Caw! Caw!
Birds fluttered at first light, bringing warmth and cheerful cries. Hunter stumbled outside and saw it: the perfect morning. Deer and fawns by the stream, backlit by golden sun. Small and adorable, with those big doe eyes. The mama deer grooming her babies with her tongue.
The only thing missing was a Disneiy princess singing to the wildlife.
Hunter almost shed a tear at the beauty of it.
Then the squirrels attacked.
Not cute squirrels. Not normal squirrels. Wolf-sized nightmares with fangs like daggers and red eyes that promised violence.
The deer didn't stand a chance.
Hunter watched the mama deer go down first, throat torn open. The fawns tried to run. They were too small. Too slow.
This is what this world is. This is what I'm about to do to that village.
The squirrels fed. The morning stayed beautiful. Bamby dead.
Hunter ran back to camp, the images burned into his brain. His eyes. It was all burned into his eyes.
"Master?" Lex appeared, confused by Hunter's wild expression. "Is everything okay?"
All Hunter could manage was: "Bambi... oh God... Bambi. The squirrels."
Lex's worry deepened. "Master, who is Bambi? Does this person need help with squirrels?" He paused, genuinely confused. "Wait, what are squirrels?"
Hunter saw the confusion on his face and sighed. "Don't worry about it." He cleared his throat. "Call everyone. Get ready. We leave now."
Lex bowed and hurried off to gather the crew.
Hunter sat on a log by the outdoor firepit, contemplating his life while trying to steady his now-shaking hands.
I'm nervous as hell. Feels like that time I finally lost my virginity at twenty-three, except this time there's no happy ending. Just blood and whatever comes after. I wonder how she's doing right now—
"Master?" Lex poked his arm, then scuttled away like a frightened kitten.
Hunter looked up. "What is it?"
"Sir, I've been calling you but you weren't responding. I thought something was wrong."
Hunter noticed Xuan and Tao standing behind Lex, waiting. How long had he zoned out?
"It's nothing. Let's go." He looked at Lex. "You lead the way to the village."
An hour into the journey, Hunter decided to go over the plan one more time. Yesterday's disaster still haunted him.
Remember the game plan. Keep it simple. Don't let them improvise.
"Tao." He kept his voice steady. "You're the most important person in our plan. You have to get in quietly, find a barn or something, and light it up. Remember the signal—three short whistles if something goes wrong. Got it?"
Tao paused. Stood motionless.
Probably pre-raid jitters.
After twenty seconds of silence, he stuttered out: "Ye... Yes Mas... ter."
Yup. Definitely pre-raid jitters.
Hunter looked at Xuan beside him, then Lex up front. "Lex. Xuan. Your roles are even more important. You have to get the children, women, and elderly in one place. Use whatever you can—scare them, scream, you can even manhandle them. But don't kill anyone." He froze for a second. "Unless it's necessary. Like you're going to die. Understand?"
Both men stopped, looked at the ground, and coughed out: "Yes, Master."
Their voices carried a mix of fear, nervousness, and anticipation for what would come next.
Hunter didn't need his spiritual sense to know how they were feeling. He just knew.
Late afternoon. The sun already setting, darkness slowly winning over the light.
Hunter and the crew arrived near Clearwater Village. Rice paddies cultivated by village folk stretched out before them. The picturesque village was surrounded by small forests, a stream, and what looked like a small quarry in the distance.
Hunter employed his spiritual sense and peeked over. One guard by the city gate, but he looked more interested in guarding his hidden stash of what appeared to be sake.
While the men prepared silently, Tao tied his shoe for the millionth time. Xuan and Lex practiced their intimidation skills on each other, which largely consisted of making ugly faces and giving the stink eye.
We're doomed.
Hunter reached out to his favorite companion.
System. I have a quick question.
[SYSTEM] HI! OMG ARE YOU EXCITED?! LET'S RAID! YOU RAID I RAID WE ALL RAID HAHA! I BET TAO KILLS MORE PEOPLE, WHO DO YOU THINK—
Can you STOP already?! Hunter clenched his teeth. WHY IS THERE A FREAKING STONE WALL AROUND THE VILLAGE?
He rubbed his temples, feeling an incoming migraine. "Look, you told me it would be an easy mission with fifty defenseless villagers. Why is there a stone gate, a wall, AND a guard?"
[SYSTEM] WELL YOU DIDN'T ASK SILLY! THE VILLAGE IS HOME TO A VERY IMPORTANT NOBLE'S BASTARD CHILD [SYSTEM] SO OFC IT'LL BE WELL GUARDED. DUH. HUNTER SOMETIMES YOU ASK THE MOST RIDICULOUS QUESTIONS. BUT IT'S TOTALLY DOABLE! IT'S JUST OLD PEOPLE AND KIDS THERE. PROBABLY.
"What do you mean probably?!" Hunter hissed. "You know what? I'm done. Not doing it."
He turned to leave.
A chime rang in his skull. Not annoying this time. Horrifying.
[SYSTEM] ERROR: USER_REQUESTED_TO_ABORT_MISSION USER_DENIAL_OF_ACCEPTED_MISSION_PENALTY = IMMEDIATE_DEATH ABORT MISSION? (Y/N)
Hunter's mental finger hovered over YES.
One second.
Two seconds.
He thought about home. His apartment. His plant. That damn plant, still alive somewhere in Boston, probably judging him.
His boring, safe, alive life.
Three seconds.
[SYSTEM] REMINDER: SELECTING YES = IMMEDIATE_DEATH
Hunter's hands were shaking as he pressed NO.
[SYSTEM] YAY! LET'S GO! UP UP AND BEYOND! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
This is how I die. Killed by my own incompetent bandits.
Hunter ignored the system prompts and shouted to his raiding crew: "It's time!"
He looked at Tao. "You'll sneak in. There's a guard but he's had a few too many to drink. Try to look like you mean business—the guard who's currently hiccupping will probably just let you through."
Tao straightened his back with confidence. "I will make you proud, Master."
He left to infiltrate the village, sword tucked away.
On the way to the gate, there was an old farmer. A kind old grandpa with the full Santa package: white beard, bulging stomach, reddened cheeks. He was tending to his rice paddies, inspecting each plot with care and love.
Then came the magnificent bandit Tao, kicking up dirt and employing his special tough-guy look. The face he'd practiced in the reflection of a stream for an hour this morning.
"Move aside! Make way for the Great Tao if you want to keep your head!"
The old man looked up at Tao—malnourished, covered in grime, making that stupid constipated face.
And laughed.
Tao's confidence shattered like glass. He'd practiced that look. Master was watching. Master was counting on him. And this old farmer was laughing.
The farmer pointed at Tao's attempted menacing stance and laughed so hard he started coughing, tears streaming down his weathered cheeks.
Tao put his head down and kept walking in shame, past the old villager still laughing—who was now laughing even harder at seeing him so deflated.
Master's going to kill me. Or the system will. Either way, I'm dead.
At least the guard was too drunk to care.
The lucky thing about not being intimidating was that the guard just looked at Tao, wrinkled his nose at the smell, and waved him through if only to make the stench go away faster.
[SYSTEM] HAHA DID YOU SEE THAT?! OMG I'M DYING. HUNTER DON'T SEND YOUR MEAN CREW AFTER ME—
Hunter ignored the system's commentary and did a quick prayer for himself.
The system will kill me. Actually kill me this time.
He paused. I need to prepare my will.
He gasped. Oh yeah, I'm in another world. Their stupidity is infecting me.
Another pause. Even if I wasn't here, the only thing I had back home was my plant that refused to die. That damn plant. Still alive somewhere in Boston, probably judging me.
Wait. Am I in this hellhole because I mistreated my plant? Is this karma?
No. That's stupid. Plants don't have that kind of power. Right?
"Ugh, I need to concentrate. Let's see how Tao's doing."
He checked with his spiritual sense and found him immediately.
Wait, why is he hiding behind a TREE in the middle of the village square?! YOU HAD ONE JOB! ONE! SNEAK! IN! HOW DO YOU MESS UP SNEAKING?!
Then Hunter picked up another person approaching.
"Son, are you lost? Do you need directions somewhere?"
A portly man with a magnificent beard stepped forward, concern written all over his face.
This is when things got worse.
Tao, now spooked like a child caught stealing cookies for the millionth time after being told not to, unsheathed his sword with trembling hands—
—and immediately dropped it.
CLANG.
He scrambled to pick it up, hands shaking, nearly dropping it again.
The village head grew even more concerned. This man didn't look like a bandit. He looked like a frightened, helpless, injured kitten all wrapped into one pathetic package.
A kid, couldn't have been more than seven, tugged his mother's sleeve and asked, "Mama, why is that man holding his sword backwards?"
And this is where we pick up.
Hunter wanted to die. Actually, literally die. Just cease existing right there, a mile away from the village square where his master plan was imploding in real time.
[SYSTEM] HEY IF I WERE YOU I'D DO SOMETHING. IF YOU FAIL THIS MISSION... YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS (◕‿◕✿)
Hunter yelled to Xuan and Lex: "Let's go NOW! Tao's in trouble!" He pointed at the village in the distance.
For the first time since his breakthrough, Hunter pushed his body to work—not as a normal human with inherent weakness, but as a Foundation Realm cultivator.
He pressed his feet against the ground with everything he had.
And he didn't run.
He flew.
A five-foot crater marked where he'd been standing.
In the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Hunter had flown past the gate. The old drunk guard, seeing this blur of motion, attempted to stop him by standing in front with one palm out like a traffic cop.
"STOP!"
Hunter tried to stop. That was evident by the cloud of dust he kicked up when braking, legs digging trenches in the dirt.
But time wasn't on his side.
And it most definitely wasn't on the drunk guard's side.
BOOM!
The sound was wet and final. The guard's body didn't just die—it ceased to exist as a coherent structure.
Chunks of meat hit the gate. Bone fragments clattered on stone. Something that might have been a lung landed near Hunter's feet with a wet slap.
The smell hit him next. Copper and waste and something sweet and wrong.
Hunter stood frozen, hands out like he was still trying to catch the man, brain refusing to process what his eyes were seeing.
"No, no, no, not again! I'm so sorry! Let me help you!"
He picked up a leg because that's what his brain told him to do when someone was hurt.
Except there was no ambulance. No hospitals as far as he knew.
"It's okay, we'll fix this. Just—just hold still. I'll put you back together. Don't move." He grabbed an arm and flayed it around. "Oh God, you can't move, can you? Let me give you a hand. Huh. You're in pieces. Why are you in pieces?!"
He was crying now, cradling dismembered limbs like he could bring him back.
Meanwhile: Village Head's POV
"My granddaughter just turned twelve. How time flies, especially for an old geezer like me."
The village head was walking to the baker's when he noticed the strange man hiding behind their decorative tree. Poor thing looked terrified.
He approached quietly. "Son, are you lost?"
Then little Jimmy asked why the strange man held his sword backwards.
BOOM!
The village head watched their part-time guard—old Shuan, drunk as usual—explode into pieces. Just... explode. Like a watermelon dropped from a tower and breaking into million pieces.
And the murderer, a young man with long hair blowing in the wind, started crying over the body parts like he was the victim.
What in the seven hells...
Back to Hunter
Hunter stood over the body parts, crying and cursing the heavens for bringing him to this place.
It's their fault. It wasn't mine. I didn't do anything. The guard should've moved. That's just poor training.
Mucus and snot flowing, covered in blood, Hunter stared blankly at the sky.
A system prompt brought him back to reality:
[SYSTEM] FATALITY! FINISH HIM!
THAT WAS SUPER COOL
OMG DID YOU SEE THE EXPLOSION RADIUS? (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ IT WAS MAGICAL
DO IT AGAIN BUT AIM FOR THE GROUP THIS TIME!
This brought his attention back to Tao—the bumbling idiot Tao—and the villagers who had now gathered around him in a confused, terrified circle.
I guess he did something right. Gathered them all in one place. But seriously, it wasn't my fault. The guard shouldn't have stood there. That's just poor training.
Hunter, without a choice, walked toward the villagers.
The silence was deafening.
For Hunter, he didn't know what to say. He'd never imagined he'd get to this place—covered in gore, walking toward innocent people while his brain screamed at him to run.
For the villagers, they'd just watched the devil himself kill a man and dance over the body parts like some kind of demented puppet master.
As for Xuan and Lex, they'd finally caught up to Hunter and had apparently forgotten they were supposed to be intimidating. Instead, they just looked lost, staring at the crater, the blood, the mess.
Hunter stopped in front of the crowd.
Opened his mouth.
And had absolutely no idea what to say.
Behind him, through his spiritual sense, he felt Xuan and Lex finally remember they were supposed to be intimidating. They stepped forward, raised their weapons, and tried to look menacing.
It didn't work.
They looked like children playing dress-up in their father's armor.
But the villagers didn't know that. They saw the blood. The crater. The pieces of Shuan scattered across the gate.
They saw monsters.
The village head raised his hands slowly, voice shaking. "Please. Whatever you want. Just... don't hurt anyone else."
Hunter's mouth went dry.
Too late for that.