[Name: Wang Xiaoling | Level: 3]

The first thing William’s eyes went to was the blue text hovering above the woman careening far too quickly toward him. He wasted a precious second gaping at the out-of-control wagon before tripping over his feet in his attempt to escape.

William was barely able to get off the road, escaping death once more, and collapsed on the soft grass to slow his rapidly beating heart.

“What the hell are you doing, William? You can’t die because a horse trampled on you! An old monster’s expecting you to become an immortal cultivator!” William scolded himself.

He heard loud curses coming from the direction the wagon had gone and was surprised to see it stopped on the side of the road. He was even more surprised to see the woman, Wang Xiaoling, storming toward him with a clenched fist.

Rather than surprised, the proper word would be terrified. She was two levels above him, and as far as William knew, it could be an insurmountable advantage. He had no idea what these levels quantified.

William tried to ask the system information about Wang Xiaoling’s base stats, his probability of winning, and many other questions that he received no answer to. In the end, the system only replied to him screaming the word ‘tutorial’ in his mind.

[SAFE MODE has turned off the tutorial for the user’s safety]

“Don’t look like you’re scared, brat! Wang Xiaoling cannot be scammed! I won’t be tricked by the likes of you urchins. Where are your friends hiding? I’ll beat you all up!”

William blinked stupidly at the raging woman, wondering what in the world she was talking about. She was the one that almost ran him over, and he was supposed to be the victim. Not the other way around.

“What? Are you a mute?” Wang Xiaoling growled, “Scared to talk now that you got caught?”

At this point, even William, who was generally passive, was royally pissed. He had been taken from his old world, not knowing how he left but suspecting it wasn’t good with how these things usually went in novels. His introduction to the new world was to be shown horrors that he was desperately trying to block mentally so he wouldn’t break down. And after he had been saved by Daoist Chen, a terrifying old monster, a horse-drawn wagon almost ended his new life.

“Shut up!” William roared in anger as he swung a poorly formed fist at Wang Xiaoling’s leg, the only part of her that he could reach with him on the ground.

That was a mistake.

[-6 HP]

A rush of air left William’s lungs as he flew back a few meters from a kick that felt like it broke a couple of his ribs. He wheezed in oxygen as he lay flat on his back, painfully reminded that he was the equivalent of an early-game character that would have an epic fight against a fluffy bunny.

“This… This wasn’t a scam? Did I, Wang Xiaoling, just kick an innocent but idiotic brat?”

William gritted his teeth and glared at the woman who was foolishly pointing a finger at herself. “Maybe that was something you should have thought about before kicking me!”

Wang Xiaoling looked guilty as she walked to William. “You look fine. It was just a kick from a little girl. Don’t try to play it up and try to get compensation from me.”

William looked at the ‘little’ girl with an even harsher glare. She looked at least five to seven years older than his current body. This meant Wang Xiaoling had long passed the age where she could call herself a little girl.

“I don’t care,” William said before groaning from the pain, wondering if it would have been too much for Daoist Chen to leave some vitality pills with him, “Leave me be before you do something worse.”

Wang Xiaoling looked like she was waiting for him to suggest that since she moved as if she couldn’t get away fast enough. William sighed in relief and laid his head on the grass, glad he was left alone. He still needed to figure out how this system worked and wasn’t in the mood to meet others.

Health: 4/10

William closed his eyes in frustration at over half his health being taken away by a casual kick. He was certain that another old monster wouldn’t randomly pop up out of nowhere and gift him another pill to restore his health. He was also certain that staying in the middle of nowhere couldn’t be of any help.

Perhaps this hardship was another test given to him by Daoist Chen. William didn’t know if that was true, but that would definitely be his truth, so he didn’t have ungrateful thoughts toward the man that saved his life. Thoughts that suggested there could be better areas William could have been placed.

William figured that his best bet was to go in the direction where that crazy woman was going. With the little he saw of the wagon, there were plenty of sealed barrels and boxes packed tightly in the back. The crazy woman was obviously a merchant, so there must be a city or town in the direction she was going.

“… Hey, are you still alive?”

William’s eyes shot open and he stared incredulously at Wang Xiaoling, who was standing over him with a worried look on her face.

“What are you still doing here?!” Willam exploded as his repressed rage came back with a vengeance.

“I didn’t want to leave a brat like you to die here. Even the stupid deserve to live, you know.”

William was tempted to tell Wang Xiaoling to fuck off, but while that would feel good at the moment, he would still be left with the same issue.

Stranded and hopelessly lost.

Besides, even if Wang Xiaoling was a crazy bitch, he didn’t think she had any bad intentions… other than injuring him greatly based on mere suspicion. No, it wasn’t her intentions that worried him, but her judgment.

“You’re not going to attack me again, are you?”

Wang Xiaoling chuckled awkwardly and said, “You can only blame yourself, brat. You can’t expect to punch someone and not get punched back.”

It was William’s turn to feel sheepish. That fact was true in his old world, let alone a world where strength was everything. Maybe they had got off on the wrong foot.

“Sorry,” William muttered as he looked away.

“Hm?” Wang Xiaoling looked at him strangely, “You really are an idiot! What’s there to apologize about? I already kicked you anyway, so we’re even.”

William wanted to point out that his punch and her kick were in no way equal, but he understood what she meant.

“Right, so how about I give you a ride to the city? I don’t want another honest merchant like me mistaking you for a scammer.”

“I’m not a scammer!”

“I know that now,” Wang Xiaoling rolled her eyes, “But what was I supposed to think when you stood in the middle of the road? Only scammers do that!”

William sighed and stopped arguing with her. He knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. “Fine, you win… and thanks. For the ride to the city, I mean.”

Wang Xiaoling smiled and said, “No problem, brat. You can entertain me on the way there. It’s still more than half a day’s travel to Xuanjing City.”

William was struggling to his feet when he heard the name of a city for the first time. That reminded him that besides learning the best way to use the system, his next priority was to figure out the situation in this region.

“This is painful to watch,” Wang Xiaoling muttered to herself before suddenly hoisting William over her shoulder.

William gasped in pain when her shoulder dug into his most-likely broken ribs. He would have said something, but there was a chance she would try to lessen the pain and unintentionally hurt him even more than she already was. At least his health wasn’t affected by this.

[-1 HP]

Wang Xiaoling was going to kill him.