“To join what now?” said Jiang Fei. He thought that he had misheard something.
“The China Martial Art Alliance. Perhaps you have not heard of us before. That is but natural. This alliance is a rather laidback organization. Unlike regular human beings, Metahumans are proud beings. Especially those with power. Eccentric, perhaps? Most of them are not sociable, to begin with. To recruit more members, the organization rules were made rather lax to please the Metahumans. Unless an urgent mission or a catastrophic event arises, no one is restricted to do as they wished, provided that it is within the realms of the law.”
Jiang Fei nodded at Old Hai’s lengthy explanation. What he understood from his explanation was that the Metahumans preferred to be left alone. Aside from the abnormal behavior of the members, Jiang Fei also understood the benefits of the alliance. Through missions and other tasks, members of the alliance could collect contributions which worked as some form of currency within the alliance. Things that could be exchanged were money, equipment, high tech gear, precious materials, or even powerful martial art moves!
“What is the condition? Or rather, requirements? There must be some restriction,” said Jiang Fei. He was rather interested in the alliance since he could obtain those rare materials! If he were to give out a batch of the potions, he might even be able to trade for items of higher values!
“In the alliance, there will be segregations. Different levels will receive different treatment. Level 4 old men like me and the others would only obtain some tens of thousands of contribution a year. A Level 3 might only be able to collect a thousand to nine thousand of the same thing. To put it in simple terms, the stronger you are, the more benefits you’ll receive!” said the old man with a genuine smile.
“Hmm. How about Level 5? What do they get? More importantly, how does one decide one’s level?”
“When you enter the alliance, a test will be given out. The same test that all members must go through every year before the total contribution points are consolidated. As for Level 5… Let’s just say that they can have anything that the alliance can offer. Anything that a Level 5 could contribute would be outworldly, in the first place! Could your master be interested in joining?” said Old Hai with enthusiasm.
“Ah. No. I’m just asking. Hehe.” Jiang Fei shook his head.
“How about you? Do you wish to join the alliance?” said Old Hai. He could not deny the fact that Jiang Fei’s master, a Level 5 would not join the alliance came as a disappointment. It was as expected in the first place anyway. What mattered most was Jiang Fei’s outlook on the whole thing. From his perspective, Jiang Fei had the potential of a Level 4 fighter. Joining the alliance would strengthen it as a whole, and in extension of that, when Jiang Fei got into trouble, his “master” would have to show up and lend a helping hand.
“I’ll… I erhm. I’ll ask my master about it.”
Jiang Fei wanted to join the alliance for rare materials to feed the ring! Since the ring had leveled up, Jiang Fei had been feeding the ring with many kinds of items, but it had rejected everything thrown at it. There might be a chance that the alliance possessed items that the ring wanted!
The entry test came as a problem. Jiang Fei knew his own strength. He was a phony. There was a high risk of him being exposed in the test.
“Very well then.” Old Hai nodded. From the perspective of a martial artist, making an important decision would require consultation from one’s master.
After bidding farewell to Old Hai, Jiang Fei returned to Manda Square. Jiang Fei’s mother had expressed her wishes to remain in the luxury home. Most of the belongings that were in the old house had been moved here.
Jiang Fei was happy with that move. His parents were as normal as anyone could get, yet they would receive protection from the Manda Group.
“Little one, do tell me what you want to eat… ” said Jiang Fei worriedly as he caressed the metallic ring. The ring had always been helpful to him, but right now, the ring had been awfully quiet! The guessing game was starting to be highly frustrating to Jiang Fei.
“Brother Jiang Fei, it’s me. Are you free to hang out with me?” Just when Jiang Fei walked into Manda Square, he received a phone call from an unknown number.
“Who’s this?” Jiang Fei was stunned at the overly friendly tone. He had immediately regretted answering it.
“Oh no no no no! How could you forget me? We had just met each other yesterday! It is me! Zhang Yangxu!”
“Oh.” Jiang Fei sighed. The face of Zhang Yangxu’s smiling face floated in his mind.
“Could we meet? Come on! Give me some face bro!” said Zhang Yangxu.
“Well… okay!” Jiang Fei accepted his invitation. He did not mind hanging out with members of the Zhang family. Although he was cautious of them in the beginning, when he realized that they had no Metahumans backing them, his worries quickly vanished. He had the utmost confidence to overcome anything that the Zhangs threw at him!
After much experience, Jiang Fei had started to learn how to protect himself. Although he was very close with Han Tianyu, he did not want to rely on just one man. Since a Zhang had approached him without the intention to cause harm, he might as well try to forge a relationship with them. Perhaps he could make use of them.
“Thanks! I’ll pick you up at the east gate of Manda Square in five minutes!”
After that, Jiang Fei called his mother and informed her about a random school activity that will take some time up to nightfall. After the call, he waited at the east gate for Zhang Yangxu.
In less than five minutes, a black limousine pulled up. Zhang Yangxu came down personally and greeted him.
“Let’s go! I have something amazing planned today!”
“Okay!” said Jiang Fei as he entered the extended vehicle.
The car sped off and left the city.
“Huh. We’re leaving the city. Where are we going?” said Jiang Fei. From watching too many movies and shows, he knew when to be cautious, and took out a Defense Potion from the ring in his pocket.
“Hehe. You’ll see. I’ve asked for permission from my old man! No one is allowed in but us!” said Zhang Yangxu with a sinister smile.
Jiang Fei realized immediately that this man had almost zero intention to harm him. On the contrary, he might just be a playful child at heart!
“Is that right… Well then, looks like I should get excited!” Jiang Fei played along.
Half an hour later, the car pulled up at a plain looking factory and entered an old garage.
When the car stopped in the garage’s space, the doors slowly close, making, old, creaky noises.
Ka Chak!
The sound of heavy metal bolt locking was heard and another door open. Just then, Jiang Fei realized that the platform that the car had stopped on was actually descending downward! Like an elevator!
“Is this… underground?”
“That’s right! Prepare to be surprised! OOFH! I can’t wait to show you!” Zhang Yangxu started to giggle like a child.