REBORN IN THE DEATH GAME: I STEAL POWER FROM THE DEAD

Li Ming slouched in the back row of Class 3-2, chin propped on his hand, staring at the math problems on the board. Another ordinary Tuesday in Qingyun City. 

His phone buzzed once under the desk. A message from his mom: Come home early. There’s talk of weird weather.

He ignored it. Weird weather in Qingyun was usually just smog or sudden rain.

Then the lights started shaking.

Not just the classroom's lights, everything. The sky outside the window flashed a deep, unnatural blue, as if  someone had torn open the ceiling of the world. Students murmured. Phones lit up with notifications.

Li Ming sat up straighter. A massive transparent panel appeared in the air, visible to everyone at once.

[Welcome, inhabitants of Floor 0.]

[The Eternal Death Game has begun.]

[Survive. Grow stronger. Ascend the floors.]

[First Monster Tide begins in 23 hours, 59 minutes.]

Screams erupted outside. Cars slammed into each other on the street below. Li Ming’s heart hammered as he bolted for the window. The sky wasn’t blue anymore,  it was cracked, jagged lines of white light spreading like breaking glass. Black shapes poured through the fissures. Things with too many legs and glowing eyes.

“Run!” someone yelled.

The classroom exploded into panic. Desks flipped. Li Ming shoved through the crowd toward the door, mind racing. This wasn’t a prank. This felt exactly like those web novels he’d stayed awake late at night reading, system, apocalypse, survival. Except he wasn’t the protagonist in any of them. He was just Li Ming, average grades, no special talents, parents who worked long hours at the textile factory.

He made it to the stairwell before the first monster hit the school grounds. A dog-sized creature with razor spines scuttled across the courtyard, leaping onto a screaming girl. Blood sprayed.

Li Ming didn’t stop. He kept running down the stairs, then out the side exit, into the alley behind the school. His legs burned. Shouts and wet tearing sounds chased him.

He turned a corner and slammed straight into another one.

The thing was fast. Claws raked across his chest before he could even raise his arms. Pain exploded, hot and blinding. He hit the ground hard, gasping as blood soaked his uniform.

[You have been fatally wounded.]

[HP: 0/120]

Darkness swallowed him.

Then…

Li Ming gasped awake, jerking upright in the same alley. The pain was gone. His shirt was whole, no blood, but his hands shook.

What the hell?

A new blue panel hovered in front of his eyes, different from the global one. This one was more private and personal.

[Reincarnator detected.]

[Memories intact.]

[Exclusive System awakened: Reincarnator’s Throne.]

[Throne Absorption (Lv.1): Absorb skills, stat bonuses, titles, and memory fragments from deceased players/NPCs within 50 meters.]

[Reincarnation Passive: Upon death, respawn at nearest Throne Anchor with permanent stat multiplier (+15% this death) and bonus integration.]

[Dungeon Sovereign (Locked): Reset cleared dungeons once per week.]

[Current Throne Anchors: 0 — Create your first at a secure location.]

Li Ming stared, breath coming fast. He remembered dying, the claws, the  blood, the wet crunch. It hurt like nothing else.

But he was back. And this system… it was only for him.

He pushed to his feet, legs steady now. Notifications kept coming.

[Global Announcement: Safe zones shrinking in 72 hours.]

[First deaths recorded worldwide.]

Li Ming clenched his fists. If this was real, and it felt real, then millions were about to die screaming while the strong stepped on the weak. Guilds would form. Cheaters with early info would rig everything.

He wasn’t going to be fodder again.

A scream echoed from the school direction. More monsters. The first tide hadn’t even started yet, and the city was already falling apart.

Li Ming moved deeper into the alley, away from the noise. He needed to test this, quietly, smartly.

No rushing in like an idiot hero.

He found a cracked mirror leaning against a dumpster and checked his reflection. Same messy black hair, same ordinary face. But his eyes looked different now, it looked sharper, colder.

“Alright,” he muttered. “Let’s see what this Throne can actually do.”

A distant roar shook the air. Something bigger was coming.

Li Ming smiled thinly. In his last life, all fifteen minutes of it,  he’d died like a nobody.

This time, every death would make him stronger.