"Hey, man! Get up! Why are you lying here?" One guy approached Lin, who was lying on the sand, and shouted.
"Maybe something happened to him?" asked another person.
"What do you think could happen to him in vertical reality? If he just wanted to lie down, he could've done that in real life too. But he clearly passed out," another guy explained.
"I-I saw him swinging that purple katana, and after one more strike, he suddenly collapsed and blacked out..." said the guy in red.
"He passed out from exhaustion?"
"How could he pass out in Arsenal? Here, fatigue is way easier to handle than in real life. Even if you fight for three days and nights non-stop, the exhaustion only lasts about an hour, and you recover quickly. But he's been lying here for two or three hours."
"Well, then I don't know," one guy shrugged.
"Yeah, I don't get it either," another guy also shrugged.
"I-I don't know either..." added the guy in red.
The four of them stood around, watching the guy's body, and noticed him twitch!
"H-he moved!" said the guy in red.
The other three noticed it too and began trying to shake Lin's body.
Meanwhile, Lin heard faint voices from several people. He suddenly opened his red eyes and jumped up, swinging his purple katana through the air to scare away the strangers.
Whoosh!
The katana sliced the air, and the four people surrounding Lin flinched and quickly stepped back. The guy in red even fell to the ground, shocked as he watched Lin's katana.
"T-that speed… Only Third League players can reach that level!" The guy looked at Lin with a spark of awe in his eyes.
"Hey, man! Why try to kill us? We were trying to help you!" one of them shouted at Lin, clearly upset by his actions.
"Help?" Lin looked around and slowly recalled the recent events.
"Right, I'm not there..." Lin sighed in relief, but then he remembered the faces of Zan and John. His expression twisted a little. He slowly sat down and closed his eyes, thinking: "I thought I had forgotten about that incident… Zan and John..."
"I regret it. I still regret picking up that knife, but... at the same time, I understand that if I hadn't killed Zan then, I probably would've died at the hands of some other kid. After all..." Lin's eyes turned cold, and he continued: "her death completely shaped who I am now. I decided that for my own survival, I would do whatever it takes — until I learned that the Matrix family killed my own family..."
Lin looked up at the sky and sighed.
"After that, my goals changed… I wanted revenge... I didn't know what else to do. And revenge... it was a convenient goal to dedicate my life to. Difficult, yes, which meant I had to constantly improve myself, but also meaningful, because… If not for the Matrix family, I would've lived peacefully with my family and been happy with a normal life..." He closed his eyes and tried to feel the world through his pain and desires.
The people around him didn't understand a thing. To them, Lin's actions seemed strange. He was just sitting in virtual reality resting, even though he could've done that in the real world and felt a hundred times better!
After a while, Lin stood up, looked at the people surrounding him, and smiled at them — though his smile was hidden behind a mask.
"After some training, it's necessary to practice with real people to solidify the techniques. So... Who wants to spar with me?" Lin looked around and asked.
The guy in red immediately shook his head, showing he wasn't interested. The others also weren't in the mood to fight someone who had just nearly killed them with a single fast katana swing.
Still, one brave soul stepped forward. He slowly drew a silver rapier from its sheath. As he got into position, Lin asked if he was ready:
"Are you ready?"
The guy nodded.
"Yes. But no using your body — just the weapon!"
Lin nodded and slowly placed his katana back in its sheath. He leaned slightly forward and gripped the katana handle tightly with his right hand. He looked at his opponent and said:
"We may begin."
The guy was a little confused by Lin's posture but didn't ask questions. He rushed forward, tightly gripping the rapier in one hand.
"How clumsy," Lin sighed, and as the opponent got within range, he quickly and sharply drew his katana and swung it.
Whoosh!
Clang!
The katana collided with the rapier and knocked the guy to the side. He was a bit stunned, but before he could recover, another swing from Lin came flying at him!
Whoosh!
Two hands slid off the body and fell into the sand, and the guy collapsed onto the ground and muttered:
"I lost..."
Lin said nothing. Instead, he looked at the katana's blade and thought:
"Those two strikes were much better than before training… This proves that improvement and self-development are the key to reaching the top," he looked at the others and asked:
"Who else wants to fight me?"
Everyone shook their heads side to side, clearly showing Lin they didn't want to face him. He sighed and looked across the arena, which held over three hundred people, and muttered:
"It's fine, there are still others I can fight," and with those words, he ran toward a group currently battling.
The three guys glanced at each other and realized what they all thought about this guy:
He's a combat maniac!
...
"Yeah, I've thought about it, but I still think the sword's not for me," the guy with the spear replied with a smile to the girl standing in front of him.
"Well, if you like the spear, I won't force you to switch to a sword..." the girl sighed, looked around, and noticed a strange guy in black clothing with a katana on his waist walking toward them.
It was Lin.
"Who's that guy... Why is he coming toward us?" the girl became slightly tense and moved closer to the guy with the spear.
"Something wrong?" the guy asked.
"There," the girl pointed at Lin.
The guy looked that way and saw Lin. He frowned, instantly realizing this guy was far stronger than anyone he had fought before.
"Interesting," he smiled at Lin and asked with curiosity:
"What do you want from me, friend?" He extended a hand toward Lin.
"A fight," Lin answered quickly and drew his katana from its sheath.
"A fight? You want to fight me, friend? Ha, I'll grant your wish," he quickly understood what kind of person Lin was and didn't ask more questions. Instead, he took up a special stance with his spear and smiled at Lin.
"Let's begin!" he shouted, preparing to receive Lin's attack.
Whoosh!
Lin activated his full speed and nearly vanished from sight. He brought the katana down at the spearman's left shoulder!
"Damn! He's fast!" The spearman didn't have time to react and was struck by Lin's katana!
Chzz!
The sound of metal clashing echoed — the katana struggled to cut through the spearman's armor. But Lin gripped his sword harder and poured all his strength into it!
Chzzz!
Bang!
"H-how..." The spearman was in complete shock — some swordsman had managed to cut through his armor, which cost as much as a plane wing!
The right side of his body slowly slid down diagonally. He tried to say something, but the game system quickly logged him out and forced him to disconnect from the server.
The girl watching this asked in astonishment:
"Y-you... Are you a smurf?"
"Who? No, I'm no smurf. I'm Neo." Lin looked at the girl and replied.
"Neo?"
Lin simply nodded and ran off toward other fights.
The girl sighed and logged out of the game. She wanted to report this "Neo" because his skills were clearly above First League level. And here he was, messing around with lower-level players and killing them.
She had never liked that.
An hour after she submitted the report, she received a reply from the support team that greatly surprised her:
"What! It's confirmed that this guy's account — Neo — was registered four hours ago? And he's not connected to any other accounts, so they won't ban him?! What nonsense!" She threw a few daggers and stomped her foot angrily.
...
Meanwhile, Lin stood in the center of the arena, surrounded by the corpses of various players. He was breathing heavily and looked toward the gathered crowd.
"Who wants to fight me next?" he asked, taking a few deep breaths.
But no one responded to his words. A heavy silence hung in the air, occasionally broken by a strong gust of wind.
It was obvious that no one wanted to fight Lin!