Madman!

Chapter 87: It Was Ji Xiang

"Brother Jun, we've found a location for the arcade. Want to come take a look?"

"I'll be there shortly." Chen Wujun tossed his phone aside. He was currently eating at his newer lodgings.

Ah Yue's cooking had improved significantly compared to before.

When he had no pressing matters at noon, he would return to her place to eat.

After the meal, Chen Wujun dressed and left, while Ah Yue hummed a tune as she cleared the table.

She was quite content with her current life; at the very least, she had found stability here. Chen Wujun wasn't a man of bad temper, nor did he treat her poorly.

Recently, he had increased her allowance to six thousand. After covering expenses for her father and younger brother, she even had some left over.

Her only lingering worry was her brother's education.

However, they lacked legal status.

She wanted to find an opportunity to ask Chen Wujun if it was possible to obtain residency status for East District 9.......

"Brother Jun, what do you think of this place?" Ah Fei and two underlings led the way to a shop on Lung Tsun Road. Located on the western side, the interior was dimly lit, with only slivers of sunlight filtering down through the gaps between the towering buildings above.

The surroundings were incredibly noisy, with the sounds of electric saws, drills, and hammers ringing out incessantly.

Inside, the floor was littered with wood shavings and debris.

The area to the west was filled with various family-run workshops making rubber pumps, shoe soles, rulers, and textiles...

To the east lay the residential zone, which was somewhat more prosperous.

"This place used to be a pencil factory, but business tanked, so they closed up and put it for rent."

"It's over five hundred square feet in total. We can place two rows of machines against the walls and two rows back-to-back in the center. It holds twenty units easily, leaving enough room for aisles. We can also fit a counter over here for coin exchange and selling drinks."

"The only downside is the surrounding workshops. It's noisy and the air quality is poor... but for an arcade, those things don't really matter."

Indeed, the cacophony inside an arcade would drown out the noise from outside anyway.

"The foot traffic is good; lots of students pass by here on their way to school..."

"I've asked about the rent. Five thousand five hundred a month."

"This is the one." Chen Wujun nodded. The rent matched his budget, and the space was larger than expected.

"Negotiate with the landlord. We pay rent quarterly."

The pair then moved to Lung Kong Road. This was Chen Wujun's territory, and one of the shops was already being cleared out.

It had formerly been an appliance repair shop.

They toured the inside; it was smaller than the previous one, only about four hundred square feet, but sufficient.

"Is the deal for the second-hand machines settled? Clean this place up simply, debug the machines, and open for business. Arrange for two subordinates to hand out flyers," Chen Wujun ordered.

"It's settled. We secured deals with two places inside the Walled City and made some contacts outside. Thirty-eight machines in total for the two arcades. Besides Street Fighter II, we have Final Fight, Snow Bros, and Raiden. We'll also put two slot machines in each shop so people have something to play while waiting."

Chen Wujun nodded slightly. Although Ah Fei's martial prowess was average, he was meticulous with these kinds of miscellaneous tasks.

"I'm leaving this to you. Draw the funds from the gambling den's accounts for now and report the total to me later."

His mind was currently consumed by the Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover; he was happy to delegate these trivial matters to his subordinates.

"Brother Jun, there's one more thing." Seeing Chen Wujun about to leave, Ah Fei hurriedly stopped him.

He signaled the minions to wait outside and walked Chen Wujun to a corner.

"Brother Jun, rumors have been spreading on the streets these past two days... that you injured Sister Karen's men and slapped her in the face..."

"Oh?" Chen Wujun didn't take it to heart; it was the truth, after all.

"Many are saying you're formidable, Brother Jun, and that Sister Karen can't even protect her own people..." Ah Fei hesitated before adding cautiously, "But others are saying Sister Shark Jiu is unfair and biased toward you, allowing you to suppress a veteran like Karen..."

"If just one person said it, I'd ignore it... but several people are saying the same thing... I suspect Lidong's remnants might be sowing discord?"

Chen Wujun hadn't cared initially, but hearing Ah Fei out, his internal alarms went off.

"I didn't realize you were so observant," Chen Wujun praised. "Good work. If you hear anything else, tell me."

"Understood, Brother Jun," Ah Fei replied immediately, thinking privately that Fa Zai was quite sharp and resolving to commend him later.

It wasn't actually Ah Fei who had noticed, but Fa Zai, who had reported it to him.

Chen Wujun left the shop and walked back at a leisurely pace, his mind working furiously.

'Karen wouldn't be the one spreading this... Although many dancers saw it, they wouldn't dare gossip... Someone is definitely stirring the pot...'

'How would Lidong's people know the specific details of my conflict with Karen?'

'My enemies are few; I can count them on one hand. If it's not Lidong... then it can only be Ji Xiang!'

Chen Wujun quickly locked onto Ji Xiang as the prime suspect. His suspicion was strongest.

As for whether it might be someone else... Chen Wujun decided it was him anyway.

"I'll go find trouble with him when we hand over the accounts in a few days."

......

Two days later, Chen Wujun sat inside a large wooden tub. He inhaled deeply, feeling his diaphragm press down like a drum skin before beginning to vibrate.

As he tensed his entire body, over two hundred bones, along with his fascia and muscles, began to tremble in unison.

A buzzing sound, reminiscent of rolling thunder, emanated from within his body.

Even the water in the tub rippled continuously, forming countless tiny wavelets.

Finally, the breath could no longer be suppressed. It surged up from his abdomen into his chest and exploded from his throat.

"Roar!"

It was as if a great tiger sat upon a mountain boulder, roaring into the forest.

A gust of wind swept through the entire room.

Simultaneously, Chen Wujun felt a wave of heat entering his body through his pores amidst the vibration of his muscles and bones, nourishing his organs and tissues.

'I got it right this time!' Chen Wujun rejoiced inwardly. He took another deep breath, pressing down on his diaphragm again.

Moments later, another roar erupted from his throat.

Just as clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger; every time Chen Wujun vocalized, a gust of wind manifested in the room.

In a nearby room, a man was just preparing to get intimate when a tiger-like roar startled him so badly he shuddered.

"Fuck, who has no public decency?"

He barely managed to recover, but before he could get back to business, another roar rang out.

After this happened two or three times, the man's eyes were red with rage. He threw open his door and screamed, "Who is it? Are you ever going to stop?"

Inside his room, Chen Wujun turned a deaf ear to the shouting. After a long while, he stood up from the tub, the medicinal liquid sliding off his skin.

His eyes shone brightly. As he circulated his Qi and blood, his skin flushed red.

Ah Yue hurried over with a towel to dry him.

Chen Wujun stepped out of the tub and stretched. He felt his Qi and blood surging, circulating much faster than usual.

His skin felt a bit prickly and hot—the effect of the medicine—but the sensation would fade shortly.

He picked up the phone and called Curry. "Bring a few men and some wooden staves. Wait for me at the martial arts hall."

Then he dressed and went out.

Moments later, Chen Wujun arrived at the hall. Curry was already waiting with the men, and Ah Wei was among them.

"Brother Jun, who are we fixing up?"

"No one. You're helping me train," Chen Wujun said, leading them into the hall.

"Brother Jun!" Students and minions in the hall greeted him, their gazes shifting.

Ji Xiang's people had spread the news everywhere. The low-level thugs simply thought Chen Wujun was imposing—even a veteran like Karen, who had followed Shark Jiu for years, had to yield to him.

However, there were also those who felt Chen Wujun was ungrateful and had become arrogant immediately after rising to power.

Chen Wujun couldn't be bothered with their petty thoughts. He led his group to an empty room on the second floor.

"You guys, hit me with the wooden staves. Aim mostly for the chest, back, and arms." Chen Wujun took off his outer clothes, leaving only a pair of shorts, then circulated his Qi and blood to tense his muscles.

"Brother Jun, are you practicing Horizontal Training Kung Fu?" Ah Wei asked curiously, his mind racing.

His own style, Through-Back Fist, included conditioning methods to make the hands as hard as steel—capable of shattering brick walls or breaking the bones of ordinary men with a single strike.

Hearing his question, the others understood as well.

"Brother Jun, you asked us to hit you!" a minion said cautiously.

They surrounded Chen Wujun with their staves.

Chen Wujun inhaled sharply, tightening every muscle in his body. The others heard a sound like distant thunder and thought it was raining outside, but Ah Wei was filled with suspicion.

The minions swung their sticks, striking Chen Wujun's body.

The resulting thuds didn't sound like wood hitting flesh. If one closed their eyes, it sounded more like wood striking wood—a crisp, hard impact.

Chen Wujun focused entirely on the internal vibrations. When he could no longer hold his breath, the air surged from his abdomen like a ball, traveled up to his chest, and burst from his throat.

"Roar!"

"That's the Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover! And that sound... that was Bones and Muscles Resonating!" Ah Wei exclaimed in shock.

He had smuggled himself in from East District 7 and had practiced martial arts since childhood, hearing many legends of the underworld.

Fifty years ago in East District 7, a master named Deng Yuan had cultivated both the Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover and the Dragon Roaring Iron Cloth Shirt to an unprecedented level. He was impervious even to gunfire. When the Federation sent experts to arrest him, he killed or injured over a dozen of them.

Later, Deng Yuan claimed he was going to accomplish a "great deed" and vanished.

After his disappearance, his faction and subordinates were purged by the Federation; they were either killed or forced into hiding.

Nowadays, very few people in East District 7 even knew this technique, let alone cultivated it to Deng Yuan's level.

Ah Wei hadn't expected to encounter a practitioner in the Walled City of East District 9.

Hearing that tiger roar, he knew Chen Wujun was practicing the genuine article.

His family elders had told him that the vocalization was the core of the Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover. Without a teacher's guidance, merely knowing the movements was useless and could even ruin one's health.

"Continue!" Chen Wujun ordered after stabilizing his Qi and blood. He swallowed another breath, expanded his diaphragm, and circulated his energy.

It wasn't until two hours later, his body flushed completely red, that he ordered the minions to stop. He took a towel and sat aside to wipe off his sweat.

"Ah Wei, do you know about the Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover?"

"I've heard of it," Ah Wei replied.

"Tell me about it." Chen Wujun was immediately interested.

Ah Wei recounted what he knew. When he finished, Chen Wujun showed a look of longing.

To be unprecedented... to be someone the Federation was helpless against... how many in the world could achieve that?

Then, Chen Wujun thought of the photograph his master, Zhou Qing, possessed, and his heart stirred.

"Do you know what 'great deed' he went to do?"