Chapter 21: Hunger Vs Restraint.

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"The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile." — Plato.

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"That’s not the point," the red Big Boss said. "You’re not supposed to interfere with the trainees. What you’re doing is cheating."

"Fine, fine. I won’t do it again," she said, raising her hands to signal surrender.

But when no one was looking, she would glare at Alex and swipe her hand across her throat.

’It is one thing after the other,’ Alex thought, grumbling inwardly.

He had just learned that he might have six more days to live. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to lose a Life Anchor to resurrect and have his abnormality exposed or if he should just die.

Now, a Big Boss threatened to visit punishment upon him if he failed to win her money. He wasn’t sure whether she was serious. But he was sure that he didn’t like being put in a situation like this at all.

’I didn’t come to you asking you to bet on me. You decided to bet on me yourself.’

’If you win, I’ll get nothing. But if you lose, I’ll be punished? What kind of logic is that?’ he thought, grumbling inwardly.

He was pisses through and thoroughly. But as angry as he was, he could only vent inwardly to the only neighbor in his mind.

Whether it was the fact that he had many bad experiences with a female boss who treated him poorly, or the fact that this boss was willing to use her power to bully him, neither pleased him.

He continued to grumble, completely distracted by his anger. Intentionally or subconsciously, he fixated on this issue and forgot about everything around him, including the food on the table.

He didn’t come to until Robert and Barnabas appeared beside him. By then, more Apostles had entered the room, and the betting had begun.

Then Tessa said, "It is time this restraint training started."

"You know the rules. Follow them, or I will bring you to gain an intimate understanding of the toughness of a baton made of rock wood," she said, brandishing her baton and practicing her swings.

"Let’s do this," Alex thought, with an understandable lack of enthusiasm.

But the worm inside him was saying, "Food! Let’s gooo!"

He could only shake his head and chuckle.

A few seconds later, Tessa said, "You may start."

And so it began. Alex brought his lips to the food while thinking, ’If I can stop myself from eating before she tells me to, I bet I will pass with 100/100.’

Such was his lofty goal. Unfortunately, it was easier said or, in this case, thought than done, especially when he wasn’t thinking while eating.

The pleasure of eating got so good that he couldn’t think while eating. His mind went blank as if something knocked him unconscious.

He didn’t come to until he stopped eating and pleasure hormones stopped flooding his mind. It made him ashamed and disgusted with himself.

But as bad as his situation was, Robert and Barnabas had it worse. The two also blanked out when eating. But they didn’t recover when they stopped eating.

The constant bombardment of pleasure permanently changed how their brains worked, making them unable to return to normal after eating. They were still sane, but they were now actively looking for food to fill up the bottomless hole within them that would only shrink whenever they were eating.

To combat this, Tessa began using the other half of the restraint training. She took them to the kitchen below and brought them to a large pot.

Then she pointed at the pot and said, "Enter it."

The pot was as big as a hot tub. It was large enough to hold four people, so it could hold the three of them.

Alex undressed, removing his coat, trousers, and shoes. Then he climbed into the pot.

Robert and Barnabas went in after him. The three of them sat in the cold water, hugging their knees and wearing only their underwear. The water reached their neck, so there was no danger of dying.

When they were all seated, Tessa said, "I have taught you a lot of pleasure and some pain. Now I will teach you a lot of pain and some pleasure."

As she spoke, she grabbed a torch from one of the Squires. Then she bent down to light the wood beneath the pot.

"Soon the water will begin to boil. You’re to stay within it for as long as possible. Your reward will be another pack of meat."

"The one who stays the longest will take 60% of the meat. The runner-up will have 40%. The first to give up gets the remaining 0%."

"I’ll also cut away 10% of the body of the last person to give to the one who lasts the longest. So if you give up early, not only will you not get anything, but you’ll also lose something precious."

She grinned at them as she said, "I know what you’re feeling right now. You feel as if you will die if you don’t eat something."

"That’s not true, and you won’t die. But let’s say you’re right and you will really die if you don’t eat. The question now is how much pain you’re willing to endure so that you can eat."

"If you pick a fight with your competitor, I’ll help you get reacquainted with my baton," she said as she patted the baton.

The baton had become bruised, chipped, and bloody. But it looked like it could go for another round if given the opportunity, so they didn’t dare to underestimate it.

With that, she folded her arms and stood in place, watching them. As for the three in the pot, they glanced at each other for a while. Then they looked away.

They remained silent like that, with some Apostles watching them from the side. Apparently, their performance now would affect the outcome of the bet, so they were being monitored.