The neon lights of River City flickered overhead as Ye Feng sped through the streets on his battered scooter. The night air whipped against his face, cooling the strange, feverish heat of his sudden breakthrough.
He wasn't going straight home. Not yet. He needed to understand what he had become.
Ye Feng slowed down as he passed the "Night Market," a bustling street filled with street vendors, low-level cultivators, and scammers.
"System," Ye Feng whispered. "Show me the world."
[Eye of Truth: Maximum Output.]
The world instantly changed. It was no longer just people and stalls. It was a sea of floating data.
He looked at a vendor shouting about "Authentic Dragon-Blood Grass."
[Target: Red Grass]
[Status: Dying Weed]
[Secret (White): Soaked in chicken blood and red dye #4. Consuming it will cause diarrhea for three days.]
Ye Feng snorted. Typical.
He looked at a beautiful woman in a red dress flirting with a wealthy businessman.
[Target: Li Mei]
[Identity: 'Black Widow' Assassin]
[Secret (Red - Warning): She has a poisoned needle in her hair ring. She intends to paralyze the target in 10 minutes and steal his kidney.]
Ye Feng's grip on the handlebars tightened. A Red Secret. That meant danger.
"This world..." Ye Feng muttered, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. "It's a slaughterhouse disguised as a civilization."
Before the System, he was blind. He would have bought the grass. He would have envied the businessman. Now, he saw the knives hidden in the shadows.
He didn't intervene. He wasn't a hero yet. He was just a guy with a delivery jacket and a lot of debt.
"Speaking of debt..."
Ye Feng checked the time. 8:30 PM.
The Blood Shark Gang usually came collecting around 9:00 PM on collection days. But something told him tonight would be different.
He twisted the throttle. The scooter whined, pushing its limits as he headed toward the "Old District"—the slums where the poor and the failed cultivators lived.
The Old District. Apartment Block 4.
The smell of sewage and boiled cabbage hung heavy in the air. The streetlights here had been broken for years, leaving the alleyways in pitch darkness.
As Ye Feng turned the corner toward his building, he saw a familiar black sedan parked illegally on the sidewalk.
"Blood Shark Gang," Ye Feng noted. "They're early."
He parked his scooter and walked toward the entrance. His senses, enhanced by the Stage 4 breakthrough, picked up voices echoing from the stairwell.
"Old woman! Stop crying! If Ye Feng isn't here, you pay for him! You're his emergency contact!"
Crash!
The sound of breaking ceramics.
Ye Feng's eyes narrowed into slits. That was Auntie Wang's apartment on the first floor. She was the landlady—a kind, elderly woman who often gave Ye Feng leftover dumplings when he was starving.
He stepped into the building.
The hallway was cramped. Three men were crowding Auntie Wang.
The leader was a hulking brute known as "Iron Head Li." He stood nearly two meters tall, his skin a dark, metallic bronze—the result of the Bronze Skin Art. He was a Stage 3 Body Refiner, famous for smashing bricks with his forehead.
"Please, Brother Li," Auntie Wang wept, clutching her bruised arm. "He's just a boy. He works hard. Give him two more days..."
"Two days?" Iron Head Li scoffed. He raised a hand, his palm glowing with faint bronze Qi. "I don't have two minutes. Boss needs cash for the auction tonight. If the money isn't here, I'm taking your teeth as a down payment!"
He swung his hand.
Auntie Wang squeezed her eyes shut.
Wham.
The sound of impact echoed. But there was no scream.
Auntie Wang slowly opened her eyes.
A hand—covered in grime and black soot, but steady as a mountain—had caught Iron Head Li's wrist in mid-air.
"Touching the elderly?" Ye Feng's voice was calm, but it carried a chill that dropped the temperature in the hallway. "You really are trash, Li."
Iron Head Li stared at the hand holding his wrist. He tried to pull back.
He couldn't move.
His eyes widened. He was a Stage 3 cultivator! His strength was over 800kg! How could this skinny delivery boy hold him like he was a toddler?
"Ye... Ye Feng?" Li blinked, looking at the dirty, smelly figure. "You smell like a sewer. Let go of me!"
"You want me to let go?" Ye Feng tilted his head.
He squeezed.
CRACK.
"ARGH!"
Iron Head Li screamed as the bones in his wrist ground together under terrifying pressure. Ye Feng shoved him backward. Li stumbled, clutching his wrist, his face twisting in pain and shock.
"You... you broke through?" Li gasped. "Stage 3?"
"Keep guessing," Ye Feng dusted off his hands.
"Kill him!" Li roared at his two subordinates. "Break his legs!"
The two thugs, both Stage 2, pulled out steel pipes and charged.
Ye Feng didn't even blink.
[Eye of Truth: Combat Mode.]
[Target: Thug A]
[Attack Trajectory: Overhead swing.]
[Weakness: Right knee is previous injury.]
[Target: Thug B]
[Attack Trajectory: Horizontal slash.]
[Weakness: Slow reaction time due to intoxication.]
It was like watching a video at 0.5x speed.
Ye Feng sidestepped Thug A's pipe casually. He lashed out with a low kick.
Snap.
"My leg!" Thug A collapsed, howling.
Thug B swung the pipe. Ye Feng didn't dodge. He punched the steel pipe directly.
CLANG!
The steel pipe bent into a 'V' shape. The force traveled up the thug's arm, dislocating his shoulder. He flew backward into the wall and slid down, unconscious.
Silence.
Absolute silence filled the hallway.
Iron Head Li stared at the bent steel pipe on the floor. His throat went dry.
"Punching through steel..." Li whispered, his face pale. "Stage 4... Copper Skin and Iron Bone?"
Ye Feng walked toward him slowly. The black impurities on his skin made him look like a demon crawling out of hell.
"Now," Ye Feng cornered Li against the stairs. "Let's talk about my debt. 80,000, right?"
"I... I..." Li trembled. "Brother Ye! Big Brother Ye! It was a misunderstanding! I can give you an extension! A week! No, a month!"
"No extension," Ye Feng said. He leaned in close.
[Target: Iron Head Li]
[Secret (Blue): He is currently wearing a fake Rolex he bought for 500 credits, claiming it cost 50,000. But the REAL secret is inside his jacket pocket. He just collected 40,000 credits from the 'Red Lotus' brothel, but he marked it as 'Unpaid' in the gang's ledger so he could pocket the cash.]
Ye Feng smiled. It was the smile of a wolf looking at a fat sheep.
"I don't need an extension, Li. Because you are going to pay it for me."
"What?" Li blinked.
"The 40,000 credits in your inner pocket," Ye Feng whispered. "From the Red Lotus. You told Boss Shark they didn't pay. That's embezzlement. Stealing from the Boss... isn't the punishment being skinned alive?"
Iron Head Li's knees gave out. He slid down the wall, staring at Ye Feng with pure horror.
"H-How... How do you know?"
"I know everything," Ye Feng's eyes flashed with a faint blue light. "Give it to me."
"If I give it to you... I can't replace it!"
"Do I look like I care?" Ye Feng grabbed Li by the collar. "Give me the money, mark my debt as 'Paid', and I won't tell Boss Shark. Or, I break your other hand, drag you to the Boss, and tell him myself."
Li looked into Ye Feng's eyes. He saw the abyss.
"Here! Take it!"
Li frantically ripped out the stack of cash. "40,000! Take it!"
"And the debt?"
Li pulled out his phone, his fingers shaking so hard he dropped it once. He tapped the screen.
"Cleared! Look! Ye Feng: 0 Balance!"
Ye Feng checked the screen. It was verified.
"Good." Ye Feng took the cash.
[Ding!]
[Secret Exploited. Reward: +10,000 Credits (System Funds) + Small Healing Potion.]
Ye Feng released Li.
"Get out. And if you come back here to bother Auntie Wang..." Ye Feng crushed a chunk of loose concrete from the wall into dust with one hand. "You understand?"
"Yes! Yes! I'm leaving!"
Iron Head Li scrambled up, kicked his groaning subordinate awake, and fled the building like his pants were on fire.
Ye Feng watched them leave, then turned to Auntie Wang. She was staring at him as if he were a stranger.
"Feng'er..." she whispered. "You..."
Ye Feng's expression softened. He peeled off 5,000 credits from the stack and pressed it into her hand.
"Sorry for the mess, Auntie. Buy some medicine for your arm."
"I can't take this!"
"Take it. Consider it rent in advance."
Ye Feng didn't let her refuse. He turned and walked up the stairs to his room.
He locked the door, leaned against it, and slid down to the floor. His heart was pounding.
He had done it.
He had fought back.
He looked at the cash in his hand, then at the dirty, peeling walls of his room.
"This is just the start," Ye Feng said to the empty room. "Stage 4 is strong here, but in the city center, it's nothing."
He needed more. More secrets. More rewards.
"System," he commanded. "What's the next closest opportunity?"
[Scanning...]
[Target Found: River City University Auction House (Tomorrow Morning).]
[Opportunity (Gold): An item listed as 'Damaged Scrap Metal' is actually a fragment of the Ancient Star-Sword. Required Bid: Approx 50,000 Credits.]
Ye Feng counted his money. Between the cash from Li and the System Reward, he had exactly 50,000.
"Looks like I'm going to school tomorrow," Ye Feng grinned.
He stood up and walked to the tiny, rusted bathroom.
"But first... I really need to wash this black sludge off."