On the bloodied ground, three figures stood frozen in the clearing as inevitability unfolded before them; one body collapsing in a graceless sprawl, another convulsing through its final breaths.

  "Jia Tian!"

  "Jia Tian!"

  They shouted simultaneously.

  The enemies faltered; their composure shattered by the sudden, brutal loss. That momentary hesitation was all Lu Er needed. It gave a precious window to discard the wooden board and retrieve his weapons.

  ‘Interesting,’ he mused, sidestepping a vicious sword slash. ‘That got a reaction.’

  Both adversaries had now somewhat regained their footing.

  Somewhat, because Lu Er could see the truth flickering in their eyes. It was fear. Fear of failure. Not because a companion had fallen, because the man facing them was a Ranked.

  'It seems none of these Unawakened are repulsed by death or inhumane acts. Is it because they're descendants of the evolved? Have they lost those sensibilities after generations of evolution?' He deflected an upward cut, his body flowing around a follow-up kick with practiced ease.

  'Mm, that seems likely. Wait—the instructor also mentioned that bloodline quality affects awakening. If ruthlessness is a basic requirement for these games, that explains it.' He blocked a sword with his cudgel, used the dagger in a feint, then swung the cudgel up to parry another overhead strike.

  ‘If I take Xia Sahui's case, she has an optimal bloodline. That explains her… instability. And my four friends who murdered me without a second thought.’

  ‘It makes sense. I should ask her about it.’

  He moved almost leisurely between their attacks, a dancer in a storm of steel.

  'Sigh, I can't leave clues, these kids will remember me even if I kill them. And I still need to deal with Ni Bai and the others— they saw me using 21st-century mixed martial arts combat style.

  So much work to do…

  Let's just finish this.'

  His demeanor shifted instantly, from passive evasion to aggressive domination.

  He deflected the swordswoman's blade with a sharp clang, dagger slashing low. She pivoted away, but the real trap had already sprung. Lu Er released his cudgel, his now-free hand balling into a fist that connected with her jaw in a wet thock of bone and meat.

  “Guh—!” She stumbled, vision swimming.

  He didn't pause.

  The dagger flew to his right hand; his left snatched the falling cudgel mid-air like a clown juggling weapons. He became a whirlwind of motion; a spinning cudgel caught the swordsman—who had been closing in from behind—squarely in the torso.

  Crack.

  The sound of ribs threatening to splinter. The force hurled the man diagonally backwards, but Lu Er was already moving with the rotation, his blade trailing crimson, closing the distance as it sought the swordsman's neck.

  A killing slash aimed for the neck. The swordsman raised his blade to block, but Lu Er altered the dagger’s trajectory at the last instant, carving a deep, crimson seam across the swordsman's abdomen.

  “Guh—!”

  A choked cry escaped as blood sprayed from the newly opened wound.

  The swordswoman's blade sliced horizontally through the space where Lu Er's head had been. He ducked beneath it, stepping into her guard so close he could smell the fear-sweat-blood beneath her mask. Her left hand shoved at his chest while her right brought the sword back for a thrust.

  He blocked the sword with the cudgel, then released both his weapons.

  His left hand caught her sword-wrist. His right hammered into her chin with a sharp crack. The momentum carried his fist past her face, but he arrested the motion, folding the same arm into a devastating elbow strike that crushed her nose and orbital bone.

  Thud. Crack.

  It was too fast. Too brutal. She collapsed, consciousness extinguished.

  Behind him, the wounded swordsman's desperate charge whispered through the air.

  He heard movement—the wounded swordsman stirring. He decided to tank the attack to appear weaker.

  ‘Time to sell a weakness.’

  So, he spun… mistakenly… the wrong way...

  A kick came;

  Low and weak

  Thok.

  “Guh.”

  He staggered backward.

  He'd been hit.

  In the groin.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Silence swallowed the battlefield, devouring the cacophony of clashing steel and desperate grunts. All that remained was the ragged breathing of two men locked in a moment of perfect understanding.

  Lu Er straightened slowly. His eyes, bloodshot and merciless, found the swordsman. His face contorted into something feral—lower lip vanishing between his teeth, jaw clenched until the muscles stood out like cables. No words were needed.

  The swordsman, still bleeding, met his gaze.

  What he saw froze the blood in his veins. Bleeding from his gut, he felt ice cascade through his body. Every instinct screamed flee. He chose wisdom over honor.

  His retreat began slowly, then became a sprint. Booted feet pounded the dirt path.

  He ran.

  But Lu Er wasn't going to let him go.

  A minute of desperate flight led the swordsman into a dilapidated house. He scrambled to a corner, pulling a hidden bag from the debris. His trembling hands pulled out a faintly glowing sphere—

  A hand closed over his wrist, cold and unyielding.

  “WHAT,” Lu Er’s voice was a low, dangerous rasp, “ARE YOU DOING?”

  The man turned. Lu Er’s face was dark, eyes bulging, cheeks etched with deep lines from gritted teeth. Before the swordsman could react, a fist exploded against his mouth.

  “Waah—"

  Bam!

  "You absolute fuckwit."

  “Do you not know basic human decency?”

  A torrent of punches rained down in an unleashed fury.

  “Fuck! You deserve head stomps! Head kicks!” Lu Er surged to his feet, his boots rising and falling, rising and falling.

  Thwack!

  Thok!

  “Haha! Die, motherfucker!!!”

  …

  [Ding…]

  A chime rang in his mind as the corpse converted into a wooden box.

  "Idiot! Doesn't even know the rules of a fight."

  He straightened, nostrils flaring wide, then contracting as the stench hit him; copper and bile and voided bowels. The swordsman's corpse had already disappeared but the blood and matter didn’t.

  He tapped his own forehead lightly.

  ‘Okay. Maybe I overdid it. But hey, it’s not like they’re dying for real. And I made sure he was unconscious first.’

  Consoling himself, Lu Er emerged from the house. The swordswoman still lay where she fell. He retrieved his dagger, and approached.

  Just as the blade reached her throat, he stopped.

  'Hmm. Maybe I should check her face first, just in case.'

  She was strikingly… not pretty. Worse, even her delicate features were now marred by blood and bruising. Even without them she looked like an average girl with pimples.

  ‘Ok, that confirms it, that—whenever you get transmigrated, all the girls around you are goddess like beautiful for some reason—trope is completely false. Those novels completely lied about it.

  …No wait, she is not an awakened, that means she will also become beautiful after awakening! Whoaaa, I am a genius.’

  At that moment, he felt a signal from Lu Yi.

  ‘Hmm, your call then.’ Lu Er replied before quickly sitting down to switch with Lu Yi into the Unseen Shroud Void Body.

  After switching, Lu Yi looked at the unconscious girl, then carefully wiped the blood from her cheek with a surprisingly gentle thumb.

  “Congratulations, pretty girl,” he murmured, a strange softness in his tone. “It looks like it’s still not your time to go.”

  If he had a mouth, there would be a devious grin on his face when he said that.

  …

  Xia Sahui’s eyebrow twitched. Her eyes fluttered open.

  A wooden ceiling, rough-hewn and smoke-stained, swam into view. She jolted upright, the world tilting. Nausea and dizziness washed over her in a wave. She was on a bed in an unfamiliar room.

  “Huh? Where… How…”

  Her memory rushed back—the overuse of her Gift, the draining exhaustion. ‘Father warned me, to not use it carelessly…’

  Her gaze swept the room, landing on Lu Er dozing in a corner, head lolled against the wall.

  “Oh. You’re awake…” he mumbled, wiping a trail of drool and unleashing a cavernous yawn.

  “This isn’t where we were.”

  “Yeah. Definitely not.”

  She looked outside. The light was the deep gold of late evening. “We were delayed by the ambush. You made it this fast, carrying me?”

  “Hell no. It’s been two full days. The fight happened the day before yesterday.”

  “What?!” She shot to her feet, the room spinning. “I was asleep for two whole days?!”

  “Yeah. And you’ve burned through our time. So, I’d prefer it if you explained your thinking.” He leveled a steady gaze at her. “I still don’t understand what could possibly compel you to come here, on this specific route, which the monster is also following.”

  "What do you mean? Wait, what happened with the fight?"

  “Oh, so you finally remember?” He sighed, the picture of weary exasperation. “Nothing much. I killed the swordsman, but the monster interrupted. I had to run, tail between my legs, carrying you. Thankfully, it seemed more interested in the swordswoman. I barely threw it off. Didn’t even get to loot the kill boxes.”

  He studied her for a few moments.

  “Honestly, if I hadn’t been hauling your unconscious ass around, I’d suspect you were working with the monster to bait me here.” He delivered the line with a sidelong glance.

  She met his gaze, her own sharpening. "And? Am I supposed to believe everything you say? Maybe you're working with the monster. Or maybe you're just lying." Her eyes narrowed to slits.

  “Hey, I’m not accusing. Why would any human work with a half monster like that? I was just stating facts. What are the odds the monster follows our exact path, arrives here, and is now hunting Unawakened in this zone?”

  “Speak clearly. What do you mean?”

  “I mean, just as you expected, there’s a Temple here. That’s why so many Unawakened have gathered—to claim it. They’re forming teams, even though only one person gets the points. Now the monster’s here, fights broke out last two nights and this’ll continue to happen every night. We’re stuck in the middle of it.” He gestured vaguely. “Just look at the survivor count.”

  She summoned her map interface. The numbers glared back:

  [312/500]

  "More than a hundred dead already?"

  The map now highlighted two new locations with heavy markers—Temples. One south of the central region. The other right where they stood.

  “And that’s not the worst part,” Lu Er continued, his voice dropping. “The worst part is that someone has already claimed this temple—”

  “Which means they got a temple skill. One that can be used inside the temple,” she concluded, her expression troubled.

  “Yeah. And followers. Not all Unawakened are against him. Some are fighting for him.”

  “Why would they—?”

  “Keep looking at the map.”

  Her eyes darted across the glowing display. “Are they… moving?”

  “Yes. I’ve been thinking. The fragment said dying with a Temple grants points, but only the top fifty get an awakening chance. That’s a contradiction if the Temple is destroyed before the top fifty are set. Now it makes sense. It’s an indestructible fortress. The only way to take it is through the front door. And since the other Unawakened can enter it too, it’s become a rallying point. A Sanctuary. A guaranteed ticket into the top fifty if you’re inside.”

  “How do you know all this?” Confusion etched her features.

  “Well, while you were playing Sleeping Jade Beauty, I used an ancient technique called gathering intelligence. I moved around, listened. It’s not confidential. People are spreading the info to recruit allies.”

  “Are you talking to me like this…” she said, rising and beginning a series of slow, deliberate stretches, “…because you think you’re my equal? Because you’re also a Ranked?”

  He let out a short, humorless laugh. “First of all, we are in an alliance, so yes, we are equal and second, you forced my hand. So why are you talking as if I’m in the wrong?”

  “Oh, quite the tongue you have. Watch it, or you might lose it, clever boy.” She arched her back, arms reaching high, and let out a soft, satisfied sigh.

  “Ah, now that I remember. The current guardian of the temple… What was his name? Right! Hua Yong.” Lu Er spoke causing her stretching to freeze mid-motion.

  “Hmm. I should go to him,” He mused, watching her reaction closely. “I think he’d definitely accept a Ranked under his command. Probably protect a subordinate from assassination, too. Don’t you think?”

  She resumed her stretches, a cold smile touching her lips. “Heh. You can go kneel to him if you want. But I assure you, you’ll be treated far worse than you are with me. You’ll be a slave—or lower—simply because you’re not from a major family.”

  “Are we being serious now?” He leaned forward. “Let’s address the facts. You need me. Or rather, you need strong people under you. Not just for this game, but for your future position in the clan. Don’t twist it. I know you would have stopped that last fight if those three had been strong enough to be of use to you.”

  “Haha, do you really think—”

  “Don’t laugh.” His voice was flat, final. “If you keep trying to play me, I might join him just to prove you wrong.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment, then her shoulders relaxed in a semblance of surrender. “Alright, fine. You’re a real handful, you know that?”

  “That’s fine.”

  “So, let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “To this… opposing group.” She straightened, her demeanor shifting to an heir of a major family once more. “As a scion of the Xia, it’s my duty to lead them, is it not?”