Infinite Fighting

Raindrops beat against the shipping container, the pitter-patter of the rain unending.

Rain was a common occurrence here on Shanli Island.

It was by the sea, after all.

It wasn’t unusual for it to rain several times in a single day.

But of course, it had to happen on Zhang Ji’s day off.

Yes, he actually got one day off a month, and it was paid leave.

He found it somewhat ironic.

Before he’d transmigrated, he had never encountered a job that offered paid holidays.

In that "civilized" society, overtime was unpaid and holidays were basically nonexistent, to say nothing of paid leave.

Even slave owners knew not to work their slaves constantly, but the capitalists didn’t seem to know that.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at his door.

Zhang Ji’s brow furrowed slightly. ’Is this someone looking for trouble,’ he wondered, ’or is it payback from that Brother Kun I offended?’

Grabbing a crowbar, he crept to the door.

"Zhang Ji? You in there?"

It was Gu Ming’s voice.

Zhang Ji didn’t let his guard down. He peeked through the crack in the door and saw no one else, though he did spot a young boy, about seven or eight years old, standing next to Gu Ming.

Carefully opening the door, Zhang Ji asked, "Brother Gu, what’s going on?"

"Well, it’s like this." Gu Ming glanced at the child beside him. "He’s almost eight, but he just messes around with the other kids all day, and that’s not going to get him anywhere. I noticed you seem to know how to read. Would you mind finding some time each month to teach him? This is for this month’s tuition, I hope you don’t think it’s too little..."

As he spoke, Gu Ming produced a small box containing one hundred neatly arranged batteries.

Twenty roasted duck dinners.

Five days’ wages.

Furthermore, since Gu Ming was being exploited by Yin Kun, it would have theoretically taken him six or even seven days to earn that much.

’Even so, he was willing to pay this much just for me to teach his son how to read?’

’Wait... what’s the literacy rate here?’

Zhang Ji suddenly realized something.

’There are... no teachers here...’

’At least, not in Kui District.’

’So that’s why Gu Ming was so good to me from the beginning? Why he was willing to risk offending Yin Kun to step in and mediate? Was this the reason all along?’

Gu Ming had probably been planning this ever since he saw me staring at the characters on the cargo container.

As expected, there’s no such thing as baseless love or hate.

Zhang Ji had been confused, but now it all made sense.

"Payment for four roasted duck dinners is enough," Zhang Ji said, taking twenty batteries from the box.

"Take it all. What if you need to buy writing supplies? You can’t be expected to pay for that yourself!" Gu Ming insisted.

Only then did Zhang Ji understand what Gu Ming was thinking.

Writing supplies did cost money, and they were a bit expensive.

But here, it wasn’t impossible to find alternatives.

There was more cardboard than he knew what to do with; the space under his bed was completely lined with it.

He could just write on that.

There was no need to waste blood and sweat money on such things when the boy was just starting to learn.

"Plus the cost of a pen." Zhang Ji took three more batteries, then said in a tone that left no room for argument, "Take the rest back. Let me teach him for a while first. If you feel I’m not doing a good job, you don’t have to come back and ask me again."

This was a euphemism. In truth, Zhang Ji was worried he wouldn’t have the patience for the child.

The children of Kui District were hardly timid.

After all, their environment and circumstances were unique.

They had seen a lot.

"How could you possibly do a bad job?"

Gu Ming smiled but didn’t try to force the money on Zhang Ji again.

A man who could notice a detail like Zhang Ji’s literacy and plan so far ahead wouldn’t be lacking in worldly wisdom.

"You’ll stay here today. Listen to your teacher, and I’ll come pick you up at noon," Gu Ming said to the boy.

"Okay," the little boy nodded.

After Gu Ming left, Zhang Ji tidied up the pieces of cardboard covered in his writing, slid them under his bed, and pulled out a fresh one.

For the twenty-odd days he’d been here, he had been constantly thinking about fighting. The notes and drawings on the cardboard were all information he had gleaned from the TV at the roasted duck restaurant, along with what he could remember about this world.

Of course, he wasn’t an idiot. When it came to important details, he wrote vaguely to avoid arousing suspicion if his notes were ever discovered.

He desperately wanted to become a martial artist, but unfortunately, he seemed to have no way in.

Kratos was probably the only one who knew how, but he obviously wouldn’t associate with a nobody like him.

"What’s your name?" Zhang Ji asked the boy, pen in hand.

"Gu Jie!" Gu Jie replied.

"Can you write it?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Yes," Gu Jie said.

If nothing else, he had memorized those two words by heart.

His father had even spent a day’s wages to have Uncle Cheng choose that name for him.

"Write it," Zhang Ji said, handing him the pen.

Gu Jie took the pen and began to write on the cardboard.

He had clearly practiced before.

His grip on the pen was pretty good, and he wrote with a practiced hand.

Soon, he finished writing the two words.

It was surprisingly good.

If it weren’t for the fact that his transmigrated body had de-aged and undergone some changes, giving him greater Control Power, Zhang Ji wasn’t certain he could have written better than the boy.

"Have you practiced writing before?" Zhang Ji asked.

"My dad has me trace the signs with a tree branch," said Gu Jie.

Zhang Ji nodded.

’It’s good that he’s proactive,’ Zhang Ji thought.

’This will save me a lot of trouble.’

"Let’s start with the basics of pronunciation," Zhang Ji said.

The world of Ultimate Fighting was based on the real world, so many things, including the written language and some cultural aspects, were similar to the world Zhang Ji had come from before he transmigrated.

....

「In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ji had been in Kui District for almost two months.」

He had become a skilled, veteran worker.

Here, he was the only one who received his full wages.

However, his job was also the most strenuous.

He had to unload a truck by himself every time. Under Yin Kun’s threatening gaze, no one dared to help him. Gu Ming had also been assigned to a different unloading area. He had wanted to help Zhang Ji, but Zhang Ji refused.

Zhang Ji’s transmigrated body had really come through for him, allowing him to stand his ground and not back down.

Even when unloading a whole truck by himself, he quickly adapted. He even became faster than a two-man team.

In his spare time, he would teach Gu Jie to read. He would just write out a lesson on a piece of cardboard, add phonetic spellings, and let the boy practice it at home.

By their next meeting, Gu Jie would have memorized everything and be able to write it all.

Only then would Zhang Ji slowly explain the meanings of the words and the concepts they represented.

The teaching went quickly. Gu Jie could now recite two classical poems in front of his friends, which earned him a lot of respect. Now, even without his father’s pressure, he studied hard simply for the bragging rights.

Some of the other workers who had families and children also seemed to want Zhang Ji to teach their kids. They only floated the idea, however, likely to gauge his interest and discreetly inquire about tuition fees.

Zhang Ji truly never expected that, after having forgotten most of what his teachers had taught him, he could still be so valued here for his half-assed knowledge.

It was also worth mentioning that every other day, Zhang Ji would go eat a roasted duck dinner, watch some TV, and catch up on the world of fighting.

Well, you couldn’t really call it "the world of fighting."

It was just a scripted show.

They were just play-fighting with each other.

Sometimes, the people on the show would mention bits and pieces of their training routines. Zhang Ji would memorize them and then practice them haphazardly on his own.

But it was useless.

Real martial arts required specific physical movements, breathing techniques, external liniments, and even supplementary training like striking conditioning.

Every single one of these components was a closely guarded secret.

Even in this society, which seemed to have a well-developed network, they weren’t willing to just teach these things to ordinary people for no reason.

He wondered if he could get access to those things outside Kui District.

But it didn’t seem to be easy.

Only the delivery drivers could travel back and forth, and according to them, there weren’t any martial arts dojos open on the outside.

This place, Shanli Island, was mostly filled with sweatshops that treated people like slaves.

On the whole of Shanli Island, Kui District could even be considered a high-class residential area.

At least Kratos was trying to govern it properly, not just letting it devolve into a chaotic mess.

Other places were flooded with guns and addictive drugs. If you wanted to find work just to eat, you had to put your life on the line.

Among the various slave drivers, Kratos was considered one of the more farsighted ones.

However, it was said that Kratos had only arrived here less than twenty years ago. He wasn’t a local.

This place wasn’t called Kui District in the past, and it was far more chaotic, just like everywhere else.

「Night fell.」

Zhang Ji finished his day of hard labor and started for home, his body weary.

As he put his key in the lock, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

’It feels so light!’

CLICK~!

The lock opened instantly.

"Worn out from age? I’ll have to go find Uncle Cheng and get a new lock."

Zhang Ji muttered to himself and was about to turn and leave.

But the door suddenly swung open, and a hand shot out, grabbing for his head.

He raised a hand to block, but his opponent simply flicked it aside before their hand clamped down hard on his head.

"Don’t make a sound, or you’re dead!"

A weathered voice spoke.

The five fingers were incredibly strong, squeezing Zhang Ji’s skull until it ached. He had no doubt that if the person applied a little more force, his head would burst like a watermelon.

The voice sounded strangely familiar to Zhang Ji. He whispered, "Kratos?"

"Inside."

Kratos grabbed Zhang Ji, dragged him inside the room, and bolted the door behind them.

Zhang Ji was tossed aside. Kratos staggered over and sat down on the makeshift bed of cardboard and wooden crates.

"Kratos, what happened?"

Zhang Ji switched on the lightbulb. He noticed what looked like bloodstains on Kratos’s abdomen.

’What’s going on?’

"What’s your name?"

Kratos didn’t answer Zhang Ji’s question. Instead, he asked for Zhang Ji’s name.

"Zhang Ji," Zhang Ji answered.

Kratos stared at Zhang Ji for a moment, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Zhang Ji? I didn’t expect it to be you."

He remembered now. This was the young man who had fought a dog for its food.

"Kratos?" Zhang Ji said. "You look hurt. I can go to the pharmacy and get you some medicine..."

The dockworkers often suffered from sprains and scrapes, so there was a pharmacy nearby that specialized in such things. It couldn’t cure any serious illnesses, but they could stitch up a small wound in no time.

Kratos watched Zhang Ji for a moment before saying, "Go. Don’t tell anyone I’m here."

Zhang Ji nodded, then opened the door and left.

Standing outside the door, his expression changed abruptly.

’Are things in Kui District about to change?’

The simple order Kratos maintained through his absolute martial might was already quite fragile to begin with.

’Something must have happened among the higher-ups in Kui District.’

’If I tell people Kratos is here, I might get something out of it.’

’Of course, it’s also possible I’ll get nothing. I might even be silenced for good.’

’But if I let Kratos stay here...’

’Kratos is a real martial artist. I might be able to learn professional fighting techniques from him.’

’But that also means taking on more risk.’

However, Zhang Ji didn’t care about that risk.

From the moment he had snatched that bowl of dog food, he had understood one thing.

Here, every single opportunity had to be fought for, seized, and taken with risk!!!