Master Hong Shows His Skills

It was hard to imagine that Frank Castle, an escaped convict, had not fled somewhere remote. Instead, he had remained in the bustling metropolis of New York.

Even more surprising was that, despite being a retired soldier with exceptional military training and formidable combat ability, he had chosen to hide his identity and swing a sledgehammer at a construction site.

Hong Fei had thought of it. More precisely, he had "seen" it.

After witnessing the television report about Frank Castle's prison break, Hong Fei had begun investigating construction sites across New York one by one, eventually locating his hiding place.

After walking for several minutes, the two arrived at a quiet corner of the construction site.

Frank suddenly turned around five meters ahead of Hong Fei, his gaze instantly sharpening. "Young man, tell me everything you know."

Hong Fei raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning to rob me?"

"Wrong!"

Frank spread his arms as though embracing the entire city. "This city once held the family I loved and the warm home we shared, but all of it was destroyed by those sewer rats. When I tried to seek justice for them through the law, I discovered that there were even more rats above ground."

"I'd heard something about that." Hong Fei nodded.

"You don't even qualify as a bystander." Frank pointed disdainfully at the sky. "You see blinding sunlight, but all I see is endless darkness. I need that information so those people can receive the punishment they deserve. So I will not use it as a bargaining chip in any deal!"

Frank's wife and daughter had been murdered. When he used his intelligence network to find the killers and bring them before the law, they exploited every loophole they could to escape punishment.

Since the law could not uphold justice, Frank could only take matters into his own hands and seek justice for his family. At the same time, he showed no mercy to any criminal.

Thus, a good husband, a good father, perhaps once even a good soldier and a good citizen, had suddenly become a criminal everyone despised.

He had been to prison once. Now, in the public eye, he had only one identity: an escaped prisoner.

"I understand what you did, and I fully approve of it," Hong Fei said. "Your desire to punish those criminals, and the actions you took, are admirable. To be honest, I have a great deal of information. But there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Frank shook his head again. "Like I said, I'm not making any deal with you. I do intend to eat your lunch for free."

Hong Fei spread his hands. "There's really no room to negotiate?"

"You should have known that already."

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Amid the silence, Hong Fei's eyes suddenly narrowed, sharp light seeming to burst from them. At the same time, his feet shifted from stillness into motion, whipping up a gale like a charging stallion as he crossed the five-meter gap in the blink of an eye.

Frank's pupils contracted sharply. He had never expected such terrifying speed and explosive power to exist within Hong Fei's seemingly ordinary body.

But his reaction was equally quick. He instantly gathered strength throughout his body. Faced with Hong Fei's abrupt attack, he neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, he threw the first punch, driving it straight at Hong Fei's ear.

In an instant, Frank seized the initiative from Hong Fei. His long-range punch clearly aimed to keep Hong Fei at a distance and deny him any chance to close in.

Hong Fei raised his fist to block outward, rotating his arm around the joint. His fist became a claw, which seized Frank's forearm like lightning.

Frank stepped back quickly, twisting his arm in an attempt to break free. Yet Hong Fei's hold was extraordinarily firm. His feet moved swiftly, and his body followed Frank without the slightest delay.

Their eyes met. Staring into Hong Fei's predatory, aggressively fierce gaze, Frank found the situation absurd.

Two seconds ago, he had believed the young man before him was merely a puppet pushed to the forefront, with either some master standing behind him or an organization backing him.

But now, whether it was the astonishing burst of speed at the start of the attack, the strength and fluid transformations of technique during the block, or those fiercely aggressive eyes that seemed capable of piercing skin, everything proved that this young man possessed formidable real-world fighting ability!

From Hong Fei's perspective, Frank's reactions were indeed fast, and his experience was not lacking. Combined with his strength, he could certainly crush the vast majority of ordinary people.

But if Hong Fei had to sum him up in two words, they would be: not enough.

In terms of strength, the two might currently be evenly matched. Frank might even be stronger, considering Hong Fei no longer had his original body.

As for experience, Frank was an elite soldier with countless deaths on his hands. But setting firearms aside, his unarmed combat experience definitely could not surpass that of a martial artist immersed in challenges and adventures everywhere.

And when it came to technique, Hong Fei truly did not want to list every skill he had mastered.

The main reason was that, from his very first day in the Marvel Universe, he had realized that while everything from his past could still serve as support and remained an unchanging spiritual anchor, it was no longer enough to become something he could truly rely on for survival.

The reality was that some people could fly or turn invisible, some could withstand shells with their bare bodies, some could summon lightning, some weapons could destroy planets with a single blast, and some could destroy universes. Magic was not fantasy, and gods truly existed.

Master Hong, who had gained fame young and had not been left behind by the times, found it easier to recognize and accept reality. Besides, if he had not kept up with the trends and finished Red Dead Redemption 2, he would not have come here to face such reality.

Back in the present, with their strength evenly matched, Hong Fei would not claim to crush Frank in experience and technique, but he at least had a tiny little advantage.

After rushing forward five steps with Frank, Hong Fei suddenly drove his foot down without warning, leaving a deep print in the gravel. He released Frank's arm and drew both hands back to his ribs, palms curling into fists. The muscles of his waist and abdomen expanded and contracted, while his spine opened from bottom to top like a fan forged from refined steel, transmitting force with lightning speed.

His two fists shot out together, neither preceding the other, twisting forward like twin heavy cannons!

Frank was startled again and instantly crossed his arms before him.

Fist struck arm, and Frank staggered backward. Both arms immediately went numb and sore, while the strength in his body seemed about to be scattered by that blow. He took a fierce breath, then let out a roar, forcing his spirit to rally again.

Hong Fei remained where he was, his feet rooted in the fine gravel, his palms positioned before and behind his chest.

Frank narrowed his eyes, taking the opportunity to shake out his arms and relax his muscles while staring at Hong Fei with a lightning-sharp gaze.

A moment later, Frank clenched his fists. His muscles tightened abruptly, and his strength gathered once more.

This time, he took the initiative. He strode forward and charged viciously at Hong Fei. As he closed in, he ignored Hong Fei's hands, suddenly changing direction and darting to Hong Fei's side before launching a lightning-fast punch.

Hong Fei twisted on his toes and turned sideways, both hands reaching for Frank's arm, one high and one low.

Yet Frank's strike had been a feint. He withdrew quickly, while his other arm precisely slipped through Hong Fei's hands and struck Hong Fei in the chest.

Hong Fei's body instantly contracted inward, his curved spine suddenly resembling a fully drawn bow.

Frank's fist touched Hong Fei's chest, but it felt as though he had struck a leaf drifting in the wind. Before he could truly make contact, the light breeze raised by his fist seemed to have pushed Hong Fei away.

Hong Fei sank slightly, and all the strength in his body instantly gathered inward with that incredibly simple movement, focusing at the point where Frank's fist met his chest.

At that very moment, even Hong Fei's consciousness rapidly turned inward, his essence, energy, and spirit converging at one point.

Bang!

Hong Fei's spine snapped back into place like a released bowstring. The force that burst forth exploded the air, creating a sound both dull and sharp.

Frank felt as though his fist had been struck head-on by a fully swung iron hammer. The bones in his hand seemed to shatter inch by inch, while fierce force traveled up his arm bones, seemingly tearing apart even the muscles attached to them.

At the same time, his body shot backward like a cannonball and landed five meters away. The force had not yet faded. If he dragged along the ground, the gravel would likely shred his entire waist and back, so he could only endure the agony in his arm, clutch his head, curl into a ball, and roll like one to disperse the force.

Hong Fei was fairly satisfied with the result before him.

With the body he had possessed a month ago, Hong Fei definitely could not have achieved this. That scholar's body had not even been healthy.

Over the past month, the gangsters he had dumped at the police station had collectively contributed many physical enhancements, allowing this body to initially escape the category of frailty. Though it was still inferior to his old body, it now seemed barely sufficient.

He had not even activated the Shinigami Eye cheat.

Frank rolled all the way to the edge of a wall before barely stopping. He quickly flipped himself upright, feeling as if his arm had already separated from his body. Yet he had no time to worry about his injury. His hawk-like eyes stared fixedly at Hong Fei more than ten meters away.

Hong Fei stepped into a bow stance. His upper body stood straight as a silver spear, his shoulders lowered. His right hand swept in an arc to the right and became a hook hand, while his left palm turned outward and pushed forward. His arms stretched before and behind him like a straightened long whip.

Frank's gaze sharpened, and he spoke a rather awkward word.

"Kung Fu?"

Hong Fei nodded slightly. "Again?"

Frank's face twitched. He turned to look at his hanging arm and said bluntly, "Tell me about your deal."

Hong Fei immediately smiled, withdrew his stance, and walked over. "Don't worry. The force didn't reach the tendons. Your bones aren't broken, and your muscles aren't torn. It's all an illusion. Within three days, I guarantee you'll be full of vigor again!"

Frank nodded with a grim face.

Frank would not be frightened by a single defeat. On the contrary, he believed that since Hong Fei had attained such mastery in Kung Fu, he was bound to have weaknesses elsewhere. Take firearms, for example, which Frank knew better and excelled at. If it truly came down to a fight to the death, he certainly would not go in unarmed.

The reason he agreed was that, compared to victory or defeat, he wanted the information Hong Fei had mentioned even more.

He looked at Hong Fei again, only to see Hong Fei suddenly raise his brows and glance behind Frank.

The alert Frank immediately turned around, but he saw only a gray wall. Confused, he asked, "What are you looking at?"

Hong Fei saw a card floating in the air before him. It was entirely snow-white, with a faint white glow flowing around it. On the front was an exquisitely detailed portrait.

Glancing at Frank, Hong Fei gently shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go. I'll take you back and treat your injury."

As he turned around, Hong Fei seemingly stretched lazily, extending his long arm while his hand made a plucking motion in midair.