Volume 1, Chapter 1

Huaguo, Cangyang City.

Fan Yumo was an ambitious young man who had just finished his college entrance exams and was preparing to embark on a beautiful university life.

On this Friday morning, he arrived at the electronics market in the east of the city, intending to use the reward money given to him by his parents to buy the first laptop of his life! However, when he left the house today, Fan Yumo seemed to have forgotten to check the almanac…

Just as he was at the entrance of a specialty store, pulling out his phone to show his health code to the security guard…

The unexpected happened suddenly.

The security guard in front of him, who had been repeatedly urging him to show his health code, suddenly stopped talking.

Then,

Splat!!

Accompanied by a strange sound, a glob of viscous liquid abruptly splashed onto Fan Yumo, sending a shiver through the boy’s entire body. Looking at the bright red liquid covering his phone screen, Fan Yumo froze on the spot.

Eh?

??!!!

What the hell?! Is… is this blood?!

“What’s going on?! Is this a prank?!”

Fan Yumo suddenly looked up, staring ahead, prepared to offer his most sincere Zaun ¹ “祖安问候” (Zǔ’ān wènhòu), originally refers to a place name, but in internet slang it comes from the game League of Legends, where “Zaun” became associated (in Chinese communities) with toxic, aggressive trash talk. Translated to Zaun because that’s the english name. -style greetings to whoever was behind the prank.

However,

Reaԁ oո ΚatRеαԁinɡCаfе

In the next moment, Fan Yumo discovered to his horror that this blood wasn’t some prank prop, but genuine fresh blood…

The security guard who had just been blocking him was now beheaded, his body reduced to a pile of mangled flesh on the ground. Splattered blood dyed everything around red, and scattered intestines were even draped over Fan Yumo’s neck.

A nauseating, bloody stench suddenly hit him, making Fan Yumo’s stomach churn violently.

Behind the security guard’s corpse, a massive monster resembling a Rhinoceros Beetle, its entire body covered in black spikes, was staring fixedly at everyone. Why everyone? Because there were hundreds of bright red eyeballs on that monster’s head, enough to make any creature that locked eyes with it feel extreme disgust and a spine-chilling coldness.

“This… what the f*ck… am I dreaming?!”

Looking at the monster’s blood-dripping mouth and its hideous, terrifying claws, the fear deep within Fan Yumo’s heart was instantly awakened. He trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat pouring down his face, as he instinctively backed away, terrified that he would end up like that security guard—dead without a whole corpse.

However, his backward movement drew the monster’s attention.

In the next instant,

Under Fan Yumo’s horrified and desperate gaze, the unnamed black monster suddenly opened its bloody maw and pounced toward him…

…

…

Ummm,

Under normal circumstances, Fan Yumo would have certainly died at the hands of this unknown monster. However, although Fan Yumo did eventually bite the dust, he wasn’t torn to shreds like many of the other bystanders.

Just as he was about to be tackled by the monster, Fan Yumo’s strong luck kicked in.

At the critical moment, he stepped on an orange peel, slipped backward, and miraculously dodged the monster’s attack.

Rеаd oո ΚаtRеаԁіոɡСαfе

However, a certain passerby standing behind Fan Yumo wasn’t so lucky and was directly torn into pieces by the monster without any suspense.

Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Fan Yumo regained his senses. Driven by a powerful survival instinct, he scrambled to his feet! He ran desperately toward the exit of the technology market!!

However,

As usual,

Every time his strong luck played a role, a piece of bad luck would immediately follow.

Just as Fan Yumo thought he had escaped and was immersed in the joy of surviving a disaster, the heavens played a massive joke on him. As he rushed out of the technology park, a truck driver fleeing for his life happened to drive out from the side recklessly!

And so,

Boom!!!

Accompanied by a loud crash, Fan Yumo spun 3600 degrees at high speed and flew into the sky with a dazed expression, biting the dust on the spot…

Damn it ² author wrote MD (妈的, mā de) in the original source which means damn it, what the hell, sh*t, etc. There are a lot of Chinese meme references in this chapter, most if not all footnote will be me trying to explain them ,

What kind of bullshit is this!!

Every time he thought back to his utterly pathetic wipeout, Fan Yumo couldn’t help but put on an “mmp” ³ written in alphabet on the original source. mmp is internet slang for a censored curse (similar to “wtf” or “f*ck this”) face , wishing he could find a chance to punch that truck driver in the face with a barrage of “Ora Ora” ⁴ the battle cry of Jotaro Kujo from Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure treatment and offer him his most sincere Zu’an-style greetings!

But that was all unrealistic now.

Looking at the pitch-black Void Zone surrounding him, Fan Yumo, floating there in the state of a Soul Body, sighed helplessly. Of course, he was only going through the motion of sighing.

As a staunch materialist, Fan Yumo originally didn’t believe in things like souls or reincarnation. In his view, once a person passed away, they completely faded into “nothingness”, leaving behind nothing but a cold corpse.

Rеаd oո KаtRеαⅾіոɡСаfе

However,

Now, Fan Yumo probably had to change the deep-rooted ideas in his head. After all, he currently appeared to be a goddamn Soul Body!!

As for where he was now…

Ummm, he wasn’t sure what the hell this place was. Heaven? Hell? It seemed to be neither.

There was nothing here.

Only endless darkness.

Fan Yumo no longer knew how long he had stayed in this void. Wait! Did the concept of time even exist here? Fan Yumo wasn’t sure. The only thing he knew was…

It was too boring.

There was nothing but darkness. As a Soul Body, he didn’t seem to be able to sleep, so he could only drift here alone. It was enough to drive Fan Yumo to a mental breakdown! But for some reason, his consciousness remained highly alert. He wanted to break down and end it all, but he couldn’t. He wanted to suppress his emotions and become a mindless wandering ghost, but he couldn’t do that either.

In this situation,

The only thing Fan Yumo could do to pass the time was reminisce.

Thus, after accepting the tragic facts that he was dead, separated from his family and friends, and unlikely to leave this place, Fan Yumo frequently revisited his memories. In his mind, he reconstructed the beautiful blue sky and white clouds, his kind family and friends, all kinds of delicious food, and his colorful entertainment life.

Past memories, whether happy or sad, played over and over in Fan Yumo’s mind like a movie.

In this manner, an unknown amount of time passed.

Just like just now, he had recounted the events before his death…

Reаⅾ oո KαtRеaⅾiոɡCafе

He didn’t know how many times he had done it.

“Sigh, when will these days ever end? Instead of drifting here forever, it would be more comfortable to just have my soul dissipate after death…”

Fan Yumo cried out despite being unable to shed tears.

“God! Let me out!!! I don’t want to keep squatting here!!”

If this was the so-called afterlife, it was practically comparable to Avici Hell ⁵ Avici Hell (阿鼻地狱 / 无间地狱, Ābí dìyù / wújiàn dìyù), literally means “the hell of uninterrupted suffering”, is the lowest, most severe level of hell in Buddhist cosmology, specifically in East Asian traditions

Incidentally, this was the 223,000th time he had made such a lament.

Unsurprisingly, the heavens had never responded to his prayers once.

However,

This time,

The situation seemed different.

Just as Fan Yumo began to complain frantically in his mind as usual, a girl’s voice, as heavenly and pleasant as a lark, unexpectedly entered his mind.

“Hey, young man, seeing as you’re quite handsome, I’ll hire you to be a Final Boss, okay?~~”

Fan Yumo: ?

“Who?!”