Infinity, The Arcade Age-Chapter 292: The Secrets of the Street Fighter World

"We're done! We're done fighting!"

Poison, battered and covered in wounds, staggered forward, waving her hand vigorously as she walked.

Hearing this, Hugo immediately lowered his arms, while Qin Ming furrowed his brows and let out a cold snort.

"You say we're done, and that's it? What, you think this is some kind of sparring match? You—"

Before Qin Ming could even finish his sentence, a convoy of cars suddenly came speeding over from the distance.

The vehicles screeched to a halt, and as the doors flung open, a swarm of Mad Gear thugs poured out, wielding everything from steel pipes and iron hammers to katanas—you name it, they had it.

But what really caught Qin Ming's attention was the guy leading the pack.

At the very front of the convoy, a motorcycle drifted stylishly to a stop. The rider hopped off, revealing a burly man dressed in biker gear, his head covered in dreadlocks, his facial features... uh, let's just say not exactly pleasing to the eye.

Grinning widely, his buck teeth were on full display, and behind his dark sunglasses, his eyes instantly lit up upon seeing the heavily injured Poison.

He hurried over with quick strides, reaching out to support her.

"Oh damn! Poison! Who the hell did this to you?! Are you badly hurt? Let me take a look!"

Seeing his outstretched grubby hands, Poison immediately sidestepped to dodge.

By now, she had already grabbed a coat from a nearby corpse and thrown it on, a look of utter disgust plastered across her face.

Noticing that she was avoiding him, the burly man's eyes flickered, and he quickly turned his gaze toward Qin Ming.

As he took in Qin Ming's towering figure, now free of the ominous blood mist, his face twisted into a fierce scowl.

With his entire gang behind him, the man strode over aggressively, pointing a thick finger at Qin Ming as he roared.

"You little bastard, you the one who beat up Poison?! You got some damn nerve! Do you even know whose turf this is?! You—"

SLAP!

Before he could even finish his sentence, Qin Ming, who had already stepped forward, swung his hand across his face with a powerful slap, sending him flying onto the ground.

That single casual slap left the thug sprawling on his back.

However, despite being knocked down, he wasn't dead.

And there was a simple reason for that—this guy was also a BOSS.

Not just any boss, but the very first boss of the Final Fight world!

Name: Damnd

Strength: 40

Constitution: 40

Agility: 15

Spirit: 10

Skills: Street Brawling (B-Class), Damnd Combo (C-Class), Whistle Summon (B-Class)

Description: One of Mad Gear's high-ranking members! Known as "Arrogant Damnd", he specializes in kidnapping and extortion.

Looking down at the first-stage boss of Final Fight—who, stats-wise, couldn't even compare to Poison, let alone Hugo—Qin Ming frowned deeply.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

"What the hell? Which jungle did this African monkey crawl out of?"

It hadn't even been a full day since Qin Ming entered this world, and already, he had run into three boss-tier storyline characters in a row.

The number of bosses in this world was just way too damn high!

Clearly, Damnd had been dazed by the slap. It took him a while before he finally struggled to his feet.

Clutching his face, he glared at Qin Ming, shocked by his ridiculous strength. Without hesitation, he staggered backward, retreating into the safety of his gang.

Then, with a sharp whistle, he pointed viciously at Qin Ming and bellowed:

"What the hell are you all standing around for?! Get him! Kill this bastard!"

Upon hearing their leader's command, the surrounding thugs exchanged glances before raising their weapons with a collective battle cry, preparing to charge.

However, before they could even take a step, Poison—who was still leaning against Hugo—suddenly shouted coldly.

"ALL OF YOU, STOP!"

She straightened up, her voice carrying undeniable authority.

"This guy is my friend! We were just sparring earlier! Who the hell gave you idiots permission to attack him?! Back the hell off!"

The moment they heard her words, the thugs immediately halted, hesitating as they awkwardly lowered their weapons.

Although Poison and Hugo had only recently merged their original gang into Mad Gear, and their status was still below that of Damnd, their strength was undeniable.

However, their strength was undeniable. Given Mad Gear's rule of "the strong take the top," it was only a matter of time before Poison and Hugo climbed their way up to the highest ranks.

Not to mention—they were two people, while Damnd was just one.

Because of this, even the low-level grunts didn't dare to disobey Poison's orders.

Even Damnd, whose expression flickered between uncertainty and frustration, chose not to keep barking orders. Instead, he suddenly burst into loud laughter, spreading his arms wide.

"Ohhh! So you're one of us! What a misunderstanding, man! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

As one of Mad Gear's high-ranking members, Damnd was neither strong in combat nor particularly clever. The only reason he managed to climb the ranks was because he was utterly shameless.

He was the guy they sent to handle all the dirty work, and if there was one thing he was great at, it was sucking up to whoever had the upper hand.

Having already felt Qin Ming's strength firsthand, Damnd immediately switched gears the moment he saw that Poison wasn't interested in fighting. Without hesitation, he seized the chance to de-escalate the situation.

Seeing this, Poison withdrew her gaze from Damnd and turned toward Qin Ming.

"Listen, my friend, enemies are best turned into allies, not the other way around. We've already fought, and now we know each other, right? So how about we grab a drink and get to know each other properly? My treat!"

Qin Ming's eyes flickered at the offer. Staring at the three bosses before him, he wasn't reckless enough to try fighting them all at once.

After all, despite having an S-Rank skill, it was best suited for fighting mobs or one-on-one battles. Its greatest strength lay in its recovery and sustainability.

If there were enough weak enemies around, then as long as he didn't run out of mental energy, he was theoretically immortal—able to heal from any injury instantly.

Even in a one-on-one fight, without a steady supply of fresh blood, the stored reserves in his body were more than enough to keep him going for a long time, granting him an incredible endurance advantage.

But against three bosses at once?

If all three ganged up on him, his recovery speed wouldn't be able to keep up with the damage intake. One wrong move, and he'd be beaten to death on the spot.

After weighing the pros and cons, Qin Ming decisively nodded.

"Sure. If someone's buying drinks, why not?"

Fighting wasn't an option—not right now.

Since they wanted to invite him for drinks, then drinks it was.

Besides, he had plenty of questions he wanted to ask these native characters while he had the chance...

...

Moments later, inside a bar in the city, Qin Ming found himself seated at a booth, surrounded by Mad Gear thugs and the three bosses.

At the moment, Damnd—the so-called first-stage boss—was in the dance floor, wildly whipping his dreadlocks around while jumping up and down like a lunatic.

Meanwhile, Poison and Hugo, having fully recovered, were relaxing with drinks at the table.

Seated at the bar counter, Qin Ming had his brows deeply furrowed, lost in thought.

From his conversation with Poison and Hugo, he had finally figured out the source of that weird paralysis effect.

It turned out that all storyline characters in the Street Fighter world trained in a power known as "Ki"!

If they fully unleashed their Ki and injected it into an opponent's body, it would create a powerful paralysis effect, rendering them completely unable to resist!

And the only way to defend against Ki-based attacks... was to use Ki yourself.

Since Qin Ming didn't possess Ki, he was completely vulnerable to it.

Unlike The King of Fighters world, which followed a bloodline-based system, Street Fighter had no concept of bloodline power.

There were no ancient family inheritances, no genetic advantages, no mystical bloodline abilities.

The fighters in this world were pure martial artists!

Strength wasn't determined by lineage—only by talent and hard work!

(End of Chapter)