Hell's Handbook

Chapter 161: Strategists

Su Jin laughed, as though her words had only made him more certain of what he was doing. “That’s right, I’m taking a gamble. And that’s precisely why I’m sure I’m right.”

“This ring of winning luck has proved to be really useful after all,” thought Su Jin as he looked down at his palm. There was a greenish glow swirling around it and it was from an item he had obtained from one of the Lucky Draw Bags.

According to the description in the Handbook, this item would give him the luck of an expert gambler for 24 hours. He would have an extremely high chance of winning any gamble. That was what he had been relying on since the second round. This tiny item had a lot of limitations and he didn’t expect it to be useful here.

The reason why he had been willing to get Kano Mai and Chu Yi to play Dou Dizhu with him in the last round was only partly because he felt that it was a good game that could rely on the cooperation of three people to defeat one person. But even if he was one of the best players in the world or had a vast wealth of experience, neither of these were the main reason why he chose to do something that might implicate his friends. He did that because he had this item that could increase his chances tremendously.

.

“I’m going to take one more gamble. I’ll win this!” Su Jin looked at the light beyond the open door in front of him with a confident look on his face. He was very sure that this third round had not ended yet. The question about the doors was too simple and the break in the pattern from one round to the next made Su Jin very certain that this was all just part of the female voice’s plan to trick them into making the wrong decision again.

“Mr. Su, choose wisely!” Xiang Nan suddenly called out. Su Jin could see the fear and the uneasiness in the other man’s eyes.

Su Jin smiled and said, “Mr. Xiang, you’re a really outstanding strategist. I believe that the Xiang Nan I know from before would have made the same choice as I am making now!”

Xiang Nan froze and his lips trembled, but he did not manage to say anything. Su Jin took one step past the door and said, “Mr. Xiang, what’s the most important thing about being a strategist?”

Xiang Nan’s eyes shifted as he struggled to think of an answer. What was the most important thing about being a strategist? Besides being intelligent, being meticulous, being able to analyze situations and make quick decisions…

“Confidence! It’s confidence! If even the strategist of the group is unsure of his own choices, how can he expect his team mates to believe in him? We might make mistakes, but if we keep doubting ourselves because we’re afraid to make mistakes, then even if we manage to survive this time, what about the next time? If we keep doubting ourselves, one day we will no longer be qualified to be the team’s strategist because we will not be able to make any judgment call and we will keep second guessing our own judgment!” said Su Jin with a big smile.

He turned to look at Xiang Nan and said very seriously, “If you’ve made a mistake before, then learn from it and look for your team mates again! I don’t think Team Wind and Rain should disappear just like that!”

With that, Su Jin leaned back and fell into the light beyond the door.

Xiang Nan stared at the light that swallowed up Su Jin for some time in a daze. He suddenly raised his hand to slap himself, then burst out laughing loudly. “You stupid little bastard! You just got schooled! But thanks for that! I’ve got to get back and apologize to those fellows!”

“Let’s go,” Kano Mai said to the rather depressed Chu Yi. He was still shaken from what happened earlier, but he still followed Kano Mai to the same door that Su Jin chose without hesitating.

“Hey! You guys! Aren’t…aren’t any of you worried at all? His theorizing might make some sense, but at the end of the day, he’s just taking a gamble! There’s no evidence to prove that his theories are correct!” shouted the last owner to survive the previous round. He wasn’t really trying to get Kano Mai and Chu Yi to reconsider their choices, but he was wondering what he ought to do if all of them chose to believe Su Jin. Was he supposed to just blindly follow these nutcases?

Humans were weak creatures after all, especially when they were alone in their journey. Terror would engulf them and throw them into a bottomless pit of fear.

Kano Mai and Chu Yi ignored that owner and walked straight into the same door as Su Jin. Situ Jin frowned, but he walked through the same door as well.

“Hey!! Didn’t you hear what I just said?!” that owner continued to yell.

Xiang Nan patted his shoulder and laughed as he said, “There’s no point in shouting at them. They’ve been through several Challenges together, and they’ve got every reason to trust his decisions without question.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know because there used to be a group of people who believed me without question as well. I let them down, but I’m going to apologize to them!” Xiang Nan smiled warmly and walked through the same door.

The darkness quickly turned to light again. Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief when he found himself in his Personal Hell Domain, because that meant that he had made the right choice.

“Phew!” He placed his Handbook on the pedestal and said, “Blackie, calculate my points, please.”

Level B Challenge “Ghostly Games” completed: 1000 points

Number of Surviving Team Members: 4, 400 points

Undoing the hatred in the little girl from Round 1: 500 points

Points Received: 1900

Total Points: 5760

Su Jin looked at his total and sighed. He couldn’t choose what level his Challenges were, but it seemed like the points for each level were almost the same. If he wanted more, he had to complete the Challenge perfectly.

When he looked through the catalog of items, his heart skipped a beat when he spotted one of the items and couldn’t stop staring at it.

“Soul of a Broken God contains a large amount of soul power. Points required: 5000.”

Su Jin immediately exchanged his points for this item because he still hadn’t solved the problem with Kano Mai’s soul. She seemed fine for now, but he knew that if she ran into any danger that could sap her soul power dry, she’d die.

After doing that, the points he had taken so much effort to accumulate became a three digit number again. He shook his head and moved on to the Team Hell Domain instead. Kano Mai and Situ Jin were already waiting for him there, but Chu Yi was nowhere to be seen.

“Mai, this is for you!” Su Jin passed her the item he had just purchased.

“Oh! It’s something that can increase my soul power!” Kano Mai was delighted to receive this item. She thanked him, then consumed it completely. More color returned to her cheeks and Su Jin could even hear that her heart was beating more strongly and steadily now.

“Is there something special about this place?” Situ Jin looked around curiously. This space looked very similar to his Personal Hell Domain, but he wanted to know if there were any differences since he had never been part of a team before.

“The best part about the Team Hell Domain is over there.” Su Jin pointed to the pedestals for their Handbooks and explained, “After each Challenge, your Personal Hell Domain would refresh the catalog of items you can choose from, right? The Team Hell Domain does the same thing, which means you get to choose from two catalogs after each Challenge instead of just one. That’s very important to owners.”

Situ Jin’s eyes lit up and he immediately walked over to look for anything he found useful.

“The number of items available here are a lot more than what I have in my Personal Hell Domain! These things are not bad at all. I’ll exchange my points for this, this, this…” Situ Jin barely paused to think and exchanged his points for a number of items before long.

“Why are you exchanging your points just like that?!” Su Jin was flabbergasted by Situ Jin’s choices. The items seemed almost randomly selected, and they were generally one time use items or booster items. He hadn’t picked anything that could make him stronger permanently or any Spirit Power equipment.

Situ Jin glanced at Su Jin, then looked back at the catalog as he said, “I’m going after those rogue owners, so even though these things might look useless to you, they could be unexpectedly very useful in my hunt for those people.”

Su Jin shook his head exasperatedly. Kano Mai said, “I wouldn’t advise you to choose items like that. Doing this would help to make you more powerful initially, but you will eventually realize that this is not going to work in the long run. There is a limit to your capability and it is very low right now.”

Situ Jin was not stupid and he knew what she was trying to say, but he remained stubborn and said, “Making myself stronger over a long period of time is going to take too long. I have to go through battles on a daily basis, so…”

“You can choose to ignore our suggestions, but you’re going to endanger yourself if you continue this way. Not only are you going to die anytime during a Challenge, but the owners you’re going after are the ones who abuse their superpowers. If you use your points like this…you’d only be able to deal with those who are newer to this game,” said Su Jin as he made a face.

Situ Jin frowned and finally asked the two of them directly, “So, how do both of you think I should use my points?”

“Firstly, you have to decide what role you want to play. In this team, I’m the fighter and the strategist. Chu Yi is a fighter, while Mai is a sniper. As for you…you’re going after owners on a daily basis, so…I think making yourself into a strong assassin will be quite suitable for you,” said Su Jin after giving this question some thought.

Situ Jin nodded slightly and Kano Mai piped up, “I think becoming an assassin is a suitable role for you as well. You would be able to fill a role in our team where we’re lacking while also helping you to take down the owners you’re targeting. Also, the path to becoming a really good assassin doesn’t take very long. I think it’s a good plan.”

The last sentence made Situ Jin waver. He nodded and said, “Alright then. In that case, I’ll go with this plan. So…what do I do first?”

The first person who crossed Su Jin and Kano Mai’s minds when they thought about assassin training was Ning Meng. They had decided on this plan back when she first joined the team as well, but unfortunately, they lost her to the Level A Challenge that they went through next before she could even grow in this aspect.

But it was also because they had made plans for Ning Meng previously that Su Jin and Kano Mai knew immediately what to do next. They had spent time to craft out the steps she needed to become an assassin back then, after all.