Le Yuxin squatted down and lifted up the dead man's head in front of him.
The cut at the neck was clean, like a "scar as big as a bowl," and the hair was a bit long, clearly not trimmed for days. Heavy dark circles under the eyes showed that his diet and routine had not been good.
The dead man's eyes were nothing remarkable, with pupils dull and lifeless, yet you could vaguely see some curiosity, a bit of panic, some confusion, and... grievance.
"Even up to the moment of his death, this person seemed to still not understand why he had to die."
"Who did he offend?"
"What did he do wrong?"
"Why did he end up like this?"
Le Yuxin placed the dead man's head back, fitted the neck together, closed those resentful, desperate eyes, and straightened the corpse.
At that moment, a cruel thought, almost joked at, suddenly surfaced in Le Yuxin's mind: "Maybe, what he was doing right now had never been done before—and never would be again."
Because he was arranging his own remains.
"Arranging your own remains," that was obviously a paradox.
You could only arrange a corpse if you weren't one; if you were a corpse, you obviously couldn't arrange anything.
"If someone could actually arrange their own remains, there were only two possibilities—either the corpse wasn't really theirs, or—"
You weren't "you."
"This 'Backlight Particle' is so weak, totally doesn't look like he's trained in Martial Arts, not a trace of stealth technique, how can he walk around Xingke City in broad daylight? Is he maybe a scholar or doctor from the Backlight Organization?"
Next to him, a buzz-cut youth in a jet-black vest squatted down and rummaged through the corpse's pockets. He found a wallet and phone, curiously fiddling with the square, black-screen gadget, "Bro Qian, do you know what this is?"
Le Yuxin snatched the wallet and phone and slipped them into his own pocket, calmly saying, "I'll study it."
"Tch, you killed the guy. Like I'd try to steal your loot," the buzz-cut youth said with disdain, then suddenly reached toward Le Yuxin's pocket, hand moving as fast as lightning!
But Le Yuxin reacted even faster!
With hardly any thought, Le Yuxin's left hand shot out and twisted around the youth's wrist, while his right hand chopped directly for the youth's neck in a Palm Blade!
On instinct, Le Yuxin's chopping hand turned into a grip, locking onto the youth's neck and pinning him to the wall. "The realization flashed across his mind—if he'd gone through with that Palm Blade, he would have sliced the youth's neck right off!"
"Ow, ow, ow—I'm sorry! My bad, Bro Qian, I was just messing with you," the buzz-cut youth said pitifully, "I just wanted to see what that glass thing was—it's all shiny and black. Did you have to use the Biting Battle Technique on me...?"
Le Yuxin released his grip, and the youth coughed a few times, rubbing his neck. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, a little scared in his tone, "I really thought I was gonna end up like that Backlight Particle, decapitated by your Palm Blade."
Decapitated...
Le Yuxin stared a bit blankly at his smooth, slender hands, then glanced at the corpse on the ground.
Suddenly, two sets of memories surged up in his mind.
One belonged to an Earthling named Le Yuxin. He'd woken up to find himself in a strange alley in a strange city, and, confused, wandered out of the alley—only to see two youths in jet-black vests standing at the entrance.
The other belonged to a Huyao native named Qian Yuliu. He'd been training Combat Technique at the Statistical Department office when a report came in that a suspected Backlight Particle had appeared in Tianhe District of Xingke City. He brought his subordinate over, waited at the alley entrance per their tracker, and just happened to see a young man with no Charter reaction running toward them.
Le Yuxin's last memory was the black-vested youth reaching out to him.
Qian Yuliu's last memory was reaching out to the youth and slicing off his neck.
Le Yuxin's body was already dead, killed in one blow.
And Qian Yuliu's soul was lost, no one knows where.
Now, standing here, was a brand-new human with Qian Yuliu's body and Le Yuxin's mind!
"Bro Qian, you not leaving yet?" the buzz-cut youth yawned, "I've already called Tianhe Imprisonment Department to handle the body. Let's clock out and get off work—it's getting dark."
Le Yuxin looked at his own corpse. Unexpectedly, he didn't feel much sadness or attachment. He simply recognized one thing clearly: "The temperature's probably between 64 and 72 degrees now; this body will start decomposing within ten hours. If left alone, it'll just return to nature."
Even if he wanted to, he couldn't keep his own body safe.
There was no longer anyone called Le Yuxin in this world. No matter how he felt, there was no going back.
"Let's go."
Le Yuxin turned and left, stepping out of the dingy alley.
The sun outside was perfect, the air clear and bright.
A black sedan waited out front. The buzz-cut youth was already in the driver's seat, earbuds in, softly humming.
His name was Chen Fu, Qian Yuliu's subordinate and classmate. They'd known each other for more than ten years—graduated Xingke Military Academy together, joined the Statistical Department together. If anyone could possibly see through that Qian Yuliu was no longer himself, it would be Chen Fu.
But Le Yuxin didn't worry. He calmly sat in the passenger seat, glanced at his left wristwatch, and said, "Drive faster."
"You got it~" Chen Fu floored the gas, and the black car zipped out of the alley.
Le Yuxin seemed to be resting his eyes, but in his mind he was flipping through Qian Yuliu's memories. He hadn't just "possessed" Qian Yuliu's body—the memories came, too. "Which made sense—after all, according to modern science, memory lived in brain neurons. The soul was gone, but the brain remained. Of course the memories stayed as well."
"To Le Yuxin, Qian Yuliu's memories felt more like a library. The downside—he couldn't access them all at once. The upside—no risk of being assimilated. Qian Yuliu was only a bit younger than Le Yuxin; their memory volumes about equal. If he digested everything at once, Le Yuxin suspected the glut of two lifetimes would drive him nuts—or even strip away his own sense of self."
"All of a sudden, Le Yuxin found something strange about himself."
"He wasn't some big shot who could keep a straight face if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him. Honestly, he couldn't even watch horror movies, and at night he'd get creeped out going to the bathroom alone."
"After all that's happened—dimension jumping, murder, soul transfer—how could he be so calmly analyzing the situation, making the most of his resources?"
"By his own logic, seeing his own severed head should have sent him hollering and trembling like a leaf."
"Suddenly, Le Yuxin felt a ripple sweep through his mind. It was like an iceberg melting, some kind of power blending into his heart."
A line of virtual panels appeared in his consciousness,
"Name: Le Yuxin/Qian Yuliu"
"Death Count: 1"
"Available Points: 1"
"Qian Yuliu's Ordeal: Have dinner with Qian Yuya. Maximum interval—120 hours. (Time left: 32 hours)"
"Innate Skills: Basic Hachito-Ryu Biting Battle Technique (+), Cold Blood Physique (+)"
"Eternal Skill: Death for Substitution"
"Challenge (refreshable): Survive 15 days. Difficulty: ☆.
Reward: 3 Available Points and 1 Eternal Skill Upgrade Opportunity (can upgrade one of your body's skills by one level and turn it into an Eternal Skill)."
After browsing, Le Yuxin focused on the "Death for Substitution" skill, and the system panel popped up detailed info at his wish,
"Death for Substitution (Cannot be Upgraded/Removed/Transferred): Whosoever kills you, you will take their place. When you die, your soul replaces the killer's soul."
Killer priority: Last Kill > Direct Kill > Indirect Kill
After reading the skill info, Le Yuxin's first thought was: "This skill is insanely shameless!"
"Qian Yuliu killed him, triggering Death for Substitution, so Le Yuxin straight up replaced Qian Yuliu's soul!"
"If anyone tries to off him without knowing this ability, Le Yuxin would inherit everything, and all that person's life would go straight into his pocket. What a cheat!"
"But Le Yuxin got murdered the instant he arrived here, so where's the fairness in that?"
Le Yuxin got himself together and kept reading the system panel info.
The death count was one, and so was available points—"so was it one point per death? Could be," he wondered.
Besides dying, there was another way to get points—completing system "challenges."
Survive fifteen days, and Le Yuxin could get a chance at permanently upgrading a skill, plus three points.
As for what these points did, he instinctively focused on the three innate skills under "Innate Skills."
If his guess was right, "Innate Skills" meant skills Qian Yuliu's body naturally held, while "Eternal Skill" was the permanent root skill in Le Yuxin's soul.
"Death for Substitution" couldn't be upgraded, and of the three innate skills, the + on Hachito-Ryu Biting Battle Technique was gray, but the + on Cold Blood Physique was selectable and yellow.
"Cold Blood Physique: You will never be affected by negative emotions—guilt, regret, panic, despair, sadness, whatever. You'll always be able to think rationally, no matter your emotional state."
"Next Level: Residual Blood Physique (1 point to upgrade): You'll never be affected by negative physical states—including mental shocks, drug addiction, severe pain, dizziness, and so on. Whatever your mental state, you stay in perfect control of your body."
"So that's why I could accept my own death and transmigration so fast..."
"Le Yuxin searched his memories. From childhood, Qian Yuliu had Cold Blood Physique. Barely any empathy. Every act was only 'because it's the most beneficial.' To others, he was a standoffish but easy-going genius officer, but that entire 'cool but friendly' thing was just a mask—a persona to get more attention and affection."
"Inside, he was just a blank white desert: loveless, emotionless, tearless."
Le Yuxin thought for a few seconds and decisively upgraded Cold Blood Physique!
"No point hoarding these points. If not now, then never—what's the use?"
Available points dropped to zero, and on the system interface, "Cold Blood Physique" became "Residual Blood Physique," with a new preview for the next upgrade.
"Next Level: Ice Blood Physique (3 points required): Your ice blood can fool your body. No matter what negative state you're in (poisoned, gravely wounded, limb loss, paralyzed, etc.), you can force your body to obey you and cut impact and duration of negative states by 50 percent."
So strong!
"Le Yuxin didn't know if his assumption was right, but 'Ice Blood Physique' basically sounded like 'Overlord Body' plus half damage-over-time reduction. Even in games, this was top-tier—because you can't win if you can't stay alive and output."
"But that was for next time. He didn't have points left, just had to fantasize. If he finished the challenge, maybe he'd have enough for the upgrade, but..."
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
Suddenly, Le Yuxin felt his heart pounding fiercely, as if he could sense his blood pulsing like mighty rivers through his veins!
The Residual Blood Physique upgrade happened with silent thunder!
Le Yuxin glanced at Chen Fu beside him. Seeing Chen Fu wasn't paying attention, he quietly drove the nail of his left hand into the pad of his right index finger.
"Stabbing your fingertip with a nail sounds possible, but everyone knows finger pain cuts to the bone—pain would usually make you stop self-harm. But with a quick move, Le Yuxin sliced it open."
He looked at the wound, licked it, then slowly exhaled.
"Just as expected, Residual Blood Physique let him totally ignore the pain! He could feel everything—the finger was cut—but the pain felt like being patted by a cat paw. He knew he'd been hurt, but there was zero effect!"
This was the real reason Le Yuxin instantly upgraded Residual Blood Physique.
He wasn't the battle-hardened Qian Yuliu. His soul was still Le Yuxin. In danger, even if he could access Qian Yuliu's fighting instinct, pain and fear of death would show him up in a heartbeat—while Residual Blood Physique's "pain ignore" could fix that.
"If this world was peaceful and safe, Le Yuxin wouldn't be in such a rush."
Only...
"Hey, just in time to clock out,"
Chen Fu checked his watch and grinned. The car rolled to a stop, and Le Yuxin looked straight ahead.
A majestic building stood before them. In the courtyard, a War Goddess statue, sword in right hand, scales in the left, towered over the lawn. Armed military guards checked their IDs as they approached.
Suddenly, Le Yuxin instinctively turned his head.
He saw the car window get punched through by a bullet—then heard the "whoosh" as it passed.
"Attack!" shouted the guard with the long rifle, aiming at the shooter's location. Alarms blared from the building, and a dozen soldiers jumped into armed trucks to give chase.
Le Yuxin turned to see a neat hole, dead center, in the passenger seat headrest.
If he hadn't just instinctively shifted, he'd have been the one the guards were pursuing by now.
"Man, why do idiots keep attacking Statistical Department officers? How many this month already?" Chen Fu complained, driving into the garden, "Replacing car glass costs a fortune! Why can't they wait till we get out first?"
"...Yeah," Le Yuxin answered, conflicted.
"The danger level in this world was something a guy like Le Yuxin—who'd lived in peaceful times—could never have imagined."
Because this was an age of chaos.