**Chapter 2: Am I Reborn Again?**
Morning, 7:30 AM.
The first ray of sunlight in the early morning breaks through the gaps in the clouds and shines upon the earth.
It seemed to have rained a little last night; the road at the intersection is slippery, and steam rises from the breakfast stalls by the roadside.
“Hurry up! The first class this morning is that old witch’s lesson. If we’re late, we are doomed!”
A girl in a middle school uniform lightly urged the boy beside her, timing her steps as she jogged across the crosswalk.
An old man carrying a lunch box passed by the breakfast stall, smiling as he handed over two ten-yuan bills.
“Master, please pack five youtiao and two bowls of soy milk to go!”
On the road in front of the breakfast stall, a young man in a suit was glaring at his phone with a serious expression.
“Stop talking! The proposal you submitted yesterday is unacceptable, go back and revise it! I must have it before the end of work this afternoon!”
Hanging up the phone, he glanced through the windshield at the jammed traffic ahead and slammed the steering wheel in frustration.
“…”
All sorts of people were making various sounds, merging into a cacophony that flooded into the system’s ears, waking it up suddenly. It opened its eyes, and the familiar crossroads came into view.
At the intersection, a crowd surged, and every face was beaming with smiles and vitality.
System, “…”
Strange, why am I here?
What’s wrong with these people today?
They all look like they’ve been pumped full of energy.
This is Huacheng University City, Xuefu Road Intersection.
In the past, every day when Gu Qiqi left her bridge tunnel to go to Huacheng University of Technology, she would pass by here, and the system was very familiar with this place.
However, the scene it saw today was completely different.
Since the night began to grow long, it had been a long time since Xuefu Road Intersection bustled like this morning—at least two to three years.
Every time Gu Qiqi passed by, the pedestrians seemed like puppets controlled by invisible strings, expressionless and heads down, hurrying past, their eyes numb, as if making eye contact with a stranger would mean instant demise.
This is not right, this is very wrong!
The system thought as it called out, “Gu Qiqi, Gu Qiqi, hurry up and leave this place, I feel something is off here!”
“…”
“Gu Qiqi?”
No one responded.
Gu Qiqi was gone! The system suddenly tensed up.
At that moment, it suddenly heard a childish voice nearby.
“Mommy, Mommy, come quick! There’s a talking black fish in the stinky ditch!”
The system froze for a second and looked up in the direction of the voice to see a boy about four or five years old squatting by the roadside’s drainage ditch, staring wide-eyed at it with a twig in his hand.
System, “…”
What’s going on? This little brat can actually see me? Oh no, it’s coming over!
At the drainage ditch by the intersection, the curious little boy poked the black fish in the ditch’s rear end fiercely with his sharp twig, lifting it forcefully…
The system felt its body lighten, rolling up and then down, plunging into the water, quickly following the trickle of the drainage into the sewers.
Amidst the spin, it vaguely heard a dialogue from above.
“Little kids shouldn’t lie!”
“Mommy, I’m telling the truth! It was just there, black and ugly!”
System, “… d*mn it, you little brat, you’re the one who’s black and ugly!
You can poke me, but you can’t insult me!
The system thought angrily, “Splash!” It fell into the murky and filthy water of the sewer.
————
One hour later.
The crowd and vehicles gradually dispersed. The breakfast stall owner tossed the last piece of dough into the oil, and the Xuefu Road Intersection gradually returned to calm, with only a young man clearly late for work, stuffing a bun into his mouth, shouting after a departing bus.
Under the intersection, in the sewer.
Weak sunlight filtered through the drainage opening, casting a glow on the dirty water’s surface.
Suddenly, the water seemed to boil, sending ripples out.
“Splash—!”
Accompanied by a splash, a strange fish leaped from the water, landing on the moss-covered stone steps, wriggling a couple of times, and spit out a half chicken bone from its mouth.
It was about ten centimeters long, entirely pitch black, with a surface pocked and angular, resembling a large mudskipper, except it had a cluster of meat lumps the size of grains of rice on its head, emitting a dim green glow.
Just as the little boy said earlier, it was black, ugly, and strange.
What’s even stranger was that this fish sat on the steps in a human-like posture, propping its chin on its fins, looking up at the drainage opening above, seemingly deep in thought, like it was cosplaying the famous sculpture “The Thinker.”
This is a big problem; I should have used some extreme measures last night to stop Gu Qiqi from approaching that mysterious man… the system thought anxiously.
It understood Gu Qiqi’s excitement at seeing a long-lost relative suddenly appear in front of her, but in the situation last night, rushing over was clearly not a wise decision.
However, before the system could remind her, Gu Qiqi had already dashed over and hugged her “brother,” only to be swept into the seemingly vortex of deep shadows behind him.
What happened next, the system did not know. By the time it regained consciousness, it was already in the drainage ditch at Xuefu Road Intersection.
“d*mn it, Gu Qiqi, you foolish girl! When will you ever use your brain in your actions!”
The system cursed fiercely when a grease-stained newspaper washed into the sewer with the water flow and landed on the surface not far from it.
Instinctively, the system glanced at the newspaper, and the glowing meat lump on its head trembled violently.
“What the hell! No way? Four years ago? Is this today’s newspaper?”
Could it be…
Gu Qiqi has already died last night, and I have “reborn” again? The system thought, filled with shock.
If it’s true, this would definitely be its third most pathetic failure. The second most pathetic was when it gave up on calamity as its primary target and turned to void instead.
That time, it and its host didn’t even see what the void looked like before being captured and tortured to d*ath by its followers.
As for the most pathetic time… let’s not mention it!
After seriously analyzing last night’s situation and confirming that its spirit energy fluctuation was down to C-level, the system sighed silently and prepared to accept reality.
Although it did not experience the typical life-review moments before d*ath this time, it seemed like countless times in the past, it had once again been “reborn” for unknown reasons.
“Do I have to start over again? d*mn it, this time I must find someone slightly smarter… no, no, not too smart; being too smart can get you into trouble and lead to d*ath by calamity… or perhaps find someone with high battle talents, but before that…”
The system muttered to itself, and suddenly its body started writhing violently. Then its mouth opened, and it spat out a stone tablet several times larger than its body.
The tablet was pitch black, gleaming like obsidian, densely inscribed with the names of dozens of people.
The system leaned forward, lifted a fin, and began to carve names on the end of the list, each stroke causing its body to twitch violently, and its spirit energy fluctuation to drop slightly.
By the time it finished carving the name “Gu Qiqi,” its spirit energy fluctuation had decreased from C to D+.
This stone tablet is the core of its urban legend body, and it had discovered that the traces left on its core wouldn’t fade with “rebirth” only after the fall of its third host.
While “rebirth” allows those past hosts to relive their lives, the system would not forget all moments experienced with them, nor would it disturb any of them again, even if some could have saved the world.
Thus, from then on, it chose to live as a tombstone, recording the names of those nonexistent souls.
Except for the thirty-fourth host…
As a foreign girl, her name was far too long, and before the system had finished carving it, the core of its urban legend body collapsed, causing it to perish instantly.
Yes, that was the system’s most pathetic failure; it hadn’t even had time to find the next host.
Since then, when selecting hosts, it had never chosen anyone with names longer than five characters…
————
As night fell, all grew silent.
In the Jingyi Apartment Complex of Huacheng, Luxianbei was lying asleep in her bed, immersed in dreams, continuing to practice controlling the Hundred-Armed Giant Power with Qing Ji.
……
Qing Ji stood with his hands behind his back on the dilapidated rooftop, the breeze gently swaying the hair at his temples, his demeanor calm as if he were a master waiting for challengers.
As if he were about to say, “I can take on ten at once!”
Without warning, chaotic lights burst from above Qing Ji’s head, accompanied by a sudden booming thunder, Luxianbei’s figure suddenly appeared in the air.
In the next moment, her body bent backward, like a taut bow, pausing for a moment before using the strength of all her muscles to propel herself towards Qing Ji, two massive chaotic light spheres in her hands crashing down.
The air trembled violently at the disturbance from the light spheres, resonating with deafening roars.
“Hmph—!”
Qing Ji smiled slightly and lightly called out, “Taihe Gentleman Sword: Wind Command!”
With a wave of his hand, he unleashed a dazzling “galaxy” above him.
The earthshattering roar suddenly ceased.
Half a second later, a scream pierced the air, and only half of Luxianbei’s body fell to the ground, gazing at Qing Ji with eyes that gradually faded of light.
Moments later.
When Luxianbei coalesced her body back on the crumbling platform, opened her eyes, and saw Qing Ji walking towards her, she hurriedly shouted, “That’s enough! Let’s stop here today, Ancestor!”
“You’ve only practiced for a short while today, and you want to call it quits?” Qing Ji said, slightly angered.
“It’s not that I want to quit, but after practicing with you for too long, it’s really a blow to my confidence.” Luxianbei weakly replied.
During this time, Luxianbei had been training with Qing Ji night after night, and alongside helping Jumeng rebuild her urban legend core, she had gained some new understanding of her spirit energy, making rapid progress in controlling the Hundred-Armed Giant Power.
So far, she could barely manage to draw out small amounts of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power for use in attacks.
Of course, that’s just in theory; she still couldn’t use it in actual combat until she mastered it, after all, in dreams, even if she lost control, she wouldn’t really d*e, but in real combat, a small mistake could mean instant d*ath.
However…
With such a high-level opponent as a sparring partner, Qing Ji progressed even faster than her. Even though they had both started studying this power around the same time, Qing Ji had already managed to turn strength into swordsmanship, and blend the simulated Hundred-Armed Giant Power into his sword techniques.
Although it was simulated with his own spirit energy, making it easier to control, just that meticulous control already left Luxianbei feeling outclassed.
“…”
Sparring with an overwhelmingly strong opponent certainly wasn’t conducive to skill improvement; instead, it could breed discouragement, right?
Qing Ji thought as he looked at Luxianbei, serious, “It’s okay, let’s start over. This time I will control it to just slightly surpass your level.”
“I don’t believe you!” Luxianbei blurted out.
This old man is quite the schemer, always saying things like this to deceive my nineteen-year-old self… my young self.
“Tsk!” Qing Ji spat, frowning, “A man’s word, once spoken, can’t be taken back!”
“No, unless you write me a receipt!” Luxianbei shouted back.
“So you don’t trust what your ancestor says?” Qing Ji’s expression darkened.
Luxianbei shrank back, weakly saying, “It’s not that I don’t trust, it’s just…”
“No ‘just,’ if you believe, then let’s continue!”
Qing Ji said, giving a gentle call as he vanished from his spot.
d*mn! Alright, I’ll trust you again for a bit… Luxianbei thought, rising up with a leap, her arms shook, and the chaotic light spheres appeared instantly.
In the next moment, the two figures collided fiercely.
Then…
Feeling a slight improvement from Luxianbei’s continuous fighting, Qing Ji’s eyes showed a hint of satisfaction, and his strength suddenly increased by four or five points.
So, Luxianbei died again.
To describe her d*ath using a line from “Willow Flower Ode,” it would be, “Or the wind returns and wanders thinly, or the fog disarrayed and the storm scatters.”
In the end, she still miscalculated…
————
As dawn approached.
Qing Ji sat cross-legged beside the half-conscious Luxianbei, casually remarking, “Let’s call it a day, shall we? I can feel that you’ve improved again today; it shouldn’t be long before you can break free from that power’s threat.”
Luxianbei shot a fierce glare at Qing Ji without saying a word.
“Don’t be so petty; I’m only caring for you as an elder,” Qing Ji advised in that classic “this is for your own good” tone.
Luxianbei, “… Thanks for that. If I could beat you, I would definitely show you what true filial piety means and what it feels like to have one’s piety twisted.”
“By the way, I recently studied carefully why the Ling Tai Purification fragment you found can’t merge, and I concluded that there’s a piece missing in the middle. You understand what I mean, right?”
“Understood!” Luxianbei replied, coming back around, “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle with blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I’ve found 1, 2, 3, and 5, but number 4 is missing, so it can’t merge. Is that the point, right?”
“Exactly, exactly, that’s the point.” Qing Ji affirmed.
Hearing this, Luxianbei nodded thoughtfully, secretly complaining.
It’s not bad that it can’t merge for now; after all, a fruit kn*fe is much easier to carry and hide compared to a broken sword, and when facing enemies, it can have the element of surprise.
“Also, about the woman named Qin Nanzhu you mentioned, I thought about it; having stayed in Huacheng for so many years, I really haven’t heard of her.” Qing Ji added.
“I feel that she probably isn’t from my era or an urban legend, after all, Huacheng was small back then. I knew all the girls in the city, and well, I also knew all the pretty young men.”
“…”
That sounded a bit strange; what exactly did you do back in the day?!
Luxianbei shot a sarcastic remark before sighing silently, “It’s okay; after all, she’s not an important person. If she’s found, that’s great; if not, it’s fine.”
She is just a stranger, truly not important, Luxianbei thought.
However, ever since she learned her name, the three characters “Qin Nanzhu” always seemed to enter Luxianbei’s mind at unexpected moments, bringing with them a strange sense of familiarity.
It felt like occasionally hearing a beautiful song and inevitably humming it from time to time.
So, she was still quite happy to find out who Qin Nanzhu really was.
Just like finding a song she had heard and liked but didn’t know the name of…
