Please be my partner.

"Boom!~"

The powerful punch was easily dodged by Mellen, and landed directly on the ring, leaving a lava crater.

With the boost from his superpowers, Kent's speed and strength have been enhanced beyond measure, and his martial arts skills are extremely high, so there is nothing he cannot control.

As the battle continued, the flames around Kent grew stronger, and his strength and speed steadily increased, but Mellen had already figured out his strengths and weaknesses.

Kent's application of his superpowers is indeed quite skillful, but while his strength has increased dramatically, the side effects are also considerable.

Mellen could clearly sense that Kent's sanity was gradually decreasing, and at the same time, due to the burning of the lava, his body was beginning to suffer some damage that was difficult to heal.

However, difficulty in healing does not mean incurability. Kent has a strong research team behind him and should have contingency plans to deal with this situation.

Of course, everything has a threshold. Once that threshold is exceeded, Kent will probably be finished.

After learning what he wanted to know, Murren no longer held back. His movements suddenly accelerated, and his two fingers came together, instantly transforming into several shadows. He tapped Kent dozens of times in all directions. When all the shadows converged, Murren was already standing calmly behind Kent.

Kent stood there blankly, the flames on his body quickly extinguishing after a brief pause, before he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The method of cutting off the energy channels in Kent's body ended his explosive state. Afterwards, the side effects could not be suppressed, and he naturally fainted.

"Whoosh! ————"

With cheers from the crowd, the legendary status of Mellen in this world reached a new peak, marking the completion of his initial basic goal.

Next came the awards ceremony and interviews. Mellen was constantly in the spotlight, and various groups approached him seeking cooperation. The 'Shinryu-ryu' style that Mellen applied for also became a new hot topic in the martial arts world.

Several days later, the celebrations for the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament continued, and officials from Holy Martial City also found Mellen.

"Mr. Mellen, the matter concerning your champion statue that I mentioned to you before can now begin. Master sculptor Mr. Bryce would like to meet with you."

Mellen nodded slightly, indicating that he could.

Near the martial arts hall, there is a champion memorial hall in Shengwu City. Every champion of the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament leaves their own sculpture there, and the sculptors are all master sculptors.

Soon, under the arrangement of the staff, Mellen met Master Bryce, a middle-aged man who looked somewhat melancholy. His hair was a bit messy and his clothes were not neat. Only his hands were white and delicate, and even faintly emitted a jade-like luster, making them look like exquisite works of art.

The communication between Mellen and Bryce went relatively smoothly, at least in his opinion.

Normally, once the image for the sculpture is determined, it would be enough for Mellen to leave his own image. However, Bryce seems to be acting strangely. He insists that those images have no 'soul' and cannot support him in completing his work, questioning whether Mellen should cooperate with him in the sculpture.

Fortunately, Bryce's request wasn't too unreasonable; it only required Mellen to spend half a day in his sculpting studio a few days later, so Mellen didn't refuse.

After finalizing the details of the sculpture, Mellen welcomed another group of officials from the Holy Martial City.

The woman leading the group was Bella, a capable-looking woman. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, she got straight to the point: "Champion Mellen, what have you thought about the 'Martial Arts Expansion' program that we invited you to join?"

The so-called 'Martial Arts Expansion' plan is a series of activities launched by Holy Martial City to strengthen martial arts. These include establishing martial arts schools in Holy Martial City, having people join martial arts academies to teach, conducting martial arts research with some cooperative groups in Holy Martial City, and opening some secret martial arts techniques to the public armory...

Of course, this plan is not just about martial artists making sacrifices; each aspect will have corresponding rewards, including various martial arts classics, rare cultivation resources, teachings from other martial arts masters, the latest martial arts research directions, and even some policy support.

The martial artists who join this program can also be viewed as a large group with shared interests, which in itself is a substantial bargaining chip.

As the champion of the martial arts tournament, Mellen can become a senior executive directly by joining the 'Martial Arts Expansion' program, and his future promotion will be easier than that of other martial artists.

Looking at Bella, Mellen's lips curled into a mysterious smile, and he said, "Of course, it is my honor to be able to join the 'Martial Arts Expansion' program and make a contribution to the world's martial arts."

Bella smiled as well, and extended her hand, saying, "It is our honor to have you join us."

After signing a series of related documents, Bella asked, "The 'Martial Arts Expansion' plan has many projects. I wonder which aspect Mr. Mellen prefers to start with? Would you prefer to establish your own martial arts style first?"

As the champion of this year's World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, Holy Martial City has naturally gathered complete information about Mellen, knowing that his current dojo is still operating under a shell.

Mellen shook his head and said, "There's no rush. I'm actually more interested in martial arts research. Could you show me some of the relevant group information?"

Chapter 663 Project 'X', God of Martial Arts

“Mr. Mellen, we have decided to return to Nora.”

As she said this, Lian Mei's face showed some reluctance, but her tone was still quite firm.

Mellen looked at Liam May and Eugene Don and said with a smile, "A wise choice."

Lian Mei's expression fell, and she said helplessly, "Mr. Mellen, don't you think we can establish ourselves in Holy Martial City either?"

With Mellen's completion of the World Martial Arts Tournament, his agreement with Lian Mei was fulfilled, and the martial arts school was naturally returned.

However, perhaps out of consideration for Mellen, both Mellen and Eugene have received numerous offers of assistance from various forces during this period, including the official government of Holy Martial City, which hopes they can stay in Holy Martial City and is willing to provide certain financial support.

Both Mei and Eugene were certainly interested, and they even tried to subtly ask Mellen for his opinion, but Mellen did not respond.

After careful consideration, Lian Mei ultimately decided to give up the opportunity in Shengwu City and return to Nora City to continue running their own Tianfu Martial Arts Hall.

Mellen naturally supported this decision, but not because, as Mellen claimed, he didn't have faith in them, but rather...

Mellen said meaningfully, "Since you've decided to go back, you should leave as soon as possible to avoid any unexpected events."

Lian Mei blinked, puzzled, and asked, "You mean...?"

Mellen waved his hand and said, "I didn't mean anything by it."

Lian Mei stopped asking questions and refused the official response from Shengwu City that same day. She then bought the nearest ferry tickets with Eugene Dong and returned to Nora City.

After reviewing the group information provided by the Holy Martial City authorities, Mellen let out a silent sigh.

Tianhai Group, as one of the largest biotechnology groups in Shengwu City, has conducted in-depth research in areas such as biological life, mutated life, human engineering, and superpower applications.

The headquarters building of Tianhai Group is a very high-tech building, with a bright silver color and an oval shape that is tilted and upright, surrounded by a series of supporting small buildings.

At this moment, outside the Tianhai Group headquarters building, amidst the bustling crowd, Mellen stood calmly, unnoticed by anyone.

He observed for a moment, then looked at a man walking towards the building whose name tag indicated he was an operations manager.

Mellen followed the operations manager discreetly, using the manager's access card to sneak into the building without being detected by the detection equipment along the way.

Upon reaching the elevator entrance, Mellen did not continue following, but instead looked at another internal elevator that was clearly different from the other public elevators. There were four heavily armed elite security personnel in front of this elevator.

After a moment's thought, Mellen figured this was probably not his final destination, so he decided not to make a move and wait patiently.

Three hours passed quietly. Suddenly, Mellen opened his eyes and saw an imposing old man with a scar on his face striding towards him, surrounded by several people.

Mellen recognized the newcomer as Walter, one of the three giants of the Tianhai Group.

The security personnel, of course, recognized their boss and immediately made way for Walter. After undergoing multiple checks, including iris, palm print, and voiceprint verification, the elevator doors were finally opened.

At that moment, only Walter entered the elevator, while everyone else stood outside respectfully watching him go.

Mellen naturally concealed himself and followed them inside.

As Walter pressed the button, the elevator descended rapidly, and when it reopened, a huge underground space appeared.

After undergoing recertification and a rigorous disinfection process, Walter walked down a spacious corridor built at the top of the space. Through the transparent glass on both sides of the corridor, he could see laboratories below, where hundreds of researchers were working diligently.

If you look closely, you'll find that almost all the experiments here are related to biology. You can see mutated life forms, aberrant life forms, super-powered life forms, and even... humans, imprisoned in petri dishes.

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat, who looked quite refined, was talking to Walter...

"Experiment EA-9 is basically complete. The finished product has a full effect on mutated life forms below level E, but the effect will be greatly reduced for those above level E."

"The super-powered gene sequence of sample H-36 has been analyzed, but after comparison, the gene matching degree with humans is less than 30%. Under such compatibility, there is almost no chance of success. If we want to continue in-depth research, we need a large amount of material, and it would be best to have martial artists with a certain level of strength. As for the feedback rate, I can only say that I cannot guarantee it."

"..."

As Mellen listened, it became clear that almost every experiment in this enormous underground laboratory required a large amount of 'consumables,' which naturally referred to humans, with martial artists being the most sought-after.

Upon arriving at a conference room, Walter dismissed the middle-aged man before opening the door and going inside.

The meeting room wasn't large; besides a small round table in the center, there were only three chairs, and one person was already sitting inside.

Walter said, "Rogers, you're here early enough."

Rogers fiddled with a round object in his hand and said casually, "I'm not like the two of you, you're both very busy people."

After this exchange, which was hard to tell whether it was pleasantries or teasing, Walter said, "It's about time we started."

Just then, a light flickered on the empty chair, projecting a figure.

Rogers said, "Then let's begin. Cass, how's it going on your end?"

Cass's projection said, "The death records have been completed, and this batch of high-quality materials can be shipped back to the group soon."

Walter pursed his lips and said, "It's getting harder and harder. Now we even have to get involved in things like this ourselves."

Rogers said, "We can't be careless. After all, these high-quality materials are all people who have entered the final arena of the World Martial Arts Tournament in previous years. It's not easy for us to recruit them."

Cass nodded and said, "That's right. Especially in the last few decades, with the advancement of Project X, the demand for powerful martial artists has been increasing. Apart from us, other groups, including Holy Martial City, are all making bigger moves. Some people have already noticed something is wrong and are secretly investigating. It's always good to be careful."

Walter scoffed, "You mean the Martial Arts Association? They're nothing but parasites growing in Holy Martial City. Their underhanded dealings aren't much cleaner than ours. If you ask me, they should have been cleaned up a long time ago."

Rogers shook his head and said, "We also need to cut back on the high-quality materials we have this time. Several important experiments are lacking experimental materials of this level, otherwise it will be difficult to continue."

Walter agreed, saying, "That's right, I get a headache just looking at their reports now."

After a moment's thought, Cass said, "Alright, but that would reduce our share this time."

Rogers frowned and said, "Can't we make up for it in other ways?"

Cass shook his head and said, "'Project X' is nearing its end. Ordinary martial artists have long since lost their usefulness. Only martial arts masters or martial artists with powerful superpowers can fill the gaps."

Walter sighed, "Isn't the champion of this World Martial Arts Tournament supposed to be a powerful figure who has already broken through to the level of a martial arts grandmaster? If we can add him to the 'X' plan, it might be able to push the progress to a new level."

Rogers said, "Impossible. After all, he was the champion. Although according to the current investigation, he doesn't seem to have any background, his origins are indeed somewhat mysterious, and he's currently attracting a lot of attention. If he died due to an 'accident,' the commotion would be too great. It's very likely that with the help of certain people, some things that were suppressed in the past will be brought up again, which would be a loss."

"Moreover, the so-called surpassing of martial arts grandmaster is just speculation. It's been so long since such a strong person has been born in the world, and it's unlikely that one will suddenly appear. We still need to dig deeper into the specific identity of this 'Merlen'."

Mellen listened silently to the three people's conversation and managed to get a basic understanding of the information.

It is likely that all the martial artists in the entire Holy Martial City, as well as the contestants of the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, are part of this huge flesh and blood factory. Perhaps the original purpose of establishing Holy Martial City was even biological research.

Those contestants from previous years might be deliberately sidelined after signing contracts with these groups, with various methods used to reduce their presence, so that they can be 'accidentally' eliminated a few years later.

Anyway, this world is extremely dangerous. Anyone can have an accident when they go out on a mission. That's normal.

Think about it, among the talent shows we've watched before, apart from the champions and those who have capital backing, even if the others had some amazing performances, who would remember them after a few years?

Using this method, the various groups in Holy Martial City tacitly recruited martial arts experts and then pushed them into Project X.

In fact, Mellen had already guessed about this so-called 'X' plan; he sensed something was wrong with the city on his first day in Holy Martial City.

It was only because it was concealed that it seemed vague and uncertain, and only now has it been completely confirmed.

Several hours later, a convoy discreetly entered Shengwu City. After passing through layers of checkpoints, they arrived at an area marked as private territory. The journey thereafter was marked by guards every few steps, and every step forward involved passing through a new checkpoint.

When they arrived at a row of white buildings, the convoy stopped, and Cass emerged to complete the handover of the 'goods' with the people there. These 'goods' were all sealed metal boxes, which looked like coffins.

The man in charge directed the staff to count the 'goods'. After confirming the quantity, he frowned slightly but didn't say anything more.

A moment later, a subordinate brought over a black briefcase. The leader opened it, glanced at it, and then handed it to Cass.

Cass said, "Duken, you're still as meticulous as ever."

Duncan didn't reply. Cass, feeling awkward, stopped talking and began to examine the contents of the briefcase. Inside were test tubes filled with a pale red fluorescent liquid, which looked beautiful and captivating.

Cass said, mesmerized, "The blood of the gods, no matter how many times I see it, it's always so captivating! But..."

Cass looked at Duken, frowned, and said, "Isn't this number a bit off?"

Duken said coldly, "The production of God's Blood has decreased this time, and the amount you brought is too small. Your Tianhai Group can only get this much."

Cass seemed to want to say something more, but Duken spoke first: "These are not decisions I made, so it's no use talking to me. If you have anything to say, go and talk to Lord Zhong."

Cass paused, a look of sullen expression on his face.

After Cass left, Duken began transporting the warehouse full of 'goods' underground.

After all the 'goods' had been loaded onto the freight elevator, Duncan dismissed the other staff, pressed the button alone, and headed underground with the 'goods'.

After descending at least several hundred meters, the freight elevator stopped in a highly mechanized space, where numerous robotic arms extended out, placing pieces of 'cargo' into fixed slots.

Duncan occasionally glanced at his feet, his expression seemingly a little tense.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out: "So, this is what the so-called 'X' plan is all about?"

Duncan's already tense nerves jolted, and he leaped in the opposite direction of the sound, shouting, "Who goes there?!"

During this process, Duken also seemed to have triggered the alarm system, and the entire underground space flashed red lights, with piercing sounds echoing continuously.

Mellen's figure gradually came into view. He looked at the ground beneath his feet and seemed to be able to see through the thick metal layer to the scene below.

Then, Mellen turned his gaze to the 'goods', and with a slight wave of his hand, a wind blade swept across, shattering one of the metal coffins. Accompanied by a large amount of liquid, a figure fell to the ground with a 'hmph' sound.

Mellen glanced at him briefly and realized that this was a martial artist with abundant energy and blood, seemingly close to becoming a martial arts grandmaster. However, he was unable to move because the solution he was soaking in had a numbing effect.

Without a doubt, the other metal coffins probably contained similar martial artists.

Seeing Mellen acting on his own, Duken demanded again, "Who exactly are you? The Martial Arts Federation? The Red Sea Party? Or someone from the Heavenly Temple?"