I'm going to die, am I going to die? I'm going to die!
Knocked hard to the floor by her opponent yet again, A Luo spat out a mouthful of blood.
That hurt!
The burly man opposite her stood with his arms folded across his chest.
He stared disdainfully at the little girl sprawled on the floor, basking in the crowd's cheers as the referee counted her out.
As the victor left, he tossed out one last curse.
"Hock-ptoo! They'll let just anyone compete at Heavens Arena these days..."
And A Luo?
All she could do was lie there in utter humiliation and keep quietly playing dead.
Yes, Heavens Arena!
The very same Heavens Arena from that old bastard Togashi's series she might never live to see finished: Hunter x Hunter.
When A Luo first woke up a year ago and heard that name, she had been just as stunned, unable to accept it!
Sure, opening her eyes here with her memories intact after dying in a car accident was basically getting a free second life, which was pretty exciting.
But this place was freaking-
Hunter x Hunter!!!
A dangerous world with a sky-high death rate!
Even going out to buy groceries wasn't freaking safe. She constantly felt as though this free second life could end at any moment.
Unfortunately, reality often wasn't something a person could choose.
The only thing A Luo could do was quietly accept it.
And so, all she could do now was shakily get to her feet.
She climbed down from the ring and limped painfully away.
By the time A Luo stepped through the doors of Heavens Arena, the street was still bustling with pedestrians, but the sun had already sunk to the roofline of the café across the road... Sigh!
I lost again today.
Looks like I'll be going hungry again tonight.
A Luo rubbed her bruised left shoulder, hissing through her teeth, and felt a little miserable.
It had been a year since she transmigrated into this blond-haired, black-eyed little girl.
She had fought countless matches at Heavens Arena, and out of all those matches, A Luo had won only five.
More than half had ended like today's, with her beaten to a pulp and dragging herself home one step at a time.
Fortunately, the original owner of this body seemed to have inherited her father's fighter's constitution. Not only could she take a beating, but she also healed faster than most people.
Otherwise, she probably would have been beaten to death in a Heavens Arena ring long ago.
Huh! I'm already home! She had gotten there while her thoughts wandered.
Looking up at the gold-lettered sign outside her family's dessert shop, A Luo suddenly burst into loud sobs without warning.
As the saying went, the child who cried got the candy!
And sure enough!
Moments later, a woman came running out of the dessert shop's kitchen.
She was a woman who looked gentle to her very core, with ivory skin, black hair, and black eyes. Two dimples flickered in her cheeks as she spoke.
She was also the only person who felt sorry for A Luo-her mother, Malena.
Her mother carefully carried A Luo back to her bedroom and laid her on the bed.
Heart aching for her daughter, Malena applied medicine and bandaged her wounds.
Since arriving here, A Luo had been able to use Malena's concern every time she was injured in a match to get a chance to lie around at home.
To squeeze out a few more days at home, A Luo always did her utmost to act weak and frail.
Only when her fighter father finally ran out of patience would she reluctantly return to Heavens Arena to compete.
During this time, through tireless effort, A Luo had also managed to establish the following facts without arousing anyone's suspicion.
First and foremost was the original girl's identity.
After transmigrating, A Luo's name was Lola Reno.
She was currently seven years old. Next month, September ninth would mark the little girl's eighth birthday.
Her father was named Fan'en Reno. Seven years ago, on the two-hundredth floor of Heavens Arena, a malicious initiation by a Nen user had left him paralyzed from head to toe.
Ever since then, he had made his daughter inherit his dream, hoping little Lola could claim the title of strongest at Heavens Arena!
As for the original girl's mother, Malena, she had opened a dessert shop near Heavens Arena to support her husband's fighting dream.
There had been one pleasant little surprise: Malena's baking was absolutely incredible!
A Luo swore that even counting her previous life, she had never tasted desserts and cakes this delicious.
Second, did she have any cheats?
As someone who had transmigrated, surely it was a little unreasonable for her not to have a single cheat!
But who knew whether that rotten heaven was messing with her? It had dumped her into such a dangerous world without giving her a single cheat?!
A Luo buried her face in her hands.
After carefully taking stock, she had found that her only advantage was her knowledge of the plot, which she could barely remember anymore.
Fortunately, the plot hadn't started yet.
When she first arrived, she had found a way to look up information online.
There were still six years to go until the 287th Hunter Exam, which would kick off the story.
If I'm careful, steer clear of the plot, and stay an ordinary nobody, I should be able to live safely to old age, right?
In that case, as for Dad's dream?
She could only silently apologize to him.
After all, claiming the title of strongest in the Hunter world, where powerful people were everywhere!?
With a goal that grand and daunting, a nobody like her might as well call it a night right now!
Besides, that freak Hisoka was still lurking around Heavens Arena... Hmm... Getting a miraculous chance to delete her account and start over hadn't been easy. She wasn't interested in throwing her life away just yet!
So, in this second life she had gotten for free, all A Luo wanted was to be a happy good-for-nothing.
Eat well, drink well, have fun, and spend this life happy.
So... the plot! The protagonists! The three great beauties! Goodbye to the lot of you!
I'll behave myself and keep my head down. All I ask is to stay in the background.
Unfortunately, young and naive as she was back then, A Luo had no idea.
When did the world ever bend to anyone's wishes? More often than not, things turned out quite the opposite.
And so-called fate had never been something people could choose for themselves!
That night, A Luo tossed and turned in bed, too hungry to fall asleep.
Ever since she had started losing matches regularly, her awful father had made a rule: if she lost a match, she would be punished by going without dinner.
Her protests had gotten her nowhere, and the old man had kept insisting:
"A few hungry nights are the only way that lazy girl will learn!"
He always thought she lost because she slacked off on training.
But the truth was nothing like what he imagined.
No matter how hard the original little girl had trained, before transmigrating, A Luo had been a female student who knew nothing about physical work or practical life.
Even the eight-hundred-meter runs organized by her school had nearly killed her.
At such a young age, recovering most of the original girl's instinctive fighting skills in just one short year was already the best she could do, okay!
"Stupid Dad. You're just too heartless."
A Luo curled up under the covers, pressing a hand to her stomach and muttering.
The intense daily training and being driven off to Heavens Arena to fight were bad enough. When she lost, she wasn't even allowed a proper meal.
I'm so hungry!
Oh, wait!
Didn't Mom leave quite a few desserts in the kitchen today?
Maybe I could steal a little to fill my stomach? Besides, Mom might have left them for me on purpose.
At that thought, A Luo immediately rolled out of bed and prepared to sneak into the kitchen on tiptoe.
But the moment she reached the kitchen doorway, she vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Before A Luo could react, a dark figure darted out of the kitchen, and a sharp pain shot through her neck!
The little girl's body swayed.
Once she registered what had happened, she instinctively leaped backward, ducked behind a cupboard, and fixed her eyes on the dark figure.
The figure seemed surprised that she hadn't fainted and froze for a moment!
Then, in the moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling window, A Luo managed to see a little kid standing there.
The little kid had short, silvery-white hair and big, catlike eyes. One hand held a plate of strawberry mousse, while the other remained half-raised in a chopping pose. The glance that swept toward her sent a chill down her spine!
A little thief sneaking food?
A Luo wondered to herself.
Before you continue