Absolute Choice 1
Page 11
And with that, Shi Xiaobai woke up.
After Shi Xiaobai slowly woke up, he immediately sensed his body covered in a sticky substance, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. Nearly instantly, he caught a whiff of a pungent smell. As he opened his eyes blearily, he was surprised to discover himself lying in a bathtub. He was only wearing a pair of shorts, while the rest of his exposed skin was covered in a black viscous layer of an unknown substance.
"It stinks!"
Shi Xiaobai hurriedly held his breath, nearly throwing up. As he resisted the feeling of vomiting, he looked up and scanned the surroundings. Immediately, he saw a shower head in the bathroom, and quickly grabbed at it. Turning it on, refreshing cold water immediately ejected out of the shower head, drenching his body.
Being bathed in clean, cold water, the sticky black substance was like mud being nourished by the rain. Upon turning wet, it coagulated to form an even more disgusting blob. With a swipe of his hand, layers of black blobs fell off his body, mixing into the clear water that turned into sticky, smelly black mud.
"What happened?"
Shi Xiaobai's mind was filled with questions. As the water rinsed off the black mud from his body, he was finally cleansed moments later. Immediately, smooth, white translucent skin that looked like a charming woman's skin appeared. If he stretched out his hand, a clench made it seem like water would flow out.
"This is This King's body?"
Shi Xiaobai hurriedly came out of the bathtub and walked to a mirror in the bathroom that went from the floor to the ceiling. Standing in front of the mirror, it reflected himself that looked the same, be it his facial features or body figure. The only difference was his skin, and for that, he heaved a sigh of relief. Turning around, he saw a set of male underwear and a white towel hanging in the bathroom.
"This must be prepared by Violent Girl."
Shi Xiaobai used the shower head to cleanse himself thoroughly and then washed away the smelly muddy substance in the bathtub. He then used the towel to dry himself and began wearing the clothes.
The white t-shirt and trackpants Riko prepared for him were slightly loose, while the black underwear was slightly tight, but Shi Xiaobai could do nothing about it. After dressing up, he stretched and loosened his muscles, slowly getting adapted to it.
Shi Xiaobai left the bathroom and wandered around the house several times, but he realized that Riko was not home.
"Odd, where did Violent Girl go?"
Shi Xiaobai shouted a few times but there was no response. Suddenly, he felt an intense sense of hunger burgeoning from his stomach. This sense of hunger felt like he had repressed it for an extremely long period of time. It was like a tightly-compressed spring that rebounded up his head.
"Holy shit! So hungry!"
Shi Xiaobai nearly lost his mind due to the intense hunger pangs. He crazily rushed to the kitchen and forcefully opened the refrigerator. The refrigerator that was filled to the brim with food began pouring its contents out immediately. Clearly, Riko had prepared this early on. Shi Xiaobai gulped down a mouthful of saliva, and reached his hand into the refrigerator to grab some food to stuff food directly into his mouth.
As Shi Xiaobai chewed on cooked meat that was both cold and hard, he stuffed rice balls into his mouth. The way he devoured his food made it seem like he had been starving for months.
Only after his stomach was somewhat satiated did Shi Xiaobai contentedly close the refrigerator door. He casually walked back into the living room, and saw a white piece of paper pressed down by a television remote control on a table.
Shi Xiaobai curiously picked up the piece of paper, and saw beautiful handwriting written on it.
...
"Shi Xiaobai, I have something on, so I'll be leaving first. I'm not sure how long your Cogitation will last, so who knows when you wake up. But first, I have to congratulate you. You have already broken into the first level of the Psionic Mortal Realm. I am curious what you were imagining after you entered a meditative state that allowed you to enter the Psionic Mortal Realm so quickly. It's so unscientific!”
"Oh right, when you first enter the Psionic Mortal Realm, you will experience your first metamorphosis—'Psionic Flushing'. Your body would automatically flush out the impurities accumulated in your body over the years. In summary, your body would be covered in a layer of smelly and sticky substance. As for how smelly it is, you probably have experienced it. Anyway, after I threw you into the bathroom, I could still smell the stench in the room. I couldn't stand it, so I'm taking off first!"
"After you wake up, the suppressed hunger will suddenly rebound. I've already placed food in the refrigerator, but make sure not to eat too much, or your stomach will not be able to handle it. Oh yes, the clothes I prepared for you was handpicked by me. Tsk tsk, go ahead and cheer as much as you like!"
"Alright, it's time to talk about serious matters! Although you are already at the first level of the Psionic Mortal Realm, from what I understand, you don't even have the most basic offensive skills. In short, you are still very, very weak, extremely weak! Although amongst this batch of [Annihilation] rookies, you are the only one above A Class, as well as a Psyker, there are many rookies who are at or above the second level of Psionic Mortal Realm. There are even some who have reached the fourth level! Xiaobai, I have to tell you currently, you have no superpower advantage at the moment. Your Psionic Ability realm is considered terrible, and without knowing any combat skills, you will be ranked last amongst this batch of rookies!"
"So, you must be mentally prepared that you would be lining the back! [Gaia]'s first principle is 'reward the strongest, punish the weakest'. Even for rookie training, there still exists a cruelest elimination mechanism. Your instructor will randomly test you, and every time, the weakest would be eliminated. So, Xiaobai, do your best!"
"Also, make sure not to call yourself 'This King'! Your strength won't do, so you must learn to keep a low profile! [Gaia] encourages rookies to engage in one-on-one duels to resolve conflicts, so don't you seek death for yourself! You must now learn with a humble heart to keep a low profile, to become stronger. Never become the last person, and on this foundation, work hard to climb higher. Xiaobai, with your talent, falling behind is just temporary, so don't be discouraged if you encounter difficulties, much less give up!"
"Alright, the rookie training begins on July 1. There is a clock on the wall in the living room that displays the date. Make sure to take a look at it when you wake up. Make sure not to be late on the first day, much less play truant. The instructor for this [Annihilation] batch is quite a redoubtable guy, and he is very peculiar. Anyway, don't break any rules, don't leave a bad impression on your instructor, and don't enter conflicts with the other rookies. Remember to keep a low profile, a low profile!"
"As I need to earn Hero points to raise my Hero Ranking, I took on a Hero employment mission that is slightly more complicated. It will probably take me a period of time before I return. When I return, I wish to see a brand new Shi Xiaobai. Make sure not to disappoint me!"
"—Riko Minamiya."
After Shi Xiaobai saw this, he felt mixed emotions. Breaking into the first level of the Psionic Mortal Realm made him extremely excited, yet the situation described in Riko's note gave Shi Xiaobai a heavy heart.
"Isn't getting This King to keep a low profile equivalent to asking for his life?"
The moment Shi Xiaobai realized that he could not call himself "This King", he felt like the world had darkened a few notches. After a long struggle, he stood up helplessly and walked towards the wall in the living room. On the wall, there was a small LCD screen that displayed the time.
Shi Xiaobai wanted to see how many days he had left to the rookie training, because this decided how long he could go to the gaming arcade.
Shi Xiaobai went closer and focusing his eyes, he suddenly froze.
What he saw displayed on the clock was—"July 4, 10:30"!
Holy shit, already late by four days!?
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Chapter22 This King has Something to Ask You
The rookie training began officially on July 1, yet it was already July 4, 10:30am. Doing the calculations, Shi Xiaobai had played truant for three days, and was late for two-and-a-half hours on the fourth day. Riko had specially mentioned in her message not to be late, much less play truant. It was unexpected that Shi Xiaobai's single deep meditative state made him guilty of both.
The most important thing he should do was of course to rush to the training grounds, and explain the reason why he had violated the rules to the seemingly-peculiar instructor. However, Shi Xiaobai was in no hurry. He slowly found a small haversack in the house, and constantly stuffed food and drinks into it. He even began carefully selecting which foods to bring.
"Being late for a minute is late, while being late for a few hours is also late, so why should This King worry?"
With this thought in mind, Shi Xiaobai left the residence slowly, and soon was on the road. Shi Xiaobai remembered Riko mentioning him several times in her introduction to Steel City that the rookie training ground were south of the [Annihilation]'s jurisdiction zone. It was the southern end of Steel City.
However, which direction was south?
Shi Xiaobai looked at the crossroads in front of him and automatically stopped. Shi Xiaobai stood at the crossroads for very long before he managed to encounter a passer-by. He immediately stopped the person and after asking which direction south was, he began walking along the roads that were paved with black steel. However, every time he encountered an intersection, Shi Xiaobai would patiently stop and wait for a passer-by and ask for directions before he continued on.
Throughout his journey, he constantly walked and stopped, but he finally arrived at the southern end of Steel City, where a gigantic iron gate was.
"This is the Gaia South Gate that leads to the Demon World!"
Shi Xiaobai awed as he looked at the steel gates, before turning to face a surprised gate-keeping guard. He was planning on asking for the location of the rookie training grounds.
The rookie training grounds were already located rather close to the South Gate, so the guard pointed out a specific route for Shi Xiaobai in a friendly manner. Shi Xiaobai nodded and thanked him before heading out according to his directions.
However, after three corners...
"Eh, did Uncle Demon World Gatekeeper say to turn left or right at the fourth intersection?"
Shi Xiaobai thought in silence for three seconds, and decided to abandon the painful thinking process. He stopped at the crossroads and began waiting.
It was already noon, and the sun was shining brightly. After standing there for a minute, Shi Xiaobai could no longer stand it. As he looked around, he saw a short warehouse-like steel building. Shi Xiaobai immediately headed towards the iron building's shadow.
As he walked, he suddenly heard a thump, as if something had collided into steel. However, as it was slightly farther away, it didn't sound very loud, in fact, it was nearly inaudible.
Shi Xiaobai pricked up his ears as he could vaguely hear the colliding sounds coming from the other side of the steel building. As he headed towards it, the sounds became clearer. When he reached the side of the steel building, the colliding sounds was nearly deafening..
"Peng! Peng! Peng!"
Shi Xiaobai took step after step towards the back of the steel building, from the colliding sound, it did not seem like it was produced by using a hammer to strike the steel walls. Soon, he reached the corner and began faintly hearing violent grunting.
"Puff! Puff! Puff!"
The breathing sounds seemed like a violent wind that blew out of a hole in the mountains, with a force that seemed to be able to tear. Shi Xiaobai involuntarily slowed down his footsteps as the breathing slowed down too.
He was getting closer and closer. Shi Xiaobai had finally reached the corner of the steel building. Standing still for a few seconds, he slowly took a step forward, leaning his body slightly and turned his head. Immediately, he could see everything behind the steel building.
At the boundary of sunlight and the shadows stood a man. The man's back was exposed under the sunlight, filled with jaw-dropping muscles. And hidden in the shadows, was his front that seemed to contain explosive power. At this moment, this man was punching the steel buildings wall with his fists while spewing beast-like breathing from his nostrils.
And what was most shocking was that although it seemed like his fists were slamming onto the steel walls to produce the deafening sounds, Shi Xiaobai was able to see clearly that every time the fist came to 10 cm in front of the wall, it would stop. It did not make contact with the wall at all!
Looking closely, wherever the fist passed, there were ripples of white light that flashes out from the fist, like a vertical ripple was emanating from the wall. When these white ripple fluctuations hit the wall, it would produce a deafening sound, as well as cause a visible sag into the steel wall.
"This..."
Shi Xiaobai gulped down his saliva. His eyes were shimmering with burning flames as he began observing intently. The scene of the muscular man punching out with his fist was imprinted in his mind. His body involuntarily began to imitate the muscular man's actions, despite him looking extremely clumsy and ridiculous.
The muscular man punched out dozens of times, and similarly, Shi Xiaobai punched out dozens of times. The contrast was extremely disparate. One was like a ferocious beast, causing the wall to tremble with each fist, while the other looked extremely weak. While punching out, he did not even stir a weak wind from his fists.
"Phew!"
Finally, the muscular man seemed to feel tired and pulled back his fist to stand straight. After taking a few deep breaths, he turned to look at Shi Xiaobai. At the same time, Shi Xiaobai pulled back his fists, and turned to look at the muscular man.
Reflected in Shi Xiaobai's pupils was a face that wasn't too much to be described as 'extremely vicious'. A patch of hair that circled the remaining black hair had been trimmed away, and in the middle of his head was yellow hair that stood up like a rooster's crown. At this moment, his eyes were filled with intense flames, while a hideous scar went from his forehead down past his right eye. His mustache was a messy scrawl, and a prominent double chin brought out the terrifying weirdness of his face.
The top of Shi Xiaobai's head only reached the muscular man's chest, and as the they faced each other, Shi Xiaobai was like a tiny tree sapling that had been shrouded by a large mountain.
"You have a problem?"
A coarse and rich voice, interspersed with a tinge of gasping, blared out from the muscular man. It sounded like the low growl of a beast, filled with an irrepressible hint of brutality.
Immediately an undeniable idea came to Shi Xiaobai—This man could beat him down in one punch, or even kill him in one punch!
This was what Riko said, to definitely not mess with others! If he dared to call himself "This King", or say any shameless words, then the man would mercilessly use his fist that could even cause tremors into the steel walls at his head!
Shi Xiaobai immediately knew the best choice for him now was—keeping a low profile, keeping a low profile, and keeping a low profile.
"This King has something to ask you."
However, his high-spiritedness, and even arrogant sounding words, still came out of Shi Xiaobai. He said it without any trembling or moments of hesitation.
However, the moment he said this, even the sound of wind fell silent. The shadow at the back of the steel building immediately seem to fall into dead silence.
The muscular man crinkled his eyebrows, as if pondering over Shi Xiaobai's words, or pondering whether he should wave his fists.
Shi Xiaobai held his chest straight out, and looked up to face the muscular man directly. There was no haughtiness or fear in his eyes, not even the slightest emotions.
There was only calmness and na
turalness. It was as if he had done something normal like wave hello.
"This King has something to ask you." Shi Xiaobai repeated himself again.
Against this "ferocious" muscular man, Shi Xiaobai did not choose to keep a low profile, not because he wanted to flaunt himself, just because—This was him, this was Shi Xiaobai. You ask why he did that? Because there is no why!
Regardless of the reason, there was already no way to reverse the impending disaster, because the muscular man had already slowly raised his extremely firm fists.
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Chapter23 The Great Figure Shi Xiaobai
The muscular man slowly lifted his fist, and midair it suddenly stretched out into a palm, as the joint in his arm folded backwards. Surprisingly, his palm touched the back of his head, and his five stretched out fingers began to bend, slightly scratching his scalp a few times.
And the "ferociousness" in his eyes immediately melted away. Replacing it was a nearly honest, good down-to-earth glow.
The muscular man was actually scratching his head, as he asked Shi Xiaobai in wonder, "You..Eh, you are one of the seven Dukes of China?"
Shi Xiaobai was slightly surprised, as he failed to react in time to the muscular man's actions. However, when he heard the muscular man's question, Shi Xiaobai denied without any thought. "No!"
Seven Dukes of China? Shi Xiaobai expressed that he had never ever heard of it before. Out of habit, he waved his hand, and then with a spin, lifted it to his forehead, covering half his face. He coldly smiled, "This King is the King of all, the King of Gods, the King of the Worlds, King amongst kings—Arceus . Jade Emperor of the Nine Heavens . Alexander I!"