Rebirth Anchor Shift?

The wind was warm.

There was no icy sea breeze carrying the stench of rotting fish and shrimp as expected, nor were there the crude shouts of dock porters.

Su Li felt something digging into his backside, as if he were sleeping on that old rattan chair he had slept on for decades, or perhaps... somewhere even further back in time.

He opened his eyes.

What met his gaze was not the coastline of Grey Gull Port, but a massive tree canopy that blotted out the sky.

Sparse moonlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled shadows across his face.

The surroundings were quiet, save for the shrill, persistent chirping of unknown insects in the grass.

Su Li froze.

He knew this place too well. He knew it so well that he could find every single anthill beneath these roots with his eyes closed.

Wading Village. The old locust tree at the village entrance.

System? Su Li shouted in his mind. Did you glitch out? What happened to the rebirth anchor being set to the initial state of my life's turning point? Shouldn't I have returned to that newbie village, Grey Gull Port?

According to the settings, the rebirth anchor should have been the moment he first transmigrated.

That is, the place where he had shivered uncontrollably on the docks.

He had already prepared himself mentally, ready to use his newly acquired [Sword Spirit Root] cheat to wreak havoc in Grey Gull Port, to prove that the tides turn, and to never look down on a young man in poverty.

And this was it?

They had sent him straight back to the beginning of his second life?

Before the system could reply, a flurry of hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

Here it came.

According to the script, the next person to appear should be Saina, that silly girl with a face full of freckles, a kind heart, and a bit of a crush on him.

She would hide behind a haystack to peek at him, get caught, and eventually bring him two black loaves of bread as hard as rocks.

Su Li had even prepared his lines.

The footsteps stopped.

By the moonlight, Su Li saw a small, thin figure standing not far from him.

It was a familiar face.

Even with the freckles, the sallow skin, and hair as messy as a bird's nest.

But those eyes—those eyes that always shone with light and fire whenever she looked at him—Su Li would never mistake them, not in this lifetime.

Saina in her youth.

Sixteen-year-old Saina.

"Hey, miss," Su Li cleared his throat, preparing to start his performance, "could you..."

Before he could finish, Su Li choked on his words.

Because the girl opposite him was reacting all wrong.

Following the sequence of his previous life, Saina should have been swooning, acting shy and flustered, and stuttering as she asked who he was.

But the current Saina had no shyness or unfamiliarity in her eyes; instead, they were filled with wild joy and a sense of... unexpected relief at having found something lost.

"Su Li!"

A scream pierced the quiet night sky of Wading Village.

Immediately after, the small, thin figure launched herself at Su Li like a cannonball.

"What the—!"

Su Li only had time to let out a curse before he was tackled into the tree pit by this sudden burst of passion.

Soft.

Even though the girl was as thin as a bundle of firewood and dug into him painfully, the heat radiating from her and that familiar scent were undeniably real.

Saina clung tightly to his neck, hanging off him with her legs wrapped around his waist like an octopus.

Her strength was astonishing, nearly squeezing the breath out of him.

"Su Li! Su Li! Is it really you?"

Saina buried her face in the crook of his neck, wiping her tears and snot all over his tattered linen shirt, sobbing like a two-hundred-pound child.

"I knew it! I knew the heavens wouldn't keep us apart!"

"This is heaven, right? We're both dead, aren't we?"

"Wuu wuu wuu... I was so scared. When I woke up and saw my hands had shrunk and my face was covered in freckles, I thought I'd been sent to hell and turned into a monster!"

"But it's okay because you're here! As long as you're here, I'll accept hell!"

Su Li lay at the bottom of the pit, letting the madwoman throw her tantrum on top of him.

He stared at the moon above, which looked a bit too round, his head buzzing with confusion.

This script is all wrong!

Director! Someone changed the scene!

System, explain yourself, Su Li gritted his teeth inwardly. What is up with this silly woman? Was the Meng Po soup watered down?

The pale blue light screen popped up before his eyes, lines of explanation flickering across it, the wording exuding a sense of matter-of-fact inevitability.

[Special bond target detected: Saina.]

[Bond level: Engraved in the bones (You spent a lifetime together, living from the same root and dying in the same grave; such emotion is sufficient to leave a mark in the long river of time).]

[Hidden mechanism triggered: Rebirth anchor correction.]

[Explanation: When the host forms an inseparable, profound bond with a native, the rebirth anchor automatically shifts toward the node where that bond was created. The long river of time can wash away time, but it cannot completely wash away such profound fates.]

[Who is king: fate or time?]

[Current status: Saina has retained the complete memory of being married to the host in the previous life.]

Su Li looked at the text, the corner of his mouth twitching twice.

This is actually possible?

Does this reincarnation cycle come with a save-file inheritance feature?

If I find a wife in every life from now on, won't the whole world be filled with my ex-wives who have memories? Su Li suddenly felt a chill down his spine. At that point, "shura field" wouldn't even begin to describe it; it would be a world war!

[Please rest assured, Host. The system still has integrity.]

[Only the memories of the lifetime in which the bond was formed will be retained. If you fail to form a bond in this life that can withstand the washing of the long river of time, she will not have memories of this life.]

[Friendly reminder: The memories of the lifetime where a profound fate was already formed will not disappear.]

Su Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, thank goodness.

If the memories of every lifetime stacked up, life would be impossible to live.

"Su Li? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Saina, who was on top of him, didn't hear a response and lifted her head.

Her pockmarked face was covered in teardrops, her eyes red-rimmed, looking both comical and heartbreaking.

She reached out a hand—rough, thin, and dry, with dirt under the fingernails—and tremblingly touched Su Li's face.

"Your face..." Saina paused, stunned. "Why does it look even better than before?"

Su Li's skin now resembled the finest mutton-fat jade, faintly glowing.

Between his brows and eyes, there was an indescribable, ethereal aura that made one want to kneel and kowtow at a single glance.

This was the true effect of the [Sword Spirit Root] after removing the [Introvert] concealment.

Charm fully unleashed.

Saina stared, dumbfounded. She subconsciously swallowed, her throat letting out a "gulp" sound.

"Is this also a benefit of heaven?" Saina asked foolishly. "They give out such a good-looking husband?"

Su Li sighed.

He reached out and pinched that pockmarked face.

The texture wasn't great; it was even a bit rough. But the sensation was real, and it had warmth.

"Silly woman," Su Li said, his voice a bit hoarse. "If this were heaven, the treatment would be too poor. Look at my stomach; it's almost shriveled from hunger."

"Gurgle—"

In sync with his words, a loud sound erupted from his stomach.

Saina froze.

She blinked her eyes, pinched her own arm, and finally reached into her clothes to give her thin chest a hard pinch.

"It hurts!"