Chan Ho-nam lay on the ground, his mind completely blank.
When the attack first began, he assumed a rival triad was making a move on them. After all, he had only recently risen to power, and plenty of people were looking to use his head to make a name for themselves.
But when Li Ke beat them all to the ground and started ruthlessly stripping them of their cash, they were left utterly bewildered.
These days, even the lowliest pickpockets knew better than to cross the triads. Yet the problem was that the man in front of them didn't give a damn about any of that. On top of that, he had just single-handedly taken down over a dozen of them.
"Are you from the Mainland, big bro? If you're really that strapped for cash, why not just join us?"
Clutching his bruised face, Chan Ho-nam stared at Li Ke, who was casually counting the bills, and felt a sudden urge to recruit him.
He couldn't help it—Li Ke was simply too good of a fighter. Furthermore, it was obvious he wasn't a local. No local triad member was ever this blatantly disrespectful.
"Huh? Join a triad? If your little club had dozens of machine guns and rocket launchers, maybe I'd consider it."
Li Ke spat on the ground in sheer disdain. Even if he chose a life of crime, he would rather rob jewelry stores or banks than get mixed up in triad business. What could a triad even accomplish? They did nothing but bully ordinary civilians. Did they actually have the guts to demand protection money from the Governor of Hong Kong?
Besides, in this era, which triad didn't have high-ranking officials, powerful tycoons, or straight-up British imperialists pulling the strings from the shadows?
The only reason he wasn't flattening the Governor's Mansion with explosives right now was because he had a mission to complete.
The likes of Li Ka-shing, the Governor—they were all just a bunch of garbage, a pack of "bananas" acting all high and mighty here. On one hand, they squeezed the blood and sweat out of their own compatriots just to gnaw on whatever leftover bones the British threw them. On the other hand, they hid behind their masters' authority to oppress their own people.
It was only because the Mainland's economy rose later on and showed this place immense tolerance, otherwise the British might very well have faced an iron fist in Saigon.
And the triads were just the tools these elites used to flaunt their power. Just how low would he, Li Ke, have to sink to associate with people like this—especially a guy who clearly already had lines open to the higher-ups?
If nothing else, every single triad branch had to kick up a cut of their profits, and that money went straight to the elites at the top. Every single gangster movie showed exactly how it worked.
Li Ke had absolutely no interest in being anyone's dog.
"You act like dogs for the elites and foreigners upstairs, yet you actually think you're some kind of heroic outlaws. You bully helpless civilians and think you're absolute badasses. How could I, Li Ke, ever associate myself with scum like you?"
With a cold sneer, Li Ke casually kicked Chan Ho-nam, knocking him out cold. Under the watchful eyes of the remaining punks, he turned and left, eventually checking into a sketchy motel to get some rest.
The conditions of the cheap motel went without saying—it was absolute garbage. Li Ke did not really mind, though; he had slept in far worse places. While the room was a bit run-down, it was no big deal. It even came with a beat-up television, allowing him to flip through the news.
Yet, after scanning the local broadcasts and even tuning into the news from Japan for quite some time, Li Ke still failed to spot any anomalies. He pulled out his pocket watch, but the hands kept shifting and spinning aimlessly, leaving him thoroughly bewildered.
He was not even sure if the watch was tracking his mission objective, an ally, or perhaps just a woman he might want to sleep with in this world. But this constant, erratic shifting was completely turning him into a headless chicken.
Fortunately, he had mentally prepared himself before arriving. After all, if the Demon Slayer world could be invaded by Cthulhu mythos entities, it would not be surprising for future missions to be incredibly bizarre.
So, he simply turned his attention out the window, taking in a cityscape he had never seen before.
Gazing at the bustling night view, Li Ke could not help but let out a sigh.
"Man, if only I had a dimensional storage artifact."
If he possessed a large enough storage sub-space, he could head over to Japan, stock up on some tanks and fighter jets, and while he was at it, stuff that infamous war shrine full of napalm bombs. After all, using his fire superpowers directly would be far too conspicuous; napalm or regular explosives would be much more fitting.
On that note, Li Ke suddenly had a wild idea.
"Maybe I should cosplay as the legendary 'Japan Server Graves'?"
But after a moment of thought, he dismissed the idea. He still needed things from this world. Though the toll fees for a few specific worlds remained ridiculously high—likely due to cosmic distance, the difficulty of traversing the void, or the complexity of establishing coordinates—the other worlds could be easily traversed.
Causing too massive of a scene here would not be ideal.
"If that's the case, I can't just go around causing reckless chaos."
Li Ke sighed regretfully.
"But logically speaking, no matter how remote my drop zone is, it should still have some connection to the mission, right? Why... why haven't I found a single thing?"
Li Ke remained deeply perplexed. Right at that moment, however, the television transitioned to a different news segment.
"The Amazoness Tribe..."
Huh?
The Amazoness Tribe?
Li Ke froze for a second. He casually cracked open a bottle of cola, taking a sip as he stared at the screen, and nearly spat a mouthful of soda right out.
He saw the people on the television wearing green military uniforms—a style from quite some time ago. Though it looked a bit outdated, their morale and spirits were exceptionally high, and every single face was bright with a smile.
Not only that, there were cars and sedans driving around, but the real issue was...
"This shouldn't be happening..."
The nineties were definitely not supposed to look like this, right?
Li Ke felt completely dazed.
He looked back out the window at the people of Hong Kong Island, noting their modern, near-contemporary fashion. Then he looked back at the television, which was broadcasting footage of the Mainland. The people there were still dressed in the fashion of a nation just starting its development, yet the street infrastructure and everything else had somehow kept pace with modern times.
Li Ke felt his brain turning into a tangled mess.
Furthermore, the leaders shown on screen were people he did not recognize at all.
"What... what kind of situation is this? Granted, since this is a different universe, things obviously won't be identical. But isn't this literally just the rigid stereotype you see in certain anime? As expected, is this actually a Japanese anime world?"
Li Ke became intrigued. He swiftly walked out of the motel, and the moment he stepped outside, he spotted a punk standing up with an arrogant swagger.
"Boss! I'm done eating. Pack up two more portions for me to take away. Also, I'm rolling with Big B now, so you know what to do, right?"
A sycophantic smile immediately broke out on the restaurant owner's face.
"Of course, of course. How could I possibly charge you..."
Before the owner could even finish his sentence, Li Ke, having fully understood the situation, grabbed a handful of the punk's dyed yellow hair. He slammed the punk's head onto the table, delivered a swift slap across his face, and while the guy was still dazed, dragged him by the hair straight into a neighboring alley. Then, just as the punk opened his mouth to start cursing, Li Ke delivered a heavy kick to his stomach, sending him collapsing to the ground in agony.
Li Ke did not waste a single second. He immediately reached behind his back and whipped out a revolver tuned by Kiri, pressing the barrel right against the forehead of the punk, who had just pulled out a knife.
"I ask, you answer."
Li Ke was deeply curious about something right now, and finding someone to interrogate was the fastest way to get answers.
"Please, go ahead!"
The punk was remarkably cooperative, instantly making it clear he was willing to talk.
"What's the deal with the Mainland over there?"
"What do you mean, what's the deal?"
"I'm asking you about their welfare and benefits."
"I heard it's pretty good. They allocate jobs and everything. You can't make a crazy amount of money, but you don't have to buy your own housing, medical care is covered, and you don't have to worry about food... Plus, they opened up private business a while ago... It doesn't matter to the big bosses, but for young thugs like us, it sounds great."
Hearing this, Li Ke breathed a sigh of relief before continuing his questioning.
"Then why the hell are you messing around as a triad thug? Why didn't you go to the Mainland to start a business?"
He was genuinely curious.
The young thug merely stared up at Li Ke with a completely blank expression.
"Big bro, if I actually had the capital for that, why would I be a triad thug?"
Li Ke glanced at the adult magazine sticking out of the punk's pocket, and the condom that had fallen out after he got kicked. He instantly knew this guy was just a lazy slacker, so he did not bother pursuing that line of questioning.
"Forget I asked. Also, what is the Amazoness Tribe?"
Li Ke felt like he had heard of the Amazoness Tribe somewhere before, but he simply could not recall exactly where he had seen it.
"The Amazoness Tribe! Oh! The Amazoness Tribe right near Jusenkyo! Word is their ancient martial arts are incredibly fierce! Though I heard the most amazing thing is actually Jusenkyo right next to them. They say the springs inside have magical properties—there's the Spring of Drowned Girl, the Spring of Drowned Duck... as long as you get splashed by a specific spring, you'll transform into that form whenever you hit cold water!"
Jusenkyo? Spring of Drowned Girl?
Ranma ½?!
Seven Lucky Fists?
Li Ke's mind reeled a bit. He remembered it was a highly entertaining manga drawn by Ms. Rumiko Takahashi. But before he could say anything, the punk with the gun pressed against his head spoke up again.
"Though the Amazoness Tribe isn't really that big of a deal either; they've never produced a Supreme Grandmaster or anything. If you ask me, what era are we even in? Who still practices martial arts nowadays when a single pistol gets the job done, right, big bro? Even the Mainland has already developed nuclear fusion. Instead of staying in school, using their brains, and becoming scientists, they're still learning martial arts..."
The punk looked at Li Ke with a sycophantic smile, but due to the physical pain, his expression was completely distorted.
Listening to his words, Li Ke expressionlessly delivered another slap to his face. The crisp crack and the sharp sting left the punk utterly bewildered.
"Big bro! Ask whatever you want! Just stop hitting me, alright?"
"You motherfucker, you literally know yourself that it's better to stay in school, use your brain, and become a scientist?! Yet you still fucking join the underworld? Become a triad thug? I seriously suspect you're trying to play me right now!"
The moment Li Ke finished speaking, he delivered another slap, hitting the punk so hard that he burst into tears.
To say Li Ke was completely unreasonable would be an understatement; he truly did not care about logic at all, which left the punk feeling incredibly wronged. Clutching his face, the thug stared up at Li Ke, on the verge of dropping to his knees.
"Big bro, if I were actually good at studying and smart, do you think I wouldn't go use my brain?"
Li Ke nodded once more, then slapped him again, sending the man's snot flying.
"You know you're stupid, yet you still didn't study hard!"
He genuinely despised these thugs, especially the ones who knew full well they were doing wrong but still chose the underworld life.
However, what the guy had said really caught Li Ke's attention.
"You said they developed nuclear fusion? You're from the Mainland, you should know this way better than me!"
The punk was truly on the verge of sobbing.
Li Ke spoke perfect Mandarin and looked like a Mainlander in every way, so how could he not even know about something like this? But the punk had no other choice.
"Yeah! Big bro! They're even planning to develop the moon recently! A lot of factories have been torn down, supposedly to prevent soil pollution..."
Li Ke nodded. Since the Mainland was apparently that incredibly powerful, he would refrain from doing anything unnecessary. He cast a glance at the punk, who was nearly about to wet his pants, and casually asked another question.
"So, what's the situation in Hong Kong recently? And is there any big news over in Japan?"
He was just asking off the cuff and did not really expect to get anything substantial from a low-level thug like this. After all, now that he knew this was the world of Ranma ½, things would be much easier to handle.
He could just go straight to Ranma and see how the protagonist of this world was doing.
"Uh, nothing too major in Hong Kong lately, except word is the Global Paranormal Tournament is going to be hosted here. Over in Japan, it seems the so-called 'Savior of the Japanese Police' went missing or something... Plus, Japan is planning to build some city called Tokyo-3."