I want revenge, and I’ve thought about killing, but I’m still not ready to actually kill someone.

I’ve thought about killing Rocky countless times, but I never felt that killing Rocky was the same as killing a person. Just ten minutes to prepare is completely useless to me—there’s no way I could become cold-blooded and ruthless, able to kill without blinking, in just those ten minutes.

I was already a bit numb, and after hearing what the instructor said, I became even more numb, not reacting at all, just standing there for ten minutes.

When the instructor shouted, “Begin!”

A burly fist viciously smashed into my face, and I was sent flying more than ten meters, crashing hard into the wall. When my head was hit, I didn’t feel any pain at all; the pain only became clear a moment later. That feeling, which I had never experienced before, made me think I was done for.

My face was a complete mess—my nose, teeth, and jawbone were all smashed into pulp. If nothing unexpected happened, I should have struggled for a moment and then died, but as luck would have it, another unlucky guy was also sent flying right toward me.

The golden burial shroud wrapped around my wrist sensed the smell of blood and silently extended outward.

As soon as the golden burial shroud touched that unlucky guy’s body, it immediately sprouted many fine tendrils and began desperately devouring flesh and blood. Strangely enough, with every bit of flesh and blood the golden burial shroud devoured, I felt a bit more strength return to my body. Even my face, which had been smashed into a mess like a pile of mud, was slowly but steadily recovering.

As I regained enough sensation, the pain became even more intense, making me want to roll on the ground. Only the last bit of clarity in my mind kept me from giving in to such a foolish impulse.

“Damn it! Time’s up!”

The golden burial shroud quietly retracted. I clutched my face and struggled to stand up. Although some people noticed I was still alive, no one bothered to interfere.

In less than a minute, this place had turned into an extremely brutal battlefield. One person was literally torn in half, and the rest of the deaths were all equally tragic. But even worse off were those who were still alive but severely injured—they looked even more pitiful than the dead.

The dead make no sound, but these people screamed so miserably, like ghosts, that you couldn’t help but want to cover your ears and never hear such sounds again. The hysterical screams of the seriously wounded sent a chill deep into my bones.

The instructor didn’t care about any of them. He glanced at the smart tablet he’d somehow produced, sneered, and said, “You little brats aren’t bad. What you just went through was just an appetizer. Now we’ll begin today’s official training. Today is combat training. All of you, face the wall and find your spot!”

I endured the intense pain in my face and found a spot on the wall, leaning against it to try to recover my strength.

Next to me was a foreigner whose body hair gleamed gold. He bared his teeth at me in a grin, his white teeth looking like those of a beast. I had no time to pay attention to him—every breath pulled at my wounds and sent pain shooting through my whole body. If I could still be distracted by anything else at this point, that would be truly strange.

The instructor’s voice soon rang in our ears again. He chuckled and said, “The wall in front of you will have its own health points. The number is ten thousand…” As he spoke, the wall in front of me lit up, and the Arabic numeral “10000” appeared on it.

I didn’t even have time to wonder how such an unscientific thing could happen before I heard the instructor’s cold, merciless voice: “Your task is to bring those ten thousand health points down to zero. I don’t care what method you use. Anyone who doesn’t finish before eleven o’clock gets no lunch!”

Without thinking, I punched the wall. But the sharp pain shooting up my arm told me that, whatever was strange about this wall, it was as hard as real stone. I’d put all my strength into that punch, but the damn number just flickered and didn’t decrease at all.

The golden-haired foreigner next to me also threw a fierce punch, but the number on his wall dropped by three digits with that brutal blow. Judging by his punching stance, he was much stronger than me. Remembering the punch that had smashed into my face earlier, I couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. I had no doubt that this golden-haired foreigner’s fist could blow up anyone’s head.

“What the hell kind of living hell is this? These people are real-life demons!”

I turned my head, staring at the wall and the huge Arabic number in front of me. I took a deep breath of foul air, cleared all distractions from my mind, and viciously told myself, “You want revenge. Don’t be afraid to become a demon. Smash it, damn number!”

I threw another fierce punch, but the wall still didn’t budge, and the “10000” remained unchanged, as if it were coldly mocking me for overestimating myself!

Chapter 7: Seven Poses

“Fuck this!”