Chapter 3: Prologue 2
Chapter 3 – Preparation
100 Years passed by after Tong moved into Friday's yacht.
Tong was still sitting in front of the computer, reading several pages of Wegigigipedia. He already crammed several strategic knowledge for the trial, such as how to make soap, medical practices and etc.
'It would be best if I could pursue the career of doctors.'
In the Three Kingdoms era, the doctor was a prestigious career. Should someone become a doctor, he would be worshiped by the nobles, officials, and sovereigns. If you could even cure any rare disease that no doctor could do. The emperor and the imperial courts would lower themselves to invite the doctor to work for them.
'If Hua Tuo was worshiped as a father of Medicine in ancient China because he discovered natural herbs and cooked them into anesthetic and also capable of performing surgeries...'
'Then if I bring in antibiotics, or vaccines for Influenza, measles and the likes, wouldn't I become the God of Medicine of the world?'
Tong fantasied himself as a dignified doctor worshiped by all in the ancient time for a couple of minutes before he snapped out of his delusion.
'No, it won't be easy.'
Tong never overestimated himself. He knew that acquiring the necessary materials and the processes of making such vaccines, was an impossibly difficult achievement.
Not only he had to make a microscope to examine the virus, but he would also risk himself coming into contact with it. There was no protection suit that could protect himself from viruses in the era. So he could even die from sickness before he could complete the vaccines.
'Let alone vaccines, even treating a patient using only knowledge from the internet can also be difficult.'
There was a saying that 'You can't learn to swim by reading books'. Tong was not confident that he could become a doctor without real experiences. Even a medical student had to jump into the hospital battlefield as a resident for years, in order to experience the real thing and got coached by their seniors before he or she could be called a full-fledged doctor.
Tong wanted to bring any random sinner on the boat for his medical practice. But he couldn't find any completed body, let alone someone with clean tissues.
He asked Friday to help him tied up a sinner after having him killed and resurrected. The sinner's tissue would slowly rot itself after the resurrection. The innards and blood were all blacks. Not a single trace of humanity remained.
Friday told him that once a sinner died in this level for a number of times, the poison would integrate into the soul. The person would not retain his human body anymore, but a zombie body that repeatedly rotted and healed itself.
The number of death that Tong had in this hell was so low that he could count it with both hands. He was immune to the hatred gas of the river Styx from the first day till today.
Because he was sane, he managed to avoid any unnecessary combat with the others. He did die a few times though.
Without any chance to try the surgery process for real, Tong estimated that he could only apply the first aid basic to the daily life or improve the hygiene of the people in the next world with his current ability.
'Hua Tuo, to achieve something like that in those troubled times. You really are a god. If I can meet you there, I will beg you to be your disciple.'
...
Tong closed his PC and massaged his temples. He then looked at Friday, who was snoring on the bed with a defenseless posture. Tong sighed.
'Good thing I didn't make a move on her. It was a false alarm after all.'
During the times Tong was still struggling in the mud of hell, the only interaction they had were talking while Friday was rolling on her ship. Tong could only see her from a distance down below.
Now, they were pretty much living in the same room in the yacht. He could understand her more than the past. To Tong's discovery, Friday had the mentality of a grade-schooler even though she had the busty body of a young woman in her 20s.
100 Years ago, Tong thought that he raised a waifu-flag with Friday and were planning to move into the next step of a relationship. Good thing that he held himself back.
All she did in the 100 years together were all playing and spending times together. She didn't have any aura of a vile seductive devil that Tong interpreted in the past. She always pestered Tong to play video games together or go swimming in the pool on the back of the yacht. There was no further sign of anything like romantic feeling toward him.
'She must have been lonely.'
Tong thought to himself. He walked carefully, afraid of waking up Friday, and exited the room. Friday's eyes snapped open when he closed the door.
Tong walked out of the room to the back of the yacht, getting some fresh air. He took a deep breath. He paused for a second before started coughing like trying to throw up something that invaded his lung. He had forgotten that he was still cruising on the fragrant river Styx.
'I never get used to this smell.'
Mysteriously, the river Styx changed its odor every day. It was a mechanism specially made for this river so no sinner could have a relaxing time here.
Even if someone were to gain his sanity and lucky enough to find a place to rest, he wouldn't be able to escape the torment. The person would inhale the poison gas and it would corrode his lung little by little until the person was choked to death.
"Oh? You're up. Want some coffee?"
There was a guest sitting on the edge of the pool on the back of the yacht. A stunning beauty lamia, who looked like in her late 20s', was there. She had straight long purple hair that reached her waist. A pair of brown seashells bras were covering the private part of her F-cup sized chests, and a black strip of cloth was covering her eyes.
Below her waist, there was no human leg but a body of a snake. Her brown scaled snake tail, matching her seashells, were moving around in the pool.
Her name was Medusa, the chief director of the fifth Hell.
100 Years ago, Medusa came knocking on Friday's ship on the very first day Tong was invited on board. They were busted on the first day that Friday leaked the inside information. It seemed they were monitored all along.
When Tong had first seen Medusa, he almost screamed and called her "L*ncer G**gon!".
Betraying Tong's expectation of punishment, Medusa gave Tong a meaningful glance. She only sighed and said, "Keep it moderate, and don't get caught."
Medusa left them and disappeared for a week. Then she came back with her huge luggage. She gave Tong some men clothes and asked Friday to give Medusa a private room. Since then, she also came to live in Friday's yacht.
Tong and Medusa often exchanged a small talk. He was always smiling while trying to swallow back his drools form times to times.
Tong usually sneaked out of his room to see Medusa when he had a chance.
After Tong met Medusa, his hormone which he had suppressed all these 450,000 years had resurfaced. Tong couldn't help but attracted to the white-smoothie-bountiful-bouncing-half-naked pairs on Medusa's chest. He always sneaked a glance at her assets.
Medusa, of course, noticed Tong's lecherous glance. At first, she frowned and mumbled something to herself, as if she was talking to someone. Then she showed a face that had suddenly been surprised by something and smiled sincerely at Tong. She no longer minded his eyes.
Her eyes were warm and kind but yet concerned, like the eyes of a mother looking at her naughty child.
One day, Medusa jested Tong if he wanted to take a tour to the second level of hell, the Hell of Lust, to pick up a random succubus for fun. Tong eagerly accepted, but it seemed the conversation was heard by Friday. Friday dragged Tong back into her room and beat him up for an entire day.
...
Today, Tong didn't come to meet Medusa to ogle her boobs. But he was troubled about the preparation for the Trial. The remaining time he had to prepare was getting short.
"Can't I really create a passive skill?" Tong asked
"No. Passive skills cannot be leveled up. You will die failing the mission before you are even 10."
Tong still couldn't decide what skill he would create.
After Medusa moved into the yacht, she evacuated all sinners, devils, angels and other residents from the radius of 100 kilometers around the ship. She then cast a circular transparent dome spell afterward. Medusa told Tong and Friday that it was a spell that could block the surveillance from the higher-ups.
Since then, the three dropped the charade and talked freely about the trial.
"Failing a mission is death. Always keep that in mind."
100 Years passed since Friday had warned him about the Trial. The additional rules were announced to the inside personals. This Trial this time followed the old rules that had been used several times before in the previous trials.
The Trial this time was called "Mission Rush". The sinner who took part in this program would receive one random mission, which would be stacked one after another. A mission would appear once a year continuously until the sinner died from the "Punishment" or died from other causes.
There would be 100 sinners in total, sending into a different fragmented world. The fragmented worlds were the copies of the planet Earth of the past, but it contained no soul and no immortal.
Each world contained the same setting. Each sinner started out at the same place, same time, same condition. No reincarnator would meet each other during the trial.
During the process, their new life would be broadcasting live all over Heaven and Hell. Several betting houses would be opened for gambling. It was a traditional festival for the immortals.
The timescale between worlds would be 1:1, one day in Heaven or Hell would equal one day in the trial world. Unlike the timescale between Hell, Heaven, and the human Earth, one hour on earth was equal to 100 years in Heaven or Hell. The gods accelerated the timescales of the immortal worlds, so they could have an easier time to handle unforeseen circumstances on mortal worlds. Or else, they would be dead busy checking people's karma and not be able to do anything else more productive.
Once the sinners died or eventually died, they would be bought back to the Netherworld. There, the immortals would vote if they enjoyed and approved of the lifestyle and the deeds of each sinner. In the end, it would be a popularity vote, not karma judgment.
If the immortals favored the sinner, the sinner could choose either becoming a citizen of Heaven or becoming a devil in Hell. The sinner could also forget everything and reincarnate as a child of a wealthy billionaire or a royalty on Earth and enjoyed the rest of his life.
But if they don't, the sinner would return to the previous Hell he was assigned into.
There were also the cruel sides of the Trial. For a soul to become matured and become completed, a soul had to reside in a mortal body for at least 20 years. If someone were to die before he reached an age of 20, the soul memory would be erased. He would forget everything in his previous life because it was not synchronized with the vessel's brain yet.
So if a sinner failed to live past the 20s, he would come back to the Netherworld with no memory of all their previous lives. Which is why Friday was so frantic about having Tong created a defensive skill.
"Only active skills should be your choice. Although it's costly it's your life-saving skill."
"Friday said this too. By the way, do you have the playback or records of the previous trials? I need a reference."
"I'm sorry. All records were stored in Heaven. I can't go to heaven."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"But I can tell you about the skill of last few trail champions. What they did was …"
Medusa was about to tell Tong about the skill and usage of the previous champions. Friday slammed the door open with a bang and dashed toward Tong.
"I was sleeping for a minute and you sneak out to ogle Meddy again?"
"We were talking about my trial! What the heck?"
"If you have times to talk to her, go meditate or go read a few wet-dream web novels. Don't you need an idea?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm doing. Hmm?"
Tong paused. He thought of something in a flash of a second ago but he immediately forgot.
"Friday, what did you say again?"
"About you have an idea?"
"No. Before that."
"Huh? About you go meditate or read some novels?"
"Before that."
"Err. You've got too much time to talk to Meddy?"
"..."
"..."
"…time…"
Tong stared straight at Friday's eyes. His eyes were sparkling.
"Time … Time! Yes! IT'S TIME!! Friday, you're a genius!"
Without thinking, Tong grabbed Friday's cheeks and pulled her into a kiss. Their lips touched for a second before Tong dashed into his room and grabbed up a pen and a paper. Then he ran back and started jotting on a table something with his hands, moving and leaving some after images.
'That's right. Time! TIME! TIME!!! PRAISE THE GREAT LORD D*O!'
Tong was laughing like a hyena having a concert. He was so absorbed into the ideas that he didn't notice his surroundings.
Friday was still standing on the same spot, stunning, sneaking glances at Tong. Her hands were touching her lips and her face flushed like a tomato.
"My first kiss …" Friday muttered to herself.
Medusa witnessed everything. She sighed to herself and shook her head.
'100 Years passed and they still have a long way to go.'
Medusa thought. She then looked at Tong.
'The time is running out. Godfather can rig the trial but there's no guaranteed.'
'He might not even be coming back if things go south.'
'This silly daughter is too naïve and Tong is too foolish to catch the sign.'
'I need to push them a bit.'
Medusa grinned while rolling her hair with her finger.
...
On the second level of Heaven. Heaven of Demi-Immortal.
On this realm, only those who possessed at least 1,000 positive karma points, evaluated from the deed of the previous life or the total of the combined karma of the current life, could reside.
The other condition to be here was to never commit a crime that harmed someone's life in the previous life.
Zim, a chubby late-middle-age woman with wrinkles all over her face, was busy working on a computer. The place she was working in was similar to a TV station on earth. In her previous life, she was once a high-class celebrity that appeared often in every Hi-Society parties. She even owned a TV station.
Ironically, she became an employee here. She always bowed down her head to every senior and her boss and never argue back. She was treated like a nobody.
Despite the harsh treatment from the seniors and the disappointment of the reality of the realm of heaven, she was working harder than any of her colleagues. The colleagues misunderstood her as a workaholic.
'The rules, checked.'
'The mod, double checked.'
'The candidates, triple checked.'
'The programs, 70%.'
'The macros, 20%.'
'Linkage, 20%.'
Zim looked at the check note. Then she turned to look at a bundle of documents in front of her. A picture of a man wearing a policeman uniform was clipped with the documents. There was a scribble on a yellow notepad attached to the picture. It was read as "Tong".
'Just a little bit more.'
Zim thought. She didn't hide any killing intent she emitted. No one was there at the station anymore, because it was no longer working time. Zim was working there alone.
If Tong were here, he would recognize the lady.
She was none other than Ping's mother, the relative that Tong killed alongside with Ping.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone