The Script Is Wrong

Su Li lay on the hard plank bed.

His lower back still ached.

The ache seemed to seep out from between his bones.

He held the dark blue Resident ID in his hand, rubbing it over and over.

As if he were touching a freshly minted gold brick.

With this thing, he finally had a foundation in this world.

He no longer had to worry about being seized by the guards while walking down the street and forced to fill in moats.

Nor did he have to worry about being bagged by slave traders and sold off to the mines.

But money was a huge problem.

Besides, these were chaotic times.

The Orenda Kingdom and the Baris Empire were fighting so fiercely their brains were practically spilling out.

Grey Gull Port was remote, but it was still a piece of the kingdom's flesh.

He remembered that this place had been occupied by enemy forces for a while. It had made no difference to him in his previous life, though, because he had been a slave no matter which side ruled.

This little Resident ID could not stop spears and cannons.

Nor could it stop soldiers who had killed until their eyes turned red.

He had to become stronger.

Su Li rolled over.

The bedboard let out a miserable creak.

He looked at Old Jack, who was still counting money by the table.

The old bastard was utterly absorbed in it.

The gleam in his one eye was brighter than the oil lamp on the table.

Gold Coins bounced through his fingers one after another.

They made crisp clinking sounds.

Su Li cleared his throat.

"Old bastard."

Old Jack did not even raise his head.

"If you've got something to say, spit it out."

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

Su Li sat up.

He leaned against the wall.

"I want to ask something."

"Go on."

"Does this world have people who can..."

Su Li made a gesture with his hands.

"The kind who can punch a cow to death, or make fireballs with their bare hands?"

Old Jack stopped counting.

He raised his head.

And looked at Su Li as if he were an idiot.

"Did those three bitches squeeze your brains stupid?"

Su Li ignored the mockery.

"I'm serious."

"I used to hear those traveling merchants bragging at the docks."

"They said there were knights in this world, and mages too."

"As long as you become someone like that, you can swagger through these times however you want."

"I want to try."

Old Jack tossed the Silver Coin in his hand onto the table.

He picked up the bottle and took a swig.

"Keep dreaming."

"Knights?"

"Do you know what that even means?"

Old Jack pointed outside the window.

"That's the private turf of noble lords."

"If you want to become a knight, first you need a good father."

"And money."

"A whole lot of money."

Su Li frowned.

"How much?"

Old Jack held out one hand.

Five fingers spread wide.

"Five hundred Gold Coins?" Su Li asked tentatively.

Old Jack gave a scornful snort.

It was like cold air puffing out of his nostrils.

"Five thousand."

"And that's just the starting price."

Su Li sucked in a sharp breath.

Five thousand Gold Coins?

Even if he were chopped up and sold by the pound, he could not scrape together that much.

Old Jack seemed quite pleased by Su Li's deflated expression.

He continued piling on.

"Money alone won't do."

"You also need connections."

"There's something in this world called a Breathing Method."

"That's the foundation of knight training."

"Without a Breathing Method, even if you train yourself into a block of iron, you're just a brute with a bit more strength."

"Against a real knight, one swing of their sword can split you and your weapon in half."

"And those Breathing Methods..."

Old Jack lowered his voice.

"They're all locked away in the minds of the great nobles."

"They're family heirlooms."

"They're what those people use to rule mud-legged peasants like us."

"You think they'd teach something like that to you?"

"An undocumented stray with no known origins?"

"Don't dream."

Su Li fell silent.

But he was unwilling to give up.

"What about mages?"

"Aren't there mages too?"

"That shouldn't depend on having a rich father, right?"

Old Jack rolled his eye.

It was a real eye roll.

His pupil nearly vanished into his socket.

"Mages?"

"Who told you that?"

"A bard?"

"Or some idiots who drank too much cheap ale?"

Old Jack looked utterly disdainful.

"I've been knocking around Grey Gull Port for forty years."

"I've seen more dead people than you've eaten bowls of rice."

"I've never seen any mage."

"If there really were people who could make fireballs with their hands..."

"The world would have gone completely mad already."

"Would those iron cans on horseback still get to strut around?"

Su Li wanted to argue.

But he had no proof.

In his previous life, he had only been a lowly laborer.

The highest-ranking person he had ever dealt with was a dock foreman.

The rumors about supernatural powers had indeed mostly come from hearsay.

It was hard to tell truth from lies.

Could it be that this world truly had no mages?

Only knights?

Su Li felt a little irritated.

He scratched his hair.

"So we're just going to muddle through like this?"

"Live by tricking rich women?"

Old Jack picked up the Silver Coin again.

"What's so bad about that?"

"There's food and drink."

"And women to sleep with."

"I wouldn't trade this life even for a city lord's."

"Kid."

"People should know when they have enough."

"We're rats in the gutter."

"Rats should do what rats do."

"Stop dreaming about flying into the sky and becoming an eagle."

"You'll die from the fall."

Su Li said nothing.

He stared at the mold stains on the ceiling.

And calculated in his heart.

Old Jack was right, but he was also wrong.

This current peace was fake.

He had to find a way to get that Breathing Method.

Steal it?

Buy it?

Or find a way to marry into some noble family as a live-in son-in-law?

With this face of his.

It was not entirely impossible.

Su Li's thoughts began to drift.

In his mind, he came up with a hundred plans for living off women while keeping his pride.

But there was one problem: he needed a high evaluation to obtain better traits when the rewards were settled.

Just then.

Something about the sounds outside seemed off.

At this hour, normally.

Dark Alley should have been at its liveliest.

The curses of gamblers.

The calls of prostitutes soliciting customers.

And the sounds of drunks fighting.

That was Dark Alley's background noise.

But now it was quiet.

Not completely quiet.

It was a strange kind of quiet.

The noisy voices had vanished.

In their place came dull, heavy footsteps.

Iron boots stomping through muddy ground.

Orderly.

Heavy.

Accompanied by the clatter of metal scraping together.

Su Li abruptly sat upright.

He had never heard this sound before.

But instinctively, he sensed danger.

It was the intuition he had developed in his previous life while dodging overseers' whips at the docks.

"Old man."

"Stop counting."

"Something's wrong outside."

Old Jack held a silver coin between his fingers.

His brow furrowed.

He had heard it too.

"That sound..."

Old Jack stood up.

He blew out the oil lamp on the table.

The room fell into darkness.

Only a faint glimmer seeped in through the crack beneath the door.

"That's the sound of standard-issue armor."

Old Jack's voice trembled slightly.

"Only a regular army would have equipment like that."

"The city guard?"

"Impossible."

"I paid the sheriff his cut just last month."

"They promised they wouldn't investigate Dark Alley."

Su Li jumped out of bed.

Even though his waist hurt terribly.

He had no time to care.

He fumbled for the black cloak.

"Doesn't matter who it is."

"Run first."

"Out the back window."

They could not stay here.

No matter who had come.

With a show of force like this, they definitely were not here to invite anyone to dinner.

However.

Before Su Li could reach the cloak.

A scream suddenly rang out from outside.

It was brief and sharp.

Like a chicken being strangled by the neck.

Then.

A chaotic chorus of shouts and killing cries erupted.

"Kill!"

"Leave none alive!"

"Orders from above—purge Dark Alley!"

The voice was as cold and hard as iron.

Without a trace of emotion.

Boom!

A deafening blast rang out.

The shack's rotten wooden door, frame and all.

Flew straight inward.

It smashed viciously into the wall.

Wood chips scattered.

Dust billowed everywhere.

The shockwave forced Su Li two steps back.

He crashed into the cabinet.

His waist hurt even more.

By the firelight streaming in from outside.

Su Li saw the person standing in the doorway.

It was a monster encased in steel.

Full plate armor.

It glinted with a frigid sheen beneath the firelight.

The helmet's visor was lowered.

Leaving only a narrow slit.

Its eyes could not be seen.

Yet the killing intent was almost tangible.

The man held a longsword, its blade still dripping with blood.

Fresh blood. It dripped onto the floor, patter by patter.

Through the open doorway.

Su Li saw the scene outside.

Fire.

Fire everywhere.

The low shanties were burning.

The vicious thugs of ordinary days were now being slaughtered like pigs and dogs.

Corpses covered the ground.

Blood had dyed the muddy earth red.

Su Li's head buzzed.

This was wrong.

This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

In his previous life.

He had laid low in Grey Gull Port for fifty years.

Until he died of old age.

Dark Alley had still existed.

He had never heard of any purge.

Why?

Why had Dark Alley been wiped out just as this life began?

Could it be because of him? A butterfly effect?

The walking tin can moved.

He stepped over the threshold.

Every step seemed to stamp directly onto Su Li's heart.

He turned his head.

His gaze swept across the room from behind the visor.

First, he glanced at Old Jack hiding beneath the table.

Then.

His eyes fell on Su Li.

And stopped.

The walking tin can raised a hand.

He pointed at Su Li.

"Found him."

His voice was muffled by the helmet.

It sounded like an echo from hell.

"Those are the features."

"An Easterner."

"Quite handsome."

Su Li's heart suddenly clenched.

They're looking for me? How is that possible?

He had only just obtained an identity and had not even had the chance to go out and enjoy himself.

How had someone already set their sights on him?

The walking tin can did not waste words.

He raised his sword.

"Do it."

Two more walking tin cans rushed in from behind him. Their armor was somewhat lighter.

They were probably attendants.

Old Jack crawled out from beneath the table.

He gripped a dagger in his hand.

It was the weapon he carried for protection.

"M-My lord."

"Is there some misunderstanding?"

"I'm Old Jack. The sheriff and I..."

Swish.

A flash of silver streaked past.

Before Old Jack could finish speaking.

His one-eyed head, half burned away by fire.

Flew into the air just like that.

A fawning smile still hung on his face.

Blood from his neck sprayed straight onto the ceiling.

Old Jack's body swayed, then fell to the ground with a thud.

The dagger slipped from his hand.

It was a true instant kill.

There had been no room for resistance whatsoever.

Su Li froze.

He stared at the headless corpse.

The old man who had been bragging and counting money with him just minutes ago.

Was just gone?

This was a knight's power?

This was the crushing weight of class?

The knight who had killed Old Jack did not even glance at the corpse on the floor.

As if he had merely stepped on an ant.

He strode toward Su Li.

The sword tip pointed at the ground.

Carving a deep groove into the wooden floorboards.