The Story Begins

A new week arrived.

As usual, it was classes, meals, sleep, and reading materials. Everything was so uneventful.

Li Si thought things would stay this way, and that he could keep steadily improving himself. But on Friday, the game system gave him a surprise—or, to be precise, more shock than surprise.

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

On the Zhongcheng Technology High School grounds, a crowd had gathered, cheering. It was a spectacle—a celebration of bullying the weak.

"Eat your food, Gordon! Come on!"

At the center of the crowd, a blond, white young man with a crew cut held a skinny young man upside down by the legs, shoving his face into a plate on a picnic table. Greasy, yellowish grime smeared all over his face.

It was an utterly ordinary case of school bullying, yet also an incident Li Si had never expected.

Because it meant Spider-Man's first story was about to begin!

It had started so abruptly, before he'd finished improving himself, before he'd completed his first main weapon.

"Damn it, why so soon?!"

Seeing Peter Parker approach the crowd with his camera, Li Si's face darkened as his suspicions were confirmed.

This was at least half a month earlier than he'd expected.

After all, his memories of the movie had already grown hazy before he crossed over, and before his rebirth, he'd gone straight into the military when he entered the game. He hadn't had time to take part in the Spider-Man story.

"Hey, Parker, come on, take a picture!"

"No, I'm not taking pictures like that. Put him down, Flash!"

"Come on, just one picture!"

"..."

Familiar conversation, familiar lines.

When Peter Parker raised his voice in a sharp rebuke, the white young man named Flash lost his temper too, and their argument escalated.

Flash looked displeased as he dropped the skinny young man from his arms, then walked over to Peter Parker and, without warning, swung a punch at his head.

Peter Parker was nothing more than a five-watt lightweight at this point. There was no way he could withstand such a powerful punch. He was knocked straight to the ground.

"Come on, get up, Parker!"

Flash was tall and burly, and when he got angry, he looked like a gorilla. He pounded his fists together, then kicked Peter Parker in the stomach, doubling him over in pain.

Flash was still furious and was about to kick him again when an Asian man of modest stature stepped in front of him.

"You want to fight? How about you take me on?"

Li Si held out his right hand, a smile on his face, though a hint of coldness lurked beneath it.

Though the story's beginning had caught him off guard, he couldn't just stand by and watch Peter Parker get beaten. After all, the two of them got along fairly well.

"Bring it on!"

Seeing the crowd had stopped cheering, Flash felt he'd lost face. He shouted and swung a heavy punch at Li Si.

Flash was tall, physically active, and strong. His punch carried considerable force; if it landed, Li Si would definitely feel it.

After all, he'd put all his general experience into knowledge, and hadn't raised his basic template level at all. His attributes weren't much higher than Peter Parker's at this point.

Unfortunately, a wild, untrained punch like that had no chance of hitting Li Si.

Combat Mastery and Long-range Shooting Mastery were two general skills every player had to master.

Though he didn't have either skill now, before his rebirth, both had been maxed out. Setting aside the difference in physical strength, he could have thoroughly beaten combat experts like Captain America and Batman without the slightest trouble.

Later on, every player had unlocked full-immersion virtual mode. Those two skills had also changed from instincts temporarily instilled by the system into learning enhancements, just like his current knowledge. His mastery of more than a dozen fighting styles was no joke.

Li Si calmly caught Flash's fist and guided it to the side. Not only did he easily dodge the punch, but Flash's own momentum left him off balance and sent him sprawling face-first onto the ground.

"Whoa...!"

"My God, is that Chinese kung fu?"

"Come on, Flash! You can't lose to some skinny Asian kid, can you?"

"Beat him up! Beat him up!"

The onlookers cried out in surprise. There were boys and girls alike, all eager to see a fight and shouting from the sidelines. Some even laughed and cheered Flash on.

"Raaagh!"

Humiliation and rage mingled. Flash had lost face, and the crowd's laughter made his eyes blaze. He quickly scrambled to his feet and charged at Li Si like a raging bull.

But the same scene played out again. Li Si didn't even move his feet. He simply sidestepped Flash's charge, then gave him a kick in the rear. Flash went sprawling face-first again.

"You still have a chance to give up!"

After venting his slight irritation, Li Si's expression finally softened a little.

He didn't think much of the white young man in front of him, but he didn't dislike him either.

By nature, Flash wasn't some great villain. At heart, he was just a high schooler who cared about his image, liked forming cliques, and wanted to show off. Weren't we all like that at some point?

"You...!"

After getting back to his feet again, Flash had finally sobered up a little. He stared at Li Si, uncertain and wary.

"If you haven't had enough, you can come again."

Li Si glanced at him, then casually helped Peter Parker up and picked up the camera from the ground, placing it in his arms.

By the time he'd done all that, Flash still hadn't moved.

But just then, something unexpected happened.

"Watch out!"

"Li, watch your back!"

Two shouts rang out. One came from Gwen, who had just arrived. The other came from Peter Parker, whose face had changed dramatically.

"Flash, we're here to help!"

Several loud laughs rang out. Before their voices even reached him, the rush of wind was already upon him.

They were asking for it!

A cold glint flashed in Li Si's eyes as he turned toward the three men swinging iron rods at him. Rather than retreat, he charged forward and slammed his shoulder into one of them, knocking him flying.

After taking one of them out, he leaped into the air and delivered two consecutive whip kicks. The other two spun backward through the air before crashing to the ground, unable to get back up. All they could do was clutch their faces and cry out in pain.

Only then did Li Si have time to look over the three men who had suddenly rushed out.