The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

However, such times were short-lived. A mere dozen or so bandits had no means to act recklessly, so they became even more frenzied, doubling their pent-up desires and fears whenever they had the chance.

I have to hurry, otherwise all the good women will be snatched up by others, and I'll only be able to pick and choose some ugly women...

As is customary, a banquet follows the massacre of the village.

Saburo felt a surge of excitement at the thought of the upcoming program. He quickened his pace, found a patch of grass nearby, pulled down his pants, and prepared to relieve himself.

Just then, a strange noise came from not far away. Turning around, they saw the branches swaying and a petite figure in red exclaiming in surprise as she ran into the depths of the forest.

"woman?"

He paused for a moment, then a sinister smile appeared on his face as he drew his sword and gave chase.

He wasn't worried about an ambush, because they had sent people to scout the village before the raid, and most of the men had already been killed, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

Perhaps because he was small and had short legs, the woman in front of him didn't run very fast, so Sanlang quickly closed the distance and headed deeper into the forest.

But soon he stopped, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty. It wasn't that he'd noticed anything amiss, but rather that a question had suddenly occurred to him—what if the woman in front of him wasn't human?

He'd heard countless times about monsters transforming into women at night to seduce men and then devouring them. If that woman was a monster in human skin, chasing after her like this was practically handing himself over as cannon fodder.

Moreover, monsters will follow the scent of blood to find their prey. The village had just been slaughtered by them, so it was only natural that something evil would be attracted there. So... should we risk going deeper into the village?

……

On the other side, under a large tree not far behind Saburo.

Unfortunately, it would have been safer to lure him further away, but Xiaochu's speed is limited, and it's hard to control when the target will become suspicious. We have no choice but to make our move here...

With his back pressed against a rough tree trunk and his right hand gripping a angular stone tightly, Su Qi peeked out and peered at Sanlang in the dim moonlight. He felt his heart pounding and his body stiff.

He was somewhat nervous about his upcoming first murder.

Without a doubt, these bandits were utterly despicable scoundrels, so Su Qi had no intention of softening his heart. However, despite his thoughts, he was, after all, just an ordinary writer before his transmigration, skilled in writing and writing fanfiction. Combat and killing were skills reserved for elite soldiers and assassin-type protagonists, so it was inevitable that he would feel nervous for the first time.

At this moment, Saburo, who had been hesitating, finally made a choice, sheathed his sword, and turned to walk this way.

coming……

Su Qi quickly pulled his head back, leaned against the tree trunk, and quietly listened to his increasingly rapid heartbeat and the approaching footsteps.

Creak...creak...creak...

Finally, Saburo's figure appeared in his left field of vision.

It's now!

Before taking action, Su Qi hesitated for a moment, but immediately cast aside all his worries and rushed out with gritted teeth. He took two steps behind Sanlang, raised the stone without saying a word, and smashed it against the back of the man's head.

Even so, Saburo still heard Su Qi's footsteps. But he was neither a battle-hardened warrior nor a martial arts master whose skills were second nature; he was just a farmer who had been given simple training and sent to the battlefield to take up a katana.

Before he could react, the stone had already hit the back of his head.

boom! !

With a muffled thud, as Sanlang was knocked unconscious and staggered forward, Su Qi's right hand was also jolted back, feeling both pain and numbness, almost unable to grip the stone.

But he held back, and seeing that Saburo was neither dead nor unconscious, he immediately threw the stone at him.

We're very close to the village, so we have to finish this quickly, or we'll attract other bandits and cause trouble!

puff! !

The stone struck his waist, causing Sanlang to cry out in pain. But the blow actually helped him regain his senses. Turning his head, he saw Su Qi kicking at him, immediately raising his hand to block it. While using the momentum to retreat and draw his sword, he shouted, "Help! There's a man hiding here!!"

The next moment, just as the sword was halfway out, Su Qi punched him in the face, sending several teeth flying with blood and foam flying, and the katana fell to the ground.

Saburo dared not be distracted any longer. He hurriedly shoved a few times, barely managing to fend off Su Qi's wild punches while trying to find an opportunity to retrieve the knife. Then Su Qi seized the opportunity and kicked him in the lower abdomen, causing him to clutch his stomach and kneel on the ground.

So weak...

During the battle, Su Qi discovered that his opponent was weaker than he had imagined.

Previously, he thought that Saburo, as an ordinary commoner in Japan's Sengoku period, was short, thin, and malnourished. In terms of hand-to-hand combat, he, a healthy modern adult male, might not be without a chance of winning and might even have an advantage. But he never expected that he could easily suppress his opponent.

So no matter how much Sanlang struggled and resisted while being suppressed by Su Qi, he quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.

But he just shouted, and others could come at any moment, so there's no time to get entangled with him any longer!

Then he looked at the katana gleaming coldly on the ground at his feet.

Sanlang also realized this. Despite being beaten and captured, with a bruised and swollen face, he desperately pestered Su Qi, trying his best to prevent him from getting the knife.

For a moment, the two were at an impasse.

Just then, Su Qi heard a burst of impatient cursing coming from the direction of the village. It seemed that someone was cursing and cursing as they rushed towards them, and his heart sank to the bottom.

There will be another chapter tonight...

Chapter Five: Sudden Death

This is bad; are we going to have to roll back again?

Recalling his previous near-death experience, Su Qi's face darkened, and he punched Sanlang hard in the face. Blood gushed out, and half of his nose was crooked, as if a condiment shop had been opened, with salty, sour, and spicy sauces all gushing out at once.

The latter let out a miserable scream, and while he was still dazed, Little Chu appeared out of nowhere, holding a large rock in both hands, and slammed it down on his head with a thud. This time, he finally couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the ground like a dead fish, only able to gasp for breath.

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to hide first?"

Su Qi's expression darkened slightly as he questioned Su Qi while picking up the knife.

The little girl trembled, looked away, and said weakly, "I...I'm worried about you, and...I don't want to run away alone again."

"Now that I've won, you go first, I'll catch up right away."

As Su Qi spoke, he placed the knife against Sanlang's neck.

Xiao Chu glanced at him, then at the figures approaching from the village. After hesitating for a moment, she finally turned around and ran ahead into the depths of the woods. She knew she wasn't fast, and staying behind with Su Qi would likely be a burden.

They're going to kill someone...

Su Qi straddled Sanlang, the blade pressed against his neck. He gripped the hilt with his right hand and pressed down on the blade with his left. His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly pressed the blade down, then pulled hard... *splat*, hot blood gushed from the cut throat, splattering all over his body and face.

Saburo lay on the ground, his body convulsing. He covered his throat in terror, but blood kept gushing from between his fingers and quickly pooled beneath him.

Before he could even process what it felt like to kill for the first time, Su Qi immediately got up, grabbed the knife, and ran.

At this moment, two other bandits who had come to check the situation finally arrived.

"Hey, there really is someone hiding here."

"Sanlang is dead! Kill him!"

"Don't run!"

Shouts rang out behind him, but Su Qi ignored them and kept rushing into the woods.

Thankfully, they shouldn't be able to catch me, and they probably wouldn't chase me into the woods at night just for one accomplice...

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound from behind, and then... *thud*, a short spear pierced through the air and stabbed into his chest from behind.

Damn! How could you hit it like that? Was the other side cheating?

Su Qi felt a sharp pain in his back and collapsed to the ground. The bandits behind him quickly caught up, and with a swift movement, their knives fell, splattering blood.

Then, amidst excruciating pain and the chicks' screams, he died once more, losing consciousness.

……

In a pure white space, Su Qi sat back on the first step of the black stone base, looking up at the sky and muttering to himself, "Why did it turn out like this? I clearly had the upper hand, the plan was flawless, and with the two advantages combined, I should have had a dreamlike victory, but... why did it turn out like this?"

After saying that, he paused for a moment, then sighed, "Okay, it's all my fault. I must reflect on it and correct it."

"First of all, I really shouldn't have made that prediction. It's bad to jinx yourself."

"Secondly, you were too nervous when you backstabbed him, and you subconsciously held back. You should have used all your strength to knock him down in one strike."

"Finally, I shouldn't have taken that knife with me when I ran away. If it weren't for the blade reflecting light in the night, the short spear might not have hit me."

"Conclusion: I'm still too inexperienced. I had a good plan beforehand, but I couldn't help getting nervous when it came to actually doing it, which led to mistakes. It's what they call being all talk and no action. If it were an assassin protagonist or a super soldier protagonist, this kind of thing would be a piece of cake for them..."

After reflecting on his actions, Su Qi did not immediately begin a new cycle. Instead, he sat quietly in a pure white space, staring blankly into the distance, without saying a word for a long time.

Perhaps he didn't want to immediately return to that world where he had to fight and kill, or perhaps he was still shaken by the thought of dying again. Right now, he just wanted to be quiet, clear his mind, and do nothing.

However, difficulties are like life itself; no matter how you try to avoid them, you will always have to face them.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps tens of minutes, perhaps several hours—Su Qi finally took a deep breath, and his eyes gradually regained their luster.

"Come on, third playthrough! This tough guy refuses to believe that Inuyasha is harder than Dark Souls!"

Touch the base, a light screen pops up, click to rewind, his operation is seamless, and he disappears into the pure white space in an instant.

……

The woods were serene, and the night was still.

Saburo lay supine on the filthy ground, his features contorted, a deep terror frozen on his face. His grayish-white eyes were unfocused, staring blankly at the night sky. His neck was severed, a rough gash from which reddish-black liquid flowed, staining the ground beneath him in an irregular pool of blood—he was dead.

This time, Su Qi learned his lesson. He knocked him to the ground with his first blow, then drew his knife and slit his throat. It was swift and decisive. He was a hero among transmigrators... or so he thought.

Actually, the two struggled and entangled this time, but Su Qi first silenced Sanlang, and then, relying on his superior strength, after a "fierce battle" that was comparable to a philosophical exchange, he finally cut him down.

The reason for slitting the throat instead of stabbing the chest was that the opponent was wearing full armor, and he was a novice and was afraid of accidentally breaking the knife and having no weapon to use later.

"Well then, now it's time to collect the spoils. Little Hina, come help me, hurry up!"

Su Qi called out and immediately turned Sanlang over, starting to touch him.

Although the battle was relatively quiet, it was hard to guarantee that there weren't some particularly sharp-eared bandits among them, or that someone might have noticed something was wrong because of his long absence. So Su Qi and his companion raced against time, keeping an eye out for any potential bandits while quickly stripping the useful parts off the corpse and dragging it into the nearby bushes.

Afterwards, the two carried their belongings through the woods and arrived at Su Qi's resurrection point—a grassy slope with a wide view and relatively bright light.

The two sat down on the ground. Su Qi looked at the three spoils of war in front of him and couldn't help but give a bitter smile of poverty.

Tragic! Absolutely tragic! Utterly horrific!

A simple suit of armor that only protected the front and back, along with four plates of armor on the front, back, left, and right; a short katana with a blade full of nicks, whose number of cuts was unknown; a pair of straw sandals covered in mud, looking like they might fall apart at any moment, and constantly emitting an extremely sour smell... This was the spoils of war that Su Qiyong had obtained by trading two lives.

"Well, it's a newbie monster after all, let's just make do with it." After throwing the straw sandals far away, Su Qi looked at the little chick, "Come on, help me try it on and see if I can put on this armor."

"Su Qi, will they chase after us?" the latter asked worriedly as he helped her put on her armor.

"Probably not..." Su Qi put on the armor, stood up and tried to move, and said, "After all, they are just a rabble. Why would selfish bandits risk encountering monsters and search for someone in the forest all night for a single accomplice? Besides, it's dark now and there's a lot of space outside. There are only a dozen or so of them. Unless we're extremely unlucky, they won't catch us."

Xiao Chu breathed a sigh of relief, but then heard him say, "But even if they don't come looking for me, I'm still going to go looking for them."