The World Greatest Assassin Has Returned

The Returned[3]

During that time, his parents had left him with a bit of money—immediately afterward, they took off without a word of goodbye. They never returned home, not even after two or three months, and he wasn't able to reach them through their cellphones either. It was as if they had just vanished without a trace. At that time, he believed his parents didn't want him anymore. He was alarmed... terrified... scared. All kinds of emotions began to plague and burden him. In addition to this, he had also developed a high fever. The experience left a deep trauma within his heart. He became timid, cowering at the slightest breeze. It took him until the age of twenty-five to begin correcting that personality to some extent.

Only afterwards, when he grew up, did he find out that his parents hadn't abandoned him on purpose. Rather, they had borrowed money from a family friend and started up a smuggling business at the country's borders. At that time, the country urgently needed a type of metal called ; it proved to be an important strategic resource. Following every nation's discovery of this metal's usage, they rapidly began placing restrictions on its export and started hoarding the resource for themselves. It was unknown how Zero's parents were able to find such a source. However, in the end, they managed to smuggle the metal back into the country, selling it to the government at several hundred times the price they purchased it for. As a result, they earned a huge sum of money.

Their current circumstances at the time were very stressful and nerve-racking. Thus, Zero's parents were unable to contact him through the phone. Furthermore, their matters were classified as military secrets. If any information were to leak out, it would result in their deaths. As a consequence, Zero and his parents' misunderstanding became buried in such a way. It took many years after the matter had passed for his father to inform him of the truth, and only then did Zero forgive both of them.

It was that year when his father had earned his first major payout and used it to establish a smelting company. Furthermore, he undertook and completed several large projects, advancing the company's reputation by leaps and bounds. He resolved his family's plight, and as a result, Zero was transferred over to a high-class school within the city.

Is it possible? Have I really returned to that time?

I can start all over again from the beginning?

Zero's current emotional state was hard to describe; pleasant surprise and nervous apprehension interweaved with each other as his emotions swayed all over the place. He was anxious that everything occurring now was simply a dream.

Zero climbed out of his bed and opened the window curtains. Rays of sunlight were scalding as they released their scorching heat onto his skin. The sensation clearly informed him that, at present, he truly wasn't dreaming.

He bent his head down to see that beside the windowsill lay his textbooks, arranged neatly on the table: mechanical theory, automation, language, advanced mathematics, A.I. design, and so on...

Zero flipped open a few pages. The familiar characters were like a clear stream. Along with his past memories, they rejuvenated his mind. These textbooks represented the youth that had passed by. After reaching his senior year of high school, he transferred to a high-class inner-city school. The projects that his father had undertaken succeeded. From then on, any materialistic desires he had were easily satisfied. His rise to become a well-off son of an entrepreneur caused him to turn lazy and idle. By the time he had graduated high school, his academic marks were definitely less than stellar. Afterwards, his father spent quite a bit of money on allowing him to attend a famous university. Only... by the time he graduated from university, he had learned absolutely nothing; he wasted every day sitting around idly.

When he reached the age of twenty-five, his father's business started suffering from the attacks of the Jaime Yen Century Financial Group. Several family friends who were also trusted confidants were bribed by Jaime Yen into betraying Zero's father. Thus, his company met with several setbacks in quick succession... Money, once more, had become a concern for the family. His father committed suicide by overdosing on drugs, and his mother fell ill due to the grief. She eventually passed away in the end as well. Only after suffering the pain of losing both his parents did Zero begin making progress in his studies—self-studying in numerous courses. However, by that time, it was already too late. He had simply missed too many opportunities.

Once full of longing, Jaime Yen was prepared to hew out a piece of the world for himself. However, how could Jaime Yen allow the son of his former enemy to make a comeback? With Jaime Yen interfering behind the scenes, there wasn't a single company who dared to hire him, leaving Zero with nowhere to go. If it weren't for him playing the Virtual Reality game Conviction—scraping by with what little income he could earn by selling items, he wouldn't have been able to even eat a meal.

He had no hopes of gloriously defeating Jaime Yen by rising to prominence as an underdog. However, an anxious hare can still give a nasty bite. Being at an impasse, Zero's final decision was to take Jaime Yen out with him. The sound of the gunshot vented out all of Zero's resentment and loathing.

His destiny seemed bright and clear, so Jaime Yen probably never thought his life would conclude in such a way.

Zero believed himself to have died and never expected time to play a joke on him, returning him to the summer vacation of his second year in high school.

And though he still wasn't able to contact his parents, he could at least be certain they were still alive. When he thought of this, tears began filling his eyes.

When a son wanted to provide for his parents, the parents were already gone... No other person was capable of understanding the bitterness and grief in Zero 's heart.

The Heavens had given him another chance. He would absolutely never become confused and act indecisively again.

It would take a little over twenty days for his mother and father to return home. Since it was summer vacation right now, at the moment, he had no choice but to stay at home.

That year... in the second-half of the semester during my second year of high school, if I recall correctly, the Virtual Reality game, Blanco, had just recently been released. Zero distinctly remembered the scene of countless financial firms establishing a presence in Blanco's rapidly rising popularity on the year of the game's release. They poured tremendous amounts of resources into the large-scale development of this Virtual Reality game. It was truly due to these numerous financial firms that Blanco deservedly became the second world for humanity.

After he entered the high-class inner city school, he was finally introduced to the game by his best friend. By that time, a semester had already passed. Only by then, many people were already at a very high level. He had already missed the best period of time to begin leveling. Left behind, he had no choice but to try and catch up with all his might.

The faded pages of the photo album—his memory—once again turned anew, revealing their bright colours. The most unforgettable moments in his life had come from the time he'd spent in the game. He had come to know so many friends through that game. In the calendar of his life, it was only because of them that those days of loneliness had not appeared too excessively senseless.

Prior to assassinating Jaime Yen, Zero was formerly a Level 180+ Great Thief. Though he wasn't at the summit, he could barely be considered to be among the top experts.

Zero suddenly recalled there was a bank card containing all of his savings in the drawer.

I have the money to buy a Virtual Reality helmet! Zero thought to himself. Pulling open the drawer, he turned everything over, searching. Finally, he found a silver-white bank card in the corner of the drawer. If he recalled correctly, the amount of money stored inside his bank account was two thousand credits; one credit the equivalent of one dollar. This money had come from him saving expenses on food and clothes over the course of several years. Back then, he wanted to buy the most advanced Model X3 computer. However, by the time he waited the several years needed to save up the money, the Model X3 had already become obsolete. Naturally, his pocket money was not merely this little after his father's business had become successful. Due to his father wanting to make up to Zero, he gave Zero practically everything he asked for. Something he wanted...? If it could be bought, it would arrive.

Zero was nineteen years old this year. However, he possessed the soul of his twenty-nine-year-old self. Everything would once again start anew. From henceforth, a new chapter in his life would open up. However, without sufficient capital, he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything. So, he would start from the game. Using his prior experiences of the game, becoming a professional gamer and earning a little bit of money was a very simple affair.

Zero remembered the time when Blanco's first gaming helmets had just begun selling. In an effort to make them spread, the prices were unusually cheap. There were three entry models: Model A, B, and C. Each entry model's configuration was unique. The immersion level of the Virtual Reality helmets ranged from 76%–98%. A sum of a thousand three hundred credits was enough to afford the cheapest model. With the current amount of money Zero had stored in his savings, it was sufficient for him to purchase the lowest tier model Virtual Reality helmet.

He could clearly and distinctly recall many items and things from the game. If he started all over again, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to procure some results.

Placing his bank card in his pocket, he shifted his gaze toward the advanced mathematics textbook on the side. As if God himself had just slightly nudged the textbook up, it trembled a little bit before a crisp new hundred dollar bill emerged and fell out. At that moment, he recalled several things as memories once again began floating into his mind.

He suddenly remembered that the first meeting between him and Lexis would occur today. He had taken the hundred dollar bill and left the house to buy medicine at the pharmacy.

Lexis was his deskmate during his senior year of high school, as well as the prettiest girl in his class. Once again, he reminisced on this past event, a segment of his life that he couldn't bear to look at without causing his wrists to tremble. After nearly a decade had passed, Lexis and the publically recognized gifted student in his class, Zandro , had fallen in love; the two of them had moved together to the Moon. Only after he and Lexis Woe communicated through several calls did he find out Lexis was not the least bit happy. When matters relating to the past in his senior year of high school were brought up, both of them would sigh incessantly.