Absolute Choice

Shi Xiaobai was certain that all the rookies had already left Dragon Mountain Valley because he had specially checked the valley before he left. He had confirmed that everyone had left.

Furthermore, the valley was open and expansive, even if a rookie had been playful by playing hide and seek, it was impossible to hide.

But at this very moment in time, the Absolute Choice had failed. It meant that a rookie had died without Shi Xiaobai’s knowledge.

How did this rookie die?

Why did the rookie die so silently?

Shi Xiaobai was completely clueless. This was more mysterious than the rookie being killed by invisible monsters.

Shi Xiaobai could only use for speculation the remaining time before he had to choose.

Maybe there was really someone left behind in Dragon Mountain Valley? For example, the person was swallowed whole by a monster, dying only a period of time later?

Or a rookie did not wait outside after leaving the valley and had instead ran off somewhere before encountering an accident?

Maybe a rookie had suddenly died silently because of a disease or virus which nobody noticed?

Everything was possible, even if the possibility was minimal.

Shi Xiaobai sighed in his heart. Blindly guessing was not an option. All he could do was repeat it again.

…

He returned to the same point in time for a fifth time.

Shi Xiaobai did the same things as the first four times. He hurriedly got everyone to leave the valley, and again, he repeated the important matter of “Do not fart” three times.

This time, Shi Xiaobai specifically reminded everyone to wait outside the valley and not run far off.

The rookies were very obedient and walked towards the valley’s exit.

Shi Xiaobai took this time to confirm the number of people in the valley. He quickly repeated the count thrice and finally confirmed that there were forty-eight people in the valley, including him and Ka Xiaozi.

The rookies left the valley in droves and this time, Shi Xiaobai was faster than before. When the last rookie left the valley, he and Ka Xiaozi followed closely behind and left the valley.

Following that was a loud sound of a fart.

Man, having come out earlier this time, he was just in time to catch the rookie farting.

Everyone covered their noses and exclaimed “smelly” before they distanced themselves repulsively from the rookie. This smelly fart had induced a massacre before, so its powers were obviously redoubtable.

Shi Xiaobai reacted extremely fast. At the instant he heard the fart, he had used ‘Unleaking Turtle Aura’ to block his sense of smell. This was the greatest advantage of a time loop, but it sure was depressing thinking about it.

The moment Shi Xiaobai came out of the valley, he began a head count. He finished the count quickly thrice and confirmed that there were forty-eight people.

Everyone had left the valley.

Furthermore, everyone was waiting outside the valley. No one had ran afar.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist it.”

The rookie’s embarrassed apology was heard. It was the same sentence, but this moment in time had happened earlier because of Shi Xiaobai’s suggestion to come out earlier.

Shi Xiaobai had no time to care about him. He carefully looked at every rookie and their expressions.

Without a doubt, all of their expressions were terrible. Whoever got hit by these ‘toxic gases’ probably would not be having a good mood.

However, all of them looked in the pink of health. The light in their eyes did not lessen at all. No one looked sick or poisoned. There was definitely no signs of someone dying.

Suddenly, Shi Xiaobai saw someone’s back. It was a girl standing at the peripheral. The girl had her back bent, with one hand on a tree. Her back was facing the crowd, as though she was suffering some form of pain.

“It’s her!”

Shi Xiaobai’s eyes lit up. He rushed towards the girl at an exceedingly fast speed.

This girl could have been inflicted with some form of disease and would suddenly die silently.

Shi Xiaobai was feeling anxious as he held the girl’s shoulder and shouted, “Bear with it!”

The girl was startled as she looked up to realize it was Shi Xiaobai. She immediately heaved a sigh of relief, but at the moment she relaxed, the girl’s expression changed drastically. Covering her mouth with her hands, her pale expression turned even paler as her shoulders trembled.

“I can’t…hold it in!”

The girl screamed and hurriedly flung Shi Xiaobai’s arms away and ran to the back of the tree. She leaned down and began…

“Eugh!”

The girl began vomiting. Shi Xiaobai watched nervously but he did not see the blood he had imagined. It was only the usual vomit.

After vomiting a few times, the girl quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of her dirty mouth. When she turned to see everyone looking at her after hearing her, her face immediately blushed.

Shi Xiaobai asked with concern, “Are you alright? Are you sick?”

The girl shook her head and shyly said, “No, I’m only…it was so smelly that I could not help but throw up.”

Shi Xiaobai was appalled. It was the fault of that smelly fart again?

However, Shi Xiaobai gave the girl a few serious glances and noticed that although her expression looked terrible, she was not weak. She simply wanted to throw up.

“It’s not her!”

Shi Xiaobai realized this point.

“Time is almost up!”

For some reason, Shi Xiaobai was very sensitive when it came to time. It was as though there was a clock in his heart that allowed him to accurately keep track of time. In another ten seconds or so, the moment of the Absolute Choice’s failure would happen.

Shi Xiaobai quickly turned his head to look at the rookies. At this moment, the rookies were looking curiously at him.

“Shi Xiaobai, you seem…a bit strange?”

“Lord Shi Xiaobai, did something happen?”

“Why did you urge us to leave the valley so quickly? Did you discover something dangerous?”

“I’m more eager to know why we can’t fart. Please explain…”

“…”

The rookies clearly had a multitude of questions on their minds which they inundated him with the moment the first question was asked. The scene immediately turned noisy.

Shi Xiaobai had no time to explain. He could only treat it with silence as he swept his gaze across every rookie.

Shi Xiaobai confirmed three times once again that there were forty-eight rookies here including him.

Due to the flurry of discussion, it was conducive for Shi Xiaobai’s observations. All of them appeared energetic. Although a number of quiet rookies did not speak, they appeared very healthy.

Shi Xiaobai turned his head to look at the girl beside him. After vomiting, the girl felt much better. Her face was becoming ruddy again, but her cheeks had turned as red as an apple because of the embarrassment, but she did not have any signs of dying the next moment.

Shi Xiaobai scanned everyone.

There was no one among the forty-eight people that had any signs of dying. They were filled with vitality, more vibrant than a forest.

“Three.”

There were three seconds left before the moment the Absolute Choice failed. Shi Xiaobai turned slightly nervous as he carefully studied the expressions of everyone, afraid that he would miss the slightest of details.

“Two.”

A final confirmation, there was only forty-eight people including him at the present location. There was no one missing!

“One.”

Time was up.

Shi Xiaobai’s heart raced slightly.

Could it be that by leaving earlier, he had inadvertently changed the outcome from before. A rookie that would somehow die had suddenly survived?

“Make your choice, youth!”

The fiery voice resounded in his brain

as though it was telling Shi Xiaobai—

No, there was no accident.

…

…

“Make your choice, youth!”

This was the sixth time he was facing the choice.

Although he had failed the first three times, he was able to obtain some information through each failure, allowing his actions to progress with each successive round.

However, after failing a fourth and fifth time, Shi Xiaobai was somewhat dumbfounded..

He had not only failed to obtain any information in the past two failures, the situation seemed to be at a dead end.

There were a total of forty-eight people in the valley.

There were still forty-eight people outside the valley after they left.

At the final second, the forty-eight people, including him, all appeared extremely healthy. There was not the slightest hint of an impending death.

If it were anyone else, they might have believed that they had missed something, but Shi Xiaobai was very confident of his observational skills. While he was observing every rookie’s expression, he had simultaneously determined the count. He had even remembered every rookie’s appearance.

Shi Xiaobai was a hundred percent certain that he did not miss a person.

Therefore, that person was still healthy at the final second. Even if the healthiness was just an illusion, it was impossible to suddenly die in a fraction of a second, right?

Yet, the situation which was currently—no one dying, no one being eliminated—resulted in the failure of the choice, [ Save all rookies ]!

What was going on with this contradictory situation that did not seem to have a solution?

“There is no such thing as a lack of a solution.”

With this in mind, Shi Xiaobai’s slightly perplexed gaze turned resolute.

He must have missed something.

What did he miss?

Shi Xiaobai was lost in thought. Ideas churned through his mind extremely quickly, with all sorts of possibilities flashing in his mind. Even if it was an extremely unlikely possibility, he was considering it carefully.

But it appeared as though there was no ‘possibility’ that could perfectly explain the present situation. Each and every ‘possibility’ was rejected by Shi Xiaobai, as though he would never find the answer.

There was no ‘possibility’ that could result in the present situation.

Then, what else could it be?

Shi Xiaobai did not give up as he dismissed all his existing ideas.

Since no ‘possibility’ could crack the situation.

Why shouldn’t he think about those ‘impossibilities’?

“Could it be…”

Shi Xiaobai fell silent for a long while before his eyes suddenly lit up. He thought of a seemingly impossible possibility.

…