A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 5: Troublesome

Shu kept his bat raised and watched the three of them without blinking.

’Maybe it looks heartless,’ he thought, eyes moving from one face to the next, ’but this world is dangerous, and nobody here has a reason to feel bad for some stranger they just saw.’

If they kept forcing it, then he already knew what came next. That answer was ugly, but dying because he wanted to be friendly would be even uglier.

"Alright, alright, we are leaving," one of the men said, pulling the other two back with him. "No need to get worked up."

Shu said nothing after that and only watched them go. The three turned the corner soon after, and their footsteps slowly faded until the area went quiet again.

’Yeah, sure you are,’ he thought, crouching by the monster the second they were out of sight. ’If you really wanted to leave, you would have left without smiling that hard.’

He drove his hand into the split part of the skull, felt around for a second, then pulled out a core the size of a plum. It was darker than the goblin ones and a lot cleaner too, with faint red light moving inside it.

"Oh," he muttered, wiping blood off it on the monster’s hide, "this one is actually decent."

The good mood lasted for a few seconds before his eyes drifted back to the building entrance. He could leave right now if he wanted, but that little girl was still inside, badly injured, terrified, and too small to survive on her own for long.

’Dammit,’ he thought, clicking his tongue as he stood up. ’Guess I have to stay here for now.’

It was annoying, it really was, because he already had too many things to worry about, and babysitting was never part of the plan. Even so, walking away after seeing her like that would sit wrong in his chest no matter how much he complained.

He went back inside, stopped near the main door, and sat down where he could watch both the entrance and the stairs.

’I can’t get sloppy just because things are quiet,’ he thought, leaning back against the wall. ’This ruined world still has monsters, cult freaks, rich bastards, and all the lucky assholes who got strong early.’ 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Another thought came right after that and made him sigh, ’there’s the government too,’ he thought, testing the weight of the core. ’It’s one of the major super powers in this world and if I run into the wrong branch too early, that is just a giant pain in the ass.’

’Haaa, this world is such a scam,’ he thought, but his body moved before his brain could finish the rest.

A sword flashed at his face, and he jerked aside on instinct just before it smashed into the wall with a loud crash. He looked at the blade for half a second, then turned toward the entrance and saw those people from earlier standing there with their fake smiles gone.

The man in front held a long silver sword in both hands, and the easygoing face from before had turned flat. Behind him, the woman clutched a kitchen knife while the other guy held a metal pipe.

"You dodged that?" the sword guy asked, sounding more annoyed than surprised.

Shu stood up and raised his bat again, ’just as I thought, people in this world will backstab you fast,’ he glanced at the man who clearly the leader, ’with the much throwing strength, he is clearly an awakened.’

"Let’s not waste time," the sword guy said, resting the blade on his shoulder like he already won. "Hand over everything you have, cores, credits, food, whatever, and maybe this doesn’t get ugly."

Shu stared at him then sighed, "I really don’t have time for this," he said, tightening his grip on the bat. "Leave while I am still being nice."

The leader let out a short laugh after hearing that, then pointed the sword at Shu’s face. "Being nice?" he said, his mouth twisting a little. "Bro, look around you. This isn’t the time to act tough just because you got lucky killing that monster."

He took one step forward and kept talking, clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. "You should be grateful I am even giving you a chance to hand things over first, because if I decide to take them myself, you are going to regret wasting my patience."

Shu was about to tell him to shut the hell up when something else caught his eye. The other guy with the pipe and the woman with the knife were both trembling a little behind him, and neither one looked as eager as their leader did.

’Seems they are scared, could this guy be holding them against their will?’

The woman avoided looking at him directly, while the guy with the pipe kept glancing at the sword in their leader’s hand before lowering his eyes again. Fear was written all over both of them, and it did not look like fear of Shu.

The leader kept yapping, and Shu stared at him but his mind was elsewhere, ’he already tried to kill me, so why is he still talking?’

"You should feel lucky I am giving you a warning," the leader said, voice getting louder as he waved the sword a little. "In this world, people like you get eaten."

Shu’s eyes flicked to the other two again, ’it’s pretty obvious what is going on here, those with power rule over the weak.’

Unwavering Spirit kept him calm as always, which was a feeling he would not get used to anytime soon, ’I could kill all three and not feel a single thing after, though,’ he looked down at this bat, ’doesn’t mean that’s what I want.’

’Maybe I should just break their legs and leave-’ his thoughts got interrupted as the man charged, closing the distance in an instant and swinging straight for his throat.

Shu ducked under the slash and tried to sweep his legs out from under him but the guy reacted fast, putting distance between them.

"Ohoo, not bad, you at least have to be able to dodge that at least," he said with confidence but it was obvious he was shocked.

Shu straightened up and rolled his shoulder once, eyes fixed on the sword. The guy was fast, sure, but the way he kept talking after every move made one thing obvious.

’He is not some trained swordsman,’ he thought, shifting his grip on the bat. ’He just got power and started acting like a thug in a cheap mobile game.’

"You talk too much," he said, watching the man’s face tighten. "If that first swing was your big entrance, then I am honestly disappointed."

The leader’s mouth twitched, then he rushed in again with a low slash that scraped sparks off the wall when Shu slipped back. He brought the bat down to catch the next cut, and the impact rattled both his arms so hard his fingers almost opened.

’Yeah, this is complete bullshit,’ he thought, teeth clenching around the pain. ’Bat versus sword just isn’t fair.’

"Still got jokes?" the leader asked, pressing forward with another swing. "Let’s see if you can laugh after I cut your legs off."

’I really didn’t want to fight these people but,’ he activated his skill and kicked the guy in the gut, sending him flying away.

’Seems I have no choice but to crash them,’ he thought, dark purple aura slowly radiating of his body.

[Slaughterer has been activated]

[Applying side effects]