When Jay arrived at Dr. Dilixati Pinghailuo's home, he found that the doctor had already moved out.
The house had been sold to someone else.
However, thanks to Pinghailuo's gambling-addicted son, the neighbors clearly remembered the incident of him being driven away.
After asking around extensively, Jay finally found the person he was looking for in a small, rundown room barely ten square meters in size.
"Dr. Pinghailuo? Do you remember me?"
"Oh, it's you, the kid who insisted on learning human anatomy from me back then."
A look of recognition flashed across Dr. Pinghailuo's eyes.
The doctor's appearance had changed drastically since they last met, he looked far worse now, clearly in a bad state of mind.
Though his clothes were clean and well-laundered, he couldn't hide the air of misery about him.
Perhaps this was all he had left of his dignity.
"As you can see, I'm no longer a doctor. But if you still want to learn some medical knowledge, I can still teach you."
"I'll charge half the original fee, how about that?"
It was clear he was desperate for money, otherwise, he wouldn't have brought it up.
"Really? You can teach anything?"
"As long as it's something I know."
Dr. Pinghailuo still carried pride in his profession.
After all, his dismissal had nothing to do with incompetence, it was all thanks to his gambling-addicted son.
"Great. Remember when you helped me dissect that wild boar's head?"
Dr. Pinghailuo nodded, looking a little annoyed. "I'm a doctor, not a butcher. If it hadn't been for... well, there's no point bringing it up now. So, do you need me to help you dissect that kind of thing again?"
"Something like that, but... even more sinister."
A bright smile spread across Jay's face.
Several hours later, Jay left feeling completely satisfied.
Lured by money, and with a desperate need for it, Dr. Pinghailuo simply couldn't refuse.
In truth, creating human anatomical specimens wasn't all that difficult.
The hard part was acquiring the bodies.
Any medical student knew just how precious a "Silent Teacher" (a donated corpse) truly was.
But what did that have to do with Dr. Pinghailuo?
His life couldn't get any worse at this point.
Nor did he want to know what Jay planned to do with the knowledge he'd gained.
He simply taught what he knew, and used what little remaining connections he had to help Jay purchase the necessary chemicals and supplies.
Jay, in turn, emptied out his wallet to pay for it.
"Guess I've gotta figure out how to make more money again…"
"Too bad that 10 million Beli is all tied up in the system, I can't withdraw any of it."
"Maybe I should go hit up Daz Bonis? That guy's been a hitman for a while, he's gotta have some savings."
Jay seriously considered it for a moment, but in the end, he resisted. That would be too tasteless.
He had just recruited the guy as a little brother, and now he was going to ask for his life savings? That was too much.
He didn't want to scare the guy off, it just wasn't worth it.
When Jay finally returned to the Marine base, the new promotion orders had arrived.
Jay had officially been promoted to Sergeant!
And Buck had been promoted from Private First Class to Corporal!
This time, however, there were fewer voices questioning Jay or making sarcastic remarks.
Thanks to Buck and the others publicly sharing the mission details, almost everyone now knew that Jay wasn't just a sharpshooter, he had also defeated a notorious West Blue assassin.
With strength like that, even becoming a commissioned officer wouldn't be a stretch.
Young?
In this strength-driven sea, youth might make people underestimate you, but if you had overwhelming power, age no longer mattered.
What held Jay back now wasn't ability, but merits and money.
And who could blame him, when his direct superior was Colonel Hammond, a Marine leech who valued money over people?
To be honest, sometimes Jay wanted nothing more than to blow this guy's head off.
But he couldn't, not yet. Not until he had enough power and protection.
Time flew, and half a month passed.
Jay spent this time steadily sharpening his skills and growing stronger.
Of course, he didn't forget about finding the perfect cliff to jump from.
Hard work paid off.
One day in the mess hall, he overheard a few drunken soldiers bragging.
One guy claimed he once fell from a cliff over a hundred meters high. He thought he was a goner, but miraculously survived after landing in a deep pool of water.
He passed out immediately but was lucky enough to be rescued.
Other than a broken arm and leg, he suffered no serious injuries.
Normally, falling into water from that height was almost no different from hitting concrete.
Your internal organs couldn't possibly withstand the impact.
The other soldiers didn't believe him and called it nonsense.
No one could convince the other, and the braggart couldn't provide proof.
But Jay took note.
Later, after gifting the guy some cigarettes and liquor, Jay successfully got the location of the man's hometown.
After checking the charts, he realized it wasn't far from the base.
Worth a visit!
The only issue was that Jay had just taken leave not long ago, it wouldn't look good to ask for more time off so soon.
As he was thinking this, opportunity knocked.
Colonel Hammond summoned him, saying there was another shipment that needed escorting, similar to the last time.
Jay agreed on the spot.
The transaction went smoothly.
But this time, the client's attitude was clearly more anxious. They even handed him a letter to deliver to Colonel Hammond.
Jay figured the clients were getting fed up with Hammond's two-faced double-dealing.
Still playing both sides and refusing to give a clear answer? Did he think they were suckers?
Jay didn't care to worry about Hammond's problems. After counting the money, he took his team and left.
On the return trip, he used his authority to make a detour to Conch Island.
There, he actually found the cliff the drunk soldier had talked about.
It was around 100 to 120 meters high.
Below was a rushing river.
The river was wide, making it fairly easy to land in.
The water was deep, and there were no big rocks or dangerous obstacles.
Jay's eyes lit up the moment he saw it.
He carefully surveyed the terrain and the more he looked, the more pleased he was.
"This is the spot!"
"But I'll need a team."
Jay wasn't stupid enough to just leap off right away.
Next time, he would bring helpers, a doctor, and tools to assist in his cliff-diving experiment.
But he still needed a reason.
His low rank was already showing its downsides, he had no freedom, and everything required approval.
This only made him more determined to activate and fuse his remaining character cards as soon as possible!