RAAS Chapter 89: Copied Life (2)

| Previous | Table of Contents | Next |

Shi Qing finished reading the background prompt and immediately flipped through the system manual. It wasn't that his memory was bad—he genuinely had never seen a task labeled as a "system task" before. Moreover, no task had ever been forcibly assigned, let alone one with such severe penalties.

Shi Qing no longer hid anything from Qin Mo and told him everything he knew. Qin Mo patted his head and said, "Don't worry, we won't fail."

Qin Mo's casual reassurance made Shiqing feel a bit more at ease despite his lingering anxiety.

"Take things as they come," he thought. It wasn’t his style to scare himself before anything had even happened. Since there was no way out, he had no choice but to move forward. Besides, he wasn’t weak anymore!

Having come to terms with the situation, Shi Qing focused intently on the large screen, trying to absorb as much information about this world as possible and prepare himself.

However, to his surprise, the screen only displayed the world’s background information—there was no storyline introduction at all. Yes, this time, there were no designated characters.

The section meant for the plot summary was completely empty.

Below it, there was only the system task: Punish the Poachers.

A mere five words, seemingly revealing a lot yet explaining nothing at all.

The meaning of "punish" was clear.

But what were the "poachers"?

With so little information, Shi Qing couldn’t make any judgments yet. It seemed he would have to gather intel after entering the world.

Qin Mo glanced at the task section and said, "No designated characters. This might be a direct body traversal."

Shi Qing was slightly startled by the idea and immediately checked the system manual again. Sure enough, there was an entry about direct body traversal. However, this information was never explicitly stated beforehand—it could only be confirmed after crossing over.

Without a plot task, direct body traversal was indeed a possibility. But this kind of traversal didn’t offer any advantages. On the contrary, it made the mission harder.

Unlike role-based traversal—where the traveler could inherit a character's memories, social status, wealth, and connections—direct body traversal meant they would be accepted by the world naturally but start with nothing. They would have to figure everything out from scratch, costing time and effort.

Still, there was no choice. This was a task that couldn’t be abandoned, so thinking too much about it now was useless. They could only press forward.

Having reviewed everything necessary, Shi Qing and Qin Mo pressed the button together and entered the time-space tunnel.

As dizziness overtook him, Shiqing thought, This time, I have to be fast. I have to find Qin Mo before he finds me!

It sounded like a tongue twister, but Shiqing was serious—he wanted to find Qin Mo first and give him a surprise.

But the moment he emerged from the time-space tunnel, before he could even adjust to the vertigo, a sharp pain struck the back of his head.

Someone had hit him with a blunt weapon!

What the hell?! Do I have to get ambushed the moment I arrive?!

But this was not the same Shi Qng as before. If someone thought they could take him down with just one sneak attack, they were being far too naive.

Just as he turned to counterattack, a numbing sensation spread across his back, and his legs went weak. A completely unknown force overwhelmed him.

Shi Qing's heart tightened. This brief moment of stiffness gave his enemy the perfect opening. A terrifying sensation of being completely drained of power washed over him, and in an instant, he lost consciousness.

Or rather, he lost control of his body but remained somewhat aware.

At the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage, his spiritual awareness was almost independent of his physical form. Caught off guard and lacking real battle experience, his body had succumbed, but his consciousness still held onto a thread of clarity.

He couldn't move his body, but he could vaguely sense that his limbs were bound, with something heavy pressing on his chest. He seemed to be on a conveyor belt, moving forward in stops and starts—about every five or six minutes, it would pause before continuing again. This happened ten times before it finally stopped and continued moving steadily forward.

Throughout this ordeal, Shi Qing never stopped trying to break free. He struggled to regain control of his body, and after an hour of effort, he finally succeeded.

His eyes snapped open.

What he saw was an empty room.

Everything from before felt like a dream, devoid of any sense of reality.

It was as if he had never been ambushed, never drifted in and out of consciousness, and never been restrained. It was as if he had simply arrived in this place the moment he crossed over.

Shi Qing jumped down from the crude wooden bed, stretched his arms, and kicked his legs. He was uninjured, his spiritual energy was intact, and his divine sense expanded outward without any obstructions.

What the hell happened?

Shi Qing frowned. Someone was coming.

The thought barely formed before he went on full alert.

The door—just a broken wooden plank—was roughly kicked open by the approaching figure. The already fragile board snapped with a loud crack, splitting in half.

A man spat disdainfully and looked at Shi Qing with murky eyes. "Get up, get up! Go work! You bunch of useless trash!"

After saying that, the pot-bellied middle-aged man brandished the whip in his hand threateningly.

Shi Qing stared at him without moving. The man in front of him was short, covered in layers of fat, wearing a greasy yellow tank top, black shorts, and a pair of plastic slippers.

Shi Qing didn’t even need to take a closer look to know that this was just an ordinary person—so ordinary that he couldn’t be any more normal. There was nothing special about him at all. With Shi Qing’s current abilities, he could easily crush him with just a flick of his fingers.

The middle-aged man, however, was used to bullying newcomers. Seeing that Shi Qing still hadn’t moved, he swung the whip toward him.

Shi Qing really didn’t want to bother dealing with this man. Since he hadn’t yet figured out the situation, he didn’t want to cause trouble. With a barely noticeable movement, he dodged the whip.

But the middle-aged man didn’t see it that way. He was known as Huang San Bian, and he had used this whip countless times. Every swing had always been met with screams of pain. Yet this kid neither cried nor made a fuss—he wasn’t satisfied with that.

Huang San Bian stepped closer, intending to teach the boy a lesson. But as soon as he got nearer and took a good look, he was stunned.

This kid… this kid was gorgeous!

Even though he was a boy, his skin was as smooth as porcelain, his lips were red, his teeth were white, and his large eyes were bright and round, with slightly upturned corners that naturally carried a seductive charm.

Huang San Bian wasn’t particularly interested in men, but seeing this youth, his heart skipped a beat.

Who would have thought that in this wretched place, he would come across such a stunning beauty?

But since he was here, that meant no one wanted him anymore.

Rather than letting others take advantage of him later, why not enjoy him first?

Huang San Bians’ expression changed in an instant. His face twisted into a lecherous grin as he put away his whip and stepped even closer. Now that he was up close, he could even smell a faint, intoxicating fragrance—neither overpowering nor too light, just the right amount of softness. He couldn't quite describe it, but the scent alone stirred up his desires.

Huang San Bian had never encountered such a thing before, and suddenly, he felt an overwhelming urgency. He wanted nothing more than to pin this boy down and ravish him right then and there.

He reached out an arm, about to pull the boy into an embrace, grinning as he coaxed, "Kid, let your Grandpa Huang have some fun, and I'll make sure you live a life of comfort here."

Shi Qing: "…"

At first, he really didn’t want to cause trouble. But damn it, did he really look that easy to bully?!

First one, then another—did they all think they could just walk all over him?!

They really took him for a sickly kitten instead of a tiger, huh?!

He was a man, damn it! What was with all these sleazy tactics meant for bullying helpless young maidens?!

If you’re going to pick a fight, at least act like a man about it!

Seriously, this was too much!

Shi Qing's face turned cold. Without hesitation, he lifted his leg and delivered a fierce kick straight to the greasy-faced bear of a man.

Huang San Bian immediately let out a pig-like scream. When he raised his head again, his face was swollen and bruised, tears streaming down his face, his mind spinning in circles.

Shi Qing, disgusted, still felt annoyed. With a flick of his hand, he lifted a broken wooden board from the ground and sent it flying straight into Huang San Bians’ gut. The massive two-hundred-pound man was launched over three meters away, crashing hard against the wall. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out cold.

He wasn’t dead, but he’d definitely be bedridden for a month.

Shi Qing clapped his hands and stepped outside, only to be met with a row of thin, frail-looking teenagers—both boys and girls—staring at him in shock.

Shi Qing had no memory of this place, so he had no idea what was going on. This was why body possession was so inconvenient.

Apparently, his actions had been too fierce. On top of that, Huang San Bian had tormented these kids for so long that no one had ever dared to resist. Now, all of a sudden, a real man had appeared, and it completely stunned them.

All twelve teenagers stood frozen in place, dumbfounded.

Shi Qing glanced at them and frowned. These kids looked around sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing ragged clothes that resembled nothing more than scraps of fabric. Their faces were covered in dirt, their hair was a tangled mess, and they were all skin and bones. The exposed parts of their arms bore numerous whip marks.

What caught Shi Qing’s attention the most was the identical mark on each of their foreheads.

Right in the center, between their brows, about the size of a coin, was a pure black inverted pentagram.

The tallest boy on the left hesitated, mustering his courage before finally speaking. "Shi… Shi Qing… how could you…"

His voice trailed off as he glanced fearfully at the now-unconscious, pig-faced Huang San Bian.

Beside him, a girl stammered, "It must… it must be because Huang… Huang Ye bullied Xiao Qing… but… but Xiao Qing, you, you can’t hit him… he… he’s…" She struggled to finish her sentence, her fear evident.

The tall boy stomped his foot anxiously, looked around, and said hurriedly, "We need to go! Hurry! Before someone finds out, we have to get out of here!"

His words snapped the others out of their daze. They rushed forward, pushing Shi Qing along as they ran.

Shi Qing could have easily broken free, but these kids were so thin that their arms looked like twigs. He didn’t dare use any force, afraid he might accidentally hurt them.

Although he wasn’t particularly worried, considering the thoughts of these teenagers, Shi Qing still followed them out.

The moment he left the small courtyard, he finally realized that this place was a mining site.

A massive mining site. When he spread out his divine sense, he couldn’t even reach its boundaries.

But the moment he "saw" the situation, his brows furrowed tightly.

There were countless miners—disheveled, emaciated, and visibly exhausted. Even some elderly workers, dragging their aged bodies, were still laboring. The moment they paused even slightly, whips lashed down upon them.

Shi Qing’s eyes burned with fury. He wished he could rush over immediately and make those scumbags who wielded the whips foam at the mouth!

But then, he suddenly paused, noticing something peculiar—all the miners, regardless of age or gender, bore the same mark: an inverted pentagram at the center of their foreheads.

For some reason, seeing this symbol made him feel deeply unsettled.

He withdrew his divine sense and forced himself to stay calm. Right now, the most important thing was to find Qin Mo.

Without hesitation, he sent a system message: "Qin Mo, where are you?"

But for the first time ever, the response he received was an error message:

Communication failed.

T/N: Please give support in the ko-fi page🍄🍄🍄