Madman!

Chapter 37: Broadening Horizons

Tonight, the streets of the Walled City were unusually deserted.

Chen Wujun led his men to Elderly Street, and even from a distance, the sounds of fighting reached his ears.

As they drew closer, the scene unfolded before them: over a hundred people crammed into the narrow street, locked in bloody combat. Others fought in the adjacent alleyways, and still more clashed in the stairwells of the buildings on either side.

"Aagh!" A scream pierced the air as a man tumbled from a second-floor stairwell, his body carved with several blade wounds, blood gurgling from his mouth.

"One of ours!" Curry glanced at the fallen man, then tilted his head upward. Through the gap between two buildings, he could make out figures running and fighting on the floors above.

"Follow me!" Chen Wujun drew a deep breath, his pace quickening, blood roaring through his veins.

Carnage surrounded them on all sides — ahead, to the flanks, overhead. Hetu and Lidong fighters were tangled together in a chaotic melee.

It was like a battlefield. Allies everywhere, and enemies everywhere too.

Two Lidong foot soldiers burst from a side alley, machetes raised high, chopping down at Chen Wujun's head.

Chen Wujun shifted into the Triangle Step, sidestepping around one man in a flash. His blade bit into the man's neck, and a swift kick sent the body crashing into the second thug.Without sparing the other a second glance, Chen Wujun pressed forward.

Curry and several others swarmed the remaining Lidong soldier, hacking him down in a flurry of blades.

By then, Chen Wujun had already carved his way over ten meters through the crowd, slashing every Lidong fighter he passed.

Five or six dropped in rapid succession.

He was a spearhead, driving his men deep into the fray.

After cutting down over a dozen enemies, twenty or thirty of his own people had fallen in behind him, punching straight into the heart of the battlefield — impossible to miss.

A small clearing opened up in front of Yongfa Building. There, Chen Wujun spotted Ah Hao, locked in a brutal brawl with a tall, fair-skinned young man who had surprisingly delicate features.

Both were wounded, their weapons lost somewhere in the chaos, fighting bare-handed.

Ah Hao was clearly losing.

When the tall young man saw Chen Wujun arriving with reinforcements, cutting a bloody path through the crowd, he kicked Ah Hao away and retreated backward.

Scanning the surroundings, fighters on both sides continued to fall, but neither side held a clear advantage.

The young man stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-splitting whistle.

Lidong's people began pulling back.

Hetu's fighters, in turn, converged on Ah Hao's position.

Flower Boy Rong and Cun Bao leaped down from one of the buildings, both drenched in blood, and took their places beside Ah Hao.

"Gao Sheng, is Ghost Dragon looking to start a war?" Ah Hao's lips were still smeared with blood, his expression dark as he glared at the other man.

"Someone paid good money!" The tall, fair-skinned young man — Gao Sheng — flashed a grin at Ah Hao. It was technically a smile, but it carried the stench of blood. "Since we couldn't take it, there's no point keeping at it!"

Realization dawned on Chen Wujun. No wonder Wen Long's men had been scattered yesterday only to return in even greater numbers today.

Most of Shark Jiu's people were already here — close to a hundred fighters.

The enemy still had the numerical advantage.

"Gao Sheng!" A man emerged from a nearby alley — one of Wen Long's subordinates, drenched head to toe in blood, glaring at Gao Sheng with barely contained fury, convinced he hadn't pulled his weight.

More men filed out behind him.

"We couldn't break through... and now they've got reinforcements!" Gao Sheng shrugged. "If anything, blame your own guys for being useless."

"We did our part!"

He didn't bother showing much courtesy.

After all, they'd only come to help Wen Long reclaim territory because they'd been paid — not to fight to the death.

When that wave of reinforcements had arrived, if he hadn't called the retreat, he might have been the one left behind tonight.

Besides, Wen Long himself hadn't even shown up.

Even though Wen Long was one of the weaker Five Dragon Generals, he was still a Harmonization Phase expert.

If Wen Long had been here, the enemy would already be routed.

But Wen Long feared Shark Jiu. He'd barely escaped yesterday, and naturally didn't dare show his face today.

Ghost Dragon's people certainly weren't going to lay down their lives for him either.

"Pull out!" Gao Sheng waved his hand, and his men gradually fell back, withdrawing from Elderly Street entirely.

Wen Long's people had no choice but to retreat as well.

Only then did Ah Hao let out a breath of relief. He turned to survey his remaining forces and noticed the ranks had thinned considerably. Another costly engagement.

"Get the wounded patched up first. Everyone still on their feet, clean up the battlefield. Drag their people to the alley entrances — let them collect their own."

Whether dead or injured, the protocol was the same.

Only in cases of deep blood feuds would anyone bother finishing off the fallen.

"Post a few people at the street entrances to keep watch!" Chen Wujun turned and instructed Ah Fei and Curry.

Ah Hao leaned against a wall and fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He offered one to Chen Wujun, then passed them to Flower Boy Rong and Cun Bao.

"You got here just in time," Ah Hao remarked.

It wasn't sarcasm. When he'd made the call, the enemy had already reached the street entrance. There'd been no posturing — both sides had clashed immediately.

Chen Wujun had rushed over the moment he got word and arrived right when the two sides were deadlocked. Like a spearhead, he'd carved open a bloody path and forced Gao Sheng to retreat.

"That guy just now — he's one of Ghost Dragon's?" Chen Wujun took the cigarette, lit it, and drew a few puffs.

"Gao Sheng. Tough bastard to deal with," Ah Hao warned. "Don't let his easy exit tonight fool you — that's only because he wasn't fighting for his life."

Chen Wujun nodded, committing the name to memory.

"Let's sit over there. Why stand around when there are chairs?" Cun Bao headed toward a nearby convenience store, banging on the metal shutter. Clang-clang-clang.

"Hey boss, bring out some stools. And two crates of soda while you're at it."

The moment the fighting had started, the shop owner had yanked the iron gate shut.

Now that the violence had passed, he cautiously cracked open the door and set two crates of soda outside.

A girl wearing glasses emerged with her head down, carrying several folding stools.

She looked sixteen or seventeen, braces glinting on her teeth. When she lifted her gaze and saw Chen Wujun, she froze.

She never would have expected to see Chen Wujun here, dressed in obviously expensive slacks and a button-down — though both were now splattered with blood.

He stood tall, brimming with vitality, his eyes sharp and bright.

Completely different from before. The change was so dramatic she almost hadn't recognized him.

And judging by appearances, he held no small status in this group.

"Your family runs this place?" Chen Wujun was equally surprised to see her.

He hadn't expected to run into a classmate here.

"Yeah... I definitely didn't expect to see you here either," the girl said, then turned and went back inside.

She had questions she wanted to ask, but deep down, these people frightened her — Chen Wujun included.

Just moments ago, the sounds of butchery had filled the air outside. Through the window, she'd watched people get hacked down, blood pooling across the ground.

"A schoolgirl, huh? You know her?" Ah Hao glanced at the girl and asked casually.

"Yeah," Chen Wujun replied without elaborating.

He attended school outside the Walled City. There were about a dozen students from the Walled City in his class, and they all knew each other fairly well.

Ah Hao, Flower Boy Rong, Cun Bao, and Chen Wujun sat smoking and chatting while the others cleaned up the battlefield — moving the lightly wounded to the side and rushing the critically injured to the clinic.

It wasn't until past eleven at night, once they were certain Lidong wouldn't be coming back, that Chen Wujun finally led his men away.

...

Over the next two days, Chen Wujun spent every morning at the martial arts hall and every afternoon with his men at the gambling den and Elderly Street.

The two sides clashed once more. Lidong's fighters retreated again in the end, though Shark Jiu's forces also suffered significant losses.

Three days had passed, and the swelling on Chen Wujun's wrist had gone down considerably. He still couldn't exert full force, but it was no longer a serious issue.

Standing at a street corner, Chen Wujun held two skewers of fish balls, studying the alley across from him.

The loan sharks who'd come to his home to collect — their operation was right down that alley.

He'd been running a bit short on cash lately.

"Brother Jun, the disc! The one you said you wanted to watch." Curry handed him a DVD.

Chen Wujun took it and glanced at the title. A Moment of Romance.

He carried the disc back to the gambling den with Curry.

The den had been closed for days now, so they mostly sat around killing time, playing cards.

Chen Wujun also took the opportunity to ask Ah Fei and Curry about New Arts.

Both had undergone Enhancement Reconstruction past twenty-five percent but under thirty.

From their accounts, Chen Wujun gained a much better understanding of the New Arts.

At eight that evening, Chen Wujun received a call from Shark Jiu.

"Come with me tomorrow to broaden your horizons. Two o'clock in the afternoon — bring a few people and join me for a meeting. And make sure you dress sharp!"

Chen Wujun's pulse quickened. A meeting at a time like this was surely related to the recent fighting.

Attending this meeting would serve two purposes: learning how the disputed territories would be handled, and making an appearance within Hetu — putting faces to names.

After all, these meetings brought together the big boss and all Four Heavenly Kings.

"Got it, Senior Sister!"

After hanging up, Chen Wujun walked back into the gambling den. "Ah Fei, Curry — you're coming with me tomorrow. We're attending a meeting with Sis Shark Jiu."

"Dress properly!"

Both men's eyes lit up with excitement.

Neither had ever been high enough in the ranks to attend a meeting like this before.

At half past ten, Chen Wujun figured nothing else would happen tonight. He told Ah Fei and Curry to hold things down, grabbed the DVD, and headed out.

He didn't return to his own place. Instead, when he reached the seventh floor, he turned down a corridor and crossed into an adjacent building.

Ah Yue rented a room here. It was about the same size as Chen Wujun's old place — slightly cleaner, a couple floors lower on the eighth floor, and significantly pricier at three thousand a month.

After moving in, Ah Yue had scrubbed the place top to bottom several times over. Chen Wujun found it far more comfortable than his own rathole.

Ah Yue cracked the door open, and the moment she saw it was Chen Wujun, she swung it wide, her face blooming into a radiant smile. "You're early tonight."

"Brought a disc to watch!" Chen Wujun pressed it into her hands.

"I've never actually watched a DVD before!" Ah Yue turned the case over in her hands, delighted. Her smile grew even brighter.

...

Ah Yue nestled in Chen Wujun's arms. When the male lead, Wah Dee, collapsed to the ground convulsing, and the female lead, Jojo, stumbled through the streets in her wedding dress, barefoot and frantic — Ah Yue's tears streamed nonstop.

Chen Wujun's expression, meanwhile, remained completely blank. Not a flicker of emotion.

He'd seen too many dead people these past few days.

This was just how it was out here.

And you had to use your head. Without brains, you ended up like the male lead.

The only scene in the entire film that truly caught his interest was the jewelry company heist.

It gave him some new ideas.