Sitting in the office, I started to look over the book and photos. Ma Jun"s photo was one of the eight leaders, with a note that he’s a prince. The leaders all looked rather young, and the "king" was odd, his face covered by a gold mask and not visible at all.
The dice are pa.s.sed out on the first day of every month, and every person gets 30 white dice and 10 black dice.
The white dice are for meals, with one dice used per meal, as in, there’s only a single meal every day. The handbook said if it’s not enough, you can take others" food, and if you run out, then you’d better like the taste of leaves. New dice are not given out until the start of next month.
Black dice could be exchanged for daily necessities like clothes; one black dice could get you one outfit, a day of reading at the Book Pavilion, or a chance to use the public bath house, but no one is allowed to stay at these public places past eight pm, including this courtyard.
These rules are making the Outer Order seem very oppressive! Good thing I have my backpack with me, with the Shadow Sword… and the s.p.a.ce Ring!
While I don’t know how to use the s.p.a.ce Ring, but it can’t fall into others" hands. I have a feeling that the minute I step outside, people will try to steal my stuff, how do I protect what’s mine?
Today is already February 8th, but Sun Yongfu still gave me a month’s worth of dice, it is already special treatment for me, but my s.p.a.ce Ring…
The people outside are watching me like a hawk, if I took out my ring, it’d be like advertising my precious possessions.
I took a deep breath, reviewed the do"s and don’ts again, and the map. I also took out my phone, deleted all my contacts, messages, photos, and the sim card too. I put all my dice into my jacket"s inside pocket and zipped up. When my reading time was up, I started walking to where the Clothes Pavilion was listed on the map.
The disciples were all watching me as I walked out into the yard, but no one moved to touch me.
I know we’re not allowed to attack others in public places here, so these disciples are probably the weaker ones hiding out. Even then, I shouldn’t underestimate them, any one of them could still easily beat me.
To be honest, their gazes scared me. Their eyes were just too fierce and mercenary, I had to act fearless and made my walk look more natural and confident.
It’s not that I’m a coward, but I do carry important things. If they ganged up on me, I’d be out of luck. At Huanyu Pavilion, everyone probably has some amazing talent, I’d be sobbing if the s.p.a.ce Ring was taken.
As I left the courtyard, I quickly headed to the Clothes Pavilion, since my peripheral vision told me two people followed me out!
It took me two hours, but I finally got there; the Clothes Pavilion was on a nearby mountain, or it’d take me even longer. Those two people followed me the whole time but didn’t attack me.
There’s plenty of people here too. When I walked into the main hall, I saw a young man sitting cross-legged. I asked, "Are you in charge here?"
"Why, are you new?"
"Yes. I want to get a set of clothes here." I took out one black dice.
"Lucky a newbie like you hasn’t gotten robbed yet. Come with me." He took me to an inner office with a wardrobe. "Pick one, but you can take only one set, and there’s no exchange."
Since I use the fire power a lot, the parka Xiaoling gave me is already pretty burnt, I will need a sleeveless tank or I’d burn the sleeves again.
I picked a white tank top, one pair of casual pants, one pair of sneakers, and some underwear and socks. The young man showed me another room. "You can change in there, there’s no mental scanning there. You have five minutes, go."
Mental scanning? I had no time to think about that as I hurried in there to change.
I realized as I changed that the s.p.a.ce Ring is still not secure. So I looped the ring onto my underwear with a string as a last minute resort.
This is the only way I can think of to avoid being robbed.
I finished and went out to meet the young man again. My tank top showed the iron blocks strapped to my arms, and he was impressed.
I joined my hands together in greeting and bid goodbye, "Thank you, I’ll head out now."
He nodded. "I recommend that you stay until eight. "
"Alright. " I found a place to wait in the yard. Ignoring everyone’s stares, I read the rules on the wall.
When the big clock in the yard showed eight o" clock, everyone started to leave, and so did I. Four people followed me. Before I got too far, a storm started.
Trees aren’t good for hiding in a storm for fear of electrocution, I’d better find somewhere to ride out the storm.
I started running toward another hill, hoping to find a place to dodge both the rain and my stalkers.
My black backpack is waterproof, so I"m not worried about the stuff inside getting drenched, but after an hour of running, I still couldn"t find a place to hide.
Then I see a forest ahead of me where the trees are tall and dense. I couldn"t be picky as I ran straight inside; even if there was lightening, it wouldn"t necessarily hit me. I may be unlucky, but not that unlucky.
Those four men were still chasing me. I ran deeper into the woods trying to ditch them.
They ran fast and caught up to me soon. The next thing I knew, I was trapped inside the four of them.
I acted confused. "Hi, what"s up?"
One man chortled. "Stop acting dumb. Give us what you have in the bag, or we"ll take it."
I stood in my fighting pose. "I"m sorry, I barely have enough myself!" Then I reached out my hand, shooting flames from my palm at the man"s face.
He backed up with his arms raised. I followed him, hoping to press my advantage and get ride of one enemy before tackling the other three.
It was still raining really hard, with lightening here and there.
Before I reached him, I could feel my arm getting hit by something very cold and painful.
I stopped and saw my left arm was pierced with three icicles. The pointy tips are embedded inside my muscle and I was bleeding.
Ice-control power!
The rain was too loud, making me miss the "woosh" sound of the wind. It was also dark in the forest, so I didn"t know who shot the icicles at me!
The man who talked first took a step forward, leapt into the air, and kicked at my head!
I tried blocking the kick with my arms.
I skidded backward from the force of the kick! It was so powerful that my shoulders hurt as if they were torn apart. I fell backward four or five meters before I sat on the ground, then someone kicked my head again, and it was a blur before I fell again.
I could feel myself being punched and kicked. Their hits were fierce and every blow landed with intense pain. I was kicked at least 20 times before I yelled and tried to get up. I had my palms facing up, shooting twin flames.
When they scattered, I scrambled up and tried to shoot flames at the one person closest to me. I charged at him while he was distracted.
I grabbed one of his arms and was trying to use my 16th way s.n.a.t.c.h method!
Before I could use my move, however, a fist landed on my head. I could feel my eyes burning from the pain. I tried shooting flames at the opponent"s arms.
I"ll burn you guys to death!
I thought with malice. I didn"t care about Huanyu Pavilion"s do"s and don"ts anymore, I just wanted to kill them!
Two of my opponents were yelling from being burned, but they still kept hitting me. I could feel myself getting faint, but I didn"t stop. After many more blows, someone kicked me on the chest, I felt a suffocating pain before I fell backward onto a big tree.
More hits and kicks fell on me; my head was pummeled even more. I could no longer stand, I could only cover my head with my arms.
One voice said, "Oh, you want to burn me, you piece of — !"
I suffered in silence.
After some more kicking, he cussed. "You think you can do fire? I can put it out!"
Then he opened his pants and peed on my head!
My fists were clenched so tight the bones made crunching noises. I tried to grab him, but before I could, someone"s leg landed on my arm.
The man who peed on me also kicked my chin, and kicked me everywhere else. "I"ll kill you, you piece of — !"
Another person said, "Don"t kill him. Don"t forget how Stone died."
More blows and kicks followed. Then the four of them took my backpack and walked off.
I leaned against the tree. My body hurt allover and tears flowed nonstop. Just wait, one day, I"ll make you pay back in blood!