Apocalyptic Forecast - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: I Want to Get Beaten Up

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“What are you talking about?”

Detective was in shock. Throughout all his years of being a middleman, he had never encountered such an absurd situation.

“Eh-hem, I mean this.”

Huai Shi coughed, took out a vial, and placed it in front of him. The vial was filled with Disastrous Dust.

This was the simplest way of earning money that Crow had come up for him.

As a rare essence, Disastrous Dust was a necessary base in some parts of alchemy manufacturing. However, because its scope of use was so small, and the material itself was not difficult to find in deep areas, so it could not be sold at a high price.

“Give me a moment.”

After he finally responded, Detective turned on his phone and made a call. “Hello? Hey uncle, I remember you placed an order that was settled at the border a few days ago? There’s a customer here who wants to sell it, why don’t you come and take a look?”

After a few minutes, the computer’s screen lit up.

What was more absurd was that the light on the camera transformed automatically into the hologram of an old man. He seemed a little impatient as he walked over and instructed Detective to pour out a few grains of Disastrous Dust and throw them into some kind of liquid with a name that Huai Shi could not pronounce.

Very quickly, as he watched the reaction taking place in the solution, his gaze became a little calmer, and he nodded slowly.

“Nowadays, it’s very uncommon to find such pure Disastrous Dust in the interior. Let’s go with the standard price of high-end products. I want all of it.” A rare gentle expression spread the old man’s features as he glanced at Huai Shi. “If you have more Disastrous Dust in the future, do contact me. I will pay 10% more than the market price.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared.

Detective did not make any more fuss and weighed Huai Shi’s vial. After deducting the weight of the container itself, it weighed around 300 grams.

 Usually, a vial of iron sand like this may have weighed a little more than a pound, but Disastrous Dust was a lot lighter than it looked.

This had all been accumulated by Huai Shi recently, but he could not make more. After all, he was not the type of person who liked to blame himself for what happened in the past, and he could only rely on constantly reading the death records to refine it.

Detective spent a long time calculating, and when he was finally done he looked up and asked, “Based on the most recent transaction price in the market, it will come to a total of 84 thousand. As the middle person, I’ll be taking one-twentieth of the earnings. I’ll give you his business card later. Next time, I won’t interfere anymore, you can just contact him directly. How’s that sound?”

Huai Shi did not have any strong opinions. After all, was it not normal for a middle person to earn so little?

Moreover, after earning 80 thousand bucks so easily, this was the first time that he had felt a sense of anticipation at becoming an Ascender.

Before he left, Huai Shi did as Crow had instructed and bought a more precise set of pot and equipment materials. The cheap set he had at home was fine for fooling around in the chemistry room, but when it came to practical usage, he could not do much with it.

Even the simplest set of equipment here cost Huai Shi around 9000 yuan. If not for Crow’s insistence on its necessity, then he would have just tried to make do with what he had.

He did not intend to give all of the remaining 71 thousand to Crow. When Crow spoke, you had to take her words with a grain of salt. Even if he only gave her 50 thousand, it would be enough for him to obtain half a month’s worth of medicine.

If he used the remaining 21 thousand for his living expenses, it should be enough to last him a while.

Huai Shi decided to keep five thousand to be used for his daily expenses. First, he would spend some of the money to clean up the Chalcedony Museum, reinstall the glass panels, and repaint the exterior wall. If he did it himself, he might even be able to save a lot of money, after which he could use the remaining money to buy a better set of strings for his cello as well as a few chairs. Once he finished cleaning up the main hall, he might not have a lot of money left.

As he walked out with the equipment in hand, Huai Shi was overcome with joy. Even the stray dog peeing by the road looked cute to him.

Liu Dongli looked at his idiotic expression, shook his head helplessly, and walked ahead of him.

However, just as Huai Shi was about to say goodbye and head home, he suddenly shivered.

He stopped in his tracks and turned back suddenly.

A few pedestrians hurried across the quiet street, a few cars were driving by, and a stray cat on the top of a wall was walking away slowly…

In that split second earlier, he had felt his Premonition of Death ability being activated, followed by a prickling chill at the back of his neck.

Alarm bells rang in his chest as his intuition warned him—there was someone here to kill him. Nevertheless, just as quickly as it had come, that Premonition of Death faded again, as if it was nothing more than an illusion.

Only a haunting chill remained, gripping his lungs tightly.

“What’s wrong?”

Liu Dongli noticed that he was acting odd.

“It’s nothing.” Huai Shi smiled calmly. “We’ll stop here then, I’ll be going home now.”

“Okay.”

Liu Dongli waved. “Remember to have a meal with me before you leave.”

After Huai Shi replied, he turned to leave.

The killing intent was directed at him, it had nothing to do with anyone else. It was not easy for Old Liu to recover enough that he was able to be discharged from the hospital, so there was no need to get him involved in this situation.

Unusually, Huai Shi decided to shoulder the burden himself.

Still… who was the bastard that wanted to kill him?

.

.

“F*ck, I think I’ve been targeted.”

In the main hall of the Chalcedony Museum, Huai Shi looked at the crow before him. “Crow-aemon, do you have a plan?”

“You can’t be saved, just await your death. Farewell.”

Crow replied calmly with three memes in a row as she slowly checked the items that Huai Shi had brought back. She spoke as if this was a common occurrence. “What’s the point of asking me such a simple question? If someone wants to kill you, just kill them instead. Isn’t it supposed to be that way?”

“How do I kill them? Do I just conjure an ax?”

Huai Shi sighed as he knew his limits. Even if he had the title, he lacked the skills. Even though he was an Ascender, in reality, at best, he could only serve as backup. Even the crippled Red Glove could string him up and pummel him freely, if that guy appeared in an alley one day, and started firing a PPSh-41 at him, he would be incapable of defending himself.

“That’s why last night I said…”

Crow raised her head and smiled happily. “Do you want to try the Book of Destiny’s new function?”

Even though he felt nervous, Huai Shi nodded helplessly.

Thus, the Book of Destiny was activated, Crow turned into a pen and dotted downwards.

Huai Shi’s vision turned dark.

When he opened his eyes, he could smell the pungent scent of blood.

In the dark basement, there were corpses everywhere. A skinny man with a half-rotted body roared at him, and his shell-covered left hand suddenly shot forward.

Huai Shi subconsciously took a step backward, but without even having time to react, he felt the sharp pain of the hard shell piercing through his body.

Quickly after this, the person raised his deformed right arm, pressed it against his forehead, and squeezed abruptly.

Crack!

He was dead.

In the darkness before him, a big, blood-red word read “NOOB” appeared.

‘What is this?

‘What is happening?’

In the searing pain, Huai Shi leaped up from the chair and glared at Crow angrily. “Other than it now mocking me with ‘noob’, isn’t this exactly the same as it was in the past?”

“Huh?” Crow asked, “You didn’t notice any changes?”

Huai Shi froze for a moment, then quickly remembered. Just now when he was in that death record, he…seemed to…have…taken a step backward?

Yes, that was right, he was not passively experiencing it as a guardian spirit anymore.

This was the first time that he had reacted to the death.

“Is this a new function?”

“Yep.” Crow nodded. “If you were previously someone who watched streamers’ videos to get to know a game without even playing it, you have now installed a certain steam-icon software, and you can try to play the game yourself. Oh, if that’s the case, it’s a shame to not just be a streamer’s free-loading fan.”

“That’s enough.”

Huai Shi rolled his eyes, he did not know where Crow learned all these crude words.

“But it seems like it’s better to not let you participate in such a high-difficulty fight on your first round.”

Crow pondered for a moment. “In the current Book of Destiny records, the most complete section would be on Red Glove. Perhaps I’ll find a beginner’s tutorial for you first.

“But before that, raise your left hand. Right, that’s it. Point one finger upward, then retract your other fingers.”

“Like this?”

Huai Shi raised his left hand dumbly, unsure of what was happening. “What’s this supposed to do?”

“You’ll find out soon.”

Crow smiled mysteriously, took out her phone skillfully, snapped a photo, and then waved her wings at him before saying, “Have a safe journey.”

Huai Shi suddenly slumped on the chair and fell into a deep slumber.

Then, she clicked into her PS software before skillfully adding a caption to the photo that she had just taken of Huai Shi: 

– I want to get beaten up.

‘New meme obtained~’

Then, the beating began.

When Huai Shi finally understood what this posture meant, he was already in an unfamiliar training field and was about to start getting pummeled by a burly man.

The Roman Kickboxing techniques that were previously seen in Red Glove’s attacks had now appeared in the stranger’s hands.

When he attacked, he would not show the slightest bit of mercy or hesitation.

He would charge toward him immediately and beat him until he was crippled!

Once the whistle blew, the man struck out with his leg and almost took Huai Shi’s neck off with a kick. This was followed by a skillful spin in the air before he landed and grabbed Huai Shi’s arm.

Crack!

Huai Shi’s right arm had been broken.

“Why are you still in a daze? No. 7944!”

At the edge of the training field, a man with a cold look and his hands folded behind his back said sternly, “Has everything you learned been eaten by the dogs? Pick up the dagger and kill him! Or you will be killed by this death-row criminal!”

His cold tone perfectly expressed his demand.

He could either die a useless person, or he could kill this sneering opponent and earn his keep.

Huai Shi took a deep breath. In that short moment of stillness, he bent down and reached out to pick up the digger, holding it tightly.

Sometimes, he could not help but be grateful that this was only a dream.

This way, he did not have to think too much. He just had to pick up the weapon and kill the other person. He did not have to be bothered with the law, morality, kindness, or any of his other concerns.

Or perhaps this was the scariest part about it?

Once he was used to it all, would he be willing to return to his ordinary life?

He did not know why, but he did not seem to reject the idea.

“Let’s go!”

At the sharp sound of the coach’s whistle, Huai Shi rushed toward his opponent!

Then, he died.

In reality, Huai Shi had charged forward, as fierce as a tiger, and after hitting 2.5 points of damage, he had successfully sliced open the opponent’s neck.

He had won.

Nevertheless, at that same moment, his waist had been broken by a kick, and he had broken three out of four of his limbs.

As he was trying to ask the coach for help, the coach stepped forward indifferently and broke his neck. The last thing he heard was,

“You’ve betrayed the empire’s expectations of you.”