1 The Avenger
During the night, inside a tier-2 city, the streets were lively and young people were having fun.
e/n: The Chinese city tier system is an unofficial hierarchical classification of Chinese cities. The country has no official list. Various international media publications frequently refer to the system for commerce, transportation, tourism, etc. One is the best tier, and five is the worst. Source: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_city_tier_system)
Su Xiao sat atop a cottage's second-floor roof while a cold breeze blew.
He was wearing a large black hood to hide his body in the darkness of the night.
Wearing this kind of clothing in the summer, even at night, would still make one feel sweltering, but compared to his previous hardships, it was easy to endure. He had waited for two hours.
At Su Xiao's age, he was supposed to have a sweet college life, but instead of making friends and studying, he was learning human anatomy, martial arts, lock picking and so on, just because of the hatred in his heart.
The long wait continued.
Suddenly, a black luxury car slowly entered the courtyard of the hut. Su Xiao could faintly hear the car's engine. The door opened, and a middle-aged man reeking of alcohol got out.
He was swaying from side to side, and his steps were shaky.
At the top of the cottage, Su Xiao took the sword beside him; it was a long sword with a black blade, making it hard to see in the darkness of the night.
Jumping from the top of the five-meter-high roof, Su Xiao grabbed a steel pipe coming out of the hut to reduce the speed of his fall.
Arriving at the ground smoothly, Su Xiao stood before his enemy. Without any nonsense, the long sword in Su Xiao's hand sliced through the air with a whistling sound as he slashed his enemy's throat. Blood spurted out. Although Su Xiao tried to avoid it, his shirt and the back of his hand were still splattered red.
The drunken man did not realize what was happening as he fell to the ground. He was already dying, and no one would be able to save him. Su Xiao immediately ran out of the courtyard and onto the busy street. From there, he soon turned into a small side street.
Though Su Xiao just killed someone, it wasn't his first. He had concealed himself well, and it would be hard to identify him.
The next moment, he felt strange, and his hair stood straight.
"Hey, you there!", said an unfamiliar voice behind Su Xiao. He slowly turned around.
"Me?"
"Yes.", said a security guard who followed him from the cottage.
He took a gun from his waist, a long black pistol equipped with a suppressor. 'How can a simple security guard have a gun?'
Su Xiao had no time to think about this.
For the security guard to wait till he was out of sight from witnesses and other people, he wouldn't want to get him in jail only.
Su Xiao chose to solve the threat instead of running away. Thus, he moved forward to the man in a Z-shaped path to avoid being shot.
*Pew!* *Pew!*
The gun only made two small sounds.
Su Xiao felt odd after he merely sprinted about 5 meters. Then, he felt a pain in his chest.
He knew that he had been shot; why did he ever think that he could dodge a bullet by running in fancy patterns? The guard was also trained with weapons. Although he wanted revenge and pain wasn't new to him, he had never been shot before.
A faint feeling of numbness spread through his body. Su Xiao was not afraid, but he was unwilling to go yet.
He still wanted to take revenge for his parents, and now, not only would he fail, but he would be killed by an unknown enemy, which was a slap in his face.
He exhausted his last efforts to throw the long sword in his hand.
The sword flew through the air and miraculously pierced the guard's chest as if the gods knew Su Xiao's unfair life. *Splurt*
Su Xiao lay on the ground with a smile on his face. Since he put neurotoxin on the sword, the guard will die, too. 'At least I won't go down alone. '
After his head hit the ground, Su Xiao's consciousness began to blur, and his vision faded.
Su Xiao heard something before he lost consciousness.
{Possible contractor, Reincarnation Paradise is open for you.}
{Body transfer}
{10%, 50%, 100%, the transmission was completed. A possible contractor's body's condition is critical. Would you like to treat your body immediately?}
{Waiting for authorization to heal.}
{No response received.}
{Postponed advanced treatment.}
{Restored body to a stable condition. Stable condition will be maintained for 10 minutes.}
{Scanning body}
{A special ability was found. Prolonged stable condition to 2 hours.}
Blue text floated in the darkness. Beneath the light of the blue words, Su Xiao's body was covered in blood and hovered in the air.
After some time, his fingers twitched, and Su Xiao gradually woke up. After regaining consciousness, he tried to stand up immediately.
But pain shot through his body, and he fell again. "Damn it!"
He struggled to sit up and looked around. All he could see was darkness and a few blue words floating in front of him.
{Hunter, welcome to Reincarnation Paradise}
Text appeared before Su Xiao, but he didn't look at it and began to check his injuries.
His left collarbone was broken, the wound was open, and he could stick a finger in it.
Su Xiao frowned; he had already survived much worse conditions.
His chest injury was the most severe injury he had, but the wound was no longer bleeding.
He muttered, "I'm not dead?" while touching his chest with his right hand and feeling his heart beating.
{Hunter, you are not dead. If you join Reincarnation Paradise, you can have everything you want.}
Su Xiao had already noticed those weird words but didn't react. He was cautious with everything he didn't know.
The current situation was weird. His injuries were fatal, and he should be dead. Instead, he is somewhere dark with numbers made of blue light ticking down.
{01:35:10}
{01:35:09}
.
.
.
One hour, thirty-five minutes, and nine seconds until the counter reaches zero.
{Hunter, please contact Reincarnation Paradise as soon as possible to sign a contract. Otherwise, you will die after one hour and thirty-five minutes.}
Those numbers did represent the time he had left. Su Xiao had speculated it because the injuries he got were too grave, and he should have died long ago.
"Where is my sword?"
Su Xiao didn't care about any contract or Reincarnation Paradise but asked for his sword, the only memento his parents gave him, a military sword used by his grandfather, who inherited it from his grandfather.
{The property from reality cannot be brought into Reincarnation Paradise.}
{Please sign the contract as soon as possible.}
Su Xiao didn't speak as the pale blue text kept appearing and disappearing into the darkness.
It kept referring to him as a hunter; he didn't know what it meant.
"Contract? What should I give you, and what benefits can I receive from it?"
The timer was going down gradually.
Su Xiao needed power for revenge; "supernatural" things may simultaneously come with huge risks and extraordinary strength. If he could use this opportunity, he might be able to kill the remaining targets.
{If you sign the contract, you will go to derivative planes to accomplish missions from Reincarnation Paradise. When acquiring Lorefragments, you can give them to Reincarnation Paradise. Depending on their worth, you will receive or choose the corresponding reward.}
{Reincarnation Paradise can do everything.}
A bunch of words appeared, and Su Xiao read them carefully.
"Can you revive dead people?"
The blue texts suddenly disappeared.
{If your contribution is sufficient and your role allows it.}
e/n: Hey, it's me, your editor. I would appreciate your feedback. You can send it to me via Discord (Gr4nc3).
Remember to read the story on readfanfic.
