The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero, by the Sage of Pigeons

【brief introduction】

"That trashy protagonist? I could do better!"

One day, Su Qi, who was fed shit while watching anime, couldn't help but post this comment, and then... he disappeared from this world.

"What? My only cheat ability is 'Return by Death'? Does that mean I have to keep courting death?"

"You guys are so naive! I've seen it all, I've been through countless battles. What kind of death haven't I experienced on the battlefield? Do you know the Ten Cruelest Tortures of the Qing Dynasty? They're far superior to yours!"

"Fools! The only reason you failed is because you angered me! Even if I were to reincarnate a thousand times, I would still blast you to smithereens!"

"Hello everyone, my name is Su Qi, and I'm an amateur. My profession is a writer, I'm twenty-four years old, and my ability is to continue an endless series. This is my first time playing a protagonist, so please give me your guidance."

……

In short, it's a story about a protagonist who constantly courts death and then triumphs in revenge. The series *Inuyasha*, *Shaman King*, *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, *Unbreakable Machine-Doll*, and *Honkai Impact 3rd* are already completed. The current world is *Touhou Gensokyo*, and other worlds are being considered...

Chapter One: If you're so capable, then you do it!

At 8:30 p.m., in the bedroom, at the computer desk by the window, Su Qi, dressed in loose blue plaid pajamas, stared blankly at the laptop screen, his ten fingers flying across the keyboard, making a clattering sound.

As the final "Enter" key was pressed, another negative review appeared in the comments section of a new anime series on a certain "large online dating website":

"Shh~ Look everyone, what did I find? A freshly baked poisonous bread (outrageous opinion). At first, seeing the exquisite production and beautiful character design, I thought it would at least be a good product, until I was left speechless by the male lead's pathetic and idiotic actions."

“智商下线1.5kg、优柔寡断800g、胆小懦弱250g、鲁莽冲动100g、自以为是80g、中二啰嗦7.5g、自卑无能5g、言而无信3g……再加上适量的其他15种沙雕元素和一个意义不明的名字，一个沙雕主角就这样炼成了！不可否认现实中的确有像主角这么沙雕的死宅，但作者的选择也太过“真实”。至少按我大天朝国情，一个智商正常，受过正规教育的普通高三学生也不会沙雕到如此地步……还是说东瀛的高中生特别沙雕？

"In short, the plot isn't bad, but I can't relate to the protagonist. And for this anime, all I want to say is—don't say I can't do it, I could do it too!!"

After finishing typing, Su Qi leaned back in his chair, let out a soft breath, then looked to his left, picked up a thermos from the table piled with various small items and reference materials, took a sip of goji berry health tea, and his expression gradually relaxed.

But at that moment, a strange voice, neither male nor female, suddenly rang out in the room, "Beep, suitable candidate detected, system binding in progress..."

anyone?

Su Qi's expression changed. He turned around and looked around. The not-so-large bedroom space was completely visible at a glance, but there was no one in sight.

The next moment, a large, colorful mosaic suddenly appeared on the computer desktop, spreading rapidly like a virus infection, instantly swallowing all icons and the taskbar, turning into a slowly rotating colorful vortex that completely occupied the entire screen.

Immediately afterward, before he could react, a dozen long arms suddenly burst out of the vortex, pale hands reaching out to grab his head, face, shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, and even his mouth was covered... Then, with a forceful pull, they lifted him into the air and dragged him into the screen.

A blinding flash of light followed, and the thermos flask in mid-air suddenly plummeted, crashing to the ground with a thud and shattering into pieces. Splashed tea soaked the floor. A night breeze blew in through the half-open gauze window, causing the nearby curtains to flutter; the bedroom was completely empty.

……

Moonlit night, grassy slope, fireflies twinkling, insects chirping noisily.

When Su Qi regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was the scratching sensation of rough grass blades rubbing against his skin on the side of his face, the side of his neck, and the heels of his feet. Then, strange thoughts surfaced in his mind one by one:

"Basic skills have been downloaded, and the abilities 'Return from Death', 'Universal Knowledge', and 'Divinely Gifted Genius' have been acquired."

"Return to Death: Passive. After death, time is reversed, and you are reborn to a stable point in time after the last battle. There is no limit to the number of times you can be reborn."

"Universal Knowledge: Passive, automatically translates all texts and languages ​​of all worlds."

"Heaven-given polymath: Passive, possessing the basic aptitude to learn any system of abilities except for special factors such as physique and bloodline".

"The first trial, Inuyasha: No Softening Version... The original anchor point has been logged in, and the walkthrough is about to begin... After completing the story, you will receive rewards based on your evaluation. Please strive to achieve the most perfect ending."

……

what's the situation?

Su Qi sat up, turned his head and looked around, his face blank. Night had fallen, the moonlight was like gauze, and the waist-high grass swayed in the night breeze. Not far away, the woods were quiet, birds and beasts cried, and the vast starry sky was like an inverted dome. A crescent moon hung obliquely in the sky. The surrounding area was quiet, obviously completely different from the noisy night scene of a modern city.

"Have I...time-traveled?"

As a somewhat well-known online writer, he quickly grasped the situation.

"But why me? Is it just because of the phrase 'I could do it too'?"

A cool night breeze brushed against my cheeks, and the air, carrying the scent of grass and earth, filled my nostrils.

As I was pondering this, I suddenly felt something cold and slippery crawl across the back of my foot.

He looked down and a grass snake with green scales and red eyes suddenly came into view. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stood up, pulled his foot back, and watched the creature leisurely slide into the grass before letting out a sigh of relief and relaxing his tense body.

The sudden appearance of a snake gave Su Qi, who was still somewhat confused, a real sense of being a time traveler.

It was now completely night, the moonlight was thin, and the surrounding darkness seemed to swallow the light. Just four or five meters away, it was pitch black, and only the vague outlines of mountains, rocks, villages, and trees could be vaguely seen.

As he scanned his surroundings, he listened to the faint, strange cries coming from some unknown source in the distance, and a sense of tension and unease welled up within him.

In fact, he is by no means a person who is easily startled in daily life. Rather, compared to ordinary people, having been an orphan and surviving alone to this day, he is more indifferent and calm than most people, and rarely experiences significant emotional fluctuations in his daily life.

However, even he was unsure about encountering such a miraculous event as time travel. After all, Su Qi only wanted a peaceful life, unlike some delusional people who dream of traveling to another world and reaching the pinnacle of life.

Now, he even feels a little regretful. If he had known it would turn out like this, even if he were fed shit while watching anime, he would have smiled and said, "It's delicious!"

"Hey? Boss, can you hear me? Can you tell me who you are? What's your purpose? Why did you choose me?!"

Suddenly, Su Qi looked up at the sky and asked in a loud voice.

He thought that if it was a powerful being who could arrange his time travel, hearing him speak should be a piece of cake, and at this point in time after his time travel, there was a high probability that the other party was still paying attention to him; however... there was no response.

Over the next five minutes, Su Qi tried various methods to probe, and the conclusion was that either he had another reason for being there, or that the guy was not intelligent, or simply did not want to pay attention to him, and continuing would only be a waste of time.

At the same time, he also confirmed through the usual novel tropes that, apart from those three passive abilities whose usefulness was unknown, he did not have any cheat codes such as a system or superpowers.

"So, if I want to go home, the only thing I can do is try to do what it says? Also, there was a system binding notification before, but in the end, it only gave me three passive skills. This is blatant fraud! Besides, I don't even know if those three skills are useful or not... Suicide is impossible, absolutely impossible in this lifetime, so I can only find other ways to verify..."

After pondering for a moment, Su Qi finally took a deep breath, cheered himself up, and prepared to temporarily follow the system prompts to begin his own strategy journey.

First, we need to find a human settlement to gather information. According to the usual game process, there should be a "starter village" nearby, right?

He looked around carefully and suddenly noticed light coming through the woods not far away. His eyes lit up and he quickly started walking in that direction.

However, after taking only a few steps, he couldn't help but curse under his breath and suddenly stopped.

Damn it! I'm still wearing slippers! This is some kind of time travel mess!

Unable to suppress a curse in his mind, Su Qi looked down at his feet and saw that his soles, cut by leaves in the grass, were bleeding from the drafty blue plastic slippers. They were throbbing with pain.

This is so realistic... I need to find something to cover my feet first, but all I have on me is a set of pajamas and slippers...

Su Qi looked around, then at himself, who was completely naked. After thinking for a moment, he grabbed his left sleeve with his right hand and pulled hard... but couldn't budge it. He then took a deep breath, exerted all his strength, and with his face turning red from holding his breath, finally managed to tear the sleeve off with a ripping sound. He ripped it in two pieces, stuffed them into his slippers, and barely managed to cover his feet.

As it turns out, even if a shut-in travels through time, they can't immediately transform into a muscular man.

He shook his head and continued onward, shuffling through a pair of slippers as he struggled across the overgrown fields and a small patch of lush broadleaf forest. The light grew brighter along the way, and he could faintly hear voices, which gradually became clearer.

Suddenly, Su Yan, whose clothes were disheveled and whose body was covered with a few blades of grass, stopped again.

No... what's coming from ahead is firelight, and... screams and maniacal laughter?

Upon noticing the anomaly, Su Qi immediately became alert, concealing himself in the shadows of the forest. He stepped forward quietly, parted the branches and leaves blocking his way, and a scene resembling purgatory suddenly appeared before him.

Under the dark night sky, a small village was ablaze. Rows of low wooden houses, almost entirely made of wood, were engulfed in scorching flames, like red lotuses blooming on the earth. The billowing smoke and swirling flames turned the night sky a fiery red.

Farm tools were scattered across the burning village, and corpses littered the ground. A group of short, menacing bandits, clad in crude armor, brandished knives and spears, shouting and driving away the remaining villagers as if hunting them down. Each flash of a blade and splatter of blood saw a man fall to the ground in a pool of blood. Soon, the entire village fell into a deathly silence.

"Quickly! All of you, get inside! Do you hear me!?"

On the edge of the village, the bandits kicked and shoved several male villagers, their arms bound behind their backs, into a house. They then closed the door, and a tall bandit on horseback, clad in full armor, rode over and, amidst the cheers of the bandits, casually tossed a torch onto the thatched roof.

As the night wind blew, the reeds caught fire, and instantly smoke and flames rose, engulfing the roof and walls... Soon, the flammable wooden house was completely ablaze, turning into a huge torch.

The villagers inside the house screamed in alarm, while the bandits surrounded the house and laughed. Whenever someone tried to escape, they were stabbed with spears and forced to return.

For a moment, the people inside were caught in a dilemma, trapped in a desperate situation. As the fire intensified and the smoke billowed, they could only scream and beg for mercy while running around the house like a group of frenzied performers dancing wildly on a burning stage.

Meanwhile, the man dressed in full armor, who appeared to be the bandit leader, sat leisurely in front of the house, holding a wine cup. He had the captured village women pour him wine while he enjoyed the "performance" put on by the village men.

When he saw something exciting, he laughed loudly without restraint and drank heartily, completely disregarding the fact that the wives and daughters of the people in the room were probably pouring him drinks.

Finally, someone couldn't resist and rushed out of the house, only to be stabbed to death by the robbers who were already waiting outside. Then they chopped off the heads of the escapees, either sticking spearheads on them and waving them around like toys, or throwing them on the ground and kicking them around like balls, completely disregarding the remaining blood splattered on them, looking like demons.

In the woods not far from the village, Su Qi, hiding in the shade of a tree, witnessed this cruel scene from beginning to end. He felt his stomach churning and his whole body chilled.

At that moment, he finally realized what "no softening" meant in "Inuyasha: No Softening Version".

Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that in *Inuyasha*, war rages, demons roam freely, and wherever the main characters go, monsters wreak havoc, leaving behind carnage and death—and this is only one corner of the world. It's just that because of Takahashi's soothing art style, the relatively powerful main characters, and the overall theme of the manga, this brutal atmosphere isn't explored in depth, resulting in a more "healing" rather than "depressing" overall impression.

But now, having witnessed a carnage firsthand, Su Qi has come to a profound realization: sitting in the audience and watching are completely different experiences from performing on stage.

At that moment, Su Qi, still immersed in shock, did not notice that a figure had silently appeared behind him.

I, a humble sage from the lower jaw (seriously), have just arrived in your esteemed place. I offer you a cup of red tea and hope for your support, esteemed readers (unzips his jacket)...

Chapter Two: The Weak Protagonist Makes a Fool of Himself Online

Snapped!

Suddenly, Su Qi's right wrist was grabbed.

He was startled and instinctively tried to pull his hand back, when he heard a childish, clear voice say, "Idiot! Aren't you afraid of getting killed standing so close? Quickly squat down!"

Turning his head, he saw a girl who looked about twelve or thirteen years old with a single ponytail staring at him with a look of utter disappointment.

She had fair skin and a petite figure. She wore a small red-printed Wu-style dress and looked pretty and cute. However, her face was stained, her hair was a bit messy, and her sleeves were torn by bushes and branches, making her look rather disheveled.

She seemed to be speaking Japanese, and I was able to understand her. Could it be that those three passive skills are really useful?

Su Qi was taken aback at first, but then quickly realized what was happening. He squatted down behind the bushes as instructed, turned around, and asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"

He was speaking Mandarin Chinese without a doubt, but the little girl seemed completely oblivious to anything amiss. She squatted down beside him, scrutinizing him as she asked, "My name is Xiaochu, I'm from the village. And who are you? I didn't notice before, but now I realize your clothes are so strange. Are you a foreigner?"

"Uh, my name is Su Qi. To be honest, I am a foreigner from Tang or Ming, but that's not important..." Su Qi gave a few perfunctory words and quickly changed the subject, "By the way, how did you end up here?"

Xiaochu paused, withdrew her hand, her face darkened, and she said in a muffled voice, "While Father was leading the men of the village to resist the bandits, Mother had Riji take me and sneak into the forest."

Leading? No wonder the skin on his hands is so soft; his family must be more than just ordinary farmers…

While pondering, Su Qi asked, "What about the person who helped you escape?"

“Hijita…” Little Hina trembled, clenched her fists, her bright eyes glistening with tears, and said hatefully, “Hijita was killed by those bastards so that I could escape.”

Su Qi remained silent, no longer inquiring about her own situation, and instead asked, "So what are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to the city to find my uncle..." Little Chu wiped her eyes, turned around, and stared at the bandits through the gaps in the grass. The village burned in her eyes, her little face full of resentment. She gritted her teeth and said, "My uncle is very strong. He has been practicing swordsmanship at the dojo in the city. He will definitely kill those bastards and avenge everyone in the village!"