The Game Begins Again

Yu Xunge opened her eyes and stared blankly at the expensive, exquisite chandelier on the ceiling.

Wasn't she being bled dry while nailed to a spell formation in the dungeon by Yu Xunhuan?

In just a second, she reflexively mobilized the energy within her. A whole year of fleeing had turned it into instinct—no matter where she was or what situation she faced, she would first get somewhere safe before thinking things through.

Yet when she sprang up with a slick kip-up, nothing happened...

Her body's response told her that she was an ordinary person now.

Just then, voices sounded outside the door. One of them belonged to someone she would never forget, even in her dreams—her agent, Liu Zhengliu.

She sat up and looked around. A hotel? Beside her pillow was the phone she had not seen in years. She picked it up and saw the time displayed on the screen: February 21, 11 p.m.

2078!

Yu Xunge's breathing quickened. She had been reborn? Reborn one year before the game invasion?

No one knew that exactly one year from today, the entire Blue Star would be invaded by a game world called Calamity of Ten Thousand Races: Fear Rift.

In order to plant anchors on Blue Star and link itself to the planet, this game that would invade Blue Star had descended upon it in the form of a game in 2078. It had briefly undergone three closed beta tests, each lasting only seven hours. There had been no warning, and almost no one knew about them. Still, several hundred people had downloaded the game out of boredom or by coincidence. By the third closed beta, word had leaked, and as many as six figures' worth of players had logged in early.

Among the players who had participated in those closed betas, some regretted for the rest of their lives that they had only played for a few minutes, while others soared from fish to dragon. Her dear younger brother was one of those who had soared.

And February 22, at 2:22 a.m., was the first closed beta!

But she had no interest in saving the world or warning everyone. Under its many restrictions, the invasion by the foreign races would be a fairly long process. During that time, far more people would die at the hands of their own kind than at the hands of foreign races.

As Yu Xunge recalled her current circumstances, she changed into lighter clothing.

Though four years had passed, the events of these days remained deeply etched in her mind.

Because tomorrow, on the day someone's fate would be forever changed by a game, Liu Zhengliu would get her drunk in the early hours of this morning and send her to the bed of a company executive. Back then, she had scared that man off with the mad resolve that they would all die together today. But the consequence was that "scandals" followed one after another. She was sent to all kinds of low-end drinking parties, and the roles she received were either maids or tiny parts where she had to soak in cold water and get slapped.

Yu Xunge pushed open the door. Liu Zhengliu, who was holding a bottle of liquor outside, gave her an intimate smile. "Xunge? Want a drink?"

Yu Xunge wanted to kill her right then, but her experience on the run had taught her not only patience, but also disguise. Her smile was even warmer than Liu Zhengliu's. "No. Something happened to my brother. I need to go back."

The moment she heard that excuse, Liu Zhengliu knew she could not keep Yu Xunge here today.

In her eyes, Yu Xunge was the ultimate sister who spoiled her younger brother. Half the money she earned from filming went into her brother's pocket. Even if she injured her leg filming, if her brother said he missed his sister, she was the sort of idiot who would crawl home to him.

Liu Zhengliu figured that unless she claimed her whole family had died, there was no way she could keep Yu Xunge here today...

But that excuse was far too implausible. Yu Xunge had watched her call her family just yesterday.

Liu Zhengliu took a deep breath and told herself not to rush. There was still a chance. Smiling, she said, "It's so late. Wait a moment—I'll wake Xiao Wu and have him drive you."

Yu Xunge nodded. She was currently staying at the production crew's hotel and did need a ride. There were less than three hours until the game's closed beta, and she had to get home to stop Yu Xunhuan from playing it.

In her previous life, Yu Xunhuan had clearly participated in the closed beta long ago and gained abilities beyond the imagination of ordinary people a year in advance. Yet he had kept it tightly hidden, coldly watching her suffer in the entertainment industry while using the money and resources she earned to develop himself...

In the end, he had even pretended at her side for three years. Even when she was hunted down in the third year, she had believed Yu Xunhuan was innocent. All of it had been for the sake of stealing her god-tier talent. She only learned the truth in the final moment before her death.

Still, she had not let him get away with it. She had endured the agony of being bled so she could wait for the mastermind to reveal himself, then detonate the item called [If I Die, We All Die] on her body, attempting to perish together with everyone present that day.

Only at death's door did she learn that she had merely been a villain in a novel...

A possessive older sister secretly in love with Yu Xunhuan, the male lead.

Fine, fine, fine. You wanted to follow the trend but couldn't write incest because of the rules, so you disgusted people like this instead?!

Once in the car, she transferred one thousand to Xiao Wu in front of him. "Get me home within two hours, and I'll give you another two thousand as a bonus."

Xiao Wu's resentment at being dragged into overtime in the middle of the night instantly vanished. In the polished voice of a radio announcer, he said, "Boss, please fasten your seat belt."

An hour and forty minutes later, Yu Xunge sat in the passenger seat with a greenish face. Her body had arrived, but her soul had nearly flown away. "What did you do before you came to work for me?"

Xiao Wu opened his payment QR code. "I drove hearses."

"..." So that was why. Yu Xunge transferred him 2,500. "Go to the convenience store across the street and buy me a small bottle of baijiu."

With money involved, everything was negotiable. Xiao Wu's service attitude shot through the roof. In less than ten minutes, he made a round trip and brought Yu Xunge a small bottle of baijiu.

Yu Xunge had been reborn at 11 p.m. last night. By the time she got home, it was already 1:47 a.m.

She poured the baijiu into a glass, then poured herself a glass of water. Carrying both glasses, she went to Yu Xunhuan's room. After knocking twice, the door opened. That useless freeloader was indeed still awake.

Yu Xunge could become a star, and Yu Xunhuan could become a live-in son-in-law of a wealthy family, so naturally the siblings were both good-looking. Yu Xunge had a gentle, intellectual appearance, while Yu Xunhuan looked obedient and harmless. But his heart was blacker than anyone's.

She handed the glass of baijiu to Yu Xunhuan. "Come on, bottoms up! Your sister will soon earn enough to buy you a villa!"

Yu Xunge did not consider herself a stupid idiot. The reason Yu Xunhuan had managed to fool her for so many years was because he nearly always fulfilled anything she asked of him. He was truly different from those brothers online who only knew how to bleed their sisters dry.

This younger brother was truly an expert-level schemer.

If there was tasty food, he would wait for Yu Xunge to come home and eat with him. He did anything his sister asked. When Yu Xunge dated, he became especially jealous. He saved all the spending money he got from Yu Xunge, then bought her a villa at the beginning of this year, with the villa registered in her name.

With a younger brother like this, it was understandable that Yu Xunge had been completely fooled in her previous life—though even if it was not understandable, there was nothing she could do about it. Her own pig brain, her own fault for spoiling him.

But now that the fog had cleared, she could see that Yu Xunhuan had indeed done everything he could, but he had also gotten every benefit he wanted. After all, Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo, that married couple, had been coordinating with him.

That villa that had moved her to tears had been bought with the money she gave him! Shouldn't it have been registered in her name? She used her own money to buy herself a villa—what the hell had she been so touched about?! Then she immediately bought Yu Xunhuan an even bigger one...

Fortunately, she had been reborn in time. She was still only looking at properties, planning to secretly give her younger brother a surprise.

Low-level exploitation meant the whole family gaslighting her together. High-level exploitation was a combination attack—one person beat her, one person treated her wounds, and one person served tea so she could catch her breath.

But there was still time in this life.

Her good younger brother, Yu Xunhuan, naturally would not refuse his sister's request. Even though it was two in the morning, even though his sister clearly knew he would pass out after one drink yet still made him drink baijiu, even though Yu Xunge's reason was vague, he did not even furrow his brow. His face was filled only with concern. "You need to take care of your health too. Money can't ever be fully earned... As long as our family is together..."

Yu Xunge clinked glasses with him directly.

Yu Xunhuan looked helpless and indulgent as he downed it in a single gulp. Then he swayed and collapsed.

Utterly unguarded trust.

Yu Xunge watched Yu Xunhuan lying on the floor with cold eyes. Sounds came from the master bedroom in the distance—perhaps Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo had heard the commotion. She quickly entered Yu Xunhuan's room, dragged him inside, and shut the door.

She sat on the sofa in Yu Xunhuan's room, opened her phone, and stared fixedly at the time. The game only lasted seven hours. She did not plan to leave tonight. Even though Yu Xunhuan always slept until dawn whenever he got drunk, she could not relax.

In her previous life, Yu Xunhuan had been like the male lead of a wish-fulfillment novel, cheating his way through life. Every good thing belonged to him, and his heaven-bestowed talent was the only SS-rank one on all of Blue Star. Even after marrying into the Su Family, when the eldest daughter of the Su Family initially regarded him as nothing more than a pretty pet, she eventually fell madly in love with him. Under Yu Xunhuan's guidance, she suppressed Yu Xunge, and in the end, even set her sights on Yu Xunge's heaven-bestowed talent.