"Help!"
Ryan frowned and turned in the direction from which the voice had come.
As he turned, through the scattered pine trees, he saw three people running toward him, one woman and two men.
The woman had long pink hair, which was currently disheveled from running, and her clothes were torn in many places. Her fair face was stained with still-undried tears, and she continued screaming as she ran.
Behind her, two men, both with the classic appearance of villains, with tall bodies and bald heads, were chasing her.
One of the bald men had a bull tattoo on his neck, while the other had a scorpion tattoo.
Ryan frowned slightly upon seeing this and quickly bent down to pick up the two canine teeth of the man-eating dog. Once he was done, he didn't linger and immediately changed direction, moving away from the path the woman was taking, as he had no intention of meddling in other people's business.
One of the things he had learned while growing up in the slums was to never interfere in other people's affairs unnecessarily, or he wouldn't even know how he died.
Besides, he hadn't even started cultivating yet. Thus, he couldn't sense other people's levels through the intensity of their primal energy.
Without knowing their strength, he had no intention of fighting for some unknown woman.
However, what made Ryan's expression turn ugly was that the moment he changed direction to leave, the woman shrieked again like a ghost bride and changed her direction as well, continuing to run toward him.
Ryan took a deep breath, and once his figure was concealed by the tall pine trees, he changed direction again, intending to slip away while the woman and the two men lost sight of him.
But just a few seconds later, he once again heard the woman screaming for help and realized she was still heading in his direction.
A cold light flashed in Ryan's eyes, and after thinking for a moment, he finally stopped running.
Turning around, he waited for a few seconds, and soon—
"Please help me!"
The same voice reached his ears, and he saw the same woman, looking even more miserable than before, running toward him.
The two men were still chasing her, their faces flushed red from continuous running, as if they were on the verge of exhaustion.
Ryan looked at the three of them, and when they were about one hundred and fifty meters away, he shouted loudly.
"Five thousand credits, and I will help you."
The woman's eyes lit up when she heard his words, and she immediately nodded while continuing to run toward him.
"Okay, okay! Just save me, and I will give you five thousand credits!"
The expressions of the two men chasing her turned grim, and one of the bald men shouted in a threatening voice.
"Kid, don't get involved in things you don't understand, or you will regret it."
Ryan ignored the man's warning and simply smiled at the woman, gesturing for her to hurry.
The woman didn't stop, and in less than five seconds, she was almost in front of him. She stretched out both her arms, as if intending to embrace him, and spoke with tears still in her eyes.
"Thank you, I will definitely pay you ba—"
She hadn't even finished her sentence when Ryan suddenly stepped forward. His body spun in a full circle to gather momentum, and he delivered a powerful spinning kick directly at the woman's face.
The woman had never expected Ryan to attack her so suddenly. Caught completely off guard, she couldn't react in time, and the kick landed squarely on the side of her jaw.
Crack!
The sound of bone breaking echoed through the surroundings as her jaw shattered instantly. Bloodstained teeth and saliva flew out of her mouth as she was sent flying backward at the same speed with which she had approached him.
Bang!
Her body slammed against a pine tree ten meters away and slid down the trunk like a wet cloth, already unconscious from the shock.
The two men chasing her came to an abrupt halt and stared at the unconscious woman lying against the tree just a couple of meters away from them, their eyes widening in shock.
However, the shock didn't last long. They quickly regained their senses, and their eyes turned red with anger.
"You bastard! How dare you attack Lulu!" The bald man with the scorpion tattoo roared, his eyes filled with rage as he charged toward Ryan.
As he moved, the man's nails suddenly elongated, becoming as sharp as knives, and his speed nearly doubled.
Ryan's pupils contracted, and he quickly moved aside.
Just as he did, a sharp gust of wind whistled past his ear, narrowly missing his neck.
But the man didn't stop after missing his attack and like a cat, he used a pine tree behind Ryan to change direction midair and lunged at him again.
'He must have an aspect related to some kind of cat-type monster...' Ryan quickly concluded as he once again evaded the attack.
At the same time, he thought of the second man, the one with the bull tattoo and instinctively glanced in his direction.
However, the moment he looked, his heart turned cold because the man was no longer there.
Just then—
Swish!
Ryan heard the sound of air being sliced apart from behind him and quickly shifted his body.
Although he reacted swiftly, he was still a step too late.
Woosh!
A sharp dagger slashed across his left shoulder, leaving behind a wound nearly two centimeters deep.
"Fu*k," Ryan grimaced in pain and quickly clutched his shoulder with one hand while stumbling backward.
"You asshole! You dared to attack Lulu. I'll chop you into pieces and feed you to dogs," The man with the bull tattoo growled, licking the blood from the dagger in his hand.
Ryan's gaze fell on the black dagger, and he immediately recognized it as the Shadow Dagger, a low-level treasure aspect on the same tier as Rage Ape.
This aspect granted its user the ability to conceal their presence and move silently. Though its effect wasn't particularly powerful, it was more than enough to bypass Ryan's senses, especially since he hadn't started cultivating yet.
"You three bastards are in the same team and were planning to lure me before robbing me. Are you saying I should have followed that bitch?" Ryan sneered, his eyes turning cold as he looked at the two men.
The moment he had realized the woman was still tracking him even after he changed directions multiple times, he had been certain something was wrong and she was most likely using some kind of tracking skill or similar ability to follow him.
Knowing he couldn't shake them off, he had deliberately acted like a greedy fool to lower her guard and eliminate her in a single move.
'Damn it, has all my luck run out after picking up those Heavy Metal Grass? How could I encounter such a situation right after leaving the city for the first time.' Ryan cursed inwardly, frustration building within him.
"A kid who is still wet behind the ears and came outside without knowing anything," The man with the scorpion tattoo sneered. "Let me teach you the rules of society on behalf of your parents."
As he spoke, he charged toward Ryan once again, his speed still terrifyingly fast.
Ryan barely managed to dodge the attack again, his expression growing heavier.
'Both of them are already mid-stage Rank One Evolvers, and they're stronger than the puppets because of their skills.' Ryan analyzed as he continued evading their attacks.
'If this continues, I will be killed sooner or later.'
Ryan tried to counterattack after dodging the bull-tattooed man's strike. However, the moment the attack missed and Ryan attempted to retaliate, the scorpion-tattooed man immediately followed up with his own attack, forcing Ryan to halt his counter mid-way and dodge once again.
If it had been a one-on-one fight, Ryan was confident he could win with some effort. But against the two of them, he had no chance in winning through normal means.
Moreover, the coordination between the two of them was exceptionally high, indicating that they had been working together for a long time.
'I didn't want to use this, but...'
Ryan glanced at the two men attacking him, and his eyes gradually turned cold.
He dodged another strike from the man with the bull tattoo, and in the next second—
'Berserk!'