The Highest Bounty

The black-robed man walked toward the two young men.

“Let"s play a game between you and your friend, Biggie. Only one of you is allowed to live. Of course, whoever lives will need to leave with me. Make a decision now!”

The black-robed man might have suggested this "game", but in fact, it was a trap. If Bel killed Biggie, Bel would need to leave with the black-robed man. He would be facing long, unending days in the future that would be worse than death. If Biggie killed Bel, he might be able to leave, but would once again endure being imprisoned by the black-robed man. He would experience pain far worse than death.

The sword had now left Bel"s hands and was floating between both of them.

“You have ten seconds to make your decision. If you do nothing within that ten seconds, I"ll take it that you"re choosing to send your friend to me. I can guarantee you that I will do my best to educate him,” the black-robed man did not bother to conceal the smile on his face.

“Ready, get set, go…”

Biggie struggled with this as his body trembled slightly. Even though his memory of the black-robed man did not entirely come back to him, but his soul trembled with terror the moment he set eyes on that man. It was a deep-rooted fear within the depths of his soul. A voice played in his heart continuously, “Don"t go with him, stay as far away as possible from him…”

Bel, on the other hand, was terrifying to watch. He was covered with bloodstains and his consciousness seem to be controlled by the urge to ma.s.sacre. There was no sign of his previous self in his eyes, it was replaced by a look of violence and torture. Biggie could not imagine what would become of him in the future if he allowed Bel to leave with the black-robed man.

“Three, two, one…”

Biggie took action immediately once the black-robed man was done with the countdown. He reached out to s.n.a.t.c.h the sword, thrusting it into Bel"s abdomen. Biggie"s right hand, which was holding on to the sword, could not stop trembling.

“I"m sorry… I can"t allow him to take you. Even though my memory has not completely recovered, but I know he will turn you into a monster that will only know to kill. He will allow you to stay alive, but he will also make you feel pain that is worse than death,” Biggie explained loudly as Bel slowly regained his sense of consciousness, looking in shock at his own body that has been stabbed through by Biggie. However, Bel was not listening to him. He was wide-eyed and there was a look of despair in them. Biggie remembered the same look on Bel"s face when he had killed him all those years ago. Biggie could not stomach this and closed his eyes, “I"m sorry…”

The black-robed man took off his hat and his face was finally revealed in front of Biggie. “You made the right choice. “Weaklings like him with a fragile mind would end up being a slave to the sword after the first training, which would have completely wipe away all sense of self-consciousness. Death would be the best release for him.”

“Aren"t you here to take me away? You can"t stop spouting these useless words,” Biggie"s fear toward the black-robed man seemed to have disappeared after killing Bel, and his emotions poured out freely when he spoke.

“You"re not a big guy, but you do have a big temper,” the black-robed man reached out a hand and Biggie began to feel dizzy.

When Biggie woke up, he realized he was in a deep part of a primitive forest. The voice of the black-robed man could be heard next to his ear at the same time, but Biggie could not tell where it was coming from. “This is a very simple game. There are ten thousand Rank 1 Gene Body humans in this deep forest. Every one of them has been given a weapon and nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of them have to die before the game is over. This means that only one person can leave this place alive. Oh, by the way, the food supply in this forest is quite limited. Good luck!”

A few images appeared in Biggie"s mind after that. It was of a skinny, weak young man who was alone in the forest. He was chopping off a leg from a dead body, placing it above a fire to cook and eating it. That young man was himself.

According to the information unintentionally revealed by the black-robe man, Biggie deduced that this was his first training. The second and third time would follow… He found it difficult to imagine what had he gone through for so many years.

Before Biggie could collect his thoughts, an arrow flew at him, striking the huge tree next to Biggie. The end of the arrow vibrated due to the sheer force of the strike.

Biggie flipped over and rolled to the side, hiding behind a big tree. His right hand tightened its grip on the sword. He was still contemplating what to do in order to solve the problem with the food scarcity and about how terrible the next few pieces of training would be if the first one was so perverted. Before he could think through all of his questions, a sneak attack was conducted on him. If that arrow was shot ten more centimeters to the left, Biggie"s head would have exploded from it.

However, Biggie had also noticed that the arrow was an ordinary shot. It did not contain primary power and there was no special ability attached to it. This meant that his opponent was just an ordinary Rank 1 Gene Body.

Biggie hid behind the tree while waiting patiently for the enemy to appear. According to the rules of the game, every single person in this forest was the enemy. Everyone would attack each other at the first opportunity.

The person who had attacked Biggie was not about to let him off that easily. This was because Biggie was really small and weak, and he was barely even ten-years-old. It was only natural that he would not give up such easy prey in this forest.

Biggie was also aware that he was a very easy target for the others. Unlike his usual huge self, the Biggie now was only seven-years-old and his body was still small and skinny due to lack of nutrition. However, this body size was also an advantage when it came to hiding. It was easy to get the opponent"s guard down this way because most adults would not think a child younger than ten-years-old would pose any threat.

Biggie had lost all of his strength and primary powers, but he still had his swordsmans.h.i.+p. His opponents may be adults who were much bigger than he was, but none of them had the protection of primary power as they were Rank 1 Gene Body. No matter how strong their defense was, they could not protect themselves from a sharp sword blade. Biggie personally thought that if he could solve the problem of the food scarcity, it would not be a problem to survive.

The strong man carried a mechanical bow as he walked casually toward the big tree where Biggie had hidden. He thought this was his lucky day as he had b.u.mped into a child right after understanding the rules of this game. “This is just like having food delivered to my doorstep,” he thought.

A child who was no older than ten was just like a defenseless little chick to him. All he needed to do was grab him by the collar with one hand. There was no sense of danger from a child.

However, this man had made a grave mistake.

When he reached the tree, he realized that the child hiding behind it was gone. He looked around in confusion. “That kid had rolled toward this tree. What happened to him?”

Right at the moment, Biggie had aimed and jumped off the tree from above. With both hands on the sword, he thrust it without hesitation into the enemy"s body. He had climbed up the tree early on. As Biggie watched the man drop dead, there was a hesitant thought in him. He had to get enough food to keep his energy levels up. However, it was clear that the best food source in this forest was another human being. He was pretty sure of that after those images had flashed in his mind.

He frowned slightly as he started ransacking the man"s body, trying to find if he had any food on him besides being a dead body. After a while of going through the man"s belongings, Biggie found nothing useful.

“What should I do? Do I really have to eat a human being?” Biggie was a well-known chef and was not picky with ingredients. He even knew of a niche group of chefs whose specialty was preparing dishes made from humans. Biggie had reservations for these chefs, but he had yet to meet people like them in real life, so have not formed any judgment about them. However, he personally thought that it was too barbaric to be eating your own species.

Just as he was at the end of his wits, a few Necrophagous Black Beetles scuttled over from nearby. Biggie"s eyes lit up at the sight of this.

These Necrophagous Black Beetles were a type of beetle that feasted on rotten food. Even though these beetles smelled really bad, this living organism was not poisonous and was fit for consumption.

With a swing of his knife, Biggie pinned a Necrophagous Black Beetle the size of a fist on the ground. A green liquid immediately poured out from the beetle and it smelled truly awful. Biggie held his breath as he cut the beetle into a few pieces. He closed his eyes as he shoved it into his mouth. After chewing it for a bit, he quickly swallowed the beetle.

It took a few minutes for Biggie to finish eating the Necrophagous Black Beetle. His mouth was filled with a vomit-inducing raw stink. His stomach could not stop rumbling but he held it in and stopped himself from throwing up. He knew that he had to learn to adapt in order to survive. He would have to resort to cannibalism if he did not eat these beetles. He did not want to return to what he had been, to that person who had no qualms about eating human flesh.

He was finally not that hungry after swallowing that Necrophagous Black Beetle the size of a fist. Besides that, the aftertaste in his mouth had greatly decreased his appet.i.te.

Biggie surveyed his surroundings and decided on a direction as he quickly left the scene of his recent fight. It would only serve to attract more enemies if he continued staying at this location that was thick with the stench of blood.

Biggie scuttled quickly deeper into the forest, constantly on high alert in regards to his surroundings. He had actually made the right judgment before. Not more than ten minutes after he had left the battle scene, a woman appeared at the location. She crouched down with a blank expression on her face as she used the sword in her hand to cut off both the man"s legs and his muscled arms, throwing them into a cloth bag she was carrying on her back. It was clear that she had chosen to not only consume human flesh but also to store it.

Not long after she had left, a young man of about twenty-years-old appeared. He had used less than three minutes to take apart the dead body with a dagger in his hand. He cut off any parts that still had flesh, not even leaving any trace of it at the crotch area. All that was left of this mangled corpse were the bones, internal organs, and the skull. The young man had even dug out the corpse"s heart with his bare hands as he contemplated it. A smile appeared on his face. “This is the most delicious part of the human body…”