CHAPTER 55: WILL BE REVISED SOON

"Huff... huff... this guy’s fast," Brad wheezed, sweat dripping down his temple. "I can’t hit him no matter what."

Snarling, he lunged forward once more.

This time, I didn’t just dodge.

As his dagger came slicing toward my ribs, I pivoted on my back foot, letting the blade pass within an inch of my shirt. Before he could retract his arm, I dropped my weight, crouched low, and slammed my fist into the meat of his forearm.

In a way, they operated like private investigators or information brokers. You could practically hire them to dig up anything. But unlike professionals, they had no sense of ethics. They had no bottom line and weren’t scared to cross the boundary without hesitation.

If they needed to, they’d break into someone’s home, kill the occupants, and wait inside just to eavesdrop on a target living next door. As long as it helped them get what they wanted, they didn’t care who got caught in the crossfire.

Their infamous motto was:

"There’s no such thing as a forever secret—only cowards who don’t dare to uncover it."

Naturally, as the gang’s reputation grew, so did the notoriety of its top members.

Within the Sadis Gang, no name was more well-known than "Rat" Peter. It was rumored he served as the left hand of Alduin Sadis himself, the gang’s leader.

And now that very dangerous man had shown up at my house?

What could possibly be the meaning of this?

His involvement suggested the original Aiden’s death wasn’t simple at all!

At first, I thought the original Aiden had simply gotten on the wrong side of some small gang. That alone would’ve been bad enough.

But if one of the Five Rings was behind everything, this whole matter might run deeper and complicated than I ever imagined.

’What would they gain from killing the original Aiden? And what were they searching for in his house?’

"It was nighttime, so I couldn’t see clearly. But I saw "Rat" Peter standing outside your house with a few of his men. I could hear stuff breaking inside. Then someone came out and whispered something to Peter, and he went in himself. After that, I didn’t stick around. I was afraid they’d spot me." Richie said.

He suddenly grabbed my arms and continued. "Aiden, tell me what’s going on. Did you do something to piss them off? If so, you can’t stay here. You need to run. Leave the city. Get as far away as you can."

"Wait here, alright? I’m going back to my place. I’ve got some savings back at my house. With the way things are, you’ll need it more than I do."

I was caught off guard by Richie’s actions, but quickly touched by his good intentions.

I instinctively softened my tone and patted his shoulder. "Relax. The situation hasn’t reached the point where I need to flee the city."

Honestly, I was very impressed. For someone who grew up in the West Borough, a place where poverty and crime went hand in hand, Richie still managed to hold on to a kind heart.

That kind of attitude takes either a heart of gold... or just plain stupidi- I mean naivety.

Richie scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. "Ah, well... my boss signed me up for a tutoring class. Said I should learn how to read and write."

"This quest definitely isn’t any easier than collecting five hundred gold in a month."

I sighed, already pessimistic about the next quest.

[Sleep with Priestess]

[Reward: Permanent Stat Upgrader x1]

I went completely speechless.ut the trash, and looked at the second thug in silence.

He pointed at me with a trembling finger.

"Y-you! You dare to knock out Brad?! Don’t you know who we are?!"

"Isn’t it a little late to bring that up? You should’ve mentioned it before I put your friend to sleep."

I tilted my head slightly.

"Besides, do I look like someone who gives a damn about who you are? If you don’t get lost in the next five seconds, I’ll be happy to make sure you end up the same way."

I raised my hand and started counting.

"One."

The thug looked surprised, clearly not expecting me to actually count.

"You! I’m warning you, you’re messing with the wro—"

"Two."

He paused, gritting his teeth.

"Three."

He looked like he was ready to spew more words, but his eyes darted to his unconscious friend, and he became extremely hesitant.

"Four."

Almost immediately, he turned around and bolted down the passage.

But after a few steps, he glanced over his shoulder and shouted, "I’ll remember your face! You can forget about dying peacefully when we meet again!"

I continued emotionlessly.

"Five."

The thug flinched and took off running at full speed, this time without looking back.

I slowly let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

It was a breath of relief.

When I looked down, I noticed my hands were trembling just a little.

"Even though this body has seen a lot of violence, in the end...I’m still the same guy who spent over twenty years on Earth, a place that was mostly peaceful. Maybe the body is used to this, but the soul doesn’t lie. I’ve never liked violence."

His right eye was hidden behind an eyepatch, while his other black eye glared angrily at the woman in front of him.

They were standing there with their arms crossed, trying way too hard to look intimidating.

"This road was opened by me," one declared.

"This tree was planted by me," the other chimed in.

"If you want to pass here, leave your money behind."

Naturally, I knew better than to mess with guys like this. If I were still the same person back on Earth, I probably would’ve just handed over the money or tried to look for alternative routes.

But maybe it was because I had already died once. Inherited Aiden’s memories, that was filled with bloody, adult-rated scenes, really far from anything peaceful. Met a goddess-like being and even conversed with her. Compared to those, meeting a few street thugs just didn’t seem frightening anymore.

In fact, right now, I even felt the urge to poke fun at their little act.

"What tree? I don’t see any tree here."

They both froze, clearly caught off guard by my response.

For a moment, neither said anything, looking speechless. Finally, one of them snapped out of it and yelled, "You fucker! That’s not the point you should be concerned about! If you want to pass through us, you have to pay!"

"But you just said you planted a tree, and I don’t see one. And you claimed you built this road, but everyone knows it’s been here for more than twenty-five years. Judging by how you two look, you can’t be older than thirty. Are you telling me you were laying down roads when you were just less than ten?"

I paused, then put a hand over my chest and bowed my head solemnly.

"If that’s true, I must say...I pity you. My condolences."

The two froze again, but this time they snapped out of it faster. Their faces turned bright red, like they were about to explode from rage.

Grinding his teeth, one of them drew his dagger and charged straight at me.

"You’re courting death!"

"Damn, this guy can’t take a joke," I grumbled quietly.

In just a few seconds, he had closed the distance. His arm lashed out like a snake, aiming the blade straight at my chest.

At first, I had no idea what to do. Back on Earth, I had almost zero street-fighting experience; hell, I had never even thrown a proper punch at someone.

Yet, just as the dagger was about to reach me, my body moved on its own, almost purely on instinct. I twisted sharply to the left, and the blade missed me by a hair.

Still processing my own reflex, I looked up to find the hatchet man glaring at me like I had just insulted his mother.

"You dare to dodge?!" the thug roared.

"What do you expect me to do? Stand still and let you stab me? Are you fucking serious?" I shot back.

"Even so, you shouldn’t dodge! I might’ve spared you after one slice. But now? Now you’ve pissed me off. A single cut won’t be enough!"

"Bullshit! Do you take me for some innocent kid? " I spat.

Fuming, he lunged at me again. But, just like before, all of his attacks ended up missing.

This dragged on for nearly half a minute.

"Looks like someone needs lessons on how to swing a dagger," I said lightly. By now, I had a clear grasp of my body’s rhythm, dodging him was as easy as dodging a kid’s punch.

"You bastard! Once I get you, I’ll torture you so bad you’ll beg me to stop!"

"Yawn. Try hitting me first, then talk," I said, letting out an exaggerated yawn, which drove the hatched man even madder.

Strangely, even with a man actively trying to carve me up, I wasn’t panicking and even still in the mood to fool around.

’Is this because I possessed Aiden’s body? Not only did I inherit his memories, but also his reflexes, traits, skills, and much more? Things that used to terrify me, like having a lunatic trying to stab me, now barely even faze me.’

"Even so...what choice do I have?"

In this world, where the law of the jungle was still the rule, I couldn’t afford to be soft. I couldn’t act like I used to back on Earth.

Here, I had to be ruthless. I had to be hard.

I had to change the way I thought, to something more like, If you don’t want to get beaten, then you have to beat them first.

"I have to get used to this," I murmured.