Chapter 15 – Viewed in a New Light (1/2)

Chapter 15 – Viewed in a New Light

Shi Feng brushed Nie Yan’s side. Though, unexpectedly, he had moved past without noticing his opponent.

“Dammit… Where is that brat?” Shi Feng muttered under his breath. He had yet to realize that he had already been exposed.

Nie Yan trailed behind Shi Feng, following him closely. His gaze was focused on the area around Shi Feng’s back.

The dagger in Nie Yan’s right hand resembled lightning as it swiftly stabbed towards the back of his unsuspecting victim.

By the time Shi Feng felt something wasn’t right, it was too late. Nie Yan’s dagger had already arrived, penetrating deeply into Shi Feng’s back.

「Shlink! Splurt!」The dagger easily cut into him, dealing thirty-one points of damage to Shi Feng. Evidently, his defense stat wasn’t very high.

One attacked, and the other was being attacked. Immediately, the effects of Stealth for both players disappeared simultaneously.

Having finally discovered his assailant, Shi Feng turned around and retaliated. He slashed back at Nie Yan, sweeping his dagger in a wide arc.

Shi Feng’s dagger seemed to be just a bit short in length. However, that lack in blade length signified a miss as his dagger passed by Nie Yan.

“Vital Strike!”

Nie Yan’s dagger seemed to carry a cold glint as it streaked through the air, slitting Shi Feng’s throat.

「System: Vital Strike successful! Attack +5%, resulting in additional damage dealt!」

In one fell swoop, the seventy-nine health Shi Feng had remaining was instantly depleted. His eyes were filled with disbelief as if he had seen a ghost.「Thud.」His body collapsed onto the jungle floor.

The entire course of events had taken place in merely a few seconds. Nie Yan still had full health remaining.

The corner of Nie Yan’s mouth faintly curved into a sneer. He wasn’t required to showcase even the least of his abilities to deal with this novice Level 2 Knight-errant.

Both of them were returned to the auditorium at the same time.

“Shi Feng, what the hell happened?”

“Just how… how did it end so quickly…?”

The several youths encircled Shi Feng and began asking questions. On the video screen, they saw the figures of both Nie Yan and Shi Feng in combat after they had come out of stealth. In that fleeting moment, they were basically unable to clearly see, nor understand, what had occurred near the end. Within the blink of an eye—in simply a few exchanges—Shi Feng had already collapsed on the ground.

“His movements were really fast.” Shi Feng recalled their earlier exchange. Nie Yan had only made a few simple movements, yet his speed was simply unbelievable. Moreover, Nie Yan had killed him in two strikes; one of them hitting him in the vitals. Inside the game, the system would assist a player’s movements when executing skills. However, when it came to reaction speed, judgement, sense of attack and so on, all of them relied on the player’s own capabilities. Shi Feng had a hard time imagining what sort of disastrous outcome would occur if the two of them were to end up fighting in real life, especially if Nie Yan had a blade in his hand.

As he stared at that person’s figure, Shi Feng recalled all the times they went to him looking for trouble. He remembered how that person would always grin and bear through their humiliation without a hint of resistance. If that same person from the past had always been faking it… now that would be truly too terrifying. As he thought back to that dagger in Nie Yan’s hand, Shi Feng felt a cold chill run through his heart.

“I lost.” At that moment, Shi Feng didn’t dare to refute his defeat. The facts were arranged right before everyone’s eyes. Furthermore, he had also lost to Nie Yan’s boldness during the fight.

There was no need to fear those who acted arrogant and tyrannical. In reality, their tough appearances were merely poor disguises; Shi Feng was one such person. What people like him feared the most were those who possessed great strength and could endure without ever wavering.

Shi Feng began to think of Fourth Elder Lei who opened a restaurant in Gatehead Village. He truly was an amiable and gentle person. In the past, this area used to have a bunch of gangsters who would frequently go to his place. There they would freeload food and vandalize the restaurant. Fourth Elder Lei had always let them do what they wanted, bearing through their humiliation. There was a time when Shi Feng had gone to his restaurant in order to freeload food with ten or so other people. By chance, they ended up meeting his daughter who had just returned. Fourth Elder Lei had grown into a hunchback, but that daughter of his was actually fairly lively and beautiful. Several of them couldn’t resist trying to get their hands on his daughter.

Fourth Elder Lei begged for mercy, but those gangsters wouldn’t have it. They started to tear off his daughter’s clothes which enraged Fourth Elder Lei. He grabbed his kitchen knife and cut down three of those gangsters—they were instantly killed on the spot. Then, with his knife, he chopped off Boss Yin’s arm. Fourth Elder Lei’s whole body was covered in blood, yet he remained calm and unperturbed, allowing the customers on the side to call the police. At that time, Shi Feng was so frightened he nearly urinated in his pants.

Since Fourth Elder Lei had acted in self-defense, he was only sentenced to half a year in jail. After that, no one dared to cause trouble at his restaurant, nor lay a hand on his daughter again.

People who could endure silently were the most terrifying. It was because if they were to snap one day, they would reveal their full ferocity—becoming fiercer than anyone else. Remembering the scene of that day, Shi Feng felt his body break out in a cold sweat.

After experiencing something like that, Shi Feng had honestly and properly behaved himself for a while. Afterward, however, he began following Wei Kai’s group. After experiencing the fight today, his whole body began to quiver. If they were to bully Nie Yan and push him to the brink one day, would he snap just as Fourth Elder Lei had? Would Nie Yan grab a blade and ruthlessly slash their throats akin to what Shi Feng had just experienced in the game?

“In the future, it’ll be better if we don’t provoke that guy anymore. He’s definitely hard to deal with.” Shi Feng warned the several people beside him in a solemn manner.

“Shi Feng! You can’t be terrified after losing just one match, can you? From now on, we don’t know each other.” One of the youths by his side cursed at him. The others around him had also exposed expressions of disdain.

“I’ll still pay you guys back the money. As for the loss, it’s no big deal anyway,” Shi Feng said. He suddenly understood. Although people like them felt good when they often bullied others, there would come a day when all their debts are repaid in full—just like that matter with Fourth Elder Lei. On that day, Boss Yin lost both his arm and his position as the boss. Now he could only make a living by scavenging for trash. As for those three gangsters who were cut down, they couldn’t even make a living as they had lost their lives.

“Get out. Scram.”

Nie Yan no longer paid attention to Shi Feng and the others. He continued looking at the scene of the match. The competition between Tang Yao and Wei Kai was still in the second round. Since it was on an open field, this time, Tang Yao had lost his advantage. Eventually, he was killed by the slash of Wei Kai wielding his sword.

One after another, the matches continued. After they had finished ten matches, Tang Yao had won two, while Wei Kai had won eight. As a result, Tang Yao lost a thousand and two hundred credits.

“Fuck, Wei Kai that bastard also learned a new skill. This time, it’s the Berserker skill, Resist Magic Aura. This beating is truly depressing,” Tang Yao said while he fumed with anger. Resist Magic Aura increased the player’s magic resistance. A Berserker with this skill was practically the bane of all Mages.

“You know, Resist Magic Aura only decreases your damage by a little bit. When you’re PvPing as an Arcane Mage, your movements need to be quick. Secondly, you need to keep your mana expenditure at a stable rate. Third, your reactions have to be fast as well. Furthermore, when you were fighting, your timing for casting spells was incorrect,” Nie Yan advised. In terms of strength, Tang Yao’s Arcane Mage was stronger than Wei Kai’s Berserker by a lot. The reason Tang Yao lost wasn’t because Wei Kai was more skilled than him by any means. Rather, it was because Arcane Mages had a higher skill cap. A skilled Arcane Mage could effortlessly toy a Berserker of the same level to death. However, an unskilled Arcane Mage would easily be hacked to death by a Berserker of the same level. Simple professions like Berserkers, which were tanky hack and slashers, didn’t require much skill to play at all.

“You brat! I didn’t expect that you knew so much,” Tang Yao said in admiration. In retrospect, Nie Yan’s words made quite some sense.

After pushing open the door, Wei Kai and his group came over from the other side with Shi Feng following from behind. The latter glanced at Nie Yan with a somewhat complicated expression on his face.

“Young Master Tang, it seems that your brother here is growing up more and more. Surprisingly, he even defeated Shi Feng.” Wei Kai’s narrow and slender eyes glanced over towards Nie Yan. In the past, Nie Yan had always been a well-behaved punching bag. Indeed, it appeared the Nie Yan of today and the Nie Yan from the past just weren’t the same. Be it expression or temperament, there was quite a large change in both.

Wei Kai switched the video on the screen over to the time when Nie Yan defeated Shi Feng in their fight. Afterward, he played it back in slow motion. The entire fight had concluded within three seconds. Looking at the screen, Nie Yan’s movements and attacks were flawless and watertight.

After watching the video, Tang Yao stared at Nie Yan with an astonished gaze, as if what he had seen was unimaginable. This brother of his, just when had he become so courageous and powerful?

“Just a few moments ago, you had a match with Shi Feng?” Tang Yao was a little dazed. He still didn’t dare to believe that person in the video was Nie Yan.

“Just a small match. He was too weak, though,” Nie Yan replied in an unrestrained manner, not minding the people near him at all.

Wei Kai gave a meaningful glance, signaling the youth who wore a flower pattern shirtnext to him.

This action caught Nie Yan’s eye. That person was called Li Yang—Wei Kai’s right-hand man.

“Brat! Don’t get too conceited. Do you believe I can’t beat you down?” Li Yang approached Nie Yan and came at him with a kick. His age was one or two years younger than Nie Yan, however, he was taller and more robust in comparison.

Nie Yan was a little short. Combined with his poor nutrition, he was also very thin and weak.

Nie Yan coldly smiled, then dodged Li Yang’s attack. He followed up by kicking Li Yang’s supporting leg, stamping on the knee joint. He was no longer the same youth who had been so easily bullied in the past.

His current strength was not one bit inferior to a second grade mixed martial artist. It was just that his body was still weak. However, when it came to dealing with wannabe gangsters like them, he had more than enough energy to spare.