Huang Wen dodged another sweeping, frantic punch from the berserk Fist Stone, who was now more of a terrifying, silver-gray statue come to life. The mutant's sheer power was overwhelming the conference room's structure, but the stone armor was functionally impenetrable to blunt force.
I have to stop hitting the armor and hit the core, Huang Wen thought, his mind racing through Wing Chun theory.
He feigned a move, darted behind the massive mutant, crouched low, and then leaped up, aiming a powerful, concentrated Heel Kick directly at the back of Fist Stone's neck.
THUD!
The kick landed with devastating force. Fist Stone's immense body shuddered and staggered forward, planting one foot deep into the pulverized concrete floor, leaving a crater. But he did not fall.
"Unbelievable resilience. This is beyond brute force; this is Secondary Mutation," Huang Wen muttered to himself, leaping back to avoid a retaliatory, clumsy backhand swing. "Knocking him over is hard enough, let alone breaking him. This is like fighting a second-stage boss with a broken defense modifier."
He knew his limits. Even with 34 Essence points, he was taxing his body. The original Huang Wen or even the optimized Sifu Ip Man wouldn't have survived this long. Only his superhuman stamina kept him weaving through the stone maelstrom.
Fist Stone showed no signs of fatigue. His current form, driven purely by rage, likely masked or negated exhaustion. Huang Wen estimated the mutant was operating with a resilience factor of at least 100 Essence, possibly more.
I need a single, absolute opening.
In the chaotic dance, Huang Wen saw the moment he needed. Fist Stone reared back for a huge, slow power swing—a massive, rigid move that committed all his weight.
Huang Wen's eyes lit up. He pushed off the ground, a blur of motion, and instantly cut into the mutant's midsection, right beneath the raised, rigid arm. Fist Stone couldn't stop the swing and couldn't twist his hardened arm back in time.
Huang Wen was close—too close—but his target was absolute: Fist Stone's exposed throat.
Even the throat area had a thin, tough layer of stone skin, but Huang Wen didn't hesitate. He thrust his finger forward in a Wing Chun Pinpoint Strike.
"Inner Force!"
He channeled every ounce of his 34 Essence power, plus the subtle, concentrated energy of his Inner Force, straight down his fingertip. This wasn't a push; it was a targeted injection of kinetic energy.
CRUNCH!
But the sickening sound wasn't the mutant's bone breaking—it was the tiny bone in Huang Wen's own fingertip fracturing under the stress of penetrating the reinforced skin.
Huang Wen gritted his teeth, ignoring the searing pain, and drove the remaining Inner Force energy past the broken tip, through the cracked stone skin, and into the wound.
WHOOSH!
On the surface, only a small fracture appeared on Fist Stone's throat. But inside, the concentrated Inner Force had bypassed the mutant's external armor, shattering the underlying cartilage, bone structure, and trachea.
A choked, liquid sound escaped Fist Stone's throat—Ugh! His silver-gray body stiffened completely, the rage draining out as his core function failed. The massive stone giant crashed backward with a ground-shaking THUD!
Fist Stone lay still, his giant stone hand weakly covering his pulverized throat. He was dead. His mutant ability granted him armor and durability, but not Internal Regeneration or true Invulnerability. The Inner Force's Armor-Piercing Effect had worked perfectly.
Huang Wen breathed a profound sigh of relief. Without that mysterious, penetrating power, he would have been utterly defeated.
He raised his foot high and brought it down with a final, decisive stomp on the mutant's neck, crushing the already shattered area, just to ensure the creature would never awaken again.
Then, he focused on the agonizing, throbbing pain in his finger. He reactivated the Tuxedo's invisibility, cloaking himself in silence and shadow.
Painful, he thought, teeth clamped shut. He had countless bruises and strains, but nothing compared to the broken finger bone.
With a sharp snap, he used his other hand to violently reset the broken finger back into alignment, initiating the accelerated healing process of his Extraordinary Physique.
"I really should invest in a self-healing skill next," he muttered, shaking his head. "If I didn't have this Tuxedo, the physical recoil alone would have left me wide open."
He stepped out of the utterly destroyed conference room.
He passed the remaining Goren clerks—a handful of terrified office staff huddled and weeping near the cubicles. They were mere white-collar accessories to crime. Killing them was pointless, time-consuming, and risked attracting unwanted attention. They had no personal vendetta against the Wing Chun Hall.
As soon as he passed the structural integrity of the fourth floor, the System chimed:
Ding! Mission 1: Avenging the original host, is complete. Reward: One Draw for an Extraordinary Skill.
Satisfied, Huang Wen nodded. The entire top brass of the Goren Gang, plus their bodyguard mutant, was neutralized. Vengeance was complete.
He held off on the reward draw. The immediate priority was escape.
He quickly ascended to the street level of the karate dojo. As he emerged into the night air, the blaring sirens he had heard moments ago grew deafening. A convoy of police cruisers, lights flashing violently, roared up to the dojo entrance.
The first man out of the lead cruiser was a heavy-set man, his face etched with anxiety and sweat—Sheriff Yves.
The corrupt official who had been paid to frame Huang Wen's father.
"Yves," Huang Wen whispered, memorizing the man's features from his invisible vantage point. "The third target on the ledger."
The clerks had called the police. This was bizarre: a criminal enterprise calling the very law they corrupted when their internal security failed.
Sheriff Yves, oblivious to the invisible observer, rushed his men into the dojo. Huang Wen watched him disappear inside, knowing the detective would soon find the utter devastation—the bodies of the entire Goren leadership and a silver-gray stone corpse.
That stone man is going to be a massive headache for the city. It won't be my headache, though, Huang Wen concluded, turning away from the chaos.
He began his silent, invisible trek back to the peace of Chinatown. He had completed his first mission, gained his first asset, and confirmed the terrifying existence of super-powered beings. He was ready for the next step: the skill upgrade and the promotion of the Wing Chun Hall.