The Twelve Trials Starting from Zero

"Um... Brother Su Qi..." Xiao Chu stood by the door, looking at the person holding a candle and rummaging through the room, with an expression of "not knowing what to make of an expression," and said weakly, "Is it really okay to steal other people's things like this?"

"Little Hina, we are righteous warriors who are about to challenge the evil bandits..."

Su Qi rummaged through a box in the corner and pulled out a set of relatively new men's casual clothes. He held them up to himself a few times, nodded in satisfaction, and said, "Can a righteous cause be called stealing? This is a righteous crowdfunding! In short, with equipment and funds, we will be able to carry out justice. Consider what we're taking as my commission for helping them get revenge."

"I don't understand what you're saying at all."

A moment later, Su Qi, who had changed into a light blue contemporary outfit, extinguished the candle and walked out of the house.

"Brother Su Qi, are we going to steal things from other people's houses next?"

"Ahem, I already said it's not stealing, it's crowdfunding. Look how inconvenient my slippers are. What if I slip during the fight? So of course we need to crowdfund a new pair of shoes."

As he spoke, he looked around on the village path.

On the outskirts of the village, a few burnt-out houses were still flickering with embers; except for the lights on the side of the mansion, the whole village was deathly silent, with only the faint moonlight illuminating the area, barely enough to see.

The bandits were few in number, and once they finished dealing with the corpses, they all gathered in the mansion in the center of the village to have some fun. So Su Qi and Xiao Chu could walk around the village without any risk of being discovered, as long as they didn't attract too much attention.

Or rather, even if one were to be more flamboyant, it would probably go unnoticed.

Next, Su Qi's "crowdfunding" went very smoothly. He not only obtained comfortable shoes and some food, but also found a well-preserved samurai sword in a villager's house. It was probably picked up from a nearby battlefield and hidden away. The bandits were likely careless when looting their spoils, and the sword ended up being his.

"Next, we just have to wait, wait until all the bandits are asleep and the guard is at its lowest..."

With everything prepared, Su Qi and Xiao Chu found an abandoned house not far from the mansion to stay temporarily.

The little chick was still a child; after eating a little, she couldn't hold on any longer and soon fell into a deep sleep against the wall. Su Qi sat by the door, struggling to keep his eyelids open, looking at the moon in the sky while calculating the time, preparing for a midnight assassination after all the bandits had fallen asleep.

That's right, infiltration and assassination were what he planned to do. After all, those bandits were still human, not monsters, and if a human is killed, they die... Outnumbered, he could only make up for the difference in strength in this way.

Then, time slowly passed, and when Su Qi woke up again, he was shocked to find that... it was dawn!

"..."

He stared blankly at the blinding sunrise for a while, then silently lowered his head, looking at the samurai sword beside him, and fell into a long silence.

Should I stab myself in the back, or should I stab myself in the back?

Chapter Eight He Infiltrated

Su Qi ultimately did not stab himself in the back.

It wasn't that he was afraid of pain or that his hands were too weak to hold the knife... Well, he was indeed a little afraid of pain, but the main reason was that he didn't want to waste his reload attempts.

Even though he had already died twice, for Su Qi, the pain and emptiness before death were definitely not pleasant experiences. So his thinking was simple: death was acceptable, but it had to be a meaningful one.

So, taking advantage of the early hour and the fact that the bandits might still be drunk, he changed his plans and focused on gathering intelligence, sneaking into the village chief's house alone.

Su Qi's profession is a writer, not an assassin (berserker). Unless it's hand-to-hand combat, even a bandit would have a hard time winning, so he unsurprisingly fell in the middle of the fight. However, he took the opportunity to learn crucial information such as the layout of the house, the distribution of the bandits, and the location of the hostages.

Then, Su Qi slept soundly in that pure white space until he was so refreshed that he was almost bursting with energy, before clicking the button again and selecting to load the save file.

This time, however, he appeared not on that grassy slope, but in the house where he and Xiaochu had last stayed the night before.

Outside the door, the village and fields were bathed in moonlight, and all was quiet under the night sky.

Su Qi, who was sitting by the door, blinked and came back to his senses. He glanced at the little chick sleeping peacefully in the corner and began to ponder.

"The skill description for 'Return by Death' is 'Reverse time after death and respawn at a stable point in time after the last battle.' Sure enough, I can't freely choose save points and load points. The last battle was when I killed that bandit in the forest. A stable point in time should mean a safe location where I can stay for a specified time or longer. Otherwise, I should be at that temporary outpost outside the village, not in this house."

"Compared to freely choosing save and load points, this restriction prevents me from completely starting over in a certain world. I can only keep repeating the process between two battle rounds until I achieve what I consider to be the best result."

"So even if you discover regrets later, it may be impossible to make up for them, because once you skip that time period, you can't go back. Is this meant to make me choose carefully and not think that I can just go on a spree just because I have the ability to return from death? Also, how should 'combat' be defined in the skill description? Does sparring count as 'combat'? What about a war consisting of many short skirmishes? Is it considered one 'combat' or multiple 'combats'?"

……

Taking advantage of his spare time, he quietly pondered his own abilities and his plan of action. It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky, and he estimated that it was already one or two in the morning, that he stood up, stretched his limbs, took his knife, and headed towards the village chief's mansion under the moonlight.

This gang of robbers was indeed a rabble. At this time, even the two men who were ordered to guard the women were sleeping like logs, snoring loudly against the tightly closed warehouse door.

So even a novice assassin like Su Qi, who had only played Berserker's Creed before, successfully took down all the bandit henchmen except for the leader. Well, he only died four times.

The first time, his stealth skills were not up to par, and he woke up the bandits, who then surrounded him and killed him.

The second time, his technique of covering the mouth and slitting the throat was not skillful enough, causing the victim to speak out as a warning, which led to him being surrounded and killed.

The third time, he was unlucky. While sneaking around, he happened to run into a robber getting up to urinate. The two stared at each other for a while, and then made a sound during their struggle. He was surrounded and killed.

The fourth time, one of the robbers struggled so fiercely before dying that he unexpectedly woke up the robbers next to him, and they were once again surrounded and killed.

Through these four rewinds, he learned where the bandits slept and how many people were in each room; he learned who slept lightly and who slept deeply, who was strong and who was weak, who was quick-witted and who was slow-witted, who would get up at night, and who snored loudly enough to cover their voices; he also knew which corners were good hiding places, which floor was too noisy, and which rooms had poor soundproofing, etc.

The saying goes, "Failure is the mother of success." It was through the experience gained from bloodshed and loss of life that he was finally able to marry on his fifth attempt.

……

The mansion assassination mission, fifth playthrough.

Moonlight streamed through the half-open paper door, filling the dimly lit Japanese-style room with a faint smell of blood. Two corpses lay supine on the crooked tatami mat, their faces filled with terror. Blood oozed from their necks, taking on a thick, eerie dark red hue under the moonlight.

Su Qi picked up his sword and stood up, letting out a long breath. He looked down at the corpse at his feet, his face full of exhaustion.

He was exhausted, not just physically, but mentally as well. Infiltration and assassination were far more complex than in a game. Even knowing he wouldn't die and could try again countless times, the tension and fear were still unavoidable. And this had happened four times in a row, leaving him with the feeling of utter exhaustion, as if his mind and body had been completely drained.

"Hey, how did I, a shut-in writer, suddenly become an assassin? This is incredibly stressful..."

Su Qi sighed, walked out of the room, basked in the moonlight in the corridor for a while, and finally managed to muster his spirits to come to the door of the Japanese-style room where the bandit leader was.

Perhaps fearing the women would take the opportunity to seek revenge, the bandits locked the women in the warehouse while they slept, saving Su Qi a lot of trouble. The leader, Red Demon, was even more extreme; he didn't trust any of his own men, so he slept alone in a room, claiming he enjoyed killing in his dreams and forbidding anyone else from entering his bedroom.

Clearly, this once again provided Su Qi with a convenient opportunity.

"The last leg of a journey is the hardest; this is the last one, and it's the bandit leader. We absolutely cannot be careless."

The moonlight cast his shadow on the paper door. He silently warned himself to draw his knife beforehand, then knelt in front of the door, gripped the door frame with his left hand, and slowly pulled it open.

The moonlight, like frost, spread across the floor of the room through the gradually widening doorway, leaving the interior shrouded in darkness, with only a clear and powerful breathing sound echoing slowly.

Su Qi gripped the knife in his right hand, supported himself with his left hand on the ground, and carefully moved his legs, crawling inside on his knees.

By the moonlight, he surveyed the room and saw a rectangular space about six tatami mats in size, completely empty, without even a candlestick. In the center of the tatami room, a tall man, holding a long sword, had laid his removed armor beside him and was curled up on the tatami like a baby in the womb, his sleeping posture extremely strange.

There's no need to hold back any longer, just take him down with one strike!

Su Qi knelt by the door and quietly observed the target for a while. Seeing that the latter showed no abnormality, he slowly crawled to the back of the target, aligning his body's midline with the back of the target's neck.

ended……

He gripped the hilt with both hands, slowly raised the knife, and the narrow blade reflected a cold light in the dim room.

Then he lowered his head, his cold gaze locking onto the back of the neck of the person in front of him. He took a deep and slow breath, then swung his hands down and slashed down fiercely!

Chapter 9 unlocks new achievements

boom!

The blade slashed into the floor, but the person who was supposed to be killed managed to dodge at the last second, leaning against the paper door, kneeling opposite, staring at Su Qi with a cold expression.

Who are you?

As he stood up, he drew his long sword and casually tossed the scabbard to the ground.

Click...

Su Qi drew his sword, stood up, and smiled, saying, "He's just a righteous wanderer who happened to be passing by."

As he spoke, his muscles tensed, his heart pounded, and he instinctively gripped the knife handle tighter, overwhelmed by tension and...fear.

His reason was not afraid of death, nor of the bandit leader before him, because he knew he would never die; but his emotions and instincts were filled with fear—fear of the pain that death would bring, fear of the dangerous aura emanating from the man before him.

In Su Qi's perception, the Red Demon was fundamentally different from the previous bandits who were not much different from farmers. It wasn't just that he was taller and more robust, or had a more fierce and cold appearance; it was something more elusive and difficult to understand.

Whether it's murderous intent, ferocity, the so-called aura of a strong person, or the blood and fire aura of someone who has been through countless battles... in short, just standing in front of him is like facing a ferocious beast like a lion or tiger, making people feel cold in their hearts, as if they have thorns in their backs, as if they might be bitten to death at any moment.

So don't be fooled by Su Qi's seemingly relaxed demeanor and casual talk; he's actually just trying to maintain his composure despite the defeat, and has essentially given up on recovery. However, even in death, he wants to make it meaningful, so even knowing defeat is inevitable, he'll try to gather as much intelligence as possible.

You are lying.

Opposite him, the Red Demon stood tall like an iron tower, his sharp, chisel-like eyes scrutinizing Su Qi from head to toe. “Your skin shows no signs of sun exposure, your clothes are too clean, the way you hold the knife is that of a complete novice, and your posture is no different from that of an ordinary person.”

"Although you are taller than the average person, you can only be described as healthy, not muscular. You are not like a true martial artist who has undergone countless trials and tribulations and has no excess fat. So... who exactly are you?"

As he spoke, the long sword he had been holding in front of him slowly lowered, and his tense body gradually relaxed, clearly no longer as wary as before. He had already seen through his opponent's true nature; the person before him posed no threat.

Su Qi ignored the other party's question, keeping a close eye on him and secretly guarding against any possible attack, while saying, "I'm curious, you were clearly asleep just now, so how were you able to dodge my knife?"

"Hmph, because your killing intent was too obvious, and I had long since developed a premonition of danger..."

The Red Demon didn't mind telling the answer to a dying man, but he quickly lost interest in the weakling before him. "Fine, who you are doesn't matter, you're going to die soon anyway. Those good-for-nothings haven't made a move yet, you must have killed them all, right? But definitely not in a direct confrontation, but rather by ambushing them while they were asleep, right?"

Having said that, he picked up his knife, raised his foot, and slowly approached Su Qi.

In an instant, the latter felt as if the entire Japanese-style room had turned into a hunting ground, and the red demon walking towards him was the beast king proudly patrolling its territory, while he himself was just a little white rabbit that had wandered into it.

Cold sweat seeped involuntarily from his forehead, Su Qi's knuckles gripping the knife turned slightly white, and he was so nervous that he could hardly speak. He could only follow the Red Demon step by step as he advanced, retreating step by step towards the corner of the wall.

"Are you afraid?"

"You're too tense. This will make your body stiff and your movements sluggish. You won't be able to swing your sword with all your might. If you keep going like this... you won't even be able to catch one of my swords."

As the Red Demon approached, he smiled and instructed Su Qi on the essentials of combat like a teacher.

"If I were you, I would slow my breathing, relax my body, regulate my mind and body, and save some strength when I exert myself... Yes, that's it, that's it... Now!!"

As the last word faded, his body moved like a rabbit, suddenly bursting forth.

boom! !

The tatami mats crumbled beneath their feet as the Red Demon lunged forward, his blade flashing like lightning as he slashed diagonally at Su Qi in the corner.

It was definitely a verbal attack; luckily, I was prepared!

A glint flashed in Su Qi's eyes, and he ducked and lunged to the right.

With a tearing sound, the paper door beside him was split in two, and he rolled to the ground at the same time. Before he could even feel the shock, he suddenly felt a chill in his lower back and was struck by a sharp pain.

Turning around, he saw blood and intestines scattered all over the ground behind him, while his lower body remained in the corner.

Ouch! Did I not dodge it? Was I cut in half?

Su Qi's pupils contracted, and he was stunned for a moment before reacting. His face turned deathly pale, and then...

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"