I Am a Genius

Under the glare of the spotlights, Su Ti stood atop Black Bear's corpse and looked at his bloodstained hands.

They did not tremble. Power kept surging through them. These hands had killed Black Bear.

He had killed a seemingly invincible powerhouse and saved his own life.

At this moment, all the fear, repression, and despair in his heart vanished. Killing someone for the first time felt like a cleansing of his soul, a complete transformation.

Twenty-seven years of beliefs about life collapsed in that instant, bringing about a drastic change in his personality as well.

Though he was still in danger, he was no longer afraid.

He raised his head and swept his gaze across the surroundings. His eyes were like those of a wild wolf, making everyone who saw the ferocity in them instinctively avert their eyes for a moment.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of red wine spilling onto the floor rang out.

The woman pouring wine for the Silver Mask Man suddenly shuddered and came back to her senses.

That seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and the deathly silent venue erupted into uproar.

Other than cries of "Rigged!" the loudest shouts were, "Refund us!"

Black Bear's death was a minor matter. The major issue was that one hundred percent of the bets had been placed on Su Ti dying.

No one had ever imagined that Su Ti would win. The betting pool had only offered odds on which minute he would die in.

Thus, Black Bear's death was a shocking upset. Other than the bookmaker, everyone in the venue had lost!

Even the Silver Mask Man, the bookmaker himself, wore a stunned expression. He had indeed manipulated plenty of rigged matches before, but this match had been completely clean, without the slightest trace of foul play.

After all, the random challenger gimmick had only recently been introduced. Even if he wanted to fleece people, he would not do it now. At the very least, he had to build up its reputation first.

"Everyone, everyone, quiet down! Quiet down!"

Once the crowd quieted down, the Silver Mask Man spoke into the microphone.

"There was a small accident with the outcome of this match. It was an error on the organizer's part. I hereby declare all bets on this match void. The money everyone wagered will be returned to your respective accounts."

Only then was the situation brought under control.

After receiving their refunds, the crowd finally realized that Su Ti truly was not some skilled fighter the organizers had brought in to manufacture an upset.

He was a genuinely random challenger, just some passerby grabbed off the street!

A passerby had actually defeated a professional underground boxer!

Unbelievable!

"Everyone, this is the first victorious random challenger since we adopted this format. Let's cheer for him!"

The Silver Mask Man raised his wineglass high and roared.

The entire venue erupted with thunderous cheers.

Su Ti stood in the cage. The massive Black Bear lay at his feet, blood dripping from his fists. He was the center of everyone's attention, the absolute protagonist of the venue.

Yet he did not feel the slightest bit of joy or happiness.

His eyes remained fixed on the Silver-Patterned Mask Man on the second floor. There was no doubt that this man's identity and status marked him as the organizer of this event, the biggest bookmaker.

He was also the chief culprit behind Su Ti's plight, the one who had forced him into a cage to fight for his life merely to entertain others.

Having killed once seemed to have awakened something in him. After twenty-odd years of an ordinary life, after tasting blood for the first time, the fury and desire to kill in Su Ti's heart had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, they grew fiercer and fiercer.

Seeing Su Ti look over with murderous eyes, the Silver-Patterned Mask Man was not afraid. Instead, he smiled disdainfully, raised his glass, and offered a distant toast.

He had seen too many such looks—the looks of ants. He did not care.

He could sense that this passerby-turned-fighter he had suddenly discovered would become his cash cow.

Today's battle had already made Su Ti famous. With a little publicity and packaging, he could elevate Su Ti's reputation to new heights.

Promote a fighter, lower his odds to the minimum, then arrange for someone to kill him in a heavily wagered match and rake in a fortune—this was far from the first time he had done it. It was his specialty.

Just as he was considering how to arrange Su Ti's future, a man in a black suit came to the Silver Mask Man's side and whispered a few words.

The Silver Mask Man frowned and picked up the microphone.

"Everyone, my apologies. An emergency has arisen, so today's boxing matches are canceled. Please leave in an orderly manner through the emergency exit."

The spectators froze for a moment upon hearing this, then surged toward the nearby passage without hesitation. Their movements were practiced, as if they had rehearsed this kind of emergency evacuation countless times.

The Silver Mask Man, surrounded by a group of black-suited men, also descended to the first floor in an orderly fashion, preparing to leave through another passage.

As they passed the ring, the patterned black-masked man who was clearly the number one bodyguard glanced at Su Ti, who was still staring at them from inside the cage.

"Young Master, should we take him with us too?"

The Silver Mask Man smiled.

"No need. Let's give the detectives some face and leave him here."

As he spoke, he waved at Su Ti.

"Don't worry. We'll meet again."

With that, he led his men into the dark passage.

Su Ti stared fixedly at his retreating back until he disappeared completely.

Only after the organizers and spectators of the Death Fighting Competition had all withdrawn did the melodious sound of police sirens ring out more than ten minutes later.

Boom!

A group of heavily armed detectives stormed into the abandoned building. The first thing they saw was two corpses beneath the stage covered with white sheets, as well as a heavily built man lying on the ground in the octagonal cage, his limbs twisted grotesquely.

And the young man standing in the center of the ring beneath the spotlights, his hands stained with blood as he silently watched the dark passage.

"Police! Hands on your head and squat down!"

Su Ti glanced at the many detectives in black bulletproof vests, put his hands on his head, and slowly squatted down.

An hour later.

In the interrogation room, Su Ti sat quietly in a chair with handcuffs on both hands.

Outside, a scruffy middle-aged detective smoked idly, his gaze occasionally passing through the glass in the interrogation room door to look at Su Ti inside.

At that moment, a young detective approached with a file.

"Team Leader Liu, the photo and fingerprint comparison results are in. Everything he said was true. He's the victim who went missing in our city the day before yesterday, Su Ti. The identities of Liu Bo and Huang An, who disappeared with him, have also been confirmed. The two bodies found in the abandoned building on the outskirts are theirs."

"Mm, got it."

Team Leader Liu nodded slightly.

The young detective continued, "His family reported him missing yesterday. We notified them immediately after confirming his identity. His parents and eldest uncle are waiting outside now. Do you think we should—"

Team Leader Liu took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled.

"No rush. There are still some doubts that haven't been cleared up. Now that we've confirmed his identity, I need to question him. You can go."

"Yes!"

After the detective left, Team Leader Liu opened the interrogation room door, walked in, and sat down across from Su Ti.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Liu Xing, deputy captain of the Mingguang City Civil Security Bureau Criminal Investigation Division. You can call me Team Leader Liu."

Su Ti remained silent and nodded.

"Your identity has been verified. You'll be able to leave soon, but before you do, I have a few questions for you."

"Go ahead."

"First, did you kill the corpse at the scene wearing the Black Bear mask?"

Su Ti had long been prepared for this question, so he answered calmly.

"I did, but it was self-defense. If I hadn't killed him, I would have died."

Team Leader Liu nodded and continued.

"Second question. We found signs of multiple broken joints, bones, and ligaments on Black Bear's body. Before he died, all four of his limbs had been broken using a special technique. Our coroner told me that to do that, one would need to be at the level of a jiu-jitsu master. How could an ordinary student like you know such advanced jiu-jitsu?"

Su Ti had considered this question on the way over. His expression did not change as he answered.

"Because I'm a genius?"

That piqued Team Leader Liu's interest.

"A genius? And what is a genius?"

"Any martial art, I can learn after watching it once, master after studying it once, and surpass what others achieve in ten years after practicing for one day. I also taught myself online the jiu-jitsu I used to break Black Bear's limbs."

Team Leader Liu was momentarily speechless at such a shameless explanation.

He could neither confirm nor deny Su Ti's claim.

Could he deny someone's talent?

Still, though Su Ti's jiu-jitsu skills were indeed suspicious, Team Leader Liu did not dwell on the issue. That was not the key point.

"Third, and final question. Please answer carefully."

Team Leader Liu's expression became serious, no longer as relaxed as before.

"Black Bear's limbs had already been broken. The fatal injury was death by oxygen deprivation from a Rear Naked Choke. If you were acting in self-defense at first, then once you had broken his limbs, he was no longer a threat to you. Why did you still kill him?"

Team Leader Liu spoke each word deliberately, his piercing gaze aimed directly into Su Ti's heart.

Su Ti had indeed been an innocent victim when he was taken to the Death Fighting Competition.

But sometimes, the law was strict.

Self-defense and intentional homicide were two different concepts.

Though Su Ti had been dragged into this incident as a victim, his final actions were already suspected of constituting intentional homicide.

Therefore, Team Leader Liu had to question him. If Su Ti had truly committed intentional homicide, then he could only handle it according to the law.

What he did not know was that the Su Ti before him was no longer that inexperienced nineteen-year-old college student.

Though he had spent more than half of his twenty-seven mental years drifting through life, he had seen plenty of social conventions and societal realities.

Moreover, he had experienced transmigration, received the original owner's memories, and fought for his life. His personality, willpower, and every other aspect had become more mature.

Su Ti had also long prepared an answer for this question.

"Because it was a Death Fight. Only one of us could survive. Those were the rules. If I hadn't killed him, the organizers would have killed me, so I had no other choice."

"Really?"

Team Leader Liu stared directly into Su Ti's eyes.

"Really."

Su Ti returned his gaze without the slightest evasion.

Of course, that was a lie.

The rules of the match might have dictated that the living won and the dead lost, but Su Ti had absolutely not killed Black Bear because of the rules or because the organizers had forced him to.

He simply wanted, from the bottom of his heart, to snap Black Bear's neck. Put simply, he had killed entirely according to his own desires.

Those who kill will be killed!

He did not regret it in the slightest. If he could do it again, he would kill Black Bear again. If he did it a hundred more times, he would kill Black Bear a hundred more times!

Looking at Su Ti's calm expression, Team Leader Liu rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

For a nineteen-year-old who had just killed someone to sit here so calmly and discuss the events with him was abnormal in itself.

Team Leader Liu would bet that there was a ninety-percent chance Su Ti had actively killed Black Bear after gaining an absolute advantage.

As for the reason? Anger, hot blood rushing to his head, adrenaline from a life-and-death struggle—under such circumstances, not everyone was a saint who could go from fighting to the death one second to stopping at the right moment the next.

Team Leader Liu had carefully compared Su Ti's physique with Black Bear's. Even if Su Ti was a jiu-jitsu expert, he could not say that the fight had been a guaranteed victory. Black Bear possessed overwhelming strength and physicality. One small mistake, and Su Ti would have died—and likely died horribly, just like the other two victims.

Thus, Team Leader Liu decided to let the matter rest and did not intend to pursue it further.

Compared to making things difficult for Su Ti, a victim, the Death Fighting Competition was what troubled him more.

"You can leave now. Your family is waiting outside. Turn left when you go out; the third hall is where they are."

Team Leader Liu unlocked Su Ti's handcuffs, gathered up the documents, and gestured for him to leave. Yet Su Ti remained seated, completely still.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

"Team Leader Liu, I want to learn more from you about the Death Fighting Competition."

More than half of Su Ti's body was in the interrogation room's shadows. His eyes were cold. The Silver Mask Man's threat before leaving still echoed in his ears, and together with the grudge from having been abducted, this matter was far from over.

He wanted revenge. He also needed to guard against being taken away again, which meant learning more about underground boxing and that Silver Mask Man.

"Hm? You're just a kid. This isn't something you should be thinking about. Go back and focus on your studies."

Team Leader Liu saw through Su Ti's thoughts immediately and waved his hand. Su Ti was the same age as his own son, so in his eyes, Su Ti was just a kid. And he knew all too well how kids thought. He had seen too many young people do foolish things because of a momentary surge of passion and righteousness.

This was not some righteous act of stopping petty thieves on the street. The Death Fighting Competition was the dark side of the hidden world, enough to give even an old detective like him a headache.

They had received an anonymous tip this time and thought the arrest operation was a sure thing, yet it had still failed. Team Leader Liu would never believe that no one had tipped them off.

That alone showed how powerful the organizers of the Death Fighting Competition were. Too many interests were involved; it was absolutely not something he could bring down by himself.

In his view, Su Ti had already been lucky to escape this matter alive. If he went after such a colossal force again because his blood was up, ten lives would not be enough to lose.