The Invincible Person

Lan Yi was intently focused on the pork bone soup dumplings in front of him.

He ate with meticulous care, sucking up every last drop of sauce from the bottom of the spoon with each bite, not willing to waste a single bit of filling. It was as if he wasn't eating handmade dumplings from Sha County Snacks, but rather delicacies like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Watching Lan Yi eat.

It was easy to associate two words with him: happiness.

Perhaps it was the infectious happiness he exuded while enjoying his meal; the other customers in the shop, who were in small groups, seemed a bit distracted. Their gazes would occasionally drift towards Lan Yi, and some even looked at their own freshly ordered meals with a look of doubt about their taste buds.

The shop door was suddenly pushed open.

The unusually quiet shop was immediately broken by the hustle and bustle of the street. Along with the door came the hot summer wind from outside. The newcomer scanned the surroundings as soon as they entered, and soon their expression brightened as they locked onto Lan Yi, who was still chewing slowly.

He took two quick steps to Lan Yi's front, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Hello, Lan Yi, my name is Gao Xing."

"Your life trajectory is as monotonous as recorded, otherwise, you wouldn't have become an invincible person."

"Recently unemployed, dumped, detained, no relatives or friends, living alone... and also slandered, extorted, and cyberbullied for domestic violence. No wonder you became Star Han's top psionic cultivator when the War Zone opened later."

Gao Xing marvelled, sizing up the bewildered Lan Yi as if he were a rare specimen.

"You are...?" Lan Yi put down his spoon and looked up.

He doesn't recognize me, that's great. He's just an ordinary working stiff right now, not that world-annihilating Madman Lan.

Gao Xing exhaled, a great pressure instantly lifting from his heart, replaced by irrepressible excitement. After all, what he was about to do was something countless people would want to do in the next few decades, but only he had the opportunity because he was a reborn individual.

A reborn individual who had come back from Lan Yi's world-annihilation apocalypse twenty years in the future.

It was a pity that time was too tight.

And the conditions didn't permit it.

Otherwise, Gao Xing truly wanted to subdue Lan Yi, or have Lan Yi owe the Gao family a huge favor. In Gao Xing's eyes, resolving the current predicament of the honest Lan Yi – unemployed, cyberbullied, and possibly going to jail – would be effortless.

"I am your future formidable enemy."

"In the future, you will become extremely wicked, commit heinous crimes, and be an out-and-out mad demon. For you, killing will be as natural as breathing, destroying lives as simple as dressing and eating, and the entire world will flow with blood because of your 'justice'."

"In half an hour, the War Zone will open to all of humanity. Without me, the first time you experience the Artificial Divine Realm, you will gain immense power and, upon returning, begin a series of horrific incidents."

"Those two scumbags, the company that fired you without reason, the power-wielding influencers who cyberbullied you, the 'temporary workers' who got the job through connections, even a pet dog, will all become targets of your revenge. Your subsequent life will be as exciting and spectacular as a web novel; you will ascend to ultimate power and dominate everything!"

"I know this sounds absurd, and you won't believe me..."

Before Lan Yi could react, Gao Xing took something out of his pocket and pointed it at him.

It was a heavy, metallic-looking handgun.

Drawing a gun while wearing a combat suit was pure cheating.

Gao Xing could obtain a gun, but he wouldn't reveal it in public unless it was an emergency. Star Han's control over firearms was so strict that even a toy gun could cause accidental injury.

But it didn't matter now.

In another half hour.

The War Zone would open, and individual combat power would be rapidly elevated to the level of destroying cities, breaking armies, and overthrowing nations. At that point, all old orders would collapse!

"Lan Yi, in the future, you will commit numerous crimes, including but not limited to the crime against peace, crime against humanity, crimes of non-human genocide, crimes against mankind, crimes of artificial divine realm destruction, and crimes of persecuting freedom of thought. Among your most insane crimes will be world annihilation."

"I am fortunate to have been reborn to this day, possessing an unparalleled advantage. For the sake of countless lives in the future, before you, this demon, grows invincible, I will strike you down here!"

"Die!"

Gao Xing, his face flushed with excitement, opened the safety and began to pull the trigger. He was about to rewrite the future and create history!

He would replace Lan Yi as the sole true god of the new era!

Gao Xing froze in the next moment, his face instantly turning from ruddy to pale.

A cold iron pipe was pressed against the back of his head, and a cold, indistinct voice came from behind him.

"Put the gun down."

Gao Xing saw the figure behind him in the reflection of the shop's glass mirror. It was a squad of fully armed soldiers in black uniforms. They had moved into the shop silently like phantoms, easily subdued Gao Xing, and disarmed him of his handgun, which came from an underground workshop.

What chilled Gao Xing even more was that in the unusually quiet shop, all the customers remained silent, without screaming, without commotion, without moving around, and without filming. Regardless of age or gender, they all scanned their surroundings with calm, solemn expressions, as if a bullet might fly out at any moment.

They clearly had a duty.

This duty was related to Lan Yi.

How could this happen?

Where did it go wrong?

Could it be that I'm not the only reborn person?

Damn it! Why are they arresting me? They should kill that demon Lan Yi first!

Gao Xing's confusion remained unanswered.

The well-trained soldiers wasted no words. Faced with the uncooperative Gao Xing, they gagged him and then struck him down on either side with their rifle butts. The dull, powerful thuds echoed, and the young master of a smuggling family instantly became compliant, begging for mercy.

As he was dragged away like a dead dog, Lan Yi shook his head, half speechless and half confused.

"A powerful enemy? I don't even know who you are."

"And you say I'll be invincible in the future?"

"Actually, it's not the future that's invincible, it's me."

Lan Yi had the confidence to say this.

Even as he spoke these words, the civilians in the area had already been evacuated, and numerous weapons were aimed at his head.

Compared to all that.

The handgun in Gao Xing's hand hadn't even made Lan Yi feel threatened just now.

Gao Xing, treated like a small pebble tossed to test the waters, was swiftly dragged away. He would soon become an insignificant addition to the list of many bizarre disappearances within the last twenty-four hours.

The ordinary Sha County Snacks shop returned to its previous commonplace atmosphere.

Lan Yi glanced at his phone and slightly increased the volume.

"It's about time."

"If you guys don't make a move soon,"

"You probably won't have another chance. A friendly reminder, if you use a tactical nuke now, your chance of success is about sixty percent. Won't you take a gamble?"