Chapter 34: Little Stray Cat

Zhang Jie ignored her and kept loading the prosthetic for her.

"I really can't afford it..."

Zhang Jie remained unmoved.

Weiniya was about to say more when she suddenly thought of something horrible, and her face went pale.

"You... you wouldn't sell me, would you?"

Zhang Jie glared at her angrily.

"Exactly! I'll sell you so you can work like an ox and horse for me at the Hei Quan Chang."

Seeing her increasingly flustered face, Zhang Jie decided to stop teasing her.

"All right, I was just teasing you. You think I'd be willing to give you such good gear?"

"That arm prosthetic you're using is not only substandard but also illegal; if you keep using it, ruining both your arms would be minor, and whether you can save your life is questionable."

"First save your life, then we'll talk about money, OK?"

"O.. OK"

Xiaoanchun fell silent, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, unaware of what she was thinking.

Zhang Jie glanced at Weiniya, deciding to find a topic.

"Go on, why did you come to the Heiquanquanchang to fight?"

"Some do it for fun, some for money— which are you?"

Weiniya, like Xiaoanchun, kept her head down, mumbling for a long time before finally speaking.

"For.. money."

"I owe... so much debt..."

"If I work... I'll never be able to pay it back in this lifetime."

Xiaoanchun spoke of her sorrow, her mood sank further, and a gloom gradually appeared in her eyes.

Zhang Jie lightly shook his head; eight or nine out of ten who come to fight in the black boxing arena do so because of debt, but...

He eyed this Xiaoanchun-like fellow suspiciously, and doubts rose in his mind.

"With your timid look, which boss would want you to fight? Could you even beat anyone?"

Weiniya fell silent, and Zhang Jie, not bothering to ask more, continued his work.

Soon after...

Zhang Jie rose and stretched lazily.

He patted the dazed Xiaoanchun.

"All right, it's installed; go down and walk a bit."

"Oh.. oh"

Weiniya tried to step down from the operating table, hopping foolishly in place twice; the incredible lightness all over made her eyes brighten.

This feeling was never experienced with inferior prosthetics; looking at her newly installed prosthetic, the bionic optical skin made it look like a normal arm.

Looking at her clean, white, tender little claws, Weiniya's eyes welled up and the corners reddened.

Not wanting Zhang Jie to see her like this, Weiniya quickly bowed to him.

"Thank you! I'll pay you back!"

After saying that, Weiniya was about to leave when Zhang Jie shoved a small burger into her hand.

"It's already morning; eat something to tide you over before you go."

Zhang Jie took big bites of the cold burger, raising his eyebrows at her.

"What are you staring at? Want another? I've got just two."

Weiniya quickly shook her head, bowed three times in a row, and ran off like a frightened stray cat.

Watching her dash away quickly, Zhang Jie looked up at the sky.

"Another night of busy work."

"Never mind all that; what's staying up late for a martial artist? Besides, he's still so young."

Facing the morning sun, Zhang Jie closed his eyes and began to breathe.

Feeling the subtle qi enter his body, his fatigue eased considerably.

After finishing the breathing exercises and two sets of fist techniques, Master Zhang began a new day's business.

"In these days at the Hei Quan Chang, you've seen too many tragedies; you thought you'd become numb, but when you saw the figure being dragged toward the trash bin, you still felt compassion."

"You brought her into the operating room, spent a whole night replacing her prosthetic, and installed the good gear from your hand onto her."

Over the next month, Zhang Jie often found interesting things on the small table by his door when he finished work each day.

Sometimes it was a few pale red bills, sometimes a few hot burgers, sometimes one or two prosthetics that weren't completely scrapped and could be repaired to earn money.

Zhang Jie couldn't help feeling amused; he was like someone who had fed a stray cat outside, occasionally sending dead mice, small fish, etc., as thanks.

Gradually, Zhang Jie noticed the things on the small table improving— from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, burgers turned into family buckets, and he began to pay attention to the door, intentionally or not.

Around 6:30 p. m. each day, a pale little claw would appear at the door, quietly placing what was to be given to Zhang Jie lightly on the table.

At that time, Zhang Jie might be busy or practicing fist techniques; after the little claw retracted, a small head would stretch out to secretly observe him, then retract as if nothing happened.

Zhang Jie also found it amusing, so they tacitly agreed not to expose her.

Such a peaceful life lasted about a month.

Until one day, Zhang Jie was leaning in his chair looking at the latest prosthetic release info when a big black hand suddenly reached out, startling him.

And when he saw clearly what the big hand was holding, he suddenly realized something.

Only to see him quickly rise up, grab the black hand in one fist; the hand shrank back in fright, but Zhang Jie pulled it in all at once.

Weiniya was pulled by Zhang Jie to the front, her face full of panic.

Weiniya's face on one side was swollen like a big steamed bun, her eye socket faintly showed a bluish tint, and both arms were equipped with a black, bulky prosthetic that utterly mismatched her body.

Seeing Zhang Jie's face darken, Weiniya adopted the ostrich tactic, shrinking her head like a child who had made a mistake.

Seeing the black, bulky prosthetic, Zhang Jie's brows knotted tighter; he knew every prosthetic on the market like the back of his hand, yet he had no impression of this black one.

The answer was obvious: an illegally modified prosthetic.

"What about the prosthetic I installed for you?"

"Haven't I told you that your nerves can't handle this illegal prosthetic anymore?"

Weiniya looked pitiable; her swollen face made her speech muddled.

"I... I was... taken away by the debt collectors..."

Zhang Jie slumped, looking at Weiniya's baggy pants, he seemed to guess something, and he pulled up her pant leg.

As expected, it was also a low-quality prosthetic.

"Damn..."

"Didn't you think of resisting at all?"

"I... I've never fought..."

Her bruised, swollen face seemed to confirm what she had said.

Zhang Jie sighed; the prosthetic he had installed for her was more for everyday use, offering some combat ability but not much.

"Come in... I'll reinstall it for you..."

Just as he was about to speak, Weiniya seemed to anticipate his distraction, she snatched back her hand with a swish, then darted sideways, answering Zhang Jie in a muffled voice as she ran.

"I... I'll pay you back the money......!"

Seeing Weiniya limp yet sprint away, Zhang Jie was momentarily at a loss, and could only shake his head helplessly.

Afterward, Zhang Jie kept an eye on the doorway, intentionally or not; for a whole month thereafter, he never saw Weiniya again.

Until one day...