Rebirth

Yu Xunge stared blankly at the expensive, ornate chandelier on the ceiling after opening her eyes.

Wasn't she supposed to be nailed inside the Magic Array in the dungeon by Yu Xunhuan, being bled dry?

In just one second, she reflexively mobilized the energy within her body. A whole year of fleeing had turned it into instinct: no matter where she was or what situation she faced, she would find somewhere safe before thinking things through.

Yet when she sprang up with a handsome kip-up, nothing happened...

Her body's reaction told her that she was currently just an ordinary person.

Just then, voices sounded outside the door. One of them was a voice she would never forget, even in her dreams—her agent, Liu Zhengliu.

She sat up and looked around. A hotel? Beside her pillow was the phone she had not seen in years. She picked it up and saw the time displayed on it: February 21st, 11:00 p.m.

2078!

Yu Xunge's breathing quickened. Had she been reborn? Reborn one year before the Game Invasion?

No one knew that one year from today, the entire Blue Star would be invaded by a game world called "Dread Rift: Warcraft."

To establish an anchor on Blue Star and connect with it, the game that would invade Blue Star had descended there in the form of a game in 2078. It had briefly undergone three closed beta tests, each lasting only seven hours. There had been no warning, and almost no one knew about them. Still, several hundred people had downloaded the game out of boredom or coincidence. During the third closed beta, news leaked out, and as many as six figures' worth of people logged into the game in advance.

Some players who had participated in those tests regretted for the rest of their lives that they had only played for a few minutes. Others soared into the sky, transforming from fish into dragons. Her dear little brother was one of those who had soared.

And 2:22 a.m. on February 22nd was the first closed beta!

But she had no interest in saving the world or telling everyone. The invasion by other races was, under many restrictions, a fairly lengthy process. During that time, far more people died at the hands of their own kind than at the hands of other races.

Yu Xunge changed into lighter clothing as she recalled her current circumstances.

Although four years had passed, the events of these few days remained deeply etched in her mind.

Because tomorrow, on the day someone would have their fate changed forever by a game, she would be drugged drunk by her agent Liu Zhengliu in the early hours of tonight and delivered to the bed of a company executive. Back then, she had frightened that man off with the madness of being ready to Die Together, but the consequence was endless "scandals." She was sent to all kinds of low-end drinking parties, and the roles she got were either maids or minor parts that required her to soak in cold water and get slapped.

Yu Xunge pushed open the door. Liu Zhengliu, holding a bottle of alcohol outside, gave her an intimate smile. "Xunge? Want a drink?"

Yu Xunge wanted to kill her right then, but her experiences on the run had taught her not only patience, but also how to disguise herself. She smiled even more warmly than Liu Zhengliu. "No. Something happened to my brother. I need to go back."

The moment she heard that excuse, Liu Zhengliu knew she couldn't keep Yu Xunge here today.

In her eyes, Yu Xunge was a top-tier brother-obsessed fool. Half the money she earned from filming went into her brother's pocket. Even if she injured her leg on set, if her brother merely said he missed his sister, she would crawl back to him like an idiot.

Liu Zhengliu figured that unless she claimed her entire family had died today, there was no way she could keep Yu Xunge here...

But that excuse was too unreliable. Yu Xunge had watched her call her family just yesterday.

Liu Zhengliu took a deep breath and silently told herself not to rush. There was still a chance. Smiling, she said, "It's so late. Wait a moment, I'll wake Xiao Wu and have him drive you."

Yu Xunge nodded. She was currently staying at the production crew's hotel and did need a car to take her back. Less than three hours remained before the game's closed beta, and she had to get home to stop Yu Xunhuan from playing it.

In her previous life, Yu Xunhuan had clearly participated in the closed beta long ago and gained abilities unimaginable to ordinary people a full year in advance. Yet he had kept it all tightly hidden, coldly watching her suffer in the entertainment industry while using the money and resources she earned to strengthen himself...

In the end, he had even pretended by her side for three years. Even when she was hunted down in the third year, she had believed Yu Xunhuan was innocent. All of it had been to steal her God-Bestowed Talent, and she had only learned the truth in the final moment before her death.

Still, she hadn't let him get away with it. She had endured the agony of being bled dry just to wait for the one Behind the Scenes to appear, then detonated the item called Die Together on her body, attempting to perish alongside everyone present that day.

Only at death's door did she learn that she had merely been a villain in a book...

A possessive older sister secretly in love with Yu Xunhuan, the male protagonist.

Fine, fine, fine. You wanted to follow trends but couldn't write incest because of the rules, so you had to disgust people like this, huh?!

Once she got in the car, she promised Xiao Wu a thousand on the spot. "Get me home within two hours, and I'll give you another two thousand as a bonus."

Xiao Wu's resentment at being dragged out to work in the middle of the night instantly vanished. In an announcer's voice, he said, "Boss, please fasten your seat belt."

One hour and forty minutes later, Yu Xunge sat in the passenger seat with a greenish face. Her body had arrived, but her soul had nearly flown away. "What did you do before you came to work for me?"

Xiao Wu pulled up his payment QR code. "I drove hearses."

"..." So that was why. Yu Xunge transferred him 2,500. "Go to the convenience store across the street and buy me a small bottle of baijiu."

With money involved, everything was negotiable. Xiao Wu's service attitude was impeccable. In less than ten minutes, he had made the round trip and brought Yu Xunge a small bottle of baijiu.

Yu Xunge had been reborn at 11:00 p.m. last night. By the time she got home, it was already 1:47 a.m.

She poured the baijiu into a glass, then poured herself a glass of water. Carrying both glasses, she went to Yu Xunhuan's room. After two knocks, the door opened. As expected, that useless little snack hadn't gone to sleep.

Yu Xunge could become a star, and Yu Xunhuan could become a live-in son-in-law of a wealthy family, so naturally neither sibling was bad-looking. Yu Xunge looked gentle and intellectual, while Yu Xunhuan looked obedient and harmless. But his heart was darker than anyone's.

She handed the glass of baijiu to Yu Xunhuan. "Come on, bottoms up! Your sister will soon earn enough to buy you a villa!"

Yu Xunge didn't consider herself a stupid fool. The reason Yu Xunhuan had managed to deceive her for so many years was that he had almost always granted Yu Xunge whatever she asked for. He was truly different from those brothers online who only knew how to bleed their sisters dry.

This little brother was genuinely a high-level piece of work.

If there was delicious food, he would wait for Yu Xunge to come home and eat with him. He fulfilled every request Yu Xunge made. When Yu Xunge dated someone, he would be especially jealous. He saved up all the spending money he got from Yu Xunge, then bought her a villa at the start of this year, with the villa registered under Yu Xunge's name.

With a brother like that, it was understandable that Yu Xunge had been deceived so thoroughly in her previous life—though even if it wasn't understandable, there was nothing she could do. Her own pig brain, her own pampering.

But now that she had cleared away the fog, she could see that Yu Xunhuan had indeed done everything he could, but he had also received every benefit he wanted, because that couple, Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo, had been working with him.

That villa which had moved her to tears? Damn it, it had been bought with the money she gave him! Wasn't it only right that it be put under her name? She used her own money to buy herself a villa—what the hell had she been touched by?! Then she immediately bought Yu Xunhuan an even bigger one...

Fortunately, she had been reborn in time. They were still only looking at houses, planning to secretly give her brother a surprise.

Low-level exploitation was the whole family joining forces to PUA someone. High-level exploitation was a combo attack: one person struck, one person treated the wounds, and one person served tea and water so she could catch her breath.

But this life, there was still time.

Her dear little brother Yu Xunhuan naturally wouldn't refuse his sister's request. Even though it was two in the morning, even though his sister knew he would be knocked out after one drink and still wanted him to drink baijiu, even though Yu Xunge's reason was unclear, he didn't even furrow his brow. His face held nothing but concern. "You need to take care of your health too. Money can never all be earned... As long as our family is together..."

Yu Xunge directly clinked glasses with him.

Yu Xunhuan looked helpless and indulgent as he drained it in one gulp. Then he swayed and collapsed.

Utterly unguarded trust.

Yu Xunge watched Yu Xunhuan lying on the floor with cold eyes. Sounds came from the master bedroom in the distance; perhaps Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo had heard the commotion. She hurried into Yu Xunhuan's room, dragged him inside, and shut the door.

She sat on the sofa in Yu Xunhuan's room, opened her phone, and stared intently at the time. The game would only last seven hours. She had no intention of leaving tonight. Even though Yu Xunhuan always slept until daylight whenever he got drunk, she wasn't willing to take that risk.

In her previous life, Yu Xunhuan had been like the protagonist of a power fantasy, cheating his way through everything. Every good thing fell into his hands, and his God-Bestowed Talent was the only SS-rank one on all of Blue Star. Even after marrying into the Su Family, the Su Family's eldest daughter had initially treated him as nothing more than a pretty pet, only to become his devoted lackey in the end. Under Yu Xunhuan's guidance, she suppressed Yu Xunge—and eventually set her sights on Yu Xunge's God-Bestowed Talent.