Faced with Zhang Yao's furious curses, the woman before him made no further move. She merely gave a faint, disdainful snort and said, "Weak, lacking self-control, and foul-mouthed. You're utterly worthless! To think I waited a hundred years, only to end up with such a pathetic candidate!"
"Fuck your mother!" Zhang Yao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. At the sight of that glaring crimson stain, he stopped caring what the woman was saying and swung his fist at the lovely face that had captivated him just moments before.
Bam! Before his fist could connect, a sharp pain tore through his abdomen. The tremendous force sent him crashing into the hall's wall. Like a lump of modeling clay hurled against a wall, Zhang Yao was "stuck" there by the impact. Only after a long moment did he slowly slide down and land heavily on the floor.
"It seems my earlier assessment was too hasty. Now I must add another flaw: you can't read the situation. You can't even recognize the difference in our strength. You're nothing but trash!" The woman stared coldly at Zhang Yao as he lay on the floor, looking at him as though he were a pile of garbage rather than a human being.
The woman gently raised the strange stone before her eyes and examined it closely. Then, in an even more contemptuous voice, she said, "Hmph! A Magic Ring really does reflect the master who forges it!" With that, she tossed the stone toward Zhang Yao.
When the strange stone reached the space above Zhang Yao's head, it defied gravity and hovered in the air, as though someone were holding it up. A deep blue light emerged from within it. With several sharp cracks, fissures spread across its gray-green surface. Like a chick struggling out of its shell, a gray-blue ring forced its way out of the stone, trembling slightly as it swiftly floated down toward Zhang Yao. Before he could react, it locked tightly around the index finger of his left hand.
The moment the ring slipped onto his finger, an immense flood of information poured into Zhang Yao's mind. He passed out instantly, without even a groan.
Looking at the unconscious Zhang Yao, the woman said once more, "Utter trash!" Then she walked toward the shadows from which she had appeared. The instant she touched them, she vanished. Zhang Yao, still unconscious, was left alone in the black hall.
"Ugh!" Much later, a slightly pained groan echoed through the hall. After being unconscious for hours, Zhang Yao finally came around.
"You damned bitch! Just you wait! I, Zhang Yao, will remember everything you did to me today! One day, I'll repay you a hundredfold-a thousandfold!" Clutching his still-aching head, Zhang Yao gritted his teeth and let out a low, furious growl. The rage in his voice seemed fierce enough to burn a hole through the heavens.
Ever since someone had ambushed him with a brick and viciously screwed him over, every recollection of their mockery had felt like venomous snakes gnawing at his heart. It was a humiliation he would remember for the rest of his life. Afterward, he had gone berserk, taking revenge on everyone who had laughed at him. He intended to reclaim every scrap of dignity they had taken from him. One by one, Zhang Yao had sent the people who had ambushed and mocked him to the hospital, though he had suffered serious injuries himself. In the end, his parents had sent him to his grandfather's home in South City.
While Zhang Yao recuperated in South City, his parents had transferred his school enrollment there as well. Clearly, they wanted him to start over somewhere new, far from the harmful environment of his past.
Perhaps his surroundings really did make a difference. Zhang Yao had gradually put his past behind him and begun learning how to be a good kid and a good student. Even the humiliation he had suffered had slowly faded from his memory. If not for that woman's slap today and the cold mockery that followed, he might never again have experienced that feeling of venomous snakes gnawing at his heart!
"Just you wait. One day, you'll regret what you did today!" Zhang Yao silently suppressed the towering rage within him. He was no longer the reckless, hotheaded fool he had once been. He had learned the old saying: a gentleman could wait ten years for revenge. Raising his head, he calmly murmured those words toward the shadows where the woman had vanished, then lowered his gaze to the ring on his left index finger.
The information that had suddenly appeared in his mind told Zhang Yao that he was no longer in his original world, but in a world called Rodos! No one knew when this world had come into existence. It held countless riches, captivating beauties, and innumerable rare treasures! Here, you could obtain anything you desired-provided you had the strength to match. Otherwise, your own greed would devour you and leave you dead without even a grave.
There was only one way to enter Rodos World: find a Guiding Stone. Its power would carry you through the spatial barrier and into Rodos. Needless to say, the strange stone Zhang Yao had obtained was a Guiding Stone from Rodos World. And the woman who had appeared before him was his Guide before he entered Rodos World.
Guides existed to help lucky-or unlucky-people like Zhang Yao survive in Rodos. They explained the basics of survival there to the Chosen Ones, ensuring that they were fully prepared before setting foot in Rodos. Of course, Guides were entirely free to act as they pleased. As long as they fulfilled their essential duties as Guides, everything else depended on their mood.
For example, Zhang Yao's Guide had simply stuffed all the information into his brain, transformed the Guiding Stone into the Chosen One's Spatial Ring, and vanished. In fact, all that information could have been gently conveyed through speech. There was no need to force-feed it into him like someone fattening a duck. (Guides were forbidden from inflicting life-threatening injuries on Chosen Ones!)
Chosen Ones who came to Rodos World could live ordinary, uneventful lives or lives filled with grand exploits. The choice was theirs. But everything in Rodos World was real. If you died there, you truly died! Moreover, the information in Zhang Yao's mind told him that wars were frequent in Rodos, and the strong preyed on the weak. Simply surviving there was difficult enough, let alone living out a peaceful life. Anyone who entered Rodos harboring that notion would soon be reduced to nothing, not even bones remaining.
Chosen Ones could also return to their own worlds, but they had to pay a price. Each day spent back in their own world cost one hundred gold coins. To leave Rodos World completely, however, they had to attain a certain level of strength and earn the recognition of Rodos World.
Zhang Yao did not know how strong he needed to become to earn that recognition. But he knew his most pressing task was to inspect his equipment and attributes. The Chosen One's Hall was a staging ground for Chosen Ones entering Rodos World, and it was absolutely safe! However, their time in the Chosen One's Hall was limited to a single day-twenty-four hours!
The thought that his life would be in danger the moment he left the hall made Zhang Yao restless. He had no desire to see his own likeness among the sculptures on the surrounding walls!
Those sculptures depicted the final moments of Chosen Ones who had died before him! For some unknown purpose, their gruesome appearances at the moment of death had been carved into the walls of this hall.
Though he did not know the exact reason, Zhang Yao absolutely refused to end up like his predecessors, carved into this place for those who came after him to gaze upon.
(PS: Today's first update~~~~~~ There'll be another tonight~~~~~ Brothers, keep supporting Tuifei~~~~~~~~~)
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