Subdued

"Hey, Sam." Qi Li strolled over, making sure to say hello. Sam was currently flailing his fists, pounding his own head. Hearing the greeting, he yelled in sheer frustration, "No! No!! Stop trying to talk me into it! I'm not listening to your crap anymore! I won't listen!" Qi Li was quite surprised. "I wasn't planning on coaxing you." "Huh?" Sam froze, looking up in spite of himself. Qi Li moved, appearing before him in an instant. Snatching him by the collar with one hand, he smiled faintly. "I just wanted to... beat you up." With those words, he gave the bewildered Sam a friendly wink. The next second, the two of them moved abruptly. *Boom—* A visible shockwave of a sonic boom detonated violently. A furious gale rushed down Sam's open mouth. Whatever he had meant to say was forced right back down his throat, leaving him no choice but to clamp his mouth shut. Not only that, he suddenly realized that everything before his eyes was flickering past in a high-speed blur, moving far too fast to identify anything. Then a searing pain flared across his back. Sam clearly felt all sorts of things bursting against his back, one after another. Only then did he realize. *Oh. This isn't a hallucination. I'm not having an episode. I'm actually flying backward at terrifying speed!!* *Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!* Massive trees that would take three people to encircle were instantly pulverized into airborne splinters. A burly brown bear blew apart into a mist of blood before it could even register what was happening. A stream ran across their path; as if Moses were parting the Red Sea, the water blasted back to either side with a roar. A cliff face blocked the way ahead, and a human-shaped tunnel was punched straight through it... Looking down from the sky, a fast-moving black blur tore across the earth like a merciless steamroller. With unstoppable momentum, it pulverized every obstacle in its path, plowing a straight, kilometers-long furrow through the wilderness. Until the blur slammed head-on into a mountain peak. *Rumble—* Unable to bear the impact, the mountain fractured and collapsed. The motion finally ground to a halt. *Step.* Qi Li's feet touched the ground. After smoothing his hair, he looked at the dizzy, disoriented Sam in his grip and asked with apparent kindness, "How's it going, Sam? Can you hang in there?" Sam was momentarily at a loss for words. Just then, his head drooped limply downward. Taking that as a yes, Qi Li smiled approvingly. "Very good." With that, he released his grip. Just as Sam was about to collapse, Qi Li grabbed him by the calf, and then... *Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...* Swinging Sam like a pickaxe, Qi Li slammed him violently into the ground again and again, showing no mercy whatsoever. After all, the guy was built like a tank. A full minute passed. "Enough!!" Inside the massive crater, Sam—jarred awake by the battering—finally let out a roar. Packed with boundless fury, his fist slammed heavily into Qi Li's flank. With a thunderous crash, Qi Li went hurtling headfirst into a nearby fractured rock face. Moments later, however, he brushed off the dust and strolled right back out as if nothing had happened. Looking at Sam, who was swaying as he got to his feet, Qi Li said in surprise, "Even stronger now. Don't tell me you're like the Hulk." Sam didn't answer. He was staring blankly at the scattered rocks on the ground nearby. By now, they had all sprouted arms and legs. Grinning and making goofy faces, they waved to him and called out cheerfully, "Hey, Sam!" "You're not real!" Sam rubbed his eyes hard and looked farther away. Now it wasn't just the rocks; the trees, flowers, grass, and even the entire mountain were waving at him with genial warmth. "Fine. Guess you guys are real after all," Sam muttered with a resigned smile. Qi Li was left speechless by the spectacle. "...I take back what I said. Sam, your strength doesn't scale with anger. It scales with psychosis." This was basically the sister trope of turning evil for a tenfold power boost: go crazy, get ten times stronger. Qi Li shook his head and strode toward Sam. In Sam's eyes, all he saw was a familiar, menacing puppet charging straight at him. The very villain who had beaten him black and blue earlier. Without another word, Sam hurled a punch that screamed through the air. Qi Li didn't break his stride, waiting until the fist capable of crushing armor arrived right in front of him. Suddenly accelerating, he tilted his head to slip past the blow, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Pressing both hands down on Sam's shoulders, he drove a knee upward with explosive force. *Bang!* Like the boom of a war drum, Sam's chest caved inward and he was forced back a heavy step, spiderweb cracks spreading frantically under his feet. Qi Li raised his knee again, driving another strike into him. *Bang!!* Sam was forced even farther back. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* Within a few breaths, Qi Li unleashed an unbroken barrage of knee strikes. The earth cracked; dust billowed continuously into the air. Lacking any real combat experience and used to overpowering enemies through brute force alone, Sam was completely overwhelmed, battered so relentlessly that he couldn't even catch his breath. Just as he felt ready to vomit bile, the little figures around him shouted with deep concern, cheering him on: "Hang in there! You're the best, Sam!" "You're not alone! Our hearts are with you!" "Sam, don't ever go back to that cell...!" "You're right! I'm the best! I'm never going back!" Sam muttered, suddenly throwing his head forward in a violent headbutt toward Qi Li. "Having an episode again?" Qi Li finally backed away. His defense was high, but getting hit still hurt. "I'm never going back!!" At that moment, as if pumped full of adrenaline, Sam ignored his pain and lunged toward the puppet. With a flicker of movement, Qi Li appeared at Sam's flank and planted a punch into his abdomen. Sam instantly doubled over, but this time he gritted his teeth, determined to strike back. Qi Li, however, slipped behind him and swept a kick into the back of his knee. With a loud crack, the ground sank into a crater as Sam crashed heavily onto his knees. Just as Qi Li was about to clamp his hands around his neck, Sam pushed off the earth with all his might in a super jump. In an instant, he soared thousands of meters into the sky, gale-force winds buffeting his face. Sam felt a fleeting urge to retreat. Yet before he could even reach the apex of his jump, Qi Li abruptly appeared right in front of him. Qi Li looked up and gave the utterly dumbfounded face another friendly greeting. The next second, he clamped a hand onto Sam's forehead, aimed straight down, and hurled him with all his strength. *Whoosh—* Before Sam could react, he plunged like a javelin, burying himself deep into the earth in less than the blink of an eye. *Boom!!* A yellowish mushroom cloud rose lazily into the sky. Qi Li flashed forward, diving straight into the mushroom cloud. An even more violent roar erupted immediately after. A visible, colossal shockwave instantly tore the mushroom cloud to shreds, sweeping outward in all directions at terrifying speed. Everywhere it passed, rocks crumbled, topsoil was blasted away, trees were ripped up by their roots, and everything was thrown into utter chaos. When it all ended... *Thud... thud... thud...* Looking utterly unbothered, Qi Li strolled slowly out of the thick cloud of dust, carrying the completely unconscious Sam in his hand.