Absolute Choice
Absolute Choice - Chapter 508: The Upper Echelons that Harbor Evil Schemes

No one knew that the young man that seemed to lose his mind was a reporter from a small publishing house, nor did they know that he had faked insanity.

If the upper echelons of the organizations knew the reason for Bravel Chen's audacious behavior, they would have likely beaten him to the point of debilitation.

However, how could the upper echelons guess the 'truth'? They only believed that it was a private matter of discussion that was made known by a rash fellow.

Furthermore, the suited man that had represented the upper echelons had stood forward.

Then, this matter was something that no longer needed hiding.

The matter of how long Shi Xiaobai would last in the eighth level or if he could break the Conquest King's record was not only discussed by the masses, the members of the upper echelons were even more concerned. It was because it determined how many 'chips' were needed in order to headhunt Shi Xiaobai.

They believed that a second-rate organization like Gaia was unworthy to match an excellent rookie like Shi Xiaobai. He was only a glistening pearl hidden under the dust before he had been pulled into a rock pit by Gaia.

The upper echelons of the seven major organizations believed that the offer they would give Shi Xiaobai would be far better than Gaia's. Gaia would remain helpless when they headhunted Shi Xiaobai. The crux of the matter was the competition with other organizations and how much they had to pay for Shi Xiaobai.

And because of this, due to the anger toward Gaia from the meeting, they had also hated Shi Xiaobai by association. However, they did not dare say it out in public, afraid that the others would use it against them, causing Shi Xiaobai to have a bad impression of them.

The members of the upper echelon sensibly discussed in private.

However, they never expected that the person with the greatest schemes had suddenly stood forward. The suited man was famous for being an intellectual in the underhanded organizations!

No one expected that after Bravel Chen's instigation, the suited man had begun analyzing the situation in a long monolog!

"Evidence that Shi Xiaobai might not be stronger than the Conquest King?"

The suited man gave a nonchalant smile and said, "In fact, I have done some research on the Conquest King's history. He was born with divine strength, giving him a chance at competing with Overlord Ji Feng. Furthermore, the Conquest King had a rare agility to his movement technique. He was extremely fast and when in danger, he had a lot more means than Ji Feng. This is likely the reason why the Conquest King had managed to create the record of five hours. Although the trio had not revealed any information about the eighth level, the trio had left it in defeat after a few hours. Therefore, it is speculated that the eighth level has an extremely dangerous test of great difficulty."

"As for Shi Xiaobai, how long can he last? In fact, many of the rookies that had participated in the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower have interacted with Shi Xiaobai. From them, we have gathered quite a bit of information regarding Shi Xiaobai. At the second level's city defense, Shi Xiaobai had once destroyed the rookie's main city before leading everyone to launch a counteroffensive on the demon city. This was indeed quite an astounding matter but from the description of the rookies, Shi Xiaobai had only managed to do it with his Crab Steps that was at a passable proficiency level and some scheming. He did not have the strength to completely crush the rookies."

"At the fourth level, although Heartless Ye had been defeated by Shi Xiaobai, according to Heartless Ye, Shi Xiaobai was strong, but he had also engaged in quite a bitter battle to defeat him. At the fifth level, everyone had witnessed Shi Xiaobai's battle with Sen Senyuan. Although Shi Xiaobai's performance was excellent, he did not possess the strength to completely crush Sen Senyuan. After a bitter fight, he had managed to send Sen Senyuan in retreat before being knocked unconscious by the black-robed blood person. He had only managed to reach the sixth level under everyone's protection."

"At the sixth level, Shi Xiaobai might have shattered an obstructing diamond monster with one punch, but it took him half an hour. If it were the Conquest King or Overlord Ji Feng, they might not have even taken that long!"

"From the above descriptions, Shi Xiaobai might be strong, but he does not seem to be equipped with a strength that can completely overwhelm people at the same cultivation realm. How he had conquered the eighth Level Lords and passed the seventh level is something unknown. As for the other six rookies that reached the seventh level and Speechless Li, who had unfortunately been sacrificed, they were taken away by their respective organizations the moment they came out."

"Up to date, none of us have any way to decide if Shi Xiaobai had done it with his own strength or if he had used some unknown means. However, from the information gleaned from the eyewitness accounts of the various trial-takers, Shi Xiaobai does not necessarily have true strength! At least, from my point of view, Shi Xiaobai might not be able to last three hours, not to mention five!"

The suited man was clearly prepared. It was not done on a whim as he concluded with the information he obtained from the various rookies. Each step of his analysis was reasonable and evidenced. It made the various members of the upper echelons surprised. They thought to themselves that his speech was somewhat reasonable. Although Shi Xiaobai had shown impressive strength on the surface, it was not as astounding as the Conquest King when he was at the Psionic Mortal Realm. Although there was a possibility of him hiding his strength, it was not very possible. If not, why would he faint on the fifth level and nearly face elimination?

Could it be that Shi Xiaobai had really used some unknown means?

At that moment, the middle-aged woman from Zeus spoke out. "Shi Xiaobai did not only have a tough fight on the fourth level. I'm one of the personnel in charge of Zeus's delegation. I asked Heartless Ye myself. He said that he was just one strike inferior to Shi Xiaobai. Furthermore, Shi Xiaobai had paid a nontrivial price to defeat him with that one strike!"

The middle-aged woman's eyes hid a viciousness. In fact, Heartless had only said that he had nothing to say about his defeat after using all his strength. Afterward, he refused to comment. However, the middle-aged woman's hatred for Gaia was too intense, so she did not mind lying to sully Shi Xiaobai.

Everyone immediately entered a flurry of discussion and felt that the matter was actually not that simple.

At that point, someone asked, "Right, isn't Miss Sunless Ye, who entered the seventh level, from Zeus? What is her take on the matter?"

The middle-aged woman shook her head and said, "Sunless was taken away by Senior God of Swords the moment she came out. We didn't have the chance to question her but her expression didn't look good. This is the first time I saw Sunless reveal such an expression... I guess that Sunless must be feeling disgruntled about not being the person to clear the seventh level!"

The middle-aged woman was already in a frenzied state by attempting to dissect the expression Sunless had when she exited the tower. She sneered and said, "Why would Sunless be indignant? It's likely because she was not convinced by the strength that Shi Xiaobai had shown! So, from my point of view, Shi Xiaobai will not only fail to break the Conquest King's records, it would be a miracle if he manages to last three hours to create the lowest record!"

With the 'solid account and evidence' from the middle-aged woman and the suited man, the members of the various organizations piled on as they began to doubt Shi Xiaobai's results.

"According to Tom from my organization, Shi Xiaobai was nearly stopped when he tried to destroy their city at the second level. If not for Shi Xiaobai's sudden appearance, catching them off guard, the outcome might have been different. I don't believe in some hidden strength."

"That's right, Dick from my organization had even protected Shi Xiaobai at the fifth level! Back then, Shi Xiaobai had fallen unconscious after his battle with Sen Senyuan and the black-robed blood person. If not for Dick and the others protecting him, he would have been eliminated. If Shi Xiaobai really has the ability to defeat Level Lords at the Psionic Might Realm, there's no way for him to be forced into such a pathetic state while hiding his strength, right?"

"Hehe, according to Harry from my organization, the sixth level's rule was to slay the dragons. Only seven Bravehearts would be able to reach the seventh level. And the seven names did not include Shi Xiaobai. It is unknown what was the method that Shi Xiaobai had used to break the rules to become the eighth person to clear the sixth level. Do you think if it's possible that Shi Xiaobai had discovered a bug? Although the assessment program is produced by a highly-advanced civilization, there are bugs in any program. Shi Xiaobai might have accidentally found a bug?"

"It's possible! If Shi Xiaobai found some important bug, it can explain his accomplishment of such fascinating matters without appearing to have immense strength."

"In short, I still don't believe that a second-rate organization like Gaia can produce such an unprecedented rookie. Isn't this digging out gold from a shit hole? It's way too fake!"

The crowd turned into a cacophony as their words turned harsher and more outrageous.

It was unknown who spoke up again about predicting Shi Xiaobai's time spent on the eighth level. Immediately, the crowd began to discuss without hiding their thoughts.

"I believe Shi Xiaobai won't be able to last three hours."

"Although I find what you say very reasonable, I believe Shi Xiaobai can last more than three hours. However, four hours would be a bit of a stretch."

"If I say that he can last for more than five hours, would it be me playing to the gallery?"

"Five hours? Don't even think about it. I believe he will perhaps spend two and a half hours? It would be not bad if he took half the time of the Conquest King!"

"Hehe, all of you are really looking down on Shi Xiaobai. What if he really exceeds five hours?"

"Don't even bother about such a minute possibility unless he had hidden his strength in the past six levels—so much so that he was nearly eliminated. I believe he can be considered to have proven himself if he can last two hours."

"..."

The auditorium immediately broke out into a dissonance of discussion. It was as though the members of the upper echelons had lifted the seals on their mouths as they began discussing the length of time Shi Xiaobai would spend on the eighth level. In fact, it was also a way to vent the 'humiliation' they had suffered during the meeting. Since everyone was 'participating' in it, there was no need to be afraid that the other organizations would use it against them when vying for Shi Xiaobai. Furthermore, the more they belittled Shi Xiaobai, the cheaper it would be to headhunt him later. Just like at an auction, the more one showed disinterest to a treasured item, the more unlikely the price would be raised higher.

Everyone harbored their evil schemes as they discussed recklessly.

Suddenly!

"Weng! Weng! Weng!"

A sharp ear-piercing sound suddenly overwhelmed everyone's voices. They could not help but cover their ears! 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'.