["Crimson" loaded to 99%...]
Luo Bin stared fixedly at the illusory red panel before him.
Beside him was a foul-smelling communal bunk, while maddening snores and teeth-grinding rose and fell all around him.
The scene was rather "peaceful and serene," but as a Pei Family guard, Luo Bin was now frantic. He was about to be sent off as cannon fodder, and his cheat still hadn't activated!
At last.
"Wake up, all of you! Get up, quick! The goods have all been brought to Long Wind Pier, and the Green Bamboo Gang has caught wind of something. The young master sent me to call you all over to hold them off!"
"Get your asses up!"
The old master of the Pei Family had been a martial scholar under the previous dynasty. In this corner of Ping City, he had enjoyed the height of wealth and prestige, living to the age of eighty-three.
After he died in the third year of the Great Xin Republic, the Pei Family was immediately plunged into chaos. The network of connections the old master had cultivated in the county seat, the underworld, and the merchant guilds crumbled in an instant.
The Green Bamboo Gang had seized its chance, hoping to quickly devour the Pei Family's fat prize.
Luo Bin and the others were now in a small, abandoned building a mile north of Long Wind Pier. The Pei Family's young master, Pei Yuan, had specially arranged the place so they could protect the Pei Family's valuables as they were loaded onto the ship.
The distant ships' whistles, the searchlights, and the laborers' "heave-ho" shouts, along with the rickshaw pullers still hard at work in the middle of the night, all made Luo Bin feel as though none of it was real.
Two hours ago, he had been a graduate student conducting an experiment. Then, after the world spun around him, a flood of memories poured into his mind.
In the blink of an eye, he had become a servant at the very bottom of society, with a life as cheap as an ant's.
His only hope of survival was the [Crimson Panel] deep in his consciousness.
As the rough-looking men on the communal bunk got dressed, one couldn't help asking:
"Steward Xie, did my mother and wife get on the ship? If they didn't, I'm not risking my neck!"
"Steward Xie, what about my family..."
Everyone immediately clenched their fists and crowded around to press Xie Feng for answers.
The Pei Family's spy in the Green Bamboo Gang had reported back during the day that the gang leader, Ran Shaohua, had agreed with his subordinates: from the Pei Family's direct relatives down to its servants and maids, not a soul was to be spared tonight!
Most of the Pei Family's important people were already aboard the ship at Long Wind Pier, along with the families of Luo Bin and the other servants...
And these servants would likely never live to see the sun rise.
"Don't worry. If we're asking you to lay down your lives, how could we fail to arrange things for your families? The Pei Family will provide for your parents, wives, and daughters." Xie Feng grinned.
"Now hurry up and follow me!"
The group grabbed their weapons—short-handled axes, sabers, and staffs—and followed Xie Feng toward Long Wind Pier at a gloomy jog. The dockworkers scattered in fright and fled.
Meanwhile, a black car was also slowly making its way toward the pier, followed by a ragged crowd of around forty or fifty people, all armed with an assortment of weapons.
As the car drew near, its window rolled down. A scar-faced man shouted curses:
"The Pei Family sure has a way with things! The gang had only settled on this plan in the afternoon, and by nightfall your whole clan was fleeing. You really do get your news fast."
The Pei Family's ship was moored at the pier. The last of the goods were still being carried aboard, but Xie Feng, who had led the group there, had already vanished.
Only Luo Bin and nearly twenty others remained at the pier, bracing themselves with nowhere to turn.
The Green Bamboo Gang was ruthless, and its leader, Ran Shaohua, was known in Ping City as the "King of the Grassroots." He commanded a considerable stockpile of firearms and weapons. Charging forward meant certain death.
But if they turned around and climbed the ladder onto the ship, they would still meet the same end, with no place to bury them.
Yet Luo Bin felt deeply reluctant to risk his life for the wretched Pei Family. In the muddled memories of his predecessor...
When the young master, Pei Yuan, practiced martial arts, he'd beaten him with a wooden stick until he was half dead. Whenever he thought Luo Bin had spoken out of turn, he'd shoved his face into the dog's bowl... His misdeeds were too numerous to recount.
The two sides would clash at any moment... How could he escape with the best chance of survival?
The scar-faced man in the black sedan was Luo Wendi, the head of the Green Bamboo Gang's Black Sheath Hall. He got out and shouted toward the ship moored at the pier:
"Have you forgotten? There are still thirty-two women, children, and elderly people at the Pei Family compound. Aren't they members of the Pei Family, too?
"You've left these useless women and children behind in Ping City. Are you planning to leave them here for the Green Bamboo Gang to use as a sacrificial offering?"
Luo Wendi bellowed in a loud, clear voice. The dozen or so men beside Luo Bin briefly froze, then exchanged bewildered looks.
A ship's whistle drowned out the commotion. Steward Xie Feng suddenly appeared on the deck and roared, his face twisted with rage:
"Luo Wendi, you're talking out of your ass! No matter how shameless the Pei Family might be, we'd never joke about the families of brothers who are risking their lives for us!
"Brothers down there, if you don't believe me, I'll ask the young master and the old master to come out and explain it to you in person."
Xie Feng was sweating with anxiety. It wasn't even especially hot for May, and the briny breeze off the pier was downright cool, yet his face had gone red. The young master and old master, who had been standing on deck moments earlier, were gone.
The whistle sounded again. From an elegant, cozy room inside the cabin came a flatly spoken command:
"Xie Feng talked too much. Feed him to the fish."
"Forget the rest of the goods. We can set sail now. The house in Tianhai is ready; the important thing is to get settled as soon as possible."
"Understood, Father."
Pei Yuan, dressed in a well-tailored wool suit, replied. He pulled off his tie, unfastened his cuffs, and walked out of the cabin.
Xie Feng, flustered and red-faced, was about to go inside and ask the master and young master to give the servants an explanation. But he collided head-on with Pei Yuan, who had practiced martial arts for years and possessed no small strength.
One of Pei Yuan's hands suddenly seized Xie Feng by the collar and shoved him back so hard that he staggered. Only when Xie Feng reached the edge of the deck did he realize what was happening. He begged in terror:
"Young master, I was wrong! I know I was wrong! Next time... No, there won't be a next time."
Pei Yuan smiled affably and asked politely, "Steward Xie, what did you do wrong?"
"I-I-I was wrong to argue on behalf of these lowly people. I shouldn't have tried to get an explanation for them. It won't happen again..." Xie Feng nearly wept as he spoke.
"Good. Then there won't be a next time..."
A Pei Family servant stood on deck, raised a club, and smashed it into Xie Feng's aged head.
A corpse sank heavily into the river. In the darkness, it stirred not a ripple, and there was no echo to be heard.
In the end, Luo Bin and the others watched it happen.
"The Pei Family broke its word after all. Why should we risk our lives for them?" Luo Bin murmured with a sigh.
He truly didn't want to die. He hadn't even lived long enough in his previous life. And now that his cheat still hadn't activated, was he really going to die here?
His life had been cut short before its time...
The sound of the ship slowly pulling away reached them. The Pei Family had abandoned the last of its goods. A man named Meng Jiu could hardly accept the truth.
Deep down, he believed that the prominent family he'd served for half his life couldn't be so heartless.
"Since I'm all alone anyway, I'll fight those bastards from the Green Bamboo Gang for the Pei Family today!"
Meng Jiu hefted his staff and charged toward Luo Wendi.
But before he'd taken two steps...
Pfft—
A gleaming long blade pierced Meng Jiu's body from behind.
"Ah Bin, what are you doing?!"
"Have you lost your mind, Ah Bin? Why did you kill Meng Jiu? We've lived together for two years—two years!"
Grimacing in agony, Meng Jiu lowered his head and stared in disbelief at the blade protruding from his back. Then he glanced over his shoulder at the boy whose face was splattered with warm blood... His features were youthful, tinged with ruthlessness, and in his eyes was a faint yearning to live.
Then his consciousness sank into endless darkness.
[Crimson Martial Arts Modifier fully loaded. Host, check it when you have time.]
So I had to get the first kill to activate it? That was brutal.
Luo Bin's eyes were bloodshot, and his whole body trembled as adrenaline surged through him. He felt not the slightest fear of having killed someone, only joy that the panel had activated.
After all, anyone who killed people often knew this: if you transmigrated and didn't get a cheat, you might as well kill yourself early.
Before you continue