Chapter 1: Rebirth and Return
1540 Words
(This story takes place on Blue Star, a parallel world whose nations, cultures, history, and population have no relation to our own reality.)
“I won’t accept this! I refuse to accept this!”
A furious roar echoed through Dorm 404 of Modu University.
Lin Ziluo jolted upright in bed, his face pale, his body drenched in sweat, as if waking from a nightmare.
“What’s going on? Didn’t I… die?”
Still trembling, he buried his face in his hands, rubbing hard to wake himself up. But—these were his hands? His face?
He slowly lowered his palms. Smooth skin. No scars. No calluses. Nothing like the rough, battle-worn hands he remembered.
“What the hell…?”
His gaze swept around the room.
This was… his old college dormitory?
Memories long buried stirred within him. The layout, the atmosphere—it all came rushing back.
“Yes… this is my university dorm! I remember this place!”
Overcome with excitement, he leapt from the bed, barefoot, and ran straight to the bathroom.
The moment he saw the reflection staring back at him in the mirror, he froze.
That face. Once ruined by scars, was now flawless.
Ten years. For ten long years he hadn’t dared look at a mirror, haunted by that disfigured visage.
He staggered back to the dorm, grabbed his phone, and checked the calendar.
[Blue Star Calendar: Year 478, May 23]
The time. The place. His face. Even his body’s condition—
He had been reborn.
Reborn on the very day the apocalypse game would descend.
At last, he understood everything.
⸻
Two names burned in his mind.
“The two so-called neutral War Gods invited me, claiming it was to celebrate my ascension. But while we spoke, Yao Jinghan barged in with a Zombie Emperor. Together with those traitors, they killed me!”
“The Zombie Emperor… I don’t know what deal it struck with the Li family. And that legendary-grade barrier that completely locked me down—what was that?”
Lin Ziluo sat rigid in his chair, fists trembling as the memories played out.
Yao Jinghan.
Just the thought of her filled him with venom. His nails dug into his palms.
His girlfriend. The woman once hailed as the campus goddess of Modu University. The woman who had once shared his bed.
Disgust welled in his chest.
Even before the end of the world, she had approached him under the orders of the Li family’s young master—scheming, deceiving, undermining him, tearing at his spirit piece by piece.
And after the apocalypse descended, when fate brought them together again, she and the Li heir plotted once more to take his life.
Though disfigured, he had survived. But Yao Jinghan did not stop. Under the Li family’s protection, she hunted him relentlessly, tormenting him like a cat with a mouse.
What power did one man have against the might of the Li family—one of the Dragon Nation’s Three Great Clans?
Dragon Nation was ruled by a government in name, but the influence of the Three Families rivaled emperors of old. Each clan possessed ancient, unfathomable legacies: secret techniques to brainwash and mold loyal deathsworn soldiers, arts that enhanced the human body beyond its limits.
And in the age of apocalypse, those secret arts only made them stronger.
At first, the Lis hadn’t bothered to take Lin Ziluo seriously. That neglect gave him space—space to crawl, to claw, to rise.
Through countless battles, through blood and agony, he ascended step by step. Until finally, at Level 90, he stood among legends.
He hadn’t even gotten the chance to take his revenge on Yao Jinghan.
Before he could act, she had dragged a Zombie Emperor into the fray, joined by two turncoat War Gods, and together they used a legendary artifact to cut him down.
For ten years, Lin Ziluo’s heart had burned with hatred. Every waking moment, every breath, was filled with the urge to kill her.
If not for the Li family’s protection, she would have died by his hand long ago.
Kill her. Yes—kill her!
His hands trembled with excitement.
He had been reborn.
The apocalypse hadn’t arrived yet.
On the surface, Yao Jinghan was still his girlfriend.
Which meant… he had the perfect chance to deal with her before everything began.
Wait. Focus.
He forced himself to calm down. In the apocalypse, composure meant survival. Only with absolute clarity could one think straight.
He dug out his battered phone.
The time: 5:24 PM.
A new message flashed on the screen—from Yao Jinghan.
The lock code was her birthday. A number Lin Ziluo could never forget, no matter how much blood lay between them.
He opened the message.
“Ziluo, I’m sorry. I can’t spend your birthday with you tonight. I have to give a child tutoring lessons at six.”
On the surface, it sounded like the message of a hardworking, responsible girl.
But Lin Ziluo knew the truth. There were no tutoring lessons tonight. She’d be “tutoring” Li Haobo—the Li family’s young master—in his bed.
Li Haobo.
Lin Ziluo had never truly understood why the young master hated him so much. The only rumor he’d ever caught hinted at grudges tied to his father—long dead before the apocalypse ever began.
But Li Haobo’s contempt was real. His cruelty was real. For years he toyed with Lin Ziluo like a cat with a mouse, and Yao Jinghan was nothing more than his knife in the dark.
And tonight… Lin Ziluo remembered it all clearly.
At seven o’clock, as he sat alone in this very dorm celebrating his birthday, Li Haobo had sent him everything—videos of Yao Jinghan’s “lessons,” expense records of her betrayal, and even a birthday “greeting” recorded on his behalf.
And at that exact moment—7:00 PM—the Apocalypse Game descended.
The heartbreak and despair had shattered him, making him miss the vital window to grow strong while others surged ahead.
But this time would be different.
This time, reborn, Lin Ziluo would not let history repeat itself.
He typed out a reply to Yao Jinghan:
“Jinghan, it’s fine. If you’re busy tonight, let’s at least meet first. Come to the old warehouse behind the sports field.”
The message sent, he began tearing through drawers and shelves.
At last, guided by half-faded memory, he crouched beneath a roommate’s bed and pulled out a blade—
A sharp, gleaming dagger.
Don’t ask why there’d be a knife in a dorm.
Come on—anyone who’s been to college knows: if a guys’ dorm doesn’t have a few random weapons lying around, can it even be called a dorm?
Lin Ziluo tucked the dagger into his jacket and picked up his phone.
A new message from Yao Jinghan had arrived.
“Fine… but why meet there? Anyway, I have to leave before six, so hurry up.” —Yao Jinghan
Because I’m going to take your life.
He typed it, stared at the words, then erased them.
Instead, he wrote: “Because I have a surprise for you.”
Message sent.
He slipped the phone into his pocket, slung a backpack of clothes over his shoulder, and stepped out the door.
The dorm hallway buzzed with life. Guys leaning on walls bragged and smoked; others argued about why the sky had suddenly turned red.
Lin Ziluo’s expression softened the instant he walked out, masking the storm beneath his calm facade. No one would guess he was on his way to kill.
A boy nearby held up his phone, streaming an “expert” speaking with authority:
“This global red sky phenomenon is a once-in-five-thousand-years natural event. Please remain calm and enjoy the spectacle.”
Lin Ziluo tilted his head upward. The blood-red heavens stretched across the horizon.
Only he knew the truth. This was the omen. The signal that the Apocalypse Game was about to descend.
The students laughing, smoking, chatting so carelessly—how many of them would survive after 7:00 tonight? How many would be zombies… or corpses?
Descending the stairs, he ran through every detail in his mind. Every step of what was about to unfold.
By the time he looked up again, he had already crossed the sports field and arrived at the abandoned warehouse.
Few people ever came here before nightfall. Perfect.
Cautious as ever, Lin Ziluo scanned his surroundings. Satisfied no one had followed, he stepped inside.
And there she was.
Yao Jinghan sat lazily on a chair, waiting.
Lin Ziluo clenched his teeth.
What a fool I used to be!
He cursed himself silently. Back then, blinded by love, he hadn’t noticed the obvious—the luxury brands she wore, the designer accessories. Nothing under six figures. How could a girl from an ordinary family afford all that?
She had never been the simple, self-reliant girl he thought she was.
Yao Jinghan glanced up as he entered. She didn’t bother to stand. Instead, her voice dripped with impatience:
“You’re finally here. So what’s the surprise? Hurry up, I need to get to my lesson.”
- Writer
