Snake-Neck Gao sneered, kicking over a small stool from the old woman's food stall. "Come on, Granny. The protection fee ensures roaches like us don't bother you. It's a public service, really."
His two lackeys snickered. The old woman trembled, clutching the few credit bills she had made that day.
"Please," she whimpered, "this is all I have..."
"Then I guess it's all ours," Gao said, reaching for the money.
"Excuse me," a calm voice cut through the tense alleyway. "I think you dropped this."
The three thugs turned to see a teenager in a dark hoodie standing in the alley's entrance. In his hand, he held up the small stool Gao had just kicked.
Gao's eyes narrowed. "Get lost, kid. This is adult business."
"Is it?" Lin Ming replied, casually tossing the wooden stool up and catching it. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like three grown men are trying to rob their own grandmother. It's kind of sad."
"What did you say?!" Gao roared, insulted. The two lackeys cracked their knuckles and spread out, blocking any escape.
Lin Ming simply smiled. He set the stool back down gently beside the old woman. "Don't worry, Granny. Your friendly neighborhood watch is here." He then turned to face the thugs. "I'll give you one chance. Apologize, return anything you've ever taken from her, and I'll only break one of your arms."
Gao stared for a second, then burst out laughing. "You hear this kid? He's a comedian! Alright, funnyman, since you're so eager to be a hero, let's see how you..."
He never finished the sentence.
Lin Ming moved. To the thugs, it was like he teleported. One moment he was ten feet away, the next he was right in front of Lackey Number One.
He didn't use a flashy martial arts move. He just grabbed the thug's outstretched arm and twisted it. There was a sickening CRUNCH.
The lackey let out a shriek that was half-pain, half-surprise.
[Bone broken. First warning delivered.]
[Opponent's surprise + Thug's agony = +80 Battle Will Points.]
[System Comment: Clean. Efficient. A solid 7/10 for technique. Point deduction for not using a witty one-liner during the takedown.]
"System, you're a harsh critic," Lin Ming grumbled internally.
Lackey Number Two, momentarily frozen in shock, finally reacted, swinging a clumsy punch at Lin Ming's head. Lin Ming ducked under it with ease and swept the man's legs out from under him. The thug crashed hard onto the grimy pavement, the air knocked out of his lungs.
Lin Ming then pinned him by placing a foot firmly on his chest. "Rule one of the neighborhood watch," he said loudly, for both the thug and the system's benefit, "Always look where you're swinging."
[Face-plant achieved. Pun delivered.]
[+70 Battle Will Points.]
[System Approval: Okay, that was better. Witty one-liner score restored.]
Snake-Neck Gao was now sweating, his bravado gone. This wasn't some scrawny kid. This was a monster. He instinctively pulled out a rusty combat knife.
"Stay back! I'm warning you!" he stammered.
Lin Ming saw the knife and sighed dramatically. "Bringing a knife to a... well, a beatdown? That's just poor sportsmanship."
Gao, seeing his fear as weakness, let out a war cry and lunged, stabbing wildly.
To Lin Ming, with his Qi Refining perception, Gao's "wild lunge" was a slow-motion disaster. He sidestepped the first stab, grabbed Gao's knife-wielding wrist with one hand, and with the other, delivered a swift, open-palmed chop to the side of Gao's neck.
It wasn't hard enough to kill, or even cause serious damage. It was just perfectly placed to hit the nerve cluster there.
Gao's eyes rolled back into his head, and his entire body went limp. He collapsed like a sack of potatoes, unconscious before he even knew what hit him. The knife clattered to the ground.
[Flawless victory against armed opponent.]
[Style Points Awarded for nonchalant neck-chop.]
[+200 Battle Will Points.]
Lin Ming dusted off his hands and looked at his new total.
[Battle Will Points: 1064]
"Not bad for ten minutes of work," he mused.
He turned to the old woman, who was staring at the scene with wide, disbelieving eyes. He offered her a warm, reassuring smile, completely at odds with the swift violence he had just dispensed.
"It's alright now, Granny," he said. He picked up the credit bills the thugs had dropped and handed them back to her. "You should probably head home. It's late."
She took the money with trembling hands and bowed deeply. "Thank you, young man... thank you..."
"Don't mention it," Lin Ming said. As he walked away, leaving the three unconscious thugs for the local security patrols to find, he thought, 'This is a much faster way to earn points.'
The slums, once a symbol of humanity's desperate survival, were now his personal training ground. He continued his "patrol," following the sounds of trouble. Over the next hour, he stopped two muggings, a turf scuffle between two minor gangs, and convinced a drunkard that trying to fight a light pole was a losing battle.
His point total steadily climbed.
[+40 for stopping a purse-snatcher.]
[+150 for dismantling a 4-man scuffle. System Note: The enemy's choreography was abysmal. Zero style points.]
[+10 for saving the light pole. It is now eternally grateful.]
By the time he decided to head home, his system panel read:
[Name: Lin Ming]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation Realm: Qi Refining - Early Stage]
[Battle Will Points: 1534 / 2000]
He was getting close.
As he slipped back into his apartment, he saw a light on under his father's door. He paused, listening.
"I'm telling you, Tao, he's different," his mother was whispering urgently. "The way he carries himself... the fight at school..."
"I know," came his father's low voice. "I felt it. The boy has a strength that isn't normal. That technique he used on me... it's not something you learn from 'documentaries.' It was precise. Refined."
There was a long pause.
"Do you think..." Mai's voice was hesitant. "Is it possible... he has awakened?"
Lin Ming's heart hammered in his chest. "Awakened" was the slang term for the one-in-a-million humans who naturally developed abilities, often weak psionic or physical enhancements. They were rare, and often recruited into special military divisions.
"I don't know," his father replied. "But if he has... this world just became a much more dangerous place for him. We need to be careful. For his sake."
Lin Ming silently retreated to his room, his mind reeling. His parents suspected. They didn't know about cultivation or rebirth, but they knew something was wrong. Something was special.
This was both a blessing and a curse. Their concern touched him deeply, but it also meant he had to be much, much more careful. He couldn't risk exposing his true secret.
He sat on his bed and took a deep breath. 466 points to go. He already had his next target in mind. The school's combat assessment wasn't over. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals were all tomorrow.
And in the finals, he would likely face the school's undisputed number one student: Pham Tuan. A boy rumored to be from a military family, whose skills were far beyond those of an average student.
A hidden tiger, Lin Ming thought with a smirk. Exactly what I need.