Chapter 24

Shen Changze wakes up every day at 4 a.m. and starts his “appetizer” before breakfast, which consists of a 10-kilometer run with a 20-kilogram weight, 100 push-ups with a 100-kilogram weight, 100 squats with a 100-kilogram weight, 200 sit-ups, and 50 pull-ups.

Only after completing these tasks, can he have his meal. And after finishing his meal, he will have further training arrangements.

Although he was only eight years old right now, his physical training had gradually increased over the course of three years. Otherwise, even an adult mercenary would not be able to withstand this level of training. Three days a week, he will practice close combat with adults who have nothing better to do, and their attacks were getting increasingly stronger.

For three years, he has never slept in or skipped a day of training. His body has never been free of bruises and wounds. Even if he had a fever or when Shan Ming was on a mission and went missing for two to three months, there would still be people at the base supervising him. Slowly, daily training has become a part of his life.

In addition to physical training, he was now proficient in English and Russian, and was currently learning French and Arabic. Knowledge about firearms and ammunition has been continuously poured into his head every day for the past three years. Infiltration and reconnaissance, shooting, sniping, explosives, tactical knowledge in different environments, medicine, and so on, are all things he needs to learn and accept every day.

As he grows older, his training programs will continue to increase. For example, his current height isn’t enough to operate cars, helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, ships, or submarines. His mental toughness isn’t enough to accept cruel interrogation training, and his physical age isn’t ready for drug resistance training. Shan Ming was eager for him to grow up, and the child himself was also eager to grow up and take control of his own life.

On that day, Shan Ming was standing in for Koski’s shift and took the two platoons of personal guards who had just arrived from Congo for outdoor weight-bearing training. He also brought along Shen Changze.

An eight-year-old child and some young men in their twenties were running non-stop around the mountain with a weight of 20 kilograms on their backs. Shan Ming was riding a mountain motorbike beside them and constantly humiliating them with a loudspeaker, “You useless bunch of weaklings! If you move at this speed on the battlefield, you’ll be the slowest even when running away! Look at that little kid in the group, you should be ashamed! If you’re afraid of hardship, don’t join the army! If you’re afraid of death, you shouldn’t have been born! Or I should shoot you now and liberate you?!”

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“Rq lhld sdl rlapsd qykzp vs nsxrzlvl vbl awd okvbkd vbl elpktdyvle vkxl, vbl ldvkal vlyx okzz cl rwdkpble! Rq xsal vbyd 10% sq usw qykz vs nsxrzlvl vbl vypj, vbld usw yzz byhl vs awd vbl nswapl ytykd!”

“Vknj wr vbl rynl, usw rktp! Rq usw oydv vs rashl vbyv uswa pwrlaksap eked’v xyjl y xkpvyjl cu plzlnvkdt usw, vbld awd zkjl y xyd yde qkdkpb vbl alxykdkdt ekpvydnl!”

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Ebld vblu olal awddkdt yaswde vbl qsalpv qsa vbl plnsde zyr yde pvkzz bye ycswv qkhl sa pkm jkzsxlvlap zlqv vs alynb vbl cypl, Iyzk ayeksle Fbyd Ykdt yde aliwlpvle bkx vs nsxl cynj, bl oydvle vbl czwlrakdv sq Fbyd Ykdt’p Yye Pst Mynvknyz Idkql.

Iyzk bye yzoyup clld qsde sq vbyv jdkql sq bkp, bl vbswtbv kv oyp csvb raynvknyz yde nalyvkhl. Uskdnkeldvyzzu, bl oyp blyele vs vbl Bdkvle Fvyvlp qsa y xkppksd, ps bl oydvle vs qkde y pjkzzle jdkql xsekqkla vs nwpvsxkgl y xkzkvyau jdkql ynnsaekdt vs Fbyd Ykdt’p czwlrakdv yde bkp sod aliwkalxldvp.

Fbyd Ykdt eked’v lmrlnv bkx vs zlyhl ps watldvzu. “R’x pvkzz swvpkel okvb vbl vassrp. Tso ycswv vbkp? R’zz byhl vbl jke ts cynj yde cakdt kv vs usw. Tl jdsop oblal kv kp.”

Fbyd Ykdt bye Fbld Ubydtgl wdzsye bkp olktbvp yde xyel bkx awd cynj vs vbl cypl vs elzkhla vbl czwlrakdv vs Iyzk.

Ekvbswv vbl cwaeld sq vbl 20 jkzstayxp, vbl alxykdkdt qkhl sa pkm jkzsxlvlap vs vbl cypl olal vss lypu qsa vbl nbkze, yde bl ayd vsoyaep vbl cypl yp kq y olktbv oyp alzlyple qasx bkp xkde.

The base was surrounded by dense forests, with a four-meter-high wall and high-voltage electricity. There were four watchtowers, each with four Gatling six-barrel machine guns mounted on top. Fingerprint authentication was required to enter the gate. This mercenary base is like a fortress, and anyone who approaches it, even casually, risks being shot into pieces by machine guns.

As the child crossed through the dense forest and caught a glimpse of the corner of the base’s watchtower, he suddenly smelled a strong bloody odor.

In the past three years, he had dissected more than a dozen corpses and smelled bodies at various stages of decay, so he knew this was the smell of fresh blood.

The child held his breath and lay forward in the grass, using his shoulders to move his body forward and pushing off the ground with the inside of his thighs, crawling towards the source of the bloody smell.

He moved quietly and made as little noise as possible, he crawled over quickly and soon discovered Goryuu, who was bleeding in the grass.

Goryuu was a Japanese man who had joined the Peregrine Falcons two years ago. He was short in stature and very lecherous, but he was also quite friendly and one of the rare adults who would smile when they see children.

The child saw that Goryuu’s body was covered in blood and crawled over, pursing his lips. He first checked Goryuu’s breathing and found that he was still alive but unconscious due to blood loss. There were two stab wounds that pierced through his ribs on his right side, a piece of flesh was sliced off his shoulder, and his arm was twisted at a strange angle and hung limply by his side. All his weapons had been confiscated.

This mercenary base had a strong influence in the surrounding area, so who would dare to injure someone on their doorstep?

The child gently opened Goryuu’s eyelids and looked at his eyeballs, then lightly patted his cheeks and called out, “Goryuu? Goryuu?”

Goryuu did not respond at all.

The child decided to quickly run back to the base to seek help, but as soon as he placed his hands on the ground to jump up, he felt a shiver run down his spine. A chill ran through him like a thin snake, as if waiting to crawl up his spine.

For some reason, he was born with the ability to sense danger.

He couldn’t describe this feeling. He didn’t see, hear, or smell anything, but he just knew that something nearby posed a threat to his life, making his spine tingle with fear.

The child pursed his lips, then lay forward onto the grass again and rolled over in place, tumbling into the nearby bushes, away from the Goryuu.

Sweat broke out on his forehead. He had no weapons in his hand, and despite having learned many things in the past three years, he had no actual combat experience. Although he no longer shouted at the slightest provocation, he still felt nervous when facing possible danger alone.

If he had a gun, or even a knife, he wouldn’t be so nervous.

Shen Changze’s bright gaze swept back and forth around him, afraid of missing any details that could allow danger to approach him.

What could it be? A wild animal? Or… a person?

The suppressed rifle made a small chirping sound, ringing out one meter away from him, revealing the answer.

Immediately, a burst of bullets swept through the bushes next to him, getting closer and closer to him with each passing moment.

The child, regardless of whether he will be discovered by the other party, rolled about on the grass in a panic, fearing that he would be riddled with bullets if he stayed still any longer.

“No need to move. You won’t dodge the next shot.”

The child stopped moving, as the other party had already located his position, and he knew he couldn’t escape the next round of bullets. The voice of the other party sank his heart to the bottom of the valley, and a feeling of coldness and hatred rushed up from the soles of his feet. This hoarse and unpleasant voice belonged to Jim!

Jim said in a low voice, “Stand up.”

The child slowly raised his hands above his head and stood up.

Jim was taken aback for a moment when he saw the child, but then he revealed a vulgar smile and said, “So it was you, little beauty. It’s actually turned out to be you, hahaha, it’s actually you.”

Jim looked like he had a hard time. He was covered in bloodstains and his eyes were cloudy, it seemed like he had been chased by a sniper. He looked like a rat that had been beaten and was running around in panic.

His eyes carried an abnormal madness, even more abnormal than usual. He chuckled, “Little beauty, ever since I saw you three years ago, I have been thinking about you. I knew early on that someday, someday, I could…” Jim held a gun to Shen Changze’s head while his other hand touched the child’s smooth skin.

Jim knew what kind of training this child had gone through, so even though he didn’t think much of him, he still had to be cautious.

Shen Changze’s eyes flickered with flames of disgust, but he didn’t dare to move. Jim looked too frightening, as if he was planning to devour him!

Jim crouched down and brought his face close to Shen Changze’s. He sniffed Shen Changze’s neck with his nose and then stuck out his tongue, licking his face. “So fragrant, so sweet, hahaha, if it weren’t for that bastard Shan Ming, you would have been mine long ago, mine hahaha.”

The child felt nauseous and clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm.

There was no Dad or anyone else here to save him, the only one who could save him was himself.

Jim threw his backpack on the ground and eagerly pulled down Shen Changze’s pants. His lecherous hands stroked the child’s lower body, revealing a smile on his face that made others nauseous.

The child’s tears swirled in his eyes but did not fall. He bit his lip and stared at the AKM in Jim’s hand and the Jungle King military knife at his waist.

Seeing that the child didn’t resist, Jim thought the child was scared stunned, so he threw away his rifle and pushed the child to the ground. He extended his tongue to lick the child’s face, the foul-smelling saliva made the child’s eyes wet.

He closed one eye, but kept the other wide open. He quietly bent down, taking advantage of his small stature to hook the hilt of the Jungle King with his toes, and with a strong kick, he kicked the Jungle King out of its sheath. In that instant, the child had already grabbed the handle of the knife and stabbed it toward the center of Jim’s back.

Stabbing from the bottom up into the center of the back can bypass the ribs and penetrate the lungs, rendering the victim unable to speak and only able to crawl on the ground in agony. This is usually a technique used to deal with sentries, and if the strike hit, the person is essentially deprived of mobility and dies in pain.

The child had long since memorized this knowledge, but when he had to actually use his knowledge of killing on a live person, it was much more difficult than he had imagined.

The foul smell emanating from Jim’s body, the strong grip on the child’s waist, and the weight and warmth of the person lying on top of him all told the child that this was a real human being, not a piece of pork used for practice or a lifeless corpse.

With just a moment of hesitation, Jim had turned around and avoided the knife, causing Shen Changze’s strike to be less forceful, and even missing its mark, stabbing into Jim’s lower back instead and piercing through the flesh and skin on the side of his waist.

Jim let out a muffled cry, pulled out the knife, and then grabbed Shen Changze’s right arm with force. With a loud snap, his arm was dislocated from its socket.

The child let out a loud cry. He knew the surprise attack had failed and he had lost his only chance. He stopped pretending to be unresistant and started wildly kicking and fighting back.

Jim didn’t expect a child to have so much strength. The despair and pain from his injuries in the past few days had made him insane. He grabbed the child’s delicate neck and squeezed hard with all fingers, his eyes filled with vicious killing intent.

The child felt only a sudden deprivation of breath, unable to make any sound in his throat, and a severe suffocating pain in his chest. The barbaric look in Jim’s eyes made him terrified. His face turned purple, his lips turned white, and the footsteps of death were slowly approaching him. A huge sense of coldness and fear engulfed him without mercy.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, he suddenly felt everything in front of him turn blood red. The last image imprinted in his mind was the look of madness filled with killing intent in Jim’s eyes transforming into raw and stark fear.