Book 1 Chapter 3: Uncle Wu
The night was quiet. The moonlight shone into the house through the broken holes in the roof and illuminated a bed that was somewhat skewed. A person fell obliquely to the bed.
Suddenly, the shabby door of the house made a creaking noise. Two silhouettes secretly entered the house like cats.
Seeing that the person lying on the bed was a youngster who seemed to be sleeping like a log, these two people lowered their guard and stopped being so careful.
“Is it him?”A person asked the other in a low voice.
After looking at the person on the bed by making use of the moonlight, the asked person nodded: “Correct, it’s him. Let’s get to work.”
They walked up to the side of the bed. One of them untied a burlap sack from his shoulders and put it on the floor. It looked like they wanted to load the person on the bed into it.
“Brat, you can’t blame us brothers. You can only blame yourself for being so unlucky to have provoked our young master. Anyway, there’s no point for you to live this lowly life either so just die young then reincarnate. In your next life, try your best to be born in a rich family…”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Quickly put this brat into the burlap sack.”
“Oh, why is he holding a brick in his hand? Hah! Even holding it very tightly…”
“Don’t care about it. Just let him hold it. I have a good idea in mind. When we get to that place, don’t give him any weapon. Just let him get on with this brick ‘cause he’ll die anyway. When young master sees this, he’ll definitely feel even happier. Maybe he’ll even reward us again.”
“Ha ha! This idea of yours is really mean, but I like it…”
These two men’s movements were neat. It looked like they were used to doing this kind of thing. They loaded the youngster into the burlap sack, tied it carefully, carried it on their shoulders, got out of the house then quickly disappeared into the night… Bai Yunfei felt that this time he was having a particularly comfortable sleep, his body warm from head to toe and his mind somewhat fuzzy. He did not know where he was but he wanted to sleep a little more instead of waking up anyway.
“Young fellow, quickly wake up, wake up…”
Suddenly a voice resounded in Bai Yunfei’s ears, causing him to be much more clear-headed. After that he felt someone pushing his shoulder. He finally opened his eyes with a start then immediately sat up.
Patting his forehead in a somewhat absentminded manner, he murmured: “What’s wrong with me? Where is this place?”
He suddenly noticed that he was unexpectedly not in his own house. There was a layer of hay under his body and a white-haired old man beside him, who was looking at him rather worriedly.
“Grandpa, where is this place? And how can I be here?”Perhaps because the concerned look in the old man’s eyes caused Bai Yunfei to relax a bit, he looked at him doubtfully and asked.
“What? You don’t even know why you were captured and brought to this place? Oh… Young fellow, you offended someone you shouldn’t offend. Was it also that animal of the Zhang family who caught you and brought you here?”
“The Zhang family… Zhang Yang?”Bai Yunfei was a bit dumbstruck then immediately reacted.
“Oh, you know him? How did you provoke him?! Alas…” The old man looked at Bai Yunfei and sighed while shaking his head.
Bai Yunfei looked around and asked at the same time: “Why are we locked up in this place? When will we able to get out?”
This place was a large room with a layer of hay on the floor and absolutely nothing else. It did not have a window either. On the left of Bai Yunfei was an entrance blocked by logs — a prison cell?Through the door of the cell, Bai Yunfei could see a field about several hundred square meters outside. It was surrounded by a wall that was 3 to 4 m high. Further outside, there were several stepped floors of luxurious seats.
Bai Yunfei and the old man were in a corner of the room. Not far from them on one side, there were still about ten other people. However, these people all looked vicious. One could know at first sight that they were not nice people. They were talking with each other in a low voice other there, minding their own business.
“Get out?”The old man had a somewhat strange expression when he heard him say so, “Young fellow, you… Oh dear! The whole Luoshi City know that only few of those who offend the young master of the Zhang family Zhang Yang can survive…”
“What? I… I will die?”Bai Yunfei was shocked. His voice could not help getting a bit louder, drawing unfriendly looks from the group in front of him. He hurriedly lowered his voice, asking somewhat anxiously: “Grandpa, do you mean what you said?”
“Alas, young fellow, you don’t have to be too scared. Whatever will be, will be. It’s pointless for you to be scared…” The old man patted his shoulders and said comfortingly: “Plus I heard them say that in a while they will let us go to fight someone. As long as we can survive, they will let us go…” At this point, the old man could not help forcing a smile. Obviously he did not think that he himself and Bai Yunfei, an old man and a youngster, would have a good chance of surviving.
“Fight…” Bai Yunfei trembled in his heart and was even more terrified. But after seeing the comfortingly kind expression in the old man’s eyes, somehow he gradually calmed down. Perhaps the old man’s kindness reminded him of his own grandfather… “Grandpa, you…”
“My family name is Wu. Just call me Uncle Wu.”
“Um, Uncle Wu, why are you here too?”
But unexpectedly, this question of his turned the originally kind-looking old man into an extremely grieved one all of a sudden. His eyes then had a ferocious glint as he ground his teeth, as if he was a fierce animal that was about to pick someone to eat.
The old man’s sudden change gave Bai Yunfei a start. He shrunk back a little, appearing somewhat scared.
After a long time, the enmity in the old man’s eyes disappeared. He sighed deeply, saying: “I’m sorry, did I scare you…?”
Seeing that the old man had returned to normal, Bai Yunfei let out a sigh of relief then said while waving his hand: “No, you didn’t… Uncle Wu, if you don’t want to talk about it then there’s no need to talk about it…”
“Actually it’s not something that can’t be talked about either. Because I wanted to go kill that young master of the Zhang family Zhang Yang with a machete, his subordinates caught me and locked me up in here.”
“What?”Bai Yunfei really could not imagine that this was the reason Uncle Wu was locked up in this place.
“That animal Zhang Yang… He… He caused the death of my granddaughter!”Uncle Wu’s body trembled somewhat, his mind in a state of agitation, “My poor Xiao Yu’er was only 16 years old!”
“Three days ago, my dear granddaughter said she wanted to go buy a bolt of cloth and make a piece of clothing for me. She said winter was about to come and she couldn’t let me freeze…”At this point, the look in Uncle Wu’s eyes was filled with loving-kindness, a smile also showing up on his face. Bai Yunfei could feel his unlimited love for his his granddaughter, because previously his grandfather had had this kind of expression as well when looking at him.
“But… But after she went out this time, we would be separated forever!”Tears streamed down from Uncle Wu’s eyes, his expression sorrowful.
“The neighbor next door ran over and told me that Xiao Yu’er had been captured by that Zhang Yang’s subordinates. I rushed to the Zhang family to ask for her back, but when I arrived… she was already an ice-cold body!”
“Xiao Yu’er, my dear granddaughter, she was unwilling to endure Zhang Yang’s insults so she was beaten to death by that animal!”
That ferocious expression of a beast about to eat a human showed up on Uncle Wu’s face again, but this time Bai Yunfei was not afraid at all. He only felt sad and indignant.
“After I buried my dear granddaughter, my neighbors all advised me to swallow my anger, saying that I wouldn’t able to fight that Zhang family. I also knew that, with commoners like us, even if the Zhang family kill some more, the mayor and his subordinates would only turn a blind eye. The lives of people like us are just like ants in their eyes.”
“But, I couldn’t stand it! If I wouldn’t at least do something, how could I be worthy of my good granddaughter? I would die with an everlasting regret! So I grabbed the machete in my house. Taking advantage of when he came out drunk from a brothel, I rushed up. I wanted to chop him into thousands of pieces! I wanted him to pay for my granddaughter with his life!”
“In the end… Before I could even touch a corner of his clothes, I was caught by his henchmen, then… I was locked up in here. It’s been one day and one night already… Cough cough…”
As Uncle Wu finished talking, because he was too agitated, he began to cough rather uncomfortably.
Bai Yunfei had been silent all along. He could not think of any words capable of comforting the old man so he had to catch his slightly quivering hands, pat his back and say in a concerned manner: “Don’t be too agitated, Uncle Wu. This isn’t good for your body. That kind of person is lower than an animal. One day he will be punished properly…”
Uncle Wu looked at Yunfei in a somewhat stupefied manner. Only after a long time did he say: “Alas… My Xiao Yu’er often held my hands and patted my back for me then reproached me for being too agitated like this as well… Young fellow, I still haven’t asked your name.”
“I’m Bai Yunfei. You can just call me Yunfei.”
“Um, Yunfei, I can tell that you’re a good boy… Now there are fewer and fewer people like you. People nowadays, whether outwardly or inwardly, only care about themselves. They do anything, regardless of the life and death of other people. They, have even thrown away human nature. A person should live his life with a clear conscience…” As Uncle Wu finished talking, seeing that Bai Yunfei was looking at him in a somewhat stupefied manner, he asked: “What’s wrong? You don’t agree with what I said?”
“No, I was just thinking of my departed grandpa. He… also said the same words before.”
Right at this moment, several people appeared outside the door of the cell. They put a bucket of steamed buns and a bucket of water outside the door then said loudly to the people inside: “Hey you people! Come here and eat! You must eat as much as you need, so that in a while you’ll have strength to risk your lives!”
Because there were really quite a few steamed buns in that bucket, only when those ten or so people in front them had already eaten their fill did Uncle Wu stand up and get some. He also scooped water with a bowl. He then returned to Bai Yunfei’s side, handed him the food and said: “Are you hungry? Let’s eat. Only after eating our fill do we have strength to live on.”
Bai Yunfei ate steamed buns while talking with Uncle Wu in a low voice. Seeing the kind look in Uncle Wu’s eyes, he felt a slight tremble in his heart. Since his grandfather’s death, he seemed to have never experienced this kind of feeling again — this kind of ‘warm’ feeling.
After eating several steamed buns and talking a little more, Uncle Wu seemed to be tired. He then leaned on the wall to rest. Bai Yunfei, however, continued to shrink into the corner. Only now did he have time to recall what had happened the day before.
“How did all the injuries on my body disappear?”Only now did Yunfei discover that all those injuries caused by the beating yesterday were unexpectedly gone!His body did not feel uncomfortable in the least either.
“Yesterday evening… it seemed I passed out? Why? Right! Upgrade… The brick!”
Thinking about this, Yunfei subconsciously reached his hand towards the area beside him. Unexpectedly he really touched an object with clear edges and corners — it was none other than that brick, which he had clung on when he had passed out the evening before!
“When you were taken to this place yesterday evening, you were holding this brick tightly in your hand… Could it be it has some important meaning?”Uncle Wu asked doubtfully as he saw him pick up the brick.
“Er… Nope, this is the brick I put under a leg of my bed…”Yunfei did not know how to explain either. Luckily, seeing him get tongue-tied in a stupefied manner, Uncle Wu did not mind. He gave a few laughs and did not ask him again.
Yunfei lowered his head and looked at the brick in his hand:
“Item grade: Normal.”
“Item upgrade level: +10.”
“Damage: 9”
“Additional damage: 16”
“+10 Additional effect: Attacks have a 1% chance of stunning the target for a maximum of 3 seconds (when attacking the head, the chance of stunning increases to 5%).”
“Upgrade requirement: 12 soulforce.”
“Sure enough, everything that happened yesterday evening was real…”
“+10 Additional effect? Stun? What does this mean? If I beat someone with this brick, of course I can stun him. Why is there still a chance of several percent?”
“Let’s upgrade it again and see?”
But he abandoned this idea soon afterwards. Yesterday evening, it seemed he had lost consciousness only because of upgrading this brick. So, how could he dare to casually upgrade it in this place today?
Holding the brick, Bai Yunfei was lost in thought. After an indefinitely long time, he was suddenly woken up with start by a series of noises.
He turned around and saw that that circle of luxurious seats outside were already filled with people dressed in luxurious clothes. One could tell at first sight that they were plutocrats and aristocrats. All of them had an excited, expectant expression. They were talking with each other in a low voice. Some people also gesticulated at the captives in here while talking with the people around them.
“Everybody! Welcome to the Coliseum!”
Suddenly, a resounding voice rang out in the field. Those muttering plutocrats and aristocrats temporarily stopped talking, but the expressions on their faces became even more excited, even to the point of looking somewhat… crazy.
“Those lowly lives will struggle for survival and fight each other like wild animals! This is the exciting and bloody Coliseum! Let us enjoy today’s visual feast!”