Chapter 1 - Three Months

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Lei pushed the stall down the sloping ground, careful to keep the redseeds and eggs from spilling out onto the pebbles. The pots and pans wriggled dangerously, but they just loved keeping him on the edge, so he didn't mind them. It was just his luck the blazing sun sent streaks of bloody light down his head, trying to roast him alive.

He wiped his face with the back of his hand, back already drenched through. The sweat plastered his long, dark hair to his scalp, but he was trying hard not to scratch the itch. Once he started there wouldn't be going back.

At least the wind was there, and it was always something he was grateful about. The wind and the sun, two familiar things reminding him of the time he didn't have to work his ass off just to keep himself alive.

These were dangerous times, is all. Dangerous, and strange, and alien, it had to be said. Still, three months of labor lent him a strong hand against this fate, and he was beginning to feel proud of himself.

[Feed 1000 People]

Progress: 985/1000

A smile creased his lips as he regarded the blueish screen that floated before him. It came with a thought, and gone, just like that, yet with another thought. It was the only thing that gave him a sense of responsibility — well, other than the whole having been woken up in a different world thing, of course.

When the ground gave way to the cobbled streets of the city, Lei drew in a breath of relief. Now, the stall could drag itself along the way, allowing him to rest his straining arms. He couldn't say he liked the sun marks on his skin, but whatever thing had sent him here at least gave him a pretty face to which he had no complaints.

Jiangzhen was famous for its long and wide streets, or so Lei had been told, for the streets he knew like the back of his hand were all narrow, and crowded. Children were already out and about, their mothers running after them. Grannies fanned themselves under the shadows of the old houses, their faces nothing more than wrinkled maps. It was hard to tell whether they were happy watching the kids, or they just had this understanding between them that they would, no matter the circumstances, never break those smiles.

Though Lei learned how to manage a smile from them, he still found it hard to keep the act going whenever he noticed one or two of them had gone missing each day. It happened more often than he would've liked but guessed it was just the way of life in these streets.

Therefore, it was with a pang of guilt that he turned his head to another side when the children came flocking around the stall, all dressed in rags that had been patched way more than they should. They reached for the redseeds, onions, and eggs.

"Lei! Lei! Lei!"

"We're hungry! Please make something for us!"

"Lei! I love eggs!"

They screamed playfully, hopeful glints in their big eyes like tiny little stars.

"You know a man has to feed himself before feeding others!" Lei said, pressing his lips into a straight line as he tried to don the mask of a slightly angry older brother. "You'll have to wait and be patient. Being patient earns you your keep, isn't that right, Old Ji?" he said and gave a small nod to an old man who stood by his house with a hard face.

"Scram!" Old Ji said with a wave of his hand, and the children trembled like broken sticks. "You good for nothings! Your Big Brother Lei here is working hard to earn himself a living, and yet you're trying to leech off of him! Hasn't he given you enough, already?"

"It's Grumpy Ji!"

"Old Monster!"

"Run!"

The children scuttled away like mice before a tiger when Old Ji pulled out his famed bamboo stick, swinging it grimly at them. After they were gone, Lei parked the stall near the old man's house.

"My gratitude, Old Ji," Lei said with a little smile.

Old Ji snorted. "What gratitude, young man? I'm doing this to make those children understand the reality of their lives. There's no such a thing as free food in this world. Everything has its price, no matter how small or big."

"You're wise, as always." Lei nodded as he gave a look over his right shoulder. When he saw the children were gone, he took out a piece of bread from the stall and wrapped it around a leaf before giving it to the old man. "Here, I want you to try this."

Old Ji frowned. "I don't need your pity. I can take care of myself."

"I know that." Lei sighed out a long breath as he rubbed his left thigh. Though it's been two months, he could almost feel the old man's stick's sting just like yesterday. "Know that too well, I'm afraid. But I made something different this time, and nobody has near the experience you've, Old Ji. Eat this, and tell me what you think. Oh, and be careful with the bread, you'll find it's filled with… eh, different things."

Old Ji ran a hand over his bald head, leaning onto his stick. It was hard to distinguish the stick from his legs, as they all seemed seconds away from breaking. But his dark eyes still glinted with deep wisdom. He was the only man in these streets who'd had the chance to step out into the wide world, after all, and he had no one caring for him, to Lei's knowledge.

"Hmph," Old Ji snorted again but took the wrapped bread. Lei gave him a grateful nod before going on his way. It was never wise to idle round Old Ji. Never wise to mess with a grumpy, old man.

It is becoming quite hard to deal with this Old Ji. He's too stubborn for his own good. I need to come up with different excuses if I don't want him starving to death.

After he left the forgotten streets of Jiangzhen, Lei made his way toward Sidestone Street and was greeted by a whole different world. Men and women strolled through the stalls, robes flapping in the wind. The air was heavy with the smell of spice and incense, which were all displayed on the shelves dotting the walls of the shops.

It was always a rush with these people, and yet nobody bumped into each other, people somehow managing to slip past the others with a certain finesse. Other than the shouting shopkeepers, the only sounds hanging low in the air were the words being spoken in a gentle manner so as not to disturb others.

Lei's place in this wide street was just around the corner. He'd paid a good buck for that spot, so much so that he had to work odd jobs for weeks just to save enough for it.

They were good days.

Pushing the stall towards the spot, he waved a hand or two to the familiar faces, nodded to those who earned it, and smiled at the ones who were useful to him. Making connections, now he could say with confidence he'd never been a stranger to this field of expertise. Being in debt was a popular sport here in the Old City, and without connections, one could only hope to live to see another day.

Feeding people certainly helps, though.

Lei nodded to himself as he set the stall right before the corner, under the shade of a two-story building made of wood, and began working on the redseeds. At first, he was of the mind to try and pay this vegetable its due by giving it back its real name, but changing old habits and challenging old beliefs proved to be… tough, to say the least. Calling it tomatoes wouldn't simply be enough to change it.

He'd heard many call them strange eggplants, but most often preferred the name redseed, and it made sense when he thought about it. The color was there, and the seeds were plenty, though it was a touch too hard for his taste, so he had to mash them well before using them on a dish.

Now, it was hard earning a living in this ancient Chinese-style city, alright. It was especially the case when one had little to no idea what to do in a medieval society. Shitting, pissing, eating, and drinking, even the clothes and the manners were completely different, and it took many weeks for him to find his place through all of this.

After peeling the redseeds, he arranged them, the onions and the peppers in neat rows before pulling out his chopping board — it was a piece of wood. He made fast work of the redseeds and onions, cutting them into pieces. Then he sliced green peppers into thin rings and made sure he left no seeds in them.

When that was done, he pulled out a wooden bowl and cracked ten eggs inside of it. Using the sticks, he stirred the eggs until they were as yellow as the bloody sun over his head.

"Got you your bread, Lei!" said a thick voice.

Lei wiped his teary eyes when he heard the voice and saw a man bounding across the street like an angry bull, dividing the sea of people into two halves. At each step the fat under his chin wriggled, the bloody apron curving over his belly stretching, and stretching until it seemed it would split.

It didn't.

Fatty Lou, otherwise known as the Hasty Butcher, has worn that apron from the day they'd met, or so Lei reckoned. It was hard counting the bloody streaks that had spurted over onto it when the man had the habit of slaughtering dozens of pigs every day, and today it seemed yet another scar had been added on his already riddled fingers, thus earning him the name Hasty Butcher.

"Why are you here?" Lei raised an eyebrow when he saw Fatty Lou hanging with his dear life onto the sac full of loaves of bread. The sac had been smeared with blood, and Lei could only hope the bread was fine.

"Oh, Father's busy with… other things," Fatty Lou said when he crossed the last line. He lay a trembling arm onto the stall before gasping himself into a coughing fit. His face was as red as a beet. "He…" - he breathed, hard — "He's been summoned…" — he choked once more on his own spit — "by the cultivators."

Lei took a deep breath after Fatty Lou finished his sentence. It wasn't the cultivator part that got him anxious, but rather watching Fatty Lou breathe through his nose like a bull made him feel like he himself was about to explode.

"I see he's had enough time to bake the bread," Lei said as he reached out, and took the sac with the care of a mother. "But what can these mighty cultivators possibly want from a baker, I couldn't follow. Should've been you they called, considering you have all that experience about killing and butchering."

"You know that's not enough," Fatty Lou said with a forlorn face. "I've failed more than I can count on those Outer Sect exams already. Average talent, my ass. If only they gave me a single chance, then I could show my worth."

"I know, man." Lei nodded. It was an old obsession, Fatty Lou's 'cultivation' yearning. Even in these two months of their friendship the man had tried his hand at more than a couple of those Sects and failed miserably at each time.

"It was something about the Kitchens, I've heard," Fatty Lou said. "Looks like they've been looking for talents who'll serve them in their sect."

"You mean slaves, no?" Lei scoffed as he regarded the redseeds and the eggs, and the pitiful stall on which they stood. "They have thousands of slaves licking the feet of these so-called immortals, no? Why bother with a baker or two?"

Fatty Lou stepped near him and clamped his mouth shut with a hand. "You're going to get us killed, Brother Lei! You know those people can hear the ground, and listen to the whispers of the wind. Everything has its voice, they say, and these people are the only ones who got ears sharp enough to hear it."

Lei almost rolled his eyes but went with a nod to save himself from the sweaty, bloody fingers of his friend. He was an honest man, and Lei found being honest was a rare thing in these lands. Though the irony, he resembled those plump pigs he butchered without batting an eye each day, and Lei wanted to keep him close, and safe.

"Alright," Lei said and clapped him on the back. "Don't worry. I'm sure Master Li would've just wanted to give them some face."

"Yes, that must be it." Fatty Lou nodded with little enthusiasm.

Lei nodded, too, but there was a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. They were some strange people, these cultivators. The tales he'd heard resembled the ones he read back on Earth, but he'd found soon enough he had underestimated the reverence being shown to them, especially by the normal folk.

They were close to gods and angels in the sense that most people would simply prostrate themselves while facing one, daring not to look into their eyes. It was something along the lines of fear and respect, but more so the sheer might they radiated.

Lei had never seen one, as even in a city as big as Jangzhen, cultivators were a rare bunch to come across but heard enough from Fatty Lou to know they'd killed men for less than mere words.

He smiled wryly when he remembered the first day he opened his eyes to those broken, dusty, and rotten walls of the cage he was supposed to call home. Being a twenty-some-year-old orphan didn't help, as he had no one to ask any questions, and what's more, he only got in return a single hovering screen that didn't make any sense. Even now he wasn't sure whether he should be thankful about the fact that he got another life, or not.

Well, I think you have to make the best of it with what you've got. No point in dwelling on the past.

Lei straightened his back. There was still a hope things might take a different turn for him once he completed this basic quest. A real system, perhaps? Or perhaps he would be rewarded with a host of glimmering treasures.

Let's keep the expectations low.

He pulled a couple of wooden logs from under the stall and started working on the little makeshift stove which was essentially a big hole in the planks. He placed the short logs inside the hole and lit a match to get the fire going. To manage the smoke he'd gotten a metal pipe the other week. It proved more useful than he would've thought. At least he could keep his face half-clean. That was something.

When the logs got cuddled by the flame, he flourished the old fan to keep the smoke from spreading. Fatty Lou was watching intently from the side, his mind still on his pops, no doubt. It was good having him here, for today would be the day he'd complete this senseless work. Feeding 1000 people, who would've thought it'd take him three months to achieve that?

….