Showing Off Strength

Julian stopped hesitating and rushed toward the boy and the three bullies.

"That's enough!"

Julian's voice echoed in the narrow alley, attracting the attention of the three thugs.

From the badge snipped on their right chest, Julian instantly understood that these bastards were students from the Combat Department and why Ryan was so powerless against them.

There was a brief hesitation and vigilance in the three thugs' eyes, but soon it changed into one of contempt and mockery. Perhaps, because they saw that he came alone.

Glaring coldly at Julian, the leader's mouth curled up into a vicious grin.

"Hey bastard, you want to play a hero, huh? Hasn't your mother taught you not to poke your ugly nose into someone else's business? Now scram before I change my mind! Scram!"

Ryan, who was shriveling on the ground, raised his head with difficulty, with blood trickling down from his lips. His eyes widened for a brief second before he gave Julian a silent wink, subtly implying that he should just leave him be and escape.

Unfortunately, the leader seemed to notice his small movement, and his smile turned even more vicious as he looked down at Ryan.

"Your friend?"

Ryan's eyes trembled slightly, and he hurriedly shook his head profusely like a rattle.

Despite Ryan's denial, the leader sent a subtle glance at his two henchmen, pointing her chin at Julian.

The other two boys immediately walked towards Julian with evil smirks on their faces, rubbing their fists like typical back-alley thugs.

Watching the two men approach Julian, Ryan's face went completely pale.

"Alex, this is between me and you, don't involve innocent people!"

The leader, Alex, squinted at him and sneered.

"What a heartwarming friendship! Truly beautiful! Friends should share pain and joy together, don't you think so? So, your bro there should also taste your pain!"

Hearing Alex's cruel remark, Ryan's face turned red from anger. He struggled to get up, but his body seemed to be too weak to muster any response. In the end, he could only look at Julian with moist eyes, his face full of guilt and helplessness.

Julian stood there, watching the two men slowly approach in silence.

"Hey where's your bravado from before go?!"

"If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself for being a busybody!"

The two men seemed to wrongly assume his inaction was a sign of fear, cackling gleefully as they came closer while crackling their knuckles.

How funny.

Julian looked at them with ridicule hidden beneath his seemingly blank gaze, laughing inwardly at their arrogance.

To his surprise, he wasn't afraid.

There wasn't even the tiniest bit of fear inside him, only a strange feeling of… anticipation.

They were also from combat departments, so didn't it mean that they could contribute to clearing the [Practical Combat I] mission?

How would they fare against his master-level Thunder Fist?

Could they stand against his full power?

What kind of sound will they make when he beats the crap out of them?

What kind of expressions will they show him?

Any complicated thoughts had long disappeared since he decided to face these thugs and rescue Ryan.

What about morality and conscience? He just longed for a good fight.

Whether he admitted it or not, a lot of negative emotion had been pent up deep inside his heart since he was suddenly transmigrated into this world without his consent. He constantly worried about his survival and future without any outlet to vent his frustration and resentment.

Now, there were three suitable "preys" in front of him, how could he just let them go?

At this moment, Julian began his transformation into a "hunter", albeit in different kind of sense.

Regaining his focus, Julian closely observed the two "preys" in front of him.

The man on the left had already readied his stance and soon after threw a strong punch in his direction.

The move was quite faithful to the basics, and looking at how decently the boy twisted his waist as he trusted his fist, he seemed to have reached a certain degree of mastery over the technique.

'Thunder Fist. At least proficient-level. Not bad.'

Julian smiled and made his move.

Although both of them used the same technique, someone with discerning eyes could tell that the difference between their executions was like heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, the boy's martial arts sense seemed to be only at a decent level at best thus he failed to understand what kind of predicament he fell into.

Ignorant about his impending fate, a mocking sneer plastered the boy's face as he met Julian's punch head-on.

In the blink of an eye, the two fists collided in the narrow space!

And—

Boom!

—In an instant, a muffled bang and a scream echoed across the alley.

The boy who made the move first flew backwards like a kite with a broken string, and fell heavily to the ground, clutching his palms and howling again and again.

"My hand...my hand..."

Under the dim light in the alley, you can see that the boy's right hand is bruised and purple, obviously a bone has been broken.

Everyone stared at this scene dumbfounded, their mouths wide open, unable to utter any words.

Alex stared googly-eyed at his companion, who was writhing in pain on the ground with a face full of bewilderment.

The other boy close to Julian took a step back involuntarily, seemed to be scared witless upon witnessing Julian's strength.

It seemed that Julian's performance had quite an impact on both of them.

Julian didn't bother to care about their reaction, as he was still savoring the pleasant feeling of knowing how much stronger he had become.

Even though he was still at the peak of level 1, he was already strong enough to face what he assumed was an ordinary Combat Department student, What if he reached level 2?

This exhilarating feeling of standing above others was truly intoxicating.

He finally understood why many people would do everything to master higher martial arts and strive to become stronger.

Regarding the fact that he just broke another person's arm?

To his surprise, he didn't feel much remorse after hurting other people more than he thought. Aside from the fact that he was just defending himself, the thought of wielding violence against other people wasn't that unappealing.

Perhaps, his value had gradually changed before he knew it due to the influence of the predecessor's memory. Or perhaps, it was just his true nature that was suppressed by the peaceful life on earth.

Whatever it might be, it wasn't uncomfortable.

Rather, Julian felt it was better to have this kind of mindset in a world filled with dread and danger like this one.

He immediately willed the missions panel to open and was pleasantly surprised to find that the mission progress bar had changed to 1/3.

As expected of the students of the Combat Department! Even cannon fodder already had total attributes of at least 60 points. Defeating these three thugs was enough for him to complete his mission.

It seemed that he could expect another 300 PD points after cleaning them up!

With a big grin on his face, Julian turned to "Thug B", staring at him like a predator looking at its prey.

The "Thug B" flinched at his gaze, his legs wobbling violently as though turning into jelly.

There was no more fighting spirit left in his eyes, only a pitiful gaze that seemed to be begging for mercy.

Of course, Julian didn't have any intention of letting him go. His PD points reserves were depending on him! Please hold on, Thug B!

Before the boy could turn around and run away, Julian dashed toward him like a cheetah and brought him to his knees with a single punch, eliciting a painful wail as his fist sank into the boy's stomach.