We agreed on the twelve zodiac animals, but you've transformed into the Monkey King?

As Wen Xiao's departing figure disappeared, the inner hall of Dafeng Money Shop remained deathly silent for a full minute.

Zhao Degui collapsed to the ground, the stench of urine emanating from his crotch.

"Baka..."

In the pool of blood, Kuroda struggled to turn over. His hands were now twisted like two pretzel ropes. A large chunk of flesh had been ripped from his shoulder, exposing his pale shoulder blade to the air.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Degui scrambled over, his voice trembling, "Madam! I'll call a doctor and a rickshaw to take you to the hospital right away..."

"Shut up, you idiot!"

Kuroda's face contorted in pain, his deathly pale features filled with terror and horror. The vertical pupils in Wen Xiao's eyes, the suddenly sprouted sharp nails, and the terrifying, inhuman strength he had witnessed when Wen Xiao lunged at him just now—all of these things made him absolutely certain of one thing.

"That's not...that's not Chinese martial arts at all..." Kuroda's cold sweat mingled with blood, his voice trembling with fear. "That's what Commander Uchiyama has been searching for...the 'out-of-control monster'!"

"Quick...get the car ready! Let's get out the back door!"

"Sir, aren't we going to the police station through the main gate to report this? Marshal Lu's military police are right there on the street..." Zhao Degui said anxiously.

"You idiot! Are you a pig?!" Kuroda kicked Zhao Degui to the ground and roared, "If the Chinese military police saw the top swordsman of the Great Japanese Empire beaten to this state by a dying thug, the Empire's deterrent power would be completely destroyed!"

"Return to Hongkou Dojo immediately...to see Commander Uchiyama!"

……

On the other side, in a dark corner of the alley.

Several laborers were struggling to push a cart loaded with dozens of long ice boxes. A fishy smell emanated from the bottom of the boxes, and through the cracks in the wood, one could vaguely see a section of bluish-black scale as thick as a water bucket. Wen Xiao pulled up his collar and strode past.

The combined effects of suppressing his murderous intent and overdrawing his "fighting power" came crashing back like a tsunami. Wen Xiao's vision was covered in blood red, and his bones groaned in agony as they could no longer bear the strain.

"It's about to get out of control..."

Wen Xiao collapsed into the mud, his right hand clutching his throat. Was he going to become a monster on the streets?

In a daze, his left hand touched the wad of dirty paper.

"Buzz—"

The crumpled paper, reeking of mold and cheap paint, transformed into a rich, dark stream of light upon contact with the boiling blood in his palm, flowing into Wen Xiao's mind. In a daze, a lifelike phantom of a Great Sage in armor appeared.

On the retina, the frantically flashing blood-red data stream suddenly stopped:

[Detected "The Monkey King's Lost Scroll" (1/2)!]

[The fragment has merged with the host]

[The power of the homologous higher-order sequence is being completed... the aberration is being effectively suppressed... the current risk of spiraling out of control has dropped to: 38%!]

[Special Note: Your body is undergoing a profound remodeling process.]

The dark golden heat surged through his torn muscles and bones like steel being tempered in a raging fire.

"Well--!"

Wen Xiao let out a deep, satisfying roar.

A miracle occurred. He could clearly feel his injured muscle fibers frantically reorganizing and healing. Moreover, his body, which had been clinging to life with medication, was now experiencing a qualitative leap in bone density and muscle resilience.

A moment later, the sharp nails retracted, and the dark gold in the pupils completely disappeared.

Wen Xiao leaned against the damp brick wall and stood up, panting heavily. He stared blankly at his hands, which were completely intact and even seemed to exude an explosive power, his eyes filled with disbelief, astonishment, and extreme confusion.

What happened? What just occurred?

"Fifth Master!"

Before Wen Xiao could figure out this sudden turn of events, several Hongmen brothers, panting heavily, rushed over from outside the alley, pushing a rickshaw full of silver dollars.

The bald man leading the group looked at Wen Xiao, who was covered in blood, and then glanced at the signboard of Dafeng Money Exchange in the distance. He was so excited that even his bald head was shining, and his voice was trembling:

"Fifth Master! I saw everything from the doorway just now! My goodness, you handled this matter brilliantly today! You practically broke the arm of that Japanese scoundrel and squeezed 30,000 silver dollars out of Zhao the Skinflint! From now on, who in these Sixteen Shops will dare to mess with Gonghexiang?!"

The bald man wiped the rain off his face and shouted at the top of his lungs into the alleyway, "Fifth Master is tough!!"

"Fifth Master is mighty!!" The men pushing the cart behind him also turned red with fervor and shouted in unison.

Wen Xiao's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden commotion. His cold gaze swept over the group of fanatical brothers as he slipped his bloodied right hand into his pocket.

"Alright, enough with the flattery. Go to the black market and exchange all 30,000 silver dollars for rice and fatty meat! I'll personally escort the truck back to the dock!"

……

Noon, Gonghexiang Wharf.

The winter rain hadn't stopped, and the more than five hundred shirtless laborers were already starving, their eyes green with hunger, and they were on the verge of collapse. Outside the barbed wire fence, Lu Yongxiang's thugs were holding guns and sneering, waiting for these peasants to riot and rebel.

Chen Jinbiao was so anxious that his mouth was covered in blisters. He was trying to calm everyone down, but the emotions below were like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

In this tense atmosphere—

"Beep beep—!!!"

Two heavy trucks from the black market in the concession, surrounded by a group of Hongmen brothers, smashed through the outer barricades and roared into the Gonghexiang Wharf.

Before the truck had even come to a complete stop, the tailgate was kicked open!

Wen Xiao, wearing that blood-stained suit, stood atop a pile of sacks.

He slashed open the sack at his feet with a knife, and with a "whoosh," the white, fragrant rice poured down like a waterfall. Immediately afterward, he kicked over a camphor wood chest, and gleaming silver dollars rolled all over the ground. The crisp sound of the silver dollars even drowned out the river breeze, making the eyes of the soldiers outside the barbed wire stare wide-eyed.

Wen Xiao struck a match, bent down to light a cigarette, and took a deep drag.

He swept his gaze across the group of hungry, frustrated men through the bluish-white smoke.

"What are you all standing there for?"

His voice was hoarse yet unusually calm.

"What? You've only missed breakfast, and seeing those thugs with guns outside and those Yuemen 49s on the water, you think Gonghexiang's business is doomed? You think Uncle Biao is blocking the door and preventing you from leaving, trying to drag you down with him?"

The more than five hundred laborers remained deathly silent; no one dared to take the lead. They weren't starving to death, but with the army surrounding them from the outside and their supervisors forcibly keeping them inside, the uncertainty of losing their lives at any moment was more torturous than hunger itself.

"Since I heard that Fifth Master has set up incense here, there's only one rule: you do the work, and I'll provide food and pay. Those gunmen outside, treat them like dead men. As long as Fifth Master has a breath left on this Gonghexiang pier, your food supply will never be cut off."

After saying that, he pointed to the pork carcass next to him.

"Set up the pot, let's eat."

Throughout the dock, over five hundred rough men, who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a knife and long since disregarded their own lives, watched as the young Fifth Master, who exchanged grain for it without a word and smashed it on the ground, suppressed the pent-up frustration and fear in their chests with his courage.

A gaunt, old laborer stared at the white rice on the ground, swallowing hard. He stepped forward, hoisted up the half-pig, dripping with gravy, and, his eyes bloodshot, roared in a hoarse voice:

"Fifth Master is generous! Brothers, start a fire! After we've eaten our fill, we'll risk our lives for Fifth Master!!"

"Thank you for the reward, Fifth Master!!" "Start the fire!! Eat your fill and get to work!!"

The low, resounding roar of over five hundred shirtless men blended into a powerful torrent, causing the soldiers outside the barbed wire to change their expressions and unconsciously tighten their grip on their rifles.