"A demon!"
"Kill him!"
The voices hit Liu Yang's ears. He was still not able to stand steady, his legs shaking, his mind spinning, when someone started shouting again and again.
"A demon! A demon! Kill it!"
Up on the hill there was a soldier unit. At the outpost, a soldier lifted the telescope and pushed it close to his eye, trying to see far away through the glass.
Below that hill was their camp. Plenty of low-level soldiers were stationed there. Their job was simple — to watch, to spot any monster or demon wandering close, and then to alert the infantry unit. Once the alarm was raised, the soldiers would rush in and wipe it out before it could come near.
Now it was Liu Yang they were looking at.
"Fuck… fuck…"
"A demon, a demon! I need to run or the demon will kill me!"
Liu Yang's ears caught the shouting. His heart jumped. The soldiers were calling someone a demon, and his first thought was the same as theirs — that a demon was here, somewhere close, and it could kill him too.
He pressed his palms to the ground, trying to rise up.
"Come on, come on…"
He pushed, his arms shaking, his legs weak, but his body wouldn't listen. He tried again, his teeth grinding, but it was useless.
He turned his head left and right, his cheek rubbing against the grass, but no one was there.
"Demon? Where?" he whispered, his eyes rolling around trying to catch something.
He squeezed them tight, then opened wide, trying to see far, but all he got was blur.
"Wait… from where was that voice coming?"
Then suddenly—
In front of his eyes, words started to appear, glowing, while inside his head he heard a strange soft female-like voice.
[System Initializing...]
[Loading Progress: 1% ]
[Loading Progress: 2% ]
[Loading Progress: 3% ]
[Loading Progress: 4% ]
[Loading Progress: 5% ]
[Loading Progress: 6%]
[Loading Progress: 7%]
[Loading Progress: 8%]
[Loading Progress: 9%]
[Loading Progress: 10%]
The system interface was initializing. A loading bar appeared, floating in the air like some game screen.
But then the bar stopped.
[Error… Error… Error…] .... 20X times
[Reporting to System Administration]
[Please listen to this beautiful music meanwhile]
Soft music started playing in his head. It sounded like some cheap elevator tune, slow and happy, completely wrong for the situation.
"What the fuck?!" Liu Yang yelled.
It felt like when you call customer service and they tell you to wait, and you just sit there hearing music while nothing happens. That was exactly what this system was doing to him.
His face turned red. He wanted to punch the air.
"Are you kidding me? I'm about to die here and you're playing music?!"
Meanwhile, down the hill, soldiers were rushing up. Liu Yang couldn't see them yet, but he could hear them clearly.
"A demon! A demon!"
"Kill it! Don't let it escape!"
He could hear them more clear now, the sound not far anymore but closing in.
Liu Yang's hands didn't stay still, they kept shaking as he turned his head to look around, the useless music still playing in his head like some cheap joke.
[Meanwhile, please click on the icon below to watch the newbie Tutorial Video.]
[This will show you the world you just got teleported into.]
A bright little play button floated in front of Liu Yang's eyes, glowing like some bad UTube ad.
[Our System Administrator is fixing the bug…]
[Please wait patiently.]
[Have a nice day.]
Liu Yang opened his mouth wide without even knowing it.
"What the hell is this?! A tutorial video?! Are you serious right now?!"
The happy system voice didn't care. It just kept repeating in his head, cheerful, fake, like some call center girl reading a script.
"What the hell… let's just get it over with," Liu Yang muttered.
He slid his hand down from his forehead to his chin, sighing like an old man. Then he raised a finger and poked the glowing play button.
He realized he couldn't do anything else anyway. So why not just play the stupid video and see where he ended up?
[Welcome, Newbie Traveler.]
[You are in the world of magic and swords.]
[On your left side you will find magic. You can be anything you want. Use your system wisely to level up and gain new skills. Your class is: Demon.]
[You have one job. And only one job. Do not get killed by humans.]
As soon as he heard those words, Liu Yang's eyes went wide, his body stiff. His mouth fell open like he forgot how to close it.
"Th… Th… Those voices…" he stammered.
"The ones shouting 'Kill the demon'…"
"They meant… me?!"
His face turned pale.
"I'm the demon?!" he yelped.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on—reset! Where's the restart button?! Can I get a refund?!"
He didn't know what to do, his heart racing, sweat coming out fast, his chest tight, his mind screaming all at once. It was panic, pure panic, making his hands move before he could even think.
He swiped his hand in the air, trying to pull up another menu. Instead, his eyes caught his own hand.
It wasn't his hand.
It was slim now. Slim and pale white, the fingers long, the skin glowing faintly.
Right away he lifted his hand up to his head, fast and rough, like he didn't even think before moving. He felt them—two small horns poking out.
His breathing grew faster. His other hand rushed to his face. It wasn't chubby anymore. The cheeks were slim, the jaw sharp.
"No, no, no, this isn't my fat face!"
He opened his mouth and touched his teeth. They weren't flat and normal anymore. They were sharp, like canine fangs, like a tiger ready to bite.
"Great. Just great. Now I'm a monster cosplay gone wrong," he muttered.
"If my viewers ever saw this, they'd say: 'Finally, the pig got a diet plan… but oops, it turned him into a demon.'"