87: Chapter 87 Seizing the opening, the "Crushing Fist" is unleashed! Zhang Hao is defeated.

Section 1: The Vengeful Flames of the Repaired Bracer

When the spotlights of the Fighting League gym lit up for the third time, Zhang Hao's alloy bracers glinted with a cold, hard silver light. A ring of spiral patterns had been added to the repaired joints; these were Grey Shadow's latest development, the "Strangulation Bearings," capable of generating an additional rotational force of 800 RPM during a punch. The moment he stepped onto the bluestone stage, the audience suddenly erupted into a black wave—the "Cheering Squad" hired by Grey Shadow held up glowing signs reading "Steel Fist Revenge," creating a jarring confrontation with the cyan-gold banners of the Mutant Mutual Aid Association.

"He's hidden the 'Explosive Power Chip' 2.0 inside his bracers," Lin Mo's tactical tablet hovered beside the referee's seat, its virtual screen displaying a jumping data stream showing that Zhang Hao's peak punching force had reached 1500 kg, a 25% increase from the last match. "But the new bearings have a fatal flaw; every time the rotation exceeds 600 RPM, a 0.2-second stutter occurs." The youth's fingertips slid across a 3D model, and a red warning flashed at the seventh joint of the alloy arm: "This is a backdoor intentionally left by Grey Shadow. They want to use Zhang Hao's failure to smear 'Taiji Baji Collapse'."

Grandpa Wang's dry tobacco pipe let out a dull thud against the front row of the audience seats. The old man pulled out the "Essentials of Crushing Fist" left by his grandfather, its yellowed pages marked in cinnabar with the "Three Methods of Breaking Rotation": "Zhang Hao's rotational energy looks impressive, but it actually violates the fundamental principle of 'power rising from the ground'," his pipe bowl pointed toward the Tomb-Guarding Beast totem in the center of the ring. "Every time he punches, his right foot subconsciously rises half an inch; that is the root of the flaw." Three copper coins suddenly flew out from the camphor wood box, landing by Chen Wu's feet to form the character for "Crush." Cyan-gold Qi Energy spread along the coins, drawing a spiral attack trajectory on the ground.

In the Flower Girl's basket, the leaves of the inheritance grass suddenly curled into a drill shape. Dew rolled across the leaf surfaces, reflecting a thermal image of Zhang Hao's bracers—the temperature of the Strangulation Bearings was 12°C higher than other parts, a clear sign of overloading. The young girl mixed the juice of thorn flowers and ming jin orchids; as the pale gold "Rotation-Breaking Dew" dripped onto the leaves, the curled patterns suddenly straightened. "Elder Zhou said this is the 'Crushing Fist Lead'," her fingertip lightly touched a dewdrop. "It can guide your Qi Energy into the bearings following the direction of rotation, like driving a screw into a reverse-thread socket."

The armored vehicles of the Special Incident Response Department deployed a defensive formation at the alley entrance. The Chief of the Execution Division walked quickly over, holding a piece of the latest intelligence. In a holographic projection, Grey Shadow's technicians were debugging a remote control device: "They plan to activate a self-destruct sequence in the fifth round, exploding the bracers to frame Chen Wu." She suddenly slapped a button-sized detector onto Chen Wu's protective gear. "This is a 'Frequency Interceptor'. It can block their signal within three seconds and record evidence of the manipulation." The Section Chief's tablet showed that Zhang Hao's heart rate was 17% faster than usual; he was clearly being coerced by Grey Shadow to compete.

Officer Zhang's body camera was pointed at the emergency station on the side of the ring. The veteran policeman pulled up Zhang Hao's training videos; every time the Mutant practiced the "Spiral Iron Fist," his old injury on the left arm would twitch slightly—a lingering effect from being shaken by the "Taiji Baji Collapse" last time. "His father made the same mistake in 1989," the body cam suddenly switched to a recording from thirty years ago, where a young Zhang's Father forced himself to use his injured arm in the finals, resulting in his bones being broken by his opponent's Crushing Fist. "Your Great-grandfather said back then, 'One who fights recklessly while injured is not a Martial Artist, but a fool'." The playback function of the recorder suddenly activated, and the text message Chen Wu sent to Zhang Hao last night flashed on the screen: "Don't be controlled by the chip. I'm waiting for your conscious punch."

When the referee rang the bell for the first round, Zhang Hao's alloy bracers suddenly erupted with a piercing red light. 1500 kg of rotational energy smashed toward Chen Wu's face with the sound of breaking air, black Qi Energy condensing into a high-speed vortex on the surface of the glove, making the air let out a sharp hiss. The "Cheering Squad" in the stands stood up in unison, their black banners forming a giant character for "Defeat," only to be shredded into pieces by the cyan-gold spiral energy the moment they touched Chen Wu's Qi Energy.

As Chen Wu initiated his "Taiji Baji Collapse," the peace lock suddenly resonated with the three copper coins. Cyan-gold Qi Energy formed a rotating barrier in front of him. He used neither hard Brute Force to resist nor soft energy to deflect; instead, he gently guided it along the direction of the vortex. Slow-motion footage from the live broadcast showed that the moment Zhang Hao's punch path touched the barrier, it shifted by 0.1 seconds. The rotation frequency of the Strangulation Bearings suddenly became erratic, and an abnormal red glow rippled across the surface of the bracer.

"A flaw appeared on the very first punch!" Lin Mo's exclamation carried a tremor. The force analysis diagram on the virtual screen showed that Chen Wu's Qi Energy had shifted 37 degrees along the direction of rotation, perfectly avoiding the strongest point of the vortex, while the pale gold Qi Energy of the "Crushing Fist Lead" had already burrowed into the bearings through the gaps, causing the rotation speed to drop by 12%. However, a second ring of red light lit up on Zhang Hao's bracer as the Explosive Power Chip forced the output to 80%, instantly doubling the concentration of black Qi Energy on his fist.

Section 2: The Three Rotation-Breaking Strikes within the Rotational Energy

When the second round's "Spiral Iron Fist" attacked, Chen Wu's feet suddenly ground half-inch-deep footprints into the bluestone. "First Method of Breaking Rotation: Subduing Rotation with the Earth" leapt from the pages of the "Essentials of Crushing Fist" as cyan-gold Qi Energy was injected through his legs into the ground. It erupted the moment Zhang Hao stood on his tiptoes—the ring's stress sensors let out a piercing alarm, and the Mutant's right foot was knocked half a foot off the ground by the Qi Energy, causing his rotational energy to instantly dissipate by thirty percent.

"How is this possible!" Zhang Hao's roar was filled with disbelief. The rotation frequency of the Strangulation Bearings plummeted from 800 RPM to 560 RPM, and wisps of white smoke rose from the bracer's joints. He suddenly activated the "Chain Rotation," his left fist sweeping toward Chen Wu's waist with black Qi Energy, but he failed to notice that his left shoulder was directly facing his opponent—the location of his old injury and the flawed point that the Crushing Fist was best at attacking.

Chen Wu's "Second Method of Breaking Rotation: Breaking Rotation with Linearity" followed like a shadow. The linear energy of the Crushing Fist suddenly burst out from the Taiji vortex. At the moment the cyan-gold Qi Energy contacted the left shoulder, it used neither spirals nor rotations, but instead burrowed into the old injury with a pure linear impact. Slow-motion footage showed Zhang Hao's left arm suddenly vibrating as the alloy bracer's rotation frequency suffered a 0.2-second stutter—exactly the lag flaw Lin Mo had predicted.

"70% force deflection!" The Fighting League commentator stood up, losing his composure. The 3D model he pulled up showed that the contact point between the Crushing Fist's linear energy and the rotational energy formed a perfect right angle, exactly matching the "force couple balance" principle in mechanics. "This is the Crushing Fist's 'Inch Power'! Using the shortest distance to deliver the maximum impact, specifically designed to counter rotational energy!" But Grey Shadow's technicians suddenly hacked the live broadcast signal, popping up a small line of text in the corner of the screen: "Chen Wu is attacking an old injury; this violates the spirit of sportsmanship!"

Grandpa Wang's dry tobacco pipe suddenly blew a puff of blue smoke toward the camera. The cyan-gold smoke formed a massive character for "Martial" in virtual space, and the old man's voice spread across the globe through the Qi Energy: "In 1936, your Great-grandfather used this Move to defeat the 'Whirlwind Kick' from the East. What did the referee say then?" His pipe bowl pointed at the "Essentials of Crushing Fist" in the virtual projection. "The true essence of the Martial Dao is not mercy, but a heavy punch that wakes the opponent up!"

At the critical moment of the third round, Zhang Hao's bracers suddenly emitted a piercing alarm. The temperature of the Strangulation Bearings broke the critical threshold, and the rotation frequency became erratic. The vortex formed by the black Qi Energy on the fist's surface showed obvious irregularities. Chen Wu's "Third Method of Breaking Rotation: Breaking Rotation with Rotation" suddenly launched—the spiral energy of the Crushing Fist perfectly fused with the rotational energy of Taiji. The moment the cyan-gold Qi Energy vortex contacted the black Qi Energy vortex, it suddenly rotated in the opposite direction, creating a resonance that made Zhang Hao's bracers vibrate violently.

"This is the 'Reverse Spiral'!" The Chief of the Enforcement Division's voice was filled with excitement. In the holographic projection, the Technical Department's mechanical model was demonstrating: when two opposing rotational energies collide, they generate a tearing shear force, exactly capable of destroying the internal structure of the Strangulation Bearings. "Chip overload detected!" The Section Chief's tablet showed that Zhang Hao's armguards already had three tiny cracks, and black Qi Energy was starting to leak out uncontrollably.

When the bell for the fourth round rang, Zhang Hao's alloy armguards were already glowing an abnormal dark red. The side effects of the Explosive Power Chip were beginning to manifest, and a trace of black blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth—a sign of Qi Energy backlash. But Grey Shadow's remote control device suddenly activated, forcibly increasing the armguard's rotation frequency to 900 RPM. The Mutant's pupils suddenly lost focus, and he became a Puppet completely controlled by the chip.

"Wake up!" Chen Wu's roar carried cyan-gold Qi Energy. The hard power of the Crushing Fist suddenly transformed into a beam of light, flying past Zhang Hao's ear and blasting a spiral-shaped dent into the boxing ring's ropes. This intentionally held-back attack caused the Mutant to shudder violently, a flash of struggling clarity appearing in his pupils—his left hand suddenly pressed down on his right arm, trying to stop the chip's control, but the rotation frequency of the Strangulation Bearings had already broken past its limit, and the cracks on the surface of the armguards were expanding.

Section 3: The Winning Move When the Crushing Fist Strikes

When the bell for the fifth round rang, Grey Shadow's self-destruct program entered its countdown. Zhang Hao's alloy armguards suddenly erupted with a piercing black light. 1,500 kilograms of rotational force, mixed with the energy before the explosion, smashed toward Chen Wu's chest with a devastating Aura—this was the final strike controlled by the chip, intending to both defeat the opponent and perish together with him.

Chen Wu's peace lock suddenly erupted with a scorching light. The pages of the Essentials of Crushing Fist fluttered around him, and the cyan-gold Qi Energy suddenly condensed into a spiral-shaped drill. It contained both the ferocity of Baji Fist and the rotation of Taiji Power, and even hid the most essential linear penetration of the Crushing Fist. When the two types of Qi Energy collided in the center of the ring, the global live broadcast frame suddenly froze—

The footage, slowed down 100 times, showed that at the moment Chen Wu's Crushing Fist touched the armguard, it first used Taiji Power to Move along the direction of rotation, avoiding the core of the explosive energy; then it used the hard power of Baji Fist to pry open the cracks, expanding the flaws in the bearing; finally, it used the linear force of the Crushing Fist to drill into the gap, accurately hitting the core component of the Strangulation Bearings. The triple energy, like precise machinery, completed the perfect cycle of "Deflecting - Guard-breaking - Direct Hit" within 0.3 seconds.

With a crisp "crack," Zhang Hao's alloy armguards suddenly disintegrated. Fragments of the Strangulation Bearings flew out in the Qi Energy shockwave but were gently stopped by Chen Wu's Qi Energy barrier, harming no one. The Explosive Power Chip was completely destroyed the moment it contacted the Crushing Fist energy. The black Qi Energy receded like a tide, revealing the Mutant's original right arm—the old injury there glowed with a cyan-gold warmth as Chen Wu's Vitality Energy began to repair the damaged nerves.

"I... lost?" Zhang Hao's voice carried confusion, then he suddenly became clear-headed. "Thank you for not letting me become a bomb." He tore off the wreckage of the armguards and bowed deeply to Chen Wu. "Grey Shadow threatened me with my sister's illness. This punch... I've wanted to throw it like this for a long time." The Mutant suddenly turned toward the live camera, the chip interface on his right arm exceptionally glaring under the spotlights: "This is Grey Shadow's control device. They don't care about the lives of Martial Artists at all!"

The "Cheering Squad" in the stands suddenly fell into chaos. SWAT officers from the Special Incident Response Department descended from the sky, pinning down all the troublemakers hired by Grey Shadow. The Chief of the Enforcement Division held up the recorded audio evidence from the screen capturer, broadcasting it globally through the live stream: "Did everyone hear that? This is their conversation about controlling the self-destruct program!" The holographic projection suddenly switched to Zhang Hao's sister's hospital room, where the little girl was smiling under the treatment of Chen Wu's Vitality Energy. "We will take full responsibility for her illness and never let Grey Shadow threaten anyone again!"

Lin Mo's tablet suddenly popped up with global comments. Messages like "Crushing Fist is so cool!" and "So the rotational energy was that easy to break!" flooded the screen, and the number of online viewers exceeded 12 billion, setting a new record for martial arts live broadcasts. The youth's fingertips danced on the virtual keyboard. Next to the Taiji Baji Collapse Martial Arts Deduction progress bar, a new "Crushing Fist Fusion" option suddenly appeared. The System prompted: "Unlock the ultimate form 'Tomb-Guarding Collapse,' capable of breaking all rotational energy in the world." In the small window at the bottom right of the tablet, A-Ming's younger sister held a homemade Crushing Fist model, imitating Chen Wu's Moves in the hospital room. The gene sequence curve on the monitor fluctuated due to excitement but was much steadier than last time.

Section 4: A New Legacy Growing from the Cracks

When Chen Wu helped Zhang Hao up, a spiral-shaped fissure suddenly cracked open on the bluestone floor of the ring. Grandpa Wang's camphor wood chest opened automatically, and the Essentials of Crushing Fist merged with the training notes of Zhang Hao's father in mid-air. On the yellowed pages, the annotations of two generations of Martial Artists suddenly glowed, forming a complete Spiral-Breaking Fist Manual. "Your grandfather said back then," the old man's tobacco pipe made a muffled thud on the bound volume, "defeating an opponent is not the goal; it's to make them understand what true martial arts is."

In the Flower Girl's basket, the leaves of the inheritance grass suddenly unfolded like palms. Dewdrops rolled on the leaf surfaces, reflecting the scene on the ring—Zhang Hao's right arm and Chen Wu's fist were pressed against each other, the cyan-gold Vitality Energy and the silver-white hard power condensing into a rotating taiji diagram at the point of contact. The little girl sprinkled Rotation-Breaking Dew into the air, and the pale gold light merged with the Qi Energy, forming a giant character for "Harmony" on the ceiling of the fighting hall. "Elder Zhou says this is 'Energy-Dissolving Light,'" her fingertip lightly touched a dewdrop, "it can turn opposing Qi Energy into symbiosis, just like a new sprout growing from a crack."

Officer Zhang's body camera was pointed at the victor in the center of the ring. In the old policeman's lens, Chen Wu was placing the peace lock on Zhang Hao's old injury, cyan-gold Qi Energy pouring in through the contact point and repairing the trauma left by the chip. The body camera suddenly switched to footage from thirty years ago: a young Great-grandfather helped up the injured Zhang's Father after the finals, their fists pressed together, perfectly overlapping with the current scene. "This is what Legacy looks like," the old policeman's voice carried a sob, "it's not about stepping on your opponent, but pulling them up to Move forward together."

As the two walked out of the fighting hall side by side, the billboard at the alley entrance was playing a post-match interview. Zhang Hao showed his new skin on his right arm to the camera: "It was Chen Wu's Crushing Fist that saved me, and it also made me understand that true power is not a rotating iron fist, but a clear mind." The screen suddenly cut to Grey Shadow headquarters, where the SWAT team was raiding. Those technicians who manipulated the match had no way to deny it in the face of ironclad evidence. The projection of the Spiral-Breaking Fist Manual flickered above their heads, as if judging these scum who distorted martial arts.

When the System's final prompt popped up, A-Ming's younger sister's video call suddenly connected. The little girl held up a freshly drawn comic showing Chen Wu's Crushing Fist and Zhang Hao's iron fist forming a rotating taiji diagram, with the words written next to it: "Enemies become friends, fists become helpers." Outside the hospital window, Love was practicing the opening stance of "Tomb-Guarding Collapse." On the former boxing king's titanium alloy gloves, the cyan-gold Crushing Fist energy and the pale gold Taiji Power merged perfectly, drawing a spiral trajectory in the morning light.

Chen Wu suddenly understood that the true victory or defeat of this match was not in winning or losing on the ring, but in the moment Zhang Hao regained his senses. Just as Crushing Fist energy can both destroy chips and repair trauma, the ultimate power of martial arts is never destructive force, but the wisdom to distinguish right from wrong. As the moonlight washed over the bluestone of the fighting hall, a seedling suddenly sprouted from the crack, its stem being the linear force of the Crushing Fist and its leaves being the rotational force of Taiji, swaying gracefully in the evening breeze—that was a new Legacy growing, carrying the light shining through the crack.

The final frame of the global live broadcast stayed on the moment Chen Wu and Zhang Hao bumped fists. The cyan-gold Crushing Fist energy and the silver-white hard power collided in mid-air, not producing a shockwave, but turning into a sky full of light spots, forming a giant character for "Martial Arts" in the virtual space. In the comments, uniform text suddenly flooded the screen: "The best Crushing Fist breaks shackles, not opponents."