Martial Arts Master

Yan Zheke raised her head and looked at the unhappy Lou Cheng when she was done laughing. She faked a frown, and said,

“What happened to becoming my personal delivery boy? You promised to only make those deliveries to me! You liar!”

As she spoke, she couldn’t stop a smile from creeping onto her face. Lou Cheng grunted in annoyance as he slid a hand around her waist.

“It’s wasn’t a delivery! What could I have said to him? Sir, your delivery is here, an order of Severe Warning, Emperor Yan Force, and DF-21 which has just been launched!”

“How does that count as a delivery? It would only be a delivery if I told him: Good day, Sir, here’s an order of Severe Warning, with a side of Emperor Yan Force and a flaring explosion right in your face!”

“Cheng, I swear you are getting cheekier by the day… Admit it, Talker’s the one teaching you all these terrible thoughts, right?” Yan Zheke laughed as she cuddled up to Lou Cheng.

She recited the rest of the news on her phone. “Police arrived at the mansion and found the living room streaked in blood. Joseph’s body was later found…”

She couldn’t go on. It made her sick.

Lou Cheng glanced downwards, scanning the paragraph with his sharp eyesight.

It would seem that Cole had exacted his revenge to his heart’s content. He drained out all of Joseph’s blood, dismembered his body, and even tried mincing and incinerating what remained of him. It was a bloody mess.

Aghast and wistful, Lou Cheng read on. Still, he sat surer, now that the coroner had less chance of noticing Joseph’s Frost injuries. The other injuries didn’t matter as much, since Explosive users and Flame users were common among mighty ones.

Yan Zheke, skipping through the gruesome bits, continued translating the article.

“Specialists were unable to recover any footage from the mansion’s security system, which was completely destroyed by Cole,” she recited. “…Cole fully confessed to his crimes, but remained tight-lipped about his accomplice, the Deliveryman—even the supernatural specialists couldn’t wrinkle it out of him. Based on our information, we can provide an outline of Deliveryman: He’s a computer expert and a skillful hacker, capable of infiltrating the security system and disabling the alarm system that would have contacted the police station. He has high combat capabilities that allowed him to overpower an experienced martial artist like Joseph. He is an explosive supernatural ability user. He enjoys dressing up as a delivery boy…”

Yan Zheke studied Lou Cheng with pursed lips when she finished reading, then nodded earnestly.

“Purely from what they listed, even your own wife wouldn’t be able to know it’s you…”

“They are overthinking it…” Lou Cheng shook his head in amusement.

It was for the best!

As forgiving as he was, he had already forgotten about his uncool nickname.

Du Yan hurried them down when dinner was ready. Affected by the article, Yan Zheke only ate a little. Lou Cheng stuffed his face as usual, replenishing the energy he’d exhausted eaerlier that day.

When dinner was over, Yan Zheke worked on her reports with her computer. Lou Cheng turned on the desk lamp and sat himself beside her with a cook book— studying recipes, browsing the news, watching videos on the Geruga Sect, and occasionally stealing glances at his wife’s ravishing and lovely profile.

“Those reports sure look tough as hell…” he commented after glancing at her assignment.

“It’s fine, I have until next week to turn it in. Right now I’m just doing some preliminary research for the group discussion tomorrow,” said Yan Zheke, tucking her hair behind her ears. While she was at it, she took a sip from her cup, then opened up her phone to look at some group chats.

“The girl who passed out just now was Huang Xiwen!” she exclaimed.

“Huang Xiwen? What happened?” asked Lou Cheng, remembering the name. He knew her to be little fairy’s socialite classmate who was also in the the co-cultivation plan— the one who constantly bothered his wife with unwanted party invitations until one day she snapped and shut her down.

Yan Zheke eyed her husband suspiciously. Seeing that his concerns were genuine and unlikely to be staged, she shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe from those sleepless nights she spends trying to boune between her school and social life? That must have taken a toll on her body…”

Thinking about it, Huang Xiwen passed out the minute Cheng appeared. Could it be that he secretly used some kind of spirit or aura or secret art on her? To get back at her in my place?

Wait, that can’t be right since I never badmouthed Huang Xiwen in front of him. The worst thing I have said about her was she being a pain in the ass for getting too comfortable and intrusive.

What if she was guilty of something, and seeing Lou Cheng made her faint out of fear? The idea of that made Yan Zheke oddly satisfied.

It would be great if that was the case. Nothing serious happened, and with that it feels like I have gotten back at her!

There wasn’t much work to be done, so she could afford to be laid-back, occasionally chatting and bantering with Lou Cheng. Whenever Lou Cheng found interesting news or videos, he shared it with her for laughs.

It was a heartwarming and comfortable environment to study in, but there was one problem— it wasn’t very efficient. By the time it was 9 PM, Yan Zheke had finally finished her preliminary research work.

“It’s all your fault!” she jested as she looked at the time, softly kicking Lou Cheng with her slippered foot.

For making me lose my focus!

“Is this why they say ‘A handsome man is nothing but trouble’?” he replied in self-derision smilingly.

They flirted for a bit longer. Suddenly, Yan Zheke heard a rumble from her stomach. She looked away.

“I’m hungry, Cheng… Now’s your time to shine as my personal delivery boy!” she said “pitifully”.

The article from before had me scarcely touching my dinner!

“Consider it done!” assured Lou Cheng, whipping out his phone to start his search on nearby 24 hour restaurants.

These weren’t common in Connecticut. In fact, even the ones that operated past nine were a rare sight.

A dimpled smile formed on Yan Zheke’s face as she watched his earnest efforts.

“How about we go together? I have never actually gone out for dinner since I’ve been here! It’s decided then, I’ll drive.” she suggested enthusiastically.

“You have a license here?” Lou Cheng blurted in astonishment.

“Of course! It’s easy to get a license here! Back in August, I followed Aunt Du and took the test for fun, and guess what, I passed! How’s that?” Yan Zheke bragged, raising her chin.

“There’s no one I look up to more than you!” Lou Cheng praised melodramatically.

In their excitement, the couple grabbed the keys and drove off, headed towards a 24 hour restaurant that was the talk of the town— renowned for its local specialty pies.

In the dark, windswept night, everywhere around them was silent. None of that city clamor out here in the Northern district of Connecticut.

The sedan was going faster and faster, which made Lou Cheng sporadically remind Ke to slow down and lay off of the throttle. A while later, on the road ahead of them, a shadow, draped in a black cloak and eccentric outfit, darted out and cut them off, arms flailing.

“What’s going on?” Yan Zheke complained. Emboldened by her husband who sat right beside her, she stopped the car and peered at the shadow.

The “Cloaked Man” opened his lips and rattled off at an astounding speed, with slangs mixed in between. Lou Cheng listened on with much confusion, but he barely managed to make out that the stranger was trying to warn them of danger ahead. The last person he spoke English with was Smith, who knew he was a foreigner and dragged out his words and cut down on the use of slangs and irregular grammar to help Lou Cheng understand his sentences better.

“What’s he saying?” Lou Cheng asked under his breath.

“He’s telling us that the dark forest area ahead is a ghetto, a dangerous neighbourhood where crime rate is high with robberies and thefts, and that we shouldn’t even be going there in the day, much less the night. He advises us to take another road,” Yan Zheke interpreted duly, before giving her own opinion. “Even though America’s security network is advanced, it only covers some districts due to a multitude of reasons. Many of the security measuremens in ghetto areas are dysfunctional, and sometimes even long abandoned…”

She paused, before peeking at Lou Cheng with shimmering eyes.

“With the superhero ‘Delivery man’ protecting me, I’m not afraid of dangerous places,” she whispered.

The couple exchanged a glance, then waved to the Cloaked Man in unison.

“Thank you!”

Yan Zheke switched on her signal lights and swerved into another road.

It wouldn’t be right to turn down the goodwill of others!

Watching as they went off, the Cloaked Man bowed contently, feeling accomplished.

“Speaking of which, why was he stationed there and warning people off?” Lou Cheng mused in suspicion a while later.

“He told us that even though he’s a superhero, he wasn’t recognized by the public since he was weak. Even so, he wanted to do what he could to help others. When he saw many unknowing people entering the black forest area and wind up losing their valuables or even getting hurt, he took to standing sentry there everyday to cut off cars and warning passengers,” Yan Zheke explained chirpily.

Lou Cheng was slightly touched by the story.

“I’m starting to like the superhero culture in America…” he commented calmly.

Every country had its own unique features.

“Uh-huh,” Yan Zheke nodded in agreement before her brows furrowed. “But apart from people like us, who will has the courage to stop in the middle of the night when stopped by a man in a black cloak?”

No wonder he complained that things wasn’t going well…

“Now that you say it…” Lou Cheng trailed off blankly.

They went in excitement and returned satisfied after Yan Zheke had a good meal. The couple were back at their home at around 9:40 PM.

“I’m taking a shower, then it’s bedtime!” she said after taking a short break. She grabbed her pyjamas and clothes which she was going to change into, then headed for the door.

Before leaving, she threw a wary glance at Lou Cheng over her shoulders. Seeing that he wasn’t going to tail her, she relaxed and continued walking, until she entered the bathroom.

“Seriously? Am I that horny to her?” mused Lou Cheng, shaking his head in amusement.

Before long, the sound of water stopped, and Yan Zheke returned with a dry towel wrapped around her head.

The night dress on her was slightly different from usual, a strap dress that exposed her delicate collarbone, her shapely shoulders and a portion of her milky, tender back. Lou Cheng was taken aback.

“This is what I usually wear… Just that I was embarrassed to wear it before with you in the past… Hmph! But like you said, I’m a married woman now, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about!” Yan Zheke explained stiffly, her cheeks rosy from the shower.

“It’s pretty,” Lou Cheng commented unheedingly. He walked over to her.

“Let me help you dry your hair,” he volunteered.

“Mhm,” she said as she sat down and undid the sodden towel from her hair, allowing Lou Cheng to blow her hair dry.

Her fragrance wafted through his nose, below him a picturesque scene that shook him to his core— the occasional droplet rolling off her snowy, long neck, and stopping at her delicate, sightly clavicles. Lou Cheng gave it his all, but it still wasn’t enough to keep himself from smooching her when her hair was only half dry.

She moaned softly, melting in his embrace.

The room was alive with lust— once again, sleeping on time became an unrealistic goal. Moments later, Lou Cheng laid down satisfied as he embraced Yan Zheke’s slender body, still tremulous from before.

Putting what you learn to use is great, he thought with smile.

Yan Zheke took more time to cool down. Softly grinding her teeth, she traced her finger on Lou Cheng’s chest, forming some words.

“Big… Pervert…” recited Lou Cheng as he easily identified the words through his control over his body.

Yan Zheke rolled her eyes coquettishly and carried on writing, stroke by stroke.

“Big molester,” Lou Cheng read out proudly.

Yan Zheke pursed her lips and began writing with her fingers again.

“Big idiot.”

“Big fool.”

“Big hero. Hm?” Lou Cheng turned his head to look at her when he reached that one, but Yan Zheke had already tilted her head in another direction.

…

In a dark corner on the outside street, Smith, on the night shift, received a call from his superior.

“Any strange movements from the target? Has he ever left your watch?” questioned the gruff voice.

Ever since Joseph was defeated by a newly emerged “superhero”, every danger grade personnel in Connecticut was on the watch list and had to be looked into.

“No. He’s well behaved,” Smith answered calmly.

“Good.” His superior never asked anything else, since he wasn’t suspicious of “Lou” either. According to the intel they held, the danger grade personnel in question had no ties to Joseph.

…

The next morning, training went on as usual. When the rush was over, having sent his girl off to campus, Lou Cheng slow-jogged towards the Msasi Martial Arts Gym to attend his lessons, as if nothing had happened.

Well, can’t let my 5000 dollars go to waste!

Hm. Guess I’ll head down to the Dragon Punch Dojo in the afternoon and pay a visit to that legendary dojo master, Zhu… something.