Hell's Handbook

Wu Chen was already waiting inside Hell’s Bar by the time Su Jin entered. He handed a book with a black cover to Su Jin and said with a sigh, “I had specially gone looking for it because I wanted it as part of my personal collection. I didn’t expect to have to give it away so soon.”

“Situ owes you a huge favor now. It’s a matter of life and death this time, so you have to put aside your collector’s dream for now,” said Su Jin with a sad smile.

Wu Chen frowned, then passed a note and some hair to Su Jin as well. Su Jin was rather puzzled by this gesture.

“There’s information about my daughter on the note and the hair belongs to my daughter as well. After the last Challenge, I thought about a lot of things and I realized that there’s a possibility that I might not be able to hold out until she’s been revived. But… if I give up now, I wouldn’t be able to rest in peace either, so I’m counting on you guys.” Wu Chen had a slightly gloomy and resigned look on his face.

Su Jin did not refuse and kept the two items properly. “Don’t worry! Situ owes you a really huge favor, so even if you die, he’ll do everything he can to revive your daughter and take good care of her.”

Wu Chen glared at Su Jin and said, “Just reviving her will be enough. As for her living expenses and all that, I’ve already made preparations in advance. Even if I’m dead, she’ll still be able to live on without worries.”

Su Jin sighed inwardly. Every Handbook owner had something that they wanted out of being an owner, which served as their motivation. But there were many who clung on and persevered despite the difficulties for the sake of their loved ones like Wu Chen too.

“Actually… compared to Situ, I have greater confidence in you,” said Wu Chen suddenly as he scratched his head a little awkwardly. He felt bad saying this because it made it sound as though he was despising Situ Jin, but the reality was that the one who was most likely to live the longest in the team was Su Jin.

Su Jin burst out laughing and got up to leave as he said, “Well, that’s a deal then.”

Wu Chen blinked in surprise before breaking into a smile. He could have a peace of mind since Su Jin had agreed to do this for him.

After Su Jin left the bar, he reappeared in front of Situ Jin and the rest. He took the Handbook out and placed it gently on Bo Ya’s body.

The words “Hell’s Handbook” slowly began to appear on the black cover of the book, then several thin red lines shot out from the pages and covered Bo Ya’s body entirely. By the time the red lines disappeared, Bo Ya had disappeared as well.

Situ Jin started getting anxious. Based on this situation, Bo Ya was now going through a Challenge. But she had to survive the Challenge too.

At the same time, he had faith in her. This girl was a very talented one and she was known as a genius when she first joined the Department of Supernatural Affairs. If she had spent the past few years focusing on her career instead of assisting him, she would have become a high ranking government official by now.

However, having faith was one thing and being worried was another. What if Bo Ya’s luck was poor? What was she going to do if her first Challenge turned out to be a high level one? The Handbook never promised that it would only assign low level Challenges to newbies.

Before he had the time to worry too much, Bo Ya appeared in front of them again. Time moved at a very different rate inside the Handbook’s universe, so the time she spent going through a Challenge was just a few moments to the people in the real world.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Since she was back with them, it meant that she had survived her first Challenge. Bo Ya, on the other hand, was shocked to see the rest.

“Mr. Situ, Mr. Xu, Mr. Su, and Miss Kano?” Bo Ya stared at them blankly. All she remembered was that the skinny old man had pierced a weapon through her heart and she vaguely remembered Situ Jin hugging her and crying before she lost consciousness. Then, she started her first Handbook Challenge and barely made it back alive.

“Welcome back!” Situ Jin hugged Bo Ya gently.

Kano Mai couldn’t help but smile at this sight, while Xu Ran grinned and said, “Situ, are you quite done? I want to hug our dearest Bo Ya too. I was so frightened earlier.”

Kano Mai glared at him and pulled him back. He gave her a confused look and she whispered, “Tsk! Let the lovers have some time with each other.”

“Lovers? What lovers?” Xu Ran looked like he had a hundred question marks written all over his face.

“Yeah, what do you mean? Are you referring to Situ and Miss Bo?” Su Jin came closer as well and looked like he had just learned something new.

Kano Mai felt like she was talking to two numbskulls and didn’t want to talk to them anymore. She grumbled to herself, “Are all psychokinesis owners complete idiots when it comes to affairs of the heart?”

Meanwhile, Situ Jin had come to realize his own feelings as well. He had always thought that he had dedicated his life to his country and his people, so he didn’t need a girlfriend or anyone like that. Bo Ya was always by his side every day and he thought he only saw her as a family member. But from the moment Bo Ya died, he realized that she actually had a very important place in his heart.

Bo Ya’s face was completely red by this point. She had never been this intimate with Situ Jin before. But… she didn’t mind staying like this forever.

Thankfully, Situ Jin hadn’t lost all rationality and eventually let go of her with an awkward look on his face. He didn’t know what to do or say, and it was Kano Mai who helped to break the awkward air by stepping in to explain how the Handbook worked.

Bo Ya was alive again because of the Handbook, so some of Situ Jin’s secrets now came to light. She understood immediately why Situ Jin was so sneaky recently and why he often did things that didn’t seem to make sense.

Kano Mai also told her what happened earlier, including how Situ Jin begged Wu Chen for the extra Handbook in order to revive her, which made Bo Ya feel really touched all over again.

“I’m sorry, Bo Ya! I know that using the Handbook to revive you is like rescuing you from the wolves only to throw you to the tigers. But… I really had no choice. I promise I’ll protect you!” said Situ Jin with a very solemn expression on his face. If other options were available, he would never have used the Handbook to revive her.

But Bo Ya shook her head and smiled. “It’s alright. I think things are pretty good now, because… this way, I can continue fighting alongside you. To be honest with you, all of us were always worried whenever you suddenly disappeared. But now, I understand everything and that feels wonderful.”

After she mentioned the rest of the team, Situ Jin looked at the rest of them lying unconscious on the ground. Earlier on, he had knocked all of them out but hit Bo Ya a little lighter than the rest because she was a girl and he didn’t want to hurt her. But that decision had caused her to wake up much earlier than the rest and she ended up losing her life as a result.

He hadn’t been so careful with the rest and knocked them out with a really hard blow. And it had worked very well indeed – all of them were still unconscious.

“Jin, I’ll need you to help me with editing their memories. If not, once they wake up…” Situ Jin said to Su Jin.

Su Jin nodded, then used his psychokinesis to scan everyone’s brains and quickly changed part of their memories. Their memories no longer had any record of the skinny old man and it was replaced by a sudden traffic accident.

Bo Ya spun around and suddenly said to Situ Jin, “Have you used this method to edit my memories in the past?”

Situ Jin blinked in surprise, then quickly explained, “No, no, Bo Ya, let me explain. Editing memories is a very complex process and an owner at my level will not be able to do such a thing. Only psychokinesis owners like Xu Ran and Su Jin are able to do such things. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”

“Hey, did you say this guy’s been your friend for a few decades? He’s betrayed you real quickly,” said Su Jin as he shot Xu Ran a glance.

“This guy’s supposed to be a teammate who’s gone through thick and thin with you? Gosh, he’s sold you out without batting an eye,” replied Xu Ran with a snort.

“What an animal!” spat the two of them at the same time. But Situ Jin pretended not to have heard anything and continued to ask if Bo Ya was hurt during her first Challenge.

Su Jin went close to Kano Mai and asked her puzzledly, “Mai, do you think that old man gave Situ some drugs to make him fall in love so quickly?”

Kano Mai glared fiercely at Su Jin and said, “Nonsense. Situ became aware of his own feelings, that’s all. It’s a good thing.”

“Is it though?” Su Jin scratched his head. He turned around to find Xu Ran squatting next to the old man’s limp body and checking something.

He went over and asked, “Looking for something?”

Xu Ran flipped his Handbook open to the owner ranking, moved his finger down the list until he came to #312.

“Shen Chao, ranked #312. That’s a pretty high position. No wonder he was able to corner Situ like this.” Xu Ran shut his Handbook again, then flicked his finger. Shen Chao’s body was instantly turned into microscopic pieces by Xu Ran’s psychokinesis, which disappeared in the wind.

Su Jin was surprised to hear that Shen Chao was so highly ranked, because it hadn’t taken him much effort at all to kill the old man. He could have killed him way faster if he wanted to, in fact.

“#312 is so weak?” Su Jin frowned.

Xu Ran, who had turned to walk away, suddenly stopped in his footsteps and turned around again to look at Su Jin with an amused smile. “Weak? Didn’t you see how he tortured Situ? He’s weak compared to how strong you are, that’s all. You’re ranked in the top 100 among owners. Of course it was easy for you to kill him.”

He continued in a curious voice, “Seriously though, I have to say that you’ve become strong really quickly. When I first met you, you were just a newbie with great potential. It hasn’t been a long time since then and you’ve managed to get into the top 100. I almost couldn’t believe it.”

Su Jin just smiled in return. It was true that he had become strong a little faster than the usual owner, but he had fought tooth and nail to get here, so he didn’t think there was anything unbelievable about his progress.

“But there’s one more thing that’s even more unbelievable than that. Back then, I had only asked you to spare Situ’s life. How did the two of you end up in the same team? Also… someone with psychokinesis barged into my temple not too long ago. That was you, wasn’t it?” said Xu Ran with a strange smile on his face.

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