Flashback~
Sunlight filtered through dirty windows and cast prison-bar shadows across worn desks. Li Ming sat on Zhang Jian's back like a throne while the smaller boy's arms trembled.
"Hey Jian-zi, you're going to have a new partner soon." Li Ming's bleached hair caught the light as he hopped off. "That fat bastard dropped out."
Wang Jun approached and cracked his knuckles. "Damn. Should've gone easier on him—at least he had money."
"The transfer kid will make up for it." Li Ming's grin showed too many teeth.
The teacher's entrance silenced the room. Behind him walked a boy with a buzz cut and an unremarkable face. The boy scanned the classroom with steady eyes. He looked neither timid nor aggressive, just present.
"New student. Say hello."
"Hou Qing. From Chongqing." His voice carried no invitation for friendship.
The teacher pointed to the empty desk beside Zhang Jian. "Sit there."
Lunch arrived with the scrape of chairs. Zhang Jian's whisper barely reached his new seatmate. "Hi... I'm Zhang Jian."
Hou Qing leaned back and closed his eyes. He remained silent.
"I-It's lunch time. Do you want—"
The slap echoed like a gunshot. Zhang Jian's face hit the desk. Li Ming's hand was still raised above him.
"Excited to have a partner? Shut up and get me food."
Zhang Jian nodded and rose on shaking legs. Wang Jun's kick caught him in the ass as he passed. "Don't forget about me, scrawny bastard."
Li Ming turned to Hou Qing with that same grin spreading across his face. "You'll bring food for Wang Jun, won't you?"
Hou Qing opened his eyes. "No."
The classroom went quiet.
Li Ming's hand shot out and grabbed Hou Qing's collar. He yanked Hou Qing close enough to smell the cigarettes on his breath. "Someone doesn't know their position."
Wang Jun circled around. "Want to teach him his first lesson?"
"Look." Hou Qing's voice stayed level. "I know where this goes. But you won't like what happens when I get angry."
They laughed. Li Ming raised his hand. "What did you say, bast—"
Li Ming didn't finish the word. He didn't see the movement. He just felt his feet leave the ground, felt the world spin, felt his face explode against the desk edge. Blood filled his mouth. Blood spread across the floor.
Wang Jun's punch came wild with fury. Hou Qing tilted his head by an inch and caught the extended arm. What followed wasn't a fight. It was education. Hou Qing's fists hammered Wang Jun's face in a steady rhythm that was clinical and detached. He kept punching until the boy's struggles stopped and his body went slack.
Hou Qing wiped his knuckles on Wang Jun's shirt. He returned to his seat. He closed his eyes.
The classroom held its breath.
One boy didn't look away. Zhang Jian stared at that unremarkable back. In that moment, it looked like everything he'd ever wanted to be.
---
Weeks Later...
"I didn't ask you to bring this." Hou Qing gestured at the bread and milk.
Zhang Jian's smile was nervous but genuine. "I brought them because I wanted to."
"What do you want? You've been following me for weeks."
Zhang Jian set the food aside and bowed. "Teach me to be strong like you!"
Hou Qing studied him. "Why would I do that?"
"You saved me. You're strong. You're my—" Zhang Jian looked up with his face flushed. "You're my idol."
Something flickered in Hou Qing's expression. It might have been embarrassment or something softer. "Idol?"
"I just want to be like you. Strong."
No one had ever looked at Hou Qing that way. They didn't look with fear or with calculation. They looked with admiration and with hope.
"I'll teach you," Hou Qing said finally. "But if you quit, I'll beat you myself."
Zhang Jian's eyes lit up like fireworks. "Yes! Thank you!"
That day, two boys who lived opposite lives found something neither had known before. They found a friend.
---
Few Years Later...
Bodies littered the classroom. Broken desks and shattered glass covered the floor. The iron smell of blood filled the air.
Zhang Jian wiped his knuckles and breathed hard. "Third years weren't so tough."
"Why is there always trouble?" Hou Qing surveyed the damage with weary eyes.
"The strong attract attention." Zhang Jian handed him a tissue. "When an elephant walks, dogs bark."
Hou Qing cleaned his hands. "We've come far."
"I'm stronger now."
Hou Qing chopped him on the head. "Still weak."
"Bastard! That hurts."
"You're even cursing at me now."
"Learned from the best." Zhang Jian grinned through the pain.
Hou Qing's laugh was brief but real. "Bad influence, huh? Let's go. My brother's coming home today."
"This mysterious brother of yours—when do I meet him?"
Hou Qing stopped walking. A memory surfaced that was sharp and vivid. He saw a tall figure standing over two bodies with blood on his knuckles and breathing hard. He saw the man who'd pulled Hou Qing out of hell by descending into it himself.
"Don't worry, Qing. I'll handle this."
"Maybe someday," Hou Qing said. "Come on."
They left together and stepped over groaning bodies. They were two boys who'd found brotherhood in violence.
---
Present Day...
Hou Qing looked down at Zhang Jian's broken body.
His first friend. The boy who'd seen something worth admiring when everyone else saw a monster. The boy who'd followed him into the Red Dragon without question, without hesitation, without regret.
Now he lay shattered because Hou Qing hadn't been there.
Rage didn't burn in his chest. It crystallized. It went cold. It went absolute.
His footsteps echoed through the ballroom. Each step was slow and deliberate. Each one was a countdown.
He stopped ten feet from Baki. He met those eyes that had seen too much death and enjoyed it too much.
"I should have killed you myself," Hou Qing said quietly. "You have no idea what you've done."
Baki smiled. "You're making me the villain."
Hou Qing closed his eyes. He took one breath.
When he opened them, he was already moving.
Their fists met in the center.
The shockwave hit like a bomb. The floor spider-webbed beneath them. Windows rattled in their frames. Guests who'd been too shocked to flee finally ran.
Both men slid backward. Hou Qing's feet plowed furrows in the marble. Baki's grin widened.
"I'm addicted to this feeling."
Hou Qing didn't waste breath on words. He surged forward. This time there was no testing and no probing. There was just violence.
He threw a left jab to draw the guard up. He threw a right cross toward the exposed ribs. But the cross pulled back halfway and became an uppercut to the chin.
Baki read the first two attacks. He blocked the jab and started to guard his ribs. The uppercut caught him by surprise and snapped his head back. It drew first blood from a split lip.
Hou Qing didn't wait to admire his work. He was already transitioning. He cupped both hands together and swung them down like an axe.
Baki rolled sideways. The double-fist strike cratered the floor where his head had been. Marble chunks exploded upward.
Baki's counter came from ground level. A jumping uppercut rose like an elevator and caught Hou Qing under the jaw while he was still committed to the downswing. Hou Qing's head snapped back. Baki followed him into the air with a second uppercut. This one hit the sternum.
Hou Qing left the ground but he twisted mid-flight. He turned the momentum into a backflip and landed on his feet with his guard already up.
"You're strong," he muttered, "very strong."
He came in lower this time. He threw a kick to the midsection. Baki caught the leg with both hands. Hou Qing was already jumping off his planted foot and driving his knee toward Baki's face.
The knee connected. Baki's nose erupted blood. His grip loosened. Hou Qing spun in midair. His other leg whipped around in a high kick that caught Baki's temple.
Baki staggered. Hou Qing landed and immediately closed the distance. He grabbed Baki's collar and pulled him forward. Their foreheads met with a crack that echoed.
Baki's eyes glinted green as he clenched his body. Then Hou Qing twisted and used the momentum to throw Baki over his shoulder and down.
The impact shattered the floor. Dust rose in a cloud.
Through the settling debris, Baki's laugh rang out. He rolled to his feet and wiped blood from his nose. "This is fun! Let's play more!"
They met again in the center. Baki led with a high kick that whistled through air. Hou Qing blocked high but the impact drove him back three feet. His forearm was already numbing.
Baki flowed into a crescent kick. Hou Qing ducked under it and came up throwing short and brutal punches to Baki's floating ribs. He threw one-two. Both landed.
Hou Qing grabbed him and pulled him into the clinch. He drove two knees into Baki's midsection. The sound was meat hitting meat. Then he flipped Baki over his hip.
Baki hit the ground and immediately rolled backward. He came up in a fighting stance like he'd bounced off a trampoline.
He rushed forward. His overhead kick came down with bone-breaking force. Hou Qing crossed his arms above his head. The heel smashed into his guard and drove him down. It made his knees bend.
Baki's heel came down again in the same motion. Twice. Three times. A rhythm like a jackhammer forced Hou Qing lower with each impact.
Baki created distance with a leap backward. Then he threw a long kick. Hou Qing swayed. The kick passed inches from his face. Baki threw a second kick. Hou Qing swayed again. A third kick came and this one Hou Qing couldn't dodge. It caught his shoulder and sent him stumbling.
Baki pressed the advantage. He threw a straight right to the chest. The punch sank deep. Hou Qing's eyes went wide as air exploded from his lungs. Baki threw an uppercut to the chin. Hou Qing launched into the air.
But even airborne and even hurt, Hou Qing was dangerous. He cupped his hands together mid-flight and came down with both fists aimed at Baki's skull.
Baki raised both arms in an X-block. The double-fist strike hit his guard with enough force to crater the floor beneath his feet and to make his knees buckle.
Hou Qing landed and immediately spun. He threw a hook with everything behind it. Baki leaned back. The fist passed close enough to feel the wind. Hou Qing continued the spin and brought his other fist around into a gut punch. This one connected. Baki doubled over slightly.
Hou Qing's uppercut caught Baki's jaw. His head whipped back with a snap. Hou Qing spun one more time and threw a haymaker with his full body weight behind it.
The punch caught Baki square in the face.
Baki flew backward and crashed into a marble pillar. The pillar cracked from the impact.
Li Xiu watched from her safe distance and sipped her drink. "My, my. This one's much better."
Baki pushed himself away from the pillar. Blood ran down his face.
Then something in his eyes changed. The pupils dilated. His stance shifted infinitesimally.
"Haven't had to do this in a while," he said.
Hou Qing felt it. He felt that subtle shift in the air around Baki.