Hell's Handbook

Back in the real world, Su Jin gave the Demon Lord a call. She finally picked up the phone when the line was about to be cut off.

“Su Jin?” Her voice was lazy, like she had just woken up. Su Jin looked out at the sky and saw that the sun was about to set. Waking up at this time did sound like the Demon Lord’s usual routine.

“It’s me. You agreed to help me save Ye Yun from Shen Wu before this, so I’m calling in that favor now,” said Su Jin.

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“Oh… no problem, I’ll go over to your place now.” The Demon Lord did not delay and appeared in Su Jin’s house shortly after hanging up. She wore a qipao with a high slit, which really showed off her perfect figure.

“Thank you!” Su Jin thanked her, then crushed the wooden block that the Mad Hatter had given him. The crushed pieces spun in the air, then disappeared into thin air.

A few seconds later, the crushed pieces reappeared and spat out the Mad Hatter and Pinocchio. It had been ages since three deities had appeared in the real world at the same time like this.

“Since you’re ready, let’s go then.” The Mad Hatter didn’t waste any time. He threw his hat into the air, then leaped in first. The other three took turns to leap in as well.

After all four of them had left, Kano Mai walked out from the shadows. She took her own Handbook out and paged her teammates.

“Wu Chen, Su Jin’s left for Shen Wu’s world already. What plans do you have?” asked Kano Mai.

Wu Chen burst out laughing. “Why are you asking me such a question? Didn’t we promise Jin not to interfere in this matter?”

“Oh please… we’re both on the same side, for crying out loud. Besides, I’ve got quite a number of these.” Kano Mai revealed a small pile of teleportation crystals in her hand. These came from the time she went with Su Jin and Situ Jin to secretly attack Shen Wu’s base in their universe.

Wu Chen’s eyes lit up. He laughed and said, “Oh my! We were still wondering how we could get enough teleportation crystals for all of us to use! That would have cost us a lot of money!”

Kano Mai smiled. “That’s why I’ve already prepared enough for us all. Let’s meet at Hell’s Bar!”

“Of course! See you there!” Wu Chen nodded without hesitation.

Su Jin had arrived on Earth, but this was not the Earth that Su Jin was from. The atmosphere on this Earth was heavier. Or rather, there was an oppressive air over the entire planet.

Soldiers wearing the same uniform and the emblem of Team Court of Wrath could be seen everywhere. It looked like Team Court of Wrath had become the sole ruler of this planet. Nobody could rise up against them because the entire world had become their property.

“Chu Yi’s world has that cult, but they’re still trying to attain world domination. My world has the Dark Council, but they’re happy to enjoy themselves in secret and hide themselves from the world. I didn’t expect Shen Wu to have already become the sole ruler of his world. So, everything he says is the law now?” remarked Su Jin. Handbook owners could not tell ordinary people who they were, but there was no need to. As long as they had the power, they became the law.

Shen Wu’s organization of robbers covered a lot of universes. They had bases in almost every universe and they had countless owners on their side. He could use all these owners to form a functioning government. The ordinary people in his world didn’t even have the right to speak to the owners.

“Great. Now, we need to confirm where Shen Wu is and where the girl you need to save is,” the Mad Hatter said to Su Jin.

Su Jin felt his head spin. The Mad Hatter had told him before that he knew where Shen Wu was, but it turned out that the Mad Hatter only knew which universe he belonged to and didn’t know exactly where in this universe he was.

“Let’s grab someone and ask.” Su Jin sighed. He didn’t have the time to go around and gather information. They were here to literally fight their way in because he felt that they were strong enough to do that now.

A black mist appeared in the Demon Lord’s eyes for a second. A group of patrolling soldiers immediately froze. She used a finger to motion to them to come over and all of them obediently walked toward them, as though they were her pets.

“What do you want to ask them?” said the Demon Lord.

Su Jin paused to think, then said, “Where is Shen Wu right now and who are the people with him?”

“Heard that? Those who know can answer him,” the Demon Lord said to the soldiers.

One of them, who looked like their leader, immediately responded, “The great Shen Wu is in God’s City. He is accompanied by nine others from Team Court of Wrath.”

“Team Court of Wrath has ten members?” Su Jin was shocked at first, but it made sense after he thought about it. Team Court of Wrath was one of the strongest teams around and was probably very highly ranked even before the rules changed. Based on the current rules, the maximum number of people a team could have would increase with their rank, so it was indeed possible for a team to have ten members.

“How do we get to God’s City?” asked the Mad Hatter.

“That way.” The leader suddenly pointed toward a place in the distance. A structure that resembled the pyramids of Egypt could be vaguely seen.

“An altar! This man… is very ambitious!” The three deities were all taken aback.

Su Jin asked, “What’s this about an altar?”

“To put it simply, an altar is the gathering of the faith of believers. There are many ways to become a god. Some attain godhood by forcibly pushing past their limits and thereby becoming a god. Some absorb the faith of their believers and use that power to rebuild their bodies and become a god. An altar in this context is the structure that deities build before turning into gods. They come in all shapes and sizes but they are used for the same purpose, which is to become a sacred object in the eyes of the believers, which will help the deity to absorb and store the power of their believers’ faith,” the Mad Hatter explained patiently.

Based on what the Mad Hatter just said, Shen Wu was probably trying to attain godhood through the faith of his believers. He had built this altar and conquered this planet, making every person in this world a worshipper of himself. This was a pretty good option, but Su Jin was surprised that Shen Wu had already prepared everything necessary to become a god.

The Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, and the Demon Lord flew into the air. Su Jin too, used his psychokinesis to fly. The four of them flew straight for the altar. Given the way this world was being governed, it was going to be impossible for them to infiltrate the lower ranks and launch some sneak attack on Shen Wu. Besides, the three deities felt that doing something like that was beneath them. Their plan for today was very simple – they were just going to force their way in and snatch Ye Yun from Shen Wu.

Su Jin felt that this plan was a little too simple, but since he had three gods on his side, he agreed to it. It was going to be impossible to smuggle Ye Yun out of here without raising the alarm anyway, so they might as well fight!

The four of them soon arrived outside the city. The Mad Hatter said to them, “We still need a basic plan, so Pinocchio and the Demon Lord will be in charge of distracting Shen Wu and his subordinates, while Su Jin and I will go and find the girl. Okay?”

“No problem.” Pinocchio patted his chest. He carried a backpack and nobody knew what was inside, but his confidence probably came from the contents of the bag.

The Demon Lord was good with the plan as well and nodded at the rest. The Mad Hatter flew off with Su Jin, then signalled to them to go ahead.

The Demon Lord launched the first attack. She grabbed the air with one hand, and the Demon Lord’s Longbow appeared in her hands. The longbow seemed to have metamorphosized. A black arrow as thick as an arm appeared on the bowstring, which turned into a demon’s face that kept growling furiously.

“Let’s go!” The Demon Lord released her fingers and the Roar of the Demon Lord flew out. Compared to when Su Jin activated this skill with his Spirit Power, the Demon Lord’s version carried a real divine power. The moment the arrow hit the pyramid looking altar’s peak, the entire pyramid exploded and disappeared into thin air.

Shen Wu reacted very quickly as well. Less than a minute after his altar was attacked, huge numbers of soldiers came running over from all directions. Su Jin and his group could sense that several owners were among these soldiers.

“We’ll leave this place to them. We’ve got to go.” The Mad Hatter motioned to Su Jin to follow him and they quickly disappeared out of sight. Meanwhile, the Demon Lord and Pinocchio had excited looks on their faces as they launched their attacks wherever they fancied. They were like two wolves pouncing into a pen of sheep.

Blasts resounded nonstop in God’s City, while the Mad Hatter and Su Jin hid in the shadows as they watched and waited. They were waiting for Shen Wu to come out and deal with this mess. Shen Wu didn’t make them wait for too long. Two gods were attacking his city, which was not something he could tolerate. He didn’t know where these two lunatics had come from, but since they dared to make trouble in his territory, they’d better be prepared to die.

Shen Wu flew into the sky and quickly got close to the Demon Lord. He had just gotten close to them and he was able to turn both the Demon Lord and Pinocchio into blocks of ice. This was his special Spirit Power, the ability to control heat. That was how he killed others.

But before Shen Wu could congratulate himself on trapping two gods, the two blocks of ice shattered. Pinocchio grinned cheekily as he slapped his thigh and threw a lollipop at Shen Wu.

Shen Wu instinctively dodged it and Pinocchio looked very displeased. Shen Wu looked puzzled, wondering where these two had come from and why they were here. Just as he was still trying to figure things out, something exploded behind him. That lollipop that Pinocchio had thrown at him just landed on the ground and exploded. That was obviously no lollipop. That was one of Pinocchio’s special bombs, and that blast razed a tall building to the ground.

“Who in the world are you people?! Why are you making trouble in my city?!” yelled Shen Wu furiously.

“People? You’re a person! We’re not people!” snapped the Demon Lord in response.

Those words made Shen Wu think again. He narrowed his eyes at the two in front of him and suddenly said, “You’re right. You’re not people. You’re… gods!”