(Abstract Chapter activities, skipping does not affect reading)
"One moment, when you see your grandpa, don’t talk nonsense. Absolutely do not agitate him, do you hear?"
Qingjiang City Third Mental Hospital.
In the corridor, a man walked forward holding his son’s hand, speaking earnestly.
Young Wu Cheng nodded.
His grandpa, Wu Youwei, was a retired boxer from the last century.
Thirty years ago, in an underground boxing match, he fought fiercely with an opponent until dawn and won.
Although he finally knocked out his opponent, from then on, Wu Youwei suffered from severe paranoia...
Hearing the sound of firecrackers, he would hide under the bed in fright.
Seeing bloody scenes on TV, he would cover his head and scream loudly.
He became suspicious daily, always feeling that someone was out to harm him.
Wu Cheng’s mom, Wu Youwei’s daughter-in-law, was a violent woman. Unable to tolerate him, she often used violence against Wu Youwei. Wu Cheng’s dad was weak and dared not resist, eventually, he could only send Wu Youwei to live in the mental hospital.
In a blink, many years had passed.
Opening the door, an elderly man sat on the hospital bed, watching TV alone.
Wu Cheng carried fruits and walked forward.
The old man’s face quickly revealed a kind smile, reaching out to Wu Cheng.
Wu Cheng placed his hand on grandpa’s wrinkled hand and started chatting with him.
The grandfather and grandson enjoyed a cheerful moment.
Looking at the man, his expression became somewhat subtle.
"I still have some matters, let Wu Cheng stay with you."
Wu Youwei didn’t speak, nor did he glance at the man.
"Grandpa, look at this."
After the man left, Wu Cheng opened his backpack and like pulling a trick, took out a black big box.
Seeing the object, the old man’s eyes lit up immediately:
"Radio...where did you get this?"
"I know you didn’t like watching TV before, grandpa. You enjoyed lying on the bed listening to the radio, so I brought it for you," Wu Cheng said with a smile.
Wu Youwei spoke joyfully, "Quick, quick, quick, help grandpa set it up."
Wu Cheng immediately started tuning the radio.
As the radio emitted a "buzz" of electric current.
Soon, a voice emerged from the channel,
"In that August, the Battle of Stalingrad began, marking a turning point in World War II..."
"The two sides suffered over five million casualties in the brutal urban combat lasting seven months, truly a hell on earth..."
Almost instantly as the broadcast’s deep voice came out.
It seemed like a keyword was heard,
Wu Youwei’s pupils dilated, his face turned deathly pale in an instant.
He covered his ears and forcefully hit the radio.
Wu Cheng was startled and hurriedly cut off the channel.
For Wu Cheng, grandpa’s sudden and unanticipated outburst was all too familiar.
It is said, everything stemmed.
From that underground boxing match of the past.
As a professional boxer, Wu Youwei took on that hellish boxing match amid destitute conditions at the time.
The match would continue until one side could not stand up anymore.
That match, the two men fought fiercely for eight hours.
From midnight until dawn.
Until he finished off his opponent’s last breath.
Clearly... the victor was supposed to be grandpa.
But, no one knew why.
By the time Wu Youwei walked off the stage covered in blood, he had already become ...
Since then, he often caught others and said he could hear the devil’s voice...
Probably, just now that radio station had made grandpa hear the "devil’s" voice again.
Watching grandpa still shaken, Wu Cheng comforted him while continuously switching radio channels.
Until, a voice transmitted from the radio.
"Hello everyone, this is ’Qingzhou Music Sound’...."
Listening to some music might be better.
Wu Cheng thought this, gently moving away the radio.
"Today’s recommended song, made famous by Ms. Gan Yanyu’s performance last week at Qingtian Music Hall, is a new work by ’Moonlight and Cat’"
"The work is titled ’Spanish Bullfighting Song,’ and according to netizens’ speculations, it is inspired by the ancient Spanish bullfighting...."
"Let’s enjoy it together~"
As the radio host’s voice faded.
a rush of percussion instruments, accompanied by the sound of a piano, began to play!
The music surged, filled with passion.
Such compelling music!
Even Wu Cheng, who never listened to classical music, was deeply attracted by this melody the moment he heard it.
And when the more intense cello played, this feeling reached its peak.
In this music, Wu Cheng seemed to be transported to an arena,
fighting a duel with a raging bull, all by himself.
It felt as though something inside him was burning fiercely!
After coming to his senses, Wu Cheng suddenly thought.
He was just a high school student this year, with no social experience, let alone a life full of experiences, and yet he felt so excited.
In another part of the room,
An aged retired boxer, his grandpa, what was he thinking at this moment...?
The old man was lying on his side on the bed, still in the curled-up position he had been in before.
His body was still trembling.
But it seemed a bit different from before.
The music, crystal clear, entered his ears, striking deep into the heart of the old man in his sixties.
A dim underground boxing ring, greedy spectators, brains and blood gushing out from his opponent’s head?
Once upon a time, these images had always lingered in his mind, for as long as thirty years.
The glory of a boxer.
The immense satisfaction of knocking out an opponent.
At this moment, all of it came flooding back into the old man’s body.
Wu Youwei’s hand seemed to be reaching for something.
He sat up from the bed.
He remembered everything!
With his last punch, he fiercely smashed his opponent’s head.
Ending that nightmarish match!
As the music reached its climax.
The passionate and powerful percussion.
The quick and moving piano sounds.
All of this coming together in a beautiful march.
It took Wu Youwei back to the day he first became a boxer.
Back to the night he won the championship.
Back to... his early twenties, standing on the ring, spirited, enjoying countless flowers and applause...
That boxing match, it was he who had ultimately won!
He was the fearless victor, the strongest boxer!
Even if the foreign contestant he punched to death came back as a vengeful ghost to haunt him, he would defeat him again!
Come once, kill once!
Come a thousand times, kill a thousand times!
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!!
When Wu Cheng turned around again.
He was incredibly shocked to find,
That the frail and elderly man, at this moment, had overcome years of leg ailment and stood up from the bed.
In his eyes, there was something Wu Cheng had never seen before... should it be called fervor?
Perhaps, it was the look only possessed by someone who has crawled out from a pile of corpses, their hands stained with blood.
Wu Youwei got out of bed, picked up the radio that was still playing the "Spanish Bullfighting Song."
And said to his grandson:
Wu Cheng was somewhat terrified.
Why did he feel that grandpa wasn’t becoming normal, but... his mental illness was getting worse?!
Past glories, overcoming fear, turning everything into a fighting spirit.
At that moment, the only thought in Wu Youwei’s mind was,
To conquer the demons in one’s heart, one must keep battling!
If a woman is unworthy, charge up and throw a punch!