CHAPTER 2: GOAT BULLY

Lin tried to reason calmly, though with frustration. "Listen, you’ll want me to leave, I’ll leave, but I just want to understand. Why am I being treated like this? What did I do wrong? What’s up with this outsider title?"

His words hung in the air for a moment, but the cold stares from the young goats told him all he needed to know; they weren’t interested in listening. Instead, they stepped forward as one, hostility clear. The lead goat, the one who had shouted first, snorted and stomped its hooves in frustration.

"You don’t know? You don’t know what you’ve done, outsider?" Its tone dripped with venom, as if Lin’s very existence insulted nature itself. It kept going. "You don’t belong here. You’re just an abomination!"

Lin listened carefully; he tried to find out the reason behind their aggressiveness. But soon, he realised all the goat were slowly moving towards him, taking slow, menacing steps..

Well, this doesn’t look too good. Looks like I’m about to get beaten by a bunch of yelping goats.

The tension in the air was almost unbearable. From the back of the herd, a smaller goat snickered and turned to the leader. "What’s taking so long? Why are we wasting time talking? Why don’t we deal with this outsider already?"

"Yeah," another goat grunted, " the faster we finish this, the faster I get my reward. The old man is always stingy. I don’t want him to say we are late."

Reward?

Lin swallowed hard. Their words hit him like a punch.

Someone actually hired these goats to beat him up!

This wasn’t just about being bullied; someone clearly wanted him gone. That was just perfect. Day one, and he was already on some hit list. He always wanted to be the star, but not in a goat version of a fight for dominance. Can goats even get insurance in this world?

Damn it.

But before Lin could say another word, the leader goat suddenly snapped and charged at him. Its horns aimed directly at his side. Lin tried to jump away, but he couldn’t react fast enough.

The leader’s horns crashed into his ribs with savage force, knocking him to the ground.

"Ugh!" Lin groaned as pain shot through him like lightning. He lay there, dazed and gasping, barely able to process what had just happened.

The yearlings paused, exchanging surprised glances as if they couldn’t understand what they’d just witnessed. "What just happened? How can the outsider be so weak? Isn’t he supposed to be strong?"

"Hahaha! Look at this! We were worried for nothing," another yearling said, laughing loudly, his voice a mix of relief and mockery.

Even the leader goat looked confused as it gazed down at Lin’s pitiful, sprawled-out form on the grass. Its eyes narrowed in uncertainty as it whispered,

"Isn’t the outsider supposed to be strong? But... why is he so weak?"

One of the young goats charged at Lin, its horns aimed viciously at his side. He reacted instinctively, shifting his weight desperately to dodge, but he wasn’t fast enough. The horns scraped his ribs, and a fresh wave of pain shot through him.

"Argh!" he cried, stumbling back, the pain fogging his senses. Before he could recover, another goat charged and hit him brutally. Its headbutt threw him backwards; he landed hard, his vision blurring from the impact as his heart pounded in his chest.

Damn it, if I only had a few more days to adapt, Lin thought, panic coursing through every cell. This wasn’t schoolyard bullying. These goats genuinely wanted him dead. That reality hit him like a ton of bricks.

Desperation flooded him as he tried to get up, but before he could even get to his knees, hooves slammed into his chest like a sledgehammer. The blow knocked the air out of him, leaving him wheezing as he slumped back down. His legs buckled beneath him, and pain shot through every nerve. Disoriented and vulnerable, Lin struggled to breathe while the savage attack carried on.

The sheer weight of one goat pressed down on his body, pinning him to the earth. He gritted his teeth and pushed against it, shaking as he strained to roll free. Come on! Move, dammit! Fight back! Lin screamed in his head, but no matter how much he struggled, it was pointless—his goat body just wasn’t built for this kind of smackdown.

"Is that everything you’ve got, outsider? You’re pitiful," the lead goat said, pacing before Lin with a glare of pure contempt. Its voice was heavy with scorn as its hooves thudded on the ground impatiently.

Lin’s mind shrieked at him: Get up! But his limbs refused to cooperate. Blood filled his mouth from an especially harsh kick; its metallic tang fueled his bitterness as he tried to draw a breath. Each stomp sent a fresh jolt of suffering through his body. The world spun crazily as his skull buzzed from the effort of simply staying awake.

His sight blurred further as tears threatened, not merely from pain but from rage and utter helplessness. He’d wanted to fight back so badly, and now he couldn’t even twitch. His body had totally sold him out, leaving him splayed on the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.

If rock bottom had a basement, I’d be in it right now.

[Warning: The user sustained a serious injury. The user is bleeding.]