beast logo, their gazes arrogant as they surveyed the crowd in the club with undisguised superiority.

The giant leading the group was even half a head taller than Gong Gong. His shoulders were as broad as a door, and his exposed arms were thicker than a normal person's thighs. His muscles were exaggerated to the extreme, veins writhing like earthworms, exuding explosive power. He sported a full beard, his eyes fierce, a cold sneer playing on his lips.

Beside the group of strongmen, an Asian man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses, looking like a translator or agent, followed them.

The appearance of this group immediately drew everyone's attention. Their physique and aura were clearly different from the previous challengers, carrying a strong, professional sense of pressure.

Manager Wang's heart sank. He quickly stepped forward and asked in broken English, "Welcome... Can I help you?"

The Asian translator stepped forward and said in accented but fluent Chinese, "We are the 'Beast Strength' team from M Country. This is our team's star player, Mr. Karl Johnson, nicknamed 'Bear'." He continued, "Mr. Karl is a three-time runner-up in the 'World's Ultimate Strongest Man' competition and also a well-known figure in the mixed martial arts world."

His tone carried a sense of pride as if he were personally involved.

"Bear" Karl's gaze swept past Manager Wang and landed directly on Gong Gong, who was in the center of the crowd, gnawing on an extra-large beef stick. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, quickly replaced by a deeper disdain. He muttered a few words to the translator.

The translator immediately said to Manager Wang, "Mr. Karl saw videos of your 'Gong Gong' online and found them very interesting. He believes those videos might be exaggerated, possibly using special effects or being a publicity stunt. So, while he's in China for business activities, he specifically came to personally verify how much truth there is to this so-called 'Eastern Divine Strength'."

Although his words were polite, the underlying doubt and provocation were obvious to everyone.

The club members erupted.

"Foreigners? Here to cause trouble?"

"World's Ultimate Strongest Man runner-up? Sounds pretty impressive!"

"Here to verify? Isn't he just here to challenge because he doesn't believe in Master Gong's strength?"

"Damn it, looking down on us Chinese?"

The crowd was incensed. When "Peak Fitness" came to challenge, it was an internal conflict, and people watched for the spectacle. But now, a foreign expert had come knocking, bringing doubt and disdain. The nature of the situation had completely changed, instantly igniting everyone's nationalistic sentiment.

Manager Wang's expression turned grim, but he maintained his politeness. "Mr. Karl, our club welcomes all fitness enthusiasts for exchange and learning. However, Mr. Gong is a coach at our club, not someone for performance or verification..."

Before he could finish, "Bear" Karl seemed to lose patience. He pushed the translator aside, strode to the strength testing area, pointed at the newly replaced punch strength tester (the previous one was destroyed by Gong Gong), then pointed at Gong Gong, and finally extended his thick finger, beckoning Gong Gong with a provocative smile on his face. He spoke in broken Chinese, word by word:

"You! Sick! Man! Of! East! Asia! Dare! Or! Not! To! Compete!"

"Sick man of East Asia"!

These four words, like bloody steel needles, instantly pierced the ears of every Chinese person present! It was a symbol of humiliation etched deep into the nation's memory!

The entire club fell silent! Everyone's expression changed, the flames of anger burning in their eyes!

Even Gong Gong, who had been indifferent and focused only on eating his beef stick, stopped. While he didn't fully grasp the historical weight behind the term "Sick man of East Asia," he could clearly feel the overwhelming rage and humiliation emanating from all the "fellow beings" (in his eyes, these fragile humans were all fellow beings) around him when that phrase came from the foreigner's mouth!

Lin Fan, standing at the edge of the crowd, trembled with anger and clenched his fists upon hearing those words. He knew Gong Gong didn't care about national honor, but he feared Gong Gong might not understand the implications and react inappropriately.

Manager Wang's face turned ashen. He said sternly, "Mr. Karl! Please show some respect! You are not welcome here! Please leave immediately!"

The Asian translator also seemed to think Karl's words were excessive and quietly tried to persuade him in English.

But Karl was unfazed, even more smug. He surveyed the enraged Chinese people around him, smiled contemptuously, and added in broken Chinese, pointing at Gong Gong and then himself, "You! Not! Good! Weak! Chicken!"

Just then, Gong Gong, who had been silent, casually tossed the bone from the finished beef stick into a distant trash can (hitting it precisely) before slowly turning around.

His eyes, which had been somewhat languid from being full, were now bloodshot again, but not from hunger. It was a cold rage ignited by the repeated provocation of an ant!

He strode towards Karl. With each step, the ground seemed to tremble slightly. The pressure emanating from his massive body was like a tangible mountain crushing down on Karl!

"What... did you just say?" Gong Gong's voice was not loud, but it rumbled like muffled thunder, carrying a chilling, heart-stopping coldness. He didn't look at the translator; his gaze, like two cold scalpels, was locked onto Karl.

Karl was startled by Gong Gong's sudden terrifying aura and instinctively took half a step back. But he was immediately angered by his own timid reaction. He forced himself to calm down, puffed out his chest, and quickly said in English, "I said you are sick men! Weak chickens! What? Not convinced? Then let's compete! Let's see who the real strongman is!"

The translator hesitated before relaying the message, not entirely verbatim, in Chinese: "Mr. Karl wishes to have a fair test of strength with you."

Gong Gong, however, seemed to have understood the contempt in Karl's words. He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, but there was no warmth in his smile, only endless coldness and... a detached indifference, as if looking at a dead thing.

"Compete? Fine," Gong Gong's voice seemed to come from the depths of hell. "But the loser must kneel and kowtow to apologize for what they said."

His demand was simple and direct, embodying the most primitive rule of the Primordial Era—insult the strong, and you shall pay the price!

The translator relayed Gong Gong's words to Karl.

Karl was stunned for a moment, then burst into a wild laugh, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He slapped his rock-hard chest and roared in English, "Kneel? Apologize? You? Fine! I accept! If you lose, you will also kneel and admit that you East Asians are sick men!"

"Fine," Gong Gong agreed crisply, his eyes so cold they could almost freeze.

The atmosphere instantly became tense! A competition concerning personal honor, and more importantly, the national dignity of countless onlookers, was about to begin!

Manager Wang and Qin Tian wanted to intervene, but seeing Gong Gong's icy gaze and Karl's arrogant demeanor, they knew this matter could not be easily resolved.

"How do we compete?" Gong Gong asked.

Karl pointed to the new punching power tester, then made a gesture for arm wrestling, and finally pointed to the standard MMA ring in the center of the club. His meaning was clear: a test of punching power, a test of raw strength (arm wrestling), and finally, a real fight in the ring!

He wanted to crush this "Oriental giant" who didn't know his place, in every way possible, completely trampling his dignity and the face of all Chinese people!

"As you wish," Gong Gong said dismissively.

The first event: punching power test.

Karl walked to the testing machine, took a deep breath, and his muscles bulged as if inflated. He took a few steps back, then suddenly sprinted forward, twisting his waist, shrugging his shoulders, and punching! He concentrated all his strength into one punch, smashing it hard onto the impact pad!

"BANG!!!"

A deafening roar! The numbers on the testing machine's screen flashed wildly, finally settling on an astonishing figure – 1898 pounds! (approximately 861 kilograms!)

Nearly nineteen hundred pounds! This was already terrifying punching power, surpassing the vast majority of professional boxers! It could be called the pinnacle of human strength!

The members of the "Beast Strength" team erupted in cheers. Karl also triumphantly waved his fist, looking at Gong Gong with a provocative glint in his eyes.

The faces of the club members watching turned pale. That number was too terrifying! Could Master Gong... surpass it?

Under everyone's tense gaze, Gong Gong slowly walked to the testing machine. He didn't even sprint like Karl; he just stood there casually, clenching his fist.

This time, he didn't swing casually like last time. Although he still felt the machine was fragile, he sensed the expectant, tense, and even pleading gazes of the "fellow humans" around him, as well as the nauseating arrogance of that foreign devil.

He decided to be a little more serious.

He slightly lowered his waist, pulled his right fist back. On his fist, as large as a sand pot, muscle fibers tightened like steel wires, as if containing the power to shatter mountains and split the earth! Although there was no astonishing display of force, a deeper, more terrifying sense of pressure naturally emanated from him!

Qin Tian's pupils contracted! He felt that Gong Gong's stance this time, while still not conforming to any known power generation techniques, subtly aligned with some... principle of heaven and earth? It was as if he wasn't holding a fist, but an entire roaring, surging river!

The next moment, Gong Gong's fist moved!

Not very fast, it even gave a false impression of slowness, but just as his fist was about to touch the impact pad, its speed exploded! The air was compressed rapidly, emitting a piercing sonic boom!

"BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!"

A terrifying roar, far exceeding the previous one, like a meteor impact, suddenly erupted!

The brand new testing machine, which claimed to withstand a two-thousand-pound impact, let out a spine-chilling sound of metal twisting under unbearable load! The impact pad was instantly punched through! The entire machine's main structure, as if crushed by an invisible giant force, instantly deformed and collapsed! Countless parts and electrical sparks flew everywhere! The electronic screen exploded before it could even display a number, emitting dense black smoke!

One punch!

Another punch!

It directly turned the second testing machine into a pile of smoking scrap metal!

The entire club fell into deathly silence!

So quiet you could hear a pin drop!

Everyone's mouths hung open, their eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets, their brains completely frozen!

1898 pounds? In the face of Gong Gong's punch, it was like a joke!

Karl's proud and arrogant expression froze instantly, replaced by extreme shock and... a hint of fear! He couldn't comprehend how a human could possess such power! This completely defied biomechanics!

Gong Gong slowly retracted his fist, blew away the non-existent dust on it, and looked at Karl with cold eyes, as if looking at a wriggling insect:

"Now, it's your turn."