Super Fighting Tokyo.

"What did he want to tell me?"

"No, he doesn't want to talk, he wants to..."

Bai Mucheng suddenly realized.

Long took a half step back and assumed a stance, his right fist clenched tightly at his waist, his nostrils trembling slightly with each breath, his gaze already fixed on himself.

boom!

Long threw a punch straight at Shiramu Cheng's face!

That was an absolutely ferocious punch. The movement was simple and unadorned, yet it was wrapped in a force that could split mountains and shatter rocks, making Bai Mucheng's face tremble and almost unable to open his eyes.

The tension reached its peak instantly, as if all the blood in my body was surging, and my body, which hadn't exercised for five years, was forced to revive at this moment!

Swish!

Bai Mucheng dodged to the side, but he was still a fraction too slow. Long's two knuckles grazed his head, causing Bai Mucheng to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Only now did Shiramu Cheng finally come to his senses, his throat catching up with his thoughts, and he let out a gasp—

……

"what!"

As if waking from a dream, Long, after throwing a punch, drifted away and disappeared like ink in water.

The stagnant space around them had already resumed its flow long before Shiramu Cheng made his dodge move.

"..."

Bai Mucheng felt something under his nose, and when he reached out to touch it, a bright red stain appeared on his fingertip.

I have a nosebleed.

"Everything just came to a standstill—including myself. Only my consciousness and thoughts were still running at high speed, allowing me to think extensively in an instant..."

"I got hit by Ryu?"

"Can I dodge that punch? Can I still spar with Ryu? What about the phantom images of the other fighters?"

"...Wait, I just dodged?!"

Bai Mucheng's spirits suddenly lifted, and he got up from the ground without caring about his image. His arms hung naturally at his sides, his center of gravity remained in the middle, and he hopped a few times before quickly sliding forward and backward.

Swish—swish!

After several rounds of testing, Bai Mucheng concluded that the gait incoordination and slow movements caused by the previous "boxing disease" were no longer visible.

It seems... I'm cured?!

"My head doesn't hurt anymore, my eyes can see clearly, and my fingers are steady, so it really was a blow to the head—or a punch? Go ahead and hit me!"

"I need to go to the hospital for a check-up! No, I don't have any money in my pocket, I have to wait for You Sha to come back."

"Calm down, or Yousha will think I'm terminally ill, in the late stages..."

"..."

Clang!

As he was pondering, a loud crash on the street interrupted Bai Mucheng's train of thought.

Following the sound, Shiramu looked up and saw a low-ranking yakuza leader wearing a striped suit and sporting a slicked-back blond hairstyle, leading two men in black suits and sunglasses, walking towards him.

That sound just now came from the gang leader kicking the railing.

"Hey! You crippled piece of trash, long time no see!"

The henchman walked over on his own, looked around, and spat at Shiraki, "Where's Yusa? This lousy place needs some woman's scent to make it bearable!"

"Tsk, it looks like a garbage dump, what a waste of this good land..."

He glanced at the bandage on Bai Mucheng's head, a sinister smile spreading across his face, his threat clear.

"You're injured? I knew this area was dangerous! So, I have good news for you, you have a chance to move away from here!"

"..."

Bai Mucheng glanced at the minor leader.

This local yakuza gang, led by a small-time boss, was backed by a financial company and tricked Yusa into signing a high-value loan contract.

The fact that they've come knocking on our door now means the repayment deadline is approaching, and they want Bai Mucheng to sign the debt settlement documents so they can acquire the land as soon as possible.

"Look how good I am to your family! You can sign without even leaving your house."

The foreman introduced the two men in black suits:

“These two are salesmen from Di’ai Group, specializing in land mortgage transfers—Di’ai is a legitimate financial institution, so even if you call the police… they’ll have to acknowledge it!”

Shiramu Cheng: "..."

He was still thinking about how to deal with it when he suddenly heard a familiar term.

At the same time, the two men in black from the "Di'ai Group" each produced a contract.

The foreman then changed the subject, pointing to another contract and saying:

"Of course, because Arisa is so adorable, I wanted to help you as much as possible, so I've offered you a loan repayment deferral option—"

"Your family owns a karate dojo, so you must know how to fight, right?"

"Our Mischievous Tooth Group has been commissioned by the Imperial Love Group to fight a battle, but we're short-handed. It would be great if you could lend a hand!"

The underling stared at Bai Mucheng and reached out to take another contract.

"Go fight a fighter from some 'Kengan Tournament' and test their skills—if you win, you'll get a discount, and if you lose, you'll get a few more days' grace period. How about it?"

"..."

Bai Mucheng couldn't give an answer for a moment, because those two words—two words that shouldn't be related—were swirling in his mind.

Teiai Group? Kengan Match?

Bai Mucheng's consciousness went berserk once again.

Chapter Two: Live Life to the Fullest

In the eyes of the underling, Bai Mucheng only stared blankly for a moment.

However, for Shiraki Sei, those two words—Teiai Group and the Kengan match—repeatedly surged in his mind, causing his consciousness to run wild once again.

Countless pieces of information and memories erupted in his mind like a volcanic eruption.

……

Di'ai Group is one of the largest financial monopoly enterprises in the country.

On the surface, their business covers finance, real estate, entertainment, and other fields, but in reality, they operate in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, secretly controlling loan sharking, underground casinos, and the slave labor industry chain.

In that possible future, a scoundrel named "Ito Kaiji" will be forced to participate in a series of life-or-death gambles after owing 385 million yen for guaranteeing a friend's debt.

That's a story called "Gambling Apocalypse".

As for Shiraki, the huge loan that Arisa owed has now ballooned to 30 million yen due to compound interest.

Such an exorbitant price far exceeds an individual's ability to repay; even selling land to pay off the debt would not be enough to fill this black hole!

……

As for the "Kengan Tournament," it originated in the Tokugawa Shogunate era.

The merchants formed a union, and when their interests differed, they would arrange a competition through the union, with the results of the competition being the final deciding factor.

The method of the competition is also very simple: "both sides hire thugs to fight one-on-one!"

To the fist of the fighter, I entrust my long-cherished wish—

The "Kengan Association" was thus born, and the fighters who participated in the Kengan matches were called "fighting fighters".

In another possible future, a fighter named Tokita Ohma will step onto the Kengan ring and fight to the death until everything is burned to ashes.

That story is called "Kengan Ashura".

……

……

Today, these two "stories" are intertwined and mixed in the same world.

"The 'people' in the story may also exist in this world..."

Are there any other 'stories'?

"..."

As the pressure in his mind gradually intensified, Bai Mucheng had little time left to think, so he began to ponder some more practical issues.

"For an individual, a debt of 30 million is an astronomical sum, but for the powerful Quanyuan Association, a mere 30 million is nothing more than a casual off-field bet."

"Moreover, what they just said was 'go fight a fighter,' not 'go fight a Kengan match.'"

"So it's possible that the chairman of the Teiai Group, 'Hyoudou Kazutaka,' imagined watching a bloody underground boxing match just like he would enjoy a slewd gambling game?"

……

……

The rampage of consciousness subsided.

Bai Mucheng thought for a moment, appearing stunned for a few seconds in the eyes of the three people opposite him.

"Okay."

Bai Mucheng suddenly nodded.

This surprised the leader of the Miserable Tooth Group and the two debt collectors from the Emperor Love Group, who never expected the other party to agree so readily.

"Hey!"

One of the debt collectors, fearing that Shiraki was just giving a perfunctory answer, frowned and explained, "Do you know what the Kengan Tournament is? It's an underground fighting game in the underworld..."