It was night in a bustling second-tier city, where the lively streets were filled with cars and the nightlife began to awaken many young people from their stuffy rooms, letting them enjoy their time freely.
Su Xiao crouched on the roof of a two-story villa, feeling a refreshing breeze as it swept past him. Dressed in black and wearing a large black hood, he blended into the darkness of the rooftop. Even though it was night, the heat of summer made his outfit uncomfortable. But compared to his unfortunate past, this discomfort was nothing. He had already been waiting for two hours.
At Su Xiao's age, he should have been enjoying his time at university, but three years ago, driven by hatred, he gave up his studies to learn other skills. He studied anatomy, combat, and how to pick locks quickly.
The long wait continued...
Two hours later, a black luxury car slowly drove into the villa’s yard. The engine’s heavy sound stopped, and a middle-aged man, clearly drunk, stumbled out of the car. His steps were unsteady from too much alcohol.
On the roof, Su Xiao picked up a long knife. The blade was dark and hard to see in the night. He jumped down from the six-meter-high roof, skillfully grabbing a ledge to slow his fall. He landed smoothly right in front of his enemy.
Without saying a word, Su Xiao swung the long knife through the air, making a soft whooshing sound before slicing open his enemy's throat. Blood gushed out, and despite his efforts to avoid it, some splattered onto his sleeves and hands.
The drunken man didn’t even realize what had happened before he fell to the ground. The injury was fatal, so Su Xiao quickly ran toward a less populated area.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a security guard in uniform. Even though he was in the act of committing a crime, he didn’t mind being seen; he had hidden his face well. But in the next moment, Su Xiao felt a chill run down his spine as the guard pulled out a gun from his waist. The black handgun was long and clearly equipped with a silencer.
How could a security guard have a gun? Su Xiao didn’t have time to think. Behind him was the villa, which was at least ten meters wide, and the guard was about twenty meters away. If he chose to run, his back would be completely exposed, turning him into a target.
Faced with danger, Su Xiao's first instinct was to eliminate the threat, not to flee. He charged forward, zigzagging to avoid gunfire.
“Puff, puff, puff…”
The silenced gun made only faint sounds. Just as Su Xiao dashed about five meters, he felt a numbness in his calf, followed by a similar sensation in his chest. He realized he had been shot. Although he was an avenger, he had never been shot before.
A weak feeling spread through his body, but he wasn’t afraid; he just felt a bit unwilling. He hadn’t completed his revenge yet, and here he was, falling down, killed by an unknown enemy. It was such a humiliating situation.
With his last bit of strength, Su Xiao threw the long knife he held. The throw was almost a gamble, but it seemed like fate noticed his unwillingness and unfair fate. The knife spun rapidly in the air before miraculously stabbing into the chest of the armed guard.
As Su Xiao collapsed to the ground, a smile appeared on his face. The knife was coated with a nerve toxin, and the guard was surely doomed.
His consciousness began to fade. Su Xiao felt a heavy blow to his head, and then everything went dark.
In his last moments of awareness, he vaguely heard a voice say, “Hunter, ‘Reincarnation Paradise’ is now open for you.”
[Transferring body...]
[10%, 50%, 100%. Transfer complete. Detecting significant damage to hunter's body, initiating repairs...]
[Hunter's consciousness has not awakened. Repair command delayed. Maintaining minimal survival state for ten minutes...]
[Beep… Detected hunter’s talent as growth talent. Survival time extended by two hours.]
In the darkness, several lines of light blue text floated in the air, giving off a faint glow. Below the light blue text, Su Xiao lay in the void, covered in blood. His fingers twitched, and he slowly woke up.
At first, Su Xiao was a bit confused, but remembering the dark barrel of the gun, he quickly tried to get up. A sharp pain shot through him, nearly causing him to faint again. Struggling to sit up, he looked around. Besides the glowing blue text, everything else was pitch black.
[Hunter, welcome to ‘Reincarnation Paradise’.]
A line of text appeared before him, but Su Xiao didn’t pay attention to it. Instead, he began to check his injuries. His calf had been shot through, the flesh torn open, and his fingers could easily probe into the wound.
This bloody scene only made him frown; he showed no other reaction. He had been through much worse, so this didn’t move him.
The wound on his chest was even more severe, but neither the calf nor chest wounds were bleeding anymore.
“I’m not dead?”
Pressing his hand to his chest, Su Xiao felt his heart beating strongly.
[Hunter, you are not dead. Do you wish to join ‘Reincarnation Paradise’? Here, you can have everything you desire.]
Su Xiao had already noticed the suspicious text, but out of caution towards the unknown, he ignored it. The situation felt strange; he had life-threatening injuries yet miraculously survived, and in front of him, a line of blood-red numbers was counting down.
[1:35:10], [1:35:9]...
One hour, thirty-five minutes, and nine seconds. If Su Xiao guessed correctly, that was what the numbers meant, and they kept counting down. The blood-red numbers gave him an ominous feeling, as if he would lose his life when they reached zero.
[Hunter, please communicate with ‘Paradise’ quickly to sign a contract, or you will die in ‘1 hour and 35 minutes’.]
Indeed, those numbers represented how much longer he had to live. Su Xiao had suspected this; his injuries were too severe, and he should have been dead long ago.
“What about my knife?”
Su Xiao didn’t care about the ‘contract’ or ‘paradise’ but demanded his knife back. That knife was the only memento his parents left him, said to be a military officer’s sword captured by his great-grandfather, passed down to him.
[Most real-world items cannot be brought into ‘Paradise’. Please sign the contract quickly.]
Su Xiao fell silent, the light blue text flickering, possibly because it had never encountered a hunter like him before.
“Contract? Tell me what I need to give and what I can get.”
With his survival time running out, Su Xiao had little time to waste. He felt he had encountered some ‘supernatural’ event, stirring something within him.
He desperately needed power for revenge, and ‘supernatural’ events often came with great risks but could also offer extraordinary strength.
[By signing the contract, you will travel through various ‘derived planes’ to complete tasks issued by ‘Reincarnation Paradise’ and obtain ‘World Source’. Ultimately, the richness of your rewards will depend on how much ‘World Source’ you gather.]
[‘Reincarnation Paradise’ is all-powerful.]
...
A lot of text appeared, and Su Xiao read carefully.
“All-powerful? Can it bring back the dead?”
All the light blue text suddenly froze in mid-air and then vanished completely.
[Due to your identity as a hunter, it cannot.]
(End of Chapter)