Chapter 1 The Early Days

In a sunny morning, two young figures appeared on the streets of the community.

One was wearing a blue short-sleeved T-shirt with light brown hair permed into small waves; the other was in a black and blue tracksuit with brown hair swept to the side.

They were E.J. and Derek, both twelve years old, and known as the neighborhood bullies.

These two young men enjoyed picking on other students. Whether you were short, ugly, quirky, or overweight, or… simply one or two grades below them, it could be a reason for them to bully you.

Of course, their behavior didn't reach the point of public outrage; it was just bullying in the form of pranks... like tripping you, throwing your snacks on the ground, saying trash talk, or knocking off your hat.

On this day, E.J. and Derek were aimlessly wandering around the neighborhood early in the morning.

Like most American kids living in the eighties, in an era when the internet was far from being popularized, "going out to play with friends" was their most common choice of entertainment.

"Hey, look, isn't that Horace walking across the street?"

"Yeah, that fatty's eating a Snickers again."

"Should we mess with him?"

"Sounds good to me."

The two agreed instantly, and quickly stepped forward, blocking Horace's path.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show." E.J. stood in front of Horace, raised his right hand, pretending to hold a microphone, and said in the tone of a radio host, "Tonight's question is—what makes fatty so fat?" He looked at Horace and maliciously added, "Fatty, what do you think?"

"Leave me alone, E.J...." Horace replied grumpily.

"Hmm... 'Leave me alone, E.J.'..." E.J. pretended to be thoughtful, repeating the other's words, then said, "...No, that's not a good answer, it doesn't make any sense at all..." Saying that, he handed the "microphone" he imagined to Derek and added, "Let's hand over the microphone to street reporter Derek and hear his thoughts."

"Hello everyone, I'm Derek." Derek also cooperated by taking the "microphone," and said to Horace with a mocking expression, "I am currently located on a street blocked by the existence of a fatty." His sarcasm was not clever, but quite mean, "Hey! Fatty." He suddenly raised his voice to Horace, "Can you stop eating?"

As he said this, E.J. reached out and knocked the Snickers from Horace's hand, then stomped on it hard with his shoe.

"Listen, I have some glandular issues, okay?" Although Horace looked simple and timid, he didn't give in to the two bullies, but retorted, "At least I'm not like some people... who have no brains."

"What did you say? Dumbass?" E.J. raised his voice immediately upon hearing this, pushed Horace, and repeated, "Say it again!"

"My name isn't Dumbass, my name is Horace!" Horace replied bluntly.

"Heh... whore... ass..." Derek immediately sneered, forcibly mispronouncing the other's name (here he deliberately separated the word Horace and read it as whore...ass...).

E.J. grabbed the comic book Horace was holding in his other hand, tore it in half, and threw it on the ground.

"Oh~ oops, I accidentally tore it." After doing all this, E.J. covered his face with one hand, pretending to be concerned, "Maybe it's because I have no brains."

Horace looked down at the Snickers and comic book on the ground and muttered something aggrievedly.

Although he said it softly, the other party still heard it.

"What did you say? Dumbass!" E.J.'s line was exactly the same as before. Usually, these school bullies really don't have good brains, so their vocabulary is also limited, "Say it again if you have the guts!"

Horace really had guts. The simple and honest fatty mustered his courage and repeated what he had just muttered in a volume that the other party could hear clearly: "I said—you two are assholes."

Before he finished speaking, E.J. pushed Horace and pounced forward, pinning him to the ground.

Then, he straddled Horace's stomach, using his height and size to suppress the little fatty, and then delivered a set of wild punches to his face.

Horace's reaction was the same as that of all children who were not good at fighting. After falling into a disadvantage, he protected the parts being hit with both hands and instinctively closed his eyes.

In fact, E.J.'s fighting style was not clever, and he didn't use much strength when punching. Even if you didn't block these punches, they wouldn't break the skin or leave bruises. After all, this was just a children's fight. In their minds, there was no intention to hurt people, just to pat the other person a few times and make them beg for mercy.

"Let go of that kid!"

However, at this moment, a stern shout came, interrupting the bullying.

The "sternness" of this "stern shout"... was mainly in the tone, but the speaker's voice didn't sound intimidating at all, it could even be said to be cute...

"Huh?" E.J., who was straddling Horace, and Derek, who was standing beside him cheering, looked up together, and looked at a young figure five or six meters away.

This was a little boy dressed in a full set of miniature assassin gear. The attire was very exquisite, with gold trim embroidered on the edges of the hood and details of the clothes, and the arm guards on the wrists, the leather boxes on the torso and waist used to hold various props, the throwing knife belt, the belt, etc. were all complete. Even though these eighties kids had never seen or heard of the term "Assassin's Creed," the coolness of this outfit was enough to make people feel ignorant but awesome.

"What? You want to mind your own business? Robin Hood." Derek stared at Wang Tanzhi for a few seconds, and replied with a provocative tone, mocking Xiao Tan's style.

Because he was three years younger than the other party, Xiao Tan's size was significantly different from that of E.J. and Derek, so the latter was not afraid of him at all.

"Why don't you go find someone your own size or bigger to fight?" Xiao Tan asked a silly question.

As everyone knows, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and bullying others based on power, are iron rules in the bully world. Under the premise of not having an advantage in numbers or physique, they usually do not take the initiative to attack.

"Hey, you want to be a hero, kid?" E.J. stood up from Horace and approached Xiao Tan with Derek, "I advise you to save it, I don't want to see you go home crying to your mommy later."

"Same to you..." Xiao Tan stood tall (although only one meter three), showing an attitude of being ready to fight at any time.

No matter what, he was an adult. Even without the skills and items in the game, just relying on an adult's mentality and experience, he could beat those two kids even with a physical disadvantage.

"Watch me beat you flat!" Derek and E.J. rushed up together and used the basic routine of children fighting again—push them down first.

This fighting mode was also a habit they had developed from fighting children who were weaker than them for many years. Those children usually couldn't find a way to get rid of being suppressed by weight, so they would be unilaterally beaten.

But... Xiao Tan wouldn't give the other party this opportunity.

Facing the two teenagers who were almost a head taller than him and were rushing towards him side by side, he decisively supported the ground with one hand and came up with a side kick to the lower body. In the blink of an eye, the soles of his two small feet accurately stepped on the knees of those two.

In the next second, E.J. and Derek both screamed miserably, fell to the ground holding their left and right knees respectively, and then rolled on the ground in pain.

"Ah... after all, they are just kids, this level is enough to solve it." Xiao Tan thought in his heart while adjusting his posture, "But these two guys are too exaggerated... I hardly used any force..."

Just as he was thinking, the two of them really stood up from the ground, but after they got up, they immediately chose to limp and run in the opposite direction...

"Damn it! You just wait!"

"Haa... haaa... wait for me..."

After the two of them ran away embarrassedly for dozens of meters, Xiao Tan walked to Horace's side and asked, "Are you okay, ki... uh... buddy?" He almost blurted out the word "kid."

"I'm fine, thank you." Horace patted the dust off his body and asked with an excited expression, "I said... you're really amazing, you can actually do that kind of move, what is that? Chinese Kung Fu?"

"Um... sort of." Xiao Tan smiled embarrassedly and replied casually.

Unexpectedly, Horace became even more excited: "Oh! That's so cool." He paused for half a second, then added, "Um... my name is Horace, what's yours?"

"Wang Tanzhi." Xiao Tan directly said his game nickname. According to his experience, the system usually handles cultural differences in terms of names.

"Oh, Wang, nice to meet you." Sure enough, Horace's reaction seemed perfectly natural.

"Me too, Horace." Xiao Tan replied. At this point in the conversation, Xiao Tan actually wanted to find an opportunity to leave. Although it was important to be a chivalrous hero, he still had a mission to do.

"Ah! Right!" But suddenly, Horace seemed to have thought of something, and he widened his eyes and said, "Wang, are you interested in joining our club?"

"Club?" Xiao Tan was puzzled for half a second and asked, "What club?"

Horace didn't answer his question immediately, but continued to ask: "Do you have time now? I'll take you to meet some people."

…………

At the same time, in the same community, on another street.

"Yo~ isn't this Brother Seven Slaughter?" Feng Bujue, who was riding a small bicycle, put one foot on the ground, looked at the person blocking his way, and quickly ate the toast in his mouth.

The reason why Brother Jue and Seven Slaughter could recognize each other was definitely not because they had known each other since they were young. The two mainly relied on clothing to judge who the other was. After the clothes matched, looking at the face again, they would naturally find some similarities to the adult version.

"That's right, it's me." Seven Slaughter replied with a smile on his face.

"Are you... out walking the dog?" Feng Bujue glanced at the big dog the other party was leading and asked with a grin.

"Are you... out practicing driving?" Seven Slaughter also glanced at the mount under Brother Jue's crotch and returned the compliment.

"Hehe... you wait, I'll lock the car first." Feng Bujue replied with a forced smile.

"Hehe... you also wait, I'll tie up the dog first." Seven Slaughter also replied with a forced smile.

The two of them completed their tasks by a big tree on the side of the road and a fence respectively, and then returned to the sidewalk on the street.

"I didn't expect to be able to fight you so soon." After standing still, Seven Slaughter took the lead in speaking.

"Yeah~ life is really full of surprises." Feng Bujue replied.

"Perhaps... our duel will directly determine the outcome of the entire game." Seven Slaughter added.

"That's not necessarily true..." Feng Bujue said, "Our teammates are not weak either... are they?"

"Hmph... that's true." Seven Slaughter smiled and already assumed a fighting stance.

Feng Bujue also turned sideways to face the enemy, ready to respond.

The two of them were silent... facing off for nearly a minute. During this period, a postman, two morning runners, a patrolling police car, nine passers-by, and three other bear children accompanied by their parents passed by them or across the street.

Basically... no one kept their eyes on them for more than five seconds.

"Yaa—"

"Aah—"

Suddenly, the two of them shouted in unison with their childish voices, and then their bodies moved with the sound, rushing out to attack.

Pa pa pa pa...

Immediately afterwards, they used their childish bodies to perform various gorgeous fighting moves and launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle on the street.

Although Brother Jue and Seven Slaughter didn't mean to hold back, their strength and speed... had been reduced to a very, very low level. As a result, the scene of this fight was extremely... cute.

There was no collision of strength, no energy cutting through the air, and no dazzling speed. There were only two agile elementary school students, exchanging blows back and forth on the street.

After fighting for only ten seconds, Feng Bujue realized a problem, and he directly said this during the fight: "Damn it... this is not right! After both sides' physical fitness has declined, a guy like you who can use fighting skills has a great advantage!"

"You can't blame me for that." Seven Slaughter replied, "Everyone's body has shrunk, that's fair. It's your own problem that you don't know fighting skills."

"Tch..." Feng Bujue spat unhappily, "Then let's decide the outcome based on skills!" After saying that, he activated...