36. An Encounter Beneath the Inverted Waterfall!

One punch.
One punch.
Another punch.

Standing beneath the waterfall, Hawk used his bare body to withstand the relentless pounding of the cascading water, his fists striking out with unwavering resolve against the resistance of the torrent. Each time he threw a punch, the section of water he struck would pause for a fleeting, sub-second moment.

But... it wasn't enough.

He didn't want the water to merely pause for his fists. He wanted this waterfall to tremble beneath his blows, to be forced—even—to flow backward.

Hawk felt his demands were reasonable. After all, this wasn't the Great Lushan Waterfall; compared to that, this one didn't even possess a tenth of its majesty. So, was he asking too much? Not at all.

However, it was clear that his ambition had offended the waterfall. Who did he think he was, demanding it flow in reverse? Did he think he was Poseidon? And even if he were Poseidon, he was the King of the Seas—what business would a god of salt water have meddling with a freshwater waterfall?

And so, the waterfall grew enraged. Under the pressure of Hawk’s relentless, repetitive strikes, the speed of the water intensified to a degree visible to the naked eye.

Hawk felt the waterfall’s fury and remained expressionless. Yet, within his Cosmo, the constellation of Phoenix, now fully ignited, saw a firebird slowly manifesting its silhouette.

He had made up his mind. He would not leave until this waterfall flowed backward. Though school was only a few days away, it didn't matter. He was an orphan, after all; even if he didn't show up, it was unlikely anyone would care.

And that was fine. No one cared about him, and there was no one he needed to care about.

So… a fierce, burning fighting spirit blazed in Hawk's eyes.

"Come on!"

The waterfall was completely incensed. At Hawk’s provocation, the current became even more rapid and violent.

"Rumble!"

"…Thunder?"

On the northern edge of Cunningham Falls State Park, far from where Hawk stood, Gwen—having just entered the protected forest—heard the distant roar and instinctively looked up. But the primeval trees, thick enough to blot out the sky, allowed only dappled sunlight to filter through the gaps in the leaves, casting shadows that added an eerie quality to the quiet woods.

Unable to see the sky, Gwen lowered her gaze. Dressed in a conspicuous white windbreaker and outdoor sneakers, she pulled out her phone and tapped the screen to check the tracking map.

Two dots appeared on the screen, far apart but finally visible together. One indicated her current position. The other...

Gwen took a deep breath, gripped the hiking pole she had bought after arriving in Thurmont the previous afternoon, and braced herself. She took another step toward the direction of the second dot.

At first, Gwen had assumed Hawk’s phone was simply stolen, and she hadn't paid it much mind. She had been busy with her summer job. But when Dr. Connors suddenly asked the next day if she had delivered that gift to Hawk, she felt a sense of unease. After work, she had gone to Hawk’s new apartment.

The result… the envelope she had left on the sofa was still sitting there, undisturbed.

For some reason, Gwen felt her heart skip a beat. She immediately called her father, George, hoping he could use his connections at the NYPD to find Hawk. George hadn't taken it seriously at first, but seeing his daughter’s genuine worry, he eventually agreed to reach out to his colleagues at the Queens precinct. His jurisdiction was in Manhattan, and while he could technically look into a missing person case in Queens, it was proper protocol to notify the local precinct.

The result was that the person did not exist. Hawk seemed to have evaporated into thin air. He had no credit cards, no driver's license, and with his phone either stolen or dead, he was impossible to track. To put it bluntly, Hawk was like a ghost living in modern society. No family. No social life. Not even a single friend. Even after filing a report, the officers at the Queens precinct didn't know where to start. No one could pinpoint where Hawk had last been seen, and his classmates hadn't even bothered to ask after him.

Well… except for Gwen.

The day before, George had returned home to find his daughter, who had been coming home later than him every night while searching for traces of Hawk, and finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been gnawing at him: "Gwen, have you fallen for this boy, Hawk?"

Gwen, just returned from a cemetery in Queens, froze at the question before offering an answer.

"Dad, Hawk and I are just friends."

By the time George processed her words, Gwen had already run upstairs.

George blinked, turning to his wife, Helen, who had been standing silently by the side. "Friends? Do you believe that?"

"Whether I believe it doesn't matter," Helen, always the devoted mother, smiled at the back of her daughter heading upstairs and said to George, "But I know you can't keep your daughter here anymore."

George was stunned.

Up in her room, Gwen threw herself onto her bed, thinking of the silent, missing Hawk. Just as she was overcome by an indescribable feeling, her phone rang. She glanced at it casually.

The next second, she bolted upright.

The notification wasn't spam; it was another remote login alert for her phone account. Gwen hurriedly clicked the link. This time, the signal wasn't just a general area, but a precise location.

Maryland, Cunningham Falls State Park, beneath a waterfall.

That was why Gwen was here.

Soon, as the sound of rushing water grew louder, Gwen, though drenched in sweat, felt her spirits brighten, and she quickened her pace.

Under the waterfall, Hawk threw his nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-ninth punch. As he pulled his fist back to deliver the final blow, the phantom of the Phoenix behind him became as solid as reality.

A second later, Hawk unleashed his ten-thousandth punch. The firebird behind him spread its wings and soared!

"Screech!"

"Flow backward!"

"BOOM!"

The waterfall no longer cascaded down three thousand feet; instead, it rose like an enraged dragon, surging back toward the heavens!

For a moment, time seemed to stand still. Yet, a voice, clear and distinct, pierced through the frozen stillness and reached Hawk’s ears.

The voice. Clear. Trembling.

"Hawk!!"