Low-Level Bandit System

The sun blazed overhead, its scorching rays like a mass of burning flames, mercilessly baking the boundless wilderness.

The air was thick with the dry, charred smell of soil. Waves of heat rolled one after another, and even the distant landscape looked warped and blurry in the swelter.

Weeds grew thick across the wilderness, reaching more than halfway up a person's body. Fine serrations lined their leaves, and the slightest carelessness could leave a bloody scratch on your skin.

Su Yu and Tang Wu had been walking along this desolate path for more than an hour.

After leaving Holy Soul Village, they had set out along this road, the only route to Nuoding City.

Old Jack had given them Breath Concealment Talismans, sparing them the risk of being detected by other high-level cheaters. But the natural conditions in this backcountry were still a considerable challenge for two children who had just turned six.

"Brother Yu, I'm so hot, and my feet hurt..."

Tang Wu clutched Su Yu's hand tightly. Her little face was flushed from the sun, and her forehead was dotted with fine beads of sweat.

Her short, deep-blue hair was soaked through and lay limply against her cheeks.

Her rough cloth shoes trudged along the rutted dirt road, and each step seemed to take an effort.

Su Yu stopped, took a water flask from his bundle, pulled out the stopper, and handed it to Tang Wu.

"Be good, Xiao San. Have some water. Just hold on a little longer. Once we get through this stretch of wilderness, there should be somewhere shady up ahead where we can rest."

Su Yu raised a hand and gently wiped the sweat from Tang Wu's forehead with his sleeve, his voice soothing.

Although he had the soul of a transmigrator and the mind of an adult, this six-year-old body really did tire easily.

Still, the physical improvement from his Innate Full Soul Power made him much stronger than ordinary children his age. At least for now, he could still just about keep going.

Tang Wu held the flask in both hands and took several loud gulps. Only then did her parched throat begin to feel better.

She obediently handed the flask back to Su Yu, her big eyes shining with trust. "As long as I'm with you, Brother Yu, Xiao San won't be afraid of getting tired."

Su Yu smiled and was just about to take the flask when his gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Rustle, rustle—"

The brush ahead suddenly shook violently. Then, amid a burst of coarse cursing, two tall, burly figures sprang out of the waist-high weeds like a pair of hungry wolves, blocking their path.

Both men were bare-armed, their muscles knotted beneath sun-blackened skin.

Each carried a rusty, broad-bladed cleaver. Dark-red stains clung to the blades, giving off a nauseating stench of blood.

The one on the left was Scarface. A vicious scar stretched from the corner of his left eye all the way to his mouth, making his already fierce face look even more terrifying.

His greedy eyes were fixed on the gray bundle on Su Yu's back, as if it held a mountain of gold and silver.

The one on the right was Baldy, his head gleaming beneath the blazing sun.

He paid no attention to the bundle, instead leering up and down at the delicate Tang Wu. His mouth curled into a lewd grin, revealing a row of rotten teeth mottled yellow and black.

"Well, would you look at that, big brother! We're in luck today! We've been waiting in this godforsaken place half the day, and we actually got two little lambs wandering around alone!"

Baldy let out a cackling laugh and casually swung his cleaver through the air twice, the blade making a dull whoosh.

Scarface spat on the ground and sneered. "You brats haven't even grown your first hairs, and you're already wandering around the wilderness. Kid, hand over the bundle if you know what's good for you. Maybe your granddaddies will leave you with your bodies intact!"

The two bandits didn't take the six-year-old children in front of them seriously at all.

To them, the children were ants they could crush with a flick of the wrist, not even worthy of putting up a fight.

Tang Wu had never seen anything like this. She let out a terrified scream, squeezed her eyes shut, and clung to Su Yu's arm, hiding her whole body behind him.

Consumed by fear, she gripped him so tightly her fingernails nearly dug into his flesh. Her frail body trembled like a leaf in the wind.

"Brother Yu... I'm scared..."

Tang Wu's tearful voice came from behind Su Yu.

Su Yu reached back and clasped Tang Wu's icy hand, shielding her firmly behind him.

Facing two burly adult men armed with deadly weapons, Su Yu showed not the slightest panic. He didn't even change the rhythm of his breathing.

Golden light silently swirled through his deep-set eyes.

[Eye of Truth], activate!

In an instant, the colors of the world changed before Su Yu's eyes.

He clearly saw a cheap, translucent green panel floating above each of the two vicious-looking bandits.

Their edges were even a little ragged, and the crude UI looked like a shoddy web game from the previous century.

[Low-Level Bandit System].

Two lines of green system text sat conspicuously above their heads.

Su Yu sneered inwardly.

He'd thought he'd run into some formidable, ruthless characters. Turned out they were just two cannon fodder carrying the lowest-grade systems.

Systems at this level were even worse than Li Hu's [Villain Luck Plunder System], the one Old Jack had killed instantly earlier. They were the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel trash of the system world.

Just then, Su Yu's Eye of Truth clearly caught the green panel above Baldy's head as its data stream refreshed with a sudden jolt.

A glaring red mission prompt popped up:

[Ding! Random robbery mission triggered!]

[Mission: Rob the two children in front of you and take their belongings.]

[Reward: 100 points (can be exchanged for 1 point of Strength or 1 Gold Soul Coin).]

[Penalty for failure: Deduction of 50 points.]

Looking at the miserly reward, Su Yu nearly burst out laughing.

For a mere 100 points—just one Gold Soul Coin—these two cheaters were ready to commit murder and robbery.

The hosts raised by low-level systems must have had nothing left in their heads but the greed instilled by their missions.

"Kid! Are you deaf? I told you to throw over the bundle!"

Seeing Su Yu standing motionless, Scarface assumed fear had frozen him stiff. He roared impatiently and stepped forward, unleashing every ounce of his vicious aura.

Baldy licked his lips, his eyes fixed on Tang Wu behind Su Yu as he leered. "Big brother, you can have the bundle, and I'll take the little girl. She's so soft and delicate. If we sell her at the black market in Nuoding City, we could get at least a dozen Gold Soul Coins! That's a damn sight better than those lousy points the system gives us!"

At Baldy's words, Tang Wu shuddered violently. Eyes shut, she buried her face deep against Su Yu's back, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Su Yu kept Tang Wu behind him. He showed no sign of panic; instead, an extremely dangerous sneer curled across his lips.