"Limit Martial Artists? Glimmer-tier, you mean?" He Xinghan immediately understood. "Destructive power and lethality? You're joking. This is the modern age of technology. Martial arts are just for keeping fit and cultivating the mind. If you really want destructive power and lethality, you'd be better off practicing with firearms."
"Let's skip the usual platitudes. As I understand it, the Martial Alliance has considerable authority over registered martial artists in its jurisdiction. It's also obligated to assist in investigating martial artists who commit crimes." Wang Yiyang got straight to the point.
"You mean..." The smile on He Xinghan's face gradually faded.
"Exactly what you think. A Limit Martial Artist is involved in a criminal case, and we want to hire Martial Alliance experts to assist with the investigation and keep our investigators safe," Wang Yiyang explained.
He didn't reveal his true identity. He had simply given himself the title of a representative from a Mister branch, but even that was enough to earn the other man's attention.
He Xinghan fell silent, apparently weighing Wang Yiyang's proposal.
They walked side by side as the students' shouts rang out across the grounds, practicing their martial arts without pause.
The steady stream of shouts didn't distract He Xinghan. Instead, they slowly stirred a thought that had long been circling in his mind.
It was true: the Martial Alliance had two major factions.
But outsiders didn't know that the two factions were actually on poor terms.
The Showmanship faction and the Combat faction had been at odds for a long time.
His teacher had been an elder of the Combat faction. His lifelong dream had been to help it flourish and correct the public's distorted view of the Martial Alliance and the prejudice against it.
In truth, most people's impression of the Martial Alliance came from flashy combat shows on television that were mostly staged.
When it came to real combat ability, no one thought of them first.
Their image had long been overshadowed by those screen stars.
He Xinghan's teacher had always grieved over the situation and tried to promote the Combat faction's strength. Unfortunately, his efforts had never amounted to much.
Hearing Wang Yiyang's invitation, He Xinghan immediately thought of several of his junior brothers and sisters.
His own skills barely reached the tenth tier, and were already declining with age.
But he had many junior brothers and sisters, several of whom had surpassed the Glimmer tier and were powerful martial artists.
One of them had even reached the Grand Justice tier, making him one of the top martial artists in the entire Martial Alliance.
Perhaps this was a chance to show off the Martial Alliance's strength and status.
He Xinghan's thoughts turned over and over until he finally made up his mind.
"I need to know exactly how dangerous this invitation is. You know that we martial artists may be strong, but once we're up against firearms or energy weapons, and the enemy has numbers, we're no different from ordinary people."
Wang Yiyang sat on a row of public benches beside the training grounds and smiled.
"Don't worry. You'll be helping maintain order in the local martial arts world. As for everything else, Mister's security department will handle it.
"We have specialized teams to deal with any trouble, whether it involves firearms or energy weapons."
His confident manner won some of He Xinghan's trust.
Still, this was a major decision, and He Xinghan couldn't make it on his own. He said he needed to go back and ask his junior brothers and sisters for their opinions. It was still uncertain who would be willing to help.
Yingxing City wasn't large, but it still had a few Limit Martial Artists from the Martial Alliance.
Wang Yiyang wasn't in a hurry. They agreed that He Xinghan would give him an answer within three days.
After that, Wang Yiyang left with Lei Wei.
After leaving Yahelian, Wang Yiyang wasted no time. He got into the car and headed straight for Yanhu Sect's Yingxing City branch.
Yanhu Sect was completely different from the Martial Alliance.
If the Martial Alliance was an aboveboard organization of martial artists registered with the Federation, then Yanhu Sect was a huge underground institution where illegal martial artists and those who had committed crimes gathered.
It was all too common for martial artists, their blood surging and their tempers flaring, to act on impulse and commit crimes.
So although Yanhu Sect was smaller than the Martial Alliance, its actual combat strength far surpassed theirs.
As Bodyguard No. 2 explained things in the car, Wang Yiyang combined what he heard with the information he'd looked up and gradually understood how dangerous Yanhu Sect was.
But the more dangerous the place, the happier it made him.
Many of Yanhu Sect's martial artists had criminal records and were fugitives. With today's advanced technological networks, their records could be easily found anywhere.
As a result, few organizations or companies were willing to hire them.
So the enormous Yanhu Sect had become one of the few ways they could make money and stay alive.
As Bodyguard No. 2 put it, "As long as you pay, Yanhu Sect's people will do anything."
"Come to think of it, after my sister and I retired from the military, we almost ended up at Yanhu Sect ourselves because we had no other way to make a living," Bodyguard No. 2 said with a sigh.
"What? Isn't everyone at Yanhu Sect a martial artist?" Wang Yiyang asked in surprise.
"Of course not. There are martial artists, veterans, fugitives from all over, people without legal status, and even interstellar fugitives. Anyone who can't get by will go there to find a meal, as long as they have some skill to offer," Bodyguard No. 2 explained.
"What about those who can't get by even at Yanhu Sect? Is there anywhere else they can survive?" Wang Yiyang thought for a moment, then asked.
"We don't know about that, but perhaps Wolf Spider District can give you an answer," Bodyguard No. 2 replied honestly.
Wolf Spider District wasn't a city district, but the largest slum in the entire Federation.
Its residents relied mainly on artificial food to survive. Their living conditions were extremely harsh.
Many heavily polluting factories, radiation facilities, and research institutes were located there.
Mister had several research institutes there, too. In the past, Wang Yiyang had sent people to help provide security.
But he wasn't involved in the research department, so he didn't know much about the area.
"Wolf Spider District?" Wang Yiyang murmured thoughtfully.
Lei Wei's eyes flickered beside him, but she still didn't speak, only listened.
The car soon stopped in front of a grassy plain on the outskirts of Yingxing City.
Beside the wide road, coated in white dust, a ramshackle roadside inn and gas station slowly came into view.
Given Wang Yiyang's status, Lei Wei had naturally made all the arrangements well in advance.
At first glance, it looked as though only his car was there.
But if the need arose, more than thirty elite armed soldiers could appear on the open plain nearby in a matter of moments to protect them.
A short while later, two burly men with bare chests and all kinds of tattoos emerged from the inn.
Each held a black device. They pointed them at the car and pressed a button, apparently scanning and checking it.
A few seconds later, they waved the car forward.
Inside the car, Lei Wei sat up straight and calmly explained.
"I contacted Yanhu Sect's local representative ahead of time. They said that if the price is right, they can provide five Glimmer-tier Limit Martial Artists. But each one costs 1.5 million per appearance."
"That's too much," Wang Yiyang said, shaking his head. "Can we negotiate?"
"That's their lowest price. I tried to bargain, but they said this was the biggest concession Yanhu Sect could make, given the possibility of long-term cooperation with Mister Group.
"Before this, a Glimmer-tier Limit Martial Artist cost at least two million per appearance," Lei Wei replied calmly.
Wang Yiyang fell silent for a moment, then took out his phone again and checked the Limit Martial Artist test data Jian had sent over.
'Limit Martial Artists generally have two forms: normal and explosive.
'In their normal state, their physical abilities are near the limits of humanity, and there isn't much difference between them in strength or speed.
'But in their explosive state, the differences are enormous. Their abilities can clearly be divided into several major tiers.
'Those are the tiers the Martial Alliance calls Glimmer, Bright Light, and Grand Justice.'
The information on his phone was quite detailed.
Wang Yiyang scanned through it. He had received the report earlier and already read it once.
Now he skipped the mass of irrelevant information and went straight to the data on Limit Martial Artists in their explosive state.
He looked over the rows of impressive figures.
In the tests, the strongest Limit Martial Artist could maintain his explosive state for more than half an hour. His attacks had the destructive power of armor-piercing rounds, and his body was so tough that ordinary bullets could only cause superficial wounds.
Most incredible of all, in his explosive state, his speed was several times that of an ordinary person.
Whether in short bursts or over long distances, he was far faster than normal people.
"At a distance or in open terrain, Limit Martial Artists aren't much to fear. But once they get close, or you're in a confined space, they become a nightmare..." Wang Yiyang sighed.
"Your assessment is spot-on. We've faced opponents like that before, and that's exactly how it went." Bodyguard No. 2 took the opportunity to flatter him a little.
The car slowly drove behind the inn and stopped in a designated parking spot.
Immediately afterward, the ground beneath the parking spot sank rapidly.
Everything went dark. Wang Yiyang felt the car entering a vertical elevator. A few seconds later, the car shuddered as the elevator came to a stop.
The engine started up, and the car drove forward again.
Before him was a spacious parking lot filled with vehicles.
But his car didn't stop there.
Bodyguard No. 1, who was driving, pressed a button on the control panel.
With a soft hiss, silver-and-white-cross markings representing the Mister Pharmaceutical Group slowly appeared on both sides of the car and across its hood.
The car soon entered a separate passageway, lined on both sides with rows of sensor lights.
As the car approached, the lights kept coming on one after another.
After driving for about five minutes,
the car stopped in front of a spiral white elevator.
This passageway ended at just this one elevator.
Several muscular martial artists in white uniforms, fully armed, guarded the elevator entrance.
Their eyes narrowed slightly as they noticed the Mister markings on the car.
Mister Pharmaceutical was a well-known corporate giant internationally.
It held numerous top medical patents and employed leading hospital specialists.
A considerable share of the market's special-effect medicines also came from pharmaceutical factories under Mister Group.
Martial artists often dealt with doctors, hospitals, and healing medicines, so they were naturally familiar with this massive conglomerate.
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