I Thought This Was a Slice of Life

A look of utter confusion crossed his face.

You're telling me that an old immortal at the level of a Shaolin sweeping monk was forced to flee by demons and monsters? Doesn't that mean the demons and monsters have *exploded in power?

"No, no, it's not what you think."

Li Shuhong slumped dejectedly. "I told you, the times have changed. The current world is governed by law; it's no longer an era where you can just throw hands whenever you want. If this were wartime, I naturally wouldn't be in such a sorry state; I would have beaten them until even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them."

He sighed and coughed. "Since we're on the subject, let me explain to you what's going on. I don't want you to repeat my mistakes."

"It was about two or three weeks ago, I believe." Li Shuhong recalled, "I was still back in my hometown at the time. One night, while I was out at a bar, I suddenly encountered a man and a woman acting suspiciously."

He sank into his memories, while Shuya fought the urge to retort.

You're over a hundred years old and still hitting the bars? That's certainly trendy.

But the law didn't explicitly forbid the elderly from going to bars, so Shuya couldn't really say anything.

Besides, despite Li Shuhong's advanced age, Shuya was certain the old man could punch him into a flat pancake.

Ever since he realized that qigong was real, he never dared to look down on those Dahua Special Forces dramas again.

Perhaps those action scenes had some artistic embellishments, but the power levels weren't far off; otherwise, they would have been roasted by the audience, just like in his previous life.

Shuya's current state of mind was actually quite easy to understand.

Let's put it this way: imagine you see some chuunibyou kid every day, blathering on about how his eyes are sealed with power, his arm contains a demon king, or how there's an invisible boundary line in the world.

You don't know the truth, so you just smile and laugh, thinking it's impossible and that he's just an idiot.

Then.

You suddenly discover that the chuunibyou was actually telling the truth.

Oh, crap. It's over!

That complex feeling in that instant was roughly what Shuya was experiencing.

Shuya believed that anyone facing a being capable of tearing a person apart with their bare hands would behave perfectly, not daring to utter a single complaint.

py: As a Scumbag, I Still Want a Peaceful Life

Synopsis: Contains jojo elements, mostly a slice-of-life

I have a childhood friend named Sakurajima Mai, but she left me before I even finished elementary school.

Then I met Yukinoshita and Eriri, but I was forced to leave them behind once elementary school ended.

After giving my first kiss to Sora Ginko during the summer break before middle school, I received no response.

In middle school, I wandered between Kazusa, Yasuraoka Hanabi, Ogiso, and Minagawa Akane.

By high school, I was already a scumbag, but I still yearned for more.

I hope my twisted love can be accepted, and furthermore...

Let me say it again: I, Fujiwara Kiyotaka, just want to live a peaceful life. You girls, stop coming over here!

Chapter 57: 51 The Times Have Changed

Shuya maintained an innocent smile, urging Li Shuhong to continue.

"After I spotted that pair, I kept a close eye on them. Half an hour passed just like that, and I saw the man and woman leave the bar, sneaking off into a nearby alleyway."

"Oh? And what did you do then, Teacher?"

Shuya chimed in at the right moment.

Li Shuhong said, "Naturally, I followed them. The man was blonde and blue-eyed; he clearly wasn't from Dahua. I couldn't let some small-time hoodlums cause trouble on my turf."

So the woman was from Dahua?

Shuya guessed.

"After I followed them, the man revealed his true colors, just as I expected. He opened his mouth to reveal a set of fangs and bit into the woman's neck."

"Could it be... a vampire?"

"Exactly."

"So vampires are actually real," Shuya marveled.

"Just small fry," Li Shuhong waved his hand, his tone dripping with disdain.

"And then what happened?"

Shuya asked.

"After that, I naturally rushed in to act with justice. I broke a dozen of that little thing's bones and nearly snapped his... well, you know."

There wasn't a hint of pride on Li Shuhong's face; in his eyes, such a minor encounter didn't even count as a real battle.

"If that's the case, why did you say you couldn't afford to provoke these demons and monsters? Are they part of some massive organization?"

"You could say that... do you know what that pair did afterward?"

Li Shuhong's expression turned complex.

"What did you do?"

Shuya was very curious.

"They... they..."

When Li Shuhong reached this point, his tone became increasingly dejected, carrying an indescribable sense of resentment.

"They... actually called the police. Then I was detained for five days. If it weren't for the fact that vampires have strong self-healing abilities and my injuries had mostly healed by the time the police arrived, I probably would have ended up in a lawsuit."

Li Shuhong's expression was indescribable.

Shuya was speechless: "..."

This ending was completely beyond his expectations.

"Didn't that woman speak up for you, Teacher?"

Li Shuhong was also speechless: "Heh, when I knocked that man down and tried to get her to leave, she said she was in true love with him and didn't care about his identity, then turned around and slapped me twice. Then she called the police on the spot."

Poor old man, his good intentions had led to bad results, and he had suffered a great misfortune because of it.

Shuya tried his best to hold back his laughter.

"What happened after that? Why did you come out to take refuge, Teacher?"

Li Shuhong said indignantly: "It was the day after I was released, someone came knocking on my door."

"Who was so bold?"

Shuya was super gossipy right now.

"The Endangered Monster and Ghost Protection Association, the Minor Monster Protection Association, the Weak Vampire Care and Mutual Aid Organization, the Western Monster Mutual Love Alliance, and so on and so forth... all sorts of messy organizations."

He recited them with a deadpan expression.

"What did you say?"

Shuya's expression was also quite spectacular.

???

What kind of nonsense was all this?

Li Shuhong said with grief and indignation: "It's the same kind of thing as those animal protection groups!"

"Then you definitely have to run; there's no saving it, just wait for death, goodbye."

Shuya understood in a second; those people were already cultists.

"They first held a sit-in in front of my house, then held photos of that vampire and started singing and crying. As soon as I stepped out, they interrogated me on how I could bear to abuse such a poor, weak, and helpless little monster or ghost."

"It really infuriated me. What kind of thought process is that!"

Li Shuhong gritted his teeth: "The most infuriating part is that calling the police didn't help. After they dispersed the crowd, they would gather again after a while. They didn't take any excessive actions, but it was just disgusting! Doing this at my doorstep every day, who could stand it!"

"Teacher, you could have just beaten them away."

Shuya suggested casually.

"Beat them, my foot. There were a bunch of cameras set up there, and the police station was even nearby. If I made a move, I'd be locked up again. In the end, I could only run away to avoid the limelight just to maintain my life."

After Li Shuhong finished speaking, he felt it was all bad luck.

He sighed: "That's why I say that the path of martial arts in the current world is difficult; there is no soil for growth. For no other reason than that the legal system is too perfect now, and people have lost their mettle!"

"Even someone at my level has to be full of concerns every time I make a move, let alone others. If it were the martial artists of the past, they would have already drawn their blades to take heads and beaten them half to death, then after a few years of training, a skilled fighter would have emerged."

"Modern people don't have this spirit or the conditions. Laws, family, school, life—heavy shackles are placed upon them, impossible to break free from, impossible to snap! They can only endure!"

"Enduring and enduring, all blood and spirit are gone, and they can only obediently become a shrinking turtle, a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!"

"The times, they have changed!"

Li Shuhong's words carried a sense of pessimism.

Shuya fell silent along with him.

After a long while, Li Shuhong slowly exhaled:

"Oh well. Better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos. This is fine, this is fine..."

Li Shuhong's eyes revealed the vicissitudes of the years.

"Too many people have already died... some traditions, some people, what should pass, let it pass."

"The times have changed..."

When Shuya first heard this phrase, he just wanted to laugh, but at this moment, he couldn't laugh anymore.

The phrase "the times have changed" contained so much melancholy and buried so much bitterness.

But is this really bad?

Probably not necessarily.

How would ordinary people want to fight and kill every day?

Why learn martial arts or practice techniques?

Are games not fun enough, or are novels not interesting enough?

Life is already hard enough as it is, so it is better to just settle down and be a salted fish.

There is always more than one way to interpret a problem.

A martial arts master like Li Shuhong naturally finds it pathetic. But for the government and ordinary people, that is not necessarily the case.

Things are never just black and white.

Right and wrong are merely a matter of which perspective you are viewing them from.

Therefore, Shuya both sympathizes with Li Shuhong and does not sympathize with him.

Time will provide the answer to all questions.

Li Shuhong had actually stopped dwelling on this issue long ago; he was just venting after being triggered by recent experiences.

He stopped talking about these things and simply said, "Anyway, just remember what happened to me. Don't think that this is still the era of chivalrous heroes roaming free and settling scores as they please. No matter how big your fist is, it's not bigger than a cannonball."

"Of course, I'm not telling you to endure everything, just to be clean when you do things. If you really have to strike, make sure you don't leave any flaws behind."

Li Shuhong is not some moral guardian who refuses to let Shuya hurt anyone.

A martial artist who fought his way out of the war years does not have many scruples.

"Don't worry, I won't lose face for you, Teacher."

Shuya said with a respectful, flattering expression.

Li Shuhong said disdainfully, "Tch! What do I care if you lose your own face? Anyway, I'll say the ugly things first: even if you mess up, I won't save you. You will bear all the consequences yourself! If you can beat airplanes and cannons, I'll admit defeat!"

"Rest assured, I know my limits."