If you could choose the way you die, the way your life fades from the world, what would you choose? Would you die peacefully in bed, surrounded by the friends and family you made in life, or would you die surrounded by the dead bodies of everyone you hated? As the sun sets, dragging every man you held hatred in your heart into hell.
Personally, I'd prefer not to die at all. Alas, a crazy, sword-wielding man reminded me that fate isn't fair. And I wouldn't enjoy dying with my bowels on the floor.
"Fucking bastard," I mutter as I feel my blood and organs trying to slip from my wound. I look up and see the man who just gutted me.
The man is tall with black hair and a scar down his left eye. He walks towards me and pats my head softly, almost in a mocking form of pity. "Sorry you had to go out like this. But unfortunately, the boss needs the shipment. So, I have to steal it. Relax a bit, and I can guarantee my next strike will be painless."
I have to forcefully relax since my body's energy is draining by the second, and I can't keep up my Qi circulation. It's always a strange thing: when I take major damage, I unintentionally focus Qi into my inner body, which allows me to heal faster. But given that I've just been disemboweled, I may not have time to heal.
"Relax, man. At least you die to a handsome man," one of the others says as I chuckle a bit. Since it's true, the guy who stabbed me has bright blue hair, red eyes, and a pretty good build. He has a nice face and a well-built body. However, given that I'm bleeding out on the floor, I probably shouldn't be agreeing. So, I just say my last words.
"You're…with the Sorim sect, aren't you?" I say, causing my killer to stop and nod.
"Yeah. They said they had enough of the wine guild exporting vices to their territory and paid us to deal with you all. Sorry about that," he says.
I chuckle and say, "Oh, relax. I…hated this group. And I really hope that when I reincarnate, I get to stab you back." I cough up blood afterward as my vision darkens.
As my eyes begin to close, I see a weird blue tile appear in front of me and say
{Would you like a second chance?}
{"Y/N?}
Honestly I was shocked, confused, and worried…so I decided to just say "..Yeah, I'd like a second chance" softly under my breath before my lights faded as I then heard
{Understood, calculating…Welcome to the system, Zhen Moyue}
Now if you were in my shoes and saw you had a fucking last name this whole time, you'd be shocked. For my beginning years of life, no one told me if I had a last name and simply called me Zhen. When I asked if I had a last name, everyone got nervous about it and didn't speak about it, so I dropped it.
Before I can question that I felt…life return to my body as I saw my wounds heal, and I got up shocked that I was healed. So I went to go grab the tag on the shipment I was taking to the nearby province, ripped it up, and immediately a loud sound is heard as the attackers turned and the one who gutted me yelled,
"WHAT- How are you alive? I gutted you! Your organs were on the ground!?" He said pointing his sword at me as I grabbed my sword and entered a defensive stance and said back,
"I don't know how I'm alive, but I'm gonna make sure you don't destroy the shipment." I entered a martial artist basic stance and held my sword in front of me in a defensive stance.
But I then saw another 2 tiles appear and saw the guys' name and my name.
{Long Wu}
{Attack power: 4000}
{Defensive power: 3000}
{Health: 6000}
{Qi: 2000}
{Zhen Moyue}
{Attack power : 500}
{Defensive power: 200- damaged armor}
{Health 2000}
{Qi: 1000}
Now I couldn't brag about My intelligence since I was about as smart as the average person…but I know the bigger the number, the worse it is, so I know this guy was stronger and had more qi…plus there's all his associates who have similar stats but only have names like Sorim-hired Bandit number 1.
But before I could get sent back to the gates of the afterlife…thank heavens, the reinforcements arrived.
Led by one of my good friends, Lian Wei, who I saw the title of…Okay, wow, this guy's a lot stronger than me. His attack, defense, qi, and health were all just about equal to Long Wu, while I barely met the surface of power.
Plus, Lian…Well, he was very attractive, like really attractive. He had everything I desired my own body to have: muscles, a face that looked hot with minor stubble…shredded arms…uhh…where was I? Oh, right, yeah, Lian and his reinforcements were coming to rescue me! So yeah, Lian fought them off to the point Long and his bandits had to retreat. As he walked towards me and said,
"Zhen? You're good, shit…you're covered in blood…Should've given you a full qi education before we sent you back out on another run."
Qi edu- oh right, I was gonna start learning about the principles of Qi! Dammit, I forgot about that…cause I got gutted. And that makes it hard to remember stuff, because your brain focuses on your body bleeding out.
Anyway, With Lian thankfully coming to my rescue, he helps me up and asks me, "Zhen, what happened?" As I noticed, Lian isn't noticing the system, which I think means he can't see it…don't know if that's good…but I have to speak, so I say,
"The group and I were delivering the Qi pills to the city, and then the bandits attacked us." I said, standing up and popping my bones as I stretched. I said, "I don't know how I survived, but I am happy I did, because I like living." Lian chuckles a bit as he says,
"You got a weird sense of humor, Zhen. Anyway, let's get this to the city. I'll give you your qi lesson as we go."
I nodded, appreciating Lian's kindness, as we headed off to the city of Gongmen. See, me and Lian work for the same company, the Shaoxing wine guild. The surface it sounds like is your regular wine distribution company, but we also distribute qi pills and elixirs to the different sects. Now, I don't know much about Qi right now, so I'll have to wait for Lian to explain it with his deep voice.
Then before I could even stand up quickly…the tile appears again and the world around me seems to slow to a crawl as a Tile appears in front of me as it says
{Would you like a rundown on Qi?}
As I think about it for a moment and decide to wait before clicking
{yes}
As the thing seems to take in my answer and think for a sec before beginning to show Words