If Life Could Start Over, If Only I'd Known

A moment earlier, the skyscraper stood tall in the night.

"D-27?"

Ye Sheng, dressed fashionably despite standing on a Flying Sword, frowned in surprise. She had not expected a mere D-rank instance to produce a target numbered within the top thirty.

"Sheng-jie, we..."

Beside her, an equally fashionable and elegant beauty asked hesitantly.

"Clarity Spell!"

Ye Sheng murmured. A talisman in her hand traced a half-circle before vanishing. At the same time, flecks of green light flickered in her eyes, and D-27's true form slowly appeared before her.

It was a bizarre mass of gas wrapped around the several-hundred-meter-tall skyscraper.

"Damn it, of all types, it had to be this one."

Ye Sheng frowned. No matter the rank, targets among the first hundred were always especially unusual. They had all evolved from cannon fodder into troublesome things with their own distinct traits. The lower the number, the more troublesome they were, and their bizarre abilities ensured they always had something you would never expect.

Even though her level far surpassed D-rank and her abilities were considered powerful and superior, dealing with these high-numbered targets that required finding their weaknesses was truly a headache.

"What do we do, Sheng-jie? Targets of this type never reveal their true bodies, and it has occupied an entire skyscraper."

"Tch."

Ye Sheng had a headache too. Her straightforward, fight-and-kill abilities were fundamentally unsuited for dealing with this kind of thing. This sort of thing was best left to people with magic-type, mystical-type, or wizard abilities.

But this emergency had left no one else but her.

"I knew the system wouldn't let us get the reward this easily."

Ye Sheng said as she frowned and calmed herself.

Meanwhile, almost all the participants were similarly troubled over how to deal with D-27. They had each used their own methods to see D-27's true form, but for the moment, none knew where to begin.

On the rooftop, the Sunglasses Youth stood on the edge, looking down at the enormous mass of gas below. Then he said coldly:

"Hmph. Don't know where to start? Then I'll give you all a hand."

Then he took out something brimming with futuristic technology. A flash of dark-blue light gleamed.

"Palm print confirmed. Program activation authorized."

A cold electronic synthesized voice rang out. Then, blue light flashed at the base of every load-bearing pillar inside the skyscraper. The Sunglasses Youth directly summoned the system interface and pressed a button.

"Ding! Confirm withdrawal from this Night Battle scenario?"

"Yes."

The Sunglasses Youth said with a crooked smile. He glanced at Ye Sheng in the distance, then lowered his head with a nostalgic chuckle.

When we meet again, what will it look like, Ye Sheng?

Then his figure vanished, and the instant after he disappeared—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!

Deafening explosions resounded through the night sky!

The several-hundred-meter-tall skyscraper seemed to lose its spine in an instant. Smoke and dust burst from every window as it collapsed like a giant hundreds of meters tall!

"What!?"

In an office on one floor, a young man playing with flames froze in shock. Then he clicked his tongue regretfully, his lower body turning into fire as he waded out through the flames of the explosion.

And he was not the only one. Several other participants elsewhere saw this scene and all turned pale in shock, cursing inwardly in unison.

"My... God!!!!!"

"Damn! Which lunatic did something this vile?"

"No way, good thing I didn't go in just now!"

Even the gentlemanly man with a cane stared at the scene in slight astonishment, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

In midair beside the skyscraper, Ye Sheng, seated in the best VIP aerial seat for viewing the full panorama of "Skyscraper Collapse.jpg," was trembling with rage. She nearly fell off her Flying Sword as she shakily raised a slender finger toward where the Sunglasses Youth had been on the rooftop, gritting her teeth.

"This... this, this..."

"Lunatic."

Hua Ling saw Ye Sheng half-dead with anger and supplied the rest for her. Then she raised her brows and said solemnly:

"Sheng-jie, calm down. That explosion at least forced D-27's true body out. Also, getting angry makes your chest shrink. Please think carefully."

Ye Sheng: "..."

All right, now let's return to normal time.

When the skyscraper collapsed, Fang Ran watched the black shadow falling from midair and felt rather complicated inside.

Damn it, it collapsed again.

Damn. Baby, that "again" was used so well.

First the station had suddenly collapsed, then the skyscraper had suddenly collapsed too.

Why am I so unlucky today?

Everywhere I go, something collapses?

After letting out one final roar, Fang Ran and the Zombie behind him were buried beneath the ruins of the collapsing building.

The former commercial district instantly became a field of wreckage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

First came the sound of sword energy clashing against metal.

Sizzle, boom!

Then came the crackle of electricity and the blast of scorching heat.

Hisss!!! Roar!

Finally came a miserable, strangely distorted roar.

And then our protagonist finally! Once again! Stood up!

Dear audience! The thrilling moment has finally arrived!

Look! Even after such severe trials, even after enduring such difficult circumstances, our unyielding, hardworking, brave, helpful, perpetually single protagonist had stood up once more!

Ah, how exciting!

(One thousand words omitted here.)

"Pfft! Cough, cough!!!"

However, the truth was that Fang Ran crawled out, filthy and disheveled, from a hole the size of a dog door. He coughed repeatedly, hacking out all the dust he had inhaled. Only after a long while did Fang Ran finally stand up, panting heavily with his hands braced on his knees.

Then he silently returned to the "dog door," reached inside, and fished out a belt.

That's right, a belt.

That rigid belt.

A rigid belt sturdy enough to wedge against the ground and support a slab of ceiling.

The night air was slightly cool. Fang Ran stood atop the ruins, gazing somewhat wistfully at the night.

He wanted to light a cigarette and express his melancholy, because just moments ago, his belt had saved him.

Yes, that's right, his belt had saved his life.

His hardened belt.

Thinking about it made things feel a little complicated.

Fang Ran turned and looked at the ruins behind him, crushed into a complete mess. Like the male lead who survived until the end of an apocalyptic movie, Fang Ran felt that after weathering such storms and waves, his state of mind had finally matured.

He sighed, looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and spoke with world-weary complexity:

"If only I'd known, I really should have just run naked all the way back under the sun."