Chapter 30: Which Would You Choose, a Girlfriend or a Game?

In the eyes of Beast, he could see a man holding a knife to a woman's throat, threatening her. The man’s hands roamed over the woman’s body, while she wore an expression of grief and suppressed anger, yet dared not move. In the dim light, Beast recognized the woman—it was his landlady. Her eyes were tightly shut, as if she wished she could unsee this scene.

Of course, most women in this situation, lacking power, would do the same—to survive, not resist. If one had the ability, it would be wiser to drive the attacker away first.

“If I were you, I’d run now,” Beast’s voice sounded from behind the man, making him jump in fright. At the same time, the woman opened her eyes.

Almost instantly, as the man recoiled in shock, Beast lunged forward in a single stride. The man, however, recovered quickly and slashed at Beast with the knife. Beast watched the blade, reached out to grab it with one hand, and with the other produced a mysterious artifact—a brick—and brought it down on the man’s head.

The Brick (Ancient Artifact)
Category: Weapon
Required Attributes: None
Normal Damage: Flat strike
1.5x Damage: Side strike
2x Damage: Edge strike
Critical Hit: Corner strike
Artifact Description: First among the ten ancient artifacts. Square and solid, sharp-edged and crimson, dazzling to the eyes and chilling to the heart. Equally suited for close defense and ranged assault!

Beast didn’t use a side, edge, or corner strike; just a flat one. Even so, the man was left reeling, dazed from the blow. Seizing the opportunity, Beast struck him several more times, at last knocking him unconscious.

“Are you alright?” Only after Beast stopped did the landlady rush over, her eyes constantly flickering toward the blood dripping from his hand.

“Call the police,” Beast said calmly, glancing at the man, and turned to leave.

The landlady grabbed his arm. “Wait, you need to come with me to the hospital. If something goes wrong with your hand, I’ll be responsible.”

Beast glanced at his bleeding hand, hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Alright.”

To be honest, Beast acted out of habit. When he was a Digimon, such an injury was nothing, just a surface wound—a surge of digital energy and it would heal instantly. The worst wounds he’d suffered were near-fatal, with his data almost erased, yet he’d survived by defying fate at the last moment.

He’d wanted to work out before to avoid this body dying suddenly. Now, to prevent infection and a fatal outcome, he agreed to the landlady’s request.

After calling the police, the landlady led Beast outside. They walked to a nearby parking spot, where she had a red compact car waiting. She drove him away.

Though Beast was bleeding quite a bit, it was still just a flesh wound. At the hospital, they disinfected the cut and wrapped it with a bandage. There was nothing more to worry about.

The landlady looked at Beast’s bandaged hand, worry etched on her face. “Doctor, is that enough? Shouldn’t you check again?”

The doctor replied impatiently, “Are you the doctor or am I? It’s a surface wound. Just keep it clean and dry for a few days. Did you think it was something serious?”

“Alright.” Hearing this, the landlady finally relaxed.

“Thank you for saving me…” After they left the hospital, she drove Beast home.

Beast shook his head calmly. “No need to thank me. If something had happened to you, I would have felt responsible.”

The landlady, looking over at him in the passenger seat, spoke resolutely. “How about this—whatever you want, no matter what it is, I’ll agree to it.”

“You know, for someone like me—a homebody—my hand is my girlfriend. Now that my hand’s injured, doesn’t that mean my girlfriend’s hurt?” Beast fixed her with a sudden, intense gaze. “If I asked you to compensate me with a girlfriend, could you do it?”

“I…” The landlady involuntarily shrank back under his stare, but after a moment of thought her face became determined. She began, “I can—”

“Forget it, I was joking. If you really want to thank me, just waive my rent. It’s not a lot, but saving a little is still something.” As she was about to reply, Beast cut her off, opened the car door, and left.

Of course, Beast knew what the landlady had wanted to say. But he was a Digimon, not a human. He was here for Zero Beast’s data, not for romance. So he refused her without hesitation.

He’d read some novels here in the past—stories of immortal lords who’d cultivated for billions of years, only to fall in love after transmigrating to another world. He couldn’t help but scoff: was it that there were no women in their original world, or was the so-called immortal lord a fraud?

After billions of years of cultivation, and still unable to pass the trial of emotion? Even if the immortal lord started as a human, after so long, surely he was a different species altogether—how could he still fall for a human?

Besides those immortal lords, there were plenty of stories about people dominating the world after thousands of years of cultivation in another realm. Beast truly didn’t understand—if you wanted to rule, wouldn’t it be more impressive in that other realm? What’s the point of being king among ants?

In any case, Beast decided he must avoid such possibilities. If he got a girlfriend who pestered him daily, even at night kept him from sleeping, how would he play games? And without games, how would he track down Zero Beast’s data?

Ultimately, Beast knew he was not one to put the cart before the horse. Matters of love and romance had no place in his life—they were to be cut out entirely.