Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In a tightly sealed basement somewhere in the Southern Sky Group, Goldie, who had been hibernating for the past month, woke up.
As it stretched and unfurled itself, a clear liquid dripped off its back. Underneath its wings, it slowly rotated and stretched its arms, trying to shake off some the numbness that came with a month of inactivity. Its faintly yellowish skin was still a little wrinkled, as though it was withering.
The intricate blue markings on its body had grown even more intricate, but the markings on its neck seemed to have lessened somewhat. There also appeared to be a crown of similar blue markings around its bald head. As it wrapped its wings around itself, it felt like a reborn hero.
I’ve become stronger.
There are even fewer people now that can bully me.
Its eyes narrowed as it jabbed at the air a couple of times, each punch seemingly faster than the last.
Bam!
As it made a fist with its right hand, the air slipped through its fingers like water. To be more accurate, it literally crushed the air in its hands, releasing an explosive barrage of air bullets. The skin on its human-like arm was taut and shiny.
An unknown emotion bubbled up inside it, warming it from top to toe. This had to be happiness.
No, what I’m feeling inside my chest isn’t happiness. It’s the universe!
Goldie thought of a movie it had watched a while ago. A bunch of humans in armor had talked about exploding universes and stuff like that. I must have a universe inside me right now. Look how strong I am! Goldie thought to itself.
As it walked up the stairs, it encountered a great set of doors that were bolted shut with an iron rod.
Without breaking a sweat, it unleashed a mighty blow. The iron door caved easily at the point of impact. It might as well have punched through paper. With a creaking groan, the door exploded.
Goldie attempted to leave the room, but it kept bumping its forehead against the doorway because it was so tall. Without so much as a blink, it violently headbutted the doorway, leaving a nice head-sized gap to pass through.
Huang Ya, who just happened to be passing by, saw everything. He was concerned with Goldie’s increasing level of violence.
As soon as Goldie left the basement, it noticed that Gao Peng was gone. It could hardly detect Gao Peng’s scent anywhere in the mansion, which meant that he must have been gone for at least a week or so, or else there would have been a stronger scent in the air.
It wasn’t too concerned, though. It could tell through their Blood Contract that Gao Peng was still alive.
Goldie was bored out of its skin though, with no idea what to do. Then its eyes lit up.
The entrance to the Gao family mansion was extraordinarily grand and spacious. Pushing open the doors, Goldie made its way to the living room and plopped down onto the sofa, which squeaked gently in protest. It then started surfing the TV channels with a well-practiced ease.
If Gao Peng could have seen Goldie’s status right then, he would have noticed that Goldie was extremely bloated.
Goldie wiggled his butt contentedly. So this was Gao Peng’s sofa.
“Today, I, too, am sitting down!
“Hmph. Who knows when Gao Peng will be back? I’ll keep his seat warm for now.” Leaning back on the sofa, it felt like it was being embraced by a huge, fluffy cloud.
Goldie closed its eyes in pleasure. No wonder Gao Peng liked sitting on the sofa.
Spying a mug that Gao Peng often used out of the corner of its eye, its eyes sparkled mischievously. It was already sitting on Gao Peng’s sofa, after all… Why not go all the way and…
At this moment, the television lit up. The slightly distorted sound caught Goldie’s attention.
There was no way a mug was more interesting than a movie, except that this movie wasn’t the kind he was familiar with. There were three men standing together. One of them had a cigarette dangling from his fingers as he said, “To succeed and win big in life, you need three things: cash, cash, and cash!”
Goldie’s eyes grew as round as saucers. The man made perfect sense!
Goldie had been about to change the channel, but it changed his mind.
“It’s all about your word. You have to be able to walk the walk. If you say you’re going to kill his entire family, then you better damn well kill his entire family!
“You think this money came easy? We lost some good men out there, you know?”
These tired old lines had Goldie hanging onto every word. It didn’t even notice that Gao Peng had already returned.
Gao Peng couldn’t bring himself to interrupt the spell-bound Goldie. Out of curiosity, Gao Peng glanced quickly at the TV, trying to figure out what had captured Goldie’s attention.
Upon seeing the title of the film, a strange expression crossed his face. He immediately snatched up the nearby remote and switched it to the children’s channel.
Surprised, Goldie turned around to face Gao Peng. “Huh?”
“What are you doing watching these gangster movies? Back to the children’s channel for you!” Gao Peng reprimanded him sternly.
A few dolls were chasing each other merrily on screen. One of them wiggled its butt at the camera before shyly uttering “Miku miku?”
“…”
“Master Liu, I have the full treatment ready for the Blood Eyed Bearded Vulture,” said Gao Peng into the phone.
Master Liu was rather surprised by the news, but he was well aware of Gao Peng’s talents. If he said he had the “full treatment” ready, that must have been the case. “Understood. I’ll summon the vulture back right now. It should be training in the mountains at the moment.”
On a mountain peak not too far away from Southern Sky, a powerful looking creature that was essentially a super-sized Goldie was standing upright on a single wing.
It’s other wing was lifting a block of granite twice its size. Up, down, up, down. Its blood-red eyes had a steely determination to them.
Suddenly, it slowed down. With a casual flick, it sent the block of granite hurtling down the mountain. Both claws gripping the mountainside tightly as it drew a deep breath before letting out a long, piercing screech.
With a mighty flap of its wings, it shot off into the sky like a rocket!
…
The vulture looked skeptical as Master Liu stood by apprehensively.
As its owner, Master Liu had tried to improve the vulture’s grade repeatedly over the years, but he had never succeeded.
Evolving the vulture was tricky. Only by undergoing a torturous, Spartan-like kind of strength training could it actually grow, so much so that anyone who came across the vulture training would think it was a form of self-torture.
Even though this made the vulture incredibly powerful, it also made it extremely hard for the vulture to evolve.
Breeders who had studied the vulture were often shocked. To them, it was a miracle that the vulture could be as strong as it was.
“Trust me. This is the best evolution path it can take,” Gao Peng said confidently.
He raised his head respectfully to meet the Vulture’s proud gaze.
“Are you ready?”
The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture closed its eyes for a long moment before slowly reopening them. It nodded.
