Sword Among Us Chapter 1: Person in the Mirror

The Sword Among Us tournament was in Mount Hua!

Shaolin disciple Happy voluntarily forfeited his right to compete in the best of sixteen competition because he did not show up…

As an unknown Shaolin disciple, he became the greatest dark horse who forced his way into the Sword Among Us competition in Mount Hua, but right when millions of people turned to him to see what would happen, he voluntarily forfeited! This news shocked the official forum of World of Martial Arts since it was the greatest surprise in the history of the game.

The day after, Happy was caught in a conflict with someone at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain [1]. In the end, he was killed multiple times by the disciples of Five Venoms, who had laid an ambush for him a long time ago.

His realm kept falling…

In the end, Happy, who had managed to get into the best sixteen in a competition involving the whole world, could not even fight against multiple normal Five Venoms elders. With all hopes dashed to pieces, Chen Kaixin deleted Happy and exited the game. On that day, he left the World of Martial Arts.

And yet, what he did not expect was that he would wake up from his dream on an intoxicating stormy night.

Chen Kaixin shook his head violently while standing dazed in his four-person dorm with which he was intimately familiar. His eyes swept to the calendar on his desk—2013. He could not believe that all of this was real. He tapped his head, which still swam because he had yet to sober up. His mind felt heavy, and his limbs light. He rushed to the bathroom, impatient to learn the truth.

He was stunned.

The person in the mirror opened his mouth wide. His expression was filled with disbelief.

The person in the mirror was young.

That person was the replica of Chen Kaixin from when he was a junior in university. He was fair, and a little handsome. The studious look was still there as well. He was wearing a very normal and cheap Adidas T-shirt and pants, and he looked very naive… Everything had returned to three years ago.

'But…' The Chen Kaixin in the mirror touched his familiar but also unfamiliar chin with his mind in a mess. 'How can this be?!'

Despite his confusion, the three onlookers who had appeared beside him did not notice anything off. 

The trio were naturally Chen Kaixin's good friends and dormmates. Ever since Chen Kaixin decided to act recklessly and drink, they had watched his every move from the top bunks. They did not dare rashly snap "Happy" awake.

"There's something off about Happy."

A tall and thin boy pushed his glasses up. He spoke as if he had just made a discovery, but the other two people only rolled their eyes at him.

"Duh."

"Would a person who is perfectly fine drink a bottle of white wine, half a bottle of red wine, and six cans of beer? This brat can drink pretty well…"

"Hey, we shouldn't be talking about how much he can drink right now, right? Look, Happy's expression is very weird. He looks angry and dejected. He's even smiling coldly at the mirror… My god, Happy won't actually be thinking about committing suicide, right?"

"Are you blind? Why don't you just take off your glasses if that's the case? It's clear that Happy is smiling in anguish…" Chen Fan shot the tall and skinny Bai Lang a condescending glare. The latter refused to admit defeat and flipped him the bird in retaliation.

"Come on, guys, knock it off. We're talking about Happy here." The last of the three could no longer continue watching them.

"Pervert, you heard him. Be the judge and tell us who is right—"

"YOU were the one who provoked me first!"

"Don't call me Pervert. My name is Qi Ci." Qi Ci was rendered speechless by the duo.

Bai Lang just said what was on his mind, "Alright, it doesn't matter what you're called. What is important is that—"

Qi Ci's felt anger burn in him. He was even close to spitting fire! "What do you mean it's not important? It's MY name, okay?"

"Hey."

When he saw that a certain someone was about to explode in anger, Chen Kaixin found himself unable to continue ignoring their bickering, which grew in volume by the second.

"If you want to argue, do it outside."

"Fine! The man who has his heart broken is the one with the greatest power today. We'll show you respect today."

Bai Lang's outspoken behavior caused Qi Ci and Chen Fan to feel embarrassed for him. The two of them would very much love to stuff a bar of soap into his mouth, but they ended up just pushing him out in a flurry.

At that moment, Chen Kaixin, who felt lightheaded, finally registered a little of what had happened due to his three valuable buddies.

Bai Lang was a top student of the computer engineering department. He constantly used his bad sight to search for a girlfriend, but never managed to find one even after three years. He was known as the Lonely Brother White who was always lonely when it was daytime.

Chen Fan was Bai Lang's coursemate. He was slightly darker and an abnormally active person in his course and class. Unfortunately, he gave girls no sense of security, so he also had no girlfriend for the time being. He was known as the Lonely Brother Black who became lonely at night.

The last of them was Qi Ci, who was dubbed Pervert by Bai Lang and Chen Fan…

He was a responsible person, but since he was the only one in the dorm who had a girlfriend, he was always the object of "ostracization" and "suppression". After one particular joke, his glorious nickname of the man who could "ejaculate seven times a night" was set in stone, and Qi Ci became known to everyone as a man who could ejaculate seven times. He was the Lonely Seven Times Brother who was lonely both day and night (and the one who did not live up to his nickname).

The three of them were known together as the Three Lonely Wolves of the Computer Engineering Department!

When the sound of the door closing reached his ears, Chen Kaixin finally remembered that he seemed to have drunk a lot the previous night. He did not have a lot of memories of drinking excessively in university, so one time had left the deepest impression… It was because he had embarrassed himself the most at that time.

It was due to his first confession.

During the second term, on a drizzling night, Happy had unexpectedly run into the woman of his dreams at the entrance of his department's building. It was the girl whom he had a crush on for around two years and who was widely acknowledged as the most beautiful and gentle girl in their department—Xu Xin. She was their department princess. 

Xu Xin had stood alone in the corridor while staring at the drizzle outside.

At that time, Chen Kaixin had somehow found courage within himself. In an act of recklessness, he walked up to hand his umbrella to Xu Xin. Then, something embarrassing happened—Xu Xin looked away and took out her own umbrella from her bag. Because of it, she saw, to her surprise, Chen Kaixin's generous expression swiftly turn to the dark red shade of awkwardness.

During the second half of the term, this scene swiftly became the most classic and hot joke of the department. Hence, a certain boy started drinking excessively on a certain night.

Chen Kaixin's memories started becoming clearer bit by bit.

The scene from three years ago appeared in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. Chen Kaixin's face in the mirror started to redden swiftly, and his expression, too, quickly turned into a strange mix of him wanting to laugh and cry at the same time!

"It can't be that much of a coincidence, right?"

Even though many years had passed since then, every time Chen Kaixin thought of this matter and remembered how stupid he looked when he did not know whether he should put away his umbrella or hand it out, he would feel extremely embarrassed...

Because of this, every single time there was a class gathering, someone would bring it up to tease him. They would sacrifice him to regulate the atmosphere in the group.

The Chen Kaixin in the mirror clenched his fists in anger and hissed in exasperation, "I've already transmigrated, so why shouldn't I work hard to go further this time?"

The three sleazy boys eavesdropping outside the bathroom were speechless. They looked at each other at a loss when they heard the boy with the broken heart talk in such a strange and faltering manner.

"Is the guy regretting he wasn't more proactive yesterday?"

Chen Fan did not expect that the boy with the broken heart would turn from a young virgin boy to a young pervert in just one night. He found himself unable to accept this situation.

Bai Lang cackled with a perverted expression. "As expected from a person we trained. He has indeed inherited the legacy of the Three Lonely Wolves from the computer engineering department!"

"Legacy, my foot! Only dead people can pass their legacy to others!" Qi Ci finally caught a chance to hit Bai Lang, and he smacked his head repeatedly.

"Ack!"

"Hush."

Even though the trio wanted to stop their ruckus, it was already too late.

Chen Kaixin walked out of the bathroom. The trio quickly laughed foolishly before they turned around. "Happy, we knew you'd be alright. Even if you're not alright, don't worry. We gathered money to buy a Virtual Reality Helmet (VR Helmet) for you. Tomorrow, us four wolves can fight together in our dorm. We'll fight our way through the World of Martial Arts. We shan't bother ourselves with the rumors at school."

Qi Ci was the one who reacted the fastest. He brought forward the plan they had prepared a long time ago to shift Chen Kaixin's attention from the crime of the trio eavesdropping on him.

Chen Kaixin had experienced this before. In fact, it had been three years ago.

When he heard the suggestion, he rolled his eyes and pulled out a bill with Mao Zedong's face on it. He then said a few simple words. "Paying by installments. Will settle the bill in three years."

World of Martial Arts had joined the market for less than a month, and it had done so in a grand fashion. Within a short period of time, it attracted more than five million players from all around the world, and the VR Helmet, which was a unique terminal login, sold for 3,600 RMB per unit.

"Darn."

Qi Ci and the other two watched Chen Kaixin hand over one hundred as if he had predicted their action. It stunned them for a long time. "You bastard, you want to pay in installments for something that costs around three thousand? You sure have a lot of awareness of what's going on, huh?

"Who among you leaked the news?"

"Nope, absolutely not me!" Bai Lang and Chen Fan began to suspect each other.

"Stop guessing. You were sleep talking yesterday, and you said everything so clearly that I heard every word."

"You mean something that crazy happened?"

Bai Lang pushed up his glasses, unable to believe what he heard.

But Chen Kaixin did not care about him.

"Where's the helmet?"

World of Martial Arts might have been in the market for less than a month, but there were quite a number of people who had already made a name for themselves. He remembered that when he first joined the game, World of Martial Arts had already formed more than fifty thousand factions. In fact, the practitioners who practiced the peak of all martial arts skills, Nine Yin Manual and Nine Yang Divine Skill, were about to appear. Hence, there might be many great martial arts skills that were being inherited by many people at that very moment.

Qi Ci and the other two were speechless again.

They had thought that it would be very difficult for them to get the only good student in their dorm to join them in World of Martial Arts. They expected to have to work hard and devise a lot of persuasive speeches to attract him to play the game. Thus, they were surprised to see that he was the type to hide his talents in gaming, and by the looks of it, he was even more of a seasoned gamer than they were.

Could he be one of the legendary low-profile bros who did not flaunt their talents?

"The helmet is in your closet."

"If someone bullies you once you log in, remember to tell them my name. I'm Young Lonely Seven," said Qi Ci.

"I'm Young Lonely Black, and Bai Lang is Young Lonely White. Why don't you just call yourself Young Lonely Heart?" Chen Fan gave Chen Kaixin a very ridiculous name.

When Chen Kaixin picked up the soft, foldable helmet from his closet, an inexplicably profound light flashed in his eyes. He remained silent for a long time before he raised his head.

"I'll just call myself Happy."

At that moment, Chen Kaixin made his decision!

Three years later, after the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua… this name will be remembered by all the people on earth!

Translator's Note:

[1] Shaoshi Mountain: Is part of Mount Song, in the Dengfeng district of Henan Province.

Chapter end