Rebirth Through Death

Le Yu squatted down and propped up the severed head in front of him.

The neck of the head was cut cleanly, like a "scar the size of a bowl's rim." The hair was a bit long, clearly unkempt for days, and heavy dark circles under the eyes showed poor diet and sleep habits.

There was nothing extraordinary about the eyes of the severed head either. The pupils were dull and lifeless, only showing a hint of curiosity, a hint of panic, a hint of confusion, and a hint of… grievance.

It seemed that until the moment of death, this person still didn't understand why he had to die.

Who had he offended?

What wrong had he done?

Why did he meet such an end?

Le Yu placed the severed head back, reattaching the neck, closing the eyes filled with injustice and despair, and tidied the corpse's appearance.

Just then, a cruelly humorous thought suddenly arose in Le Yu's mind: Perhaps what he was doing now was not only unprecedented but also would never be replicated.

Because he was tidying his own remains.

"Tidying one's own remains" was clearly a paradox.

If you could tidy your remains, it meant you weren't a corpse; if you were a corpse, it meant you couldn't tidy your remains.

If someone truly could tidy their own remains, it meant there were two possibilities: either that corpse wasn't theirs, or—

You weren't 'you'.

"This Anti-Light Faction member is so weak. He doesn't seem to have practiced any Combat Arts, and he has no stealth skills at all. How dare he swagger around Star Engraving City? Is he a scholar or doctor from the Anti-Light Organization?"

A young man with a buzz cut, wearing a black vest, squatted beside him. He rummaged through the corpse's pockets, pulled out a wallet and a phone, and curiously fiddled with the square, black-screened device. "Brother Qian, do you know what this is?"

Le Yu snatched the wallet and phone, put them in his pocket, and calmly said, "I'll study it."

"Tch, you killed him. Do you really think I'd steal the spoils?" The buzz-cut young man said dismissively, then suddenly reached for Le Yu's pocket, fast as lightning!

But Le Yu's reaction was even faster!

Without any thought, Le Yu's left hand, striking after, seized the buzz-cut young man's wrist and twisted, while his right palm-knife struck directly at the young man's neck!

Subconsciously, Le Yu's palm-knife became a grip, seizing the buzz-cut young man's neck and pinning him against the wall. A realization flashed through his mind—if he had struck with the palm-knife directly just now, he would have severed the buzz-cut young man's neck!

"Ow, ow, ow—I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Brother Qian, I was just joking!" The buzz-cut young man said aggrievedly, "I just wanted to see what that glass thing was. It's transparent and black, looks pretty nice. Did you have to use the Biting Combat Arts on me…?"

Le Yu released him, and the buzz-cut young man rubbed his neck, coughing a few times. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, a hint of lingering fear in his voice: "I thought for a moment I'd end up like this Anti-Light Faction member, with Brother Qian cutting off my head with a single palm strike."

Cutting off his head…

Le Yu looked at his smooth, slender hands with a slight daze, then back at the corpse on the ground.

Two memories suddenly surged into his mind.

One belonged to 'Le Yu', an Earthling. He woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar alley. Lost, he walked out of the alley, and just as he was about to exit, he saw two young men in black vests standing at the alley's mouth.

The other belonged to 'Qian Yuliu', a Radiant Person. He was training his Combat Arts in the Statistics Department office when he suddenly received a notification that a suspected Anti-Light Faction member had appeared in Tianhe District, Star Engraving City. He brought his subordinate over, followed the coordinates, and waited at the alley's entrance, just in time to see a young man with no charter reaction running towards him.

'Le Yu's' last memory was of the black-vested young man reaching out to him.

'Qian Yuliu's' last memory was of reaching out to the young man and removing his neck.

Le Yu's body was dead, a fatal blow.

And Qian Yuliu's soul was nowhere to be found.

What existed here now was a brand new human, possessing Qian Yuliu's body with Le Yu's inner self!

"Brother Qian, aren't we leaving yet?" The buzz-cut young man yawned. "I've already notified the Tianhe Judicial Department to handle the corpse. Let's go back and clock out. It's almost dark."

Le Yu glanced at his own corpse. Surprisingly, he felt little sorrow or attachment, only a clear understanding: the temperature was probably 18°~22°C right now, and this corpse would begin to decompose within 10 hours. If left unattended, it would even naturally re-enter the cycle of nature.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't preserve this body.

The person named 'Le Yu' no longer existed in this world. No matter what he did, he couldn't go back.

"Let's go."

Le Yu turned and walked out of the dark alley.

Outside, the sun was bright, and the sky was clear.

A black car was parked outside, and the buzz-cut young man was already in the driver's seat, earphones in, humming.

His name was Chen Fu, Qian Yuliu's subordinate and classmate. They had known each other for over a decade, graduated from Star Engraving Military Academy together, and joined the Statistics Department together. If anyone was most likely to realize that Qian Yuliu's body had been taken over, it would be Chen Fu.

But Le Yu wasn't afraid. He calmly sat in the passenger seat and glanced at the watch on his left wrist. "Drive faster."

"Alrighty~" Chen Fu floored the accelerator, and the black car sped out of the alley.

Le Yu appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in his mind, he was sifting through Qian Yuliu's memories. He hadn't merely 'possessed' Qian Yuliu's body; he had also taken over his memories. This was normal, after all, as scientific research in his previous life suggested that memories were stored in the neurons of the brain. Even if the soul in the body was gone, the brain remained, and so did the memories.

For Le Yu, Qian Yuliu's memories were more like a library. The disadvantage was that he couldn't instantly access all of Qian Yuliu's memories, but the advantage was that he didn't have to worry about being assimilated by Qian Yuliu. Qian Yuliu was only slightly younger than Le Yu, and their memory volumes were similar. If he were to process all of Qian Yuliu's memories at once, Le Yu suspected he would be confused by the memories of two lives, and even lose his own self-will as 'Le Yu'.

Suddenly, Le Yu felt a bit strange.

He wasn't some great figure who remained unfazed by collapsing mountains. More often, he was an ordinary person who didn't dare watch horror movies and felt a little scared going to the bathroom at night.

Now, a series of events had occurred—transmigration, being killed, soul transfer—yet how could he so calmly analyze his situation and effectively utilize available resources?

Based on his understanding of himself, he should have been screaming and trembling helplessly upon seeing his own severed head.

Suddenly, Le Yu felt a ripple in his mind. Like an iceberg melting, a certain power seemed to merge into his heart.

A virtual panel appeared in his consciousness:

Name: Le Yu / Qian Yuliu

Deaths: 1

Available Points: 1

Qian Yuliu's Calamity: Have dinner with Qian Yuya, maximum interval 120 hours. (Remaining time: 32 hours)

Self-owned Skills: Basic Eight-Grain Flow Bite Combat Arts (+), Cold-Blooded Physique (+)

Eternal Skill: Rebirth Through Death

Challenge (Refreshable): Survive 15 days, Difficulty ☆.
Reward: 3 available points, and 1 Eternal Skill upgrade opportunity (can upgrade any skill on this body by 1 level and transform it into an Eternal Skill).

After scanning through it, Le Yu's attention focused on the skill 'Rebirth Through Death', and the system panel, following his thoughts, displayed detailed information:

Rebirth Through Death (Cannot Upgrade/Cannot Remove/Cannot Transfer): Whoever kills you shall be replaced by you. When you die, your soul will replace the soul of your killer.

Killer determination priority: Final kill > Direct kill > Indirect kill

After Le Yu finished browsing the skill information, his first thought was: This skill is too shameless!

When Qian Yuliu killed him, it triggered the effect of Rebirth Through Death, and Le Yu directly replaced Qian Yuliu's soul!

If others didn't know about this ability and attacked him, Le Yu would replace the killer. The killer's life's efforts would become Le Yu's spoils—how unfair!

But Le Yu was killed as soon as he transmigrated, so where was the fairness in that?

Le Yu composed himself and continued to examine the system panel information.

The death count was 1, and available points were also 1, which made Le Yu wonder if he gained 1 available point for every death.

Besides dying, there was another way to gain available points: completing the 'Challenge' on the system panel.

If he survived 15 days, Le Yu could get 1 skill Eternal Upgrade opportunity and 3 points.

As for what the points were used for, Le Yu naturally focused his attention on the three 'Self-owned Skills'.

If his guess was correct, 'Self-owned Skills' meant the skills Qian Yuliu's body inherently possessed, while 'Eternal Skill' referred to skills permanently held within Le Yu's soul.

'Rebirth Through Death' couldn't be upgraded. Among the three self-owned skills, the plus sign for 'Eight-Grain Flow Bite Combat Arts' was gray, while the plus sign for 'Cold-Blooded Physique' was a selectable yellow.

Cold-Blooded Physique: You are unaffected by any negative emotions, including guilt, regret, panic, despair, sadness, etc. You can think rationally regardless of your emotional state.

Next Level - Low Health Constitution (1 point required for upgrade): You are unaffected by any negative status effects, including mental shock, drug addiction, severe pain, dizziness, etc. You can perfectly control your body regardless of your mental state.

So that's why I was able to accept transmigrating and being killed so quickly…

Le Yu searched his memories and found that Qian Yuliu had the 'Cold-Blooded Physique' since childhood. He had almost no empathy, and his actions were solely based on "this will yield the greatest benefit." To outsiders, he seemed like a somewhat aloof but actually very approachable genius officer. However, even the "aloof but approachable" persona was a mask for Qian Yuliu; he believed this image would gain him more attention and affection.

His heart was like an empty, blank space, devoid of emotion, righteousness, or tears.

Le Yu pondered for a moment, then decisively upgraded Cold-Blooded Physique!

These points are just sitting there; if I don't use them when I should, they'll be meaningless!

His available points became 0, and 'Cold-Blooded Physique' on the system panel changed to 'Low Health Constitution'. The preview for the next upgrade also changed.

Next Level - Ice-Blood Physique (3 points required for upgrade): Your ice blood can deceive your body. Regardless of any negative status (poisoning, severe injury, severed limbs, paralysis, etc.), you can forcibly drive your body and reduce the impact and duration of negative statuses by 50%.

So strong!

Although Le Yu didn't know if his understanding was accurate, 'Ice-Blood Physique' was essentially 'invincibility' + '50% damage over time reduction'. In a game, this would be a top-tier divine skill, as output relies on staying alive and being able to attack.

However, this was a next-level skill, and Le Yu had no points left, so he could only salivate. If he completed the challenge, he would have enough points to upgrade this skill, but...

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Suddenly, Le Yu felt his heart pounding fiercely. He could clearly perceive the flow of blood within him, as if it had transformed into a surging river, rushing through his body!

The upgrade of Low Health Constitution was silent yet as swift as thunder!

Le Yu glanced at Chen Fu beside him, making sure he wasn't paying attention, then secretly used his left fingernail to pierce the pad of his right index finger.

Piercing one's fingertip with a fingernail might seem feasible, but the pain in the fingers reaches the heart, and the pain response usually makes people instinctively stop self-harm. Yet, with a slight movement from Le Yu, his right index finger was pierced.

Le Yu looked at the wound, licked it, and gently exhaled.

Just as he imagined, Low Health Constitution allowed him to completely ignore pain! Although he still felt something, the pain of his finger being pierced felt like being touched by a cat's paw. Le Yu knew he was injured, but it had no effect on him whatsoever!

This was the true reason Le Yu decisively upgraded Low Health Constitution.

He wasn't the rigorously trained Qian Yuliu; his soul was still Le Yu. Once danger arose, even if Le Yu could access Qian Yuliu's combat experience, pain and the fear of death would expose his weaknesses. The 'pain immunity' characteristic of Low Health Constitution could patch this loophole.

If this world were peaceful, Le Yu wouldn't be so anxious.

It's just that...

"Hey, good thing I made it in time to clock out."

Chen Fu glanced at his watch and chuckled. The car slowly came to a stop, and Le Yu looked straight ahead.

A grand, imposing building appeared before them, with a statue of a war goddess holding a long sword in her right hand and scales in her left standing in the central garden courtyard. Sentinels with long rifles demanded to check their identification.

Suddenly, Le Yu instinctively tilted his head.

Immediately after, he saw a hole shot through the car window glass, followed by a whistling 'shoo'.

"Attack!" The rifle-wielding sentinel immediately raised his weapon and fired in the direction of the attacker. Sharp alarms blared from the building, and over a dozen soldiers emerged to board armored vehicles and give chase.

Le Yu turned his head and saw a hole shot exactly through the center of the headrest of the passenger seat.

If he hadn't suddenly tilted his head just now, he might have been the attacker being chased by the rifle-wielding sentinel.

"Ugh, why do people always foolishly attack Statistics Department officers? How many times has this happened this month?" Chen Fu grumbled, driving the car into the garden. "Car window repairs are expensive, you know. Couldn't he have waited until we got out of the car to shoot?"

"...Yeah," Le Yu echoed, his emotions complicated.

The level of danger in this world was something Le Yu, who had lived in an era of peace, could never truly comprehend.

Because this was a chaotic era.

P.S.: This is my first time writing a book, please show your support!