"Now, each of you will walk to the basket and stand in front of guards. If you do as you are told, you might live a day longer," Bao Tianlong chuckled at the sight.
None of the hostages wanted to step forward. Some were scared, and some already knew what was going to happen to them.
One guard, enraged, kicked the hostage on the back and pushed him forward.
"If you don't want to die, then do as you are told!"
The hostage, no older than fifteen years old, hesitantly walked to the slab. His body was trembling, but there was nothing he could do.
"Good. Now open your mouth." The guard picked a shadow worm from the basket and grabbed the hostage's jaw.
"Gulp it down without chewing. Or else…" The guard beside him stepped forward with a sword in his hand.
The hostage nodded frantically and gulped down the shadow worm.
The oblivious hostages began to murmur to each other. They thought something would happen to that hostage after he swallowed the shadow worm, but nothing happened to him.
"Listen well, this is a parasite that will live inside your body. Once you have swallowed it, you have to obey us. If you go against us, the shadow worm will die and it will release a toxic poison that will kill you before you walk seven steps.
If you do as you are told, nothing will happen to you." The guard laughed out loud before adding, "Of course, it's not like you have any choice. You will have to eat it. Or… die. The choice is yours."
One by one, the hostages walked to the basket to swallow the shadow worm. There were some who refused to eat, and they were killed on the spot.
Some of them thought they were smart and pretended to swallow it, thinking of spatting it afterwards. And they were killed as well.
There was no escaping. Their fate was sealed.
'What a bunch of bullshit. There is no way that's true.'
[What makes you think that?]
'Obviously, that worm won't survive the acids in our stomachs. It will die.'
[You are wrong. That is a parasite. It doesn't die unless they are killed by someone. They are a special kind of worm that can survive anywhere.]
'It will probably come out when we shit.'
[As soon as someone swallows a paradise, it enters the bloodstream and latches onto their heart.]
'What the hell?! Why does something like this even exist?!'
[It's no different than the virus and parasites that exist in your world.]
'But surely, he was lying about the poison part, right?'
[No.]
'Wait, but how can it die when it's inside our body?'
[I shouldn't be telling you all this, but I am your guide, so I will explain the basic stuff of Jianghu to you.]
'Well, thank you. You trapped me in this world, so you ought to be helping me.'
[I am not the one who trapped you. It's you yourself.]
'Yeah, yeah. Whoever it is, I will find out sooner or later.'
[The leader of this organization has a device that forces that parasite to kill itself. It can be anything, a flute, a chime, or even a mantra.]
'Hmm. Now I understand.' Liam nodded inwardly.
One hostage, who was standing the last in the line, turned around and began running. Surprisingly, the guards didn't do anything and let him run.
Bao Tianlong jumped from the cliff as his shadow passed over the hostages below. Even though the hostage had run far away, just one jump was enough for Bao Tianlong to catch up to him.
One would expect the ground to break if someone as heavy and strong as Bao Tianlong jumped from such height. However, he landed gracefully on top of the hostage without hurting him.
Everyone watched Bao Tianlong smirked maliciously and crushed the hostage under his feet. He then picked up the hostage by his head and plucked out his intestines. Then, he inserted the intestine from the left ear and it came out from the right.
He had made a garland out of the hostage's remains, and he wore it over his neck to show his might to everyone.
"Argh. He is as barbaric as always." Lin Xueya let out a sigh.
'What the fuck is wrong with these people? How can they kill someone so mercilessly?!'
[Jianghu is merciless. It is evil. It is kind. It is what you perceive it as. Here, the weak may somehow kill the strong, and the strong always kills the weak. There is always someone stronger. Someone more evil. To survive, you have to be the same.]
Eventually, Liam's turn came to swallow the shadow worm, and he did that without resisting.
Once all the remaining hostages had eaten the shadow worm, most of the guards walked away as there was no need to monitor them anymore.
Lin Xueya, clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Jian Lei, you killed one from that group and the others were killed by the guards when they were resisting, so now it only has 95 members. You will be the captain of that team. Bao Tianlong, you also killed one from that group, so it's yours now. I will take that one and you guys can take the other ones."
Jian Lei turned to Lin Xueya, seemingly to speak against her, but he glanced at Bao Tianlong, who didn't seem bothered by Lin Xueya's decision. So he held back and reluctantly agreed on the terms.
Wu Jinhai and Ren Shanying also selected their groups without giving it a thought.
'They selected the groups as if it didn't matter. So what's their goal?' Liam wondered.
Liam was in Bao Tianlong's squad.
'To be honest, I wouldn't have preferred Lin Xueya. At least my eyes would feast on her hot body.'
"Okay. Since it's decided. Let's—" Wu Jinhai was stopped by Ren Shanying.
"Wait."
Interrupting someone was a great offense, whether it was done by the strong or the weak.
Lin Xueya was the most sensible captain among all five. She was the one who made the decision, and the rest of the commanders accepted.
"What's the meaning of this, Ren?" Lin Xueya asked as she raised her brow.
Surprisingly, the hostages and the guards who stayed were also curious.
Ren Shanying stepped out from the shadow and suddenly disappeared. Only to appear again among the hostages.
"Whoa!"
"Aaa!"
"Kyah!"
They all scattered around.
Ren Shanying turned around and looked at Liam, who was the only one who didn't flinch.
"I want this one."
"....!"
"What?!" Bao Tianlong jumped down and landed in front of Liam. "You want to steal one of my pawns?! How dare you!"
"Relax. I will give you ten in return." Ren pointed his finger at Liam and uttered, "Give me that one."
"Hmm~" Lin Xueya gracefully landed beside the two commanders and examined Liam with curious eyes.
"What's so special about him? Is he perhaps from a renowned family?" she wondered.
"We are done here. Bao, take twenty if you want and close this matter."
Lin Xueya curiously glanced at Bao to see how he reacted.
"Fine."
Once the matter was settled, the commanders gave their first orders to the hostage.
"Cultivate your dantian and reach the first stage by gathering your internal energy. It's a simple task."
[Ding! A quest is generated!]
The system showed the same quest.
[Cultivate your Dantian.
Rewards- 1RP. Activation of XP mechanism. 1000XP.]
"They are young children. Some are less than seven years old. How do you expect them to cultivate their Dantian?" one of the adult hostages asked.
"That's why you guys are here, too. Help the young ones. I will give you twenty-four hours. Those who fail will be executed."
[DING! Time limit added to the quest.
Deadline- 23 hours:59 minutes:56 seconds.
Failure to complete- Penalty- Death.]
[Ability - Immortality - S Rank. Cooldown - 16 hours 11 minutes 33 Seconds.]