Hell's Handbook

Chapter 204: Starting A New Challenge

“I can’t believe you still dare to show up here!” Kano Mai glared furiously at Han Linmei. Su Jin had told her what had happened in Han Linmei’s universe in full detail, so she knew about how Han Linmei had deliberately kept information about the leader of the cult from Su Jin.

Han Linmei said apologetically, “Mr. Su, I’m really very sorry! We’re not very sure about the cult leader ourselves either, actually. We didn’t know that she was this powerful.”

Su Jin snorted in disbelief. “You didn’t know? The Resistance Army has been fighting this cult for so long now, so it’s impossible that you guys don’t have anybody who can hold up against her. Otherwise, your organization would have been crushed by now. And if you guys have someone powerful enough to fight her, then… how can it be that you didn’t know she was this powerful?”

There was a flicker in Han Linmei’s eyes and Xiang Nan noticed it. He sighed and said, “Don’t play such games with Mr. Su. Even I wouldn’t have been able to fool him like this, so stop making a fool of yourself. It’ll be better if you could just tell him the truth.”

Since Xiang Nan had put it that way, Han Linmei had no choice but to say awkwardly, “Mr. Su, I… I’m really very sorry. The Resistance Army does have someone who can fight the cult leader, but… for some reasons that I cannot tell you, the Resistance Army split ways a long time ago. Our faction doesn’t have anybody who can fight the cult leader, and that was why I had no choice but to ask you for help.”

Su Jin didn’t really believe what she said, but now wasn’t the time to settle old scores with her either. In any case, that revived Chu Yi had to be killed. The process had been a dangerous one, but at least it had been completed successfully.

“Xiang Nan, did you come here just so that she can apologize to me?” said Su Jin as he looked at Xiang Nan.

Xiang Nan shook his head with a bitter smile on his face. “Of course that’s not the only reason. I’m sure you’ve read the changes to the Handbook in detail by now.”

“Yeah.” Su Jin nodded.

Xiang Nan asked, “What do you think?”

“The Handbook seems to be trying to reduce the number of owners, while increasing the number of elite level owners,” said Su Jin.

Xiang Nan nodded and said gravely, “The aims of these changes are too obvious. But beside the two points you mentioned, I think the Handbook is also trying to reduce the number of ultra powerful owners.”

Su Jin agreed with him and said, “You’re right. The old Challenges were of no threat to ultra powerful owners. But now, there are limits on Spirit Power, one’s physique and items, so even these ultra powerful owners will not be able to get through the Challenge as easily as before. Some of them are likely to end up dying.”

“But the most unfortunate group of all are the ordinary owners. In order to curb these ultra powerful owners, the ordinary owners are now in terrible danger,” said Xiang Nan with a sad smile. He looked at the rest of his team and said, “And it’s very clear that we are the ordinary owners here.”

Su Jin didn’t know how to comfort Xiang Nan, so he could only say, “Team Wind and Rain is already considered better off compared to the rest. Your team isn’t too bad, really. But I’d suggest that you… had better be careful. We’re going into an era where the strategists will become the most important.”

Xiang Nan didn’t get it for a moment, but he soon realized what Su Jin was driving at. He shuddered slightly, then licked his lips as his gaze lost focus.

He murmured quietly, “That’s right. The strategists will become the most important. In that case, I’m afraid that the new Challenges will include a lot more riddles and mind games. Come to think of it, the examples of the new types of Challenges given in the notice leaned toward this genre. These are not Challenges you can win by brute force.”

Xiang Nan was a great strategist himself, so he quickly understood what was really happening. He nodded at Su Jin and thanked him, “Thank you, Mr. Su, for the hint. In fact, because of that, I’m more confident in my team’s chances of survival.”

After Su Jin helped Xiang Nan to understand that the most important thing for strategists was to have faith in their abilities during the Ghostly Games Challenge, Xiang Nan had become a lot more confident. And now that they had come to a time where a strategist could decide the fate of a team, he became more confident of the future.

In general, Xiang Nan was a lot like Su Jin, except that he wasn’t as calm and was a little more scheming and unscrupulous in his methods. But of course, there was no way he could compare to Su Jin in terms of fighting abilities. Then again, he was better than many owners, since he was at least a veteran with Spirit Power.

“By the way, what’s Team Wind and Rain’s ranking?” asked Su Jin out of curiosity.

Xiang Nan didn’t bother keeping it a secret. “It’s very low and I think we’re a little below average. We’re now hovering at slightly past #5800. What about your team?”

“Around the same.” Su Jin didn’t tell Xiang Nan the truth, since Team Boning Knife was in a very precarious position right now. Even though he was on good terms with Xiang Nan, he didn’t want to put his team in any danger. Besides, he had already hidden his team’s ranking and only the teams ten places ahead and behind him could see it.

Xiang Nan didn’t think too much about it either. Su Jin told him about how he felt that the bottommost teams might be cleaned out by the more formidable owners, which was something that had also occurred to Xiang Nan. He said that he had no choice but to resign his team to fate. If someone really chose to challenge Team Wind and Rain to a battle like that, then his team was going to just surrender and allow the other party to take whatever they wanted.

It sounded like a cowardly thing to do, but that was also a smart move. You had a chance to make a comeback only when everyone in the team was still alive, after all.

“What about your personal rank?” asked Su Jin again.

Xiang Nan laughed sadly and pointed to himself. “I hold the highest rank in the team right now and I’m only at #4000 plus. They’re worse off than me!”

Su Jin nodded. Xiang Nan’s personal ranking and his team’s ranking were a lot more normal sounding. Xiang Nan looked at Su Jin and was clearly very curious about where Su Jin was on the owner ranking.

“Uh, 200 odd,” said Su Jin as he rubbed his nose awkwardly.

Xiang Nan’s eyes widened in shock. The rest of his team looked shocked as well, especially since they had heard from Xiang Nan that Su Jin had not gone through many Challenges.

Su Jin and Xiang Nan chatted for a while more after that. The things that two strategists analyzed together was more than what one person could come up with, but their final conclusion was that it was still too hard to say where these huge changes were leading to, and they could only watch and wait.

Xiang Nan took his leave and walked away with his team. Han Linmei gave Su Jin another apologetic smile and left with her teammates.

Su Jin got his three teammates to remain at the table to rest, while he went to the bar counter by himself. The boss looked as gentlemanly as always. He nodded slightly at Su Jin when he spotted Su Jin approaching the bar, a sign that he remembered Su Jin.

“What would you like to have?” asked the boss.

Su Jin glanced at his points and laughed sadly. “Nah, I can’t afford a drink this time. I’m too poor now.”

The boss laughed and didn’t say anything. Su Jin stared at him for a while, then asked, “Boss, now that the team levels have been removed, does that mean that the various zones of the bar have also merged into one?”

The boss shook his head and said, “Even though team levels are no longer part of the Challenges, Hell’s Bar is still able to see your team’s level. So, in order to go to a higher level section of the bar, you still have to make sure your team gets to that level. It’s just that you can’t see the actual increase in your team’s level anymore.”

Su Jin was puzzled. “Since I can’t tell if my team’s level has increased or not, how would I know if my team has become eligible to enter a new part of the bar? Also, why doesn’t the Handbook allow access according to our team’s rank?”

“It’s very easy to tell if your team has gained access to a higher level section of the bar. Once that door of light changes color, it means your team is allowed to go in. As for the rankings, that’s just reflective of the team’s current abilities. A team that is in the top 100 today might end up falling to a position beyond #1000 after their next Challenge, or even be turned to ashes. For the time being, it is not enough to use this to decide which part of the bar you can access.”

Su Jin made a face. It seemed like the boss of Hell’s bar was able to see the team ranking and those words were clearly meant for him.

As for who this boss actually was, Su Jin had made a few guesses himself. After going through the Train of the Supernatural Challenges and witnessing the fight between deities, he felt that this boss was likely to be a deity as well, and a very powerful one at that. Of course, this was all speculation on Su Jin’s part and he had no proof to prove that this was true.

After Su Jin turned to leave, the boss’s gaze followed after him. He had a strange twinkle in his eye, but his focus wasn’t on Su Jin, but the one next to him: Kano Mai.

Su Jin discussed the changes with his team a bit more, and decided that since the Challenges had restarted, their Handbooks could be used as well, so they got ready to go through their next Challenge.

“If everyone’s ready, I’ll start the next Challenge.” Su Jin wanted to confirm that everybody was in their best state to go through a Challenge.

After getting a positive response, Su Jin opened his Handbook and confirmed that he wanted to embark on a Challenge. Everything went black and they lost consciousness for a moment. Just like they had guessed, they could already begin on a new Challenge.

In the darkness, Su Jin could hear some low voices in his ears. Those voices were filled with sadness, grievances, pain and despair, as though they belonged to a pitiful person who had gone through endless torture. But this voice quickly turned shrill and sounded exactly like the voice that always introduced the Challenge to them.

“The sky is too hot and burns everything. The ground is icy cold and nothing can grow. The furious dragon flies through the sky and uses its flames to set the world ablaze. The evil dragon steps all over the people’s homes, freezing every lifeform. The brave warrior picks up his saber and sword to slay that evil dragon. But now, the warrior has fallen, while the evil dragon lives!”