In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed again.
It was March, not long after the start of the new school term.
Today was Zhang Feng's birthday.
His older brothers were excited and, after picking him up at the elementary school gate, decided to take Zhang Feng to the newly opened arcade.
"Big brother, second brother."
On the way to the new arcade.
Zhang Feng, while waiting for a new enhancement, rarely asked,
"Can't we try something different?"
"Who said we didn't change?" The older brother said earnestly and with anticipation, "I heard from my classmate that the new arcade has more games."
Zhang Feng fell silent.
"It's boring." The second brother, tired of arcade games, said, "We might as well go to the internet café on East Street."
"It's too expensive," the older brother argued, "four and a half bucks an hour per person, and you can't even get a spot.
Although I admit the games there are more fun than arcade games.
But if we buy tokens, the three of us can play in the arcade all afternoon."
It must be said, the older brother had quite an 'economical and practical' mindset.
Quickly distinguishing between an hour of supreme joy and an afternoon of it.
The latter wins for its long-lasting nature.
"Seems like you're right..." The second brother had to admit, the older brother made sense.
Seeing Zhang Feng saying nothing, and the second brother agreeing, the older brother hurried towards the new arcade.
They arrived at the new arcade.
It was located on the third floor of a mall.
Spacious, with many machines and good decor.
It's just that the tokens were a bit pricey, a dollar each.
The older brother painfully bought three, yet managed to save five dollars, "Later, the three of us will go have buns with vegetables, celebrate Xiaofeng's birthday!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Feng glanced up at the older brother.
The older brother seemed to have grown up, with faint stubble appearing.
At this time.
The three had just bought their tokens and left the counter with a pretty young lady.
A few older youths smoking by the slot machines called out to the three as they passed by.
"Hey, hey, hey! Those three kids!"
They were mostly seventeen or eighteen.
Two years older than the older brother.
But as boys mature at eighteen, they looked more mature, and more like adults.
"Let's go..." The older brother pretended he hadn't heard, didn't look at them, and pushed Zhang Feng and the second brother to leave.
The second brother glanced at them, lowered his head a bit scared.
Zhang Feng looked at the three of them and felt a bit familiar.
A second later, one of the youths smiled at Zhang Feng and said, "You're the kid who jumped through the window a while back, right?"
They were unemployed, uneducated, often wandering from arcade to arcade in the city together.
They happened to see Zhang Feng jump through a window that day, thought it was pretty cool.
Seeing him today, they naturally wanted to chat.
Though they didn't know what they wanted to talk about, they instinctively called Zhang Feng and his brothers over.
"Yes." Zhang Feng looked at them, no fear in his eyes.
Seventeen to eighteen isn't fully mature.
And they appeared thin and weak.
Their constitution was at most around 7-8.
Zhang Feng had grown a lot physically in the past six months, and his constitution was now 5.5.
Plus, with two options of combat muscle memory enhancement.
And here, there were quite a few 'bench weapons'.
Zhang Feng had no reason to fear them.
Unexpectedly, they weren't looking for trouble. Instead, one of the youths went to the counter, took out his wallet, and bought over a dozen tokens.
When he returned, he handed the tokens to Zhang Feng and his brothers.
"Let's be friends, today it's on me."
The young man's smile was bright.
His friends found it perfectly normal too.
Making friends was part of their daily life.
"I..." Facing a handful of tokens and their smiles, the older and second brother were even more frightened.
Because besides enjoying games, the older and second brothers were actually good students who hadn't dealt with such 'social people.'
They were bewildered, unsure of what to do.
"Thank you." Zhang Feng promptly took the tokens and handed them to the older brother.
Having survived the apocalypse, these small situations were nothing to him.
Even if there was some scheme, they had already found them.
It was time to face it head-on.
Thinking to himself.
While Zhang Feng seemed to stand still, his waist and leg muscles subtly tensed, and his eyes scanned the vital spots on the youths, like the chest, lower body, throat, and temples, evaluating the best strike points.
The youths were still smiling, but when they caught Zhang Feng's gaze, they subconsciously felt intimidated.
Some even avoided his gaze, moving awkwardly.
They didn't know why this was.
But Zhang Feng knew it was their body's instinctive survival mechanism, protecting them invisibly.
Like when an object suddenly flies at you, you instinctively blink and dodge.
"Do you know martial arts?"
At this moment.
The young man who bought the tokens thought for a few seconds before frowning and asked Zhang Feng.
Because he knew some martial arts and could sense that kind of 'gaze' that brought danger close.
He had experienced it during sparring with his master when his master fed him moves.
That kind of 'gaze' made him feel like the person in front of him was not his kind master, but a lion ready to pounce.
However, at this moment.
This 'beastly gaze' was coming from an elementary student.
'Incredible…' The young man couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Yes, I know some martial arts." Zhang Feng did not deny it.
'I knew it…' The young man began to understand after hearing the answer, 'I thought he seemed similar to my master, turns out he trained… unlike me, who gave up halfway…'
'Has Xiaofeng practiced martial arts?' The older and second brothers were surprised.
They didn't understand how the young man could tell Xiaofeng had practiced.
'This is like a scene in a TV drama…' The two were amazed.
"Oh, so you're a fellow martial artist of Mouse Bro!" The other youths congratulated the martial arts young man, then curiously looked Zhang Feng up and down.
Zhang Feng looked particularly at Mouse Bro,
"Zhang Feng, self-taught in Xingyi, Southern Fist, and Baji Fist."
In the previous world, he acquired Baguazhang and Baji Fist; the Baguazhang was a bit too reliant on footwork and movement, which Zhang Feng wasn't too familiar with.
But with muscle memory enhancement in Southern Fist and Xingyi, they were broad and dynamic, perfectly complementing Baji Fist training.
Zhang Feng considered all three skills proficient.
He also wanted to explore the local martial arts circle by introducing himself and sharing his martial arts.
The young man was conveniently a lead.
Since they met and saw he liked making friends.
Zhang Feng didn't want to miss the opportunity.
"Baji Fist?" Mouse Bro was delighted to hear it, "Wow! Little bro, we're from the same school!
Now that you're in our city, why not come visit?
In the world of Baji, be it self-taught or sect-trained, we're all family!"
Baji Fist is a significant fist skill in Northern and Southern Martial Arts.
In earlier days, end of the Qing dynasty, it spread widely, with a local branch here.
Mouse Bro's master had burned incense, renewed genealogy, and invited tea, taking on this heritage from the branch.
Today, his master is a representative figure in the local Baji Fist community.
He's nicknamed 'Yan City Baji Old Zheng.'
The nickname is a bit plain, but straightforward, highlighting the location, fist skill, and surname all at once.
…
Evening.
The older and second brothers left the arcade in a daze and headed home.
"Xiaofeng went with that guy… do you think… do you think something will happen?"
"Big brother… what should we do?"
They were frantic, holding a slip of paper.
With the phone number the young man left.
"Mouse Bro said… give the number to our dad…"
"Xiaofeng also remembers dad's phone number, and said once there, he'll call dad to explain what happened…"
They felt uncertain, but still hastened toward their father's small shop.
On the other side.
Ringing—
Zhang Feng sat on Mouse Bro's bicycle, heading straight to his master's small martial arts school.
"Although my master isn't very famous, he's a really good person."
Mouse Bro added points for his master,
"Look at me, even though I gave up halfway, my master never hit me, and treated me the same as always."
"Um, that's nice." Zhang Feng replied briefly, focusing more on the new enhancement that just appeared.