Rebirth Through Death

Le Yu crouched down and lifted the dead man's head in front of him.

The cross-section of the neck was incredibly clean, like a "bowl-sized scar." His hair was slightly long, clearly uncut for several days. His dark circles were heavy, showing that his usual diet and sleeping schedule hadn't been very healthy.

There was nothing unusual about the dead man's eyes, either. His pupils were dull and lifeless, revealing only a trace of curiosity, a trace of panic, a trace of confusion, and a trace of... grievance.

Until the moment before his death, this man seemed not to understand why he had died.

Whom had he offended?

What had he done wrong?

Why had he ended up like this?

Le Yu put the dead man's head back, fitted the neck together, lowered those eyes filled with injustice and despair, and tidied the corpse's appearance.

At that moment, a cruel thought rose in Le Yu's mind like a joke: perhaps what he was doing now had not only never been done before, but would never be done again.

Because he was arranging his own remains.

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

If you could arrange your own remains, that meant you weren't a corpse. If you were a corpse, that meant you couldn't arrange your own remains.

If someone really could arrange his own remains, there were only two possibilities: the corpse wasn't his own, or—

You weren't "you."

"This 'Anti-Light Faction' is so weak. He doesn't look like he's ever trained in martial arts, and he doesn't know the slightest thing about infiltration. How does he dare walk around Star Engraving City so openly? Is he a scholar or doctor from the Anti-Light Organization?"

A crew-cut young man in a pitch-black vest crouched beside him and rummaged through the corpse's pockets. He pulled out a wallet and a phone, then curiously fiddled with the square black-screen machine. "Brother Qian, do you know what this is?"

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

"Tch. You killed him. Do you really think I'd steal the spoils?" the crew-cut young man said disdainfully. Then he suddenly reached for Le Yu's pocket, moving as fast as thunder!

But Le Yu reacted even faster!

Without almost any thought, Le Yu's left hand reached out first, caught the crew-cut young man's wrist, and twisted it. His right palm struck directly toward the man's neck!

Instinctively, Le Yu changed the palm strike into a grip, clamped down on the crew-cut young man's neck, and pinned him against the wall. A trace of realization flashed through his mind—if he had struck with his palm just now, he would have cut the man's neck off!

"It hurts, it hurts—I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Brother Qian, I was only joking." The crew-cut young man said aggrievedly, "I just wanted to see what that piece of glass was. It's transparent, black, and shiny—quite good-looking. Did you have to hit me with the Biting Combat Arts...?"

Le Yu released him. The crew-cut young man rubbed his neck and coughed several times. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, his voice carrying a hint of lingering fear. "I thought I was going to end up like that Anti-Light Faction member just now, with Brother Qian cutting my head off with one palm."

Cut his head off...

Le Yu stared blankly at his smooth, slender hands, then looked at the corpse on the ground.

Two streams of memories suddenly surged into his mind.

One belonged to the Earthling "Le Yu." After waking up, he had suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar city and an unfamiliar alley. He had stumbled out along the alley, and just as he was about to leave, he saw two young men in pitch-black vests standing at the entrance.

The other belonged to the Radiant People "Qian Yuliu." He had been practicing combat arts in the Statistics Department office when he suddenly received notice that a suspected member of the Anti-Light Faction had appeared in Tianhe District, Star Engraving City. He had brought his subordinate over, guarded the alley entrance according to the coordinates, and happened to see a young man with no Charter reaction running toward him.

"Le Yu's" final memory was of the young man in the black vest reaching out toward him.

"Qian Yuliu's" final memory was of himself reaching toward the young man and removing the young man's neck.

Le Yu's body was dead, killed in one strike.

And Qian Yuliu's soul had vanished without a trace.

The person now present was a brand-new human being with Qian Yuliu's body and Le Yu's inner self!

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

Le Yu glanced at his own corpse. Unexpectedly, he felt little grief or attachment. He merely realized one thing clearly: the temperature was probably between eighteen and twenty-two degrees Celsius. This corpse would begin to rot within ten hours, and if left alone, it might even automatically enter nature's cycle.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't preserve the corpse.

The world no longer had a person named "Le Yu." No matter what happened, he couldn't return.

"Let's go."

Le Yu turned and left the dark alley.

Outside, the sunlight was warm, and the sky was clear.

A black sedan was parked outside. The crew-cut young man was already in the driver's seat, an earbud in his ear as he hummed tunelessly.

His name was Chen Fu. He was Qian Yuliu's subordinate and classmate. The two had known each other for more than a decade, graduated from Star Engraving Military Academy together, and joined the Statistics Department together. If anyone was most likely to see through the fact that someone else had replaced Qian Yuliu inside his body, 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."

"Sure thing~" Chen Fu floored the accelerator, and the black car shot out of the alley and onto the street.

Le Yu appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but he was actually browsing through Qian Yuliu's memories. He hadn't merely possessed Qian Yuliu's body—he had even taken his memories along with him. This was only natural. According to the scientific research of his previous life, memories existed in the brain's neurons. Although the soul within the body was gone, the brain remained, so the memories naturally remained as well.

To Le Yu, Qian Yuliu's memories were more like a library. The downside was that he couldn't acquire all of Qian Yuliu's memories in an instant. The upside was that he didn't need to worry about being assimilated by Qian Yuliu. Qian Yuliu was only slightly younger than Le Yu, and the amount of memories they possessed was roughly equal. If he digested all of Qian Yuliu's memories at once, Le Yu suspected that the memories of two lifetimes would confuse him, or even make him lose his own will as "Le Yu."

Suddenly, Le Yu felt that something was strange.

He wasn't some great figure who could remain calm when Mount Tai collapsed before him. Most of the time, he was an ordinary person who didn't even dare watch horror movies and felt a little afraid going to the bathroom at night.

Now that he had experienced one event after another—traveling to another world, being killed, and having his soul transferred—how could he analyze his situation so calmly and make effective use of every available resource?

Based on his understanding of himself, the moment he saw his own dead head, he should have screamed, lost his wits, and trembled uncontrollably.

Suddenly, Le Yu felt ripples spread through his mind. It was as if an iceberg had melted, and some kind of power had also fused into his heart.

A line of virtual panels appeared in his consciousness:

"Name: Le Yu/Qian Yuliu"

"Deaths: 1"

"Available Points: 1"

"Qian Yuliu's Tribulation: Have dinner with Qian Yuya, maximum interval of 120 hours. (Time remaining: 32 hours)"

"Personal Skills: Basic Eight-Grain Flow Biting Combat Arts (+), Cold-Blooded Physique (+)"

"Eternal Skill: Rebirth Through Death"

"Challenge (refreshable): Survive 15 Days, Difficulty ☆."

"Reward: 3 available points and 1 chance to upgrade an Eternal Skill (can raise any skill of the current body by 1 level and transform it into an Eternal Skill)."

After browsing through it once, Le Yu focused his attention on the "Rebirth Through Death" skill. The system panel also popped up detailed information according to his wishes:

"Rebirth Through Death (cannot be upgraded/removed/transferred): Whoever kills you will be replaced by you. When you die, your soul will replace the killer's soul.

Priority for determining the killer: final killer > direct killer > indirect killer"

After reading the skill information, Le Yu's first thought was: This skill is too shameless!

When Qian Yuliu killed him, it had triggered the effect of Rebirth Through Death, allowing Le Yu to directly replace Qian Yuliu's soul!

If someone attacked him without knowing about this ability, Le Yu would replace the killer. Everything the killer had worked for throughout his life would become Le Yu's spoils. How unfair!

But Le Yu had been killed the moment he crossed over. Where was the fairness in that?

Le Yu composed himself and continued examining the information on the system panel.

His death count was one, and his available points were also one. This made Le Yu wonder whether every death increased his available points by one.

Aside from dying, there was another way to obtain available points: completing the "challenge" on the system panel.

If he survived fifteen days, Le Yu could obtain one chance to upgrade an Eternal Skill, as well as three points.

As for what the points were used for, Le Yu naturally focused his attention on the three "Personal Skills."

If his guess was correct, "Personal Skills" referred to the skills inherently possessed by Qian Yuliu's body, while "Eternal Skills" were skills permanently possessed by Le Yu's soul.

"Rebirth Through Death" couldn't be upgraded. Among the three Personal Skills, the plus sign beside "Eight-Grain Flow Biting Combat Arts" was gray, while the plus sign beside the personal "Cold-Blooded Physique" was selectable and yellow.

"Cold-Blooded Physique: You will not be affected by any negative emotions, including guilt, regret, panic, despair, sadness, and so on. Regardless of your emotional state, you can think rationally.

"Next Level—Low Health Constitution (1 point required for upgrade): You will not be affected by any negative status effects, including mental shock, drug addiction, excruciating pain, dizziness, and so on. Regardless of your mental state, you can perfectly control your body."

So this was why he had been able to accept crossing over and being killed so quickly...

Le Yu searched through his memories and discovered that Qian Yuliu had possessed the "Cold-Blooded Physique" since childhood. He had almost no empathy, and everything he did was merely because "doing this would bring the greatest benefit." In the eyes of others, he was simply a somewhat aloof but actually easygoing genius officer. But even the "aloof but easygoing" aspect was a mask worn by Qian Yuliu. He felt that this persona made it easier for him to receive attention and affection.

His heart was like an empty white wasteland, devoid of affection, loyalty, and tears.

After thinking for a moment, Le Yu decisively upgraded Cold-Blooded Physique!

There was no point in saving the point. If you didn't use it when you needed to, it was meaningless!

The available points became zero, and the system panel's "Cold-Blooded Physique" changed to "Low Health Constitution." The preview of the next level also changed.

"Next Level—Ice-Blood Physique (3 points required for upgrade): Your ice blood can deceive your body. Regardless of what negative state your body is in (poisoning, serious injury, severed limbs, paralysis, and so on), you can forcibly drive your body while reducing the impact and duration of negative states by 50%."

How powerful!

Although Le Yu didn't know whether his understanding was accurate, the "Ice-Blood Physique" could simply be described as "super armor" plus "50% reduced damage-over-time duration." Even in a game, it would be an absolutely top-tier skill. After all, the prerequisite for dealing damage was staying alive and being able to deal damage.

But this was the next level of the skill, and Le Yu had no points left. He could only salivate over it for a while. 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 violently. He could seemingly sense the flow of blood within his body clearly, as if it had transformed into great rivers surging through him!

The upgrade of Low Health Constitution was silent yet thunderous!

Le Yu glanced at Chen Fu beside him. After confirming that Chen Fu hadn't noticed him, he secretly used the fingernail of his left hand to pierce the pad of his right index finger.

Piercing the pad of a finger with a fingernail seemed feasible, but pain in the fingers shot straight to the heart, and the pain response would make people instinctively give up self-harm. Yet with a slight movement from Le Yu, the pad of his right index finger was cut open.

Le Yu examined the wound, licked it, and gently exhaled.

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

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

He wasn't Qian Yuliu, who had endured years of training. His soul was still Le Yu's. If he encountered danger, even if he could read Qian Yuliu's combat experience, pain and the fear of death would make him completely reveal his true nature. The "ignore pain" trait of Low Health Constitution filled this gap.

If this world were peaceful and prosperous, Le Yu wouldn't have been so impatient.

It was just that...

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

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

A grand and solemn building appeared before them. In the central garden stood a statue of a war goddess holding a longsword in her right hand and scales in her left. Soldiers on guard carrying long-barreled guns demanded to inspect their credentials.

Suddenly, Le Yu instinctively turned his head to the side.

Immediately afterward, he saw a hole shot through the car window. Only then did a "whoosh" whistle through the air.

"Attack!" The long-barreled soldiers immediately raised their weapons and fired toward the attacker's direction. Sharp alarms rang out from inside the building, and more than a dozen soldiers emerged, boarded an armored vehicle, and gave chase.

Le Yu turned his head and saw that a hole had been shot through the exact center of the passenger seat's headrest.

If he hadn't suddenly tilted his head just now, he might have been the attacker being pursued by the long-barreled soldiers.

"Sigh, why are there always people who don't know when to quit attacking Statistics Department agents? How many incidents has it been this month?" Chen Fu drove the car into the garden and complained irritably, "Replacing car windows is expensive! Couldn't he have waited until we'd left the car before shooting?"

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

The danger level of this world was something that a person like Le Yu, who had lived in a peaceful and prosperous era, could never understand.

Because this was a chaotic era.

P.S. This is a novice author writing a book for the first time. Please give me plenty of support!