Hell's Handbook

Wu Chen’s hand was very steady and he was able to draw the symbols accurately on Su Jin’s skin, even though half of Su Jin’s face now looked terrifying. He looked like what Sherva looked like when they first found him, as though he might suddenly pounce on Wu Chen and bite his neck or tear him to shreds.

Wu Chen had been through a lot, way more than Su Jin and the rest. In order to revive his daughter, he had witnessed many horrors. There were even a few times where he walked on the brink of death, but he managed to survive each time. If you had to choose which member of Team Boning Knife could remain the calmest in the face of death, that member would be Wu Chen and not Su Jin.

It wasn’t like Wu Chen had never joined a team before. On the contrary, he had joined a team more than once before, but… not everyone was as lucky as him. The death rate in these Challenges was simply too high. A team could be complete after one Challenge, then completely wiped out in the next. It was a very common occurrence.

Wu Chen was no longer affected by the death of his teammates. At most, he would observe a minute of silence.

But this time round, Wu Chen really hoped his team leader would make it. Even though Su Jin wasn’t really considered an old timer in Hell’s Handbook, he had given Wu Chen a confidence that he had never felt before. In fact, he felt that perhaps Su Jin himself had no idea how powerful he had become.

“Stop, you asshole, stop! Stop drawing! I’m going to kill you, I’m really going to kill you!” Half of Su Jin’s face was completely twisted, and his left eye now looked like a ball of broken glass.

“Save your breath! My teammate isn’t someone who feels threatened so easily.” The other half of Su Jin’s face was perfectly fine and even managed to mock the affliction demon.

“No… you’re a mere mortal… how is this possible? How are you able to trap a high level demon like myself? Why is your soul like a god’s? Why? WHY?” roared the affliction demon hysterically. He couldn’t accept the fact that he had been trapped by a mortal, and worse still, this wasn’t a weak trap like Sherva’s had been. He felt like he might not be able to escape this time.

Su Jin ignored the shrieking of the affliction demon. As the number of symbols drawn on him increased, the twisted and terrifying half of his face slowly reverted to normal and it was calm again after just a few seconds.

Wu Chen looked at Su Jin as if to ask if everything was alright. Su Jin checked himself internally, then nodded. “Yup, everything’s fine. His power has been suppressed and I’ve sealed him with my psychokinesis, so he can’t come out anymore.”

Everyone let out a big sigh of relief when they heard these words. Wu Chen frowned and said, “There’s one more problem. I’m afraid you’d have to go through this Challenge in the nude. Otherwise, if these bloodied symbols get wiped out… you know what’s going to happen.”

Su Jin nodded. It wasn’t a problem for him anyway. His body was strong enough to still feel comfortable even if you threw him into a freezer. Temperature was not much of a problem to him at all.

Wu Chen sniggered. “And of course, the ladies here get to benefit. That’s part of your responsibility as the team leader.”

Su Jin froze before breaking into an awkward smile. But the few ladies were quite happy to stare at Su Jin, including Bo Ya. They didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed.

Besides, Su Jin’s figure was truly excellent now. His muscles were well defined, but they weren’t too large and bulky. Every line on his body looked like they were drawn by one of the finest artists in the world. He was pleasant to look at, filled with strength and beauty at the same time.

But Su Jin did feel a little uncomfortable from the way the ladies were staring at him. It was usually men who harassed women, but now he felt like he was the one being harassed.

“Jin, were you planning to do this all along?” asked Kano Mai a little angrily. Su Jin’s method had worked, but it was also too dangerous. If the affliction demon had managed to take control of his body, then not only was the team going to end up dying, but he would die as well.

Su Jin knew that his method had been rather risky, so he could only apologize to her. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my plan actually, but I realized that his mental strength wasn’t very strong, so even if I couldn’t control him, I figured that I could chase him out.”

Kano Mai nodded slightly after hearing this explanation to show that she had forgiven him for doing something like that. To every member of the team, whether dead or alive, Su Jin was someone they trusted with their lives, even if they were in a very dangerous situation. Kano Mai chided him, but she was always supportive of him as well. She just hoped that Su Jin could discuss his plans with them next time.

“Make sure you discuss your plans with me before taking such risks!” said Kano Mai very sternly. The rest nodded in agreement.

Su Jin replied, “Of course I will. Things happened very suddenly this time round, so I had no choice but to make a decision myself.”

But the rest of his team rolled their eyes at his response. This wasn’t the first time he had done something dangerous like that. The team wasn’t hoping that he would really discuss everything with them, but rather, they hoped that he wouldn’t do anything this dangerous anymore.

Now that this matter was settled, Situ Jin asked, “The mission is to rid the city of the monsters. You’ve trapped the demon, but I don’t think that counts, right?”

“I don’t think it counts either, but there’s a way around that. I just have to leave the city when the Challenge is about to end,” said Su Jin.

The rest concurred with his line of logic. After all of this had happened, it wasn’t long until dawn. They decided not to take a rest and just sit down together and wait for the sun to rise.

“We’ve killed three shapeshifters, but I don’t know if there are anymore in the city,” said Kano Mai with some frustration in her voice.

Everyone sighed and nodded. This Challenge was difficult not because there was a lot of fighting to do, but because they didn’t know exactly how many monsters they had to get rid of. If they left out a monster or two by the time the Challenge ended, they were doomed.

“There must be some way to confirm how many monsters there are. We just don’t know how at the moment,” said Wu Chen very confidently. He had experience in Challenges that required the owners to exterminate certain creatures. The Handbook contained a lot of surprises all the time, but the one thing that remained consistent was that there was definitely some way for the owners to survive the Challenge. It was just a matter of whether the owners managed to find it or not.

“Erm, could I ask… is this the number of monsters?” Ma Xinyu held up her Handbook. There was a string of words and numbers in her book, including the word “shapeshifter” and the numbers 7/10 behind it.

“Oh my!” The members of Team Boning Knife blinked in shock. They imagined that this number would be hidden and difficult to find, but it turned out to be written clearly in the Handbook.

Su Jin immediately flipped through his own Handbook, but there was no such information recorded in his copy. He slapped his forehead and said, “The Handbook always gives newbies some advantages. I didn’t think it would be this. In that case… is this to make sure that we protect the newbies?”

The Handbook had protective measures for newbies in place, including providing them with additional information in their Handbooks. This additional information was very important to the old timers, so the old timers would usually try to help the newbies in exchange for this extra information. But of course, there were always old timers who didn’t care for this and killed newbies very quickly. They had other reasons for doing that.

“Since that’s the case, Situ, I’ll leave their safety in your hands. You’re the village chief of our noob village,” said Su Jin as he patted Situ Jin’s shoulder.

Situ Jin rolled his eyes at Su Jin. “What do you mean by village chief of the noob village? What am I, a nanny?”

“That can’t be helped. Your Spirit Power is very suitable for hiding people, which is very useful in keeping everyone alive. You’re born a nanny! If I don’t put you in charge, then who should I choose? Let’s have a show of hands. Whoever thinks Situ should be in charge of the newbies, raise your hands now,” said Su Jin.

Wu Chen, Kano Mai, and Bo Ya raised their hands without hesitation, and the three newbies followed suit. Situ Jin sighed as though he was resigned to his fate. After all, like Su Jin said, his shadow Spirit Power was really good for keeping people alive. Not just himself, but other people at the same time.

“Can I have another look?” Su Jin said to Ma Xinyu.

Ma Xinyu passed her Handbook to him and he took a look at the numbers. Ten shapeshifters, five vampires, 11 werewolves, 20 ogres, three witches, and two demons. The total number wasn’t really that high.

“Next time, we should check the numbers every time we kill any monsters to make sure we really got rid of them,” Su Jin said to the rest. These evil creatures probably had some way of protecting themselves, like the shapeshifters earlier. The surest way to confirm that they had gotten rid of those monsters would be to check the numbers listed in the Handbook, since that would have the most accurate information. That was also why Su Jin still wanted to protect the newbies even after noting that the total number of monsters was not high.

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Everyone nodded in response. There was still some time before sunrise, so Su Jin and his team started telling the newbies about Hell’s Handbook. Bo Ya was a newbie too, so it was good for her to hear more about it. Of course, nobody could guarantee a smooth journey through the Challenges just by listening to the experiences of others. How long they could survive in this universe still depended almost entirely on their own abilities.

“Spirit Power – those with Spirit Power are known as veterans, and your chances of surviving will increase once you’ve become a veteran. The Handbook has a lot of limitations on the use of Spirit Power now, but having it is better than not having it.” Wu Chen had the most experience among them, so he was qualified to be their lecturer.

“Of course, compared to having Spirit Power, your ability to discern and make decisions is more important. Your ability to think rationally even in the face of danger is vital. In general, being intelligent is more important than having Spirit Power. Spirit Power is just a weapon that can aid you along the way. Your brains will be the thing that truly helps you to survive.

“There are a lot of different types of Challenges too. After a major incident happened, the number of types have increased and I can’t list them all either. I can only tell you the ones I’ve been through.” Wu Chen summarized all the Challenges he had gone through, and Su Jin suddenly realized that this little lecture wasn’t only beneficial to the newbies, but it was also good for the other members of Team Boning Knife.

“Out of all the different types, the supernatural type is the most terrifying, because this sort of Challenge includes things like ghosts. A key feature of such a Challenge is how death often comes without warning. You could die from just doing one wrong action. But similarly, once you find the way to survive, your chances of surviving will increase exponentially.”