Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 459 Essays (Preview 3)
(The abscess was still a bit troublesome, so I treated it myself with surgery. I'll post something else I wrote in August or September.)

(We've been working together to overcome these difficult times, so how did things come to this?)
Chapter 1

"Wake up! Get up!"

"Is he still breathing?!"

The cacophony of shouts lingered in his ears, gradually waking Gao Yi from his unconscious state.

The moment Gao Yi regained consciousness, a sharp pain shot through his head, causing him to instinctively raise his hand and touch his head.

What came into view was hands covered in blood.

"I just had a summer job, how come...where am I?"

Looking at the filthy, garbage-dump-like environment around him, and then at the blood on his hands, Gao Yi felt dizzy.

At the same time, fragmented memories also flooded into Gao Yi's mind.

That was clearly not his memory, but a completely different life.

"He actually woke up?"

Just as Gao Yi was still trying to piece together those fragmented memories, a shirtless man with two knife scars on his upper body grabbed him and lifted him up.

"You're still alive? You actually managed to wake up?"

The scarred man looked suspicious, then simply held up two fingers to Gao Yi.

"Kid, what number is this?"

"This is……"

Gao Yi subconsciously raised his head and looked at the scarred man in front of him.

This is Mad Dog Sen, a well-known thug of the Yagi-kai, a famous gang in Jianmin District. He is known for fighting recklessly. Although he looks skinny, he is said to have completed muscle training and his skills have reached the level of tendon training.

The reason why such a powerful person appeared in front of them was mainly because Yagi needed to recruit some young people as new blood.

"So, what is Jianmin District?"

Jianmin District is Jianmin District, his hometown, or rather, his hometown from another period of his memory.

"How is that possible? My hometown is clearly... Hiss!"

The wound on his head was aggravated, causing Gao Yi to gasp in pain.

This made the mad dog Sen in front of him shake his head.

"He can't even count anymore, looks like his head's been smashed."

As he said this, Mad Dog Sen turned to look at the distance.

"You two! Are you done fighting?!"

It was at this moment that Gao Yi saw two young men fighting each other with machetes in an open space not far away.

It was when Mad Dog Sen shouted that one of the young men instinctively turned his head.

With just a turn of his head, the dark-skinned opponent decisively seized the opportunity.

The old machete struck his neck, and the distracted young man immediately fell into a pool of blood.

"The fight is over."

The dark-skinned young man carried a machete, and his eyes looked at them like those of a wolf that hadn't eaten for days.

This is Hei Zai Qiang. He's young, but he's ruthless and vicious. Other teenagers may also be brave and fierce, but when it comes to killing someone, they always hesitate.

Hei Zaiqiang is different. This kid goes all out from the start, aiming for the opponent's head with every strike, with no intention of leaving the opponent alive.

For example, the young man lying in a pool of blood on the ground, and Gao Yi who had been stabbed in the head.

Fragments of memory surfaced in Gao Yi's mind, and he remembered that the knife wound on his head was inflicted by Hei Zaiqiang.

Fortunately, this body survived and did not die on the spot.

otherwise……

"Perfect, take that deadbeat along with the one I'm holding."

While Gao Yi was still reminiscing, Mad Dog Sen had already started beckoning Blackie Qiang over.

"This one can't even count anymore, it seems useless. Let's turn it into a skeleton, human bone artifacts have been going up in price recently."

"I can count! I can!"

As Hei Zaiqiang, carrying a machete, walked towards him step by step, Gao Yiqiang endured the excruciating pain in his head and shouted loudly.

"This is number two! I can see it clearly!"

Gao Yi pointed at the two fingers that Mad Dog Sen had extended.

After a brief deep breath, Gao Yi's consciousness gradually began to clear.

Although he hasn't truly recovered, Gao Yi, who has regained some consciousness, has realized that he has probably encountered something that cannot be explained by common sense.

However, he no longer had time to think about it.

This was because his rival, the lean young man nicknamed "Blackie Qiang," had already revealed a fierce glint in his eyes.

According to the Yagi-kai's initiation rules, if you haven't killed someone, you should beat them to death.

Gao Yi survived a knife wound from Hei Ziqiang, so Hei Ziqiang's previous match was nullified, and the two had to fight again.

"hiss……"

Gao Yi's head started to hurt again.

Even when he wasn't injured, he was just a summer worker. Asking him to fight to the death with these desperate criminals wielding machetes was a bit too much to ask of him.

What's more, he's currently seriously injured, with blood still flowing from his head.

"Am I going to have to restart at lightning speed?"

Gao Yi was utterly devastated; anyone in his situation would have died on the spot.

"Is there really no way for me to survive?"

Thinking of this, Gao Yi took a deep breath, glared, hardened his heart, clenched his fists, and gritted his teeth.

"Light Blue! Add some points for me!"

……

There was no reaction from the surroundings, and Gao Yi didn't see anything either.

"Summer Cicada!"

"The Book of a Thousand Generations!"

"Fusheng Xuanhei Emperor!"

"Here comes the arrow!"

……

There was still no reaction from him. Instead, Mad Dog Sen was looking at him suspiciously, as if he were some kind of mentally ill person.

"Fine, since you're awake, let's keep fighting."

As he said this, Mad Dog Sen directly shoved a machete into Gao Yi's hand.

Immediately afterwards, he pushed Gao Yi back into the arena.

It was a circle drawn on the ground, about five steps in diameter. The two sides fighting inside the circle had to cut each other down, and the one who survived was the winner.

Of course, it's not like no one has ever tried to step outside the circle, but in Gao Yi's memory, the last person to try such a clever trick was torn apart on the spot by Mad Dog Sen.

It wasn't killed with a cleaver, but by tearing a human body apart with bare hands. This kind of power is simply beyond Gao Yi's common sense.

"But Mad Dog Sen has already touched on tendon training, and tearing someone apart is a trivial matter... So what exactly is tendon training?"

The intermingling of two sets of memories, coupled with the severe head injury from a knife wound, caused Gao Yi to instinctively cover his head in intense pain.

But in front of him, his competitor, Hei Zai Qiang, was closing in step by step.

"I'm not moving fast, I'm taking it one step at a time. That's because I still have a machete, so I'm afraid I'll fight like a cornered beast and I might as well trade my life for his."

Almost instinctively, Gao Yi began to guess what his competitor was thinking.

It was at this moment that a line of writing inexplicably appeared in front of Gao Yi.

【Blackie Qiang】

[Affection Level: Random Acquaintance]

Fulfilling Hei Zaiqiang's needs will increase his favorability and unlock corresponding rewards.

"call!"

Seeing the system finally appear, Gao Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

He knew that there's always a way out!
But this...

Affection system?
What can you do with this?
As Hei Zaiqiang drew closer, Gao Yi was dumbfounded.

This thing can't be used for fighting, nor can it be used to restart. Does it expect him to win over the black guy in front of him and beg the other side to let him go?
"This……"

Gao Yi's head started to hurt again.

But this is all he can use right now. Something is better than nothing. If he can really succeed in winning her over, even if he's given a chance to admit defeat, he can at least survive!
So Gao Yi continued to look at Hei Zai Qiang.

Meeting the target's needs can increase favorability.

So what does Hei Zai Qiang need?

[Blackie Qiang needs to kill you to join the Yagi-kai]

[Being killed by Hei Zaiqiang will raise Hei Zaiqiang's favorability to "It's a shame we didn't meet sooner"]

[Blackie Qiang will thank you for your weakness and will be happy to help you sell the skeleton for a good price.] "What kind of request is that?"

Gao Yi was dumbfounded. How could he possibly meet this demand? Besides, could this thing even be considered a reward?
But he had no time to think about anything else; Hei Zaiqiang had already raised the machete in his hand.

Faced with the gleaming blade, Gao Yi had no choice but to raise his machete immediately.

But just as Gao Yi's gaze swept over that old machete...

A single line of text caught Gao Yi's eye.

[Old machete]

[Affection Level: Random Acquaintance]

[Fulfilling the needs of the old machete will increase its affinity and unlock corresponding rewards.]

The old machete wanted to prove its sharpness with blood.

[Take the old machete to the bloody spot to raise its affinity to "I wish I had met you sooner"]

[An old machete will thank you for your help and will be more comfortable to use when you use it.]

"This...it's up to you!"

Seeing that Hei Zaiqiang's machete was about to strike down, Gao Yi closed his eyes, steeled his heart, and wiped all the bloodstains on his hands onto the blade.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his hand and swung the knife out.

Chapter 2

It was just a matter of smearing blood on the knife.

Even Gao Yi himself didn't quite believe that this kind of thing would have any effect.

But just as the bloodstains were wiped on, the machete in his hand suddenly felt lighter, and the previous feeling of heaviness disappeared, replaced by a smooth, effortless control.

At that moment, the blood-stained machete seemed to become an extension of his arm.

It felt as if no matter where he wanted to chop, the machete in his hand could hit the target precisely.

"Can you really hit anywhere?"

Gao Yi subconsciously looked at the other machete in front of him.

That was the machete that Hei Zai had raised, covered in blood from the killing. Perhaps the chopping had been too forceful, as there were obvious chips on the blade.

"If only we could cut into the notch in the blade..."

While Gao Yi was still thinking, his hand holding the knife had already risen up as he had intended.

----------

In the eyes of Mad Dog Sen, who had already entered the Tendon Training stage, the sight of these teenagers slashing at each other with knives seemed bloody, but in reality, it was nothing special.

As for the reason, it is naturally because these young people have never been exposed to any martial arts techniques, have never practiced them properly, and therefore their attacks are without any method or strategy; they only know how to rely on brute force to slash wildly.

However, right now, Yagi is recruiting new members, and the assessment is actually for those who just randomly cut things down.

To join the Yagi-kai, you first need to prove you're ruthless enough.

That guy named Hei Zai Qiang is clearly a ruthless character. His ferocity in wielding a knife and hacking people even reminded Mad Dog Sen of his younger days.

Back then, he was just as crazy and bloodthirsty, single-handedly killing dozens of members of the Seven Stars Gang and securing control of two streets for the Yagi-kai.

The nickname "Mad Dog Sen" originated during that time.

This also made Mad Dog Sen quite fond of Blackie Qiang. He really wanted to bring this young man under his wing and make him work for him, ideally so that this young man could build an empire for him just like he had done before.

As for the guy opposite Hei Zai Qiang...

Who was that?

Forgotten? It doesn't matter. Anyway, this kid got his head chopped off by Blackie in a single exchange. It's just that this kid is lucky, otherwise he would have been dead by now.

But for now, that's about right.

It's nothing more than letting Hei Zai Qiang deliver another blow; Mad Dog Sen has already foreseen the outcome of this fight.

What good is being tough?
In this world, you have to be ruthless!

"If you're not ruthless, you can't stand firm!"

Seeing the figure with blood still flowing from its head, and only able to hastily swing its knife to defend itself, Mad Dog Sen was about to order the other teenagers to go and carry the body.

But at that moment, Mad Dog Sen suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

It was a very weak and feeble resistance, with hardly any strength whatsoever.

But it was this seemingly insignificant slash that caused the two scars on Mad Dog Sen's body to begin to ache faintly.

Having been in Jianmin District for so many years, Mad Dog Sen has lost before.

That was when he had just made a great contribution to the gang. The gang leader directly rewarded him with two streets that he had taken from the Seven Star Gang, making him go from an ordinary low-level gang member to the top henchman of the Yagi Gang.

But just as he was collecting debts in his new territory, like the other gang leaders, he encountered someone he would never forget for the rest of his life.

He was an outsider, dressed all in white, his spotless appearance completely out of place in Jianmin District, a dirty and chaotic place. Heaven knows why someone like that would go to a tavern in Jianmin District to drink.

And it just so happened that Mad Dog Sen was there collecting protection money.

When the leader of the Yagi-kai went to collect money from territory that originally belonged to the Seven Stars Gang, he was naturally not going to give them a friendly welcome. Mad Dog Sen, who had just been promoted to leader, was even more determined to show off his authority.

But it was Mad Dog Sen's domineering and arrogant demeanor that displeased the outsider.

“Even petty scoundrels dare to bully and monopolize the market.”

With a single, polite curse, the two sides immediately started fighting.

In Mad Dog Sen's eyes at the time, this delicate-skinned young master probably didn't have much skill, and his white outfit was particularly eye-catching. Even if this kid didn't cause trouble, he was still planning to stab him a couple of times.

However, just as Mad Dog Sen was calling to his men to draw their machetes...

But then they discovered that the other person had somehow acquired a sword.

The blade was so light and flimsy that it was more like a thin sheet of iron than a sword.

But it was this very soft sword that felled all of Mad Dog Forest's brothers.

Including Mad Dog Sen himself.

Even now, Mad Dog Sen still remembers that he had given it his all at that time. That powerful slash was enough to split the broken iron sheet along with the white-clad man behind it.

However, it was his knife that broke.

That day, Mad Dog Mori himself didn't remember how he escaped all the way back to the Yagi-kai, but the two scars on his body constantly reminded him that he had to become stronger.

It was precisely because of this crushing defeat that he decisively donated all the profits from the two streets to the chairman of the Yagi-kai, which earned him the chairman's personal guidance and taught him the method of tendon training.

It was only after his skills improved that Mad Dog Sen understood how the man in white had managed to do it.

The soft sword is indeed thin and light, only able to slice but not chop, but if one can comprehend the secrets of tendon training, one can pour all the power into that narrow blade, thus transforming extreme softness into extreme hardness.

To explain in detail would be quite a complex process, as it involves the mysteries of the tendon-strengthening realm and the overall power generation process.

However, if we put it simply, there is an adjective that can be used to describe it.

That is, it's very convenient.

It's so easy that it can even split things that are harder.

Just like this knife right in front of me.

It was just a light, effortless swing, yet the power was perfectly channeled into the blade. The old machete, like an extension of the arm, precisely cleaved the notch of another machete.

Then, as if waving something away, half of the blade flew out.

Along with the blade, half of Hei Zai Qiang's head flew out as well.

The knife was destroyed, and the man died.

At this moment, it's not just Mad Dog Sen.

Everyone present was stunned into silence.

They'd seen sword fights before; after all, that's what they came for. To prove they were ruthless enough and qualified to join the Yagi-kai, they were prepared to chop their competitors into mincemeat.

However, no matter what, it was still just chopping meat into mincemeat, which was within their comprehension.

But that stab just now...

What it is?
"He...he probably never went to school."

It was at this moment that a young man murmured something.

"Could it be that he trained at a martial arts school?"

"A martial arts technique! He must have practiced a martial arts technique!"

The other boy's eyes were filled with certainty.

"That strike was definitely not something an ordinary person could do!"

Immediately, the group of young people began to speculate, after all, they all knew that those who had practiced martial arts were not on the same level as them.

If this kid has really practiced some kind of martial arts, if the two sides were to fight, he would probably cut them down as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

After all, Hei Zai Qiang lying on the ground has already proven this point.

“I recognize him! He’s from East Street!”

Just as everyone was speculating about who this suddenly appearing expert was, a young man remembered something and immediately shouted.

"That kid... that veteran's barbecue place on East Street, that's his family's business!"

"He has a father!"

(End of this chapter)