I had always wanted to be an actor.

  That dream came from a dark stretch of my life back when my streaming career stalled, views dried up, and desperation made even obvious lies sound reasonable. Someone had reached out to me then, speaking smoothly about auditions, opportunities, and exposure. Who wouldn’t want to try at least once? If I could just appear in a single frame of a famous production, streaming would get easier. That was the logic I clung to.

  It turned out to be a scam.

  I remembered pouring my heart into the lines they gave me, only to arrive on audition day and discover they wanted me naked, “acting” with a woman who looked just as confused as I was. The situation spiralled fast. I beat the man who recruited me half to death. The police came. I was arrested, questioned, and nearly lumped in with the entire operation. I avoided prison only because the officers weren’t idiots and because one of them recognized me from my streams.

  The world was insane like that.

  So when I stepped forward now, facing Min Chow, I let that memory fuel me.

  I clasped my hands to my chest and spoke with trembling sincerity. “The moment I laid eyes upon you, my heart began to throb.”

  Her brows knit together. “Yan Jin,” she said coolly, “where did this fool come from?”

  I didn’t give Yan Jin time to answer.

  “Your hair,” I continued, my voice rising, “flows like silk spun from midnight. Your eyes are so deep I can see my own reflection drowning in them. Your lips, soft and tender, could steal the soul of any man foolish enough to stare.”

  I dropped to one knee.

  The room fell silent.

  Min Chow stared at me as if I were something she had scraped off the bottom of her shoe. “Stand up,” she said flatly. “If something is throbbing within you, go see a physician.”

  I looked up at her.

  “It is throbbing,” I said quietly. “But it’s anger.”

  In YKU, movement wasn’t just about getting from one place to another.

  Here’s the thing: there were four directions for the character to move in YKU from the default walking, sprinting to increase movement speed, jumping to evade obstacles, and then there was crouching, which allowed stealth mechanics in this game. Besides the default, the others also served as a means to initiate combos. Combine them with a special move, and the attack changed direction entirely.

  I inhaled once.

  My body dropped into a crouch as my hand slipped into my [Inventory]. The bat came free in a blur.

  “Heavenly Punishment.”

  The bat tore upward in a savage arc.

  The strike exploded beneath Min Chow, the force ripping through the floor as it launched her skyward. The impact stunned her mid-motion, silk robes snapping violently as her body was sent flying upwards.

  Yan Jin gasped behind me. “W-what is happening?!”

  Her voice trembled so badly it nearly cracked.

  “Stay calm,” Tao Fang said firmly. “Do not do anything reckless. Leave this to him.”

  He trusted me. That mattered.

  In games like this… No, in this world that applied the cruel logic of YKU, the most important thing was never raw stats alone. It was momentum, control, and the ability to chain.

  That was why, despite the obscene gap between our levels, I believed I could win. Or at least, bring her down.

  At the very least, this spider demon was not stronger than Dong Li.

  I surged forward and unleashed a barrage of basic attacks, my bat snapping through the air in rapid succession.

  “Ora—ora—ora!”

  Each hit landed cleanly, the familiar feedback surging through me. My [Energy] ticked upward with every strike, a steady recovery that offset the brutal cost of special moves. Even my [Health] would creep up by slivers the more my basic attacks held. With my naturally high regeneration, I could sustain this rhythm combo after combo as long as I didn’t let the flow break.

  The stun from Heavenly Punishment finally wore off.

  Min Chow screamed.

  Her back split open with a sickening rip, and a spider leg burst forth, glistening and black. Another followed. Then another. One slashed toward me in a blinding arc while the remaining three embedded themselves into the ceiling, anchoring her body like iron hooks.

  That confirmed everything.

  I raised my bat and activated Parry.

  The impact rang through my arms like a bell. Pain flared, but halved. The counter-stun snapped into place.

  “Ora—ora—ora!”

  I pressed in again, hammering her with another chain of basic attacks.

  She recovered faster this time.

  With an inhuman twist, Min Chow tore herself free from the wall and dropped from the ceiling, aiming to land right behind me.

  I jumped… and then jumped again.

  The double-jump carried me upward just as her claws swept through the space where my neck had been.

  I brought my bat down in a charged swing. “Oraaa—!”

  The strike cracked against her skull.

  Attacks from above always carried bonus damage, and there was a fifty percent chance to stun. Of course, my charged attack already guaranteed the stun.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  She locked up.

  I didn’t hesitate.

  “Tyrant’s Path!”

  The bat ignited in furious crimson as it smashed into her face, the knockback effect detonating on contact. Min Chow’s body tore through the wall and vanished into the street outside, stone and splinters exploding in her wake.

  I was already sprinting.

  My feet hit the ground hard as I burst through the hole after her, the cooldown ticking down in my mind. The instant it cleared, I leapt.

  “Heavenly Punishment!”

  The bat came down in a brutal overhead arc.

  Sprint bonus. Height advantage. Momentum.

  The weapon began to glow with gold and blue intertwining as lightning crawled along its edges. At the last second, two massive arachnid legs crossed defensively in front of Min Chow’s face. The impact still drove through. The bat pressed against her skull, overpowering the guard, and slammed her into the ground with a thunderous explosion of dust and shattered stone.

  I glanced at my resources.

  [Energy: 10%].

  Damn it. I could no longer chain another special move.

  I shifted my grip and went for a charged basic attack instead.

  “Oraaa—!”

  The spider demon barely had time to look up. Confusion flickered across her face as she struggled to rise, her legs scraping against broken stone. My bat came down from above and smashed into her skull with a dull, meaty crack.

  The height bonus did its work.

  She stiffened, eyes unfocused, body locking in place as the stun took hold. From that elevation, the damage must have been brutal and the concussion ensured the stun would last longer than usual.

  I didn’t linger.

  I double-jumped backwards, creating distance between us, my boots skidding across the fractured street. In the same motion, I opened the [Shop].

  Twenty spirit coins gone.

  An Energy Drink appeared in my hand.

  I popped the cap and chugged it down in one go.

  [Energy: +20%]

  The liquid burned faintly as it went down. I stayed still, forcing myself not to rush, letting my natural regeneration do its work. Every second mattered now.

  The spider demon finally began to move.

  Her arachnid legs stabbed into the ground, levering her body upright. Cracks spread across the illusion of her face like shattered porcelain, blood spilling freely from her nose and mouth. Her once-elegant expression twisted into something feral.

  [Min Chow – Health: 37%]

  I’d done serious damage.

  But I could see her wounds knitting together unnaturally fast. Cultivators regenerated quickly. Demons like her were probably worse.

  I checked my resources again.

  [Energy: 43%]

  Not enough yet.

  She laughed, her voice wet and sharp. “You’ve really done it,” she said. “Breaking my cover. Forcing me into this mess.”

  “I had to,” I replied calmly. “If even one more day passed after we recovered the bodies of the Thunder Hooves, there’s a chance you might learn that I’m after you. Because of this, you try to flee. Or you could’ve done worse and pulled off another terrible act. I can’t risk it. That’s why I really worked hard, looking for you.

  Inside me, the Yakuza Man roared.

  Kill her.

  I clenched my jaw.

  It wasn’t that simple. It never was.

  I was only [Level 111]. She was [Level 160]. From the start, this fight was stacked against me. The only reason I was still standing was because of chained combos, timing, and my gear from the bat, the suit, the sunglasses, and every ridiculous piece of legendary equipment I’d dragged into this world.

  In game logic terms, I was compensating raw stats with skill and items.

  But now, my spirit coins were gone.

  This next exchange would decide everything.

  I needed time.

  So I talked.

  “Why Xincheng?” I asked, keeping my stance loose while my Energy ticked upward. “Of all places. You knew martial artists were gathering here. You weren’t afraid of the consequences?”

  She scoffed. “Martial artists?” Her laughter was full of contempt. “They are nothing to me. Even those four were nothing. Martial artists in the end are but mortals in the face of my power. Cultivators might have been troublesome, but according to my information, they were all hiding in the lord’s residence!”

  Her gaze sharpened as she studied me. “You weren’t part of that information.”

  “I get that a lot,” I said flatly.

  She tilted her head. “I only heard your name today. If you were from this domain, I would’ve known you already. A man like you wouldn’t go unnoticed among martial artists.”

  “I don’t really consider myself one,” I replied. “And I’m not from around here.”

  She burst into laughter again, louder this time, blood flecking her lips.

  “Hah! Then I truly must be cursed by bad luck.”

  My [Energy] climbed past fifty percent.

  Good.

  Very good.

  I tightened my grip on the bat.

  “Yeah,” I said quietly. “You picked the wrong city to mess with.”

  At this point, I have [Energy: 68%].

  Meanwhile, the spider demon at [Min Chow – Health: 47%].

  I raised my bat and pointed it at her face.

  “Where is the real madam of the House of Cherry Blossoms?” I asked.

  She laughed.

  It was sharp, wet, and ugly.

  “Of course I ate her.”

  My grip tightened, but my face remained still. I knew what she was doing, trying to shake me and to poison my thoughts, but the question lingered anyway.

  What if she wasn’t lying?

  She gestured at her own face, fingers tracing her cheeks with grotesque affection. “Don’t you see? This is her face. I had to skin it carefully, you know. Such delicate work. One mistake, and it would have torn.”

  My stomach twisted.

  She continued, clearly enjoying herself. “She screamed so beautifully. I liked that part best. I filled her mouth with my webs so she wouldn’t alert the others while I peeled it off. She was still alive, when I finished.”

  I forced myself not to react.

  “This is how my transformation works,” she said smugly. “I must consume in order to gain their face. In doing so, I become them!”

  Then she lunged. Her arachnid legs slashed forward like bladed whips, tearing through the air. I snapped my bat up and went into Guard.

  In YKU, there were two defensive options: Parry and Guard. Parry was for counters, for momentum. Guard was endurance. Timed perfectly, it could negate nearly all damage and restore energy.

  Guard was harder to do than Parry, however, I’ve had plenty of experience using it and proven myself rather adept at it.

  I met her legs head-on, punting each strike aside with precise movements. Metal rang against chitin again and again as my arms burned from the strain. My memories of long nights streaming and hours grinding the same mechanics merged seamlessly with Yakuza Man’s muscle memory.

  “Don’t lose,” his voice snarled inside me. “If you lose, you’re trash. Putting down monsters like this is your duty.”

  The more successful guards I landed, the faster my energy climbed.

  Then she changed tactics.

  Some of her attacks couldn’t be guarded at all.

  I double-jumped to evade one strike, twisted midair to Parry another, barely halving the damage. The street cracked beneath us as she unleashed her true power.

  “Eight Paths of Pain!”

  Eight spider legs burst outward in a storm of blades.

  I blocked four.

  The rest tore into me.

  Blood bloomed through my clothes as I staggered back.

  [Health: 67%]. [Energy: 100%].

  I looked at her.

  [Min Chow – Health: 70%].

  She’d recovered almost everything.

  Life steal.

  Of course.

  My breath steadied.

  “This ends now,” I muttered.

  I double-jumped, gaining height, and unleashed Heavenly Punishment. The bat descended… and missed. She had already retreated, anticipating it.

  “Shit.”

  If my combo died here, I would die with it.

  “Fight!” Yakuza Man roared inside me.

  This wasn’t a game. This was my life. I must triumph, or it would mean death. I let go of the bat at the last second. The weapon spun through the air in a brutal arc and slammed into her face.

  Stun.

  The bat rebounded. I caught it by the handle.

  “Bat of the Mad Dog!”

  Relentless strikes crashed into her body as I landed. I followed with a charged basic attack.

  “Oraaa—!”

  I double-jumped again.

  “Bat of the Mad Dog!”

  Bone cracked. Metal rang. Flesh tore.

  She fought back desperately, claws ripping into me, pain exploding across my body, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I repeated the sequence again, even as my vision blurred and blood soaked my sleeves.

  “Min Chow, this is the end.”

  The spider demon’s eyes widened at being addressed by her name. “H-how? How do you know me? Just who are you?”

  “Underworld Baptism.”

  With the last of my energy, I let go of the bat and grabbed her by one hand as I unleashed machine-gun-like punches on her face again and again, finishing this fight. As long as I held on to her shoulder, the special move wouldn’t end, unless my energy was consumed or I died.

  It was a special move designed to exchange injury for injury.

  Shortly after, silence fell. I let go of Min Chow as her body fell before me.

  I stood over her corpse, chest heaving, and arms trembling.

  [Health: 15%]. [Energy: 2%].

  I looked down at her ruined body and spoke softly, more to myself than anyone else.

  “Don’t mess with the Yakuza Man.”