43: Chapter 43 Match Day: The stadium is packed, and the global live stream has surpassed 100 million views.

At 5:00 AM at the Shanghai Gymnasium, the rolling shutter door of the freight channel made a piercing sound. Chen Wu stepped into the venue under the morning light, his sneakers crunching slightly over the plastic foam on the ground. The octagon cage had already been set up, and the black ropes were still dusted with specks of dust from last night's lighting tests, glinting coldly under the emergency lights.

"Brother Wu, it's been checked; the cage netting hasn't been tampered with." Lin Mo ran over holding a portable scanner, the jumping green waveforms on the screen representing safety. "But Zhang Tao's team didn't leave until 3:00 AM, and we found this in the rest area."

In the boy's open palm lay a microchip, a fingernail-sized circuit engraved with the skull logo of Grey Shadow. "This is a Neural Jammer, capable of emitting specific frequency sound waves to interfere with the flow of 'Qi'." Chen Wu's fingertips glowed with gold, and the chip was instantly enveloped by 'Qi', its surface circuits melting at a speed visible to the naked eye. "It seems they plan to make a move in the spectator stands."

The roar of a helicopter suddenly came from outside the venue. Lin Xue jumped down from the hatch, her combat boots splashing into the puddles on the helipad. "The special forces of the Bureau of Abnormal Incident Management have already set up defenses," she said, pulling apart the Velcro on her tactical vest to reveal the miniature communicator inside. "Audience security checks will include 'Qi Sense detection'; anyone carrying jamming equipment will be intercepted."

Her tablet displayed real-time crowd data: with six hours to go before the start, over twenty thousand spectators had already gathered outside the gymnasium. Thirty percent of them carried professional viewing equipment, and some held up light boards saying "Li Meng Must Win," the faint light of the batteries flickering in the morning mist.

"Is everything arranged on Elder Zhou's side?" Chen Wu looked at the giant screen at the top of the venue. Staff were adjusting the image, and his 3D projection suddenly appeared in the center of the screen, drawing a burst of cheers from outside.

"He's already been sent to the VIP box through the medical channel," Lin Xue pulled up the surveillance footage. The old man in the wheelchair was waving at the camera, a blue cloth-covered Taiji Book resting on his lap. "Grandpa Wang is also beside him; he brought a mysterious wooden box, saying it's an ancestral treasure."

In the shadows of the freight channel, a man in a janitor's uniform suddenly turned around; a jammer hidden in his mop handle was emitting a faint hum. Special forces members pounced like cheetahs, the crisp sound of joint locks pinning the man's arms echoing in the empty corridor. Chen Wu's 'Qi' spread along the ground, sensing seven other similar signal sources within the venue, all within the control range of the special forces.

"It seems Zhang Tao is putting all his eggs in one basket." Chen Wu lightly tapped his fist against the iron pillar of the cage netting. A golden stream of 'Qi' spread along the metal, leaving a protective film on every node. "But he forgot that true interference never comes from the outside."

At 12:00 PM, a three-kilometer-long queue snaked from the gymnasium entrance. Li Meng's fans in red battle robes held up glowing hand signs, facing off across the street against Chen Wu's supporters in golden T-shirts. The slogans of both sides rose and fell, shaking the plane trees along the road and scattering fallen leaves everywhere.

"Give me a 'Brother Wu Must Win' set!" A boy in a school uniform pointed his phone at the food truck's QR code. The live stream on his screen was showing Chen Wu's pre-match training. "Add double chicken legs, here's to a three-move KO!"

The food truck owner's forehead was beaded with sweat. His left hand grabbed fried chicken while his right hand swiped on a tablet. "Young man, you have great taste! The global online audience has reached 98 million; breaking 100 million is right before our eyes!" His phone suddenly vibrated with a push notification—The New York Times had devoted a full page to the match, with the headline "Modern Trial of Eastern Martial Arts."

In the VIP box, Elder Zhou's finger slid across his tablet, which displayed Li Meng's real-time location. The boy was surrounded by Zhang Tao's people in the rest room, and the camera caught red marks on his wrists—traces of being bound by ropes. "This child..." The old man's knuckles turned white from the force of his grip, and the peace lock in his palm grew warm.

Grandpa Wang suddenly opened the mysterious wooden box. Inside lay a bronze statue: an image of the Baji Fist Ancestral Master with a furious expression, the base engraved with eight seal script characters: 'Hardness cannot last, softness cannot be kept.' "This is the treasure of the hall," the old man said, tapping the statue's fist with his tobacco pipe. "It can stabilize the 'Qi' field within a hundred-meter radius. Those Evil Path jammers will fail as soon as they get close."

He placed the statue on the windowsill of the box. Sunlight passed through the glass onto the bronze surface, and the reflected golden light fell exactly in the center of the octagon cage. Chen Wu's 'Qi' suddenly rippled within the cage, resonating with the statue's energy field like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

The live stream comments suddenly lagged at this moment, before erupting in a blowout of growth three seconds later:

• "Did a golden light just flash by?"

• "99.8 million online! Only 200,000 more to break 100 million!"

• "I'm watching the stream in a cafe in Paris! The owner put the match on the big screen!"

• "Zhang Tao's face looks so sour! The camera caught him smashing a glass in the rest room."

At 2:00 PM, all the lights in the venue suddenly went out. The roar of surprise from fifty thousand spectators nearly lifted the roof, only to be replaced by the illumination of countless flying glow sticks—these were 'Qi-sensing Glow Sticks' distributed in advance by the staff, which could change color based on the spectators' emotional fluctuations. Right now, they were flashing with a yellow-green light in rhythm with heartbeats.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Shanghai Gymnasium!" The announcer's voice echoed through the venue via the speakers, making the seatbacks vibrate. "Now let's look at the global live stream data—99.99 million!"

The entire audience held their breath simultaneously, and the glow of the sticks unified into a tense orange-red. The numbers on the giant screen jumped frantically, finally freezing at 100,000,001. At that instant, the cannons at the top of the venue fired in unison, and golden streamers poured down like a waterfall into the sea of spectators.

"It broke 100 million!" The announcer's voice carried a hint of a sob. "This is the first time in combat sports history that the global live stream audience has surpassed 100 million! Let us remember this moment!"

In the VIP box, Grandpa Wang suddenly slammed his tobacco pipe onto the table. The bronze statue hummed, and the seal characters on the base lit up with golden light. "It's starting," the old man's eyes narrowed into slits. "Zhang Tao can't help but make his move."

A commotion suddenly broke out in the west stand of the venue. Three men in hoodies were installing equipment under their seats. Special forces members rose from adjacent seats, moving as fast as shadows, and had the men subdued before the audience could even react. A jammer that fell from one man's arms suddenly smoked upon contact with the statue's golden light, the Grey Shadow logo on its screen distorting into garbled code.

In Chen Wu's rest room, he was making his final preparations. Liquid 'Qi' traveled along his Meridians, forming a protective film at every joint. Lin Mo helped him tie the straps of his boxing gloves, the boy's fingers trembling slightly from tension. "Brother Wu, Li Meng's heart rate has reached 180, 50% faster than usual. It must be the side effects of the agent."

The live stream suddenly cut to Li Meng's rest room. In the shot, the boy sat in the shadows, his shoulders heaving violently, his right hand secretly clutching something—Chen Wu's 'Qi' sensed it was a peace lock, the one Elder Zhou had given him. It was currently emitting a faint warm current, resisting the dark green toxins within his body.

"105 million online!" The announcer's voice rang out again. "The contestants are about to enter! Let's welcome them with the warmest applause!"

The venue lights suddenly went out, leaving only the beam of a spotlight to pierce the darkness. Li Meng's entrance music was deafening heavy metal, and his red battle robe looked like a ball of burning flame under the lights. His team held up "Three-Move KO" signs, forming a human wall on both sides of the channel.

When the boy stepped into the octagon cage, one-third of the glow sticks in the venue turned an angry red. Chen Wu's 'Qi' clearly captured the disorder within him—the toxin had already spread to his arms, and every punch was accompanied by nerve tremors, but the warm current of the peace lock was like a dam, stubbornly blocking the toxin's advance.

"See that? His eyes are losing focus!" Zhang Tao shouted from the commentary booth, pointing at Li Meng's trembling knees. "He won't last through the first round in this state!"

Suddenly, the venue's sound System switched to a melodious Guqin piece. Chen Wu, wearing a simple white training uniform, walked slowly from the end of the channel. He had no surrounding team, only golden 'Qi' forming a faint halo around him, casting ripples on the ground with every step.

The breath of the entire audience seemed to stop at this moment, followed by a thunderous eruption of cheers. Large swathes of glow sticks turned a warm gold, like a suddenly lit sea of stars. When Chen Wu's foot stepped into the octagon cage, Grandpa Wang's bronze statue suddenly emitted a clear chime, resonating perfectly with the 'Qi' inside him.

"110 million online!" The announcer's voice carried an unbelievable tremble. "This is the most-watched combat match in human history! Bar none!"

Li Meng suddenly raised his head, a flash of clarity appearing in his bloodshot eyes. His right hand quietly loosened, and the red string of the peace lock peeked out halfway from his glove like a stubborn lifeline. Chen Wu nodded slightly to him, a golden stream of 'Qi' spreading along the ropes and lightly touching the boy's wrist—it was transmitting the 'Hua Jin' technique of Taiji, which could temporarily suppress the toxin.

The referee finished checking both sides' gloves. The moment he stepped back to the side of the cage, Zhang Tao growled into his headset: "Activate the backup plan."

The LED screen at the top of the gymnasium suddenly flashed with an eerie green light, returning to normal an instant later. But Chen Wu's 'Qi' sensed an extremely weak interference wave penetrating the special forces' shielding, attempting to drill into Li Meng's brain—it was the latest Mental Control Technology developed by Grey Shadow, capable of making a person fall into a frenzy instantly.

"It seems this match is more than just a contest of fists and feet." Chen Wu's gaze became sharp. Golden 'Qi' formed an airtight barrier around him, while simultaneously injecting some 'Qi' into the octagon ropes to form an energy field that countered the interference waves. "But they forgot that the essence of martial arts is never control, but Awakening."

The glow sticks of the entire audience suddenly flashed collectively, and under the gaze of 110 million viewers, they formed two giant lines of characters:

"Prove the Dao through Martial Arts, Govern the Fist with the Heart."

The referee's raised hand dropped, and the sound of the gong echoed in the gymnasium like a war drum from ancient times. Chen Wu looked at Li Meng opposite him; in the boy's eyes, that sliver of clarity was expanding, and the red light of the peace lock shone through the glove, casting a stubborn mark on the black cage netting.

The match began. But everyone knew this was more than just a match; it was a battle using martial arts to combat conspiracy and conviction to awaken the Soul. Under the gaze of a hundred million pairs of eyes across the globe, the ferocity of Baji Fist and the softness of Taiji were about to collide in the most dazzling brilliance, illuminating the evil hidden in the shadows.

The sunlight outside the venue was just right, shining through the glass curtain wall onto the golden wave of the spectator stands, as if gilding this transnational martial arts event with an eternal glow. And the two figures in the center of the octagon cage seemed to transcend victory and defeat at this moment, becoming the Incarnation of human courage and justice, leaving a profound mark before the lens of history.