Chapter 1 Rebirth

Suffering from birth, suffering from death, suffering from being separated from loved ones, suffering from meeting those you hate, suffering from unfulfilled desires—Buddha has eight sufferings, and Nie Yan experienced five of them. His life was basically a history of suffering, thankfully a short one, as he only lived to twenty-eight.

His life should perhaps have ended there, but destiny took a turn at that moment.

Nie Yan turned over, a damp feeling coming from his back. His clothes stuck to his body uncomfortably. He vaguely remembered being shot in the back of the heart by a bullet and falling to the ground, blood flowing everywhere.

So what if he died? Nie Yan was calm about it. To die quietly like this was not a bad release.

Cao Xu's eyes were full of confusion, eventually fading and losing focus.

The process of Cao Xu's head exploding replayed in Nie Yan's mind, filling him with joy. It was a release of hatred.

Cao Xu enjoyed a lifetime of wealth and glory, but died at the hands of a nobody like Nie Yan. He probably wouldn't be happy even as a ghost. In the face of death, everyone is the same. Even with wealth that could rival a country, he couldn't save his life.

Too much evil done will always be punished in the cycle of reincarnation.

The moment Cao Xu's head exploded, Nie Yan realized that his outlook on life had completely changed. It turned out that everything was just a bullet. Tomorrow's morning paper would probably have his picture on the front page. It would read: "Richest Man Cao Xu Killed," and then paste a large close-up of the gangster for the world to admire and worship.

After Nie Yan shot Cao Xu, Cao Xu's bodyguard discovered him, tracked him down, and shot him in the back of the heart with a bullet.

Nie Yan felt a sharp pain in his back. So this was what it felt like to be pierced by a bullet. His heart gradually went numb, and he could feel his life force rapidly draining away.

Was he going to die? But he laughed, laughing at how short life was, laughing at his own muddled life, only to wake up when he was about to die.

And then tears streamed down his face.

His parents' deep hatred had been avenged. The events of the past flashed through his mind like a movie. Nie Yan's only concern in this world was her smile, untouched by any dust.

She was Nie Yan's high school classmate, now married, but her beautiful face, as before, was engraved in Nie Yan's heart, becoming more and more unforgettable as time passed. He wondered what her reaction would be when she saw the news that Nie Yan and Cao Xu had died together. Would she sigh, or would she be sad and tearful?

Sealed memories flooded his mind like a burst dam. He regretted it very much. Some things, once understood, were already too late. In this life, he had too many regrets, too many unfulfilled wishes.

Nie Yan reached out to grab something, but found everything gradually fading away. Life had come to an end, and ahead was the eternal darkness.

Regret and frustration were like a sharp knife, constantly cutting open his heart, causing unbearable pain.

What did I do wrong in my past life to be punished and tortured by God like this!

Nie Yan was full of resentment, unwilling to accept it. He screamed silently in his heart, tears rolling down.

Slowly, he didn't know how long it had passed, but Nie Yan's mind gradually calmed down.

His thinking was still active, his brain could still think. Was this death? Perhaps this was his soul.

After a long time, Nie Yan's fingers had a slight touch, and it was so real. Why was he still conscious after so long? He suddenly sat up, looked around, and was at a loss.

Was this hell?

Nie Yan's listless eyes slowly regained focus, and he looked around. Some old items came into view: a wooden bed, a chair, and a somewhat damaged floor.

Where was this? Wasn't he dead?

It was like a dream, an unreal feeling. He touched the back of his heart, and his hand was covered in a sticky liquid. He looked at it in front of him, and his palm was not covered in blood, but sweat. The clothes on his back were soaked with sweat, which was why they felt wet.

What was going on?

Didn't he bleed a lot? He vaguely remembered the blood, with a scarlet color like red wine, the color of life withering.

Nie Yan pinched himself and felt pain. This was not a dream. Was it possible that everything before, the assassination of Cao Xu, was just a dream?

Why did it feel so real?

Like the ancient Zhuang Zhou's喃喃自语 (nán nán zì yǔ, murmurs to oneself) when he woke up from a dream, was he Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, or was he a butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou?

Which one was real and which one was a dream?

He looked around in confusion. He had too many questions.

Dim lighting, a somewhat old wooden bed, desk, chair, and the supposedly antique wall clock that belonged to his father, ticking away. Nie Yan remembered that it was never accurate.

Memories slowly unfolded like an old photo album.

The environment here was so familiar. Wasn't this the house he lived in when he was in high school?

Sunlight shone through the holes in the curtains, and the pain from the intense dilation of his pupils gave him a dazzling sense of reality.

He was still alive. Nie Yan spread his right hand in front of him, a slightly childish hand, a sickly pale.

"What's wrong with me? Am I the me from ten years ago, or the me from ten years later?" Nie Yan scratched his hair, extremely distressed.

He sorted out his thoughts, and some fragments of his memory gradually became clear.

This was when he was eighteen, during the summer vacation of his second year of high school. His parents were not at home, and he had a high fever of forty degrees, almost dying. He was lucky to have survived.

During that time, his parents left him some money and then left without saying goodbye. They didn't come back for two or three months, and their phones couldn't be reached. It was as if they had disappeared. At that time, he thought his parents didn't want him anymore. Fear, panic, and dread accompanied him, and he also had a high fever, leaving a deep shadow in his mind, making him timid and withdrawn. This personality didn't change until he was over twenty-five.

Later, when he grew up, he learned that his parents didn't abandon him. Instead, they borrowed money from relatives and friends and did some smuggling on the border. At that time, the country urgently needed a metal called polonium, which was an important strategic material. After countries discovered the function of this thing, they quickly tightened exports and hoarded it. Nie Yan's parents found a way somewhere, collected this thing, and smuggled it back to the country, where it was purchased by the state at hundreds of times the price, thus earning a fortune.

The situation was very tense at that time. Nie Yan's parents were unable to contact Nie Yan by phone, and the matter was a military secret. If it was leaked, it would lead to death. Nie Yan and his parents' misunderstanding was buried like this. It wasn't until many years later, after the matter had passed, that his father told him the truth, and Nie Yan forgave them.

Starting that year, his father used the first pot of gold he earned to start a metal smelting company, and made several big deals, his career advancing by leaps and bounds, solving the family's predicament. Nie Yan also transferred to a noble school in the city.

Could it be that he had really returned to that time?

Could everything really start again?

Surprise and anxiety intertwined, and Nie Yan found it difficult to describe his mood at this time. He was worried about gain and loss in his heart. He was worried that everything now was just a dream.

Nie Yan climbed out of bed and opened the curtains. The scorching sunlight released its temperature like flames, and this burning sensation truly told him that he was not dreaming now.

Looking down, his textbooks were still on the desk by the window: Mechanical Theory, Automation Theory, Chinese, Higher Mathematics, Intelligent Programming Languages, and so on.

Nie Yan opened the book. These familiar and intimate words flowed like a clear spring, accompanied by past memories, refreshing his heart. These textbooks were his lost youth. In his third year of high school, he transferred to a noble school in the city. His father's career was successful, and the abundance of material conditions made him a wealthy second generation, and he developed a lazy mentality. After his third year of high school, his grades were not very good. Later, his father spent money to get him into a famous university, but until he graduated from university, he didn't learn anything and idled around all day.

At the age of twenty-five, his father's career was besieged by Cao Xu's Century Consortium. Several relatives and friends trusted by his father were bought by Cao Xu and betrayed him. The company suffered setbacks one after another, and the family fell into trouble again. His father committed suicide by taking poison, and his mother died of worry and overwork. After losing both parents, Nie Yan learned to be motivated and self-taught many courses, but by that time he had missed many things.

Nie Yan once prepared to work hard to build a world with full of hope, but how could Cao Xu allow the son of his enemy to make a comeback? Under Cao Xu's interference, no company dared to hire Nie Yan, forcing Nie Yan into a dead end. If Nie Yan hadn't been playing the virtual online game *Faith*, and had a little meager income, he wouldn't even have been able to afford food.

There was no hope of defeating Cao Xu in a fair and square manner. Even a rabbit would bite when cornered. Nie Yan, who was desperate, finally chose to die with Cao Xu. The sound of the gunshot vented Nie Yan's resentment.

Heaven's retribution was clear. Cao Xu never expected that he would have such an end.

Nie Yan thought he was dead, but he didn't expect that time played a joke on Nie Yan, and he returned to the summer vacation of his second year of high school.

Although he couldn't contact his parents, Nie Yan could be sure that they were still alive. Every time he thought of this, his eyes would fill with tears.

He wanted to support his parents, but they were gone in his previous life. The grief in Nie Yan's heart could not be understood by others.

God gave him another chance, and he would never be muddleheaded again.

His father and mother would not be back for more than twenty days. It was the summer vacation, and he could only stay at home alone.

"The second half of the second year of high school, that year, I remember the virtual online game *Faith* had not been open for long." Nie Yan clearly remembered the hot scenes of countless consortia entering *Faith* in the year *Faith* opened. It was precisely because of the injection of these consortia's huge funds, which massively developed *Faith*, that *Faith* truly became the second world of mankind.

He only entered *Faith* after going to a noble school and after more than a semester, introduced by a close friend. However, at that time, many people were already at a high level, and he missed the best time to level up, so he could only desperately catch up from behind.

The pages in his memory were repainted, colorful. Those times in the game were the most unforgettable in his life. He met many friends. Because of them, the lonely days were not too boring.

Before shooting Cao Xu, Nie Yan was a thief above level 180. Although he couldn't be considered top-notch, he could barely be considered one of the experts.

Nie Yan suddenly remembered that he had a bank card in his drawer, which was all his savings.

"I have money to buy a helmet." Nie Yan thought to himself, opened the drawer and rummaged through it, and finally found the silver-white bank card in the corner. If his memory was correct, there were two thousand credit points in it. One credit point was one dollar. It was what he had saved over the years by saving money. At that time, he wanted to buy the most advanced x3 computer, but in a few years, before he had saved enough money, the x3 computer became outdated. Of course, after his father's career was successful, his pocket money was more than that. Because his father wanted to compensate Nie Yan, he was almost responsive to Nie Yan's needs. Basically, he could buy whatever he wanted.

The eighteen-year-old Nie Yan had the soul of a twenty-eight-year-old. Everything started again, and life opened a new chapter from then on. Without enough capital, he couldn't do anything, so he would start with the game. With his previous gaming experiences, it was still very easy to be a professional player and earn some money.

He remembered that when the *Faith* game helmet was first launched, it was very cheap in order to popularize it. There were three models, A, B, and C. Each model had different configurations, and the degree of virtuality ranged from 76% to 98%. The cheapest C model only cost 1,300 credit points. With Nie Yan's current savings, it was enough to buy the lowest model helmet.

He clearly remembered many things in the game. If he started again, it would not be difficult to make a name for himself.

Putting the bank card in his pocket, Nie Yan's eyes fell on the Higher Mathematics textbook next to him. As if divinely inspired, he picked up the textbook and shook it. A brand-new hundred-yuan bill fell out, and some things in his memory reappeared in his mind.

He suddenly remembered that his first encounter with Xie Yao was today, the cause of which was that he took this hundred yuan to the pharmacy to buy medicine.

Xie Yao was his tablemate in his third year of high school, and also the class beauty of their class. The unbearable past was regrettable. Ten years later, Xie Yao and Liu Rui, the recognized talented man in their class, fell in love, and the two moved to the moon. Later, he and Xie Yao talked on the phone several times, and Nie Yan learned that Xie Yao was not happy at all. Talking about the things in high school, they were all sighed.

If he had been braver and not so timid and inferior in front of Xie Yao, he might not have missed her.

Sometimes, a turn around is a lifetime, becoming an irreparable regret.

Xie Yao liked to wear white dresses at that time, beautiful and pure. Her appearance has always been deeply engraved in Nie Yan's heart. The melancholy miss was like the sound of a flute at dusk, distant and peaceful.

Nie Yan glanced at the dilapidated wall clock. The clock was at three o'clock, and he should still be in time. He picked up the bill and ran downstairs.

They lived in the suburbs, which were very desolate. The old road was not wide, and a lot of dust would be raised when the wind blew. However, a lot of trees were planted on both sides, still lush under the hot sun, casting a green shade on the ground.

The weather was hot in the afternoon, and there were not many pedestrians, and there were few cars. Occasionally, one or two hovercraft would pass by.

In his previous life, Nie Yan hated this city very much, but after being reborn, seeing this remote place again, Nie Yan not only did not feel disgusted, but on the contrary, he felt so kind. This was the place where he had lived for eighteen years.

Nie Yan's cowardly personality before the age of twenty-five was also related to the living environment after that. A wild boy from a small city suddenly became rich and transferred to a noble school in the city. His grades, which were considered excellent in the first and second years of high school, could only be considered the bottom there. He was also often laughed at for not having a sense of dressing. Plus, what happened during the summer vacation made him feel insecure and left a psychological shadow. When he arrived in the new environment, he was even more timid and inferior, and he seemed out of place everywhere. If he hadn't met a few close friends, he might have had a mental breakdown.

Unexpectedly, after a lifetime, he returned to the starting point. Nie Yan would never be like he was in his previous life.

He ran all the way to the pharmacy.

The surrounding buildings were a little dilapidated, and the population was desolate. With the acceleration of urbanization, people in these small cities were squeezing into the big cities, and large areas of urban desertion appeared in the small cities. The population was getting smaller and smaller, and in a hundred years or so, this place would be demolished and turned back into fields.

"The school is over there, and the supermarket is over here." Nie Yan knew the way like the back of his hand. Seeing these familiar buildings, his mood gradually brightened a lot. He was back, he was really back!

He used to resent the unfairness of fate, but now, he wanted to thank God.

He was going to start over! To start over well! Nie Yan couldn't help but want to shout and vent the excitement in his heart.