“The alarm in Xizi Alley rang for half the day today. Do you think they caught that gang of fugitives?”

　　Grace Brooks asked.

　　Her company was located over there.

　　“Who knows? Things are getting more and more chaotic lately. The Steel Empire and the Lanca Kingdom have already gone to war, and the friction between our Xia Kingdom’s northern border and the Aurora Empire is also intensifying. In just this past month, there have been four war protests on the streets, and our workplace is organizing war donations. I don’t know if there will really be a war, but in any case, just be careful.”

　　Henry Brooks said.

　　Ethan Brooks didn’t say anything. He didn’t tell his father or sister that he had run into the very gang of vicious fugitives they were talking about that afternoon, and had even been struck by one of them—a blow that could have killed an ordinary person.

　　Although this father and this sister weren’t his biological family, it had already been a year since he was reborn here. After a year of living together day and night, some feelings had inevitably developed.

　　Feelings...

　　are the hardest thing to understand in this world.

　　They can warm, inspire, hurt, or destroy a person.

Chapter 0002: Thunder Beast

　　The Xia Kingdom is located south of the East Divine Continent, one of the world’s nine continents and four oceans. It covers 1.2 million square kilometers, with a population of 104 million. It is a country where white, yellow, and black races live together. Due to its developed economy, it is renowned throughout the Divine Continent and is known as one of the Four Pearls of the East Divine Continent.

　　Wu River City is one of the coastal metropolises of the Xia Kingdom, covering 6,400 square kilometers with a population of 1.69 million. Its economy ranks among the top, and last year, in 1980, its GDP reached 20 billion.

　　Sanshun is one of the six subdistricts and three towns under Wu River City. It is located in the suburbs, at the still-undeveloped junction of urban and rural areas.

　　Ethan Brooks tossed a one-yuan coin to take the No. 3 bus. After ten stops, including waiting at traffic lights, it took him thirty-five minutes to reach Sanshun Town. He got off at Baiyun Road stop, walked a hundred meters, and arrived outside a three-story residential building with a courtyard.

　　There was no sign on the courtyard, and no one was guarding the gate. Ethan Brooks entered the yard, where five people were present: one was taking advantage of the good weather to do homework on a stone bench, another was leisurely practicing boxing nearby, seemingly pondering the essence of the moves, and the remaining three—two were competing in push-ups, while the last one was counting for them...

　　As Ethan Brooks entered, the woman who was counting glanced at him and quickly smiled, “Qingfeng, what brings you here to hang out?”

　　Ethan Brooks recognized her. She was the eldest granddaughter of his second granduncle, named Emily Brooks, intellectual and gentle, who had suffered heartbreak when she was young and remained unmarried at twenty-nine.

　　“Emily sis, is second granduncle home? I’m looking for him.”

　　“He’s here, practicing calligraphy. I’ll take you to him.”

　　Emily Brooks was just like her name—gentle as water. She responded softly and led Ethan Brooks inside.

　　First was a main hall corridor, with a reception room on the left and an indoor martial arts hall on the right, which contained many martial arts props and equipment.

　　Emily Brooks led him straight to the study at the end of the corridor, where they saw second granduncle David Brooks, dressed in a gray tunic and sporting a crew cut, looking energetic as he practiced calligraphy with a soft brush.

　　Ethan Brooks didn’t know much about calligraphy, but he thought the characters his second granduncle wrote looked beautiful, no worse than those in the copybooks used for tracing.

　　When Ethan Brooks arrived, second granduncle didn’t insist on finishing his writing in one go. He simply hung up his brush and said with a smile, “Our college student is here! It’s been a while since you visited your second granduncle. Good, have lunch at my place today.”

　　“I’ll have to come by more often from now on. I want to learn martial arts from you, second granduncle.”

　　“Oh?”

　　David Brooks glanced at Ethan Brooks and chuckled, “When you were little, I forced you to practice and you refused. All four boys of your generation couldn’t take the hardship, but Emily and Ruoxue, the two girls, followed me and learned a few moves. Especially Ruoxue, she’s even made a name for herself. So why do you suddenly want to learn martial arts from me now?”

　　“I’m curious.”

　　“Curious? Curiosity is a good thing. As the saying goes, curiosity is the driving force of human progress. If you really want to practice martial arts, I’ll definitely teach you—teach you well. You’ve always been smart. I heard from your dad that you ranked in the top ten in the whole school this time? If you train hard, you’ll definitely achieve something, as long as you can endure the hardship. Practicing martial arts isn’t for the half-hearted.”

　　“If I’ve made up my mind, I’ll definitely put my heart into it.”

　　“Good.”

　　David Brooks glanced at Emily Brooks, “Girl, go teach this kid the basic stances... Actually, never mind. It’s rare for one of you boys to show interest in martial arts, so I’ll teach him myself.”

　　With that, David Brooks rolled up his sleeves with interest, put his hands behind his back, and led Ethan Brooks out to the courtyard.

　　In the yard, the two disciples had finished their push-up contest. When they saw David Brooks come out, they quickly greeted him, “Master.”

　　David Brooks nodded to them, “That’s enough for today. You two can go home.”

　　“Yes, Master.”

　　The two responded and left.

　　“Emily, close the door.”