A bright moon hung high over a sea of stars; heaven, earth, rivers, and mountains were all washed white.
All things vied with one another in vitality.
When Xu Yuan opened his eyes, this was the fine scene that greeted him.
“What a view! Just to my liking!”
He praised it aloud, his heart filling with delight and anticipation.
A few hours ago—
He had just climbed to the summit of the Global Esports League, becoming annual champion and MVP across multiple esports titles.
He had been about to celebrate properly with his friends.
Who would have thought the plane would crash into the sea?
He had not survived, yet he had come back to life in another world.
—The owner of this body was also named Xu Yuan, an ordinary senior-year high school student.
He had transmigrated into this world, into this student’s body, replacing him.
Since he was here, he might as well make peace with it.
Beneath this beautiful night—
Xu Yuan swore he would live well, and fully savor the freshness and beauty of youth.
So then.
Step one.
Take a selfie and post it to Moments!
Xu Yuan took out his phone, adjusted the angle, and with a “click,” snapped a shot, immediately preparing to post it.
Suddenly.
His soul fully merged with the body.
A wave of agony beyond what any human could bear swept over him.
He spat out a mouthful of blood with a “wah,” completely baffled, and instinctively lowered his head to look.
—There was a sword stuck in this body’s chest.
He had never heard of anyone transmigrating with a sword stuck in their chest.
Other people opened their eyes, climbed up from the ground, nodded solemnly, and said, “So I’ve transmigrated.”
Being pinned by a sword—
How was he supposed to revive like this?
Xu Yuan gave up on posting to Moments. With great difficulty, he reached out and pulled hard at the sword.
The sword did not budge.
It was actually stuck in that tightly!
…Was there some special significance to this?
Enduring the intense pain, Xu Yuan looked around and immediately discovered the truth—
This was a three-tower, two-span suspension bridge with a steel-concrete composite beam, stretching across a great river.
At the highest point of the bridge tower, glowing decorative lights formed four large characters:
“Shanhe Bridge.”
And Xu Yuan had been pinned by a sword right beside those four large characters.
The longsword was driven deep into the bridge’s steel structure, suspending him high above the river.
After figuring out the situation, Xu Yuan could not help but suck in a breath of cold air.
—Hanging in such a high place, with the river wind blowing, one could enjoy the night view of the river and at the same time complement the four characters “Shanhe Bridge.”
Who had such taste?
To kill an ordinary student, they had actually chosen such a flamboyant spot!
But for him, this was a little awkward.
He was about ten-some stories above the reinforced concrete bridge deck below.
If he pulled out the longsword—
He would fall and smash himself to pieces.
If he did not pull out the longsword?
Heh, guess what?
—He would just hang here in midair, watching the night scenery while bleeding out, and die!
“Couldn’t you swap me into some other corpse—as long as its posture can move, anything would do!”
Xu Yuan muttered resentfully.
The long wind over ten thousand miles did not give a damn about him.
The bright moon hanging high did not give a damn about him either.
No one gave a damn about him.
His eyes were full of indignation.
Damn it.
Dying once on Earth was one thing.
The key point was, I already transmigrated. You tricked me over here just to make me die again.
Is that fun?
“I protest with my life… against this kind of… seriously bugged…”
Xu Yuan spat out his final words.
Then he entered his dying state.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Suddenly—
An invisible, vast and righteous power gathered between heaven and earth, transforming in the void into a soundless, immense, and rare note, causing even the corpse to tremble faintly along with it.
The sound formed by this power had no consciousness, nor any intelligence—
It seemed to have been summoned by the corpse.
Xu Yuan, head hanging low, opened his eyes.
It was as if some switch inside his body had been flipped on.
Out of some instinct in the unseen, he immediately understood that it was because this body had died twice in succession, triggering an unprecedented potential that had, together with his soul, summoned something.
Summoned…
What?
He did not know.
The only thing he knew was that he had awakened some kind of ability.
Xu Yuan’s eyes lifted slightly, gazing into the void.
—Two glowing lines of large text appeared in the dark night sky, flickering nonstop:
“The battlefield situation is critical. Enter the match immediately?”
“When you are ready, please say, ‘Ready.’”
Xu Yuan laughed despite himself.
Indeed.
In his previous life, he had spent every day either training in the computer room or participating in esports competitions.
Forget this kind of hallucination—
Even in his dreams, he was playing matches.
But now.
He had transmigrated to an unfamiliar world, so why was he still hallucinating esports matches before his eyes?
Was this insanity?
Xu Yuan felt his vision darken in waves. The bloody foam he coughed out was also increasing, gradually clogging his airway until he could not breathe.
There was no other way.
Carrying the grief of “dying before the campaign could even begin”—and perhaps an extremely intense unwillingness—
At the brink of death.
Xu Yuan opened his mouth in a daze and struggled to spit out those three words:
“I’m ready.”
Before his voice had faded.
The entire world suddenly fell into a strange stillness.
The wind stopped.
The torturous pain of the sword wound vanished as if by a miracle.
A blue progress bar quietly appeared before Xu Yuan’s eyes and began steadily loading forward.
Above the progress bar, glowing characters kept flickering.
“Ability activated successfully.”
“Currently entering match:”
“Left 4 Survival and the Revival Match You Have No Choice But to Play Because You Got Stuck on a Sword While Transmigrating and Couldn’t Come Back to Life.”
“Difficulty: Easy (Beginner Level).”
“Time coordinate: three hours ago.”
“Objective: repel the kidnappers.”
“Explanation: This body’s former owner was kidnapped and killed after the ransom demand. If you want to revive in his body, you must eliminate all crises in advance.”
“Failure means death.”
“Success means survival and a beginner gift pack!”
The progress bar finished loading.
In an instant.
The bright moon vanished without a trace.
The sound of the wind stopped.
The steel bridge and the river scenery disappeared together.
Xu Yuan found himself standing in the corridor of a school building.
The sunset withdrew its final trace of light, sinking into the depths of night.
Dusk had passed; night had just fallen.
—Time had returned to three hours ago!
Xu Yuan froze.
This “match” was probably the ability he had awakened.
It was truly incomprehensible.
But on the contrary, this gave him a faint sense of security.
As long as what he faced was a match, psychologically speaking, he “automatically” calmed down.
First—
What kind of match was this?
MOBA?
FPS?
Or real-time strategy, collectible card game, sports simulation, or fighting game?
He waited for several breaths.
No further prompt appeared in the void.
It was as if everything that had just happened was nothing but a dream.
Xu Yuan sighed.
No matter what.
He already knew the key to the match.
—Stop this kidnapping!
Xu Yuan strode toward the end of the corridor.
Since this was a match—
Then there was one thing he had to do first.
He entered the restroom and began to urinate.
—If he did not solve this small problem now, and got desperate to pee during the match, it would become a big problem.
Do not look down on any trivial matter.
As a professional player, one had to treat every problem seriously!
With hand speed pushed to the limit, Xu Yuan drew an “888.” Feeling that his micro-control standards were still intact, he finally withdrew in satisfaction.
Returning to the sink, he turned on the faucet.
Splash!
Icy water flowed down his hair, gradually clearing his mind completely.
Xu Yuan let out a breath and raised his head to look into the mirror behind the sink.
The lonely incandescent light shone down, and the mirror reflected a face where sorrow and pain were intertwined.
This was not him.
This was the “Xu Yuan” of this world.
Damn it, he was actually kind of handsome?
Xu Yuan lightly rubbed his forehead.
His head hurt as if it were about to explode.
He raised his hand.
His hand was also trembling violently.
At this moment, he carefully recalled what the former owner had experienced, only to find he had no clue at all.
When the former owner was kidnapped, he had known nothing.
Right now.
All he knew was that the monthly exam was approaching, and the teachers were in a meeting.
So there were not many people in the corridor.
It was dark.
In three more hours, this body would die.
Tsk…
What a pain.
He had to make battle preparations in advance!
Just as he was thinking this, several lines of flickering small text appeared in the void:
“Career shop unlocked.”
“Congratulations.”
“The shop has now been opened for you:”
“Alien’s War Preparation Room.”
“Attention!”
“Because you are a beginner, you are permitted to use your original war preparation room once. After you successfully revive, this war preparation room will be replaced.”
“This beginner mission is in easy mode. You will receive beginner guidance.”
Alien?
Xu Yuan was somewhat puzzled.
Then he saw countless motes of faint light emerge in the void, gathering around him and taking shape, forming the appearance of a room.
—It was a bit like holographic imagery, VR technology, and the like.
Xu Yuan stood inside the room. In front, behind, to the left and right of him were shelves pieced together from wooden planks.
The shelves were filled with a dazzling array of weapons.
AK-47s, M416 assault rifles, AWM and Barrett sniper rifles, UMP45s, P90 submachine guns, SPAS-12 shotguns—
There was even a machine gun like the M249!
Xu Yuan’s eyes lit up, and he could not even stop himself from whistling.
Bro, I get it now.
—The so-called alien is me.
These were all pieces of equipment he commonly used.
And—
This match should be a VR-type FPS game!
When he was not competing in large-scale real-time strategy games, he liked to open up a virtual pod and play this sort of game to relax.
Everything in a virtual pod was designed to approach reality!
He had to stop a kidnapping, right?
Let me see what the kidnappers of this world are made of—
Hm?
The moment his hand touched the AK on the shelf, two lines of glowing small text suddenly popped out:
“You may use any item in the shop.”
“After the beginner mission ends, the shop will transform. All goods must then be purchased with payment.”
—Was this an apology for him getting stuck and dying on that sword?
Xu Yuan grabbed a sniper rifle and tested how it felt.
Very light.
—This world placed great importance on cultivating students’ physical fitness, so this body’s strength was quite decent.
Tsk.
This was almost no different from the sensation simulated by a virtual pod.
Add in his own combat awareness, overall game sense, reaction speed, and strategic choices—
They complemented one another perfectly!
“Please note.”
“The first wave of enemies is about to arrive.”
“Current time: 7:48 p.m.”
“At exactly 8:00 p.m., criminals from an underground human trafficking group will infiltrate the school.”
“They will climb over the eastern wall, gather in the bamboo grove behind the gymnasium, and then begin dispersing to various teaching buildings, using special instruments to search for your traces.”
“The match is about to begin.”
Xu Yuan glanced at the combat prompt and began selecting weapons at top speed.
A sniper rifle was a must.
Then grenades.
A submachine gun.
He needed a shotgun too.
Wait, there was actually good stuff in this crate!
He rapidly armed himself.
A few minutes later.
East side of campus.
Perimeter wall.
Xu Yuan carried a large camouflage bag on his back and crouched behind a trash can in the corner, staring at the street outside.
—He had no idea whether the match prompt was reliable.
If those criminals felt the weather was too cold, the moonlight too beautiful, and decided to wash their hands of crime and start anew, wouldn’t he have waited here for nothing?
Suddenly.
Xu Yuan’s eyes narrowed.
“They’re here.”
Across the street, seven or eight figures hurried over.
They silently flipped over the wall and landed in the bamboo grove below.
“Have all the surveillance devices been disabled?”
“Don’t worry, boss.”
“Even if we run into those weak-ass teachers, we’ll just kill them.”
“Good. Prepare to move—what’s wrong?”
The leader’s lowered voice suddenly rose.
The group looked down.
Among the companions who had climbed over the wall with them, two had fallen onto the grass, twitched a few times, and stopped moving.
“Boss, they’re dead.”
The subordinate checking the situation spoke in a trembling voice.
Xu Yuan smiled silently.
Taking advantage of the moment these people leaped over the wall, he had fired two sniper shots directly.
Two headshots.
—On this cool and pleasant autumn night, we fire a few shots from hiding also so everyone can get off work a little earlier.
But why were there special effects too?
Xu Yuan clearly saw several gold coins pop out from the bodies of the two criminals whose heads had been blown apart.
The gold coins hovered in midair, then gradually faded away.
“Hey, what’s this? You can farm gold in this match too?”
Xu Yuan silently asked in his mind.
Two lines of flickering small text immediately appeared:
“Killing enemies will generate gold coin rewards.”
“In the future, refreshing any item in the shop will require payment in gold coins.”
—So that was how it was.
Xu Yuan put away his gun, bent at the waist, and quickly moved toward the other side of the wall.
Under the night.
He wore a tactical helmet, and through the infrared imager, he could see the enemies clearly.
In the distant bamboo grove.
Suppressed clamor had already broken out:
“Damn it!”
“There’s an ambush!”
“It’s an assassin, hell, get out here!”
“Bastard, we’ve been set up!”
The group fell into chaos.
Xu Yuan toyed with a grenade, curiously observing the human traffickers.
—Would they abandon the mission?
If they abandoned the mission, then he would have completed his objective.
On such a cold day, if he could return to the dorm early and lie in bed scrolling on his phone—
“Silence!”
The leader barked, “This mission cannot fail! Everyone form a defensive battle formation!”
Xu Yuan’s gaze darkened.
Screw you!
You insist on working overtime, huh.
He crouched and slowly shifted his footsteps, casually pulling off the grenade’s pin.
—On this cool and pleasant autumn night, we toss a few grenades also so everyone can get off work even earlier.
The commotion from a grenade would also be enough to draw the entire school’s attention.
The teachers would definitely become alert.
Forget grading papers.
Forget grinding for the college entrance exam.
Come protect minors for me!
Xu Yuan lowered his head and glanced at the grenade—
To confuse the enemy, he had hidden the grenade inside a hollow throwing dart.
That way, the moment the enemy saw the dart, they would either turn sideways to dodge it or swing their weapons to block.
They would not go prone.
Nor would they shout, “Oh no, run!” the moment they saw a dart.
Indeed.
This might be a little impolite.
…Polite?
Xu Yuan sighed and murmured in a low voice:
“May Allah bless you, may Jesus forgive my sins, may you be reborn in the Pure Land.”
After reciting this, he threw the grenade.
“Careful, it’s a throwing dart!”
The leader shouted and swung his saber to block the incoming hidden weapon.
The other professionals around him also perked up, each focusing intently on the dart.
Good assassin.
Hiding in the dark and throwing darts.
But his dart-throwing skill seemed rather poor!
In other words—
They could fight this!
Battle intent rose in the crowd. One by one, they drew their weapons, eager to have a go.
Boom————
The earth shook and the mountains trembled!
The entire wall was blasted down.
All the snow in the bamboo grove was shaken into the air.
The power exceeded expectations!
Xu Yuan scrambled and crawled several dozen meters away, hurriedly plucking the earplugs from his ears. Still shaken, he patted his chest and shouted:
“A clap of spring thunder heralds peace; auspicious snow foretells a bountiful year!”
—When he was little, the elders always said that if you were frightened, you had to quickly say a few auspicious words.
He really was a good wanderer far from home.
Even when killing people, he was still reminiscing about the customs of his homeland.
Lines of glowing text quietly formed in midair.
“The mission should be complete.”
Xu Yuan rubbed his hands and thought to himself.
But the prompt was completely different from what he had imagined:
“Emergency!”
“There is still another team, members of an assassin organization, who just climbed in over the northern wall.”
“Your friend was practicing martial arts alone in the gymnasium—the criminals couldn’t find you, so they simply kidnapped her first. She has already been taken away!”
“What! My friend?”
Xu Yuan was greatly startled.
“You were originally supposed to go to the gymnasium to practice martial arts, but now you did not go, so under the chain reaction, this happened.”
“Will you rescue your friend?”
“Chase,” Xu Yuan shouted.
Since it was a match, he might as well see it through to the end.
“The enemy’s vehicle is about to pass the school’s back gate!” the glowing small text reminded him.
Beginner treatment was great.
At least the intel was truly timely!
Without another word, Xu Yuan broke into a run.
He picked up speed while pulling several long components out of his large camouflage bag, assembling them with a series of clicks.
By the time the components were assembled, he had already climbed onto the wall by the school’s back gate.
A gray van came roaring over.
“That’s the vehicle—wait! You can’t blow it up! Your friend is still inside!”
The glowing small text turned bright red.
Beneath the frosty-white moonlight.
Xu Yuan stood on the wall, holding up a shoulder-fired individual rocket launcher he had just finished assembling.
—Using a rocket launcher was, of course, for the sake of finishing the match sooner, getting off work, and going to eat hotpot.
Please understand.
He was just about to press the launch button when the beginner prompt pulled him back.
True.
The hostage was still in the vehicle.
“What a pain. Who designed this kind of match scenario?”
Xu Yuan could not help grumbling.
“This is not a scenario. It is something happening in reality. Please face the current crisis seriously!” the glowing small text reminded him.
Xu Yuan sighed.
If that van got away, there was no way he could catch up!
Even if he caught up, he would have to fight desperately.
Better to—
He raised the individual rocket launcher and pressed the launch button directly.
Boom!!!
The rocket shot out in a trail of smoke, blasting a huge crater in the road ahead.
The van braked sharply, but kept skidding across the frozen road, sliding all the way to the edge of the crater before barely stopping.
“Ambush!”
Someone shouted from inside the vehicle.
With a crash, the vehicle door opened. Several criminals jumped down, weapons in hand, warily scanning their surroundings.
Good opportunity!
Xu Yuan’s eyes suddenly became blank, his entire person seeming to enter a state cut off from the world.
He threw away the rocket launcher, raised the heavy sniper rifle, and without using the scope to aim, flicked his hands and fired four shots in succession.
Amid barely perceptible sounds—
Blood burst from the heads of four criminals. Their bodies went limp and collapsed to the ground.
Xu Yuan slowly exhaled and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Stay calm.
It was just blind sniping.
Though his touch seemed a little rusty. The last shot had almost missed the forehead, which was rather nerve-racking.
Fortunately, none of his team members were watching, or they would definitely have jeered.
Xu Yuan tossed aside the sniper rifle as well, pulled a tactical dagger from his backpack, picked up five grenades, and only then jumped down from the wall. While observing his surroundings, he slowly moved to the van door and looked inside.
A girl lay on the seat, sleeping.
This was my friend?
…He remembered now. That was right, it was her.
Xu Yuan said nothing more. He reached out, hooked an arm around her, and pulled the girl into his embrace.
Lines of faintly glowing small text popped out, appearing on his retinas:
“Congratulations.”
“Beginner mission complete!”
More prompts kept appearing.
But Xu Yuan had no time to look right now.
Although the sniper rifle had been fitted with a suppressor, that rocket had made a very real explosion.
To avoid unnecessary trouble—
He had to leave the battlefield immediately!
Holding the girl, he left the van at almost a mad sprint.
—And without looking back, he threw out five grenades.
Boom!!!
Firelight illuminated the night sky.
Just destroying the corpses and eliminating the evidence.
Basic play, no need to hype it up.
Under the night.
A weary voice sounded from afar:
“A clap of spring thunder heralds peace; auspicious snow… foretells a bountiful year…”