Martial Arts School Competition

Xiao Hen walked out of Mingyue Residential Area and made his way to the city under the cover of night.

As someone who worked at the same planning company, Xiao Hen knew where Zhang Quande lived—Bihe Fudi, a high-end residential area nestled against a hill and bordering a river. Built in the city center, it was renowned for offering tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle, with complete facilities and being a school district. The price reached tens of thousands per square meter, which was extremely high for Jiangcheng City, a third-tier city.

Zhang Quande lived in this area. Xiao Hen put on a mask and gloves, his sharp eyes scanning the locations of the security cameras in the neighborhood. Then, taking advantage of the darkness, he vaulted over the fence and moved swiftly toward one of the buildings.

Building 5, Unit 701. Xiao Hen climbed up along the wall, his route carefully calculated to perfectly avoid the camera surveillance.

With his current physical condition, this building height was no problem at all. In no time, he reached the seventh floor. Unit 701 was the easternmost unit. Xiao Hen checked and found that both the north and east windows had security bars. He could only move along the protruding edges of the building toward the south. However, the north and east sides were shrouded in shadow and hard to spot, while moving to the south carried the risk of being seen.

"Even though I could force my way through the security bars, it would cause unnecessary trouble. Let's check the south side..."

Xiao Hen hooked his fingers onto the protruding edges of the building, slowly shifting his body until he reached the south side. His eyes lit up—there, a window with an outdoor clothes rack had no security bars, and it wasn't locked shut, only covered by a screen.

Xiao Hen peered inside and could hear the sound of the TV coming from the living room.

"As far as I know, Zhang Quande is divorced. His wife and kids have moved out. He lives here alone now. If I want to kill him, I'll need to think of a way..."

Xiao Hen crept quietly into the room, his gaze cold, his mind racing through various plans. He had gone to all this trouble—avoiding the elevator and climbing in through the window—just to clear himself of suspicion.

Xiao Hen walked through the secondary bedroom into the living room and saw Zhang Quande sitting on the sofa, watching TV and smoking, his legs crossed in a relaxed posture.

Xiao Hen glanced around, grabbed a decorative glass ball, and tossed it. With a bang, Zhang Quande was knocked unconscious before he could react. Xiao Hen entered the living room, checked the area, and found no surveillance equipment.

Then he found himself a bit stumped. How could he stage an accidental death scene?

Xiao Hen went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out some items, and found a candle in the room. He lit the candle and placed it on the sofa, setting up a simple device with flammable materials so that after the candle burned for a while, it would ignite the sofa.

"No, this probably won't burn well."

Xiao Hen grabbed some liquor from the wine cabinet, opened a bottle, and splashed it over the sofa.

Watching the candle begin to burn, Xiao Hen didn't wait any longer. He went straight to the window, climbed out, and left quickly, simply retracing his original path.

Xiao Hen stood far outside the neighborhood, waiting quietly. Before long, he heard shouts coming from the direction of Bihe Residential Area. Looking up, he saw black smoke rising from Building 5, Unit 701. This was a high-end area with good fire prevention measures. Soon, security guards rushed up to the seventh floor with fire extinguishers, breaking down the door to put out the fire.

The fire was extinguished, but Zhang Quande was burned to death.

Xiao Hen left the place calmly, returned to Mingyue Residential Area, and made himself some food without a care.

For someone who had killed countless zombies and Taotie, and had also killed people in the Resident Evil world, killing Zhang Quande caused no psychological discomfort. It was just a simple matter.

"Next, I need to complete the side quest. After that, I'll have to head into the third alternate dimension world for an adventure. I wonder what the third world will be like. Will it be dangerous? Too bad I can't replenish my gun ammunition..." Xiao Hen mulled over these thoughts as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

A few days later, Xiao Hen received a call from Chen Xinyu. The Martial Arts School Competition was starting, and she told him to come prepare quickly.

Xiao Hen arrived at the building where Chen's Martial Arts School was located. Chen Xinyu and the short-haired woman Yu Li were already waiting there.

"You're finally here. Get in the car. We need to head over now." Chen Xinyu called out to Xiao Hen, then got into the car first. Yu Li drove, while Chen Xinyu and Xiao Hen sat in the back.

"In such a hurry?" Xiao Hen asked, puzzled. He could hear the urgency in her voice from the phone call earlier.

"I just got word that my elder brother and cousin have brought in two formidable martial arts experts. So I need to take you to the competition venue to get familiar with it first. I've gathered information on these two experts—take a look!"

It wasn't surprising that Chen Xinyu was anxious. This matter concerned her entire future, so she couldn't afford not to be.

"Information?" Xiao Hen took the two sheets of paper Chen Xinyu handed him and flipped through them casually, asking as he read, "How many rounds is this competition? How many martial arts schools are participating?"

"Four schools in total. We're just one of them. There's my elder brother's school, my second brother's, my cousin's, and then mine. This competition is extremely important. Please, Mr. Xiao, give it your all!" Chen Xinyu looked at Xiao Hen seriously. "If Mr. Xiao can win first place in the competition, I'll pay an additional one hundred thousand as a reward!"

"Oh?" Xiao Hen's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "It's a deal!"

"Does Mr. Xiao have confidence?" Chen Xinyu asked quickly.

"Don't worry!" Xiao Hen glanced at the information on the two men in his hands and smiled faintly.

The martial arts expert Chen Xinyu's elder brother had brought was a champion of the National Sanda Competition, having held the title for two consecutive years. Among ordinary people, his strength was top-tier.

The one Chen Xinyu's cousin had brought was a master who had participated in a World-Class Boxing Competition. His strength was even greater than the first, though his title wasn't as flashy—he had only won a bronze medal at the world level.

Xiao Hen handed the information back to Chen Xinyu and said, "Relax. These two are nothing to worry about."

"Really?" Chen Xinyu still had some doubts, but recalling how Xiao Hen had dominated Coach Xu at her school, and considering the upcoming competition, she could only set aside her worries and place all her bets on Xiao Hen.

"Then I'll leave it to Mr. Xiao!" Chen Xinyu let out a long breath, then looked toward the driver's seat. "Lili, how much longer until we get there?"

Yu Li replied, "Almost there. We're close."

Soon, the car came to a stop. Xiao Hen stepped out and looked up to see an indoor stadium in Jiangcheng City.

"Since this competition involves four martial arts schools, Chen's Group rented out this indoor stadium. The competition starts tomorrow. My elder brother and the others should have arrived early too."

Chen Xinyu led Yu Li and Xiao Hen into the stadium.

Well, some people in the comments section said not to write too much about the Real World, but some plot points are still necessary. In reality, the protagonist doesn't need to have a huge influence, but at least he should have a way to replenish ammunition, so he can conveniently carry various weapons and firearms into the story worlds, increasing his chances of survival.

Of course, I won't write too much about the Real World plot. After this side quest, we'll move on to the next world!

Everyone, take a guess—what will the next world be???