I'm a Reincarnation Stream Player

He was gaunt, wearing a bizarre helmet. A scar ran across his left eye, and he held a gun and knife in exactly the same way as the young man.

"Your trump card!?"

Concept activated—

Yuki remained silent. It was as if some deity had possessed him. He hadn't thought about it at all; his body had already reacted on its own, with speed and fluidity that even surpassed what his physical strength should have allowed.

Drop the gun, grip the knife, step in, decapitate.

"Hesitation is Defeat!!"

Author's Note!

Dear readers, this must be about the seventh time I've written an author's note for a book going on sale, right? No sentimental rambling, no waiting around. Let's get straight to the point and kick things off with a bang:

Why did I write this book?

Because toward the end of my previous book, the one about the Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era, Tree's body gave out. My old readers should know about it. It was anxiety disorder plus cervical spondylosis. I took two months to recover, and I was really bored, so I decided I might as well write something. That's why updates were so slow when this book first began.

Also, as the notorious hot-topic disaster of Ciwentao, I'm a real jinx when it comes to choosing a subject. Picking a theme is always torture. When I started getting ready to write a new book, I couldn't settle on one for a while.

I considered Attack on Titan, Warhammer 40K, Bleach, Honkai: Star Rail, Dark Souls, and plenty more. They were all things I could write easily and well. Later, I figured I was getting a little tired of fanfiction, so why not try an original story? But I'd never written a long-form original story, either. So I decided to start with original-world scenarios instead.

And then I wrote it. Since this was my first time tackling an unfamiliar subject, and my approach was different from before, it was only natural that I'd have trouble adjusting. I know what everyone thinks. Looking back, I guess that was the price of learning. We all have to keep moving forward.

Please be patient with the parts I didn't handle well. I'm still a rookie in this area, after all, and I've made more than a few assumptions.

Tree will keep updating diligently and consistently, just like before. But because of my health, I might not be able to do as many mass updates. I really can't let my pig brain go into overdrive; that leaves me unable to sleep all night and groggy the next day.

This book may have all sorts of flaws, but I'll definitely bring out Tree's own style.

I'm grateful for all your support over the years. Tomorrow at noon, I'll start with a ten-thousand-word update. Please come and show your support.

Please, please~

Shara Twin Trees

The night of April 18

Chapter 43: That Boar's Head Is So Devious! (Revised)

It was as if someone else had been controlling him. That strike had been faster than thought, almost like a law of nature.

The instant he swung, Yuki knew how it would end. But when the blade flashed past, he felt no impact at all.

Drip, drip.

The "rain" kept falling. Yuki remained bent forward, looking at the Chainsaw Sword halted beside his face and at Mai Sakurajima, standing frozen in the distance.

All was silent. In the wrecked supermarket, the three of them seemed like statues. A moment later, he raised his head and saw Thomas staring fixedly at him.

His eyes bulged, the frenzy still lingering in them. His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but a line of blood appeared across his neck, slowly seeping out.

Thud.

His head came free of his body and dropped into the water, which reached the tops of Yuki's feet. It rolled a few times. Only then did the world feel real again: the smell of blood, the girl's quickened breathing, and waves of pain all came rushing in.

Haa—

He let out a long breath. His body swayed for a moment before he used the knife to brace himself.

So this was a Conceptual Craft Essence? Under the right conditions, it guaranteed a lethal result?

Not long after unlocking his Ego Trait, Yuki had drawn the concept Hesitation is Defeat. Since he could only use it once, he'd kept it in reserve.

He hadn't even used it against the Tyrant. He'd saved it for this very moment. There was no such thing as a lucky coincidence—only using one's wits to find the perfect opportunity.

With or without this trait, a true gambler made plans based on the cards in his hand.

A burst of victorious elation swept away his exhaustion. He'd tested how strong Thomas was. Under normal circumstances, there was no guarantee that strike would hit him. Even if Yuki took off one of his hands, the frenzied Thomas would still have killed him on the spot.

An unchangeable rule? No wonder I felt like I'd already won the moment I swung that blade.

Yuki had finally understood the value of a "concept," but he didn't think the trait was worth affecting the game's difficulty. He could use it only once, and for that one use, he'd had to spend a hundred times as many brain cells planning.

"Lucky for me, planning is what I'm best at."

He glanced at the head, its eyes still glaring furiously. He had to admit that Thomas had been a difficult opponent. He was strong, determined, and actually pretty clever. He must have made a big impression in the previous scenario, which was why Li Dan had taken an interest in him.

It was better to specialize and develop a distinct strength than to dabble in everything and master nothing.

Yuki showed little emotion. The Reincarnation Game was full of killing, and from the moment he joined, he'd been prepared for players to kill one another.

It was just a pity that this scenario had no prompt about players killing players. Otherwise, he might have made a little extra profit.

"There's no good or evil here. We're all just poor souls trying to survive. If I'd been the one to fall, he wouldn't have spared me a second thought, either." Yuki looked away and turned to Mai Sakurajima, who still had her gun raised. "Senpai, you can breathe again now."

"Is he dead?" Mai prodded the headless corpse on the ground with her gun barrel, still unable to believe it. That look Thomas had given her had frozen her in place, and pulling the trigger had felt like lifting a thousand pounds.

He was a monster. The supermarket was practically demolished.

"He's dead for good," Yuki replied casually, then suddenly asked, "Aren't you scared? We really did just kill someone. You could call it a perfect murder."

Thomas was different from the monsters in the scenario. He was a living, breathing person from the same world as them.

Mai's gun barrel stopped. As if she'd just come back to her senses, she raised her head. First came shock, then a trace of fear—but in the end, her expression turned calm.

"I... wasn't thinking that far ahead. I guess I've gotten used to it."

Her voice was full of grief and disgust. The Reincarnation Game was like a psychologist: first it cranked the sense of danger up so high that people couldn't think rationally, then it gradually got them used to bloodshed and cruelty.

Take Mai, for example. At the start of the game, even if Thomas had just stood there and let her cut him, she probably wouldn't have been able to do it. But not long ago, she'd blown up more than a hundred "people" who looked just like her. When a crisis hit, her brain adapted automatically.

The grotesque Living Corpses, the police officers who looked normal but weren't, and finally, the players themselves.

Yuki glanced at the waterlogged ground. It was pitch-black, like the muddy depths of an Abyss, dragging him farther and farther down.

Would killing become second nature after they returned to reality, too?

"We had no choice. If we didn't kill him, we'd die." Yuki put away his long knife, examined the corpse, and picked up the Chainsaw Sword. Killing another player didn't earn a reward, but veteran players were treasures in their own right.

[Chaos Item: Bloody Chainsaw Sword (Chaos Grade), ****]

[As it kills, it slightly strengthens the user until they reach their limit. *** Effect: Overload Mode]

[Side effect: As the user grows stronger, their perception gradually becomes more frenzied. Upon reaching the limit, they begin to cool off, and exhaustion sets in.]

[Description: Killing brings pleasure. Killing excites. But once that pleasure fades, only endless exhaustion remains.]

The description was still blunt and to the point. But what did that block of asterisks at the end mean? Was there something special about it?

And even though both were Chaos Grade, this sword was much stronger than Hayasaka Ai's Frontal Lobe Fragment. It was a little weaker against groups, but it wouldn't leave him completely drained after a single use.

Yuki had a few guesses. He looked at Mai Sakurajima, still standing there in a daze. "Senpai, isn't there anything you want to ask?"

His words immediately cut through the stench of bloodshed. The girl came back to herself, her violet eyes widening.

"So it really does have something to do with you!"

She wasn't stupid. She already knew that the Reincarnation Game's normal difficulty wasn't supposed to be like this. Li Dan and Thomas working together was partly to blame, but Yuki was even more responsible.

Besides, the man hadn't denied it just now. He'd accepted the blame.

"Did you really get some kind of divine artifact?"

"If I had, why wouldn't I have used it just now? Besides, didn't Thomas say that rewards earned in the game were only to be expected?" Yuki rolled his eyes and swung the greatsword in his hand. "I really did hear some strange whispers. Li Dan wasn't wrong about that."

"I get it. The game told you the script, so that's how you kept surviving one close call after another. Hey, don't touch me."

Yuki pulled back his hand, which he'd been about to use to chop her on the head. If he'd known the script, would he have needed to risk his life? He would have led them all to a smooth clear already.

"The anomaly happened after we left the Ancient Castle, when I unlocked my trait. The whispers gave me the choice of whether to unlock it."

"And then?"

"Nothing after that. I chose to unlock it, and that was it."

Mai Sakurajima blinked, looking as if she thought he was messing with her. What kind of anomaly was that? Who wouldn't unlock a trait? But the more she thought about it, the more something seemed off.

"No wonder you asked me what kind of whispers I'd heard when I unlocked my trait!"

The pieces finally fit together. She found it a little ridiculous. What kind of reason was that? It hadn't given him any real advantage. Could there be something wrong with his identity?

Wait, there really was something wrong with him. What ordinary person would buy a bulletproof vest and shoot himself, or learn a bunch of strange skills?

That expertise hadn't come from the game. He'd already built it up before becoming a player.

"Yeah. I'd like to know why, too." Yuki sighed and ran a hand over the greatsword. "Now that you know my secret, what are you going to do?"

A normal person would keep their distance. But this scenario didn't allow anyone to go it alone. Mai didn't really have a choice—and, emotionally, she'd already made it.

Without Yuki, she wouldn't even have made it to the day the scenario changed. She would have died in the Ancient Castle.

"Do I have a choice?"

"You don't need to choose. You already chose when you helped me deal with Thomas." Yuki smiled and lowered his sword, then reached out a hand. "Don't worry. I'll take the blame. To make it up to you, I'll definitely get you back."

All the Living Corpses had been drawn away, leaving the route out of the mall completely clear. Yuki had planned for that, too. He was worried that after finally taking Thomas down, some Living Corpse might come along and steal the kill. Who would he even complain to then?

He'd left Thomas's body in the underground supermarket. Players were no different from soldiers in a war: when they fell, they were left to rot on the battlefield. The huge "tombstone" he'd left behind was a fitting tribute.

He was a good opponent. He reminded me not to underestimate any player. Yuki recalled his first impression of Thomas. He'd seemed irritable, greedy, and stupid—a textbook loser.

In this damn game, had acting become a necessary skill? If I'd dared underestimate him, I'd have been doomed.

If he hadn't been naturally wary of "veteran players," the two of them could easily have fooled him with their double act.

Good. From here on, I'm in control.

Yuki sneaked a look behind him and couldn't help but find it amusing. Mai Sakurajima had followed him, of course, but she'd made him swear as punishment:

You swear you'll take me back.

Of course I'll go back. The moment the notification sounded, what I felt most was relief.

The long wait had finally ended. It was as if the whole point of his transmigration had been to wait for this day. So Li Dan hadn't been wrong.

"I'm a transmigrator, one who's been waiting for the arrival of the supernatural. Was that why I caused the scenario to become anomalous?"

"What are you muttering to yourself about now?" Mai Sakurajima, a few steps behind him, raised an eyebrow. He really was a weirdo.

"I said black stockings are the best!"

"Ugh. Are you addicted to acting like a boar's head or something?" Mai wrinkled her nose, trying hard to keep a straight face. "Seriously, though, what are we going to do about Li Dan? Are we going to fight him again?"

"He's much stronger than Thomas. Even if we use every trump card we have, we won't be a match for him."

"Then can we help Hayasaka escape without him noticing?"

"Li Dan isn't blind. How could he let her escape right under his nose?" Yuki snorted. Seeing the serious look on his senpai's face, he was glad that she cared about her teammate. Then he explained, "We can't beat him, but we don't have to fight him, either."

"But we've already fallen out with him!"

"Right. But when it comes to survival, saving face doesn't matter. Thomas is already dead, and Li Dan has suffered a heavy loss. He'll have to change his original plan." Yuki narrowed his eyes, looking completely confident.

"Luckily, I left him a contingency—a chance to make another choice."

Mai Sakurajima didn't know what that contingency was, but after thinking it over, she agreed with Yuki.

Thomas was dead, so Li Dan couldn't carry out his original plan anyway. As she thought about it, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"You already have an idea for getting through the scenario? No wonder Thomas mentioned a 'clue'!"

"Of course I have an idea. Otherwise, I would've handed you over with both hands ages ago." Yuki glanced at the girl, who opened her mouth as if she was about to curse him, then continued confidently. "Li Dan already had his own way of clearing the scenario, so he had no reason to waste time with me. But now things are different—"

"His path has been cut off, and my path is his only way to survive."

One link after another. That boar's head was so devious!

Mai Sakurajima drew in a breath. He'd dangled a carrot in front of Li Dan so he wouldn't be pushed into a corner and lash out. But now that they'd fallen out, how could they work together? And how could they guard against a backstab? She racked her brains but couldn't come up with a thing.

So she stopped trying. Mm, it had nothing to do with her intelligence. She was just leaving the professional work to the expert.

"By the way, while you were fighting Thomas, I found the housewife. She was hiding in the mall."

That was only natural. Thomas wouldn't have gone alone.

Yuki suddenly slowed his pace, his expression intent. "What was she doing?"

The housewife couldn't see Mai Sakurajima, and Mai hadn't gone over to disturb her. She'd watched for several minutes instead, almost as if she'd forgotten that Yuki was being chased all over the place by Thomas.

"She was just standing there, not inclined to join the fight. Like a puppet or something. And also..." Mai tapped her forehead, suddenly remembering an important detail.