Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 43 - 34: Coming to Ask for Money

Chapter 43: Chapter 34: Coming to Ask for Money

In the midst of mountains.

Underground.

In a vast warehouse shrouded in darkness and depth.

This place was under some kind of stringent protection, lacking even a single procedure could bar entry, or even result in immediate arrest and delivery to a secret military court, to be judged for treason and executed by firing squad on the spot.

In the silent warehouse, however, a voice arose:

"Wu Xiaode..."

"Both parents were military personnel, long dead, and details were too dated to retrieve."

"This kid is pretty average in all respects..."

"Why did he have to emerge at that critical moment and ruin our plans?"

Li Zheng murmured softly as he gazed at the information displayed on the screen.

Suddenly, the screen flickered, and an encrypted communication request appeared at the center of the screen.

Li Zheng’s expression turned serious, and he immediately clicked to open it.

In an instant, video windows popped up all over the screen.

Those influential figures whose mere stomping could shake the entire country were unexpectedly gathered online, all looking towards Li Zheng.

A voice that was sometimes hoarse, sometimes piercing, suddenly spoke up:

"Your mission has failed."

"Yes, it was my oversight, I did not anticipate things turning out like that in the end, please administer punishment," Li Zheng said hastily as he knelt down with a tone of piety.

However, the bigwigs in the video windows showed no intention of rebuke.

Some even smiled at Li Zheng.

"Punishment... it’s not necessary; you did well," said the voice.

Li Zheng was stunned, then said softly, "I failed to complete the assassination... why... "

"Because you managed to find out the Guardian hidden in the dark by their family."

The photo of Wu Xiaode popped up on the screen.

"Only after completely eradicating the Zhao family’s bloodline can we seize the powers held in their hands, but no one knew what kind of preparations the Zhao family had clandestinely made."

"This time, you brought him out, and that’s good."

Li Zheng listened intently and asked, "So what should I do next?"

"To kill Zhao Junyu, you must eliminate his Guardian first. Go kill Wu Xiaode and bring back his head to report your duty," the sharp voice directed.

"How should I proceed?" Li Zheng asked.

"That’s why you’re here."

"I really... can use it?"

"Yes, we authorize you to use it—Go. Kill Wu Xiaode and let the blood of the royal Guardian be the prelude to our revolution."

The call ended.

The screen completely darkened.

Li Zheng’s furrowed brows finally relaxed.

"Trash blocking my path to success..."

"Now you’ve come to the moment where you must die."

"You’ll understand when you’re dying that there are things you should not touch, and some people are not to be provoked!"

He nonchalantly shut down the entire interface and called up another control panel, his fingers rapidly tapping on it.

For a while.

A long line of prompt runes appeared on the control panel:

"Permissions decentralized, activation authority granted!"

"Action approved!"

"Use of ultra-era weaponry permitted!"

"Weapon system password verified, weapon lock disengaged!"

"Capital’s high-altitude flight plan loaded!"

"Combat support troops ready!"

"Weaponry now on standby!"

"Awaiting orders——"

Looking at the long series of prompt runes, Li Zheng felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.

——Only the concerted efforts of all the big figures could have made this possible, otherwise who could deploy this weapon?

He took a deep breath and said softly, "Activate the weapon, enter combat ready state."

A faint hum rose in the darkness.

In midair, a large steel hand silently appeared, dropping down noiselessly, suspended a centimeter above the ground.

Li Zheng leaped onto the steel hand.

The hand silently ascended.

Streams of flickering electronic light illuminated the darkness and then merged into a pair, forming into a pair of cold eyes wreathed in lightning.

Light began to illuminate the entire warehouse.

The cockpit door of the towering Mobile Battle Armor, over ten meters high, swung open.

Li Zheng gently leaped from the steel hand into the cockpit, his hands quickly tapping on the control panel.

The cockpit door closed slowly.

Boom!!!

In a deafening roar, the gigantic steel Battle Armor surged towards the sky.

Above the distant mechanical warehouse below, launch hatches had opened, revealing the azure sky outside.

"Time: Ten o’clock in the morning."

"Assassination mission commences!"

"Target location searched, target locked."

"Flight route selection begins, Invisibility protocol underway, silencing waves released."

"Prepare——Departure——"

The massive steel Battle Armor shot into the clouds, and suddenly, without any further sound, even the entire armor seemed to vanish into thin air, disappearing in an instant.

...

"Stay for lunch before you go," Qian Mingkui said.

"Thanks," Wu Xiaode said.

The little girl looked at him suspiciously and said, "You’re not here to beg for food, are you? To be honest, we’re almost out of money ourselves."

"Little Shi, don’t talk nonsense," Qian Mingkui scolded her.

"Well, why don’t you join us then? My dad is the kind of man who’d even fake accidents for a payout."

The little girl boasted before running back to continue her homework.

Qian Mingkui got up from the ground, dusted off his sleeves, and said, "Don’t take it the wrong way. Her mother left us because she couldn’t stand our poverty and took off with someone else. I’m not good at teaching—yet she manages to be first in her class just by studying on her own."

"To self-study and come out on top? That’s pretty smart," Wu Xiaode praised.

"Haha, you flatter me, you flatter me," Qian Mingkui chuckled, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"Elder Qian, why don’t we have a real sparring session?"

Wu Xiaode couldn’t help but issue the invitation once more.

——His body was still itching from time to time.

But now he could scratch, dig, pinch, and grab, so it was bearable.

The itching wasn’t important; what was, was that it kept reminding him there was still one wall whose function he hadn’t figured out.

Sparring with someone might just give him the inspiration he needed.

"That’s out of the question," Qian Mingkui repeatedly shook his head.

"Why?" Wu Xiaode asked, curious.

"It’s just Little Shi and me at home. If I were to get injured, who’s going to take her to school? To be honest with you, our area on the outskirts, previously called the rural-urban fringe, doesn’t have the best public safety," said Qian Mingkui.

Wu Xiaode appeared thoughtful.

Bang——

The door of the martial arts school was suddenly kicked open.

A ruffian-looking young man stood at the door, glanced inside, and said, "Fatty Qian, it’s time to pay up for this month. Hand it over now."

Qian Mingkui’s expression changed. He hurried forward, lit a cigarette for the other man, and said in a placating tone, "Brother Wang, please give me a few more days. I’m about to have some money coming in."

"Make it quick, or we won’t be able to handle it if Little Yi loses his temper. And don’t even think about having a peaceful life," said the young man impatiently.

"Certainly! Absolutely!" Qian Mingkui nodded and bowed repeatedly.

"Good, Elder Qian, you know the stakes," the young man said, blowing smoke into his face and turning to leave. But then he heard another voice coming from inside the dojo:

"Hold on."

The young man turned his head and looked toward the youth on the training ground.

"You calling me?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Wu Xiaode looked the young man up and down then turned to Qian Mingkui, probing, "Protection money?"

"Bullshit, no matter what you do in this neighborhood, you’ve got to pay up to Little Yi," the young man said impatiently.

Wu Xiaode was surprised, "Elder Qian, you run a martial arts school, and you have to pay these thugs?"

"We’re all old acquaintances, just looking out for each other,"

Qian Mingkui desperately made eye signs at him.

While shaking his head, Wu Xiaode approached the two, saying, "That won’t do. Your school’s founder would roll over in his grave if he saw this. Here, let me take care of this for you."

Before Qian Mingkui could respond, the young man laughed, "You? You’re not even fully grown, and you want to teach me a lesson? Today I’ll make you understand your place—" He pulled a machete from behind his back.

Wu Xiaode’s eyes twitched.

This was bringing a weapon into the fight.

Using a weapon was a serious aggravating factor in the eyes of the law, and what was a minor offense could suddenly become a major one, turning a sentence of under three years into one of more than three years.

This proved just how dangerous wielding a weapon was.

——You can’t control your knife.

If two people argue and come to blows, punching and tripping, the worst that happens is that they end up bruised at the police station, talking it over.

But if one of them has a knife, it changes the whole situation.

When someone gets carried away in anger, they could lash out with the knife, and then it’s over.

In reality, even renowned fighters, once faced with an armed assailant, lose the advantage of all their skills.

Let alone a group of ordinary people.

The bones of a human body are actually soft, just like a fish when it’s alive—it’s quite resilient.

A fish’s bones only become hard once it’s on the table.

Therefore, when sharp weapons like knives or daggers penetrate the body, there isn’t much resistance at all.

If a person is stabbed, their body’s defense mechanism will immediately kick into action.

The effect is——

You’ll find all your strength gone, unable to move.

Unless you are the kind of person who gets an adrenaline rush and is able to fight back through sheer bravery,

Most people, upon being stabbed, can hardly move at all.

To put it another way——

There are vital spots all over the human body, and once one is punctured, the person typically loses the ability to fight back.

So the moment you see someone reaching for something, you have to be on guard.

Wu Xiaode’s entire demeanor changed abruptly as he clenched his fists slightly, exuding a murderous intent.

He was on alert.

If it had been before, the moment someone else reached for a knife, he would have run right away.

——After all, we’re all ordinary people, who wants to take things to the extreme?

But now things were different.

Seeing the killing intent in his eyes, Qian Mingkui frantically said,

"There’s no need for this—why go to such lengths—"

Wu Xiaode cut him off and stepped forward, saying to the young man, "Come on."

The young man had barely taken a step when Wu Xiaode’s fist already hit his face.

Crack!

A crisp sound.

Blood gushed from his nose.

The young man stumbled back two steps, clutching his nose, and said in a muffled voice, "You just wait, Little Yi won’t let you off."

Then he ran off.