Races: Online

Real life fighting that didn't involve fireballs, world-defying martial art techniques, futuristic laser sabers and such… was awkward and clumsy at best. There were no cool sound effects and there was an apparent lack of slow motions either.

Mou Gu swooped at Han Jing.

Han Jing recoiled back right before Mou Gu could slap the memory-sealing talisman on his forehead again. He was supposed to let it "work" on him, but he found himself dodging because Mou Gu was being too much.

"Hah! Did you think that was going to work again—?" Han Jing felt the wooden staff smack against his torso. The air knocked out of his lungs and he let out a cough that made Mou Gu scrunch up his face.

He thought that some spittle flew out. Mou Gu proceeded to tackle and grapple the guy down. The cultivator threw the staff on the concrete. He tried to hold one of Han Jing's arms as he tried to place the memory sealing talisman again.

"Ow, ow—foul!" Han Jing pushed Mou Gu's face away from his and groaned. "Didn't you see that I had no weapons, that was totally unfair. You could have stabbed me if you used a sword!"

"Nobody makes the rules here, so stop squirming—"

Han Jing gave the guy a headbutt and felt his head reel and spin. It hurt him far more than it did Mou Gu's… and he almost wondered if the warmth trickling on his face was his blood.

"Darn it, Han Jing. Hold still!" Cultivator or not, Mou Gu was trying to do his best to not actually hurt the guy too much and that involved not using his qi too much. He was feeling slightly dizzy at the impact of the guy's hard head.

"You go, still—get off me!" Han Jing tried to free his leg and kick the guy out, but all he was practically achieving was writhing on the street. "Argh, help! Help! Predator here!"

"What the fuck—"

Han Jing elbowed Mou Gu in the chin and sent the guy backwards. 

"Haah…" If they were playing dirty, then might as well do that. His gaze landed on the memory sealing talisman that fell on the concrete—he dove for it and then jumped on Mou Gu.

Only to receive a frontal kick right at the spot where he got hit earlier. 

Mou Gu groaned and knew he should have gotten knocked out by that attack—he was feeling dizzy actually, but he pulled himself up to his feet. "What are you trying to play at Han Jing? Now's not the time to act like a thug."

"Look who's talking—just because you were a pretty boy who didn't get involved with guy fights doesn't mean that you get away, uck." Han Jing spat out something and felt blood in his throat. "You're paying for my injuries."

Mou Gun narrowed his eyes, "If you decide to quit with this little scuffle then I'll give you something to recover from your injuries. I have something in my spatial bracelet that can heal that. You don't want your parents to see you come home looking like that, do you?"

"Not a chance." Han Jing's grip tightened on the memory sealing talisman and he wished that he had his Inventory right now—it would have been so helpful if that was possible. His gaze flickered to the wooden staff on the ground and he dove for it—Mou Gu did the same and beat him to it.

"You don't know who you're dealing—"

Han Jing slapped the talisman on Mou Gu's forehead. He watched the guy's eyes widen and then saw the man pass out immediately. Still, Han Jing didn't believe Mou Gu's reaction and immediately stepped back.

He gave some distance between the two of them and gritted his teeth.

"Playing dead?" he asked with a scoff.

There was no reply.

Han Jing didn't trust it at all. He quickly glanced across the street and then saw a bush—he started moving backwards and squatted down on the ground. He felt around for a rock and then tossed it close to the guy.

The stone skidded close to it, but there was nothing that happened.

"For real? Don't you have your own failsafe against it being used against you?" Han Jing frowned and tried to read the guy. He tried to see if there were any thoughts that came out from Mou Gu and realized that there was nothing.

It was a complete blank.

Maybe it was because Han Jing was having difficulty reading what was probably a stronger opponent… but he decided that it was safe. "And I accidentally sealed his memory." Han Jing found that his voice didn't hold enough surprise in it.

He knew that the best way to disable the guy from attacking him was using the memory-sealing talisman—he just didn't think it would work that well. He really didn't want to give excuses though.

The man stepped closer to the knocked out cultivator and then looked at him hesitatingly—before kneeling down… to check on the spatial bracelet the guy had on his wrist. 

He wasn't acting like a Thief or anything, but he just wanted to see if he could access it or was it blocked out to open with Mou Gu's personal qi? Maybe there was something useful inside the ring that could help him.

Han Jing looked at the memory sealing talisman and tried to assess it.

A screen popped in front of him and provided a small detail. Han Jing stared in surprise for a second, but then decided that it was helpful.

[ Memory Sealing Talisman ]

The inscriptions were written down by a powerful scriptionist and are mass-produced for the Shen Society and other organizations' use for dealing with mortals and even cultivators from other factions discovering secrets.

The number of memories sealed is dependent on the mental energy of the individual, those who are skilled in mental faculties and training like Psychics and Mentalists find it easy to negate the effects—however side symptoms like blacking out that is used to seal memories safely still occur.

At least the most recent hour of memory is sealed, based on the guarantee of the scriptionist.

"...so an hour." Han Jing decided with a grimace. Similar to what Mou Gu did before with him, lying through his teeth was the option that seemed to be what he needed to do. He didn't exactly like it… but that was what was necessary.

Or was it really necessary?

"I did promise Dai Song Lan to keep it a secret, so that's me keeping my word." Han Jing decided aloud and then looked at his old classmate. Mou Gu looked at ease for a guy that was passed out on the street. "Besides, this guy won't stop trying to erase my memory if I let him off the hook."

He checked the spatial bracelet again and found access to it. There were a lot of things available in this guy's inventory and somehow it almost felt intuitive to use… not too different from what he used in the Otherworld.

Han Jing finally pulled out what appeared to be a small canister.

[ Healing Ointment ]

Created by an alchemist to soothe and treat cuts, wounds and other minor to medium injuries. If one is currently experiencing grievous injuries, it is advised in the canister's instruction to find a healer immediately.

"Hah, the good stuff. Compared to an Alchemist from another world… is it just as effective? Which one works faster?" He opened the canister and then took out some of the cream.

Before putting some on Mou Gu himself, the guy pulled up his shirt and glanced at his abdomen. There was already a purplish bruise present and he wondered if he also got any internal injuries.

"...I don't feel like my spleen is broken or anything." Han Jing said to himself. "Still, Mou Gu really didn't pull his punches at all. Geez, why did you have to think that you know what's good for me? I'll decide that for myself."

He winced after applying the cream on his stomach and then slathered some on Mou Gu. It would be too suspicious if the guy woke up and found an injury on his person.

After making sure that the two of them were patched up, Han Jing pulled out his phone for once, sent a message and then pulled the guy up. 

The next thing he needed to do was get out of this space and then find a place where it wasn't weird for a guy to wake up at.

He already had a place in his mind.

.

.

.

Mou Gu woke up with a throbbing headache—and he raised his head to see Han Jing currently hunched over a computer screen. The neon-lights were slightly glaring, but it shone on his face in a familiar way.

It reminded him of the times when they used to skip some classes to hang around the PC Cafe. This was the exact same one.

Han Jing's favorite spot ever since he discovered it in highschool.

At least that was what he told Mou Gu.

Mou Gu frowned slightly. What exactly happened? He remembered that he was supposed to visit Han Jing to check on them and make sure that this guy wasn't in some kind of organization. He had found the vegetation that Han Jing sold him as suspicious. 

… So when did they get here?

Han Jing looked incredibly busy playing some kind of pointer-clicker game. He didn't even realize that Mou Gu was awake now. "Oi—"

"Hey, good morning drunken beauty." Han Jing rolled his eyes. He paused the game and threw him a look. A grin crossed on his lips. "You really drunk the hell out with my dad, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Mou Gu's head was throbbing hard enough to make him wince. He rubbed his forehead for a moment and tried to recall if that actually happened. He could remember that he did bring wine… but did he really get drunk?

He had never got drunk before to reach this kind of state.

"Whatever. I brought you here, so no need to thank me," Han Jing said.

"I wasn't going to." Mou Gu lowered his hand. "I never get like this, you know? Knocking myself out while drinking? That's more like your thing than mine."

"Well, there's a first time for everything then."

—-—-

Important Author's Note: A part of me now understands why fast-paced novels are a thing now on Webnovel. When it's no longer interesting enough for people to read then it happens: a time where a writer is forced to wrap up the story as soon as they can and tie up any loose strings. It's a little sad, but compared to shelving the story and seeing when you can allot the time and energy to finish it properly is more of a difficult endeavor.

It's August 21, 2021 and I'm a little burnout ].[ in addition to the fact that today it's not profitable to write everyday for Races: Online anymore where I probably won't even get $60 this month. I'll try my best to write, because I'm certainly biased to Han Jing as a character… however, it will also be practical for me to start a new story and I hope it's not held too much against me xD

Thank you to those who continue to support me each month, even when I take writing breaks. A part of me truly aims to write a story set in a universe that's dense and full of adventures and mostly a shared one between the protagonist here like Han Jing and others like Li Yang (My CEO's Harem Cultivation System) to Chan Lee (Mr. Moon Rabbit, I'm Not Yours!). Maybe my next story will make it an incentive to write this again? Thank you!