Madman!

Chapter 1: The Guilty Party Files First

"Dad, just this once! The last time! I swear, if I ever touch Pai Gow again, may I be struck by five thunders from heaven!"

Chen Wujun was jolted awake by the wailing from the living room. He opened his eyes to the ceiling barely an arm's length above him, irritation flooding his gaze.

The commotion outside was this household's recurring performance, staged every few days without fail.

There were three brothers. The eldest, Chen Wuhong, was twenty-one this year and a degenerate gambler.

The youngest, Chen Wuqi, was only ten, boarding at his school.

As for Chen Wujun himself, he had just graduated from middle school. His grades were poor, and he had no intention of continuing to high school.

These days he helped out at his father's dental clinic, because his old man had promised that in exchange for working there, he would pay for martial arts school.

Chen Wujun pressed his palms against the bed frame and vaulted down from the top bunk, his bare feet hitting the cold tile floor. He slipped on his sandals, glanced first at the poster of a fresh-faced starlet pinned to the wall, then reached for the door handle.

Outside, the show was still going.

"Dad! They told me, if I can't pay up this time, it won't just be about interest anymore... they want my hand! They'll really chop it off!" Chen Wuhong's voice was shrill, trembling with fear, and it sent a wave of revulsion churning through Chen Wujun's gut.He pulled open the door. Before him lay the cramped, suffocating living room, so tight that a single sofa swallowed half the space, leaving barely enough room to turn around.

A middle-aged man with graying hair, wearing a yellowed undershirt washed too many times, sat on that sofa. Exhaustion and bitter disappointment lined his face, which had flushed a deep crimson as he snarled:

"You worthless disgrace! You've burned through every cent this family had. Where am I supposed to find money to cover your rotten debts?"

Chen Wujun's eldest brother, Chen Wuhong, was slumped on his knees before their father.

His hair was greasy, the hollows beneath his eyes darkened to bruises, his whole appearance that of a man wrung dry. His rumpled dress shirt looked like it had been slept in for days. Snot and tears streamed freely down his face as he begged:

"Dad, I'm scum, I know I was wrong!" As he spoke, Chen Wuhong slapped himself twice across the face.

"Didn't you set aside some money for Wujun's martial arts school? Let me use it first, just to get through this. The school isn't going anywhere. A couple months' delay won't matter..."

Chen Wujun stood in his doorway watching the scene unfold, finding Chen Wuhong's voice more grating with every word.

'A degenerate gambler like this. Wouldn't be much of a loss if he dropped dead.'

He was sick to death of this performance repeating every few days.

But the thought only turned once or twice in his mind before he let it go. Expression blank, he walked to the bathroom.

Like every other space in this home, the bathroom was equally suffocating. A squat toilet, a small sink, and when you wanted to shower, you simply stood over the toilet and doused yourself with water.

After relieving himself, Chen Wujun emerged from the bathroom to find his father, Chen Hanliang, looking as though he had aged several years in the span of minutes, sighing heavily where he sat.

Their mother, Huang Meizhen, hovered nearby, words clearly on the tip of her tongue but never quite leaving her lips.

And Chen Wuhong was still begging.

Seeing all this, Chen Wujun already knew. The money for his martial arts school was gone.

Sure enough, at breakfast, Chen Wuhong sat with his head bowed and eyes lowered, the picture of meek obedience. Their father, Chen Hanliang, let out a long sigh and turned to Chen Wujun: "The martial arts school. You'll start next month instead."

"Fine," Chen Wujun replied, his face betraying nothing.

There were over two hundred dental clinics crammed into the Walled City. Their own clinic did middling business, but at least the shop space was theirs, no rent to pay, and they managed to put a little aside each month.

But saddled with a degenerate gambler, it was only a matter of time before Chen Wuhong came crawling back for more.

"You've always been the sensible one," their mother, Huang Meizhen, remarked.

"Mom, I'll be responsible from now on! I'm done gambling for good!" Chen Wuhong launched into another round of solemn vows.

Once the family finished eating, Chen Wuhong snatched up the money and hurried out the door, practically bouncing with energy.

Chen Wujun watched his retreating back, that eager spring in his step, and felt a bitter rage swell inside him. He followed him out.

"What are you tailing me for? Your martial arts school isn't going anywhere! What's two more months?" Chen Wuhong assumed this was about the tuition money. He was in a rush to go win his losses back, his pace quick, and he had no desire whatsoever to deal with his younger brother.

Chen Wujun followed in silence.

They threaded through a narrow corridor. Just as Chen Wuhong was about to descend the staircase, he suddenly felt a powerful shove from behind.

As he tumbled forward, Chen Wuhong twisted back in shock to look.

Chen Wujun stood there, expression cold as stone, pulling his hand back.

Then Chen Wuhong went tumbling down the stairs, splitting his head open on the way. He lay at the bottom, dazed and disoriented, for a long while before the world stopped spinning.

When his vision cleared, Chen Wujun had already descended the stairs and stood over him, looking down.

Chen Wuhong felt his chest fill with rage: "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"You got in the way of my martial arts school," Chen Wujun replied, gazing down at him with undisguised contempt.

'If this degenerate gambler didn't mess with what's mine, I wouldn't care. But now he has.'

They said New Arts masters could hold off dozens of people single-handedly.

He had been looking forward to this for a long time.

Chen Wuhong stared up in disbelief, unable to process that these words had come from his own brother's mouth.

Sure, his younger brother sometimes got into scraps with other kids outside, but it was always because the others started it first. At home, he had always seemed well-behaved enough.

Yet now, his brother seemed to have suddenly shed every layer of the mask he had been wearing at home all along.

"Next time, the loan sharks won't need to bother chopping off your hands and feet," Chen Wujun declared, looking down at Chen Wuhong. His voice was perfectly calm, but paired with that gaze, one that regarded him as a complete stranger, and what he had just done, a chill crawled up Chen Wuhong's spine.

Then, just like that, Chen Wujun's face shifted back to its usual docile expression. "Bro, you okay?"

He made a show of reaching down to help Chen Wuhong up.

"I'll tell Mom and Dad. I'll let them know exactly what kind of thing you are!" Chen Wuhong swatted away Chen Wujun's outstretched hand, his teeth clenched so hard they could have cracked.

Chen Wujun planted his foot on Chen Wuhong's ankle.

Then, a smile spreading across his face, he whispered: "Who do you think Mom and Dad will believe? You, or me?"

His foot pressed down harder.

Chen Wuhong clutched his ankle and howled in pain. It felt like the bone was about to snap. He shoved desperately at Chen Wujun's shin.

"Lift it, lift your foot..."

But Chen Wujun showed no intention of moving. Not until the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears did he finally step aside, his expression instantly melting into concern as he bent down to help Chen Wuhong. "Bro, are you hurt? You've gotta be more careful!"

This time, Chen Wuhong did not dare push his brother's hand away. He looked at the teenager beside him with the kind of stare one reserves for a demon.

A woman with a child in tow descended the staircase, spared the two of them a passing glance, and continued on her way.

Once he was on his feet, Chen Wuhong shook free of Chen Wujun and limped away without heading home.

His own younger brother had genuinely frightened him.

A sudden realization struck him. All those times his brother had gotten into fights outside and claimed the other kids had started it first, that probably was not how it had happened at all.

This kid had most likely been playing the victim all along, filing the complaint first, then coming home to play innocent.

'I never really knew my own brother.'

Chen Wujun watched Chen Wuhong's limping figure disappear around the corner. He stood there a moment longer, then turned back.

'If this is enough to scare that degenerate gambler into staying out of trouble, all the better.'

But he knew it would not be.

He had simply vented the fury coiled inside him.

He despised having what was his taken from him.

As the middle child of the family, he despised it with a particular, bone-deep intensity.

Back home, Chen Wujun faced his parents without so much as a flicker of change in his expression. "I tried to talk my brother out of gambling. He cursed me out and told me to mind my own business, then shoved me. But he lost his balance and fell down the stairs."

"Is he alright?" Both parents jumped with alarm.

"He's fine. Might have twisted his ankle. He got up and limped off on his own," Chen Wujun said.

"As long as he's okay!" Both parents exhaled in relief.

Then their father, Chen Hanliang, set his jaw. "Don't you dare follow in your worthless brother's footsteps!"

"Stay away from him. Whatever he asks you to do, ignore him."

"I know," Chen Wujun nodded, then went to his room to change before heading out with his father to the dental clinic.

Once outside, there was not a trace of sunlight. The two of them wound through one alleyway after another, up and down staircases, sometimes climbing, sometimes descending, always moving through the bowels of a single colossal structure.

This was the Walled City. Countless decrepit buildings pressed together into one titanic mass, its interior passages twisting like a labyrinth.

The entire Walled City reeked perpetually of rot, blood, and mildew, all blended into a foul miasma that made outsiders recoil.

Combined with the labyrinthine roads and chaotic conditions inside, even the police refused to enter. It had become a lawless zone, governed by no one.

Yet this patch of land, barely 0.082 square kilometers, was home to a hundred and fifty thousand souls.

The world had been divided by the Federation into twenty-two districts, split between East Districts 1 through 11 and West Districts 1 through 11.

The Walled City sat within North Port, in East District 9.

East District 9 was not the best of the core districts, but neither was it the worst. The worst were those dozen-odd mining areas, where people supposedly rarely lived past forty.

Every year, countless people risked dying at sea to smuggle themselves into East District 9, ultimately disappearing into the Walled City.

Over a hundred thousand residents packed inside, and who knew how many of them were undocumented smugglers or wanted fugitives.

As Chen Wujun navigated the Walled City alongside his father, they rounded a corner and he spotted graffiti scrawled across the wall: "Robbery is prohibited in this area. Violators will have their hands severed." He stopped instinctively, lingering a moment to study the words.

'If robbery is forbidden here, that means everywhere else is fair game?'

He had seen the sign plenty of times before, but had never given it much thought.

With a degenerate gambler bleeding the family dry, Chen Wujun figured that counting on his parents to fund his martial arts school was a fool's hope. Who knew how long that could take.

He decided a man ought to rely on himself.