Chapter 64: An Encounter Beneath the Upside-Down Waterfall! (Please Follow!!)

One punch.

One punch.

Another punch.

Standing beneath the waterfall, Hawk used his pure physical body to withstand the scouring of the water while firmly throwing his punches against the resistance of the cascade.

Every time he threw a punch, the cross-section of the water flow that made contact with his fist would pause for a fleeting, sub-instant moment.

But...

Not enough!

He did not want the waterfall to pause for his fist.

He wanted this waterfall to tremble beneath his fist, and even, to flow backward.

Hawk felt his requirements were not high.

After all, the waterfall before him was not the Lushan Waterfall; if one were to compare this waterfall to the Lushan Waterfall, it probably lacked even one-tenth of its majesty.

So, was this excessive?

It was not excessive.

But clearly, this thought of his still angered the waterfall before him.

Who do you think you are to make me flow backward?

Do you think you are Poseidon, the Sea King?

And even if you were Poseidon, it wouldn't work; he is the Sea King, in charge of seawater—could he really manage me, a freshwater waterfall?

So...

The waterfall grew angry; under Hawk’s persistent, punch-after-punch assault, the speed of the water flow intensified at a rate almost visible to the naked eye.

Hawk felt the now-angry waterfall and remained expressionless.

But within his small universe, the fully illuminated Phoenix constellation map showed a fire phoenix slowly emerging.

He had decided.

He would leave only when the waterfall before him flowed backward.

Although school started in just a few days.

But that didn't matter.

Still the same saying.

He was an orphan, so even if he didn't go to school after it started, he feared no one would care about him.

But that was fine too.

No one cared about him, and he had no one he needed to care about.

So...

The fighting spirit in Hawk’s eyes burned fiercely.

"Come on!"

The waterfall was thoroughly enraged; under this provocation from Hawk, the water flow became even more rapid and violent.

"Rumble!"

"...Did it thunder?"

At the very edge of the Cunningham Falls State Park, north of where Hawk was located, Gwen, who had just entered the nature reserve forest, heard the rumbling from afar and subconsciously looked up.

But the primitive trees blocked the sky, with only sunlight spilling through the gaps in the leaves; yet, the dappled light spots added a touch of eeriness to the already quiet forest.

Seeing she could not see the sky, Gwen withdrew her gaze.

Wearing a conspicuous white windbreaker and a pair of outdoor sports shoes, Gwen took out her phone, lit the screen, and looked at the location map appearing on it.

In sight.

Two light dots, though far apart, were already visible on the same screen, flickering in and out.

One of them showed Gwen’s current location.

The other...

Gwen took a deep breath, gripped the hiking pole she had bought after arriving in Thurmont yesterday afternoon, cheered herself on in her heart, and lifted her feet again to walk toward the location of the other dot.

At first, Gwen thought Hawk’s phone had just been stolen and didn't take it to heart.

After all, she was busy working a summer job.

But when Dr. Connors suddenly asked the next day if she had given that gift to Hawk, Gwen felt a bit strange, so she went to Hawk’s new apartment again after work.

The result...

The envelope she had left on the sofa at the time was still lying quietly on the sofa, not having moved at all.

For some reason, Gwen suddenly felt her heart panic at that moment.

She immediately called her father, George, hoping her father could see if he could find Hawk through the New York Police Department.

George didn't take it to heart at first, but looking at the worried Gwen, he thought about it and still greeted his colleagues at the Queens Precinct.

His jurisdiction was in Manhattan; crossing into the Queens Precinct to check for a missing person was possible, but he still had to greet his colleagues there.

The result was that there was no such person.

It was as if Hawk had evaporated from the world.

Moreover, Hawk had no credit card, no driver's license, and with his phone either stolen or powered off, he was even harder to find.

To put it bluntly, Hawk was very much like a transparent person living in modern society.

No family.

No social life.

He didn't even have a single friend; even after opening a case, his colleagues at the Queens Precinct didn't know where to start the investigation.

Because no one could provide the last place Hawk appeared, and even when asking several of Hawk’s classmates, no one cared to ask what had happened to him.

Uh...

Except for Gwen.

Until the day before yesterday, George, who had just returned home, looked at his daughter, who had been coming home later than him these days and searching for traces of Hawk outside, and finally couldn't help but ask the question he had been wanting to ask: "Gwen, have you fallen for this Hawk?"

Gwen, who had just returned from a cemetery in Queens, heard this from George, was stunned for a moment, and then gave an answer.

"Dad, Hawk and I are just friends."

"..."

By the time George came back to his senses, Gwen had already run upstairs.

George blinked and couldn't help but look at his wife, Helen, who was standing to the side and hadn't spoken.

"Friends? Do you believe that?"

"Whether I believe it or not is not important."

Helen, who had always been a virtuous wife and mother, smiled at Gwen’s retreating back as she went upstairs, then said to George: "But I know, you can no longer keep your daughter."

George was stunned.

And Gwen, who had returned to her room and thrown herself onto the bed, thinking of Hawk, from whom there had been no news for more than ten days, was feeling an indescribable sensation when her phone suddenly rang.

Gwen casually lit it up and glanced at it.

The next second.

She sat up abruptly from the bed.

This message was not spam, but a remote login notification sent by her phone account once again.

Gwen hurriedly clicked the text link.

This time, the signal was no longer a general range, but precise to a specific location.

Maryland, Cunningham Falls State Park, beneath a waterfall.

This was the reason why Gwen appeared here.

Soon.

As the sound of the water grew closer, Gwen, though covered in sweat, felt her spirit becoming increasingly bright, and she even quickened her pace.

And beneath the waterfall.

After Hawk finished his 9,999th punch, the moment he withdrew his fist and threw the final punch, the phoenix phantom behind him became as if it were substantial.

The next second.

Hawk threw his 10,000th punch, and the fire phoenix phantom behind him spread its wings and soared high!

"Chirp!"

"Flow backward for me!"

"Boom!"

The waterfall before him was no longer a torrent falling three thousand feet, but an angry dragon raising its head, rolling the river back to the sky!

At this moment, time seemed to have stopped.

But a voice, clear beyond compare, pierced through the frozen time and appeared in Hawk’s ear.

A voice.

Clear.

Trembling.

"Hawk!!"

"..."