Chapter 1 The Neighborhood Bullies

On a fine and sunny morning, two young figures appeared on the streets of the community.

One of them was wearing a blue short-sleeved t-shirt, his brown hair permed into small waves; the other was in a black and blue sports suit, his brown hair combed diagonally.

They were E.J. and Derek, both twelve years old this year, and what we commonly call school bullies.

The two boys' usual hobby was picking on other students. Whether you were short, ugly, acted strangely, or were overweight, or... simply a grade or two below them, that could be a reason for them to bully you.

Of course, their behavior didn't reach the point of being universally condemned; it was just some bullying of the prank variety... like tripping you, throwing your snacks on the ground, saying some trash talk, or knocking off your hat, etc.

On this day, E.J. and Derek teamed up early in the morning and wandered aimlessly around the community.

Like most American kids living in the eighties, in that era when the internet was far from widespread, "going out to find friends to play with" was their most common choice of entertainment.

"Hey, look, isn't that Horace walking across the street?"

"Yeah, that fatty's eating a Snickers again."

"How about we go mess with him?"

"Sounds good to me."

The two hit it off, and immediately strode forward, blocking Horace's path.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show." E.J. stood in front of Horace, raised his right hand, pretended he was holding a microphone, and said in the tone of a radio host, "Tonight's question is—what makes Fatty so fat." He looked at Horace and added maliciously, "Fatty, what do you think?"

"Get lost, E.J...." Horace replied unhappily.

"Hmm... 'Get lost, E.J.'..." E.J. put on a thoughtful look, repeated the other party's words, and then said, "...No, that's not a good answer, it doesn't make any sense at all..." As he spoke, he handed the imaginary "microphone" to Derek and added, "Let's hand the microphone over to street reporter Derek and hear his thoughts."

"Hello, everyone, I'm Derek." Derek also cooperated by taking the "microphone," and said to Horace with a look of mockery, "I'm currently located on a street blocked by the existence of Fatty." His sarcasm wasn't clever, but it was quite mean, "Hey! Fatty." He suddenly raised his voice to Horace, "Can you stop eating?"

As he said this, E.J. had already reached out and knocked the Snickers out of Horace's hand, and then ground it hard with the sole of his shoe.

"Listen, I have some problems with my glandular secretions, okay?" Although Horace looked honest and timid, he didn't succumb to these two bad boys, but retorted, "At least I'm not like some people... who aren't very bright."

"What did you say? Moron?" E.J. raised his voice immediately when he heard this, pushed Horace, and repeated, "Say that again!"

"I'm not called Moron, my name is Horace!" Horace replied honestly.

"Heh... whore...ass..." Derek immediately sneered and deliberately mispronounced the other party's name.

E.J. then grabbed the comic book that Horace was holding in his other hand, tore it in two, and threw it on the ground.

"Oh~ Oops, I accidentally tore it." After doing all this, E.J. also pretended to cover his face with one hand and said, "Perhaps this is because I'm not very bright."

Horace looked down at the Snickers and the comic book on the ground, and muttered something aggrievedly.

Although he said it very softly, he was still heard by the other party.

"What did you say? Moron!" E.J.'s line was exactly the same as before. Usually, these school bullies aren't very bright, so their vocabulary is also very limited, "Say it again if you dare!"

Horace was indeed quite brave. The honest fatty plucked up his courage and repeated what he had just muttered in a volume that the other party could hear clearly: "I said—you two are jerks."

Before he could finish speaking, E.J. pushed Horace and lunged forward, pressing him to the ground.

Then, he straddled Horace's stomach, using his height and size to suppress the little fatty, and then gave him a flurry of punches to the face.

Horace's reaction was the same as that of all children who weren't good at fighting. After falling into a disadvantage, he used his hands to protect the parts being hit and instinctively closed his eyes.

In fact, E.J.'s fighting style wasn't clever, and he didn't use much force when he punched. Even if you didn't block those punches, they wouldn't break the skin or leave bruises. After all, this was just a children's fight. In their minds, there was no intention to hurt anyone; they just wanted to hit the other person a few times and make them beg for mercy.

"Let go of that child!"

However, at this moment, a sharp shout came, interrupting the bullying.

The "sharpness" of this "sharp shout"... was mainly in the tone, but the speaker's voice didn't sound intimidating at all; it could even be said to be cute...

"Huh?" E.J., who was straddling Horace, and Derek, who was standing beside him cheering him on, both looked up at the small figure five or six meters away.

This was a little boy wearing a full set of mini assassin's clothes. The attire was very delicate, with gold-embroidered edges on the hood and details on the clothes. The bracers on his wrists, the leather boxes on his torso and waist used to hold various props, the flying knife belts, the waistbands, etc., were all complete. Even though these children of the eighties had never seen or heard the term "Assassin's Creed," the coolness of this outfit itself was enough to make people feel awed.

"What? You want to meddle in other people's business? Robin Hood." Derek stared at Wang Tanzhi for a few seconds, then replied in a provocative tone, and also ridiculed Xiao Tan's appearance.

Because he was three years younger than the other party, Xiao Tan's size was significantly different from that of E.J. and Derek, so the latter wasn't afraid of him at all.

"Why don't you go find someone your own size or bigger to fight?" Xiao Tan asked a silly question.

As everyone knows, bullying the weak and fearing the strong is the iron rule of the delinquent world. If they don't have an advantage in numbers or size, they usually won't take the initiative to attack.

"Hey, you want to be a hero, kid." E.J. stood up from Horace and approached Xiao Tan with Derek, "I advise you to save it. I don't want to see you crying and going home to tell your mom in a while."

"Same to you..." Xiao Tan didn't back down, standing tall (although he was only one meter three), and assumed an attitude of being ready to fight at any time.

No matter what, he was an adult. Even without the skills and items in the game, just with an adult's mind and experience, he could knock those two kids down even with the disadvantage in size.

"Watch me beat you flat!" Derek and E.J. rushed up together and used the basic routine of children's fights again—first push them down.

This fighting mode was also a habit they had developed from years of fighting with children who were physically inferior to them. Those children usually couldn't find a way to get out after being suppressed by their weight, so they would be unilaterally beaten.

But... Xiao Tan wasn't going to give the other party this chance.

Faced with the two boys who were nearly a head taller than him and were rushing side by side, he decisively supported himself with one hand and came up with a side kick to the lower three lanes. In the blink of an eye, the soles of his two little feet accurately hit the knees of those two.

The next second, E.J. and Derek both screamed miserably, clutching their left and right knees respectively and falling to the ground, then rolling around on the ground with painful expressions.

"Ah... after all, they're just kids, this level is enough to solve them." Xiao Tan thought in his heart as he readjusted his posture, "But these two guys are too exaggerated... I hardly used any force..."

Just as he was thinking, the two of them had indeed stood up from the ground, but after they got up, they immediately chose to limp in the opposite direction...

"Damn it! You just wait!"

"Haa... haa... wait for me..."

After the two of them had fled dozens of meters away in a sorry state, Xiao Tan walked to Horace and asked, "Are you okay, kid... uh... buddy." He almost blurted out the word "kid."

"I'm okay, thank you." Horace patted the dust off his body and asked with an excited expression, "I say... you're really amazing, you can actually do that kind of move, what is that? Chinese Kung Fu?"

"Um... sort of." Xiao Tan smiled awkwardly and replied casually.

Unexpectedly, Horace became even more excited: "Oh! That's so cool." He paused for half a second and added, "Um... my name is Horace, what's your name?"

"Wang Tanzhi." Xiao Tan directly said his game nickname. According to his experience, the system would usually handle the cultural differences in terms of address.

"Oh, Wang, nice to meet you." Sure enough, Horace's reaction seemed perfectly natural.

"Nice to meet you too, Horace." Xiao Tan replied. The conversation had progressed to this point, and Xiao Tan actually wanted to find an opportunity to leave. Although it was important to be a hero, he still had a mission to complete.

"Ah! Right!" But suddenly, Horace seemed to have thought of something. He widened his eyes and said, "Wang, are you interested in joining our club?"

"Club?" Xiao Tan was puzzled for half a second and asked, "What club?"

Horace didn't answer his question immediately, but instead asked, "Do you have time now? I'll take you to meet some people."

…………

At the same time, in the same community, on another street.

"Yo~ isn't this Brother Seven Kills?" Feng Bujue, riding on his small bicycle, supported himself with one foot on the ground, while looking at the person blocking his way and quickly eating the toast in his mouth.

The reason why Jue-Ge and Seven Kills could recognize each other definitely wasn't because they had known each other since childhood. The two mainly relied on clothing to judge who the other was. After the clothes matched up, looking at the face again would naturally reveal some similarities with the adult version.

"That's right, it's me." Seven Kills replied with a smile on his face.

"You're... out walking the dog?" Feng Bujue glanced at the big dog that the other party was leading and asked with a smile.

"Then you're... out practicing your driving?" Seven Kills also glanced at the mount under Jue-Ge's crotch and returned the remark.

"Hehe... you wait, I'll lock my bike first." Feng Bujue replied with a fake smile.

"Hehe... you wait too, I'll tie up my dog first." Seven Kills also replied with a fake smile.

The two of them respectively took care of their own business next to a large tree and a fence on the side of the road, and then returned to the pedestrian path on the side of the street.

"I didn't expect to be able to fight you so soon." After standing still, Seven Kills took the lead in speaking.

"Yeah~ life is full of surprises." Feng Bujue replied.

"Perhaps... our duel in front of us will directly determine the outcome of the entire match." Seven Kills said again.

"That's not necessarily..." Feng Bujue said, "Our teammates aren't weak either... are they?"

"Hmph... that's true." Seven Kills smiled and already adopted a fighting stance.

Feng Bujue also turned sideways to face the enemy, ready to respond.

The two of them... confronted each other in silence for nearly a minute. During this period, a total of one postman, two morning runners, a patrolling police car, nine passersby, and three other bear children accompanied by their parents walked past them or across the street.

Basically... no one kept their eyes on them for more than five seconds.

"Ya—"

"Ah—"

Suddenly, the two of them simultaneously let out a long howl in their respective childlike voices, and then their bodies followed their voices and charged out.

Pa pa pa pa...

Immediately afterwards, they used their child-sized bodies to perform various gorgeous fighting moves, and展开了激烈的攻防战 on the street.

Although Jue-Ge and Seven Kills didn't mean to hold back, their strength and speed... had all been reduced to a very, very low level. To the point where the scene of this fight was incredibly... cute.

There was no collision of force against force, no energy that tore through the air, and no speed that was dizzying. There were only two agile elementary school students exchanging blows on the street.

After only fighting for a dozen seconds, Feng Bujue realized a problem, and he even said it directly during the fight: "I'll go... this isn't right! After both sides' physical qualities have decreased, a guy like you who can use combat skills has a great advantage!"

"You can't blame me for that." Seven Kills replied, "Everyone's bodies have shrunk, that's fair. It's your own problem that you don't know combat skills."

"Tch..." Feng Bujue spat unhappily, "Then let's decide the victory or defeat based on skills!" After saying that, he activated...