A frail-looking boy was seen walking slowly. His body seemed severely malnourished. He walked through the alley, going from one shop to another.

"Get your fucking a*s away from my shop and get lost!"

"Hey, don’t even dare to enter my shop! You haven’t even paid me for the last three months of rations."

"Hey! You kid, if you want a job, then find it somewhere else. We don’t hire frail-looking guys."

"Find some other place, boy..."

The old man, the lady, the mechanic, and many others refused to listen to his requests. Alen walked down the alley street endlessly, his black eyes completely blank. His messy black hair entirely shadowed his forehead.

*Growl~*

He clutched his stomach tightly. It had been two days since he last ate.

*Buzz...* *Buzz...*

Suddenly, his phone rang. He took the phone from his pocket; it was an old device that his father used to own in the past. He checked the caller’s name.

<Annoying Buddy>

It was his friend, Sam. He answered the call.

<Hello, is this Alen, my bestie speaking?>

*Tch!*

"The person you have called is currently busy finding work, so get your a*s straight and Spill the fu*king shit you called him for."

<Hehehe... Alen, I like your words. You always make my life feels violent.>

Alen gave a small smile and asked,

"Now stop talking about shit and tell me why you called me. I am busy."

Sam remained silent for a while. Alen almost thought the line had cut, but then the voice came back.

<Alen, if you need financial help, I can give you some of my pocket money if you want, buddy...>

<I know you are suffering there. Can you give me a chance and accept my request?>

Alen’s small smile slowly vanished. He clutched his phone tightly.

*Sigh...*

"Listen bro, I am completely fine. I just got a job now, and I just ate delicious food in a restaurant. There’s nothing to worry about, and I don’t need your money. I will return the money I took from you ASAP... So there is no need for your help."

Alen lied flatly. He couldn’t tell his friend that he had been hungry for days and was still unemployed.

In the Vexis Country, there was a strict government rule that only people over the age of nineteen could get a job. It was a law enforced by the government with strict orders. If anyone gave a job to an underage person, they would be fined several million in cash plus a lifetime in jail.

Many people had been jailed because of that, so nowadays, no one under the age of nineteen could get a job. It was meant to prevent parents and caretakers from forcibly making children work in shops. It was a good thing for the children, and there were various benefits. The children wouldn’t have to abandon their studies because of work, they could spend their childhood without any work pressure, and they had enough time to reach maturity and find their own ’Path’.

But for Alen, its impact was the complete opposite.

After he lost both of his parents in an accident, his uncle skillfully took over all of his parents’ property and threw him out of the house. From then on, his life turned into a complete hell.

He used to have many friends. He used to help his friends with homework and other tasks. Alen was always a ’kind’ guy who had a ’helping nature’. That was also the reason people used him for their own benefit. He had helped them unconditionally, but when a crisis fell upon him, they started to show their true colors. Everyone started to distance themselves from him, leaving him completely alone. He had never demanded them to help him financially or otherwise. He just expected them to at least motivate him and stand beside him. As the days passed, Sam was the only friend he had left, and he had even helped Alen a lot in the past.

Because of this, Alen didn’t want to become a ’gold digger’ who relied entirely on others.

But getting a job was nearly impossible for him. For years, he had survived somehow by selling some of his valuable stuff, which were his parents’ last mementos. Now, he had lost those too.

He was just a guy left on the street. He couldn’t even find a job. He was just seventeen; if he wanted to live, he needed to survive for two more years. And even if he survived, there was no way in hell there was any guarantee that he would definitely get a decent job. The competition was increasing vastly day by day. Even finding a decent job felt like achieving a huge milestone in life.

It was like an 800-meter race with millions of people participating at the same time, and if he wanted to win, he had to come in the top ten. And that was for Alen, who had already stopped his education after getting to college because of the financial crisis.

The once brilliant boy from the academy, who had always made his parents proud, was now reduced to this state.

<If you say so... But if you really need anything, just ask me. I will always be there for you. See ya, buddy!>

"Thanks..."

As the line cut off, Alen put his phone away. He started walking forward. He had nowhere to go. He had been cast out by his landlord because he couldn’t pay the rent.

He didn’t blame anyone for treating him badly; they were probably right in their own place. Not everyone in the world lived for ’sympathy’. They had their own lives to live. They had their own struggles, and if everyone started to live for others, the world wouldn’t be able to function. They had to be selfish. Only selfish people could live a proper life with fewer sacrifices.

This was not the era written about in old history, where everyone lived together and helping was the very virtue of human nature. The past was just the past; the present was the practical reality. Even if people showed a little bit of kindness, that didn’t mean they would continue to show it. They would eventually get tired of it.

This was the ’Era’ of ’Selfishness’. If you wanted to live well, you had to be selfish.

As Alen walked forward, the sky darkened and night started to fall. The alley street was completely covered in shadow, with no streetlights present. As Alen walked, he felt a silent presence behind him, and slowly, he started to hear footsteps.

He kept walking without stopping. When he stopped, the footsteps suddenly halted. He then turned around.

Several masked figures were standing there, holding sharp daggers. They walked closer to him.

"Hey kid, if you want to live, then spill out whatever you have and get lost, or you will face our wrath."

Alen looked at the masked figures. He remembered his condition, and then he realized his current situation. Suddenly, he couldn’t hold back anymore.

*Pfft...* 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!..."

Alen burst into laughter when he heard their demands. He was already penniless, and now they were asking him to give them whatever he had. He had nothing left besides the old phone and his own body.

The thugs blinked and looked at each other with confusion after seeing this ’crazy’ boy laughing with knives pointed at him.

’Is he a psycho?’

They gestured to each other about what they were going to do now. As Alen’s laughter finally seemed to stop, they turned towards him.

"Hey! Kid, we are not joking here. If you don’t give us any valuable things you have, then we might have to sell your body parts."

"I have nothing left to give you, and even if I had, I would never give it to the likes of you street thugs!"

Alen protested.

"What did you say, you little devil?! Don’t you value your little life?"

"Well whatever, if that’s what you want, then there is nothing left except taking your body."

The man gestured toward his subordinates. They started to circle him, trapping him in the center.

As one of the guys reached his hand out to grab Alen, Alen suddenly bit him as hard as humanly possible. Another guy kicked him hard in the stomach.

"Ahh!..."

Alen’s frail body was launched backward, slamming into the wall. He clutched his body in severe pain.

They turned to their subordinate.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, that bastard managed to bite me so hard. I am going to cut his body to pieces now; we can sell it later."

He stood up. All four guys walked towards him. As they neared him, Alen threw a fist-sized rock at one of the men’s faces. It hit him perfectly, and his dagger fell to the ground.

Alen didn’t stop. He picked up another rock and threw it at another man. The men fell back for a second as a shower of rocks descended on them. They covered their faces.

Alen quickly found an opportunity and swiftly took the fallen dagger from the ground. He held it defensively.

The men stopped in their tracks. When they saw the boy was now using their own dagger defensively, they felt severely enraged. They stormed forward and swung their daggers.

Alen dodged swiftly, but he still got a light cut on his arm. He swung his dagger to parry one of the attacks. As another dagger was coming towards him, he quickly backed away.

Suddenly, the guy he had perfectly hit in the face with a rock quickly came beside him and grabbed his body tightly. Alen tried to move, but his frail body was not strong enough to handle a grown man’s physique.

The remaining guys walked towards him.

*SLAP!* *PUNCH!* *SLAP!*

They showered him with slaps and punches. Blood soaked his shirt. His face had turned into a bloody mess as the beatings continued to rain down on him.

’Is this the end? Is this how I’m going to die? Fighting some street thugs?’

’What have I achieved in my life? Did I do anything that would have make my parents proud of me from heaven?’

’I’m really a useless child who couldn’t even make his parents proud. I was so useless that I got used by everyone. But life gives no one a chance. At least for the end of my time, I want to stop thinking about anything else.’

He barely opened one eye. As they continued beating him, he lifted his leg and kicked the guy in front right between the legs.

The guy stopped breathing for a second.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Alen didn’t waste another second. He pivoted and kicked hard at the foot of the guy who held him. As the guy’s hands slipped away to hold his aching leg, Alen suddenly brought his dagger to the man’s throat and sliced it.

The man stared blankly. Blood slowly started to leak from the cut, and he fell to the ground lifeless.

Alen’s expression had turned completely blank. He looked at the second guy who was clutching his crotch. He dodged the approaching man, moved toward the injured thug, and sliced his throat as well.

He glanced at the last two men, who looked at him with shocked and enraged expressions.

"How dare you, motherfu*ker! You are going to die today!"

They launched forward.

As they neared him, Alen threw the sand he had secretly grabbed from the ground. As their vision was blocked,

*STAB!*

Alen thrust the dagger into one of the men’s chests with all his strength. He twisted the blade to dig it deeper inside.

"Ahhhhh!..."

The man fell to the ground in immense pain and died.

The last man left, who still couldn’t see clearly, backed away. He then started to swing his dagger randomly. Alen backed away, saving himself from the knife. But as he retreated, he faced a dead end.

The wall stood tall behind him. And in front of him was the man, whose vision slowly seemed to clear.

"You bastard, you are going to die by my hands today! I am going to take revenge for killing my friends!"

As he spoke, he thrust forward with incredible speed.

*STAB!*

The blade landed firmly on his chest and pierced his heart. Blood started to leak from the wound. The man twisted the blade and thrust it deeper.

*Cough!*

Alen’s throat started to feel dry as his life force slowly started to slip away. He knew he was going to die in a few seconds. He clutched his own dagger hard and stabbed the man directly in the eye.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

The man backed away, clutching his eye. Blood leaked down his face, the dagger still lodged inside.

Alen fell to the ground, losing his entire energy. As he stared at the night sky, he saw the faces of everyone who had once shown him real kindness: his parents, his friend. And then, he also remembered the betrayals. He remembered being used by them. He remembered how his kindness was taken for granted.

*Sigh...*

He looked at the clear sky with blank expression.

’If... If there is a next life, I will definitely live my life in selfishness.’

[Ding! You have been recognized by the ’World’ as one who desperately wants to live. Your ’Path’ of ’Selfish’ has been created.]

[Ding! Your soul is transferring to the Ascension Realm.]

As he heard the unknown voices, darkness swallowed him whole.