Is this reincarnation? Where’s my golden finger?

The night is incredibly lively. A modern world buzzing with activity as numerous young individuals flood to bars to enjoy their weekend and their nightlife.

Heavy traffic sounds echo throughout the streets with lots of chatter as individuals start their weekends heartily. The sounds of glasses clinking resound throughout the streets as happy hour continues.

Feng Ye waits silently at the bus stop with his head glued to his phone. He just finished his Friday. His company has a 996 policy -- 9 am - 9 pm, 6 days a week. He continues to scroll through his company's messaging platform as he awaits the bus to go home.

Feng Ye has been working as a software engineer for a fortune 500 company after graduating from a mid-tier university. He wears a simple light gray colored hoodie with a spacious hood, black colored sweatpants, and Adidas running shoes. The dress code for software engineers is pretty flexible.

He has had quite a series of misfortune. After graduating, both his parents passed away due to a fire in a highrise leaving only a small amount of wealth for both him and his little sister. Feng Ye has no relatives that are willing to help support him and his sister. Thus, he has to work hard to put food on the table. It's a simple but honest life.

Feng Ye continues to scroll through his company's internal communication platform. The bus can be seen turning around the corner in his peripheral vision.

BANG. The sound of a gunshot overshadows the lively sounds of the street and yelling can be heard not far away. The busy street becomes chaotic. Feng Ye and many others waiting for the bus turn around and start to run away from the origin of the gunfire. In the confusion, countless individuals fell, were shoved, or were crushed by the crowd.

Feng Ye knew he had to get to a less populated area as soon as possible and avoid the crowd. A chaotic crowd usually can lead to stampedes as individuals struggle to get away from danger without care for anyone in their surroundings. He had to get back to his younger sister.

As Feng Ye picks up the pace, he suddenly gets shoved into heavy traffic by someone in the crowd.

"%!@#$!" Feng Ye thought to himself as he looks at the fast-approaching Lamborghini Aventador in front of him.

BANG!! Feng Ye flew backward as the incoming Lamborghini Aventador collides with him with its hood.

Feng Ye lies down on the cold concrete. Bleeding from all orifices he had only one last thought, "Am I going to die?"

Confusion and chaos continue to ravage the busy street as police cars flood into the area along with ambulances.

Feng Ye stares blankly at the nighttime sky as his vision blurs and darkens. In his final consciousness, Feng Ye hears a cold, mechanical voice.

"[Candidate 15864457, you are eligible for a reincarnation contract.]"

A dark bloody red countdown timer appears and counts down from 1 minute. 59s, 58s..57s. He sees the text "Do you accept? [Y / N ]" in his consciousness.

WTF?!?! Feng Ye thought to himself as he sees the counter go down.

45s, 44s, 43s…..

37s, 36s, 35s, 34s.....

The cold mechanical voice resounds again.

""[Candidate 15864457, please communicate your decision to sign the contract. Otherwise, you will die after 30 seconds.]"

Feng Ye didn't have time to negotiate or inquire. He decisively selects yes in his consciousness. After replying, he faints and his last remaining consciousness slips into the darkness.

He doesn't hear or see the next prompts.

"[Candidate 15864457 contract accepted.]"

"[Candidate 15864457 in body transmission....]"

"[Candidate 15864457 in body recovery....]"

"[Candidate 15864457 consciousness awakening....]"

"[Candidate 15864457 successfully transmitted to lower order World 2580233]"

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Feng Ye's physical body is proclaimed dead by the first responders on the scene.

---

Feng Ye awakens and finds himself laying down in a tattered thatched cottage within a bamboo forest. This cottage is around twelve square meters in size. The furniture around him is either broken or unusable. Broken furniture everywhere as though the cottage was looted some time in the past.

The thatched cottage has been in a tattered condition for quite some time as moss has noticeably grown all over the thatched roof. A variety of different types of spider webs of all different sorts of shapes and sizes cover the corners.

"Is this the reincarnation in legend?" Feng Ye mutters to himself surprised but also unsettled. He quickly recalls just what happened and tears stream down his face.

"%!@#$!" he curses as he strikes the wooden floor with his fist. He got pushed into traffic by the crowd and passed. At the very least, at least his sister can claim the life insurance benefits that he had.

Feng Ye sat down and took a moment to vent and control his emotions. Being killed then offered a contract and thrown into a different world is a rollercoaster of emotions and his outlook on life.

As Feng Ye looks around and surveys this broken cottage, he sees text directly appear in his line of sight. Even as he moves his head at different angles, the text follows. It is as if he were wearing a VR headset and the text is displayed in front of his eyes.

The text is as follows:

--

Welcome [Candidate 15864457].

Reincarnation and Transmission Success.

Enters World: World 2580233

Difficulty: Lower Order World Level 3.

Main Objective: Trial by Fire Initiation Task.

Survive and become last otherworlder standing. Eliminate all other otherworlders.

Side Objective: Obtain 20 monster cores. (Current Progress: 0/20)

Side Objective (2): Obtain world fragment. (Current Progress: 0/1)

Note: Failure results in forced execution. Mention of this system to related lifeforms will also result in forced execution. Due to unfamiliarity with the world language, candidates will be able to automatically understand due to system adjustments.

--

"FORCED EXECUTION? WTF. What is this?! System do you have any explanation?! " Feng Ye exclaims. Feng Ye was from a peaceful, modern society. He lived in peaceful times in a sheltered world. His eyes widened as though he had seen a ghost. His survival instincts suddenly have kicked in and Feng Ye can feel adrenaline throughout his veins., His fight or flight response seemed to have activated in this environment and enabled Feng Ye to calm down.

A familiar cold mechanical voice resounds in his mind.

"[Candidate 15864457 - welcome to the trial by fire initiation task to determine if you are fit to become a contractor. After accepting a contract with the <World Administrator>, you will carry out objectives. Successful completion of objectives results in rewards.]"

"[To be successfully converted to a contractor of the <World Administrator> you must successfully complete the trial by fire initiation task.]"

"[As a candidate, you will have limited access to the system. You will only have access to the system inventory, and candidate profile. All other access is restricted. ]"

"I have a forced execution while other reincarnated protagonists have a golden finger or cheat? Wtf. Besides the limited information I received, how can I even tell who is an otherworlder or survive with this trash physique?" Feng Ye mutters to himself as he is quite familiar with this type of situation based on the numerous web novels he had read in his downtime.

"[Prompt: <World Administrator> has shielded your entry into this world. In this trial-by-fire task, the candidate can acquire resources, abilities, skills, and weapons. Note that world natives are hostile to otherworlders.]"

Feng Ye recalls his experience playing games and reading webnovels. He thinks about the player information page and sees the following:

--

Candidate 15864457 Information.

Name: Feng Ye (Candidate)

Rank: 1

HP: 100%

Mana: 25

Strength: 6

Agility: 6

Stamina: 6

Intelligence: 8

Charm: 4

Note: An average human (non-candidate and non-contractor) has standard attributes of 4-5. After accepting the contract and becoming a candidate, the <World Administrator> strengthened some of your attributes.

Talent: None.

--

Feng Ye listens to this information carefully and asks, "How can I locate other otherworlders?"

"[Jurisdiction insufficient.]"

"[Please make efforts to promote to contractor as soon as possible.]"

Feng Ye listens to the system's response and is speechless. He looks at his physique and does realize a slight difference. Feng Ye was a software engineer but he still made us of the company's benefits like the subsidized gym and catered meals. Feng Ye was quite active and relatively healthy before but he does realize some more defined areas.

"I guess this is all I have to work with. I'll need to adapt quickly and get more information. The system mentioned I have access to the system inventory and that I'll have to strengthen myself as soon as possible for a possibility of survival." Feng Ye thought to himself.

He tightens his fists as he sets a firm resolve. "Argh, I'll have to do my best to survive if I ever want to see my little sister again. If the other otherworlders are like him, maybe he has a chance especially since it seems like no one got any so called golden fingers….or do they.."

In any case, Feng Ye knows that he has to stay lowkey. He has no idea how to even locate and determine the others in this world.

Feng Ye examines his attributes again several times carefully. His intelligence is pretty high probably from all those Leetcode problems and machine learning problems he had been solving lately….

His rank is 1 which is the lowest of the low in a level 3 world. This means that he won't be in very high risk of death in this world and it might be manageable. The crux of the objective is to eliminate the otherworlders though. Based on his attribute distribution, he might have an affinity for magic if it exists in this world.

Feng Ye thinks about the system inventory. An interface appears in his line of sight similar to his profile information. Surprisingly, it wasn't empty. There are some bread rations and water.

At least it wasn't empty. With a firm expression, Feng Ye cautiously exits the broken thatched cottage. As he exits, he sees a large bamboo forest surrounding the cottage with a small lake area a few kilometers below. Across the lake, the orange, warm rays of the sunset can be felt.

"I wonder what kind of world this is." Feng Ye mutters as he looks at the sunset across the lake and feels the evening breeze. The breeze contained an unexplainable kind of vibrant energy that felt quite rich that he has never felt before in this old world.

"Little sister, I'll be back." Feng Ye quietly states as he once again clenches his fists.