Pei Qiao finally came to his senses — thankfully, a quick biomon scan showed no permanent damage. Damn Jose, that cheat junkie…

Something hit the dumpster to his right with a loud crunch. From the broken container emerged that strange fallen man, and Pei finally took a good look at him: first, Pei noticed his gigantic height, muscled frame of a pit fighter, and red skin. Well, the reddish hue, but the point still stands. Another prominent feature Pei noticed is that this man had completely black eyes with golden irises and vibrant black hair, donned in a bun, held by two sticks. All this, combined with his half-nakedness, makes Pei think that he is watching not a man, but a character straight out of a fantasy movie.

“Damn, that’s some impressive alts. Custom job too. Probably costs a ton,” idle thought crept into Pei’s head, but then he noticed another feature — that man has no metal or augmentations, at least visible ones.

The red man jumped out from the ruined metal container like it was nothing and rushed at Jose, who while bruised, looked almost unharmed. The alley, however, looked like a battlefield. Looks like Jose finally lost his mind, massacred his entire crew, except for a girl who huddled in a corner and a red giant, who was walloping him. This whole scene brought unpleasant memories to Qiao. He just couldn’t stop looking at this red man, completely unaware that Jose would paint the pavement with him, yet persisted in this pointless assault.

He should run, thought Pei. Now is a perfect time — Jose is distracted by this mysterious person, he will not notice Qiao leaving. Just hightail and forget everything, live another day. He must not get involved. Not again.

“Just run,” thought Pei Qiao, “It’s not my problem now. Just fucking run already!”

Lao Qing Tao gritted his teeth. He just appeared in Hell Pits, and a mere moment later, demons challenged him to duel to the death. He was running on fumes now; he just couldn’t win against this demon. That behemoth was too fast, too tough, too damn strong! In this broken body, Lao has no hope to use most of his techniques, only his honed senses and martial training. But it was clearly not enough. Will this be the end for the mighty Karma Sage?

Then so be it, decided Lao. He is a dead man walking anyway, but at least he will drag that demon into reincarnation with him! And, just as Tao resigned to his fate, he saw a quick movement from the left, and then someone delivered a mighty haymaker at a Behemoth’s face, finally staggering it. This person looked completely normal, if a bit disheveled, dressed up in what looked to Tao as deep blue martial arts garments, and with metallic armor on his hands. He was a person that thug held, realized Qing Tao.

- Y-you?! - Behemoth finally spoke again, looking in disbelief at the man who attacked him. - YOU DARE?! I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!

- Just wait and see, “vei”! - Said Pei, cursing at himself, but it was too late for regrets: he knew from the moment Jose showed his ugly mug here, they would fight.

Jose roared, completely forgetting about the red person. He tried to rush Pei with an overhand strike, but he quickly ducked, grabbed his arm, and tossed him to the ground. His augmented arms were whining and straining, but he held strong, letting the massive weight of a thug do most of the job. When Jose fell, Pei brought his foot to the elbow of his opponent, twisting it at an unnatural angle. The cheat junkie roared in pain and tried to grab Pei, but he dodged his clumsy attempt and jumped off from Jose, who rolled over his stomach and jumped from a prone position, turning to Qiao. Though his arm was broken, Jose did not relent. In a fit of rage, he grabbed the closest object to him, the headless corpse of Cruz, and threw it at Pei Qiao. Pei didn’t anticipate this move and was sent flying.

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But this attack left him vulnerable towards Lao, of which Jose completely forgot, and got kicked in the back of the knee and got a palm strike right into his chin, followed by a punch in the throat. With a loud crack, Jose’s neck snapped, and he finally went limp and fell on the ground, dead.

Lao Qing Tao finally breathed in relief; he defeated this ferocious demon. Now, he looked around, observing the surrounding carnage that ensued: him and that behemoth thrashed the whole alleyway, and he heard some kind of distant horn-like sound. Huddled in a corner, the girl-like creature was not so quietly sniffing and trembling, while his sudden help was under the headless corpse, catching his breath and trying to roll over it. Lao’s body was burning from exhaustion and numerous bruises. He quickly assessed his body by using the sixth sense to check the flow of Qi. Despite the loss of most of his meridians, he didn't sustain any major injury, but he was exhausted beyond measure, barely holding together his consciousness. Good, Lao thought, he is still superior to any mortals… or demons, for that matter.

Or so he thought until he tried to move towards Pei. His foot had been swollen; it felt broken, as well as his hand and several ribs. He touched his face, and while he still possessed all of his teeth and both eyes, he didn't feel his fate at all. He winced in disbelief but hobbled towards Pei, helped him to get the corpse off him and get up. Breathing heavily, Lao spoke to his sudden ally, making a traditional bow:

- You have my gratitude, oh noble martial artist. Tell me, what can I call such an illustrious and noble soul, trapped in this Yellow Springs?

- What? - Pei raised his brow, confused. He barely understood what the red giant wants.

- I… see… - Lao interpreted Pei’s confusion as part of a concussion and bowed even deeper than before - It seems like this demon dealt much worse harm to your form than I anticipated. I’ll try to speak slower and in a much more plain manner: Please, noble martial artist, tell me your title.

- What?! - Repeated his question Pei, even more confused than ever. This man just spoke in a very old, archaic dialect that is very hard to understand. No man speaks like that unless they are edgy middle schoolers or from Sanguo District.

- OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE, JUST TELL HIM YOUR NAME, YOU ASS! - Suddenly Yu screamed, finally calmed down out of sheer stupidity from both of them.

- Riiight… My name is Pei Qiao, I guess? - wondering why this girl can understand that bullshit, Pei scratched his head.

- Once again, you have my gratitude, noble warrior Pei Qiao, for your timely intervention. And forgive my breach of etiquette, allow me to introduce myself: they call me Lao Qing Tao, a humble traveler from… somewhere far away. Without your valiant help, I would surely be defeated and devoured by this ogre.

- Sure, thanks, vei? - this was getting too weird for Pei’s tastes, speaking with this alt-mented giant, while all he wanted was to grab some pork buns, watch some slop, and relax from work bullshit. Instead, he got into yet another mess. At least this time nobody important died…

- I'm deeply apologizing for my selfishness, but if you please, oh noble warrior Pei Qiao, please escort me to the nearest respected physician or trained alchemist. I’m in dire need of assis…

- And just like that, Lao falls unconscious. The last thing he remembered hearing was the panicked shrill of a girl and the confused Pei...