Chapter 7 · Iron Remembers Pain

The guy's fist had a metal guard strapped to it. Chen saw it too late. The punch caught him in the jaw and his head snapped back so hard his vision went white.

He stumbled. His mouth tasted like copper. The basement crowd was already screaming and someone threw a bottle that shattered near his feet. Old Xu was yelling something but Chen couldn't hear it over the ringing in his ears.

The fighter came at him again. Big guy. Shaved head. Both forearms wrapped in scrap metal guards that looked like they'd been welded out of car parts. Chen tried to dodge but his legs were still shaky from that first hit. The second punch got him in the ribs.

Something cracked. The pain folded him in half. He went down on one knee and the concrete scraped his skin through his jeans. The crowd got louder. He could smell old blood on the floor. Someone was chanting a name he didn't recognize.

Chen forced his head up. The fighter was circling him. Grinning. The metal on his arms caught the single bulb hanging from the ceiling and threw jagged shadows across the walls. Chen's ribs were screaming.