Meng Chao, too, heard the summons from the unseen beyond.
In an instant, he realized that the source of the light was the passage back to his body—the Gate of Life.
Without needing to think, without needing to deliberately move, as easily and naturally as a baby's first cry, he trembled gently as a thick, long, spiraling tail grew from him, transforming him into a translucent little tadpole.
There was no need for a starting gun.
The race of life had already begun.
Hundreds of millions of little tadpoles desperately swung their tails, scrambling to swim toward the milky-white light.
Meng Chao was buried deep within the swarm of tadpoles, and his initial position was far from advantageous.
But he quickly discovered that he was larger and stronger than the other tadpoles, and his tail swung at twice their frequency.
As he carefully observed the differences between himself and the other tadpoles, Meng Chao soon understood.
Inside every other little tadpole, there was only one "Meng Chao."
Either Meng Chao, a member of the Red Bull Suicide Squad.
Or Meng Chao, who had become a corporate president, even a major tycoon.
Or even Meng Chao, who had become the Holy Light High Priest and received the worship of the entire Holy Light Faction.
No matter how absurd and unimaginable fate might have seemed.
There had always been only one road.
But inside his own little tadpole were two roads, entwined and interwoven like a double helix of genes.
One was the Phantom Assassin of his previous life, struggling bitterly amid the flames of the apocalypse.
The other was the strongest member of Dragon City's Golden Generation after his rebirth, who had risen miraculously, surged forward at breakneck speed, won the Monster War ahead of time, and was about to break