When Sun Sheng, dragging a half-worn suitcase, pushed open the door to his home, he was greeted by his parents' complex gaze, a mixture of anticipation and tension.
Without much small talk, he placed his backpack on the coffee table and took out a thick stack of bank statements and a printed stock transaction record.
"Dad, Mom, you can check them."
Sun Jianjun's hands trembled as he took the thin but heavy-as-a-thousand-jin piece of paper.
He flipped through it page by page, his eyes widening with each one.
Every transaction, every buy and sell, was clearly recorded.
The final account balance column, a long string of numbers, struck him like a heavy hammer to his heart.
One million two hundred seventy-three thousand six hundred yuan.
Zhou Hui also leaned over, and when she saw the number, she covered her mouth, her eyes instantly welling up with tears.
This wasn't a dream.
Three months ago, his son's words, "I will put one million in cash in front of you," still seemed to echo in their ears.
At the time, they thought it was just the wild boast of an impetuous youth.
But now, that boast had become a reality, in a way far beyond their imagination.
"The money... it's enough."
Sun Jianjun's voice was a little hoarse. He put down the documents and looked deeply at his son. "You... are you really sure?"
"I'm sure." Sun Sheng nodded, his expression serious and solemn. "From the first day I decided to walk this path, I was sure."
He took another document from his suitcase.
It was an admission letter from a community college in San Jose, California, along with a set of F1 student visa application materials.
To reassure his parents and to resolve the issue of legal status in the United States, he had quietly arranged all of this through an agency, using the money he had earned.
"I'm not going to mess around. I'll go to school there, study language and culture. Training is just a part of my extracurricular activities." He told a well-intentioned lie.
"This is my school, this is my visa plan. I've arranged accommodation there, at the house of an elderly Chinese couple, and they will take care of me. I've made all the plans."
Looking at his son, who had prepared so thoroughly, and seeing the undeniable maturity and confidence on his face.
Sun Jianjun and Zhou Hui knew that they no longer had any reason to stop him.
Their son was no longer an unfledged fledgling; he was an eagle ready to soar among the Nine Heavens.
And home should not be a cage to restrain him, but only his last harbor before he took flight.
"Go." Sun Jianjun stood up, patted Sun Sheng's shoulder heavily, his eyes a little red. "Once you're there, take care of yourself. Don't be afraid to spend money; if you don't have enough, just tell us."
"Mom... Mom will pack your things."
Zhou Hui turned around, wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, her voice choked.
The day of departure was set for one week later.
During this week, Sun Sheng didn't go anywhere; he stayed at home.
He played chess with his father, listened to his mother's nagging, and greedily enjoyed what might be the last period of peaceful family time for several years to come.
He also made a special trip to Zhenwei Martial Arts Gym.
At the gym, upon hearing the news that he was about to leave for the United States, everyone came to see him off.
Those opponents he had once defeated, those brothers with whom he had sweated profusely day in and day out, all expressed their blessings in the most sincere way.
Zhang Lei pulled him aside and handed him a USB drive.
"Kid, inside here are the highest-definition edited versions of your six matches. I had a professional do them, with music and slow-motion replays; they're definitely impressive."
"Once you're there, don't disgrace us Chinese. Remember, no matter how high you fly, this place will always be your first home."
Sun Sheng nodded heavily and gave him a strong hug.
"Coach, thank you."
...A week later, at the airport.
The atmosphere of parting was, after all, sorrowful.
Zhou Hui held Sun Sheng's hand, repeatedly reminding him to "be safe," "eat on time," and "wear more clothes."
Sun Jianjun stood by, silently smoking, but his red-rimmed eyes betrayed his inner reluctance.
"Dad, Mom, I'm leaving." Sun Sheng took a deep breath and turned to walk towards the security checkpoint.
He didn't look back; he was afraid that if he did, the strength he had so painstakingly built up would instantly collapse.
It wasn't until his figure disappeared at the end of the aisle that Zhou Hui could no longer hold back, leaning into her husband's arms and bursting into tears.
A flight of over ten hours.
When the plane landed at San Francisco International Airport, Sun Sheng finally set foot on this land, which was both strange and familiar to him.
Without the slightest hesitation or desire for sightseeing, he immediately transferred to a bus heading to San Jose.
The scenery outside the window rapidly receded: tall buildings, wide highways, people of different skin colors... everything reminded him that he had arrived in a brand new world.
But his heart was incredibly calm.
Because his goal was incredibly clear.
He didn't report to that community college, nor did he contact the elderly Chinese couple.
Those were all just pretenses to reassure his parents.
Following the address, he found a small apartment he had reserved online in a relatively quiet area of southern San Jose.
The room wasn't large, but it was enough for him to live alone.
He put down his luggage, didn't rest, just took a quick shower, and changed into a clean set of sportswear.
Then, he picked up the USB drive containing his future and hopes and walked out of the apartment.
The place he was going was the sole reason this apartment was chosen—it was only a ten-minute walk away.
It was an inconspicuous industrial park, home to several gray warehouse-style buildings.
On the door of one of these buildings hung a black sign with simple white lettering:
AKA - American Kickboxing Academy.
One of the top halls of world mixed martial arts.
From here emerged champions such as Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, and Luke Rockhold.
And in Sun Sheng's previous life, in the coming years, this place would also become the training base for a man from Dagestan, Russia, named Khabib Nurmagomedov, who would embark from here to begin his undefeated legend.
AKA was famous worldwide for its brutal training intensity and top-tier wrestling system.
This was precisely why Sun Sheng chose this place.
His striking, combined with his Godlike Reflexes, was already top-notch.
But he knew that in his previous life, it was precisely because of his relative weakness in wrestling and ground techniques that he struggled so much against top wrestlers.
In this life, he wanted to turn his biggest weakness into his strongest shield from the very beginning.
He stood at the gate of AKA, taking a deep breath.
The air seemed to be filled with a strong scent of sweat and dreams intertwined.
He could hear heavy thuds, the shouts of coaches, and the dull thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground coming from inside the door.
This was where he would live for the next few years, a crucible that would forge him into a champion.
He clutched the USB drive in his hand and pushed open the door to his destiny.
A seventeen-year-old Chinese teenager, alone, stood on foreign soil, about to challenge the world's top martial arts hall.
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