Fight to the Death

Of course, Qin Wei had not been so enraged that he lost all reason. He chose to strike at that moment because he believed he was capable of it.

The original owner of this body was anything but ordinary!

He had realized that after his brief fight with the old man from the Middle East in the hospital room. Sending Red Hood flying with a single punch earlier had only confirmed his suspicion.

He still did not know how powerful this ability was, or whether it could match this fake Batman. But as long as there was even the slightest chance to fight back, Qin Wei would not let him get away.

The strong turned their blades on those stronger than themselves. That was the motivational spiel he had fed Oswald, and it was also his own creed.

After tackling the mysterious man and mounting him, Qin Wei drove an elbow into his chest as he rose. But the bulletproof armor was far too hard. It felt like striking a solid steel plate. The mysterious man did not budge, while a searing pain shot through Qin Wei's elbow.

It seemed he had injured the bone.

But there was no time to worry about his elbow. The mysterious man twisted from side to side, trying to break free. If he succeeded, the advantage Qin Wei had gained from his ambush would vanish.

To maintain his mount, Qin Wei's best option was to keep attacking and pinning him down. Whether the blows worked or not, they would drain the mysterious man's stamina and keep him too busy defending to counterattack.

And that was exactly what Qin Wei did.

He drew back his elbow and switched to his fists.

His knuckles cracked as he clenched them. He twisted, drove his shoulder forward, and punched. His fast, heavy fists hammered down like two wrecking balls working in turns, forcing the mysterious man to raise his arms and guard.

But his opponent was armored, after all. Those two bracers absorbed most of the impact.

Qin Wei's fists, on the other hand, were a bloody mess after only a few rounds.

The pain made his punches falter.

The mysterious man seized that instant of hesitation with perfect precision. Using a hip bridge from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he knocked Qin Wei off balance and slipped out from between his legs, escaping the mount.

Qin Wei stumbled forward. Knowing things had gone horribly wrong, he hurriedly turned around, only to find the mysterious man's fist already flying toward his face.

He barely dodged sideways, and the hooks on the bat bracer sliced open the corner of his eye.

The missed punch smashed into the wall like a small charge of TNT detonating. Fragments of brick and stone burst out amid billowing dust like fireworks.

"What the hell! How hard can he hit?!"

A chill ran down Qin Wei's spine. His opponent had equipment enhancing him, but the strength he unleashed was downright unfair. It did not compare to Dr. Hugo's Biomans, but it hardly seemed like something a human could possess.

Qin Wei had no time to celebrate his narrow escape before the blood pouring from his wound obscured his vision.

He dared not wipe it away. The mysterious man kept pressing the attack, his fists whipping in from both sides and raining down like a storm. In the blink of an eye, the alley wall was riddled with holes like a honeycomb.

If Qin Wei's attention wandered for even a moment, the next hole would be in his head.

What should I do?

As Qin Wei dodged desperately, his gaze fell on the mysterious man's waist.

A bat utility belt?

An outline of a plan flashed through his mind. But even if the mysterious man was not Bruce Wayne, he could hardly be an idiot. Would the plan really work?

Qin Wei shook his head, banishing the stray thoughts. This was no time to worry about whether his plan would succeed. If he kept taking a beating without fighting back, he would definitely lose.

With that thought, he dodged another punch, then suddenly turned and ran toward the mouth of the alley.

During his earlier killing spree, the mysterious man had used a grappling hook to drag back a fleeing Red Hood. Qin Wei guessed he might use the same method on him.

A move used only once was difficult for an opponent to anticipate. But once it was repeated, its weaknesses became easier to exploit.

The grappling hook was just such a move.

Qin Wei strained his ears. Sure enough, he heard sharp whooshes behind him.

He secretly rejoiced, naively believing his opponent had taken the bait. But he soon realized that the sound was nothing like a grappling hook.

Three Batarangs were flying toward him.

The Batarangs flew much faster than the grappling hook. By the time he reacted, the first had already buried itself in his back, severing his latissimus dorsi.

In an instant, Qin Wei could no longer lift his right arm.

But the real killing blows were still coming. The second and third Batarangs ricocheted off the walls and shot toward his throat from two completely different angles.

At that life-or-death moment, he shielded his head with one hand, pushed off on his toes, and twisted into a forward dive. Before the two projectiles converged, he slipped through the gap in a hairbreadth escape.

Having lost their target, the Batarangs struck a fleeting spark against each other in midair.

Qin Wei rolled awkwardly across the ground twice, his head slamming into the edge of a trash can.

He had barely staggered to his feet when the mysterious man's next lethal attack arrived.

This time, it was the grappling hook he had been waiting for.

Finally!

Qin Wei let out a long breath and tried to empty his mind.

It was an extremely wise choice. His combat experience was woefully inadequate. At a time like this, the "instincts" buried in this body were more reliable than his brain.

The instant he surrendered control of his body to instinct, the grappling hook pierced the back of his hand. At the same time, Qin Wei clamped it tightly in his palm.

He had noticed it earlier while raining punches down from the mount. His opponent was about the same height as him, but their builds differed considerably. Even with all his equipment, the mysterious man weighed far less than Qin Wei.

That meant the retracting grappling hook would not pull Qin Wei toward the mysterious man. Instead, it would drag his opponent toward him.

Oblivious, the mysterious man pressed the retraction button. The hook's barbs dug into the flesh of Qin Wei's palm. Feeling the pull, Qin Wei sank into a half crouch, spread his feet, and leaned his weight back as though playing tug-of-war.

It went exactly as he had predicted. The mysterious man failed to brace himself in time and was yanked toward Qin Wei by the grappling hook.

"You're no Batman..."

Qin Wei roared, drawing his powerful arm all the way back like a bow. His muscles swelled with blood, tearing through his shirt.

He poured every last scrap of strength, every ounce of pain and humiliation he had endured, into his left fist and drove it viciously toward the fake Batman.

"You fraud!"

The moment had reached its climax. Even Qin Wei was moved. For that instant, he imagined his punch as a comic book hero's final strike against the ultimate boss, carrying the hopes of every supporting character and the expectations of the audience.

But cold reality landed like a brutal slap, leaving a distinct handprint on his face.

Just as the fist was about to strike the mysterious man, he pressed a button and released his belt, leaning back so the punch skimmed past him.

Then, while Qin Wei was caught in the recovery from his attack, the mysterious man ducked low, grabbed his calves, and circled behind him.

Boom!

Arching his back, he lifted Qin Wei's legs and ended the fight to the death with a spectacular rear takedown.

The instant his back struck the ground, Qin Wei's head reeled. His limbs went numb, and only his internal organs continued sending waves of agony through him, as though they had shattered.

He was utterly incapable of fighting any longer.

The mysterious man braced himself against the wall and struggled to stand. His equipment had spared him any major injuries, but he had spent more than ten minutes locked in an intense fight with Qin Wei and had nearly been killed by his bare hands. Now that the adrenaline was fading, every muscle felt soaked in acid, sending signals to his brain that it was about to tear apart.

He had no strength left to finish Qin Wei off.

Just then, police sirens sounded at the other end of the alley.

"Quick! Over here! There are bodies everywhere! Get in there and check!"

A faint electrical spark flashed at his neck, and the murderous aura surrounding the mysterious man gradually faded. He gave Qin Wei one last cold look, swept up his cape, and disappeared at the mouth of the alley.

Qin Wei's head felt heavy and muddled, his eyelids constantly drooping. He had no idea when he was lifted onto a stretcher or taken to the hospital. Through the haze, all he saw was Gordon's face flickering in and out of view.

"Goddamn it, what kind of monster was this?!"

Gordon stood in the middle of the alley with his hands on his hips, surveying the scene. The alley was only a dozen or so meters long, yet seven or eight people lay in it. Apart from the gravely injured Oswald and the unconscious Qin Wei, they were all corpses.

The surrounding walls were riddled with holes, as though a bomber had swept through. Most striking of all was a crater more than ten inches deep-roughly thirty centimeters-and as wide as a car tire.

Fine, spiderweb-like cracks radiated from it, spreading across the entire wall.

Gordon shone his flashlight into the crater and found a bloodstained fist imprint at its center.

"This is insane! A single punch did this... But I remember that bat freak wearing gloves. This punch doesn't look like his work."