Chapter Ten: Friends

The man in the blue robe, thin as a monkey, wanted to rush forward and help. But Xing Zhenhao was a man of pride. He pushed him away with a single palm, suppressing the tumult in his chest and the dizziness in his head, forcing himself to stand upright, albeit unsteadily.

"Jiangcheng Institute of Physical Education..." he muttered to himself, the words evidently unfamiliar to him. Finally, he raised his eyes abruptly, glared deeply at Du Huaishan, and barked, "Let's go!"

When skill falls short, any threat uttered only adds to the ridicule.

"Brother Huaishan—no, Master, you’re incredible! Xing Zhenhao has trained for three years in Eagle Claw Wrestling and is a big name even in Xintun City, but you floored him with a single move! How did you do it?" As soon as they left, Tan Hai hurried up, lips curling in a sly smile, his words oily and ingratiating.

In truth, Du Huaishan had always expected to end it in one move.

As the old saying goes: "Three years of technique are no match for a year of wrestling." The foundation of all stand-up fighting arts is the ability to stand and maintain balance. The foundation of wrestling arts is to disrupt that balance. In other words, wrestling is the nemesis of all stand-up fighting styles.

From the early days of the UFC, when Gracie Jiu-Jitsu dominated, to the recent undefeated legends like the Eagle, Khabib, and the Wolf King, Chimaev, the power of grappling has been proven time and again.

These fighting arts have two key characteristics:

First, their destructive power is astonishingly high. Any throw, if executed, results in an immediate KO on a hard surface.

Second, the difference in training intensity is enormous. Most martial arts involve little real resistance, especially traditional styles, whereas wrestling spends most of its time in direct, hands-on opposition.

Martial arts without resistance or real combat are little different from ballroom dance or martial calisthenics. The physical demands of actual resistance are leagues beyond any routine.

Xing Zhenhao was taller than Du Huaishan, heavier, with a longer reach—by competitive standards, they weren’t even in the same weight class. Du Huaishan was at a disadvantage.

Therefore, to pursue a quick victory, he didn’t hesitate to use moves from Chinese wrestling.

"You already guessed how I did it, didn’t you?" Du Huaishan replied with a meaningful smile to Tan Hai's flattery.

Tan Hai shivered, his small eyes squinting, then relaxed completely, scratching his head. "You… you saw right through me..."

"At first, I really didn’t think much about it."

"But this morning, when the cavalry returned to camp for breakfast, you deliberately hid and didn’t show up, hoping to force me to seek you out, right?" As he spoke, Du Huaishan slapped Tan Hai’s chest, where the outline of a book was obvious beneath his clothes. "And here—much too obvious."

Everything was exactly as he said.

Since last night, Tan Hai had noticed Du Huaishan getting off the train with the military, wondering if he was some important figure’s relative.

He saw the unusual eyes—traits of one protected by a spectral guardian. Once possessed by a spirit, one gains divine power. Instantly, he formed a plan.

It was a stroke of luck.

With Qiao Four-Eyes as a go-between, he struck up a relationship and arranged to trade food for books.

After breakfast, with Du Huaishan unable to find him, he would have to seek Tan Hai out. Tan Hai purposely raised his voice to lure him over, acted pitiful, and dangled the book Du Huaishan needed as bait. Whether he wanted to act or not, he had to.

Who would have thought Du Huaishan was just as shrewd—he saw through it all!

Tan Hai grinned, hurriedly pulled out the book, bent over and handed it to Du Huaishan, apologizing profusely:

"Master, please don’t hold it against me. It’s all because Xing Zhenhao and his lackey always bully me. I had no choice but to seek you as a protector and trouble you to act on my behalf. I deserve punishment!"

"Enough. I didn’t act solely for you. That brat really deserved a beating," Du Huaishan said, taking the book and pulling a misshapen half-potato from his pocket. "It got crushed, but it'll do."

"Oh, Master, I couldn’t! You eat it! I’ll need your protection in the future!" Tan Hai protested, pushing the potato back.

Du Huaishan firmly pressed it into his hand. "Take it. You haven’t eaten breakfast."

"And, I’m not your protector. If you want a friend, I, Du Huaishan, am willing. If you’re looking for a bodyguard, seek someone else!"

"Friend… friend…" Tan Hai repeated the word, stunned, even more so than when Du Huaishan had exposed his true intentions.

What did Tan Hai do for a living?

A tea boy.

Serving tea and water to geisha and patrons in pleasure houses—an extremely low social position.

Could he really have friends?

Tan Hai’s nose tingled. He’d been an orphan, bullied all his life. If he didn’t flatter, he’d get beaten.

Those he associated with seemed friendly on the surface, but in truth, none had ever treated him as anything but a tool.

Never, never had anyone cared about his feelings, much less whether he’d eaten breakfast.

Du Huaishan’s words were like a ray of light breaking through the darkness, shining upon his face.

He had to cling to that light!

"Friends! Let’s be friends! Brother Huaishan! Let’s pinky swear!" Tan Hai took a deep breath and spoke earnestly, extending his little finger.

This child.

Du Huaishan shook his head, smiling, and hooked his finger in return. "Don’t always use honorifics—just call me Huaishan!"

"Alright, Brother Huaishan!"

All morning, Du Huaishan sat by the campfire, absorbed in the book Tan Hai had fetched, titled "Anomalous Geography of the World."

It contained detailed accounts of Blue Star’s geography—continents, mountain ranges, ocean currents, and countries—bearing some resemblance to Earth.

For example, Chiyu Heavenly Empire was in the east, still one of the world’s largest nations.

Tan Hai had mentioned Nipan, an island country about the size of the Korean Peninsula, lying northeast of the Chiyu Empire.

The map of Chiyu Empire resembled an irregular shield.

It was divided into seven provinces: Yingzhou, Zhili, Qingzhou, Longzhou, Bazhou, Yingzhou, and Yuezhou.

Each province governed three to four districts, ruled by more than a dozen military warlords.

The capital of Chiyu Empire, also the seat of the Anguo government, was Tianjing, in Zhili province.

From Zhili to Longzhou, stretching northeast to southeast, lay the Northern Great Wall, a supermassive fortress wall over twenty thousand kilometers long—originally built to defend against the king’s tribes of the northern grasslands, now repurposed to resist the world’s largest disaster zone: the army of spectral monsters.

Currently, the world’s main defense against these monsters was the construction of high walls.

Unfortunately, this book offered little about the monsters and red marrow, only marking a few large red marrow mines and the major disaster zones.

It seemed that systematic knowledge of monsters and red marrow required professional institutions.

Du Huaishan took no pride in having defeated two trained fighters that morning.

Martial arts and fighting—victory and defeat are nothing more.

To speak frankly, Xing Zhenhao wasn’t even as terrifying as a single toenail of a spectral monster!

His true enemy was the monsters.

How best to survive and grow stronger in this chaotic world—that was Du Huaishan’s foremost concern.