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Soft music played as the two sat facing each other.

A vivid red rose stood on the dark brown stone tabletop, perfectly dividing their lines of sight.

The rose's bold, striking red contrasted with Sears's golden hair, making the scene all the more radiant.

"Whatever you like. I rarely drink coffee," Lin Sheng said calmly.

Sears smiled and told the approaching waiter the name of a coffee Lin Sheng had never heard of.

Soon, two cups of steaming, fragrant coffee were brought over.

After the waiter left, Sears smiled at Lin Sheng.

"Would you be interested in working for my company?" He raised a finger. "Don't rush to turn me down."

"Ten thousand a month. That's the base salary."

Lin Sheng didn't drink his coffee. He just kept tearing open packets of sugar and pouring them in.

"I'm not interested in working for anyone right now."

"Twenty thousand," Sears said with a smile.

Lin Sheng paused.

"I want to start my own business. Do you understand what I mean?"

Sears smiled and shook his head.

"Seems you really aren't interested. That's fine. You're still young. If you ever need anything, you can come straight to me."

He gently slid a black-and-white business card across the table.

"I can tell you have big ambitions. If you ever get tired of striking out on your own, you're always welcome to join me."

"Thank you."

Sears picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"Pardon me for asking, but who's your teacher?"

"I don't have one," Lin Sheng said, shaking his head.

"Really?" A charming smile appeared on Sears's face. "I heard you're still in your final year of high school."

"Yeah, that's right," Lin Sheng said with a nod. "I have the college entrance exams coming up soon. It's a pain."

"With your talent for fencing, why bother with the college entrance exams?" Sears said with a smile.

"Langang University here in Huaisha City. If you want, I can pull some strings for you. As long as you place in the National Amateur Fencing Tournament, I can get you admitted through their special sports program."

"Langang University?" Lin Sheng was taken aback.

"Yeah. Langang is a key national university. Its ranking is toward the bottom, but it's still a pretty good choice for most students," Sears said with a smile.

Lin Sheng was tempted.

If he could really get in through special admission, that would be ideal. Studying for the entrance exams was taking up too much of his time.

But only if Sears wasn't lying to him.

"What kind of placing do I need to get in the national tournament?" Lin Sheng asked quickly.

"At least top ten. Since it's the National Amateur Fencing Tournament, it doesn't carry much authority. Even if you're good enough, there isn't time for the professional circuit. The tournaments there move too slowly."

Sears looked at Lin Sheng with calm, blue eyes.

"Of course, the higher you place, the better."

"Why do you want to help me?" Lin Sheng asked in a low voice.

"Because I'm a businessman." Sears smiled again. "With your skills, all you need is a little training and to learn how to counter and evade firearms, and you'd make a capable bodyguard.

"So I'd like you to serve as my company's security consultant. When I need help, you'd protect me and my family."

Lin Sheng rubbed his fingers together, weighing it for a while.

"If you can really get me into the university, then I'm in."

"As long as you place, it'll be easy," Sears said with another smile.

A salary of twenty thousand a month, plus a place at Langang University, in exchange for a powerful bodyguard.

For Sears, it was undoubtedly a good deal.

The bodyguard might still be green, but a little training would make him very useful.

After all, capable experts were hard to find.

After the qualifying rounds ended, Lin Sheng soon returned to his normal routine.

What he hadn't expected was that the training program at the club would run into trouble before it had even begun accepting students.

Near the venue he'd rented in Blackwater District, a few hooligans showed up to demand protection money and got into a fight with Russell, who was guarding the place.

Russell had learned some hand-to-hand combat. He could win one-on-one or against two, but three opponents were too much for him. So he called Madilan over to help.

The hooligans were beaten back, only to return later with five more.

The two sides got into a brawl. In the end, both sides were badly hurt.

Those hooligans didn't care who you were or what kind of background you had.

Blackwater District was a classic no-man's-land. Gangs disbanded and formed every so often, and the place was a mess.

The hooligans were highly mobile. Unless you were a local power like the White Card Gang, it didn't matter if you beat up some rich kid. At worst, you could just take off and head somewhere else.

By the time Lin Sheng heard the news and rushed over, it was already afternoon.

To his surprise, Russell and the others had gone from fighting to becoming friends. The two sides had actually hit it off.

Not only did the training program no longer have to pay protection money for the venue, but the fight had also unexpectedly attracted a few poor youths who wanted to join the program, study, and do odd jobs to cover their tuition.

In the backyard of the training program in Blackwater District.

A square wall enclosed a courtyard of less than two hundred square meters. This was the training program's temporary rental space in Blackwater District.

Weeds grew everywhere in the yard, and several large water jars had yet to be moved out.

All kinds of messy insults had been scrawled across the gray-white walls in red and black chalk. There were also plenty of crude, lewd drawings.

Two cleaners they'd hired were busy scrubbing the walls with buckets of water.

Lin Sheng looked away and turned to the three youths standing in front of him.

They were all thin and wiry, with pale faces and hollow cheeks. They looked severely malnourished.

Their clothes were patched, but at least they were clean and tidy.

"You want to join the training program?" Lin Sheng asked with a frown. "And work in place of paying tuition?"

"Yes, sir." The tallest boy answered loudly, unflustered.

Lin Sheng shook his head inwardly. The three of them seemed to have come to learn, but in reality, they were looking for work and a meal.

Learning was just an excuse.

Still, they could count as the first students in a way. If he could train all three of them well, word would surely spread through the neighborhood. Recruiting more people after that would be much easier.

Lin Sheng turned to discuss it with Xiayin, who stood behind him, and they decided to take the three boys in.

As for the cost of the venue, they could give up the place they'd rented near the club and rent only this one. Their expenses would drop to a fraction of what they'd been.

And Xiayin had prepared plenty of startup capital. Even if a small operation like this made no profit for years, they'd be fine.

Once they'd reached an agreement, Lin Sheng checked the three boys' family circumstances.

Two were local residents, sons of dockworkers in Blackwater District. The third was an orphan from out of town who had come there as a vagrant.

He couldn't be bothered to check if they were telling the truth. After recording their information, he began planning their first day of training.

Lin Sheng made few changes. He took the hand-to-hand combat training system he remembered from Black Feather City, arranged the basic exercises from light to strenuous, and handed the plan to Russell.

After all, Russell had plenty of time and came here every day.

Russell treated it like a treasure. He began training at the head of the group, with the three boys joining him.

As for why the gangsters stopped demanding protection money, Lin Sheng didn't believe they'd simply become friends after a fight.

Russell and the others' families must have pulled some strings.

But that was only to be expected. It all went according to Lin Sheng's plan.

Once they established a foothold in Blackwater District, the next step was to expand their influence. How would they do that?

Simple.

He planned to hold an open-rules fighting tournament on the street every so often.

The winner would receive a cash prize and the title of Blackwater District's Fight King!