Brazil: Criminal Empire - Chapter 186: BOPE's Hand-to-Hand Combat Instructor (Patreon)

Before they began, Rock carefully positioned the six men evenly around him and warned them to be ready to hit the ground.

Ferreira and the others all braced themselves for impact.

The BOPE members watched Rock and the six teammates surrounding him with intense curiosity.

Seeing that their boss was getting a little serious, even the special operations members stood up and stared at the center of the field without blinking.

Rock asked several times whether everyone was ready.

Ferreira and the others focused completely and held the thick striking pads firmly in front of their bodies.

They had expected Rock to explain something first. Instead, he simply roared, “Watch out!”

He opened with a back kick, surged forward into a rising punch from a planted stance, followed by a whipping hand strike, a lunge elbow to the chest, a lunge elbow strike, a spinning rising elbow, and finally a leaping side kick.

“Thud! Thud thud thud thud thud!”

All the spectators saw was Rock's figure whipping around the center of the formation, accompanied by a rapid series of heavy impacts.

The burly men holding the thick pads were sent flying outward with the pads still in their hands.

The closest were knocked one or two meters away. The man who took the side kick flew the farthest, traveling six or seven meters before hitting the ground.

The whole sequence lasted only moments, but the effect was astonishing.

That kind of explosive force left every BOPE officer staring wide-eyed. A storm of applause followed, while the special operations members added a chorus of wild whistles for their boss.

They knew the sensation of being sent flying very well. Every one of them had experienced it personally.

After getting used to being launched through the air by Rock, ordinary force barely registered with them anymore.

The BOPE members were completely convinced by what they had just seen.

The men holding the pads were their own coworkers, randomly pushed forward by the group. There was no possibility that they had secretly cooperated with Rock to put on a show.

Ferreira and the others struggled back to their feet.

They looked at how far they had been thrown, rubbed their aching shoulders, and shook their heads in disbelief.

“My God, what did I just experience?”

“Honestly, for a second I thought I'd been hit by a car.”

“That one impact made half my body go numb.”

“...”

The six men compared what it had felt like to be sent flying.

After only a few comments, Ferreira immediately walked over to Rock.

“Mr. Locke, there's something I'd like to discuss with you.”

Rock raised an eyebrow at the urgency in Ferreira's eyes. “Commander Ferreira, just say whatever you have in mind.”

“I don't know whether you'd be interested in becoming an external hand-to-hand combat instructor for BOPE.”

Ferreira had found exactly the kind of expert he wanted and went straight to the point.

As the most elite police special operations unit in the state of Rio de Janeiro, BOPE regularly hired outside experts in different fields to provide specialized training.

Rock thought for a moment without immediately agreeing. With a slightly hesitant expression, he said, “Commander Ferreira, you know I have a lot going on. I'm very busy, so I can't promise I'll have much time to stay at BOPE and teach.”

“Yes, yes, I completely understand.”

Ferreira nodded rapidly.

“If you could spare even one day a month to give us some instruction, that would already be excellent. We can sign a formal contract and issue an official letter of appointment. BOPE's current budget is still fairly generous.”

Ferreira's invitation was extremely sincere. The implication was obvious. Rock's compensation would be well above the market rate.

But the amount BOPE could pay no longer mattered much to Rock.

What actually tempted him was the position itself.

In the legitimate world, few credentials carried more weight than being an instructor for an elite police tactical unit.

It placed him squarely on the side of official law enforcement, and that identity could be very useful in certain situations.

As for retaliation from gangs, would Rock, who already had one foot in the underworld, be afraid of that?

Anyone who dared try would simply become fuel for Rock's continued growth.

“Once a month might still be difficult. I can do two days every quarter. In return, BOPE needs to help me handle the paperwork for a defense company training camp.”

In that brief moment, Rock's thoughts had been racing.

Replacing every officer at the UPP police station in the lower section of the Great Rock Wall Favela with his own people would clearly take time.

So Rock changed his approach. He could build Angel Defense's training grounds in that lower section of the favela instead.

After all, Battle Angels already exercised de facto control over the area.

He planned to build a comprehensive facility containing a shooting range, a hand-to-hand combat area, and a tactical training ground.

That way, every Battle Angels member and reserve member could train there openly and legally.

Whenever they were needed for other work, they could simply change identities and head out.

The shooting range would also give him a legitimate reason to purchase certain relatively sensitive weapons and ammunition.

If he could acquire supplies through both official channels and smuggling routes, he would not have to worry nearly as much about weapons and ammunition in the future.

“No problem. It's a deal. I'll have someone send over the appointment letter and contract right away.”

Ferreira agreed without hesitation.

He had trained alongside special forces personnel from many different countries, but he had never encountered anyone with hand-to-hand combat ability as overwhelmingly violent as Rock's.

Now he finally understood why Rivaldo and the others seemed to have swallowed some kind of miracle drug and improved at such an absurd rate.

The reason was simple. They had someone as extraordinarily powerful as Rock training beside them.

With the leaders of both sides reaching an agreement, the hand-to-hand combat challenge between the two groups still had to continue.

Before it resumed, Ferreira announced to everyone that Rock would be joining BOPE as an external hand-to-hand combat instructor.

That immediately brought another round of cheers from the BOPE officers.

While Ferreira had been talking with Rock, the men who had been sent flying returned to the group and described exactly what the impacts had felt like.

The Angel Defense special operations members backed up everything they said.

A combat instructor this powerful quickly won BOPE's wholehearted approval.

Over the rest of the training session, they personally experienced just how quickly their former colleagues had improved.

Two men who had once been evenly matched could now fight again, only for the one who had joined Angel Defense to defeat the one who remained in BOPE with relative ease.

Facts spoke louder than words.

From Ferreira down to the ordinary members, everyone became thoroughly convinced of Rock's ability.

By the time the afternoon training ended, the sight waiting for them in the cafeteria brought another wave of cheers.

The entire cafeteria had been transformed into a large party venue.

Rock was still sponsoring the event. There was plenty of food and alcohol, along with a group of beautiful women moving gracefully through the room.

Ever since the Romance Club became a huge success in Ipanema, more and more sex workers had come looking for work, whether they had previously operated alone or in small groups.

As long as they passed the background checks, Rock accepted them all.

In a city of several million people, how could one Romance Club possibly be enough?

As a result, Rock now had more and more beautiful young women working under him.

Picking a few outstanding ones to attend a party like this was effortless.

Rock was no longer trying to hide the fact that many retired BOPE officers worked for him.

His relationship with BOPE was only going to become closer.

Maintaining good relations with the most aggressive elite police unit in the entire state of Rio de Janeiro would help Rock keep his businesses on both sides of the law running for a very long time.

After a lively opening speech, Ciro, who had brought the young women over, led a middle-aged man through the crowd to meet Rock.