Chapter 12: Safflower

Translator: CKtalon

Eight hundred meters wasn’t a long distance, but it wasn’t short either. It was originally considered a middle-distance race in track and field.

It was difficult for a normal human’s physical strength to sprint at top speed for 800 meters. One needed to control their pacing and employ certain tactics.

However, there were many human trial-takers whose bodies had been strengthened. To these trial-takers, pacing and strategy weren’t that important.

Trial-takers with sufficiently good stamina could even sprint the entire haul like they were running a hundred meters like ordinary people.

Li Xiu definitely couldn’t achieve that. All he could do was control his pacing and breathing. He followed the pack at the back and waited for a suitable opportunity to do a final charge.

Those administrators were basically among the front pack of the runners. Bandit and others with better physiques were in the second pack.

Li Xiu was in the last pack. There were more than forty people among them. They were all physically weaker and weren’t much better than ordinary people. Some were even inferior to ordinary people.

An ordinary thin youth who was running at the back fell to the ground due to nervousness.

He didn’t even have the intention to get up and continue chasing after the pack. He lay there and watched the person in front of him leave, his eyes filled with despair.

Li Xiu wasn’t a cold-blooded and heartless person, but he didn’t have the ability to help others. It was already good enough if he could ensure his own survival.

The administrator who had wanted to break Li Xiu and Bandit’s legs had already fallen near the starting line. He staggered to his feet and wanted to chase after them, but he failed to get up after a few attempts. No expression could be seen on his bloody face, but his eyes were filled with regret and despair.

What’s the meaning of the trials? Where do the Trial Gates come from? Who’s controlling all of this? This question not only troubled Li Xiu, but it was also a common question for all of humanity. To date, no one had figured out what the Trial Gates were.

The front pack had begun their final sprint. They were half a lap ahead of the last pack. In the second pack, more and more people at the back gave up in despair and stopped in place. Some even broke down and cried.

Li Xiu maintained his pacing and remained in the top few of the last pack, waiting for the final sprint.

Finally, he reached the distance where Li Xiu could sprint with all his might. The finish line was within his reach. He began to exert strength as he increased his speed, dashing forward for his final sprint.

Just as Li Xiu’s speed increased, a leg suddenly extended out from the side of the track, diagonally ahead of him.

This leg was extended just right. It was at the moment Li Xiu raised his left foot.

If it were an ordinary person who was completely focused on the race and at such close distance, they would definitely have been tripped. They probably wouldn’t be able to catch up to the person in front of them in time.

However, Li Xiu instantly reacted. He raised his left foot that was about to take a step forward again. At the same time, he exerted strength with his right leg and leaped over the leg that was extended diagonally. After landing on the ground, he adjusted his pacing and continued to increase his speed as he charged towards the finish line.

Li Xiu should have been able to come in above the bottom 45, but his pacing was inevitably affected. He crossed the finish line in 39th place.

“Who’s that fellow?” Li Xiu stared at the young man not far away and asked Bandit who had walked over.

“I don’t know him. I’ve never seen him before. He’s not from the previous trial, nor have I seen him among the administrators.” Bandit had also seen the attempted tripping. She was also paying attention to the young man, but she didn’t recognize him.

“Oh!” Li Xiu sized up the man.

He looked to be in his twenties. He was tall and muscular, and his eyes were slender. His hair was a little curly, but it was unknown if it was naturally curly or if it had been permed.

The man was also looking at Li Xiu. Seeing Li Xiu sizing him up, he even smiled at him. At the same time, he extended his right hand like a gun. With one eye open and one eye closed, he made a shooting gesture at Li Xiu.

“The trial has ended. Rewards distributed. Cleanup commencing…”

As the 31st person crossed the finish line, the cold voice sounded again.

With a bang, the thirty people who failed to cross the finish line exploded to pieces at the same time.

Thirty lives were lost in an instant. The lives cherished by civilized society were like weeds, free for all to cull.

The 62 people who completed the test each received a Demon Core as a reward. At the same time, they felt a sharp pain from the bracelets’ injection as their bodies were strengthened again.

Li Xiu felt as though his entire body had been baptized by a warm stream. His originally aching muscles after running eight hundred meters instantly recovered. The pain made him feel indescribably comfortable.

When choosing whether to enter the second round of trials, Li Xiu decisively took off his bracelet and chose to give up.

After all, he was only the strongest Demon Suiter, not the strongest trial-taker. There was no need to persist in a trial he had no confidence in.

After he came out, the people guarding outside took away the Demon Core in Li Xiu’s hand and put it on record. They claimed that they would pay him double the price when he left.

Li Xiu originally wanted to wait for Bandit and the man to come out, but he was herded back to his room by the soldiers.

Li Xiu recalled the man’s appearance, but he couldn’t remember when he had seen such a man.

He shouldn’t be an administrator. Otherwise, there’s no way Bandit wouldn’t recognize him. If he’s a trial-taker who was sent here, why would he attack me and provoke me for no reason? Could it be someone I offended outside? Li Xiu quickly rejected this thought.

He had been trained as a Demon Suiter since he was young and had never interacted with anyone outside. The number of people who knew him could be counted on one hand.

At the very least, few people knew that he was the Demon Suiter codenamed “God.”

As a Demon Suiter was relatively weak and easy to assassinate, most Demon Suiters wouldn’t reveal their true identity in front of others.

Even when they fought in Demon Suits, they only used a code name.

Li Xiu’s original code name was Safflower, but due to his outstanding performance, he was called “God” by others. As a result, few people knew his real code name, Safflower.

Therefore, even if someone wanted to kill the world’s number one Demon Suiter, God, few people knew that God was Li Xiu.

Furthermore, Li Xiu hadn’t told anyone that he would come to the Abyss Base, so it was even more impossible for him to be an enemy outside.

If it’s not someone from the outside who wants me dead, who else in this base would want me dead? Li Xiu thought to himself.