Hell's Handbook

Chapter 390

This was not the answer Su Jin was expecting at all. These demons had turned out to be the descendants of those who had chosen the same path as himself.

“According to what we’ve heard, once these heroes start their resistance, they would be killed eventually. But the punishment for their sins would land on them alone, so their descendants and family are not hurt,” said the nine tailed fox.

Su Jin nodded slightly. It was true that many formidable characters had chosen the path since time immemorial, but none of them had escaped the Handbook’s detection and they were all eventually killed.

But there were definitely some really amazing ones who managed to escape detection for a long enough time to have descendants.

Su Jin had chosen this path for himself, so he knew very well what would happen to those who did the same. If these demons were truly the descendants of such people, then they must have been born only after these people had made their choice, because an owner’s decision would change their DNA completely, and their descendants would carry these new characteristics. Not being controlled by the Handbook was one of those.

“Are there many such descendants?” asked Su Jin.

The nine tailed fox sighed and shook her head. “There are very few of us. We haven’t met many who carry the bloodline of these heroes, and most of them have already forgotten where they came from. They just hide in one place and rule it.”

Su Jin nodded. That made sense. One needed not just courage to choose to fight the will of the universe, but you also needed to be a little crazy. You couldn’t expect the descendants of these heroes to make the same choice.

“I got to know the Horned brothers when I was travelling through different worlds. We often get bullied when we’re by ourselves, because despite our powers, we are often treated as symbols of disasters. We have no choice but to keep moving and we only started seeing things differently after we came together as a group. Then again, perhaps we are truly symbols of disasters, because no matter where we go, we’d screw things up. Regardless of whether they’re people we love, or people who love us, as long as they come close, they’ll meet a terrible end.” The nine tailed fox had an extremely exhausted look on her face when she got to this part. It was clear that she still couldn’t forget what had happened to her previously.

Su Jin knew some of the legends behind these demons. It was true that all of them had a sad story to tell, and most of them were considered antagonists in their story. The nine tailed fox, for example. According to legend, the emperor had loved her more than anything else, but he ended up losing his country in the end. The legend went on to say that she moved to Japan, but she continued to experience tragedy there.

“Symbols of disaster? Well, that’s one way of putting it.” Su Jin paused to think, then said, “But to me, it sounds more like discriminatory behavior.”

“Discriminatory behavior?” All three demons looked puzzledly at Su Jin.

He nodded slightly and explained, “Yup. To put it simply, all of you are outsiders who live in someone else’s house, so it’s natural for them to dislike you and discriminate against you. The sufferings you’ve gone through are given to you by the Handbook.”

“Then why does it always hit the people around us and not ourselves?” asked the nine tailed fox in indignation.

Su Jin explained, “That’s because all of you are lifeforms that are outside of the Handbook’s system. Even though you aren’t able to fight it, you’re lifeforms that the Handbook cannot interfere with. Since it can’t do anything about you, it will have to attack the people around you instead.”

The three demons were too stunned to speak. They recalled their past and it was exactly like what Su Jin said. No matter how tragic and difficult their past was, they had never actually been hurt.

Su Jin then suddenly said, “Do you guys want to join me instead? I’m going to create my very own space that’s outside of the Handbook. Inside my space, you won’t have to worry about tragedy befalling you again.”

They weren’t expecting that. The nine tailed fox spoke up first, “Sir, you are very formidable, and I can see that you are somewhat related to our ancestors. You… are also a hero who wants to overcome your destiny, right?”

Su Jin was really pleased with how clear-headed the nine tailed fox was. Of course, while one could say that perhaps she was more of a wily old fox than a smart one, Su Jin wasn’t bothered by that. She had remained relatively calm throughout this ordeal, and that was something a clever person needed to be.

Su Jin did not try to hide his identity and admitted to it, “That’s right. I’ve never met your ancestors before, but I am indeed walking down the path they had chosen before. I… want to overcome my destiny, and help the entire world to change their fate.”

The three demons exchanged glances, then Daitengu said, “Well, we’re very sorry but I don’t think we can agree to join you, because… based on what we know of our ancestors, they all… died pretty quickly after choosing this path.”

Su Jin smiled. “That’s right. The chance of dying is almost a hundred percent.”

“In other words, you’re someone who can’t even guarantee your own survival. Why should we accept your invitation then?” asked the nine tailed fox.

Su Jin calmly replied, “Your information is considered very accurate. Everyone who has chosen this path, including your ancestors, have died. But I won’t.”

“Why not?” asked Bifang.

“The reason is the fact that I’m still alive,” said Su Jin matter-of-factly. “Since you’ve been gathering information about your ancestors, you know how they were killed too, right?”

“Yes. It seems to have something to do with Hell’s Handbook,” said the nine tailed fox with a nod.

“Of course it does. The one who operates Hell’s Handbook was the one who killed them. Anyone who chooses this path will become a target of the Handbook, and the Handbook will do everything it can to hunt this person down and kill them. Never mind entering a Challenge – even if they’re hiding in some broken, forgotten space, someone will find them and kill them.” Su Jin scanned the three demons, then said, “And I… have the ability to hide from the Handbook.”

“We’re not controlled by the Handbook, but after we’ve spent so many years wandering the worlds, we know how powerful the Handbook is and we’re being watched by the Handbook too. How could you possibly escape detection?” Bifang clearly did not believe Su Jin.

Su Jin smiled and said, “You don’t have to believe me right now. I still have some time, so if you guys don’t mind, we can stay together for a while and you can decide for yourselves later whether I’m telling the truth or not.”

The three demons didn’t mind that. The nine tailed fox even jokingly said, “Are you sure about that? Besides the other descendants of heroes like ourselves, anyone else who comes too close to us will meet a terrible end.”

“Wow, that’s great! I know a thing or two about terrible ends!” said Su Jin with a laugh.

Su Jin was willing to remain with the three demons partly because he wasn’t able to return to his own world now. He had used Liu Bowen and the other owners to raise the alarm and force the Handbook to notice a problem with this Challenge, which also made the Handbook remove Liu Bowen’s group from the Challenge. But at the same time, he had reprogrammed himself to seem like one of the demons in the Challenge, so the Handbook assumed he belonged inside the Challenge.

The Challenge had already ended, so it was going to be too difficult for Su Jin to return to his own world. Of course, he was able to move easily from one world to another, but the Handbook controlled way too many worlds for him to search them and find his own manually. The Handbook might be controlling 100,000 worlds, 200,000 worlds, or even a million worlds.

Without any other way to narrow down his search, he would have to go through the worlds one by one to find his own, which was highly inefficient. So, he thought of another way to do this.

“The demons are seen as part of a Challenge, which means that any world they appear in will eventually become a Challenge. I just need to move with them, then switch back to being an owner after a Challenge starts and I’ll be teleported back after that,” thought Su Jin. That would make things much easier.

“By the way, when is the next Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts happening?” Su Jin asked the three demons.

“In about 20 years’ time!” replied Daitengu very seriously.