After stepping outside, Duge wasn't in a hurry to find food for Feng Jiu.
Whether it was the world outside the simulation or the martial arts world within it, both were unfamiliar to him, and he needed to gather more information.
Just now, when he forcibly maintained the other party by feeding his blood, he distinctly felt Feng Jiu's nervousness.
Piecing together Feng Jiu's earlier remark about being eliminated within minutes, Duge speculated that the competitors within the simulation were in a competitive relationship and that the so-called civilian and elite schools were likely adversaries.
Feng Jiu had once revealed his disdain for the civilian school teachers' instruction "not to expose one's keyword."
But Duge thought that the teachers wouldn't give such advice without reason.
Under competitive circumstances, the advice not to expose one's keyword made perfect sense.
Just like Feng Jiu's Gluttony, indeed a good keyword, but once it was deliberately targeted and his food supply cut off, it meant his growth would be halted.
Putting oneself in Feng Jiu's shoes, one would never reveal their keyword information casually.
And the best way to hide your keyword is to kill yourself.
Usurping a body is a secret affair, and the numbers in the panel were disappearing rapidly in such a short time, which only meant one thing, nine out of ten, they were killed by their own people...
Therefore, Feng Jiu was definitely not sincerely cooperating with him.
The reason he relentlessly ate those barely edible straw mats must be to recover his strength earlier than Duge, then eliminate him!
Of course, having woken up before Duge, Feng Jiu could have easily pretended to be a native and deceived him.
But his injuries at the time must not have been much lighter than Duge's; he had to rely on eating straw mats to heal, likely unable to muster the strength to eliminate Duge.
Moreover, for someone seriously injured, the act of gnawing on straw mats was too abnormal.
As he said, even eating straw mats, such a keyword was too easy to figure out.
Without knowing his own keyword, Feng Jiu must have assumed he had exposed himself, hence the idea to lull him into complacency through cooperation, biding time...
The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that Duge would recover faster than him.
"...Let's cooperate, bro, I'll take you up..."
"...Once we're out, I'll figure out a way to transfer you to the elite school..."
"Trickery, temptation... ha, such naive tactics!" Duge chuckled disdainfully, sparing no ill will in speculating about the other party. Lacking key information, he knew his conjectures had many gaps, but as long as the majority of the information fit logically, he could draw conclusions. Where in the world were things ever one hundred percent certain?
...
Outside, the bright sun shone and the air was exceptionally fresh; Duge greedily drew a deep breath of the earth's rare fresh air, feeling even more astonished by the realism of the simulation.
If he had just teleported and hadn't encountered Feng Jiu, he would have likely taken this place for a real world and taken many detours.
This world was too real, constructed with an accuracy indistinguishable from that of The Matrix.
Seeing Feng Jiu's attitude, who also didn't treat this as a game but as a real world, must be related to the Alien Battlefield he mentioned.
Just what on earth is this so-called Alien Battlefield?
Regardless.
Teleporting was much more thrilling than living out those predictable days on Earth. Just having teleported, he had already received numerous surprises and excitement, making it worth playing out thoroughly.
...
The Martial Arts Academy was a narrow courtyard with rows of identically constructed rooms resembling a staff dormitory.
In this world, there's talk of aptitude for martial arts training. The aptitudes of sparring partners were slightly inferior to those of disciples. People like Feng Qi, whom Duge had possessed, and Feng Jiu, children from poor families taken in by the Feng Family since childhood, had their servitude contracts with the Feng Family. With no way out in martial arts, they were destined to have no prospects and were treated only slightly better than household servants.
At that moment, several people wearing the same clothes as him were in the courtyard, most with injuries; some had bandages wrapped around their arms, others leaned on crutches...
No one had a smile on their face.
When they saw Duge passing by, they merely lazily glanced at him without saying much, sparing Duge the trouble—after all, even with Feng Jiu's explanations, he couldn't match any of their names, and the more he said, the more mistakes he'd make.
Ignoring those injured, Duge pondered the usage of the keyword while slowly moving towards the exterior of the Martial Arts Academy.
...
"Laoqi, you're able to move about so soon?" A robust man in his thirties approached, looking at Duge in surprise.
"It seemed like a serious injury, but my body wasn't badly hurt. A bit of rest and I'll be fine," Duge said with difficulty, holding his chest, "Laoliu is worse off than me; I came out to find him some food..."
"You shouldn't bother, I'll go!" The burly man, pitying Duge, said, "It was Laoliu and I who carried you back yesterday, I know how bad your injuries are. You'll need at least two months of rest to recover. This time, the Third Master did use a bit too much force."
"It's not the Third Master's fault; he was also preparing for the Martial Worlds Tournament, aiming for a chance to enter the Qiao Family sacred land. It would only benefit the Feng Family without any drawbacks..." Duge replied offhand.
"Screw the Martial Worlds Tournament, how many years has it been, when has the Feng Family ever…" The robust man's voice trailed off abruptly, and he jerked his head back toward the rear.
Behind him was empty.
Turning back around, the burly man looked at Duge with bewilderment, suspicion filling his eyes.
At that moment, having inadvertently defended the Feng Family's interests, Duge felt lighter. He knew the man in front of him harbored doubts.
This was indeed a real world!
The intelligence of the NPCs was too high!
Without the original owner's memories, no matter how well he disguised himself, in front of these people who lived with him day in and day out, he was bound to give himself away...
Since exposure was inevitable sooner or later, Duge sighed and decided to change his strategy. At the moment he felt lighter, he understood the ultimate secret of maintaining: focusing on a single person was too narrow-minded; protecting a group was the true path to power.
Feng Jiu had mentioned the top ten of the simulation multiple times; perhaps being in the top ten carried a special reward.
Duge was actually eager to see the real world after teleporting, but looking at the constantly changing ranking numbers, it seemed that once you left the simulation, there was no way back in.
It's a pity to leave such a fun world directly.
Having experienced all sorts of worlds makes life more exciting. Consider it a second transmigration. Anyway, the simulation only eliminates you, it doesn't kill you.
As for the top ten, Duge thought he might give it a try.
He was a serious person, always doing his best in everything he undertook.
Duge looked at the burly man and said in a low voice, "I'll go get the food for Feng Jiu. Don't talk bad about the Third Young Master behind his back anymore. It's not good if others hear it."
The burly man's face changed slightly, and he hurriedly defended, "Laoqi, what did I say? You must have heard wrong."
Duge looked at him with a half-smile.
Nervously swallowing his saliva, the burly man said in a low voice with a smile, "Laoqi, Feng Si has always been the best to you."
"Feng Si, don't be nervous. We're all brothers here!" Duge spoke earnestly, already aware of his honorific, "But as they say, sickness comes from the mouth and trouble speaks itself. Some things are better kept inside. Voicing them causes unnecessary problems. I'm saying this for your benefit..."
Having grasped the true essence of protection, Duge began to subconsciously cultivate the habit of always considering others. Whether naturally or forced, whenever he protected someone, his body received immediate feedback, and the simulator seemed unable to discern whether his intentions were genuine or not.
He enjoyed the feeling of receiving immediate rewards, which was much better than toiling for a month on Earth and then agonizing over waiting for a paycheck.
"Hmm, I got it," Feng Si said, his expression somewhat unnatural as he changed the subject, "You go to the kitchen yourself, Laoqi! I still have some other things..."
"Feng Si, you go ahead with your work," Duge said with a smile and a nod.
Finally, Feng Si looked at Duge one last time, seemed to want to say something, but then said nothing and hurriedly walked away.
Duge continued to walk out, left the Martial Art Academy, but didn't head toward the kitchen of the Martial Arts Academy. Instead, he turned towards the Martial Arts Stage. There was enough food for Feng Jiu on his straw mat; it wasn't urgent to bring him food.
...
Whoosh!
Ha!
Before he even reached the Martial Arts Stage, Duge could hear many noisy sounds, and then, he quickened his pace slightly.
Feng Jiu had been vague, only telling Duge that this was a martial arts world, but he hadn't explained the levels and standards of martial arts here, whether it was a high-martial or low-martial world.
At least right now, Duge couldn't feel any flow of inner strength.
Or perhaps there was inner strength, but he didn't know how to use it.
In any case, the body he had after the transmigration felt no different from that on Earth.
So, he was eager to witness what martial arts in this world were like, whether they were the same as described in the martial arts novels on Earth?
Wearing the clothes of a sparring partner, Duge went unobstructed along the way, with only occasional curious glances thrown at him, seemingly surprised that, with such serious injuries, he was still heading for the Martial Arts Stage. Those disciples, almost crazy for the Martial Worlds Tournament, even if they weren't as severely injured, should have looked for excuses to hide for a few months instead of coming out looking for a beating!
...
Entering the entrance of the Martial Arts Stage, the first thing that caught Duge's eye were two people practicing on the training ground.
One was a sparring partner dressed like him, and the other was a young man in white practice clothes, sparring back and forth.
Swift as rabbits and swooping as hawks, their movements were quick and fierce. They moved left and right, their hands and feet flying up and down with whooshing sounds that made one's head spin, much more entertaining than MMA on Earth.
However, as there were no special effects, it must be a low-martial background.
Duge made his judgment and then lamentably discovered that while the sparring partner did know martial arts, he himself had no memory of any, no so-called muscle memory...
Suddenly.
The young man in white practice clothes feinted and struck with a piercing palm to the sparring partner's chest.
Crack!
The sparring partner screamed, flew backward through the air, and crashed into a weapon rack with a clatter before tumbling to the ground, where he spat out blood and struggled a few times before lying still, possibly dead or alive.
Duge watched the motionless sparring partner with a collapsed chest, a solemn expression on his face.
At that moment, he suddenly understood why Feng Jiu was so eager to escape the Feng Family. Indeed, these people did not treat sparring partners as humans. With a collapsed chest bone, the man had little chance of survival...
Cheers jolted Duge back to attention.
Looking at the Martial Arts Stage again, aside from the lamenting sparring partners, all around, the Feng Family's direct disciples and servants were loudly cheering.
Was life really so cheap to them?
Duge sneered, a garbage family!
The young man in white, acting as if he were the star of the show, pulled a folding fan from his waist, flicked it open, held it elegantly before him, and began to fan himself, basking in the compliments from everyone.
A middle-aged man with a long beard leapt to the sparring partner's side, glanced at his injuries, then called for two men to carry him away. Looking at the young man, he praised, "Yunjie, your Heart-breaking Jade Cut is becoming more refined, completely unexpected by others."
"Uncle, you flatter me. With three more months of practice, once I perfect my Gold-Breaking Jade-Shattering Hand, I'll definitely fight for a place for the Feng Family at the Martial Worlds Tournament." The Third Young Master seemed quite pleased with his recent strike, glanced at his palm, nodded to the middle-aged man, and all the while, he never gave another glance to the sparring partner he had beaten to the brink of death.
Gold-Breaking Jade-Shattering Hand?
What a low-class name for a martial arts technique, obviously not from a prestigious family, Duge sneered internally.
...
The Third Young Master, Feng Yunjie; the younger brother of the Family Head Feng Shiren, Feng Shiyi; Duge mentally matched each of them with their titles.
Stroking his long beard, Feng Shiyi looked at Feng Yunjie with a hearty laugh and said, "True to our Feng Family's tiger cub, you have ambition. Yunjie, for the next few months do nothing but practice. If you need anything, just tell your uncle, and he will provide for you. The Feng Family's reputation in the Martial Worlds Tournament all depends on you now."
Riches and honor are sought amidst danger.
After pondering for a moment, Duge suddenly straightened up and said loudly, "Second Master of Feng family, Third Young Master, I have something important to report, regarding this Martial Worlds Tournament..."