Lower Lungmen, Hall of Righteousness.
Blue smoke curled upward.
Candlelight flickered, bright and dim by turns, casting a warm glow over the gilded red face of Lord Wenheng enshrined on the altar.
A crescent blade hung slanted at his waist, its tassel a strip of red silk polished glossy from years of handling.
He stood there with a powerful presence; just looking at him, one could feel a surge of brotherly righteousness rushing straight at the heart.
The offering table had been arranged neatly.
A roasted suckling pig gleamed with oil, its skin roasted golden and glazed with a honeyed sheen.
Bundles of incense rested beside the porcelain burner, smoke wrapping the whole room in a thick jianghu atmosphere.
“Kazuma, you’ve been with me for the shortest time, so your background is the cleanest.
You’re the one I trust most at my side.”
Wenli, the boss, patted the shoulder of his newly recruited underling.
His tone was sincere, his eyes full of approval, and the fox tail behind him swayed gently.
“Right now, the gang urgently needs a little brother to get close to the Rat King.
As long as you infiltrate his side, earn his trust, and help us take him out, we’ll grow bigger, stronger, and create glory!”
The young man thumped his chest and promised, “Boss, leave it to me.
If you hadn’t given me a bite to eat, I’d have starved to death long ago.
It’s just Lin, isn’t it?
In my eyes, he’s nothing but dry bones in a tomb.
The future boss of Lungmen’s slums will definitely be you.”
“Hahahaha!
Kid, you sure know how to talk.
You’re bold, too.
The future boss of the gang will surely be you!”
The grand future Wenli painted for him made the young man let out a satisfied burp.
“I, Kazuma, swear before Lord Wenheng today: from this moment on, if I ever betray you, Boss, may I be cut with three blades and pierced through six holes, and may I die a terrible death.”
Wenli’s gaze grew even more approving.
Just then, a commotion came from outside the door.
Wenli grew impatient.
He cursed a couple of “damn street punks” under his breath, but before he could open the door, it was kicked open by a boot.
A blue-haired Lung woman barged in with an icy scowl and a face like she was about to drag someone’s mother away.
In a loud voice, she barked, “Xu Wenli!
We received a report from a public-spirited citizen!
You are guilty of tax evasion, organizing criminal forces to disrupt public order, and even trafficking people.
Your crimes are unforgivable.
In the name of the Lungmen Guard Department, you are under arrest!”
“Who?
Who doesn’t know I’m one of Lungmen’s most public-spirited good citizens?
This is slander!”
Wenli glared toward the courtyard, only to see his underlings lying all over the ground.
Standing in the yard was a green-haired Oni woman, holding a triangular oni-mask shield.
She waved at him.
A dangerous glint appeared in Wenli’s sinister eyes.
One hand quietly reached for the weapon at his lower back.
He was ready to fight until the net tore and the fish died.
Pfft.
A pain stabbed into his lower back.
Wenli turned around in disbelief, only to see the cannon fodder he had recruited smiling at him with a gentle, friendly expression.
“Boss, that’s right.
I’m the one who sold you out.
I called the cops.
I’m the true five-star good citizen of Lungmen.”
“You… you…”
“Boss, don’t get mad.”
“You swore before Lord Wenheng!”
“The one who swore was Kazuma.
What does that have to do with me, Yunyan?
Also, I believe in the Emperor.
Every day, I praise the Emperor!”
The young man said it with complete indifference.
“Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Yunyan.
Nineteen years old.
I’ve been in Lungmen for two months.
Please take care of me.”
Yunyan, nineteen years old, was a transmigrator.
He had been hit by a vehicle twice.
Once by a dump truck.
The second time, also by a dump truck.
The two impacts were separated by only 2.5 seconds, so fast no one could react.
Because he had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, the driver at the time had been so frightened he nearly went looking for a time machine.
Even now, Yunyan still remembered the terrified expression on that driver’s face.
Thankfully, his luck had been good.
The moment he transmigrated, he obtained a cheat.
Without even knowing it, he successfully picked his life back up.
As a transmigrator, Yunyan’s cheat had arrived with perfect timing.
It was simple and direct.
Every month, it refreshed a character template.
While possessing that template, he gained all of that character’s abilities, his physique would be raised to the same level, and he would obtain that character’s abilities, weapons, and combat techniques.
He would also receive a character mission.
If he completed the mission, he would permanently retain that character template.
His physique and abilities could then stack, and they would not conflict with one another.
If he failed to complete it, he would be unable to permanently retain the character template, meaning he would lose the physique enhancement and abilities.
However, as long as he completed the character mission later, he could obtain the template permanently and regain the physique enhancement, abilities, combat techniques, and weapons.
According to the system, a new character template would refresh every month, but the templates were random.
Aside from that, he had also obtained a four-dimensional pocket used to store character weapons and his own belongings.
At present, he had received the enhancements of two character templates.
As for how the system judged whether a mission was complete… that part was a little vague.
For example, Yunyan’s first character template had been Ash from Pokémon.
The character mission was “Become a Pokémon Master.” But after spending 300 Lungmen dollars to have someone custom-make a Pokémon World Championships trophy according to his requirements, the system notified him that the mission had been completed.
After that, he permanently retained Ash’s character template.
Then, when the second month arrived, a new character template refreshed.
Under the influence of his current character template, his luck this month had been quite good.
If someone asked why…
Character: Kazuma Satou, also known as Kazutrash
Abilities: Steal, Snipe, Drain Touch, Basic Magic, Enemy Detection, Lurk, Bind, Farsight, Lip Reading, Smithing, Magic Item Crafting, Cooking…
Character Mission: Defeat the Demon King in battle.
The skill list was long.
If combined properly, the abilities could produce plenty of miraculous effects.
The downside was that Kazuma himself had very little mana.
But Drain Touch and Yunyan’s own powerful physique could compensate for that to some degree.
Of course, none of that was the most important part.
The most important part was Kazuma’s overwhelming luck.
It was luck second only to Goddess Chris.
Against men, Steal could steal whatever he wanted.
Against women, most of the time it stole panties.
Permanent Character: Ash, Super Pallet Town Rookie
Abilities: Agility, Aura Sphere, Bullet Seed, Healing Roar, Dodge It!
It was precisely thanks to Ash’s superhuman Pallet Town physique that Yunyan had not been killed by the dump truck.
Instead, his clothes had merely gotten a little dirty, and he had been able to pat his butt and stand right back up.
After transmigrating to Lungmen and becoming an undocumented person, he could only live in Lungmen’s slums and join a gang.
The first gang he joined had secretly been selling banned hallucinogenic drugs behind the Rat King’s back.
Yunyan couldn’t stand it, so he reported them directly and received a bounty of 100,000 Lungmen dollars.
Then he joined a second gang.
That one wasn’t clean either.
Smuggling by itself was one thing, but they were smuggling arms.
Once again, he couldn’t stand it, reported them, and received another 200,000 as a reward.
This was the third gang.
The difference was that this job had come as a commission from Graytail.
In addition to the Guard Department’s bounty, he would receive 100,000 Lungmen dollars once the job was done.
“You damned traitorous bastard!”
Wenli cursed furiously.
Across from him, Ch’en Hui-chieh struck him unconscious with the sheath of her sword.
“Yunyan, you did well,” she said.
“I’ll apply for your reward once I’m back.”
“Then thanks.
Help me collect it.
Give it to me when you have time.”
This was his third time working with Ch’en Hui-chieh.
She was an old customer, so he trusted her.
After speaking, he walked out of the room.
“Oni sis, I buried the evidence under the tree in the corner of the wall.
You can just dig it up.
There are account books and other incriminating evidence inside.
Enough to get them beheaded.”
At the end of the day, Yan was a feudal society wearing modern skin.
Punishments like beheading still existed.
If someone jumped around too much, the iron fist of feudalism would come smashing down.
“Good.
Thank you for your hard work.”
Yunyan left leisurely.
After finding a quiet spot, he took out the terminal he had recently bought and contacted a number.
“Miss Lin, I’ve completed your commission.
Please settle the payment.”
The other side answered with an “okay” and said it would be transferred to him later.
As the daughter of the Rat King, Lin Yühsia was not someone Yunyan feared would renege on a debt.
He hung up the call.
“Speaking of which, Kazuma’s template should be ending soon, right?”
If the mission wasn’t completed, then once the time was up, he couldn’t use it anymore unless he completed the task.
Although he had tried to get someone to play the Demon King and be defeated by him, the system had not judged that as valid.
If he wanted to challenge a real Demon King, he would have to make a trip to Kazdel.
Yunyan had no such intention for the time being.
Go fight a Sarkaz war hero who had lived for at least two hundred years?
He might as well wait for Amiya to become the Demon King.
When the time came, he could join Rhodes Island as a logistics worker, then defeat Amiya right after she received the Demon King’s inheritance.
Sure, it would be bullying a child, but no matter what, the other party would still be a Demon King.
A Hero challenging a Demon King didn’t care whether the opponent was an adult or a kid.
If he made her cry, he would just buy her candy afterward.
Counting the time, after tonight, a new character template should refresh.
Ding!
You have joined a chat group.
Hm?
Yunyan stopped in his tracks, his expression turning strange.
Was Kazuma’s overwhelming luck a bit too absurd?
One thing had come, and now another had followed?
I heard the echo of overwhelming luck!