I Am a Reincarnation Stream Player

Death Knell's sixth bullet fired with even greater force than the one that had blown Li Dan's head off. Almost in the blink of an eye, a thick arm spun through the air, tearing away half of the giant's chest along with it.

Steam boiled in great clouds. Missing its left arm and incapable of feeling pain, the giant struggled to get back up. As soon as Hayasaka Ai fired, Yuki sprang onto its back.

He never considered the possibility of missing. As if he already knew how things would end, he ran up the slowly rising "slope." When he saw the giant raise its right arm, seemingly to shield the back of its neck, he shouted, "Don't even think about it!"

Woooo—

The chainsaw shrieked, cutting a straight path of blood down the giant's back. Before its hand could come crashing down, Yuki neatly and precisely sliced off a chunk of flesh from the back of its neck.

The hand, already hovering above Yuki's head, suddenly froze. The seven-meter giant gave off waves of scorching vapor. Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the fallen giant without blinking.

That second stretched out impossibly long, until a black-haired man burst through the steam.

Yuki's exposed skin was bright red and stung fiercely, but he couldn't afford to care. He swung the Chainsaw Sword onto his back and shoved the two girls hard.

"Run!"

He'd said those words countless times during this game, but never with such joy. Even though the collapsed tunnel had been shoved completely open, countless heads were already forcing their way inside.

Mai Sakurajima and Hayasaka Ai ran as fast as they could. Despite their many injuries, their steps had never felt so light. They leaped up and grabbed the cable, then both turned around at once and saw Yuki rummaging through the heaps of flesh to pick up several things.

"Hurry up! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" They were on the verge of tears as they both reached out to him.

The horde of corpses had flooded into the hall. Smoker stuck out his long tongue, while Tank picked up a boulder. Yuki felt like some unparalleled delicacy, targeted by countless eyes.

He leaped forward with all his strength and caught the cable with one hand. Looking back, he saw several boulders tracing arcs through the air.

Thud, thud, thud.

Stones burst from the wall where the boulders struck. The Tanks were too far away to aim accurately, so they picked up more boulders to adjust their trajectories. Above them, a Smoker hurtled through the air.

They were using Living Corpses as cannonballs, then sticking out their tongues midair. Clearly, they were putting their newfound intelligence to the best possible use.

Too late. Yuki clearly saw a tongue wrap around his wrist, but as his body passed through the thick, blood-red wall of mist and crossed the boundary between night and day, the long tongue vanished without a trace.

The horde was gone. So was the tunnel. In the dazzling white light, all he could see were Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima, looking just as lost as he felt. Then he heard a voice sweeter than music.

[Player Yuki, you have survived the Third Night.]

[Bloodthirsty Red Moon Main Quest completed. Quest evaluation: Choose after returning.]

[Novice (Abnormal) Instance completed. Personal status updated. Player permissions adjusted.]

[Preparing to return.]

Interlude One

Chapter 1: Return and Settlement (Revised)

Was it over?

A long string of words surfaced in his mind, but Yuki hadn't heard them clearly. He'd only caught one phrase: "Preparing to return."

Those words were like magic. His taut muscles relaxed in an instant, and he dropped onto the floor. He glanced to either side. Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima were in worse shape than he was. They simply lay down, unable to move even a finger. Their panting was the only proof they were still alive.

They were exhausted. The final night they'd just survived didn't count, but the whole ordeal had only lasted a few dozen hours. It still felt as if several years had passed.

The nonstop running, fighting, scheming, and reversals—those two days and nights had been more than merely "eventful." An overwhelming amount of information had been crammed into them, leaving their nerves precious little time to relax.

You knew damn well this was abnormal, and you were still that strict and upfront about it?

Yuki silently moved his lips. His tension had actually begun to ease when he heard the prompt. He felt more like a pressure test that had already reached its limit.

If this pace and difficulty were the norm, he doubted the Reincarnation Game would have many players left. A single novice quest would be enough to eliminate 99.99999% of ordinary people. Even someone as capable as Li Dan wouldn't have survived his rookie period.

Yuki had already figured out what might have caused the instance to go abnormal:

First, a series of coincidences had piled up, and Li Dan had screwed me over.

Li Dan had originally wanted to "farm points," using his experience from three instances to tag along on Thomas's quest. Any Reincarnation-style game would have raised the difficulty for that. It would've been one thing if the veteran players had fought among themselves, but there had only been two of them in Bloodthirsty Red Moon.

That left the novices to suffer. At normal difficulty, the Ancient Castle wouldn't have been so dangerous. They could've used the terrain to hold out and find a way out. Yuki wouldn't have needed to step in and make himself the center of attention.

Second, most of the blame falls on me. The turning point was when I unlocked my trait.

Aside from his choices, sighs, and the gazes he'd felt, now that things had quieted down, Yuki had thought of another key detail: the words "Ego" in "Ego Trait." It meant the Reincarnation Game was tracing a player back to his origin—and it had discovered his.

From that point on, the instance had entered a different kind of alienation. Everything had shifted toward "eliminating the player." The game had even stopped bothering to hide its murderous intent, leaving Li Dan able to sense it clearly.

"But why?"

Yuki still couldn't figure it out. Was it because he was a transmigrator? No, that didn't make sense. My cheat isn't even that powerful. At most, it lets me prepare ahead of time and judge people by their looks.

Could it be because I learned about the Reincarnation Game ahead of time? Was it trying to kill me for leaking information?

But that diary had only said "survive." I'd thought the world was going to end. No, there was something wrong with my own choice from the start. Why had I spent ten years working hard just because of one sentence, never questioning whether it was a hallucination?

A colossal mystery loomed before him. The light gradually faded from his red eyes. A moment later, he shuddered and quickly slapped his cheeks.

"I can't get lost in pointless self-doubt."

Thinking required evidence. Otherwise, the more you thought, the more likely you were to be wrong—and you'd only waste brainpower. All he needed to do was take stock of the situation:

"For some reason, the Reincarnation Game wants to erase me. Its murderous intent is so strong that it doesn't even care whether everyone in an instance lives or dies. But it can't step in personally, or break the rules and drop some super Boss on me."

The first possibility meant utter despair. The second suggested a glimmer of hope.

Just then, Yuki saw a series of messages flash before his eyes. They looked like a game results screen, replaying his highlights.

[Killed the novice guide. Reinforcement point +1. Player chose a draw and obtained Reinforcement Magecraft (Beginner).]

[Executed a Licker. Received a Crimson Moon gift and obtained Chaos Item "Longsword" (Alienated Grade).]

[As a new player, led the team through the First Night. Reward: Reinforcement point +1. Ego Trait unlocked. Player chose to enhance a skill: Reinforcement Magecraft (Proficient).]

[Player killed Giant Living Corpse and obtained skill: Vitality Shift (Proficient).]

[Player Yuki killed player Thomas and picked up Chaos Item Chainsaw Sword (Chaos Grade +1).]

[Player Yuki picked up Chaos Items Soil-Offering Contract (Chaos Grade), Distortion Kaleidoscope (Chaos Grade), and Death Knell Revolver (Chaos Grade).]

[SSS-rank quest evaluation or remove tracking. Please choose.]

Vitality Shift? Directly at the Proficient level? That was an unexpected bonus from collecting the Crimson Moon's gifts. Converted into points, it was worth at least three reinforcement points.

"Wait. What does that last one mean?"

Yuki's pupils slowly contracted. The words "remove tracking" were so conspicuous that he hadn't even noticed the SSS-rank quest evaluation.

The massive amount of information filled his mind, confirming one of his earlier theories.

Yuki had wondered where those reward points went, and why he'd been given a choice when he unlocked his trait. The Reincarnation Game had no reason to go out of its way like that.

Remove tracking? Was someone really protecting me?

Yuki's eyes widened as he looked around the pure white space. There was nothing there, and he couldn't see anything watching him. Still, it felt as if an invisible hand had clenched his heart, radiating a terror too great for the naked eye to see.

[Please choose.]

[Please choose.]

[Please choose quickly.]

The whispering began again, but this time it was much fainter, as though it had little patience left for his decision.

[Please choose...]

The voice was almost imperceptible, like a power source running out. It had never sounded so weak.

"I choose to remove tracking," Yuki replied without a second thought. He could search for the answer to "why" later, but he might never get another chance like this.

If he got another instance as perverse as Bloodthirsty Red Moon, he'd have a ninety-nine percent chance of dying.

As soon as he spoke, Yuki held his breath. The heavens didn't stir, and no brilliant colors appeared. He only had the faint impression that some vague, unseen gaze had disappeared.

When the whispering came again, its volume had returned to normal. So had its impartial tone.

[Player Yuki, Bloodthirsty Red Moon Main Quest completed. Quest evaluation: S. Reward: 2 specialization points, 2 reinforcement points.]

Thank goodness. I thought choosing between the two had cost me the main quest evaluation. That would've been a hell of a loss.

Yuki breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he was alive, he'd eventually uncover the truth. Besides, no matter how he looked at it, the first option seemed like a trap.

If the game's basic rules were broken, then what good was an SSSS rank? High risk without high rewards, and a sudden increase in difficulty—either one was enough to get him killed.

How had he survived Bloodthirsty Red Moon? Because he'd built a solid foundation in the Ancient Castle, before the rules went wrong. He'd surpassed ordinary people, and only then had he been capable of putting his brain to use.

"This is interesting. There are more and more mysteries surrounding me."

The self-contradictory choices, the diary that had vanished without a trace, and the abnormality after he awakened his trait—so many things were tangled together like a spiderweb. He could even sense something inevitable in them.

If there hadn't been an abnormal instance, would I have ended up going solo?

No. The real reason was that I'd spent so many years in this world. After recognizing Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima, I'd naturally approached them—and found another path through them.

This instance had shown him the strength of a team. Every player had a role to play. With Yuki's abilities alone, he would've been doomed.

Thinking of this, he turned to look beside him. Mai Sakurajima slowly sat up, dazed by the pale space around her.

"Where are we?"

The pure white space seemed limitless, yet contained nothing at all. Fortunately, she saw Yuki and Hayasaka Ai sitting up nearby, and her expression relaxed. Then she hurriedly checked herself over.

"Huh? Why am I back in my old clothes? Where's my gun?"

She was back in her bunny-girl outfit. Her bulletproof vest was gone, and so was the heavy rifle.

"It's not just your clothes. Your wounds are gone too." Hayasaka Ai quickly checked herself as well, her face full of delight.

She'd been covered in wounds before, a complete mess. Even her pretty face had been disfigured. No girl wanted to be covered in scars.

The wounds weren't the only things gone. Her exhaustion and hunger had vanished too. She felt even better than when she'd first entered the game.

Yuki was a little calmer. He'd finally found one advantage of the Reincarnation Game: it wasn't as stingy as certain Main Gods. At least it didn't charge them for healing.

"Relax. It's safe here." Yuki smiled. There were things he didn't need to tell them. They'd only worry for nothing.

"Then where are we? Are we going to wait until the next mission and be sent straight into another instance?" Hayasaka Ai frowned, making Mai's expression change as well.

They'd barely finished a deadly novice instance, only to be locked in a pure white space afterward. There was no point in fighting anymore. Dying in the next instance would almost be a relief.

"No. This should be the results space after completing an instance. We'll return to the real world." Yuki shook his head firmly.

"Wishful thinking?"

"Dummy, didn't you notice what the voice said at the end? 'Preparing to return.'"

The two girls froze. At the time, they'd focused entirely on the word "return" and hadn't noticed the qualifier before it. They didn't even mind Yuki calling them dumb. Both dropped back onto the floor.

Phew. It was finally over.

The three sat with their knees hugged to their chests, facing one another. The terrifying things in their memories were the only proof they hadn't been dreaming. Now, looking back, they were overwhelmed by conflicting emotions.

Anger? Numbness? The joy of surviving against all odds? Or the yearning to see their loved ones again?

They seemed to feel a little of everything, but none of them could put it into words. Mai Sakurajima moved her lips, staring blankly at her palm.

A few minutes ago, just before they entered the wall of mist, a spike had shot toward her and cut off two of her fingers. Now she looked at her flawless, pale hand, yet could still feel the piercing pain.

"It really was... so long."

Long. Yes, it really had been long.

Yuki nodded unconsciously. He'd spent a full ten years preparing himself mentally, yet even when the big exam came, he'd still been left shaken.

The surging tide of hideous Living Corpses filling his vision, the feel of a long tongue coiling around him, the impact of a bullet hitting him, and Li Dan's hearty smile...

All of that—everything he'd seen and experienced in just two days—had crowded out more than ten years of his life since transmigrating. It really had felt too long.

"But in the end, we won. We survived." He slowly raised his head, fire seeming to burn in his eyes. "We survived by stepping over the monsters' corpses, and over Li Dan and Thomas's heads."

So what if the game wanted to erase me? Whether someone was protecting me or not, I survived—and I even got some decent rewards. If I ever see Li Dan again, I won't be much weaker than him!

"Yeah. But this is only the beginning. Li Dan survived three instances, yet was buried beneath the Crimson Moon." Hayasaka Ai reminded him. She was desperate to go back, yet afraid to do so.

Because every reunion could be their last.

"Don't be so gloomy. He's him, and I'm me." Yuki waved a hand, his tone bold. "I can't guarantee anything, but with me around, your chances of surviving will go way up."

"Easy for you to say. We only escaped at the very last second."