Chapter 7: Red Bandits
"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh"
3 white rays of light flew across the forest and directly hit the face of a monkey. It tried to scream. However, before it could utter a sound, another ray of light flashed and pierced its throat.
The monkey fell down on its butt and before it could do anything else, a shadow appeared in front of it and a dagger stabbed right through its heart, ending its sufferings.
The shadow was naturally Li Wei. He spent the entire morning practicing his throwing of the needles on moving targets such as rabbits. Eventually, he arrived back at the river and found a lonely monkey drinking some water. It was an opportunity to test his skills and it was clearly a success.
Li Wei collected the loot in his inventory and left the area. He did not know if other monkeys were near and did not want to face a whole group for now.
"Buying the needles was an excellent idea. Even though the range is limited to 15 meters, it is very good for hunting. I just need to be more precise, 3 correctly placed shots should be enough to kill a monkey."
Being level 4, Li Wei hesitated before coming to the eastern forest. It was better for him to go and grind in the Northern forest that housed monsters from level 3 to level 5. But he settled on going to the monkey's place first and then move North. The 2 forests were actually connected, the Northern Forest housed level 3 parrots, level 4 wolves, and level 5 bears.
Quite a few people were actually already hunting there; more specifically, future rangers completely took over the forest. Parrots were actually very weak, they were level 3 only because of their ability to fly but would easily go down with 2 or 3 good arrows."
Li Wei was walking North. Along his way, he met several animals that were almost shot as soon as they entered his field of vision. Li Wei already adapted to the environment and was like a hunter, searching for signs of animals.
He eventually heard some noises and immediately went hiding. Li Wei patiently waited and then proceeded towards the source of the noise. In front of him was a cleared area. 5 monkeys were there; two smaller moneys were playing catch, throwing some objects to each other while the other three were lazing around.
5 monkeys were too much to handle for Li Wei. He could easily deal with them if they were alone but together, they would easily be able to overrun him. As he was about to retreat he noticed what the monkeys were playing with. They were actually playing with what looked like storage bags, tossing them around.
Greed flashed through Li Wei's eyes, he knew it was an opportunity, he was not confident in killing all 5 monkeys but there was a tiny chance of stealing the bags.
Li Wei moved closer to the monkeys while still hiding in the bushes. He took out his dagger and readied a needle in his left hand. He then immediately rushed out towards the group of three.
The monkeys immediately reacted, they screamed loudly and the three got in formation, surrounding Li Wei. At the same time, the two smaller monkeys were alerted and retreated into the trees, leaving the bags behind.
Li Wei did not hesitate. He immediately dashed towards the monkey on his right and tried to stab it with the dagger. However, the monkey was agile. It dodged the attack and retreated a few steps. While Li Wei was stabbing with the dagger, his left hand rose up and threw the needle toward the monkey on his left.
The poor monkey was hit right on the nose; it immediately stopped approaching Li Wei and screamed. Meanwhile, the remaining monkey opened its arms and jumped onto Li Wei, attempting to bite him. However, with 10 Dexterity, Li Wei was able to react in time and quickly ducked and moved to the right.
Li Wei continued to charge towards the monkey on his right. Behind it were the bags, there was only the monkey left as an obstacle.
The moment Li Wei started rushing forward, he felt very relaxed, it was as if he stopped thinking, only moving naturally by instinct. He did not know if he would succeed but he just ignored all the doubts in his heart and rushed forward.
When he arrived just before the monkey, he tilt his body to the left, to go past the monkey. But the latter reacted and also jumped to Li Wei's left to bite his arm. However, the latter quickly moved, he put his right leg forward, and used all his force on it, he then made an anticlockwise rotation on himself and dashed to the right. It was a flashy move similar to that of dribbling in football.
With the monkey out of the way, Li Wei reached the bag and put them in his inventory. Having succeeded, Li Wei was momentarily distracted and at that moment:
"Pak"
A "-7" popped up above his head, he just got hit by a coconut-like fruit. The two monkeys that retreated did not actually leave. They simply climbed to the safety of the trees and grabbed some fruits as projectiles.
Li Wei quickly recovered and ran to the side as fast as possible. The monkeys screamed and chased after him, but they were simply not as fast as Li Wei.
After a few minutes of wild running, Li Wei stopped to catch his breath and looked behind. It seemed that the monkeys had given up.
Li Wei smiled and opened his inventory, it was time for his rewards.
There were 3 bags; they were labeled as "Item bag" and their description was: [Open for a random reward]
Li Wei was excited, he opened the first bag. The item bag disappeared in a flash and a new entry was made to the event log
[System prompt: You have opened an Item bag. You obtained 1 gold]
Even though Li Wei was hoping for an equipment, he was still satisfied as he was lacking money. He then proceeded with the second bag.
[System prompt: You have opened an Item bag. You obtained nothing]
When seeing that, Li Wei flushed red.
-"What the F***, is that even a reward? What were the developers thinking when they put this option... That's so messed up."
However, he could do nothing to change the outcome and proceeded with the last bag, crossing his fingers for a good reward.
[System prompt: You have opened an Item bag. You obtained Basic Cloth Armour]
[Basic Cloth Armour]
Armor: +2
[Armor: reduce the physical damage taken by a certain amount]
"Well, at least something that I can use…"
Li Wei smiled, when players were spawned, they were wearing clothes, but these had 0 Armor. Taking out the Basic Cloth Armour, Li Wei looked around in case there were people coming and changed himself.
.....
In the evening, on the horizon, the sunset could be seen. A young man wearing a white piece of cloth was walking on the path back to Little Root Town. It was Li Wei. He was coming back later than usual since he went to the Northern Forest.
He spent the afternoon collecting resources and throwing needles at parrots. It was difficult to hit them at first due to their fast-moving speed and small frame. After a few failures, Li Wei got used to it and took down a large number of birds. He did not realize that it was getting late until he saw the sky's color changing. He then rushed back to Little Root Town to avoid the night cycle's monsters.
Li Wei was walking alone on the path. Most players had already made it back to the town at that time. At this moment, he suddenly felt something behind him. It was the first time getting this type of feeling but Li Wei could tell that it meant danger.
Three men came out from the bushes along the road. They were all wearing deep red clothes, with a mask covering their mouths. Two of them were holding daggers while the last one held a long sword. The three men surrounded Li Wei and raised their weapons.
The 3 men grinned, above their heads were "Red Bandit thug, level 4", the one holding a sword had "Red Bandit Warrior, level 5" written in red, representing an aggressive behaviour.
-"Hey kid, didn't your parents tell you to not walk alone?"
-"You are very late; the harvest must have been good... Leave all your stuff here and you can live!"
Hearing that, Li Wei frowned,
-"Do you dare do that? We are so close to the town; the militia is patrolling the surroundings."
-"This is why you should hurry and give us your harvest. You can keep your cloth armor but leave your dagger behind," said the warrior while approaching Li Wei from behind and attempting to grab him with his free hand.
But at that moment, Li Wei swiftly shifted his body to the side, avoiding the grab. Li Wei was surprised, he only sensed the man at the last moment but was still able to dodge him.
The man frowned, "Come on kid, don't make things difficult for us, don't you value your life?"
Li Wei thought quickly. He thought of deceiving them by leaving only a part of his harvest but quickly forgot this idea as he would have to leave his dagger. Therefore, Li Wei made a very different choice.
The Warrior was very close to Li Wei. He was very confident in himself. The youngster in front of him was the 9th victim they were attacking. Even though some adventurers had tried to resist, causing them to suffer some injuries, they were still able to easily suppress the adventurers with their numerical advantage.
Sensing Li Wei's hesitation, the warrior relaxed, he was almost certain that that young man would concede part of his harvest but at the moment, that man suddenly lunged forward.
Li Wei dashed towards the warrior, drawing his dagger and stabbing right towards the man's heart. However, despite being surprised, the warrior had some degree of experience. He sluggishly moved to the right but was still hit in the shoulder by the dagger. The warrior frowned, he had avoided the fatal injury but was still hurt. He could still recover from this situation. However, at that moment he felt a sense of crisis.
Li Wei arrived at the side of the warrior, with his left hand, he grabbed 5 needles in his palm and mercilessly stabbed them on the warrior's neck. This time, the warrior could not react in time. He tried to scream but suddenly, the dagger that was embedded into his shoulder appeared next to him and slash at his throat. Three red numbers appeared "-8","-14","-17" in rapid succession.
The warrior had a total of 60 HP. However, he suffered some injuries before while ambushing other players. He did not refill his health as he thought Li Wei would be his last target of the day. That was a big mistake. With only 36 HP left, he could only regret his decision.
The two thugs were surprised but quickly reacted. They rushed towards Li Wei, brandishing their weapons. They did not really care that the warrior was dead, they were bandits to begin with and were not related in any way and only worked together for profit. They were in fact elated since they could share the warrior's profit among themselves now but before that, they needed to get rid of the young man. Li Wei could only turn around and defend.
The two worked together to suppress Li Wei, attacking one after the other, not letting Li Wei catch his breath. The latter could only dodge and block the daggers, stuck on the defensive, "-3", "-4","-3" kept popping up. Li Wei could only slowly retreat. However, at that moment, he felt something behind his foot and lost balance and fell backward. It was the corpse of the warrior.
-"F*** Did they purposely push me in this direction?" While falling, Li Wei could not help but let go of his weapons. It was a reflex, just like when falling, people would reach out their hands to minimize the damage.
The two men grinned, certain of their victory. Li Wei quickly tried to get up but was directly stabbed on his left shoulder by a dagger, "-8". Li Wei felt despair, he struggled and tried to grab his dagger that fell on his right, but the other thug reacted and put his foot on the dagger's handle.
Li Wei was about to give up, but his left hand suddenly felt something. The thug pinning him down with the dagger did not notice anything, but seconds later, a blade suddenly appeared from below, slicing his feet.
The thug could not react in time. He received the cut, and lost his balance, moments later a sword stabbed right through his heart. That was the warrior's weapon. It was what Li Wei grabbed with his left hand while he was still lying on the ground.
The last thug did not expect such development. He saw Li Wei injured and tired and decisively attacked. But, Li Wei ignored the pain and pulled the dagger on his left shoulder with his right hand and threw it towards the thug. The latter was already moving forward and could not change his direction. A few moments later, the warrior's sword cut through his cloth armor, ending his life.
Li Wei was startled and relieved, he unexpectedly won even if he only had 10 HP left. He sat down for a few seconds, calming his breath and then touched the different corpses, "collect". But nothing happened, Li Wei thought a little and then took the 2 daggers and the sword and went towards the bushes where the bandits came from.
And as he expected, in there, he found 2 large bags, filled with animal furs and animal meat. There was also a neat stack of silvers arranged next to the loot. Li Wei directly took the money. As for the bags, as he had no more free item slots, he could only carry them on this back like a laborer with 3 daggers and a sword on his belt.
Fortunately, the town wasn't far, but upon reaching the gates, he was stopped by the militia.
-"Stop Sir... May I ask where you found all these furs and meat? Several cases of ambushes were reported to us this afternoon."
-"Yes, that also happened to me, I was ambushed on the way here, but I was fortunately able to reverse the situation. So here I am with my loot."
The militiaman looked at Li Wei with disbelief, "In that case please follow me to the barrack to report the event."
"Sure" and with that, Li Wei walked behind the militiaman towards the barracks. This situation immediately attracted the gaze of the players, more specifically, the large two bags attracted their attention.
Li Wei followed the militiaman. He checked his event logs and let out a wide grin.
[System prompt: You have slain a "Red Bandit Warrior". You obtained 500 exp]
[System prompt: You have slain a "Red Bandit thug". You obtained 250 exp]
[System prompt: You have slain a "Red Bandit thug". You obtained 250 exp]
[System prompt: Congratulation player Seven. You leveled up....]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
nikostar
nikostar Am bad at describing fights...
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