3 Pushed Into Poverty

The Transportation Circle was still glowing blue.

Cheng Xiu stepped back so she wouldn't accidentally fall off the Transportation Circle and this Veritas became her Starter Village before she could observe things to decide.

She looked around her. The Architecture of the place seemed to be inspired by the middle ages of Europe, with small inspirations from Persia and Arabia in the woodworks. The place was overcrowded, although most of the people seemed to be NPCs and not actual players.

The NPCs were easily recognizable because of the Green Diamonds above their head instead of the Blue ones above the Players. It was similar to the trailers of the game she saw as ads on Y-Tube.

She looked down to see the kind of dress the Game gave her as a beginner. She was wearing a white robe that looked like those of Ancient Chinese immortals, a black sash around her waist keeping it in place, a crude, cheap blade strapped to it. The only weird addition to the attire was the knee-length black boots on her feet. Her left forefinger was adorned with an iron ring that had a pale blue stone embedded in it.

'System, What is this?'

[It is the storage ring assigned to you. It has 20 shelves, each for one kind of item. 50 of the same kind of items can be stored on the same shelf. It is upgradable.]

Voices filtered through the Rainbow Barrier catching her attention.

"The quests hardly give any monetary rewards!" a teenager cried as he took his rewards for running errands from the Potter NPC.

"This village is too poor!" a lady screamed to a frail-looking old woman NPC as she shoved manure into the mule carriage. "I should have listened to my brother!"

Cheng Xiu started to back away. That didn't sound welcoming at all.

"The quests given in this Village are the worst for beginners when compared to other beginner villages," a man wearing glasses said to the man next to him as the two of them loaded woods into a horse carriage. "Can you believe I left Sentara Village for this place? What was I thinking?"

Cheng Xiu backed away even more. So that was why the AI Maya had pity in her voice. The village chosen by her was poverty-ridden.

"Stupid Qiless," a blonde man shouted and kicked a fat man away. "Stay away from me!"

And had racists. Nice. Such an attractive village. Not.

The Teleportation Circle flared blue, startling her.

Cheng Xiu stumbled back. She didn't want to be here permanently. She refused to make things harder than it already was for her.

'System, I don-'

She crashed into someone coming through the portal behind her, her heels stamped on their feet. She felt a warm sturdy, muscled chest against her back.

She cringed. God. Why?

"Get off me," a baritone voice said into her ears.

Cheng Xiu felt weak-kneed at that voice. Good lord. Now that was a voice she wouldn't mind listening to all day long.

Before she could turn around and say sorry she felt the guy hold her shoulder and shove her off his body.

She flew out of the Rainbow Barrier and fell on the dirt road of Veritas Village. Dust filled into her mouth and Cheng Xiu choked, coughing and spitting, trying to get rid of it.

She heard the sound of hooves and turned to see a horse carriage that seemed to be coming her way without a sign of stopping. Cheng Xiu dived out of its way in terror and jumped to her feet.

Her body shivered in fright. She stared at the place that would have been her place of death, shock written all over her face. Her first death would have been under the wheels of that carriage and she knew the pain would have been too real.

She should have lowered the pain level.

"You should be careful next time," a voice said from next to her.

She recognized that voice. It was the jerk that pushed her out of the barrier and sealed her fate!

She spun around, her dark Phoenix eyes spitting fire.

She was glaring at a very broad and attractive pair of collar bones. A body covered in a black ancient robe that had bright dragons stitched into the fabric that looked expensive. She raised her head to look at the man whose chin reached the top of her head.

There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't figure out what.

Her eyes met crimson eyes set on a beautiful face. It was chiselled in such a way that even the shadows on it were beautiful. Her heart skipped a beat, and she blushed, a dazed look entering her eyes.

He raised a thick dark eyebrow at her.

Cheng Xiu finally remembered where she was and who was in front of her.

"You shoved me, you jackass!" she said to him, glaring.

He tilted his head to the side, considering her words.

"I guess I did. My apologies. But you fell on me and stamped my feet though."

Cheng Xiu deflated. She blushed. "Right. You still shouldn't shove people. It's impolite."

His thin, pale pink lips curled into a smile.

God help her soul. She felt thirsty.

He nodded at her. "Of course."

Cheng Xiu gave him a strained smile and tried to run away.

He grabbed hold of her elbow, force stopping her. The inertia made her crash into his body again.

"What the hell!" she asked, scowling at him.

"I'm waiting," he said, his voice laced with laughter.

"For what, you jerk!" she asked in anger. She was starting to become immune to his handsomeness.

"For crashing into me," he replied patiently.

Cheng Xiu considered it for a moment. "No. I crashed into you and you shoved me, making me fall out of the Teleportation Circle. I almost got run over by a horse carriage and your actions made this place my Beginner Village. As far as I'm concerned, you did more harm to me than I did to you."

He looked at her in surprise and then looked around them. "Veritas as a beginner village...hmm...that is some bad luck...I'm sorry then."

Cheng Xiu had a feeling that he wasn't sorry at all. Looking at the sweet smile on his face she was even sure he was laughing inside. Her instincts were practically screaming it.

She glared at him.

"Is that Lu Wenxian?" a girl suddenly screamed.

The man's smile became strained.

Cheng Xiu realized who it was. Why he had felt so familiar. Lu Wenxian, CEO of Lu Enterprise, is a major shareholder of the game and one of the top gamer gods.

There wasn't a VR game that he was not famous in. Some even say that if he claimed second no one would dare claim first place.

Cheng Xiu always thought it was overhyped.

Many girls started to recognize the man after that shout, and ran towards him. She saw him get surrounded and the distance between hin and Cheng Xiu grew. Cheng Xiu smirked as she realized the guy was stuck and unable to move. His face still had a polite smile but Cheng Xiu was sure he was barely holding onto the facade.

His alluring red eyes were still trained on her, almost seeming to ask for her help. Cheng Xiu grinned at him and ran away.

His eyes narrowed when he couldn't see the long-haired girl anymore and his face turned blank. The temperature around them started to become icy.

The girls started to back away as ice spears started to appear under his feet. In a blink of their eyes, he disappeared from their midst.

Cheng Xiu stood bent over with her hands on her knees in a small alleyway between two small houses, panting, trying to calm her breath.

Cheng Xiu wanted to cry. She was pushed into Poverty. That horrible Wenxian. She hoped he would suffer for what he did to her.

Cheng Xiu shook her head. She needed to stay focused. There was no use crying over spilt milk.

She needed to level up to level five to start the messaging function of the game. Then she and Gu Shu could talk to each other, plan on where they could meet and join Ren the pig's guild if it was not a digital Brothel. Then she could forget about this stupid game and go back to her simple life of simply over master WenLu's handsome writings.

She decided to find the Adventure's Guild so that she could leave this nightmare of a world behind.