FXDL V1C8

The entire set of FXDL ebooks is on sale right now as a promotion, for anyone interested in getting the books! The publisher also just released ROM v1-5 ebooks as well, for any of the readers here that read ROM! :)

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Chapter 8: Halloween trial, night parade of one hundred demons

That Friday’s class meeting was their final discussion. After their classes all ended in the evening, the planners from each class gathered together in the main bailey to draw lots for the order in which the execution teams would set off in, as well as the assignment of areas where each class would set up their checkpoints.

The five class representatives went up one after another. Fu Xing stood in the middle. A Chinese girl with long black hair and gold-rimmed glasses stood next to him. When Fu Xing saw her, she reminded him of a senior high school student from Nanyang St.

When the head of school affairs called out “Class B”, the girl walked forwards to draw her position.

Fu Xing was a bit astonished. So she’s the class representative for Class B! The one called Flora from my hometown! He had thought that someone that could think of such tactics would have a fiercer, military-like appearance.

Flora sensed Fu Xing’s gaze and shot him an indifferent glance before expressionlessly shifting her eyes elsewhere.

Her cold attitude isn’t any different from most other special animate beings at least.

“Fourth execution team to head out.” Upon returning to his class, Fu Xing announced to everyone else the regulations in more detail. “All attacks must be along the main path; the checkpoint and offense should be set up at the beginning of the path to the Forbidden Tower. The area we are located in is also the fourth section, near the relay station at the main bailey. The main road that passes from the specialised instruction building to the main bailey via the Forbidden Tower will be half-sealed off for us to set up our checkpoint. From Monday to Wednesday next week, the road will be completely closed, and only open on Thursday, the night of Halloween.”

The people below broke out into a clamour, each and every person feeling eager about the impending activity.

Fu Xing waited until the noise calmed down a bit before continuing, “Um, but, right now we still have a small problem to deal with.” He scratched his head in embarrassment. “Regarding the execution group, there is a requirement for the number of members. There must be seven people. I didn’t notice this point at the beginning, so we are still short by two spots at the moment. Is anyone willing to voluntarily change groups?”

There was a bit of an uproar. Most people had had already formed their own little groups when dividing up the work, thus already having formed a team awareness and mutual connection. Asking them to split now was not that easy.

“If there is no one, then….” Then, he did not know what to do either. He could not force others, right?

“I can.” A low voice cut through the awkward silence.

Fu Xing looked towards the voice. “Leon?!”

“I have not yet chosen a group, so it does not matter.” Leon met Fu Xing’s gaze and flatly muttered, “This way, I don’t owe you anymore.”

“Great!” Fu Xing happily wrote Leon’s name in the list of names for the execution team. “Then, is anyone else willing to switch teams? Only one more person is needed! Or does you guys nominate anyone?”

As soon as he said this, everyone practically raised their hand in unison.

Eh?! So eager?

“Could it be that everyone already has an optimal choice?”

They nodded. Then, all the raised fists stretched out a finger, every single one pointing towards the same person—

“Me?” Fu Xing froze in astonishment. “No way! I-I’m really weak, my movements and mental state are horrible. There’s no way I can attack or defend. When the times comes, I might drag everyone down…”

“Relax, just leave the attack and defence to us.” Emerald, who was also one of the execution group, calmly stated, “You’re responsible for a different role.”

“A role that only you can do.” Momiji, another part of the execution group, earnestly said, “Something that nobody else is qualified for.”

“Eh, what is it?” Although he secretly felt good to be regarded as important like this, he still felt slightly embarrassed.

“Being scared.”

“What?!”

“Scared reactions are also an item to be scored. If just relying on us, we’ll likely lose out these points.” Dan Juan coolly analysed, “We need you to be in charge of being frightened.”

What do you mean “be in charge of being frightened”?! It sounds so shameful!

“Really, Fu Xing, it’s honestly very hard for us to react properly. Thinking about things like that will distract us.” Momiji continued, “We need you.”

The crowd’s expectant gazes concentrated on Fu Xing, waiting for him to speak.

H-how am I supposed to respond to this…while I feel happy about being valued by others, I didn’t think it’d be to do this kind of thing…

After a few seconds of silence, Fu Xing sighed.

“Since you guys have already asked me like this, how could I refuse.” He then raised his head and resolutely looked around at everyone. “Class C will not only win, we’ll win beautifully too!”

On Saturday and Sunday, the two ends of the path through the main bailey were bustling with noise and excitement. Practically all the new students were starting to set up their checkpoints.

The location for the test of courage stretched over about 1800 metres in total. The sections divided up for every class were a hundred metres long, and there were roughly two hundred metres between the classes. During the checkpoint set-up period, students could only appear in the area designated to their own class. They could not infiltrate into other areas to scout around, or else an alarm would be triggered from their rings and the rule-breaking class would have points deducted. As a result, everyone could only circle around the long way to head towards their destination.

The night before heading out, Fu Xing flipped back and forth in bed, unable to fall sleep. He felt like an elementary school student about to go on a field trip tomorrow; he was so excited that he could not sleep.

“Hey, Leon.” He knew that Leon always slept during the day, so he spoke towards the wall separating them, “Thank you for participating.”

“This was a condition we had agreed on.” Leon paused for a moment. “Moreover, I can practice my skills at the same time.”

“Thanks.” Fu Xing rolled around in bed for a while longer before he continued, “How’s your wound’s recovery?”

“No problems.”

“I see. Then, when will you go out again?”

“Uncertain.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Hm?”

“Is the reason for your revenge…Lia?”

Leon was silent for a very long time. When Fu Xing was thinking that the other person would not reply, Leon spoke.

“Yes.”

As I thought… “Was she older or younger?”

“Younger.”

“You must have been close with her.”

“Mn…” Leon let out a low hum to himself. “Lia liked to read. Before security systems were so developed, I often accompanied her to infiltrate the national library and spend the whole night reading until near dawn.”

Oh, no wonder you mentioned the library in your dreams last time…

“You really are a great older brother.” Nothing like Fu Qing, who can only taunt others!

“Not any longer.”

“Ah….” If he had thought about it more, he would not have brought up this question. Now he was also depressed.

“Good luck in tomorrow’s trial.” Fu Xing encouraged Leon through the wall. “Hopefully, it’ll be fun.”

Good luck, Leon. Hopefully, you’ll have fun.

October 31^st, Halloween. On this day, the campus was filled with a different atmosphere. While the other grades did not participate in the activity, they were curious about the new students’ performance.

Apparently, there were video cameras set up along the entire path, with TVs inside the school broadcasting in real-time.

Emerald had started a betting pool since a week before the event. Apparently, quite a few people had laid bets, and even instructors had participated. Currently, the betting pools for all five classes were more or less the same, though the class supported the most was the one known as the class of elites: Class E.

In the evening, as the sun was setting in the west. The moment the orange glow of the sunset turned into deep darkness, the test of courage officially began.

The execution group contestants were gathered in the starting point at the lobby of the specialised instruction building. Fu Xing scanned their surroundings; the other class’s contestants had appearances that gave off threatening auras, and most were male. The only classes with females were Class B and Class C. It was obvious at a glance what the norm for selections was.

On an additional note, Class B’s female member was Flora. Her petite figure was crammed in between six tall and sturdy males, an extremely eye-grabbing sight.

The instant the needle on the wall clock in front of the building struck eight, the head of school affairs announced in a clear voice, “[The] event begins!”

The first team to head out was Class D. Class D’s execution group members were comprised of practically all werewolves, likely since werewolves were fast and strong. However, this trial was not something that could be passed with physical strength alone.

Around forty minutes later, a faint ring of a bell came from the distance. Yet, to the special animate beings’ ears, it was very clear.

“37 minutes and 25 seconds.” Professor Ned marked down the time on the score table.

Around five minutes later, Class D’s group returned to the start point. Most of them were wounded and wore miserable expressions.

The second group to head out was Class A.

Fu Xing was unable to sit still in the seat as he waited, constantly glancing back and forth. In comparison, his other teammates appeared overly at ease—

Emerald was holding a calculator and calculating the bets recorded in a notebook. Leon and Rachel were quietly reading. Brad was idly chatting with a senior in charge of odd jobs – the latter seemed to be a werewolf as well. Momiji was very seductively striking up a conversation with a handsome member of another team. Dan Juan was relaxing in his seat with his eyes closed.

Fu Xing wished he could have also brought snacks or magazines to kill time and distract himself. His eyes wandered around for a while, then spotted Flora sitting not too far away. Her teammates were chatting together on the other side.

After a moment of contemplation, he stood up to walk to the empty spot next to her.

“Good evening, hehehe.” Fu Xing forced a laugh in attempt to express his friendliness.

“If you came wanting to scout for military intelligence, save it. I can tell you now that Class B does not have any tricks; all the members are using force to obstruct the execution teams,” Flora coldly stated.

“I didn’t come to scout for information.” Fu Xing sat down in the vacancy next to her. “I heard that you’re also from Taiwan?”

“Mn.”

“I am too! I live in Taipei city, what about you?”

“Houdong. What exactly do you want to say?”

“Nothing, I just heard that someone from my hometown had also entered Shalom, so I wanted to see what kind of person they were. I just didn’t have a chance to greet you before until now.”

“It’s fine.”

“Your leadership style is really something,” Fu Xing sincerely praised. “It’s not easy to earn the whole class’s unanimous participation.”

“It’s alright.” Flora pushed her glasses up. “Once you know their secrets, it’s not hard to make them listen.”

“Hm?” What does that mean?

“That werewolf is your teammate?” Flora looked past Fu Xing as she asked this.

“Mn, yep, he is. His name is Brad.”

“That darkblood reading and that elf constantly computing something are too?”

“Yes, they’re Leon and Emerald. The other one with his eyes closed is Dan Juan.”

Flora kept her eyes locked onto Fu Xing’s teammates, nodding as she assessed them.

“Is something the matter?”

“Their aptitudes aren’t bad.” She shifted her focus back onto Fu Xing. “If it weren’t for you, I would have thought that the nobles chose teammates based on looks.”

Um…is that praise or mockery?

“I actually don’t think they chose at all. What do you think, Dean?” An unfamiliar voice cut into the conversation between Fu Xing and Flora. The two turned their heads to see Class E’s other members loftily standing on the path and looking down at them in contempt.

“Maybe there wasn’t a need to choose, since they would definitely lose no matter who went out,” another member of Class E continued. “Right, Alec?”

Fu Xing could not keep himself from retorting, “The competition hasn’t ended yet. It’s not like you will win for sure!”

“Saying such a thing makes you seem even more ignorant,” Dean chuckled. “Ah, weaklings just empathize with each other, is it.”

“What did you say?!” What a horrible guy!

“Just staying facts.”

“Get lost!”

Dean and Alec exchanged a look with each other before laughingly leaving.

“Why are there such senseless people?!” Fu Xing indignantly turned towards Flora, who had remained silent with her head lowered the entire time. “Do you not get angry?”

“Hm, not really.” Flora raised her head, and Fu Xing finally saw that she had been sending texts. “I’ve already requested for the defence group to go to the dining hall and bring back two buckets of rancid water.”

“What for?”

“To treat those two arrogant idlers to a good meal.” Flora stood up from her seat to go and discuss matters with her teammates.

…This girl really is a ruthless character.

The ring of a bell sounded out once more.

“34 minutes, 01 seconds,” Grey reported the time.

The third group to head out was Class E. After 28 minutes, the bell went off, and Class E’s members soon returned to the start point. The members of Class E that had previously surged with haughtiness and held themselves with arrogant statures not only looked like a sorry state, but also carried a faint smell of rot.

When they passed by, they glared viciously at Fu Xing, particularly Dean and Alec. It was as if they were about to tear him into shreds. They glared at Flora the same way. It was likely that Class C’s and Class B’s checkpoints had ruined them.

Fu Xing did not have much time to rejoice over this, since the one soon to head out next was Class C.

Fu Xing, Leon, and the others went to the start point and waited for Ned’s command.

“Go!” They heard the sound of a clock starting, and all seven of them simultaneously crossed over the start point to swiftly run to the next destination.

 

The next area was two hundred metres in front of them; this equidistant buffer would exist between every checkpoint too.

“The first section is Class D’s,” Fu Xing said as he ran. “I heard that it’s a phantom route. Everyone watch out for illusory techniques and traps.”

“Doesn’t sound particularly hard,” Brad smirked.

“Don’t underestimate the enemy.”

A moment later, red flags marking out the territory appeared by the road. Once they passed the red flags, they would arrive in Class D’s domain.

Ear-splitting screams rang out. Everyone stopped in their tracks, cautiously scanning all directions. The screams came to a sharp halt, and everything went quiet again. Soon afterwards, faint footsteps could be heard slowly approaching. However, it was impossible to see the other party’s position and appearance in the darkness.

“Oi, Fu Xing.”

“What?”

“Go forwards and take a look.”

“Why?!”

“Relax, we’ll be protecting you from behind.” Rachel patted Fu Xing’s shoulder. “You’ll be absolutely fine.”

“I hope so.” Fu Xing gulped, then turned to slowly walk towards the source of the noise.

Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…If his teammates had that much trust in him, he could not disappoint them.

He lifted his feet and walked into the depths of the darkness one step after another. Through the moonlight, he spotted a pale silhouette nearing him with a strange posture. Moreover, accompanying its movement was the intermittent clattering sound of something like gears. What exactly is it…

When it arrived three metres in front of Fu Xing, he got a clear look at its appearance, and his first instinctive reaction was—

“Ahhhhh!”

It’s a long-haired woman in white! Her complexion was deathly pale, her facial features warped and dilated like five black holes embedded deeply into her face. When she spotted Fu Xing, she instantly raced towards him like a crawling bug, her joints clanking away.

Fu Xing hurriedly turned back, shouting behind him as he ran. “It’s copying Ju-On!”

When Fu Xing’s teammates heard his shout as he ran back, they began to attack the enemy behind him.

“Good job, Fu Xing.”

“Haha! That reaction was awesome! Your expressions were vivid too!”

“Expressions?! Ah!” He suddenly remembered that special animate beings had senses that were severalfold stronger than a normal human’s. In other words, they had seen what was coming at them ages ago. “You guys did that on purpose!”

“Of course, or else you wouldn’t have been scared.” Emerald drawled, “We’ll have to trouble you to open the way later too!”

“That’s too overboard!”

Once the female ghost was defeated, a corps of zombies immediately stepped out. Their bodies were tattered, and the vacant-eyed undead approached them with sharp weapons pointed towards them.

“This is an illusory technique. There are only five actual entities disguised among them.” Momiji chuckled, “Just insignificant tricks.”

“Indeed,” Dan Juan affirmed. “However, this is also included on the score.”

“It’s your turn again, Fu Xing.” Brad lightly gripped Fu Xing’s shoulder. “Go on!”

As soon as he said this, he tossed Fu Xing towards the crowd of rotting corpses like a shot put.

“Ahhhh—”

Brad, you bastard! He was going to speak badly of him to Zhu Yue!

Right before Fu Xing was about to hit the ground, Dan Juan raised a hand to cast out silver threads. The strands seemed to be alive, swiftly forming a net in mid-air to catch Fu Xing.

Still out of his wits, Fu Xing crawled up from the ground and lifted his head to see multiple zombies with decaying faces immediately surround him. Fu Xing’s eyes widened as he stared at the oozing, bloody limbs filling his vision.

“Ahhh—” This is copying Resident Evil!

“Coming, coming!” Momiji passed through the human wall to arrive by Fu Xing’s side. “It’ll end in an instant.”

Momiji snapped her fingers after saying this, and raging flames abruptly lit up. The next second, the flames vanished together with the zombie legion, leaving behind only five zombies with longswords standing there. Leon and Rachel simultaneously drew their blades to beat back the opponent attack after attack.

“Is there more? We’re almost at the end.”

“Don’t know. This place smells weird.”

Suddenly, a heavy smell of gasoline wafted over. Immediately following it, a glass bottle with a flaming stick stuck in it flew out from the darkness. Upon landing on the ground, a wall of flames swiftly flared up along the gasoline on the floor. At the same time, arrows rained down from both sides.

“Ahhh!” This-this is copying Al-Qaeda!

Then, the flaming arrows automatically fell once they had flown across a certain distance. Fu Xing looked up to see Dan Juan’s palms stretched out with countless thin threads extended outwards to form a defensive net around them. Meanwhile, Momiji nimbly leapt up and a shadow appeared behind her.

“Trying to play with fire in front of a flame fox? So stupid.” Momiji turned in mid-air and flicked her long tail, drawing out a perfect arc. The flames on the ground were all drawn into the tail like leaves. “Alright.”

“Continue advancing!”

They swept the obstacles away and quickened their pace to head towards the next checkpoint.

“Next is Class B. They don’t have any traps or mechanisms.”

“Combat tactics?”

“Beat back all hindrances and charge at them with full-strength.”

“I like this checkpoint,” Brad eagerly commented as he rolled his sleeves up.

Under Flora’s lead, Class B completely went down the physical force route, not even trying to conceal anything. When they were still in the buffer region, they saw Class B’s people lift their weapons and block their path while fully armed.

They launched into a fierce battle the moment they entered the domain.

Brad immediately rushed out first, using his fists to sweep away every obstruction in front of him. Leon and Rachel deal with the enemies carrying various weapons using their blades. Their nimble movements in addition to their naturally flowing swordplay gave them a heroic air. Emerald used his unique elf ability to gather a powerful wind, suppressing the weapons that were far away and making them fall down.

“You’re a wind elf?” Momiji asked in interest as she saw Emerald’s ability.

“Yes.”

“Perfect.” Momiji opened her palm that had a spinning ball of fire on it. “Lend me some wind to use.”

“Not a problem.” Emerald waved his hand and a whirlwind blasted outwards like a jet of water. Momiji took this opportunity to jump up and toss the fireball. The fireball combined with the gale, transforming into a fierce pillar of flames. The enemy was dispersed in a single breath.

Fu Xing simply watched his companions’ amazing performance. He was clearly far inferior compared to them.

Dan Juan used his unique spider’s threads to form semi-spherical barriers. The translucent arcs wrapped around himself and Fu Xing, and they unhurriedly followed behind [the others] to advance towards the next checkpoint.

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