The call came not from Hu Zi's group using a military line, but from a privately owned decoration company in Shengjing. After purchasing his property in Shengjing, Qin Fen had entrusted the real estate developer to find a reliable decoration company. The one calling today was the company the developer had recommended.

"Mr. Qin, hello. I am Manager He from Xinxin Housing Design and Decoration Company. We have already sent personnel to inspect your property. May I ask if you are available now to receive our quotation?"

Manager He’s voice on the other end was extremely gentle. Qin Fen activated the email receiving function on his new phone, and a detailed, clear quotation sheet soon appeared projected on his mobile screen.

The faint smile on Qin Fen's face instantly froze as he viewed the incoming quotation. A hint of anger slowly permeated his facial muscles.

The cost simply to transport one bag of sand up to an eighteenth-floor apartment was an astounding eighteen yuan! The sand itself cost only a little over three yuan.

The transportation fee for a single bag of sand was more than six times the price of the sand itself? Qin Fen’s eyebrows furrowed together above his eyes, as if holding a private meeting at his brow line.

For a set of combination sofas suitable for a family, the decoration company quoted about six thousand yuan, but the fee to get them upstairs was a staggering three thousand yuan.

"What is this? Are you a decoration company or a robbery company?" A cold smirk played on Qin Fen’s lips, laced with a touch of incomprehension. Hadn't it been said that the cooperation between real estate developers and decoration companies now formed a commercially fair system? How could the prices be this exorbitant?

Hashimoto Yojiro stared at the quotation sheet for a long time before asking, "Is there a problem with these prices?"

Qin Fen looked at the martial arts master who had come with him, momentarily stunned before remembering that most martial arts masters had not experienced life at the bottom of society as he had, where one possessed nothing.

He always considered that period of his life a precious experience. Having worked as a laborer on construction sites, as an hourly worker, and even for moving companies, he naturally knew the delivery charges involved in decoration work.

A bag of sand priced at three yuan requires an eighteen-yuan delivery fee—this level of pricing could no longer be described merely as exorbitant. Qin Fen shook his head repeatedly. This method of charging for delivery was far quicker than robbing a bank. Why hadn’t the moving company he used to work for ever implemented such high fees?

Qin Fen fell silent for several minutes. Manager He on the other end of the line sounded slightly nervous: "Mr. Qin, what do you think of this quotation? Are there any issues?"

"Issues?" Hearing this, Qin Fen let out a string of cold laughs. "This isn't just having issues. You're charging me eighteen yuan to transport sand that costs just over three yuan a bag. And that sofa, costing six thousand, you want three thousand for transport? Look at the prices for these doors and windows—they are recognized, high-quality brands, yet the brands you listed are notorious in the industry for being low quality."

Hashimoto Jiro stared blankly at Qin Fen. This young martial arts master seemed incredibly knowledgeable not only about martial arts but also about these most basic aspects of livelihood, even knowing the prices and quality grades of various brands clearly.

As a martial arts master, Hashimoto Yojiro knew that people usually delegated such matters entirely to their apprentices, never bothering to concern themselves with pricing details.

Qin Fen shook his head in annoyance. Although he was no longer the poor boy struggling on the poverty line, that didn't mean he would tolerate any kind of wasteful spending, especially when it was such obvious, excessive waste.

Manager He on the line let out a few awkward, dry chuckles, his voice laced with helplessness, sounding in Qin Fen's ear again: "Mr. Qin, actually, you should see that apart from these delivery fees and the cost of windows and doors, the other prices are quite reasonable, aren't they?"

Qin Fen paused, surprised that Manager He admitted this so readily. Indeed, the quotation was quite fair, except for the almost astronomical fees for transport and the fixtures.

"Mr. Qin, some things are not entirely up to us," Manager He’s voice carried a note of persuasion. "You know that in business, there are many factors to consider. I won't hide it from you; these transport fees you are seeing are already the result of us fighting for half a day to get them this 'cheap.'"

"Cheap?" Qin Fen wondered if his hearing was failing him. The man dared to open his eyes and lie, claiming such transportation fees were considered cheap!

If this was cheap, Qin Fen desperately wanted to ask Manager He if, in his eyes, the lambs waiting to be slaughtered in the abattoir were also "tender lambs."

"It is indeed cheap," Manager He's voice was full of confidence. "Mr. Qin, I have no reason to lie about this. I guarantee that even if you approach other decoration companies, the transportation and fixture prices will definitely not be cheaper than ours."

Qin Fen highly doubted where this man’s confidence originated; his tone was utterly self-righteous, showing no sign of recognizing that the prices were problematic.

"Manager He," Qin Fen paused slightly, "regarding the transportation part, perhaps I should find people myself."

"Mr. Qin, hiring your own movers is certainly fine, but…" Manager He hesitated before speaking. "But if the people you hire fail to complete the transport work, I fear that when you come back to ask for our assistance, the prices will have to increase further. We hope you can understand; sometimes there are things we simply can't control."

Qin Fen's left index finger rubbed back and forth against his chin. He felt that the man’s words were indeed filled with veiled helplessness.

After hanging up on Manager He, Qin Fen used his phone’s calling feature to contact several moving companies. The results were startling: the moment they heard the location of the complex, they quoted prices far more outrageous than Manager He’s. If not for sensing a hard-to-explain reason in their voices, Qin Fen would have started to suspect he radiated the aura of a fat sheep everyone wanted to fleece.

"It's only eighteen floors, isn't it? I'll do it myself then!" Qin Fen gently rotated his shoulders. With the power of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill from the Universal Martial Arts Compendium, let alone a bit of sand and cement, even much heavier objects were nothing.

"Master, I'll go move things with you."

"Brother Qin, count me in too."

Qin Fen felt that Yang Ruoruo and Yang Xixi should be safe for the time being. He nodded while dialing Hu Zi's number: "Brother Zhao, it’s me. Can you help me find a vehicle to transport the sand, sofas, and all the furniture to the downstairs of my unit? My residential address is…"

"Got it! No problem—I'll just find a few lads to move everything up for you," Zhao Hu Zi said heartily from his military-style chair. "A few guys just finished basic training arrived here; it’ll be good for them to get some extra exercise. Oh, and congratulations on making a name for yourself in two battles! Hurry back to Shengjing; I’ll treat you to a meal."

"Just send them to the location; I can move it myself," Qin Fen finished the call and looked at the two women. "Shall we head to Shengjing now?"

The three left and flagged down two taxis on the roadside. Qin Fen and Jizhen Xuan Yi shared one car, while Hashimoto Jiro took the other alone, heading directly for the airport.

The straight-line distance between Tianbei City and Shengjing was not excessively far. They simply bought tickets for the next available flight and entered the cabin. Qin Fen did not rush to sit down; he surveyed every passenger around him.

As someone who invariably encountered hijacking incidents on every commercial flight, Qin Fen had developed a habit of immediately checking surrounding passengers upon boarding to see if any potential hijackers were present.

After confirming there was no hidden danger, Qin Fen settled down. As the plane took off and landed, he was once again back in Shengjing.

Upon disembarking, Qin Fen turned on his phone and found two missed calls. Opening the voicemail, he heard a message from a young man.

"Colonel Qin, we are downstairs at your unit. We found the property management company and opened the door for you. Since we were bored waiting for these items, we started moving them up for you."

"Colonel Qin, what are you doing here? We brought these up."

The latter part of the recording was clearly not directed at Qin Fen. The background noise became chaotic, and the call suddenly cut off.

Qin Fen checked the time—it had been only a minute. A sense of unease deepened in his heart. He took the two women and rushed to hire the two most expensive flying-car taxis, heading straight for his suburban garden residence.

With the passage of time and social development, Shengjing had annexed several surrounding cities, forming a massive, super-modern metropolis. Qin Fen's residence was located in a relatively secluded area of Shengjing. It took nearly an hour by flying car to reach his garden community.

Looking down from high altitude, the newly built garden community was beautiful. The surrounding greenery was even denser than depicted in the promotional materials. The modern atmosphere, imbued with sufficient tranquility and elegance, gave the impression that buying here was a steal.

As the flying car entered the community, the environment in front of his building made him slowly frown.

The open space, which should have been as clean as the front of other buildings, was littered with smashed furniture. Bags containing sand and cement were thrown about haphazardly, coating the ground with their contents.

In the center of this wreckage, three young men lay sprawled on the ground. Even from a distance above, a person with good eyesight could see that the faces of these three young men were smeared with blood.

Besides the three fallen youths, over a dozen other people were scattered around, some standing, some sitting. Occasionally, they would point at the three young men, let out a laugh, and then return to staring at the ground while silently smoking cigarettes.

The taxi landed about five zhang from the ground. The driver turned back, looking troubled, towards Qin Fen: "Sirs, can you jump down, or should I descend another meter?"

Qin Fen looked at the driver's distress, shook his head gently, opened the car door directly, and jumped out.

In this situation, under this atmosphere, perhaps those unfamiliar with the sequence of events did not know the cause, but even those oblivious to the background understood that a fight had just occurred, and the police were notably absent.

Thump... Thump!

Qin Fen and Jizhen Xuan Yi landed sequentially. Hashimoto Jiro’s massive frame impacted the ground with a heavy boom, causing even the inanimate sand and cement scattered on the ground to tremble slightly and bounce.

The dozen or so men gathered around, smoking, all stood up. They grimly formed a circle and moved to surround Qin Fen.

"Are you the ones Brother Zhao sent?" Qin Fen squatted down, looking at the three young men whose raw recruit aura had not yet faded. "What happened here?"

"S-sand…"

Qin Fen paused before understanding the word spoken by the recruit whose face was beaten into a pulp, his lips swollen like sausages. "Sand talk" meant "What happened?"

"Want to know what happened? Are you the owner here?"

Among the encircling group, one leader, sporting a purple-gold Oriental dragon tattoo around his neck, with two golden dragon tails tattooed on the backs of his hands visible outside his long sleeves, stepped forward.

Qin Fen glanced at the shattered sofa not far away, then raised his eyelids. "I am the owner here. Is that sofa mine?"

From the edge of the crowd, a man dressed in a black suit, holding a briefcase, looking somewhat refined, stepped into the circle, his eyes showing timidity. He approached Qin Fen and said quietly, "Mr. Qin? I am Manager He, the one you spoke with a short while ago. Here is the new quotation—fifty yuan for a bag of sand. As for the sofa…"

Qin Fen raised his hand, interrupting Manager He, and scanned the surrounding men. "Who are these people?"

"They…" Manager He leaned in close to Qin Fen’s ear and whispered, "In this industry, they are called 'Lou Ba' (Building Tyrants)."

"Lou Ba?" Qin Fen was confused. He had spent time at the bottom of society; how had he never heard of such a profession?

The circle of men overheard this and showed looks of satisfaction. Manager He nodded discreetly and whispered into Qin Fen’s ear again: "Lou Ba are people who arbitrarily inflate hauling fees and use violent coercion for forced sales. If you don't go through their channel, the sand required for decoration is brought in illegally."

"Gangsters?" Qin Fen blurted out his interpretation.

"No, no, no," the leading man quickly waved his hands. "We are businessmen operating in the sales and transportation sectors. Occasionally, there are minor frictions with peers during commercial activities—like what just happened. We sincerely apologize for the damage to your property during this friction. That sofa set was six thousand, right? We will compensate you according to that price."

Qin Fen looked at the new quotation in his hand. The fee to transport that sofa had risen from an initial three thousand yuan to nine thousand yuan. Who exactly was compensating for this increased fee?

Qin Fen then checked the injuries of the three recruits. Without looking at the other party, he said, "Xuan Yi, call the police."

"Mr. Qin," Manager He repeatedly shook his head and said quietly, "Don't call the police; it's useless. These guys were just released; they paid a small fine and got out. They have ways to frame these things as commercial disputes. At worst, they’ll pay medical expenses, but that cost will ultimately fall on you…"

Qin Fen squatted down, wanting to laugh as he looked at the surrounding transport merchants. He had killed martial arts masters on Mount Hanna, yet upon returning to Shengjing to buy a house, he was being bullied by so-called Lou Ba, to the extent that calling the police seemed useless. It was genuinely amusing.

"Mr. Qin, is that right? How about you sign this contract?" The leading man stepped forward and patted Qin Fen’s shoulder as if they were old acquaintances. "Don't worry, if we handle this project, we guarantee you won't be bothered by others."

Qin Fen looked up and calmly regarded the young man who called himself Wang Laowu. "If I don't sign, what happens?"

"No signature?" The young man with the neck tattoo of a golden dragon smiled. "Then Mr. Qin, I, Wang Laowu, cannot guarantee your household goods will arrive home safely."

Manager He secretly tugged at Qin Fen’s sleeve. He had seen many people show backbone against Lou Ba, but in the end, none failed to soften their stance. The Lou Ba weren't fools; truly wealthy and powerful people in Shengjing lived in villas, drove flying cars, and owned sports cars. People who came to this relatively remote suburb and had to take a taxi back were clearly not rich or powerful. Soft persimmons should naturally be squeezed tight.

Qin Fen opened his phone and calmly looked at the young man calling himself Wang Laowu. "Hello, Xinnan South Police Station? I am a resident of Sunshine Community. Do you have organized gangs here? Are you not going to manage it? Wait, you said my decoration dispute is a commercial one and therefore outside your jurisdiction? Really? You truly won't intervene?"

Wang Laowu smiled, and the men surrounding him also laughed. This kind of call was not new. In the past, the police station had intervened, but every time, lawyers had used a series of maneuvers to settle the matter. After several instances where complaints were withdrawn by the residents themselves, the police force became embarrassed and simply stopped getting involved.

"If you won't manage it, then I will manage it for you! You should call an ambulance!"

Qin Fen’s voice, cold and sharp, cut off the call. Wang Laowu immediately felt the air around him turn icy. Many of the men shivered, harboring a strange feeling that they were surrounding not a person, but a ferocious, mutated wild beast.

The furniture was smashed, the sand and cement scattered everywhere, and most critically, the three men sent by Zhao Hu Zi had been beaten. Qin Fen could find no reason to let these people leave safely and intact.

"Xuan Yi," Qin Fen stood up and retreated toward Hashimoto, speaking coldly. "Sixty days in the hospital. If you leave a day early, you fail this test."

"Yes!" Jizhen Xuan Yi’s bones instantly cracked and popped. He had only witnessed Master fighting the two great martial arts masters recently, and while he couldn't experience it firsthand like Qin Fen, he still gained considerable insight. If he solidified his foundation, his strength could advance by leaps and bounds.

With a swift step, he darted in front of Wang Laowu. The most basic, simplest straight punch of Neo-Karate was unleashed with a forward step and surge.

Wang Laowu only felt a strong gust of wind rushing at him. Before he could react to what had happened, his nose instantly stung with sharp pain, tears involuntarily flooding his eyes.

"This is?" Wang Laowu was shocked that he had been struck. A formidable impact shot into his lower abdomen, instantly folding him into the shape of a shrimp. In the next instant, a fierce, storm-like barrage of punches hammered every part of his body.

In a flash, Wang Laowu lay on the ground, unrecognizable, his injuries appearing ten times more severe than those sustained by the three recruits who were beaten earlier.

"This is?"

The other members of the Lou Ba were stunned. Never before had an owner dared to launch an attack under such circumstances.

"Beat him!"

An enraged roar erupted from the Lou Ba members. Manager He squatted down fearfully, hugging his head, muttering incessantly, "It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me…"

Jizhen Xuan Yi, having undergone Blood Transformation Rebirth, was a True Innate Ten-Star martial artist. He had recently watched Qin Fen battle two martial arts masters, and even without direct experience, he had gained significant understanding. If he consolidated his power, he could achieve a major breakthrough. Even without consolidation, his Ten-Star Blood Transformation Rebirth True Innate strength was formidable in the eyes of ordinary people.

The strongest among these Lou Ba members was only at Seven-Star, nowhere near the level of Jizhen Xuan Yi, who had been meticulously trained by Qin Fen. Having not engaged in a real fight for some time, Jizhen Xuan Yi charged into the wolf pack like a fierce tiger. He didn't even need to see where his opponents were or what combat techniques or arts they used. He simply adopted the framework of the Arhat Fist, a set Qin Fen used to favor, and began fighting amidst the crowd.

The sounds of breaking bones, muffled grunts, impacts—but no screams.

In a short time, Jizhen Xuan Yi withdrew his power and stood quietly. The dozen or so men who had surrounded him were now collectively sprawled on the ground. They didn't even have the chance to groan; their mouths looked much worse than the injuries of the three recruits. Every single one remained fully conscious, none knocked unconscious, all savoring the pain from their fractured bones and other injuries.

Manager He heard the surrounding silence and slowly raised his head. He stared at the heavily injured Lou Ba members lying scattered around, stunned for a long moment.

One person! Just one person who looked less than twenty years old had managed to take down every single Lou Ba member present in such a short time?

Manager He understood these Lou Ba well. Their combat ability was far inferior to true martial artists, but they were very capable fighters—ruthless and brave enough to strike! Not only did they rarely lose one-on-one fights against peers, but when they ganged up, they had once subdued an Eight-Star peak owner and sent him to the hospital.

These men spent their free time fighting on the Sky Combat Net and had gained a minor reputation in various cliques.

"Master," Jizhen Xuan Yi stood quietly before Qin Fen, like a student who had handed in a completed assignment, awaiting the teacher's critique.

"Not bad," Qin Fen raised his thumb and praised softly. "Your progress is even faster than I imagined. Keep going; Marrow Cleansing Nirvana might not be impossible for you."

Manager He took several deep breaths, his stunned expression gradually turning grim. He stared fixedly at Qin Fen and repeatedly shook his head. "Mr. Qin, I won't do your business anymore. I truly dare not. You felt satisfied taking action just now, but you've offended people in one stroke. Lou Ba isn't just these few people."

"Offended people?" Qin Fen straightened his back slightly. A martial arts master has the responsibility of a martial arts master. He felt he hadn't done anything wrong in this matter. Even if the three recruits hadn't been injured this time, he would still have intervened. The concept of Lou Ba didn't sound like bullying just one person; as a former police officer, he felt obligated to intervene.

"Eliminating harm for the people?" Qin Fen smiled. "Let's call it eliminating harm for the people then…"