Shinigami Eye

New York, Queens.

A young man sat on the edge of an old seven-story building by the street. The brilliant sunset draped him in gold, while a gentle breeze lifted his black hair, revealing a pair of brown eyes.

The sun sank lower on the horizon, and the bright moon rose high.

A soft sigh drifted from the rooftop beneath its cold, ghostly light.

One month.

It had been a full month since he arrived here. Though Hong Fei did not know why he had transmigrated, he had at least figured out the assets in his hand.

He had inherited many of the protagonist's abilities from Red Dead Redemption 2, the game he had just completed before transmigrating, though they had changed somewhat.

The fusion of reality and the game had produced special abilities with a rather conflicting feel.

Doing good deeds improved his physical condition, while doing "bad things" increased that special energy within him.

That energy had only one purpose: activating Shinigami Eye.

Shinigami Eye: Slowed the flow of time; reduced the damage he suffered; automatically marked any body part he aimed at as a target; included additional abilities such as night vision and tracking.

That was all the information Hong Fei currently possessed.

It had not been easy to reach that conclusion. After all, he did not have some system in his head that could spout nonsense and list statistics.

"Sir! I'm here!"

A childish cry from downstairs caught Hong Fei's attention. Looking down, he saw a little boy who appeared to be only six or seven years old.

Hong Fei made a gesture, then turned and headed downstairs.

This building was his.

Strictly speaking, he had inherited it from his predecessor, who had inherited it from his deceased parents. According to his memories, the former Hong Fei had practically sold everything he owned just to pay the hefty inheritance tax required to inherit this building.

This showed that Hong Fei was not only a yellow-skinned foreigner here, but also completely alone.

He took the elevator to the first floor, where shelves upon shelves of books filled his sight. Even the air was rich with the scent of real books.

Do not misunderstand. Hong Fei did not dare call himself a reader.

The real bookworm had probably gone to another world to live in his place. Thinking of how that refined soul now had to face all those challengers rushing his way, Master Hong smiled rather unkindly.

"Sir, what are you laughing about?"

Looking down, Hong Fei saw the boy clutching a yellow lunchbox tightly in his arms. The boy blinked at him curiously, lively light seeming to flicker in his eyes.

Hong Fei took the lunchbox and rubbed his head. "Nothing, Peter. What's on the menu today?"

Peter immediately began enthusiastically listing the dishes for him.

Dinner had naturally been prepared by Aunt May. Peter Parker's Aunt May was already a pitiable widow.

But again, do not misunderstand. Hong Fei had only met Aunt May once, though he and six- or seven-year-old Peter had hit it off quite well.

That had been over half a month ago. Hong Fei had gone out to look for targets in order to test his hypothesis, and along the way, he had casually chased off several children surrounding Peter and saying nasty things to him.

Children whose parents had both died always encountered a few unpleasant classmates at school.

Moreover, Hong Fei's bookstore stood along Peter's route home. Before long, the two became acquainted, and every Friday night, Peter would pack up a portion of his family's dinner and bring it to Hong Fei. After it happened several times, Aunt May, as his guardian, had even deliberately visited the bookstore alone. Hong Fei simply pretended not to recognize her.

Seated behind the counter, Peter quietly watched Hong Fei clear away every last bit of food, his own face beaming with delight.

After washing the lunchbox clean, Hong Fei said, "Come on. I'll walk you home."

"Mm!"

After closing the shop and hanging up the sign, the two walked forward side by side. Peter suddenly slipped his hand quietly into Hong Fei's.

Feeling the unusual gesture, Hong Fei raised his eyebrows, then clasped Peter's little hand and held it all the way home. Peter happily swayed his head from side to side, his steps suddenly much lighter.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived downstairs.

"Peter, you don't need to come over next week. I may be going abroad for a while."

Peter asked in surprise, "Sir, where are you going?"

Hong Fei smiled. "Traveling. I'll go wherever the road takes me."

"Oh, okay. I understand." Peter looked a little disappointed. "Then... can you tell me when you come back?"

"Of course. Don't you pass by the bookstore every day?"

"That's right! Then I hope you have a smooth trip, sir!"

After waving goodbye, Hong Fei watched Peter enter the elevator with his own eyes. As he turned away, he caught sight of Aunt May at one of the building's windows.

On his way back, while he was still some distance from the bookstore, Hong Fei spotted several unwelcome visitors gathered outside the entrance.

As he drew closer, a slick-haired young man in a suit and tie stepped out from among the thug-like crowd.

"Hong, have you thought it over?"

The man was named Hall, an impatient young man. Since the day before yesterday, he had been negotiating with Hong Fei as a representative of Fisk Industries regarding the purchase of the building and the land beneath it.

However, the price he offered was clearly not enough to satisfy Hong Fei. More accurately, Hong Fei had no intention of selling at all.

Seeing that Hong Fei remained silent, Hall added, "I can raise yesterday's price by another five percent. I brought the agreement with me; we can sign tonight. You'll see the money in your account immediately, and I can even give you a generous signing bonus!"

Hong Fei's response was no response at all.

He had already made it clear that he had no intention of selling, but Hall ignored that entirely. He was convinced Hong Fei was trying to drive up the price, and perhaps even thought Hong Fei did not know what was good for him.

Yesterday, Hall had come alone. Today, he had brought a group of thugs with him. The threat could not have been more obvious.

Hong Fei walked past Hall without slowing down, then strode boldly through the watchful crowd. Only after taking out his key and opening the shop door did he turn back with a smile. "Mr. Hall, I heard you're not even a real lawyer yet. How about..."

Hong Fei's gaze swept across the group behind him. "Have your boss send someone more professional?"

"You..."

Before Hall could vent his anger in words, Hong Fei slammed the door shut with a bang.

A dreadlocked Black man pushed up in front of Hall. He shook the baseball bat in his hand and asked eagerly, "Sir, should we?"

Hall stared at the tightly shut door, breathing heavily, as though he were about to wave his men inside at any moment.

Yet after a rapid series of changes in his eyes, he suddenly turned and hurriedly climbed into the sports car by the street, speeding away in a cloud of dust and leaving the thugs staring at one another.

Inside the speeding sports car, Hall gripped the steering wheel with a vicious look in his eyes and muttered, "Once Mr. Fisk gets back, I'll personally throw you into the sea to feed the fish!"

Inside the shop, Master Hong, who had just stretched his muscles and bones, could not help but laugh. He turned and took the elevator straight to the top floor.

Naturally, he was not the only person living in this seven-story building. Apart from the bookstore on the first floor and his own residence on the seventh, the five middle floors had all been converted into rental apartments.

Turning on the television, a talk show host shouted in an exaggerated voice, "I seriously suspect that the owner of Maxim Magazine was gambling too! Otherwise, why did they put a pair of twin sisters on the cover last December? It was just so Stark could make it twelve women in a single year! God, I was so angry I nearly jumped off a building! I heard Stark has won another major award recently. One of my friends has already seen him in Las Vegas."

Hong Fei turned the volume down considerably, then walked into the bathroom.

In the past, the seventh floor had been the Hong family's residence, while the six floors below had all been bookstore space.

The current Hong Fei found it difficult to imagine just how much those parents had loved reading!

After they died young, Hong Fei had sold nearly everything to pay the inheritance tax. In order to recover financially and survive, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and borrow another loan from the bank to renovate the five middle floors. In that respect, he had indeed been quite bold.

The change had clearly been worthwhile, for it not only allowed him to repay the loan quickly, but the rental income alone had later given him the sort of life most people in the city could only dream of.

Five floors, three units per floor, fifteen apartments in total. There were one-bedroom and two-bedroom units alike. Fifteen rents brought in more money than some people earned working fifteen jobs.

Besides, if the current Hong Fei were not Master Hong, he might have already sold this old building and the land beneath it to Hall's boss.

The other party's offer was substantial, a sum Hong Fei could not earn from rent even in a hundred years.

He refused to sell not because he was waiting for a higher bid, but because the land's actual value was far greater.

Never mind the increased value after development and construction. Hong Fei neither had such plans nor the capital to carry them out.

But!

What lay buried beneath this land simply could not be measured in money.

After showering and returning to sit in the living room, a thick red glow suddenly surged from the depths of Hong Fei's dark brown eyes. This was the sign of Shinigami Eye activating.

The instant his eyes turned deep red, every noisy sound around him vanished.

In his vision, the vibrant, colorful world instantly lost all color. Within the black-and-white view, the images playing on the television began jumping frame by frame.

Beyond that, he could see a hazy current of golden Qi rising through the floor, nearly enveloping the entire building.

Even more wondrously, amidst the churning golden Qi, Hong Fei occasionally saw an illusory miniature dragon soaring within it.