Madman!

Chapter 38: The Four Heavenly Kings of Hetu

A little past eight in the morning, Chen Wujun was circling an equilateral triangle drawn on the martial arts hall floor, his feet never lifting from the ground as though wading through mud, each step landing precisely on one of the triangle's vertices.

The hall's door swung open. Chen Wujun didn't even glance up, his mind entirely absorbed in his training.

With Senior Brother Li around, he wasn't worried about security.

Then a familiar voice rang out:

"Master Li, thank you so much for always looking after my boy!"

Chen Wujun halted mid-step and turned. There stood his father, Chen Hanliang, clutching a bag of fruit.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Chen Wujun asked, a bit puzzled.

"The master's been taking such good care of you — of course I should come and thank him!" Chen Hanliang declared, straightening his back.

"I'll leave you two to chat!" Senior Brother Li grabbed the fruit and made himself scarce.

"Also, you haven't been home in days. Your mother's worried sick. Things in the Walled City have been chaotic lately — I heard the gangs have been fighting again. People dead everywhere, blood all over Longjin Street!""Yeah, I heard about that too. Pretty brutal stuff!" Chen Wujun replied as if it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"So your mother sent me to check on you, and also to tell you — stop wandering around! If you run into any of those gang people, stay far away! When they start fighting, blades don't have eyes..." Chen Hanliang cautioned.

"Ahem — ahem, ahem!"

Chen Wujun glanced to the side and caught Senior Brother Li turning his head away, face twitching with barely suppressed laughter.

"Got it, got it!"

"Oh, and one more thing — are you coming home for dinner tonight?"

"There's something going on at the hall tonight. I'll come home for dinner tomorrow!" Chen Wujun said.

He had a meeting this afternoon and had no idea when he'd be back.

"Then I'll let your mother know! I won't hold you up any longer — stay safe!" Chen Hanliang called out as he headed for the door.

After Chen Hanliang left, Chen Wujun sat down to rest.

"Must be nice, having someone who cares about you," Senior Brother Li murmured, a hint of longing in his voice.

Chen Wujun turned to look at him. He realized he didn't know much about Senior Brother Li's situation at all.

But Senior Brother Li only let out that single sigh before falling silent.

After lunch, Chen Wujun went home and changed. Black trousers, a royal blue dress shirt. He studied himself in the mirror for a long time, then unbuttoned the top two buttons and rolled his sleeves up twice.

He ran a comb through his hair, sweeping it upward, and only after giving himself a satisfied nod did he head for Jindi Finance.

On the way, he made a quick call to Ah Fei and Curry.

"Wujun! You're here!" Ji Xiang spotted Chen Wujun and greeted him with the same warmth as always.

"Ji Xiang! Kicking back in the AC... what a life!" Chen Wujun grinned as he said hello, subtly scanning Ji Xiang's men from the corner of his eye.

Sure enough, their gazes were far more measured this time. The open contempt from his last visit was gone.

Though their eyes still carried a probing edge.

"Hey, Wujun!" Ji Xiang's subordinates called out with smiles on their faces, however evaluating their gazes remained.

Chen Wujun nodded amiably, then turned to Ji Xiang. "I've got a meeting with Shark Jiu."

He headed straight for Shark Jiu's office.

Ji Xiang watched Chen Wujun's back disappear behind the office door. Only after a long moment did he pull his gaze away and glance at his men. "What are you all staring at? Don't you have work to do?"

"Shark Jiu!"

"Time's about right. We'll talk on the way." Shark Jiu checked her watch and stood.

The moment they stepped outside, Ah Fei and Curry fell in behind them.

"Shark Jiu! Boss Chen!"

The group headed directly for the southern part of the Walled City.

"This is the old Walled City district. Everything north of Lung Tsun Road was built later..." Shark Jiu remarked as she walked, surveying their surroundings.

Chen Wujun nodded. He already knew this much.

Reportedly, the original Walled City had only encompassed this area, which explained why the buildings here were even more dilapidated.

They arrived at the Welfare Association behind Tin Hau Temple. The group entered through the back door, where the corridor was lined with muscular young men.

"Shark Jiu!" The young men greeted her as soon as they saw her, then cast appraising looks at the people behind her. Their gazes ultimately settled on Chen Wujun.

Chen Wujun met their stares with calm, steady eyes as he followed Shark Jiu into the meeting room. Inside sat a round table.

"Shark Jiu!" A thin man in his mid-thirties, wearing an orange suit, had his feet propped up on the table as he smoked. He raised a hand the moment he saw her.

"Guan Laosan — here this early? That's not like you at all." Shark Jiu pulled out a chair across from him and sat down.

"With fighting breaking out across the Walled City every day, who knows when I'll catch a stray bullet. I've been so stressed I can't even get it up when I'm with a woman. Of course I'd come early." Guan Laosan slouched in his chair with both feet on the table, then bizarrely thrust his hips upward a few times, making for a thoroughly peculiar sight.

"Aren't you in the drug business? None of your own stuff working?" Shark Jiu tossed out casually.

"Doctor won't let me take any lately!" Guan Laosan grumbled with a displeased twist of his lips.

Chen Wujun leaned against the wall behind Shark Jiu, quietly sizing up Guan Laosan and the men behind him.

Rumor had it that every potency pill in the Walled City came from Guan Laosan. He had a considerable market outside the Walled City too, and his products supposedly worked better than anything commercially available.

Of course, word was they put terrible strain on the heart. People dropping dead from them wasn't uncommon.

Even so, Guan Laosan's business thrived.

With over a hundred thousand people in the Walled City, plus the outside market, Guan Laosan was raking in obscene amounts of money every month from potency pills alone.

"Guan Laosan, Shark Jiu! You're both early! At least I'm not the last one." A chubby, short man in his forties strolled in with a perpetual smile plastered across his face.

"Tall Guy, you're looking well. Business must be good!" Guan Laosan raised a lazy hand in greeting.

"All thanks to the brothers and friends in the trade looking after me!" Tall Guy replied with his ever-present grin.

Despite the nickname, he stood barely five foot three.

Chen Wujun had heard about him from Shark Jiu and others. Behind that smiling face lurked one of the most sinister and ruthless minds around. He reportedly had a stable of assassins at his disposal.

People from outside the Walled City also came to him to have their problems "handled."

Right now, a baby-faced young man trailed behind him, wearing the same easy smile as his boss while scanning everyone in the room.

Chen Wujun finished sizing up every person present, then just stood there, bored, picking at his fingernails while keeping his ears perked for the others' conversations.

The last to arrive was someone Chen Wujun had met before — Elephant. Standing two meters ten, every inch of him radiated explosive power. Most people would flinch just standing in his shadow.

"Master Xin isn't here yet?"

"When has the big boss ever not been the last to show?" Guan Laosan tilted his head back against his chair, which teetered on its back two legs with the front ones lifted off the ground.

"Shark Jiu, I hear you've taken some heavy losses lately. Need a hand?" Elephant settled into his seat and turned toward Shark Jiu.

"Next time. Just show up a bit earlier next time," Shark Jiu replied, thoroughly disinterested.

'Let Elephant help? So he can swoop in and pick over the spoils?'

"I called you that day. Couldn't get through," Elephant said, then shifted his gaze to Chen Wujun standing behind Shark Jiu.

"Heard you started a war with Wen Long over some new recruit. This him? Doesn't look like much."

Chen Wujun looked up at Elephant, then at the two men behind him — both over six foot three, similarly packed with muscle.

By now, Chen Wujun was well-versed in the rules of this underworld.

In this world, you never showed weakness. If someone looked down on you, you hit back.

He continued picking at his nails, his tone unhurried and deliberate:

"Guess from now on, we should just settle everything by comparing heights."

"Shark Jiu, didn't you teach your boy manners? Since when does he get to open his mouth in here?" Elephant didn't even spare Chen Wujun a glance.

"He's got a point though, doesn't he? Just line everyone up by height from now on — no need to fight at all," Guan Laosan chimed in from the side with a mischievous grin.

"Great idea! Next time there's trouble, just have Elephant stand there. The Lidong boys will walk the other way on their own!" Shark Jiu piled on with a mocking smile.

Elephant let out a cold snort and leaned back in his chair.

He couldn't be bothered squabbling with one of Shark Jiu's underlings.

But the men behind Elephant fixed Chen Wujun with hostile stares.

The door opened again. First, five or six young men with commanding presences filed in, followed by a man roughly five foot eleven, solidly built, wearing dress slacks, a vest over a shirt. He appeared to be in his fifties, and as he strode toward the head of the table, he smiled warmly:

"Everyone's here, I see!"

"Every one of you glowing with health. Looks like business has been good all around."

"Master Xin!" Everyone rose to their feet.

After Master Xin took his seat, the others sat back down.

"Laosan, thanks for that medicine you sent over. I've been adding a bit to my soup every day," Master Xin opened with pleasantries.

"I'll have someone prepare another batch for you!"

"Still going strong, Master Xin!" Tall Guy remarked with a laugh.

"Don't get the wrong idea — it's not the kind of stuff Laosan sells. It's for healing injuries and general recovery. You all know my condition." Master Xin chuckled.

"Elephant, I hear your fighting matches have been going spectacularly. Even high rollers from outside the Walled City are coming in to bet."

"Naturally! My fights are the most explosive in town!" Elephant declared without a shred of modesty.

Master Xin then turned his gaze to Shark Jiu and Tall Guy, exchanging a few cordial words with each of them.

Only then did he get down to business.

"Hetu and Lidong have maintained an unspoken truce for years now. This time, Shark Jiu and Wen Long broke the balance." He looked at Shark Jiu. "Let's hear it."

"He came after my people, so I came after his. What, did he think my words were just hot air?" Shark Jiu spread her hands.

"Regardless, you both broke the balance." Master Xin cut straight to it: "Things have escalated badly. If this continues into all-out war, the losses on both sides will be catastrophic. So — how do we resolve this?" He swept his gaze across the room.

"Let them fight if they want to fight!" Elephant bared his teeth, anticipation and bloodlust flickering across his face.

"Since this whole thing started because of Shark Jiu's new recruit, just hand him over and it's settled. Eat when you want, sleep when you want, and I can finally get a decent night's rest!" Guan Laosan suggested with an amused smirk.

Chen Wujun's eyes burned with a fierce glint as he shot a look at Guan Laosan.

Shark Jiu spoke up immediately: "Guan Laosan, you love handing people over so much — why don't you hand over your mother?"

"My mother never chopped up any Lidong men. They wouldn't want her even if I offered. Besides... Shark Jiu, there are subordinates watching. Could you at least give me a little face?" Guan Laosan didn't get angry in the slightest, maintaining his impish grin.

Then his tone shifted:

"Shark Jiu won't hand anyone over, so what opinion could I possibly have? Let's see what Master Xin says."

Tall Guy had been quietly watching the others speak the entire time. Only after everyone else had their say did he open his mouth: "I don't have any particular opinion either. Whatever Master Xin decides. If he says fight, we fight. If he says negotiate, we negotiate."