My Manor

"Hi, boss." At about one o'clock in the afternoon, Bell walked through the door with a smile. He skillfully changed out of his cow dung-stained boots at the entrance and put on a pair of sneakers he had brought with him before entering the villa.

"Hi, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Shall we start now?" Seeing Bell come in, Jiang Hai immediately said with a smile.

"Okay." Upon hearing Jiang Hai's words, the two of them headed to the fitness room that Jiang Hai had specially—well, the previous owner of the house had specially built. Since it was well-protected, Jiang Hai didn't add anything to it.

After all, those dumbbells and barbells are all made of metal, so they won't break down in ten or twenty years. What's more, they are not exposed to water, so they hardly rust. The only broken equipment includes the treadmills, climbing machines, and the like. However, Jiang Hai doesn't use these items regularly, so when they broke down, he simply threw them away. He didn't buy new ones. Instead, he cleared out a large space in the room and placed a cushion in the middle.

Originally, he thought that if he found a girl in the future, she could practice yoga here, but now that there is no girl, he used the space for himself.

"Boss, first tell me, what do you want to practice?" Bell dusted off the dust on his pants, sat directly on the cushion, and asked Jiang Hai. What he really wanted to know was how far Jiang Hai wanted to go with his practice.

"Of course, the most powerful one." However, considering his physical fitness, Jiang Hai said without thinking.

"That's very hard, but I think with the boss's physical fitness, it shouldn't be a problem. What do you know about fighting and boxing?" Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Bell smiled and nodded, clearly not surprised.

"Fighting and boxing, do you mean the types? I know, of course, the most famous is our Chinese martial arts, and there's also Goryeo's Taekwondo, the island country's judo, karate, and, um, Muay Thai, and... boxing, and the free fighting that's been very popular recently, that UFC, I've seen it on TV." Hearing Bell's words, Jiang Hai thought for a while and replied.

"Well, what you said counts, but not really. The martial arts you mentioned, Taekwondo, Karate, can actually only be regarded as performance items now. They don't have enough lethality. UFC is an event, not a martial art. The only fighting technique that can be considered highly lethal is what you're talking about here, which is probably Muay Thai." Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Bell laughed.

"Although we live in an era of hot weapons, armies of various countries, especially special forces, also attach great importance to hand-to-hand combat. For example, I know that China's special forces don't actually practice any martial arts, but Sanda. Among them, the most powerful standing strike is Muay Thai, and the strongest leg attack is Kyokushin Karate. Well, this can also be considered a kind of karate, but it's mainly aimed at knocking down the enemy, and the lethality is astounding. Boxing is also a very strong technique, but it doesn't protect the lower body, so it's not very practical. The grappling techniques and ground submissions are mainly divided into two types: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and island judo. Both are based on joint techniques, allowing a chance to turn defeat into victory." Seeing Jiang Hai's curious expression, Bell continued to explain, introducing the so-called fighting skills of these countries. Of course, the military and civilian versions differ.

"What is the strongest one?" Hearing Bell's explanation, Jiang Hai's mind slowly formed a picture of what fighting might look like.

"The strongest? According to Bruce Lee, there is no strongest martial art, only the strongest fighter. Haha, that's a bit exaggerated. In fact, we do have the strongest martial art, which is Sambo from Soviet Russia." Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Bell became serious and replied earnestly.

"Sambo?" Hearing Bell's words, Jiang Hai couldn't help but be stunned. What is Sambo? To be honest, no matter what he mentioned before—Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Muay Thai, Sanda, Boxing, etc.—he had heard of all of those, but Sambo? He really hadn't heard of it. Seeing Jiang Hai's confusion, Bell took the opportunity to explain.

"Sambo is a fighting technique that originated in the Soviet Union in Europe. It was probably developed in the 1920s and 1930s. Before that, the strongest fighting skill was always Mongolian wrestling. In fact, it still is, but we can't practice Mongolian wrestling. Let's talk about Sambo first!" Bell continued.

Although Sambo isn't well-known, it has always enjoyed a high reputation in the fighting world. Before 1950, Sambo was mainly developed within the Soviet Union. After the '50s, it began to enter the international arena. In 1957, in two matches against the Hungarian judo team, they won a crushing victory with a 47-1 record. This was no longer a competition; it was a dominant performance! Two years later, they triumphed again in a match against the German judo team. Before the Olympics in the island nation, Soviet Sambo athletes defeated the Czech Olympic judo team with judo rules and then defeated the European Judo Champion French team.

The Soviet Union was known as a fighting nation, and Sambo played a significant role in that reputation. The only fighting technique that can rival Sambo is the legendary Mongolian wrestling, which contains over 300 throwing and kicking techniques and is known as the strongest foot-killing skill on ancient battlefields.

Unlike the techniques just mentioned, Sambo is a true killing technique, not like the current techniques that focus more on submission. After all, in ancient battlefields, attacking with fists and feet was considered self-mutilation, and ground fighting was suicide because when you perform a cross lock on the ground, your enemies can easily knock your head off. The most effective method was to knock down the enemy immediately, then finish them off. While Mongolian wrestling might not be as exciting to watch or as suited for ring competitions, it is the strongest in life-and-death combat.

In the Sambo World Cup, the only technique that could challenge the Soviet Union was Mongolian wrestling, which had won a total of 19 championships.

Its fighting ability is truly remarkable. Hearing Bell's explanation, Jiang Hai's eyes grew brighter.

"So, are we learning wrestling now, or Sambo?" Looking at Bell, Jiang Hai asked eagerly.

"What we're learning now is... Israeli fighting techniques." Looking at the eager Jiang Hai, Bell chuckled and said slowly.

"Ah? What is that?" Hearing Bell's words, Jiang Hai's face fell. Why had Bell talked so much, only to say they wouldn't learn those things? What was the point of all that if they weren't learning those skills?

"Boss, I'm just a sniper. If it's not necessary, I don't need to fight the enemy hand-to-hand, so I only know this. I told you all this mainly to give you a general idea of the main fighting techniques around the world, so that you have a baseline to work from." Seeing Jiang Hai's confused look, Bell chuckled and reassured him.

"Well, okay... Israel is Israel!" Gritting his teeth, Jiang Hai was ready to learn.

Although Israeli fighting techniques might seem simple, they are actually very famous internationally. Known as Krav Maga, these techniques are mandatory for the Israel Defense Forces and military and law enforcement personnel. They have also been widely adopted worldwide, including by American military forces.

When watching cool fighting moves on TV, most of them are derived from Israeli fighting techniques. It's a martial art that's easy to start but hard to master.

According to Bell, the first lesson for everyone in the Delta Force is the basics of Israeli martial arts. Only after mastering this can they move on to firearms and driving, and then be divided into teams for missions.

Generally speaking, while snipers do know some martial arts, they aren't specialists. Demolition experts and ammunition handlers are the best at close combat because they are more likely to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy and also need to protect their comrades.

Under Bell's guidance, Jiang Hai began learning. As with all martial arts, the beginning is the hardest part, and Jiang Hai knew he couldn't expect to become a master overnight. Before starting, Jiang Hai had thought Israeli martial arts were weak, thinking it might be similar to Muay Thai, but after getting involved, he realized it was far more complex.

In fact, Israeli fighting techniques are not as simple as he had imagined. The United States, known as the world leader, favors them for a reason—they have a unique and flexible system. They focus on real-world fighting, adapting to the situation at hand. It covers 360-degree defense, punching, kicking, grappling, joint techniques, and more. This surprised Jiang Hai.

When sparring with Bell, although Jiang Hai's strength, speed, agility, and physical stamina were much greater than Bell's, the best result he achieved was being taken down after about ten minutes.

This intrigued Jiang Hai, not just about the fighting technique but also about Bell himself.

After about an hour of practice, both Jiang Hai and Bell were a little tired and sat down on the carpet to rest. Taking this opportunity, Jiang Hai couldn't help but ask Bell about something that had been on his mind:

"Bell, to be honest, your skills are impressive, and you retired from Delta Force. I bet when you retired, many departments came looking for you. Why did you decide to come back and be a cowboy?" Supporting his weight with his hands behind him, Jiang Hai looked at Bell, genuinely curious.

"Oh? Why is the boss so interested in me all of a sudden? I don't like men. Haha, just kidding. Well, when I retired from the army, a lot of people approached me, including official agencies like the FBI, CIA, Massachusetts SWAT team, New York Police Department, and more. The treatment was great. But if we're talking about money, there were more private offers. Being a bodyguard for rich people is a very lucrative job." Looking at the ceiling, Bell smiled softly as he replied to Jiang Hai.