manynovel Chapter 3 Rules
Chapter 3 Rules
The wind seems to have stopped.
The alley was deathly silent, except for the large pot in the distance still bubbling away.
Erga looked at the silent man in front of him, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat for no reason.
Just moments ago, this tricycle driver was like a mangy dog wagging its tail, but how come his demeanor has completely changed in the blink of an eye? There was no anger or fear in his eyes, only a kind of indifference as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Damn, they're just playing tricks."
Erga Zi spat out the tobacco from his mouth, concealing his unease, and took two steps closer to Chen Zhuo, dangling the bicycle chain lock in his hand.
"What are you looking at? Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out! You think I can't lift a knife anymore just because I didn't deal with you earlier?"
Chen Zhuo ignored him.
His gaze shifted from Erga's face to the large bowl on the ground and the garlic cloves trampled into the mud.
That's fate.
In this era of scarcity, wasting food is a sin against heaven.
"Do you know?"
Chen Zhuo finally spoke, his voice very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"When I was a kid, during a famine, I saw brothers fight over half a moldy cornbread. You bunch of wild dogs who only know how to fight over food, what do you know about rules?"
"Are you out of your mind?" Ergaizi snapped impatiently, turning back to wave at his gang of thugs. "What are you standing there for? Get him! This kid's a vagrant from out of town, hitting him won't do you any good!"
These guys looked fierce, but their steps were unsteady and their eyes were unfocused; they were just relying on their numbers to embolden themselves. Some were carrying bench legs, some were holding switchblades, and one of them had the boning knife that the young man who had been kicked away earlier had dropped.
Despite their seemingly aggressive demeanor, Chen Zhuo saw them as nothing more than a rabble.
Chen Zhuo sighed.
He didn't want to cause trouble; he just wanted a full meal.
But the tree may wish to be still, but the wind will not cease.
"Since you don't know the rules, then I'll teach you the rules."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the thug with the bench leg rushed up to him. This kid was a greenhorn, and he didn't know his own strength. He raised the bench leg with the iron nail in his hand and smashed it down hard on Chen Zhuo's head.
"Go to hell, you idiot!"
The wind howled, carrying a fishy smell.
This blow wasn't meant to teach someone a lesson; it was designed to kill. If it landed squarely, not only would the skull crack open, but blood and gore would spurt out, and the person would die on the spot.
Chen Zhuo's face turned cold. Instead of retreating, he took half a step forward and suddenly raised his left hand to block the thug's wrist holding the stick. It was the "Drilling Fist" starting move from Xingyi Quan.
"Snapped!"
Their flesh collided.
The moment their skin touched, Chen Zhuo's mind went blank.
A strange current shot straight to the top of his head from the point of contact. The world before him seemed to be digitized in an instant. The thug's arm became transparent in his mind. The contraction of the muscles, the support of the bones, and the direction of the force were all transformed into red and blue lines, clearly visible.
"This is……"
Chen Zhuo's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart trembled violently.
Is this the legendary perk of time travel? A cheat code?!
There was no time to think it through; the "ergonomic diagram" that had been constructed in his mind had already provided the optimal solution—the opponent's center was wide open, their center of gravity was unstable, and their Tanzhong acupoint was vulnerable.
The body reacted faster than the brain.
He stepped in with his right foot, his tendons snapped, and his whole body was like a fully drawn bow.
"collapse!"
Chen Zhuo's right fist was like a cannonball, following the optimal power path in his mind, and slammed straight into the thug's chest at the Tanzhong acupoint.
There are no fancy moves, only the purest violence.
"Thump!"
A muffled thud, like striking a worn-out drum.
The thug didn't even utter a sound. He went limp as if all his muscles had been pulled out, clutching his chest and kneeling on the ground, his mouth wide open, desperately trying to breathe, but he couldn't make a sound—he had been interrupted and was temporarily suffocating.
The entire room fell silent.
The other two thugs who rushed up managed to stop the car abruptly, their hands trembling as they held up their knives.
One punch and you're down on your knees?
That guy's got some real fighting skills!
Erga was dumbfounded, but as the leader, if he backed down now, he would have no face to show his face in this area in the future.
"Don't be afraid! He's only one person, what can he do? Let's attack together and kill him!"
As he shouted, he swung the chain lock, lashing it out at Chen Zhuo's temple like a viper's hiss. The chain lock had a specially welded-on angular iron lump on its head; if it struck, half a head would be shattered, and even a god couldn't save him.
Instead of retreating, Chen Zhuo advanced, lowering his body like a cheetah darting into the grass, narrowly avoiding the whistling chain lock.
Close range.
Then he leaned back.
Peng!
Erga was so dazed by the sudden impact that he collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest, unable to catch his breath for a long time.
"Damn it! What the hell are you all standing there for?"
Erga's face flushed red as he coughed and roared, "Get him! Cripple him! I'll take the blame if anything happens!"
The remaining five or six thugs then realized what was happening.
They'd been fighting all the time, relying on their numbers and power, so they'd never suffered such a loss before. Their eyes turned red instantly, and they grabbed their weapons and surrounded the group.
Some grabbed stool legs, some pulled out switchblades, and two even swiped rolling pins from a nearby stall.
Five or six against one.
Even a martial arts expert would be wary of this narrow alley.
But Chen Zhuo was not intimidated.
Not only was he not intimidated, but a slight smile even appeared on his lips.
It was the excitement of a hungry wolf seeing a flock of sheep.
"Good timing."
He gave a low shout, and instead of retreating, he advanced.
A thug in front of them swung a stool leg down on their head.
In Chen Zhuo's view, this strike was as slow as a snail.
The right shoulder shrugs too much, the center is wide open, and the lower body is unstable.
Chen Zhuo slipped on the muddy ground and, like an eel, slid into the stick.
With a left-handed "drilling punch," like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, it precisely struck the opponent's Jiquan acupoint under the armpit.
"what!"
The thug's body went numb on one side instantly, and he lost his grip on the bench leg, which flew out of his hand.
Chen Zhuo caught the bench leg and smacked another thug with a knife in the buttocks.
"Aww!"
The thug let out a howl like a Tibetan mastiff, clutching his buttocks and starting to jump around.
"This is a tricky idea! Let's all work together!"
Seeing this, the remaining five men abandoned all sense of martial ethics and rushed forward in a swarm.
The narrow space instantly became incredibly crowded.
There were people all around, and they were all armed.
Chen Zhuo's gaze grew increasingly cold.
If it were his past life, he would probably be running away in terror right now. But now, although this body is weak, it possesses an instinctive ferocity. Coupled with the constantly updating "combat radar" in his mind, he is able to navigate this chaotic situation with ease.
The sound of wind behind, the glint of blades on the left, and an opening on the right.
Chen Zhuo suddenly ducked, and the switchblade that stabbed him from behind grazed his scalp, severing several strands of hair.
He leaned back as if there was a wall behind him, and slammed into the attacker's arms.
That's the "back-folding and leaning" stance from Xingyi Quan.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud.
The attacker was knocked so hard he curled up like a shrimp, his face turned a deep liver color, and he knelt on the ground, clutching his stomach and dry heaving, unable to breathe for a long time.
Immediately afterwards, Chen Zhuo flicked his toe and picked up the pot of hot soup that hadn't been completely poured off the ground.
Whoosh!
The scalding soup was splashed onto the two people facing each other.
"Ouch! It's burning me!"
The two were scalded and screamed, jumping around while covering their faces, blocking the way behind them.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Chen Zhuo was like a ghost, weaving through the gaps in the crowd.
He doesn't try to outmuscle people; he targets joints, tendons, and soft tissues.
Dislocate joints, strike elbows, and hit ribs.
He had no masterful demeanor; his moves were all clever tricks that instantly rendered opponents powerless.
Less than a minute had passed.
Five people were already lying on the ground, some clutching their stomachs and groaning, others rolling around with their legs in their arms.
The remaining two, holding rolling pins, had their legs trembling and looked at Chen Zhuo as if he were a ghost, backing away step by step.
"No...don't come any closer! We...we're going to call the police!" One of the thugs actually shouted this most pathetic thing in fear.
Chen Zhuo threw away the blood-stained bench leg in his hand.
He slowly walked toward Erga Zi, who was still sitting on the ground with a blank expression.
"You...you stay away..."
Erga was truly terrified now. This wasn't just a laborer pedaling a tricycle; this was a killing machine!
"Weren't you just yelling that you were going to cripple me?" Chen Zhuo looked down at him. "What, you've suddenly remembered the police?"
"Grandpa...Grandpa...I was wrong..."
"It's a bit too late to admit your mistake now."
Chen Zhuo exerted force with his fingers, like iron clamps closing.
"Snap!"
A crisp sound of dislocation.
"ah--!"
Erga let out a pig-like scream, and his arm went limp.
"roll."
Chen Zhuo uttered a single word.
The two terrified thugs, as if granted a pardon, rushed over, grabbed Erga, who was in so much pain he was almost fainting, and scrambled out of the alley.
The remaining few lying on the ground, ignoring their pain, helped each other up and ran away in a panic.
"Run! This kid's a trained fighter! Go back and find Master Cat!"
In the blink of an eye, the alley was empty.
This rabble fights fiercely when things are going well, but once they run into a brick wall, they run faster than rabbits.
All that remained were the noodle stall owner, paralyzed with fear on the ground, and a few out-of-town vendors who hadn't yet recovered their senses.
Chen Zhuo slowly turned around.
The noodle stall owner trembled in fright, nearly dropping the spoon in his hand: "Hero... great hero... spare my life..."
Chen Zhuo ignored him.
He walked to the overturned table and squatted down.
On the ground, next to the broken bowl, lay several pieces of uneaten pork trotters and a few unpeeled garlic cloves, all covered in coal ash and sewage.
Chen Zhuo reached out and picked up the pieces of meat one by one.
He rubbed his dirty cotton-padded jacket vigorously to remove the coal dust.
Then, to everyone's horror, he stuffed the meat into his mouth.
Chew thoroughly.
He didn't even spit out the bones; he chewed them up crunchily and swallowed them whole.
"This meat shouldn't be wasted."
He swallowed the last bite of meat, his eyes revealing a stubbornness.
After finishing the meat, he picked up the few garlic cloves, peeled them, and put them in his mouth to chew.
Then he stood up and dusted off his hands.
I walked up to the noodle stall owner.
The shopkeeper shrank back in fear, pleading, "Hero...hero...spare me..."
Chen Zhuo shook his head.
"The bowl is broken, you have to pay for it."
He took out the last three cents from his pocket, thought for a moment, then took out a one-cent coin and placed it on the table.
"A dime is enough to buy a new bowl."
After saying that, he didn't care about the boss's reaction. He turned around, walked to the alley entrance, unlocked the tricycle, got on, and slowly disappeared into the night.