1 Make Your Choice, Youth (1/2)

Chapter 1: Make Your Choice, Youth

“Implode reality, pulverize thy spirit. By banishing this world, comply with the blood pact, I will summon forth thee, O’ young Demon King!”

At a park during sunset, a childlike, handsome youth placed his left hand on his chest, while his right hand was stretched out with his fingers wide open, as though he was about to release something amazing from his palm. He looked serious and solemn. His eyes were as bright as the stars, reflecting a shadow in them. It was like it encompassed the darkness of the entire world.

“Big Brother, who are you?”

Standing opposite the youth was a fat, little boy at about the age of five. At this moment, he was hugging a soccer ball. He was covered in dirt and, as he spoke, snot hung so low down from his nose that it was just short of flowing into his mouth.

“Hahaha!”

The youth roared out loudly thrice. As he flipped his right hand, he retracted it back and covered his face, immediately covering half of his face and one eye.

Then he said with a cold voice, “Who am I? I’ve been called the fairy of towering mountains, the father of the sun, the ancient heroic spirit, the soul of animals, a deity, a ghost and a little green hulk. Then, I was called God, Demon, Fey, Alien, Extraterrestrial Biological Being, Lepton and Quark. My titles are constantly changing, but my name has only been one!”

“That’s right! I am the Master of Fate, an Emissary of Justice, a Hero who will save the world—Shi Xiaobai1!”

Upon saying that, the corner of Shi Xiaobai’s lips curled up as he guffawed loudly once again.

Little Fatso sniffed forcefully as his snot flowed back up into his nose. His eyes lit up. “So Big Brother is a hero! Mommy said that heroes can defeat calamity fiends and protect everyone from disasters. Can Big Brother do that too?”

Shi Xiaobai crossed his arms and nodded, saying, “Of course. There is no demon from the alternate worlds that cannot be finished in one punch by me, Shi Xiaobai. If one punch isn’t enough, then two punches would do! This ruined world shall be saved by me, Shi Xiaobai! As for you, young Demon King, you will be my servant from today onwards. You will expel the darkness in this world, breaking the shackles of destiny, and become an eternal hero by following me!”

“Can… Can I do that as well?” Little Fatso was immediately thrilled as he wiped his leaking nose once again with the back of his hand.

“You have already signed a blood contract with me. As a servant of a king, you will obtain a hundred millionth of my energy. With this energy, you will be able to overcome and defeat all calamity fiends! Laugh out loud and be excited, young Demon King. Your fate has already been completely overturned by me!” Shi Xiaobai pointed at the little fatty and his eyes shone like the burning sun.

“Big Brother, can I really… defeat calamity fiends and protect Mommy?” Little Fatso wiped his hand that was covered in snot on his clothes on his back while his eyes were full of anticipation.

“That’s right. The Demon King soul that has slumbered in your body for thousands of years has been awoken by me, Shi Xiaobai. You will possess the power to protect everything! I shall now declare that, henceforth from today, you will be my Xiaobai Hero Squad’s second member!” Shi Xiaobai said it extremely earnestly with a solemn expression.

“Woo!” Little Fatso cheered. He began running around in the garden with the soccer ball. Suddenly, with an excited leap, he jumped into a sandpit and threw the soccer ball up. He then laughed out with his arms akimbo. “I’m a hero. I can defeat all calamity fiends. Mommy will buy me a mountain of snacks. Little Rat will no longer call me Little Fatso. Little Lei will definitely be willing to be my girlfriend. Wahaha…”

The dusk had dyed the land in a warm layer of pale red. In the small park with only the two of them remaining, Little Fatso was jumping and cheering in the sandpit, while the youth not far away revealed a contented smile on his face.

“Xiaobai Hero Squad has finally welcomed its second member. A small step for me, Shi Xiaobai, today, a giant leap for the world.”

Shi Xiaobai clutched his fist to his chest as his eyes flickered like blazing torches while staring far away into the setting sun.

“Gu~”

Suddenly, a clear and crisp growl came from his stomach. Shi Xiaobai’s handsome face scrunched up as he sighed, saying. “So hungry. So in this ruined world, I, Shi Xiaobai, only have a mortal’s body.”

Shi Xiaobai was not a person from this world. He came from another world and, to put it simply, he had crossed worlds.

Before crossing over, he held a Seven Star Holy Sword in his hand while wearing Gold Dragonscale Armor. He stood on a Ten Thousand Tribulation Qilin, and he was battling the ultimate Great Demon God that was devouring the world. He remembered that, at his final moment, he had consumed his life force in a burning flame, issuing ‘Excalibur’, immediately causing widespread destruction. The Demon God was annihilated. But at the same time, he was completely exhausted, resulting in him dying—in a game.

When Shi Xiaobai thought of this, he sighed. “What I, Shi Xiaobai, was playing was not a game, but life.”

While playing a game, he had crossed over to this world, and it had already been two days. In these two days, Shi Xiaobai wandered around everywhere. He was unable to clarify his identity in this world, but he slowly understood the composition of this alternate world.

This world was actually very familiar, but it was also quite alien. The scientific and technological culture shared many similarities with 21st century Earth. It also had cars, televisions and computers… However, the entertainment culture was completely different. News reports of Heroes and calamity fiends were broadcasted every day. The broadcasted programs were all a variety of cool and dazzling battles.

Furthermore, according to Shi Xiaobai’s understanding, the people of this world could cultivate their Psionic Powers, and they were known as Psionites. And the battles broadcasted on television were all footage of real fighting scenes. Those fighting scenes were even more spectacular than the fantasy films from Earth.

However, when humans gained power, it similarly gave rise to many problems, such as criminals or terrorist organizations that constantly emerged in great numbers. The international situation was also extremely serious, with hidden conflicts between countries.

And the greatest danger in this world was the constant emergence of extraterrestrial biological organisms. There were Astral Calamity Beasts from the stars or extraterrestrial beings that would suddenly visit the planet. And finally, the most terrifying calamity fiends from other worlds.

Calamity fiends came from a different dimension, but they could break through the dimension of space into the human world at anytime. Maybe you might be in the bathroom, and a spatial dimension rift opens up in the toilet suddenly. The calamity fiend would come out through that, eviscerating you. Of course, the chances of a calamity fiend appearing were not high. So if one had the misfortune of meeting one, one could only blame it on one’s own bad luck.

But even so, this world was still fraught with danger, evil and death. Then, there were certainly some entities that would address these dangers and defeat all sorts of evil, saving those whose lives were in danger.

This entity was called—Hero.

The word Hero was not a mere title or honor bestowed on them. It was a global organization, a profession that was recognized and respected by the public. It was a symbol of the strong as well as a representation of the brave. Heroes would defeat calamity fiends, saving humanity and protecting Earth. This was a consensus of all people.

“Although I, Shi Xiaobai, am just a frail mortal now, there will be one day when I will become a powerful Psionite, leading the Xiaobai Hero Squad to save the world. All of this is already a choice made by the Gate of the Destiny Stone!”

Shi Xiaobai grinned. Although his stomach was growling with hunger, his eyes were filled with dreams of the future.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted violently in an abrupt way as his breathing involuntarily stopped. This was because he saw a black rift appear about one meter above the sandpit. The rift enlarged almost instantly, becoming a black hole the size of a window.

A blackish-purple head extended out of the black hole.

Shi Xiaobai immediately recalled the descriptions mentioned by passers-by—a calamity fiend was about to appear!

The blackish-purple head looked extremely ugly. It was bald and it had three eyes lined up in a row. A black horn protruded out of its forehead, as vertical fangs stretched out of its lower lip. Sticky black spittle constantly dripped down, burning blackened craters in the sandpit with sizzling sounds.

Little Fatso, who was playing in the sandpit, was only about 2–3 meters away from the calamity fiend that had stretched its head out. And the calamity fiend was using its three eyes to stare coldly and cruelly at the Little Fatso.

“Run, hurry up and run!” Having not seen such a terrifying scene before, Shi Xiaobai could smell terror that originated from his very soul. His legs began to tremble, as he roared in his heart. However, it was as though his mouth was stuck with something, as not a single sound came out.

And at this moment, Little Fatso gave a terrified but excited cry.

“I’m now a Hero. I can defeat you, you Big Baldy!”

Little Fatso pointed at the calamity fiend’s head. Although his little body was trembling slightly, his voice revealed firm courage and confidence.

And when the calamity fiend heard these words, it let out a soul-crushing roar of terror.

“It’s over. He angered the calamity fiend.”

Shi Xiaobai’s vision went black as the fear in his heart magnified limitlessly, while his brain momentarily went blank.

Suddenly, he felt the entire world freeze. The scene of Little Fatso raising his hand seemed to be a still frame. The momentum of the calamity fiend crawling out of the black hole also came to a halt, as if time had frozen.

When he saw everything before his eyes stop, to the point of him not being able to move at all, as it was no longer under his control, only his consciousness remained clear, and his thoughts were still active.

“This… This isn’t an illusion? Did it… did it really stop?”