Absolute Choice
Absolute Choice - Chapter 417: Infernal King's Mandate

Infernal domain, Infernal King's bedroom

The Infernal Queen said with a chuckle, "Just the opposite. Darling asked the right person. I am probably the only person who can answer this question."

Shi Xiaobai was slightly surprised before his eyes lit up. The answer to the question could be related to how he could complete the first Absolute Choice. He actually did not have his hopes up when it came to the Infernal Queen, so he was rather surprised that the Infernal Queen really knew the answer.

Shi Xiaobai could not help but ask, "What is the Infernal King's Mandate?"

The Infernal Queen glanced at Shi Xiaobai and said with a covered smile, "It looks like Darling is eager to know the answer, then I won't be keeping you in suspense. The Infernal King's Mandate..."

As she spoke, the Infernal Queen walked towards the desk and pulled out an old book from the pile of books and handed it to Shi Xiaobai. "Darling, see for yourself."

Shi Xiaobai could not help but rolled his eyes. So the answer to his question could really be found on the desk!

Shi Xiaobai gave the Infernal Queen an odd look. Since the answer was on the Infernal King's desk, why did the Infernal Queen say that she was the only person who could answer. Could it be...

Shi Xiaobai suppressed the guess in his heart as he took the old book over. Although he could have found the book by searching the desk, it would take him a certain amount of time since the book was at the bottom.

Shi Xiaobai looked down at the old book in his hand. It was such an old book that it was nearly rotting. It was as though it had lived through thousands of years.

Shi Xiaobai flipped through the book as the text that was nearly melting into the blackish-yellow paper reflected in his eyes. Blots of mottled rust covered a portion of the text and there were marks of worms having chewed on it.

The text was blurry, but it could barely be understood. There were missing words, but the general idea could still be inferred. Shi Xiaobai struggled as he read the old book.

The book was very thin, with slightly fewer than twenty pages. The words were also rather large, and each page had less than a hundred words. Shi Xiaobai read it seriously, and when he nearly flipped to the end, his mood turned heavy.

The book described a first-person narrative.

The protagonist of the story was D'yaba, who was a prince of the D'ya clan. From a young age, he was favored and led a blissful childhood.

The protagonist had an elder brother named D'yaji. Similarly, he was a prince of the D'ya clan and was the idol of the protagonist and his closest playmate.

D'yaba's happy life came to an end in the year he turned sixteen. That year, an unknown plague broke out in the D'ya clan. The clansmen that were inflicted with the plague turned extremely ugly and they would increasingly become irrational to the point of going mad and engage in wanton murder.

For the D'ya clan's survival, the D'ya clan began implementing a quarantine by exile. By sending the clansmen into an isolated zone, they were left to fend for themselves.

And when the exile was proceeding in full swing, the protagonist, D'yaba was also infected!

In theory, it was impossible for D'yaba to be infected because he lived in the palace all the time. When the plague broke out, he had never stepped out of the palace, so there was no reason for him to be infected!

But nothing could change the harsh reality. Although D'yaba was a prince, with half of the D'ya clan infected and exiled, even a prince was not spared.

D'yaba was banished to a zone that was like an isolated prison.

The story was a first-person narrative. At that point, the author's choice of words when describing the land of despair they were exiled to was "I've been banished to hell."

And the book ended abruptly. The simple story sounded somewhat boring and there were too many questions left hanging. However, the final sentence left by the author made Shi Xiaobai's mood turn heavy.

"Many years later, I learned that the reason for my infection was because of my brother's wicked means. He had done it to obtain the throne that I would have been willing to give him..."

Shi Xiaobai sighed gently and looked towards the Infernal Queen and said, "Where's the second half of the story?"

The story was obviously not over. It was clear that D'yaba did not die from the infection 'many years later' or killed by the infected after being banished to 'hell'. Instead, he had strongly lived on. What would he do after knowing that the tragedy was a betrayal by his beloved brother many years later?

Furthermore, what did this story have to do with the Infernal King's Mandate?

Shi Xiaobai's mind was filled with questions.

The Infernal Queen smiled and said, "The second half of the story is rather complicated, but it is also very simple... Not only did D'yaba survive, the clansmen that were inflicted with the plague did not die either. Furthermore, under D'yaba's lead, they found a road to survival and became another race. After knowing that the infection was D'yaji's nefarious scheme, D'yaba was enraged. Therefore, war was waged."

When Shi Xiaobai heard this, his eyebrows jumped as he exclaimed, "Two races? War? Could it be..."

The Infernal Queen said with a nod, "That's right. Just as Darling is thinking, the D'ya race is the current Celestials, and the ugly race that was ousted due to the sickness is the present day Infernals! D'yaba and D'yaji were the first Infernal King and Celestial King respectively! The hatred between the two of them had ignited the flames of war between the two races! Since time immemorial, gods and demons stood on opposite sides in an eternal clash because the original reason was a plague and a feud!"

The small book narrated a simple story, but it also depicted the origins of the Celestials and Infernals!

"Then, what has this got to do with the Infernal King's Mandate?" Shi Xiaobai asked.

This was the fundamental issue.

The Infernal Queen said with a chuckle, "The rise of the Infernal King, the birth of the Infernals, the beginning of the war, all of this is because of a single word. Every Infernal King's Mandate is obviously that word—revenge!"

Shi Xiaobai's eyebrows knitted together. "Seek revenge against the Celestials? Or is it a revenge against the first Celestial King?"

The Infernal Queen shook her head and said, "None of them. The Infernal King's revenge is targeted at the Celestial King. It has nothing to do with the other Celestials, and the first Celestial King has long died. Therefore to the present Infernal King, the mandate would be naturally the revenge against the present Celestial King!"

"Darling, if my reasoning is correct, the Infernal King's mandate is...to kill the present Celestial King!"

Shi Xiaobai's eyebrows pricked up slightly as he thought carefully over the reasoning behind her conclusion.

A mandate referred to a mission or responsibility that one had to shoulder. And the Infernal King's mandate was obviously none other than mission and responsibility the Infernal King had to shoulder!

The second, third and the successive Infernal Kings had all inherited the first Infernal King's position and will. They obviously had to shoulder the mission handed down to them by the first Infernal King. This was the answer to the Infernal King's mandate.

Revenge was the Infernal King's mandate!

And from whom would the vengeance be sought?

As the hundredth Infernal King, he naturally could not seek revenge against the first Celestial King, D'yaji. He could not seek revenge against a race that had the same bloodline as his either. So the target could only be the presently living Celestial King!

There was no problem with the reasoning.

"In order to complete the Absolute Choice's mission, the current Celestial King has to be killed."

With this thought in mind, Shi Xiaobai felt his head ache. To kill the Celestial King or to kill the Celestial King. This problem with the same choices was vexing. 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'.