Walled City, Li Xiuwen (Please Keep Reading)

Fragrant Sea, Walled City, Wu Jun Hair Salon.

"Xiuwen." The fat man had a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a crumpled stack of banknotes in his hand. He counted out several bills.

"You worked twenty-six days this month. Five dollars a day, one hundred and thirty in total."

Li Xiuwen took the money and counted it, then pulled out two ten-dollar bills. "Brother Jun, there's an extra twenty."

"I heard from your aunt that you wanted to learn boxing. Keep it. We're all from the same hometown, so we should look after each other out here." The fat man took two puffs and smiled.

"Thank you, Brother Jun. Can I still come back after the New Year?" Li Xiuwen asked.

"Sure, but when are you ever going to earn enough tuition doing odd jobs?"

"I don't know either..."

"I've got a lead. Interested?"

"What kind of lead?"

"I have a friend who runs with United Heroes. We grew up together and came from Prosperous State together back then..."

"Brother Jun, I'm timid. I don't dare join a gang..."

"You're timid, but you want to learn boxing? Isn't learning boxing for fighting?"

"I'm different. I want to learn boxing so I won't have to fight."

"Fuck, that actually makes some sense..."

"Thank you for the offer, Brother Jun. Happy New Year, and may you get rich."

Li Xiuwen pushed open the yellowed glass door of the salon and stepped onto the narrow, dim street.

"Gang members do make more money, but without martial arts to rely on or some boss looking out for you, you'd just be another nobody lying dead by the roadside."

"With bad luck, you'd be cannon fodder in a gang war, or a scapegoat when the boss got in trouble... Your life would be over."

"And I've never even heard of this United Heroes. It must be some third-rate gang. There's probably no future in it even if you stick with it to the end."

It wasn't that Li Xiuwen didn't want to join a gang.

These days, gangs were probably the only way ordinary people could make something of themselves.

But at the very least, he needed some capital to stand on before joining, lest he be buried the moment he started.

The iron wings of a jetliner swept across the sky above the Walled City, blotting out the heavens as its roar echoed below.

Neon lights flickered over the filthy, rain-soaked streets.

Even the aroma from Chao's Fish Ball Noodles next to the salon could not conceal the damp stench that had long permeated the Walled City's air.

A raindrop landed between his brows.

"It's raining."

Li Xiuwen wiped away the rain, tucked the money away, and jogged off.

As he passed Guangwang Street, his steps quickened.

The "Dragon Chasers" on the street, puffing smoke and swaying their heads, made him physically sick.

Dragon Chaser was the elegant name addicts gave themselves.

Compared with the prosperous world outside, the Walled City was not large.

Yet within this tiny patch of land, perhaps over a million people had gathered.

No one knew the exact number.

The unemployed, all manner of shady characters, outlaws, Big Circle boys...

The Walled City was like a beast, constantly devouring people like Li Xiuwen who had come to Fragrant Sea chasing dreams.

On Longjin Road, inside a ground-floor shack with no street number, a moldy sign read: "Chen's Rice Noodle Factory."

Li Xiuwen passed through the rain curtain, took off his clothes at the entrance and wrung out the water, then went inside.

A blast of steaming heat swept over him, making the already hot and humid air even more suffocating.

In the shack, which was less than thirty square meters, several teenage boys and girls, some bare-chested and some in undershirts, busied themselves at work.

Some sat atop thick bamboo poles, pressing down on dough.

Others fed dough through old machines, flattening it into sheets, cutting it into strips, and piling them to one side.

This was Li Xiuwen's home: a family workshop in the Walled City that made bamboo-pressed noodles.

No license was needed, no taxes had to be paid to the colonial government, and all the workers were child laborers, so costs were extremely low.

The conditions were appalling, but the noodles were cheap.

That was why these bamboo-pressed noodles ended up filling the bellies of diners in many restaurants outside the Walled City.

Past the small workshop was a living space of less than ten square meters.

A woman in her early thirties poked her head out from the bathroom behind a curtain and smiled. "You're back pretty early today."

The woman was Li Ying, the owner of the noodle factory and also his aunt.

"With the New Year coming up, Brother Jun let us off early."

"There's leftover claypot rice in the kitchen."

"Okay, I'll eat it later."

Li Xiuwen went to his bedroom, a storage room of less than three square meters, and took out the money hidden beneath his bed.

"Two thousand... I'm almost saved up enough for the apprenticeship fee."

Li Xiuwen pulled out a yellowed calendar book. Every page was covered with ads for martial arts halls in the Walled City that he had clipped from newspapers.

"Tiger-Crane, Buddha Salute, White Ape, Iron Wire... I can't even dream of those famous schools. The apprenticeship gift, annual tuition, monthly meal fees, holiday gifts, birthday gifts..."

"To learn boxing, it costs at least ten thousand a year."

"These days, even a relatively respectable job in the Walled City only pays three hundred a month..."

"This isn't learning boxing. It's robbery."

"There are cheaper ones, though..."

"Iron Fist Society, Mountain-Breaking Boxing Academy... They don't require an apprenticeship gift, only one hundred dollars in monthly tuition."

"But from what I've observed, the old masters at these schools don't seem to have any real skill. The president of Iron Fist Society couldn't even beat seven or eight punks."

"If you can't even take on ten at once, what kind of martial arts hall are you running?"

Lying on his bed, Li Xiuwen went back and forth through dozens of ads before finally settling on two martial arts halls.

"Night Heron Martial Arts Hall teaches the Night Heron Style. Its specialty is endless variation and unpredictability, and it originated from the renowned White Crane Style."

"Four Seas Martial Arts Hall teaches the Sea Sand Style. Broad, open movements and fierce techniques... I've never heard of it having any prestigious lineage."

"Night Heron Martial Arts Hall charges three thousand three hundred for apprenticeship and seven hundred a month. Four Seas Martial Arts Hall charges three thousand for apprenticeship and five hundred a month."

"Judging by its reputation and public opinion, Night Heron Martial Arts Hall is better. Master Ye, its owner, reached the ninth platform of the third ring at the Nine Dragons Grand Arena. He's almost at the fourth ring."

"Huang Sihai is also an expert of the third ring, but the Sea Sand Style has a worse reputation on the streets. He's an old miser."

"Once I've saved enough, I'll try Night Heron Martial Arts Hall first."

Setting down the calendar, Li Xiuwen had a thought, and his consciousness entered an ancient mountain temple. Inside stood a shrine.

Within the shrine was a bronze-green incense burner. Its inner walls were coated in incense ash, but there was no incense inside.

Three lines of ancient gilded text were engraved on its outer wall.

[Li Xiuwen]

[Martial Arts: None]

[Stage: None]

Yes, Li Xiuwen was a transmigrator.

A month ago, the original owner of this body had been knocked unconscious by a punch from Brother Kei, one of the Thirteen Guardians of Longjin Road.

When he woke up, he suddenly knew who he was. His past-life wisdom had awakened, and an "incense burner" had appeared in his mind.

The burner's function was simple: for every martial art he learned, he could light one stick of incense.

With diligent practice, he could burn the incense.

Once the incense burned out, the martial art would be mastered.

Simply put, once certified, always certified. There were no bottlenecks.

Everything was ready now. All he lacked was a master to lead him through the door.

Li Xiuwen casually opened a copy of Ming Pao that he had picked up along the way.

It was a newspaper focused on martial arts culture, published by Mr. Ming, the man in charge of the Walled City.

[The sequel to Dragon Tiger Story begins filming! Fragrant Sea's number one dragon-tiger stuntman, Mr. Long, has improved his skills again. He jumped from the tenth floor without protection and emerged completely unscathed!]

[Life-and-death battle at Yile Building! Inspector Lei ignored a hail of bullets and shot dead five Big Circle boys armed with AKs!]

[The annual Crossing River Association has concluded. A hundred martial arts halls of the Walled City competed, and Su Cha, chief disciple of Tiger-Crane Martial Arts Hall, became the new martial arts champion!]