It was early morning, and the sky was just beginning to brighten.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A violent knocking jolted Feng Yin out of his already shallow sleep. He looked up and saw the person who had pushed his door open while knocking—a burly, middle-aged man in his thirties. The man shot him a cold glare, dropped a single sentence, and turned to leave.
"Boss Hong told me to get you. It's time to gather for work!"
Hearing this language—understandable yet completely foreign—the slight daze in Feng Yin's eyes vanished. Yes, he had transmigrated into a world he knew nothing about. Furthermore, his "spawn point" was an isolated island overseas, a place of exile far removed from the normal world.
With a flicker of thought, he hastily summoned his "panel." A second later, a familiar interface appeared before his eyes. Seeing that the interface was still there, Feng Yin breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried this was all just a dream, but now his expression became much more relaxed. The harsh environment was real, but his Golden Finger was also real, leaving him with nothing to fear.
He quickly stood up and stretched extensively to loosen his muscles and joints. Sleeping on the floor all night had left his entire body aching. As he stretched, his joints popped with a series of CRACKLES. Taking the opportunity to check the condition of his legs, he was pleasantly surprised to find that while they were still a bit sore, they no longer hindered his normal movement.
It seemed that the Armor, which gave him a physical Strength "double" that of an ordinary person, didn't just enhance his power; it actually improved his overall physical attributes.
Feng Yin smiled and briskly walked out of his room, only to see nearly a hundred people gathered in the courtyard of the Tongzi Building. Brother Hong and Sister Xie were impressively among them, currently looking at their subordinates with stern expressions.
"Hurry up! What's with this laziness!
"I'm no saint, and I don't feed useless slackers!"
Brother Hong's rough reprimands continuously poured from his mouth, terrifying everyone into absolute silence.
Seeing this, Feng Yin dismissed his initial thought of going to the washroom to freshen up and quickened his pace to join the ranks. He keenly noticed that both Brother Hong and Sister Xie glanced at him, intentionally or otherwise. He didn't know the exact reason, but he vaguely felt it was connected to why Sister Xie had paid attention to him outside Sin City.
Less than two minutes after Feng Yin joined the formation, a few more people ran out and fell in line. Brother Hong simply waved his hand, signaling everyone to follow. The group of nearly a hundred people then marched imposingly out of the Tongzi Building's courtyard gates.
Mingling in the crowd, Feng Yin felt quite expectant. On the way back to the base with the two bosses yesterday, he had been too nervous and worried to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of Sin City. Now, he finally had the confidence to see what this city of sin truly looked like.
***
Perhaps to avoid delaying their work schedule, the group had set out early. Feng Yin had checked the time just before leaving; it wasn't even six o'clock yet. There were hardly any people out on the streets along the way.
Armed with his Golden Finger, Feng Yin's spirit had transitioned from yesterday's extreme caution to a profound confidence, giving him the courage to look up and observe his surroundings during the march. From his perspective, the cityscape of Sin City resembled the Jiulong City he had heard about on Earth, or the slums from certain cyberpunk games. Narrow streets, foul-smelling districts, and dilapidated buildings without any exterior finishing that looked like abandoned construction projects could be seen everywhere.
Compared to the urban landscape he saw along the way, the unfinished building where Brother Hong and Sister Xie had taken him in could actually be considered to have a "superior environment." As the group advanced, Feng Yin clearly noticed that the visible filth and chaos were visibly improving, much like the feeling of gradually walking out of a slum and into a normal town. He looked up, his expression thoughtful. They were getting closer and closer to the bizarre structure located in the center of the city: the Death Madness Tower.
***
After walking for a few more minutes, the city's appearance grew increasingly "advanced." The squalor had vastly improved. Feng Yin even saw a large, functioning screen mounted on a building by the side of the road. Right at that moment, the entire group came to a halt. Everyone looked at the screen with excitement.
Feng Yin had also caught sight of the broadcast on the screen, and his gaze trembled slightly. The footage displayed a scaled-down setting similar to the Ancient Roman Colosseum. The outer ring was packed with a massive crowd of spectators. Some were dressed in sharp suits, while others wore elegant and luxurious attire, yet all of them uniformly displayed a fanatical demeanor, waving their hands and shouting loudly. The most important feature was the sunken circular arena in the center, where two figures wielding Long Sabers were currently locked in a fierce standoff. The atmosphere appeared extremely bloodthirsty.
One of them was particularly conspicuous. His Upper Body was entirely bare, while his lower half was clad in loose, dark-gray Martial Arts hakama pants, and his hair was tied back in a wild, oversized ponytail. He wore a red demon mask that radiated an incomparably savage aura. Gripping his saber with crossed hands, he adopted a stance with the blade held horizontally beside his face, its tip pointing directly at the enemy ahead.
"It's Ya Lie!"
"His opponent is dead meat again."
"No one can survive a single round against him."
"Anyone who runs into him is truly out of luck."
"He's at least a Fierce Level Swordsman!"
The slightly excited discussions of the others rang in his ears. Feng Yin was a bit confused, unsure of what they were talking about. A second later, his pupils shrank.
Following a passionately announced "Fight!", the two Blade Masters on the screen suddenly erupted, charging at each other with an exaggerated frequency of rapid, stuttering steps. With lightning speed, the gleam of their blades flashed continuously as sparks flew from the colliding metal. Their movements were so swift and their Swordsmanship so masterfully executed that it looked exactly like the sword-fighting action movies Feng Yin used to watch on Earth. Through all their dodging, weaving, and blade clashes, they had exchanged nearly ten moves in mere seconds.
After a few more strikes, the bare-chested Blade Master deflected his opponent's Slashing attack with a ferocious upward parry. In the next instant, he turned his Blade and delivered a savage downward chop.
SLASH!
The sound of the blade cleaving through flesh was crystal clear, even to Feng Yin outside the screen. Under his horrified gaze, the opponent struck by the bare-chested Blade Master let out a wretched scream. A gruesome, bloody gash ripped open across his chest and abdomen. Amidst the spurting blood, his severed internal organs were visible. Meanwhile, the bare-chested Blade Master was already laughing maniacally as he sheathed his weapon and turned away, leaving the opponent he had just slashed to kneel weakly on the ground, howling in agony until his voice finally faded into silence.
He was dead!
The entire arena was left with nothing but the fanatical howling of the audience.
A strange look crossed Feng Yin's face as he quickly glanced left and right. He pulled over a burly man who was watching with keen interest and asked in a low voice, "Friend, what's playing on this screen?"
Disturbed by Feng Yin, the burly man glared at him with annoyance. "This is the Death Frenzy Sword Combat in the Death Madness Tower! That winner is the hottest Swordsman right now, Ya Lie. Are you sleep-addled? How do you not know this?" As he spoke, he roughly yanked his arm out of Feng Yin's grasp and tilted his head back up to watch the screen.
Hearing the burly man's words, Feng Yin realized it was all real after all, and his initial understanding of this world had been vastly subverted. He quickly forced himself to calm down and began to think silently. This world likely had massive discrepancies compared to the modern civilization he had imagined. Moreover, the battle between the two Blade Masters on the screen—their agile movements and lightning-fast reactions—looked like choreographed movie stunts that had been sped up. It was absolutely impossible for normal humans in his memory to achieve such feats.
He suspected that human martial prowess in this world was nowhere near as simple as he had thought!