“I haven’t read many books, so don’t try to fool me. ‘Within arm’s reach, one man is an enemy nation’ clearly means that if I stand here without moving, I alone can destroy an enemy country.”

“But I remember, the meaning of that phrase is more like: when two people are very close, even if one has a whole country behind him, it’s useless.”

“Nonsense.” Ethan Brooks held his sword level, the electromagnetic field generated by the surging thunder true energy erupted with a massive Ampere force, propelling the divine sword forged from superconductive Akagami steel in his hand. At twenty times the speed of sound, it tore through the atmosphere, blasting apart an aircraft carrier three hundred kilometers away. The explosion of the powder magazine sent flames soaring, illuminating the sky.

“See, I’m right here within arm’s reach.”

……

A world with no cultivation, no supernatural powers, no magic, but just a little bit of true energy—a world where martial artists are cultured.

Chapter 0001: Passerby

“When I was very young, I understood one thing: I cannot die.”

“I tried jumping from the tenth floor and ended up injuring a passerby.”

“I tried throwing myself into a river, but someone happened to be diving nearby.”

“I tried taking poison, but ended up buying a fake.”

“I tried electrocution, but the circuit breaker tripped.”

“I tried slitting my wrists, but my special constitution healed so fast that before I could bleed to death, the wounds had already closed.”

“I tried lying on the tracks… but was discovered and lectured by the staff, and my parents grounded me for a month.”

“On April 5th, 2049, nuclear war broke out without warning. A nuclear bomb detonated right above me, the blazing white light illuminating the world. I thought I was finally going to be freed… but I still didn’t die. Instead, I was mysteriously reborn and continued living in this world!”

“But this time… I might really die.”

“Not from the destruction of the stars, but from a single punch. That punch was aimed at my head, the intent behind it shattered my soul, the aura of death rushed at me, and I realized… I am actually afraid of dying.”

……

“You little bastard, get lost!”

“William Clark!”

The furious roar echoed in his ears, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot.

That shot forced the figure lunging at Ethan Brooks to twist away, dodging the bullet. The punch that was originally aimed at his head turned into a sweeping blow, landing on his shoulder instead.

“Bang!”

In the next moment, as Ethan Brooks passed by the alley entrance, he felt as if he’d been hit by a truck. The sound of bones shattering was clear, half his body instantly went numb, and his body was involuntarily blasted away by that terrifying force. After flying six meters, he crashed heavily to the ground, then rolled twice more from inertia, scraping his knees and palms, blood streaming out.

“Hahahaha, Adam Carter, you useless piece of trash! You dare bring people to ambush me, and now you’re running!?”

William Clark, who had sent Ethan Brooks flying, let out a wild laugh. Power exploded beneath his feet, shattering and pulverizing the tiled floor, and he shot out like an arrow, propelled by that force, at a speed…

Over thirty meters in a second!

“Anyone who blocks me dies!”

In front of William Clark, a man under thirty holding a gun was struck head-on. In an instant, the man seemed to be hit by a cannonball. Ethan Brooks could even see the invisible ripples in the air as it was blasted apart.

“Bang!”

Blown apart!

A fist mark caved in the man’s chest, his ribs snapped, and the violent force seemed to pierce through his body, bursting out his back and shredding his clothes. Then…

His body, like Ethan Brooks’s…

No!

Even worse than Ethan Brooks.

Ethan Brooks had flown six meters, but this man, after flying three meters, crashed into a wall, smashing the concrete and leaving cracks. Blood mixed with bits of organ sprayed from his mouth…

He wouldn’t survive.

In the combined thirty years of Ethan Brooks’s two lives, this was the first time he’d seen a dead person.

And it was someone beaten to death with a fist, right in front of him.

He was a model student who loved learning and understood physics. It takes a thousand newtons of force to break a person’s ribs with a punch, but the injuries on that man clearly couldn’t be explained by force alone.

Was it a monster?

Or…

Martial arts?

William Clark disappeared.

The pursuit of Adam Carter faded into the distance.

From another direction, he could still hear someone making a phone call: “Send an ambulance right away, yes, at the entrance of Xizi Alley, martial artists’ vendetta… and there’s a passerby accidentally injured by William Clark, you’d better prepare for the worst…”

The voice faded away, and soon there was silence.

Ethan Brooks lay there for a while, several bones broken, seriously injured. With wounds this bad…

It would probably take a day or two to heal.

Go to the hospital?

No need to trouble the hospital, the admission and discharge procedures are too much hassle.

So, Ethan Brooks, whom that person on the phone thought might not make it, shakily stood up. His shoulder still hurt terribly, but knowing pain was a good thing—it meant he was healing.

Ethan Brooks walked over to the middle-aged man who had been beaten to death.

A corpse…

He wasn’t afraid.