Sacrifice Oneself for Righteousness

A Martial Arts Tournament?

At the sound of those words, Du Ge's eyes lit up, and even the gloom of his miserable start faded a little.

No man could resist a martial arts world.

Of course, the Martial Arts Tournament was only six months away. Without some fortuitous encounter, there was little hope of learning martial arts in time. But this was a game Simulation Field; surely it wouldn't be that harsh on the players.

You couldn't experience a game this immersive back on Earth. Besides, he had a cheat.

Since he was already here,

he might as well see what a martial arts world was like.

Du Ge had been keeping an eye on Feng Jiu.

In no time at all, Feng Jiu had eaten half the straw mat, and the swelling around his eyes had visibly gone down. The effect was immediate.

If Taotie helped heal injuries, then his own two keywords had to be useful too.

Feng Jiu had said he would help treat Du Ge's wounds once he recovered, but Du Ge wasn't about to put his life in someone else's hands. Besides, Feng Jiu had been threatening and using him at every turn, so he couldn't afford to let his guard down.

Backstab had no conditions to trigger yet, so Du Ge turned his attention to "maintenance."

Maintenance: to uphold and protect; to protect, preserve, and shelter through words and actions...

After carefully considering the meaning of maintenance, Du Ge struggled to shift his body, exposing the reed mat underneath him. "Ninth Brother, is your mat enough to eat? If it isn't, I've got some here. You can have it all."

Cough!

Feng Jiu had already been struggling to chew the straw mat dry, and Du Ge's sudden offer made him choke. The mouthful of straw caught in his throat, neither coming up nor going down.

He frantically pounded his chest with the hand he'd been using to tear at the mat. At last, he managed to cough the straw out.

When he recovered, Feng Jiu gasped for breath and glared furiously at Du Ge. "Are you doing this on purpose, you bastard? It's just a lousy straw mat. You think I need you to give me yours?"

A warm current rose from deep inside Du Ge, and the pain throughout his body eased considerably. His eyes brightened. It actually worked!

This realistic feeling...

Was this the power of a keyword?

He loved it!

What was Taotie compared to Maintenance?

Feng Jiu had to chew on a straw mat, while all Du Ge had to do was say a few words...

Looking at the furious experience pack across from him, Du Ge struck while the iron was hot and comforted him. "Ninth Brother, don't be angry. You know how bad things are for us right now. One of us has to recover first if we're going to have any chance of making it. Your Taotie is easy to develop, so you have a better chance than I do. I can't move, and there's nothing else to eat in this room besides this straw mat. Even if I have to sleep on the cold brick bed, I still want you to get better first, Ninth Brother!"

Feng Jiu looked at Du Ge, deep in thought.

Another warm current rose, and Du Ge's injuries improved further.

He was secretly pleased. So offering up a lousy straw mat counted as maintaining their shared interests. That was how you used a keyword! He really was a genius.

This game was interesting!

With the pain easing, Du Ge struggled to sit up. He looked at Feng Jiu's astonished expression and thought for a moment, then decided to go all in. "Ninth Brother, you'll recover too slowly if you only eat straw mats. Why not drink some of my blood? Blood's more nutritious than straw. You'll definitely recover faster..."

"Fuck..." Feng Jiu's eyes bulged.

Before Feng Jiu could finish speaking,

Du Ge's strength returned a little more. He struggled down from the bed, grabbed the porcelain bowl beside it, and slammed it against the table. The bowl shattered into shards.

Seeing Du Ge holding a shard, Feng Jiu's expression changed dramatically. He scrambled toward the corner and asked in alarm, "What are you doing? Brother, I'll call you big brother! Don't do anything rash. We can talk this out..."

If you weren't ruthless, you wouldn't make it.

Besides, it wasn't even his body.

Du Ge looked at Feng Jiu, gritted his teeth, and slashed his palm. Blood dripped down from the cut.

Enduring the pain, Du Ge shuffled over to Feng Jiu, one step at a time. As Feng Jiu stared at him in shock, Du Ge held his palm out to his mouth. "Come on, Ninth Brother. Open up. I'm support, you're the main force. As long as you recover, this little sacrifice of mine is nothing..."

Feng Jiu seemed not to have expected Du Ge to actually cut his palm. His eyes widened in astonishment. "You..."

But Du Ge's Maintenance was sincere and forceful. And since his strength was recovering faster than Feng Jiu's was from eating the mat, he easily pinned Feng Jiu's hand down and brought his bleeding palm to Feng Jiu's mouth.

The blood went down Feng Jiu's throat.

His pale face visibly regained its color. Du Ge had been right: blood was far more nutritious than straw.

However, Feng Jiu had only been forced to drink a mouthful, while Du Ge had actually cut open his palm. This wasn't just a few words of Maintenance; he was protecting someone else with his own life.

Compared to Feng Jiu, Du Ge's use of his keyword was far more effective, and he recovered much faster.

The moment the blood entered Feng Jiu's mouth, the injuries to Du Ge's internal organs improved by more than half. Even the wound he'd just made healed on its own.

That wasn't all.

The personal panel that had been hovering before Du Ge's eyes flickered, and a new Advanced Skill appeared:

Sacrifice oneself for righteousness: The target you maintain becomes thirty percent less wary of you.

He'd guessed right.

Looking at the new derivative skill on his personal list, Du Ge pressed his lips together. As long as his words and actions matched the definition of his keyword, his injuries would heal. The closer they matched, the faster he recovered.

Keywords were a character's persona. So the Simulation Field was really a test of acting skills. Was this damn Simulation Field just an acting school in disguise?

By that logic, their keywords should be deducible from their words and actions, allowing him to come up with a strategy tailored to each person.

Of course, he also had to watch out for Advanced Skills...

As Du Ge summed up the Simulation Field's rules, he took a look at his other stats.

Nothing else had changed, but the ranking had dropped by over three hundred people in just a little while. The numbers now read 187\936.

Du Ge figured the first number was his rank, and the second was the total number of people left in the Simulation Field.

In ten minutes, a Simulation Field that had started with three thousand people was down to just over nine hundred.

He had to admit, this so-called Simulation Field trial was brutal.

But now that he knew how the growth system worked, Du Ge felt very confident that he could survive in the Simulation Field.

Perhaps it was the effect of Sacrifice oneself for righteousness reducing his wariness. Seeing that Du Ge wasn't making another move, Feng Jiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He quietly stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I misjudged you, Feng Qi. You're better than I thought. You adapted to your keyword so quickly. If I'd been in your position, I'd never have been able to use my own blood to save someone else."

"Ninth Brother, this has nothing to do with whether I'm good or not. It's all for the good of our team." Du Ge looked modest, as if he'd done nothing important. "You know, my keyword is Maintenance. It's a support-type keyword. I won't get far in the Simulation Field without finding someone to work with, so it's only right that I save you. I hope that when we fight side by side in the future, you'll feel comfortable leaving your back in my hands. After all, maintaining you helps me grow too."

Feng Jiu paused, then smiled. "Well said. That's the right way to work together. The real danger is people who hide everything and scheme behind your back. Seventh Brother, I consider you a friend now. My family still has some influence. If we get a chance to make the top ten, I'll find a way to get you into the Elite School."

Civilian School, Elite School...

Du Ge had gathered a little more information about Feng Jiu's world. He smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Ninth Brother."

Du Ge studied his personal panel and reached out to press the close button. The panel was transparent, but it kept hovering in front of his eyes and getting in the way.

"Got any more blood? Give me some more." Feng Jiu looked up at Du Ge hopefully. "I'm telling you, a mouthful of your blood did more for me than chewing half a straw mat."

Talk about taking a mile when you're given an inch!

Du Ge looked down at Feng Jiu and smiled. "I'm out of blood. But what about that other stuff? One drop of gold is worth ten drops of blood. I figure it'd work even better than blood..."

Feng Jiu's smile froze. Remembering how recklessly Du Ge had cut his palm, he saw the eager look in Du Ge's eyes and feared he might do something impulsive. He said stiffly, "Seventh Brother, I was joking..." He gagged.

"Relax, I was joking too!" Du Ge looked at the gagging Feng Jiu and smiled. "If you were a woman, I might consider it. But you're a burly man. If you're not grossed out, I am! Ninth Brother, what's so good about drinking blood? That was just a temporary measure. Now that I can move, I'll go outside and find you a couple bundles of fresh straw. No, some proper food. If you rely on blood, you could drain me dry and I still wouldn't be able to bring you back to health..."

Feng Jiu's eyes twitched. He spat several times to get the bits of straw out of his mouth and urged him, "I was being narrow-minded. I'll leave it to you, Seventh Brother. Hurry back. Honestly, I'm about to puke from eating this mat. This shit isn't fit for human consumption."

"Okay." Du Ge nodded. "But before I go out, you need to tell me the layout of the Feng Family estate and who's who. Otherwise, I'll be completely lost. Forget finding food—I might not even make it back alive."

"That was careless of me." Feng Jiu struggled to sit up, picked up a piece of roof tile, and drew a map of Feng Manor on the wall as he explained. "We're in Shangwu Courtyard. People like us who serve as sparring partners live here. The courtyard opposite is called Chongwu Courtyard. The Feng Family's disciples and guards live there. Farther in is the Training Ground, and the kitchen is in Chongwu Courtyard..."

Feng Jiu described the layout of Feng Manor and the distinguishing features of its important figures. He talked for a full three minutes.

Du Ge listened patiently and committed everything to memory, asking several times about the details he wasn't sure of. Once he was certain nothing had been missed, he nodded and headed for the door. "Wait here."

The moment he stepped outside, he hunched over, clutched his chest, and shuffled forward with a limp. He'd been seriously injured just moments ago, so he couldn't suddenly be back to normal. It paid to keep up the act; better safe than sorry.

Watching Du Ge suddenly grow weak, Feng Jiu's expression turned especially grim. He stared blankly at the doorway for a moment, then tore another strip off the mat beneath him and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing quickly.