Absolute Choice
Absolute Choice - Chapter 411: Let us play a board game that tests wisdom and strategy

"Yes, Your Majesty. Didn't you secretly arrange a plan of invading Transcendence three days ago? Now with the Celestial domain suddenly attacking us, are we to continue carrying out our plan?"

The Infernal general's words made Shi Xiaobai frown. He had yet to arrive in the seventh level three days ago. The person who secretly crafted the plans was apparently the real Infernal King, but why would the real Infernal King want to invade Transcendence?

Shi Xiaobai pondered for a moment before he asked, "Back then, on what grounds did This King use to propose the invasion of Transcendence?"

The Infernal general was slightly surprised. The question sounded odd, but the Infernal general immediately expressed his virtuous loyalty and respect. He quickly answered truthfully, "I am unsure of the specific reason, but I remember that back then Your Majesty was extremely furious and cursed Transcendence for being a 'darn thief'. It's as if they had stolen something important of Your Majesty's, and they had forced your hand to invade Transcendence even if the peace of so many years would be broken."

Shi Xiaobai's heart leaped. The word 'thief' gave him a strange association.

Shi Xiaobai did not carry on asking. With a deep sigh, he said to the Infernal general, "Cancel the invasion plans of Transcendence. Now, the most important thing is to guard the Infernal domain and withstand the attacks of the Celestial domain."

Regardless of the reason why the real Infernal King wanted to invade Transcendence, the present Infernal King was Shi Xiaobai. Shi Xiaobai obviously could not lose his mind. He would not send troops to invade Transcendence while the Celestial domain was attacking the Infernal domain.

When the Infernal general heard this, he heaved a sigh of relief. He immediately responded respectfully, "Yes! I will inform the various generals and cancel the plans of invading Transcendence."

The memory of the Infernal King's wrath three days ago was still fresh on the Infernal general's mind. He was afraid that the Infernal King would lose his reason due to his anger and insist on proceeding with his attack on Transcendence. Now, the Infernal general felt relieved seeing the Infernal King calm and composed.

As the Infernal general retreated, the silver-haired girl happened to fly down from the sky.

After she landed, she stared at Shi Xiaobai. Clearly, she was unhappy about Shi Xiaobai's act of pulling apart her arms when they were two hundred meters in the air. Her heart nearly leaped out because of fright.

Shi Xiaobai gave a placating smile and said, "Look, This King is completely unscathed despite falling two hundred meters."

Shi Xiaobai had no other option. Coming down from the sky was the fastest and most effective way to crumble the morale of the Celestial soldiers. However, the silver-haired girl was overly kind-hearted. She did not even agree to a height of ten meters and was afraid that he would suffer even the tiniest of injuries. It forced Shi Xiaobai to use such a method.

When the silver-haired girl heard him, she rolled her eyes. Like an angry kitten which had its tail raised, she stared angrily at Shi Xiaobai. It seemed to say—you are naughty, really naughty.

The silver-haired girl's return to her lively state made Shi Xiaobai's heavy heart feel much better. He laughed heartily as he reached out and stroked the silver-haired girl's head and quipped, "Thank you for bringing This King on a flight. However, your flying skills still need improvement. This King nearly suffered a high-altitude mishap."

The silver-haired girl's face turned slightly red as she pretended to stare angrily at Shi Xiaobai. She then turned and ran towards Sunless and company that were walking over. Being unable to speak, she had a natural affinity with Sunless, who was a person of few words.

Shi Xiaobai gave the others a knowing nod before he turned to look at the Infernal soldiers that were cleaning up the tragic mess.

The war had just begun and the first wave of the Celestial army had already caused such bloodshed.

How cruel would it be if the war intensified?

How should he prevent the war?

...

...

Shi Xiaobai and company spent the night at the Infernal domain's first line of defense till the early hours of the morning. However, the second wave of attacks did not come. When the Infernal reconnaissance troops returned from their search for the Celestial army's command post, they reported that they did not find any traces of the Celestial army in a radius of a hundred miles.

Shi Xiaobai saw how the Infernal soldiers were exhausted from a night of waiting, so he let the Infernal soldiers rest. He only left behind a tiny portion of patrolling soldiers.

Shi Xiaobai and Sunless waited till ten in the morning before returning to the Infernal King's palace to rest. Waiting foolishly for the enemy's attack without resting was an extremely stupid act. It was critical to have enough sleep as no one knew how long the war would last or when the enemy would attack.

Shi Xiaobai returned to the Infernal King's bedroom and realized that the Infernal Queen was still sleeping in bed. When he opened the door, the Infernal Queen did not open her eyes, but the slight changes in her breathing sounds revealed that she was faking her sleep.

Shi Xiaobai did not plan on exposing her because he had more important things to do.

Shi Xiaobai went straight for the desk which he never had a chance to study for a prolonged period of time.

There were books and notes piled on the desk. It was very likely that the real Infernal King had left behind several pieces of useful information on the desk.

But this time, Shi Xiaobai did not immediately flip through the books. Instead, he reached his hand towards the table's bottom drawer.

As entry into the Infernal King's bedroom was prohibited, the drawer was not locked. Shi Xiaobai began rummaging through the drawer. Despite there being many things in the drawer, none of them was what Shi Xiaobai wanted to find.

Only when he rummaged through the third drawer did Shi Xiaobai's eyes light up slightly. He pulled out an item from the drawer's clutter.

It was a jade pendant. It was a pure, smooth, cold and flawless amber-colored jade.

Shi Xiaobai held the jade pendant in hand and finally affirmed his guess.

The jade pendant was very pretty, but from the looks of it, it was not an ordinary jade pendant. Shi Xiaobai, who had an acute sense for the quantity of energy, could sense the endless amounts of energy contained within the jade pendant as he held it in his hand. The energy was something that could match the Transcendence Holy Tree's fruit.

It was not an ordinary jade pendant.

It was the—Celestial Jade!

Shi Xiaobai sighed. After hearing the Infernal general mention the word 'thief', he recalled the story of the Hero King. The Hero King had stolen the Infernal King's Infernal sword and pushed the blame on Leonis. It resulted in the war between the Infernal domain and Transcendence. And in the story, the reason why the Celestial domain attacked the Infernal domain was because the Hero King had stolen the Celestial King's Celestial Jade and he had sent it to the Infernal King.

Therefore, the first thing Shi Xiaobai searched for was the jade pendant when he returned to the bedroom. He never expected that the Infernal King would place it into the cluttered drawer.

But what was all this about?

Did the assessment program deliberately set the story background to be as such?

Shi Xiaobai ruminated over it.

While pondering, Shi Xiaobai instinctively did something. He placed the Celestial Jade in his hand into his mouth and began chewing on it before swallowing it.

After swallowing the Celestial Jade, a surging force swept through his body. Shi Xiaobai was jolted awake as he gaped. He felt at a loss whether to laugh or to cry.

Why did he develop such a bad habit...

"Darling is awesome to be able to even eat the Celestial Jade."

The Infernal Queen's mocking voice sounded from behind, "I'm very curious. How does the Celestial Jade taste?"

Shi Xiaobai turned around and noticed the Infernal Queen, who was dressed in a translucent night gown that faintly revealed her figure, climb out of bed before she slowly walked towards him.

Shi Xiaobai said with a placating smile, "Not bad. It tastes something like meat floss pie."

Shi Xiaobai did not plan on making any excuses for his unwittingly instinctive behavior. Since he had already eaten the Celestial Jade, there was nothing else he could do. Although it was someone else's item, it was now in his hand.

Furthermore, the Celestial Jade's nutritional value was on the same grade as the holy tree's fruit. There were only benefits and no harm to his consuming of it. As for the blame of eating the Celestial domain's holy item, it could be blamed on the 'Infernal King'.

The world he was in did not have meat floss pie, so the Infernal Queen was unable to imagine it instantly. She only smiled as she looked at Shi Xiaobai. There was a probing look that shimmered in her eyes. When she saw that Shi Xiaobai had found the Celestial Jade, she wanted to see if Shi Xiaobai would take it for his own. However, she never expected that Shi Xiaobai would eat the Celestial Jade.

This made the Infernal Queen surprised, shocked and amused.

In her opinion, Shi Xiaobai was an extraordinary human.

"Darling, you made me stay alone in this empty room for an entire night. You are so cruel. I was really lonely."

The Infernal Queen did not continue harping on the matter of the Celestial Jade. Instead, she squinted her eyes and said with a smile, "Darling, do you want to play a board game with me so as to kill time?"

Shi Xiaobai was surprised.

Play a board game?

Shi Xiaobai could only scratch his head when dealing with the Infernal Queen, who acted erratically.

However, he had no interest in playing a board game, so he refused without any hesitation, "Not free."

The Infernal Queen clearly did not expect Shi Xiaobai to agree. Therefore, she said with a chuckle, "If Darling were to win a round, I'll answer any question except for questions pertaining to my identity!"

When Shi Xiaobai heard this, he was stunned but he could not help but ask, "Really?"

The Infernal Queen nodded, "I definitely wouldn't break my promise."

Shi Xiaobai, who was struggling to figure out a way to prevent the war, immediately had his eyes lit up. He knew that the Infernal Queen in front of him definitely knew a lot of information and intelligence that he did not know. If he could inquire any question other than the ones pertaining to her identity, it would be absolutely helpful to him.

Shi Xiaobai immediately said, "Alright, This King agrees. Go ahead, what game shall we play?"

Shi Xiaobai was not well-versed in many board games, but he was very confident of his intelligence. He was not afraid of a board game that was a test of wits.

But it was unexpected that after a moment of pondering, the Infernal Queen blinked and said, "What game does Darling want to play?"

Shi Xiaobai was astounded. "You are letting This King decide?"

The Infernal Queen nodded with a terse affirmation.

Shi Xiaobai chuckled. She actually wanted him to decide on the game? The Infernal Queen really did not know the immensity of the universe!

If he won the game, he could obtain information and intelligence, so Shi Xiaobai would definitely not hold back.

He said with a smile, "Alright, let us play a board game that tests wisdom and strategy..."

... IChooseDogLeading (我选择狗带) when read in Chinese sounds like I Choose Go Die. It was a meme that resulted from a former member of famous Korean boygroup, EXO, TAO (Huang Zitao). At a concert, there was a part in a rap that where he said "", but due to a mispronunciation, it sounded like he will not easily choose to be led by dogs. This phrase now means 'I'd rather die/I choose death'.