Blast! Blast! Blast!

The vengeance owed for a murdered father was greater than heaven itself.

And the vengeance owed for a murdered son was greater still!

Li Wenzhang was Li Zaishui's only son.

Two days ago, Li Wenzhang had been found dead in an alley in the old district. His body had grown bizarrely fat, swollen beyond human shape... Only after a genetic test did Li Zaishui learn that this enormously fat man was his son.

The forensic examiner's conclusion was murder and genetic mutation.

The murder was certain. After all, few people could slit their own throats with a switchblade.

And the sudden weight gain caused by genetic mutation was not particularly hard to understand.

After the nuclear war, radiation levels around the world had risen, and all sorts of strange things were bound to appear. Martial arts drugs also stimulated the human body and had a tiny chance of causing genetic mutations.

In any case, that was what the forensic examiner said. Whether Li Zaishui believed it was his own problem.

The fact that a forensic examiner had been called in for a murder in the old district was itself a favor to Li Zaishui.

A death was no big deal in the old district.

By rights, Li Wenzhang's death should not have caused much of a stir.

The authorities certainly would not care, but Li Zaishui had to.

As the boss of the Zaishui Gang, if he stood by and did nothing after his own son was murdered, he would no longer be able to lead his men.

He spent two days establishing who Li Wenzhang had associated with before his death, and settled on Xia Lin as his target.

"I don't have any hard evidence, but I don't need any."

In the pitch-black hallway, Li Zaishui took the safety off his pistol and spoke as if to himself.

Behind him stood a burly middle-aged man, hands clasped behind his back and expression blank, like a bodyguard.

Tap, tap, tap.

Crisp footsteps sounded from below, drawing closer.

At last, the motion-sensor light on this floor came on.

The building where Xia Lin lived was an old apartment block in the old district. Hardly anyone paid the property management fee, and the management provided service to match.

The motion-sensor light worked only when it felt like it, and no one repaired it. As the footsteps sounded, the light flickered on and off like something out of a horror movie.

Amid the alternating light and darkness, Xia Lin's tall, slender figure appeared at the stairwell and caught Li Zaishui's eye.

He walked forward, neither quickly nor slowly.

Only when he was ten meters from Li Zaishui did Xia Lin stop.

"That's my home."

He pointed to the apartment door beside Li Zaishui and the burly man.

Li Zaishui smiled.

"You're exactly who I've been waiting for!"

He raised his gun and aimed it at Xia Lin.

Xia Lin raised both hands in surrender, his face full of terror. "Hold on, big brother! Don't kill me yet!"

"Even if you're going to kill me, you should at least tell me why, right? How did I offend you?"

Li Zaishui looked at Xia Lin's frightened expression, doubt rising in his mind.

Could it really have been someone else who killed him?

Still, he said, "Li Wenzhang. Know him? He's my son."

Xia Lin immediately let out a long breath. He lowered his hands and cupped them in greeting to Li Zaishui.

"So it's Uncle Li. Of course I know Li Wenzhang. He's the senior brother at our martial arts school."

"So you came to see me this time..."

Li Zaishui relaxed his finger and said gently, "My son is dead."

Xia Lin nodded. "Yeah, I know. I killed him."

Li Zaishui froze. Then he saw Xia Lin rub his chin and say with a flash of realization, "You came to get revenge, didn't you? Well, you've found the right person. But aren't you afraid that once I get to hell, I'll kill your precious son all over again?"

Bang.

His face flushed red, Li Zaishui pulled the trigger without another word!

The bullet triggered the motion-sensor light and sped toward the spot between Xia Lin's brows too fast for the eye to see.

Xia Lin did not move.

His agility attribute of 13 was not enough to let him follow a bullet's trajectory-even one fired from a small-caliber pistol.

Naturally, he could not dodge a shot from a pistol either.

But he did not need to!

After the bullet struck Xia Lin squarely between the brows, he finally saw the little projectile bounce off his forehead with a bang, then roll to the floor with a clink.

And from beginning to end, Xia Lin felt nothing else.

No pain, no numbness, no itching.

Martial artists did not die from gunfire!

He raised a hand and felt his forehead. It seemed the skin had not even broken, and there was no redness or swelling.

Xia Lin smiled at that, grinning at the dumbstruck Li Zaishui.

His eyes slowly deepened, and within their depths, a red light gradually began to flicker.

He raised a leg and walked toward Li Zaishui, one step at a time.

Slowly but steadily.

Bangs rang out in succession. The bullets struck Xia Lin as though they had hit a wall of bronze and iron, unable to so much as break his skin.

Then the clicks rang out.

Li Zaishui was out of bullets.

Terror spread across his face. "You... what kind of monster are you!?"

"Thanks for the compliment." Xia Lin smiled, then began to speed up.

A hand suddenly seized the hem of Li Zaishui's clothes and pulled him back.

"It's Mechanical Martial Arts, and an implanted bulletproof force field."

The strong man stepped forward, placing himself between Xia Lin and Li Zaishui.

Huang Yue, a Fierce Martial Arts practitioner, was also Li Zaishui's sworn brother.

Before Xia Lin, the strong man took up a stance.

It was a New Martial Arts boxing stance.

He was tall and powerfully built. As he looked at Xia Lin, his eyes were grave.

As a Fierce Martial Arts practitioner who had fought in the Savage Martial Arena more than ten times, he naturally knew how terrifying Mechanical Martial Arts could be.

But given the situation, if he retreated, Li Zaishui would surely die.

So he did not retreat. Instead, he prepared to test his skills against Xia Lin. As a Fierce Martial Arts practitioner, Huang Yue had plenty of courage and feared no challenge.

He looked at Xia Lin.

His eyes were blood-red, his face wore a sinister smile, and he looked like a madman. Combined with their earlier conversation, this made Huang Yue strongly suspect there was something wrong with him.

But then again, who among those who followed the path of Mechanical Martial Arts was not crazy?

They gave up perfectly good human bodies and turned themselves into part-machine or even fully mechanical monsters.

Such people had something wrong with either their heads or their bodies.

Fortunately, Xia Lin's movements were very stiff... at least in Huang Yue's eyes.

It was as if he had only just begun learning to fight and had no real combat experience.

His movements were slow, too. Very, very slow.

In the eyes of Huang Yue, a veteran Fierce Martial Arts practitioner, Xia Lin moved as though in slow motion. This meant there was a considerable gap between their attributes.

By attribute values, Huang Yue's strength and agility were close to 20 points.

With that kind of difference in attributes, even if Xia Lin practiced Mechanical Martial Arts, he was no match for Huang Yue.

Considering the many and varied methods of Mechanical Martial Arts, which were hard to guard against, Huang Yue could not risk taking the initiative. He simply assumed his stance, ready to defend and counterattack.

Thus, one second later, Xia Lin's heavy punch slammed straight into Huang Yue's arm.

The force... was very gentle.

Comparable to a woman's embrace.

Huang Yue relaxed, thinking Xia Lin was nothing special.

But just after making that assessment, Huang Yue's eyes suddenly widened.

In his field of vision, a strange thing the length of a forearm had appeared out of thin air beside Xia Lin. It was too big to be called a bullet and too small to be called a missile.

"What is that thing!?"

Huang Yue was utterly baffled.

Xia Lin's smile grew even more twisted.

"Blast!"

He softly uttered the word, and the missile shot toward Huang Yue.

Then it detonated with a roar!

A scorching blast wave erupted between them.

Iron fragments flew, whipping up a storm of steel!

Everything within three meters of where the missile landed became a blast zone.

Its power was not great.

It was about as powerful as an ordinary grenade.

But no matter how limited its power, it was still stronger than a bullet! And it was far beyond what a human body could withstand!

Flames, the shock wave, and iron fragments flew in every direction. Huang Yue felt as though he were on a battlefield of modern weapons.

The flames scorched his clothes and flesh.

The shock wave made his internal organs tremble.

The flying iron fragments tore open his skin, sending flesh and blood flying.

Yet none of it shocked him as much as Xia Lin did.

He clearly saw the shock wave and iron fragments pass over Xia Lin, only to be rapidly deflected without hurting him in the slightest!

Could this thing actually distinguish friend from foe!?

"Blast!"

Another punch flew out, and a missile sprang into existence.

"Blast, blast, blast, blast, blast, blast!! Blast! For! Me!!"

More missiles appeared.

Then they flew straight at Huang Yue!

Punch after punch, explosion after explosion!

Martial Artists Do Not Die from Gunfire!

East Wind Divine Fist!

Combo achieved.

Among the myriad martial arts, this was the Deadly Chain Missile Fist!