2026-04-09 04:55:29Li Ming slipped deeper into the narrow alley, heart still pounding from the rush of coming back. He could still hear the distant screams from the school grounds mixed with the occasional wet crunch and roar. Monsters were tearing through Qingyun City like it was nothing. He pressed his back against a graffiti-covered wall and pulled up his status for the first time.
A semi-transparent window floated in his vision, clean and simple.
Name: Li Ming
Level: 1
Class: None
Stats:
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Vitality: 9
Intelligence: 12
Mana: 8
Luck: 7
Skills: None
Titles: Reincarnator (Hidden)
Throne Anchors: 0/3 (Create first anchor)
The numbers looked pathetic. Average high school kid stuff. But the system messages from earlier burned in his mind. Reincarnation. Absorption. Reset. This wasn’t like the global game everyone else was stuck with. This was his cheat.
He took a slow breath, forcing his hands to stop shaking. The pain from dying had been real, sharp claws ripping through skin and muscle. He could still feel the echo of it if he thought too hard. Good. Fear kept you sharp.
A low growl echoed from the mouth of the alley. One of those spined dog-things had followed the blood scent. It was smaller than the one that killed him, maybe level 3 or 4 if the novels he’d read were any guide. Its red eyes locked on him.
Li Ming didn’t run. Not yet.
He scanned the ground quickly. Broken bottle, rusted pipe, a discarded school bag. Nothing great, but better than fists. He grabbed the pipe. Cold metal in his grip. “Come on then.”
The creature lunged. Faster than he expected. He swung wild, clipping its side. It yelped but kept coming, jaws snapping at his leg. Teeth grazed his calf, drawing blood. Pain flared hot.
Li Ming cursed and kicked it off, backing up. His agility wasn’t enough for fancy moves. The thing circled, spines rattling. Another lunge. This time he dodged left, barely, and brought the pipe down on its head with everything he had.
Crack. The skull gave way. The monster spasmed once and went still.
[You have killed a Spined Scuttler (Level 3).]
[Experience gained: 45]
[Basic Loot: 1x Minor Healing Pellet, 8 Copper Coins.]
A small pouch appeared at his feet. Li Ming snatched it up, popping the healing pellet immediately. The cut on his leg stopped bleeding and itched as it closed. Not full heal, but enough.
He dragged the corpse deeper into the shadows and waited. Thirty seconds. A minute. Nothing happened.
“Range is only fifty meters,” he muttered. “And it has to die near me.”
He needed a better test. Something where he could control the distance.
Another scream cut through the air, closer this time. Human. Li Ming moved to the alley entrance and peeked out. Across the street, near a small convenience store, two students he vaguely recognized from another class were fighting off a pair of scuttlers. One kid had a kitchen knife, swinging like a madman. The other was on the ground, bleeding badly.
The knife kid landed a lucky stab. One monster died.
Li Ming felt it instantly, a faint pull, like static in his veins.
[Throne Absorption triggered.]
[Absorbed: Basic Knife Proficiency (Passive - Lv.1)]
[Minor stat bonus integrated: +1 Agility]
Not much, but it was something. His grip on the pipe felt a fraction steadier.
The second monster tore into the downed kid. Screams turned to gurgles. The knife-wielding student panicked and ran straight toward Li Ming’s alley.
“Help! Anyone…”
He didn’t make it far. The scuttler pounced from behind, claws sinking into his back. The boy hit the pavement hard, eyes wide with shock.
Li Ming stayed hidden, counting the meters. The body was maybe forty meters away. Close enough.
The pull came again, stronger this time.
[Throne Absorption triggered.]
[Absorbed: Street Brawler’s Instinct (Passive - Lv.1) - Slight increase to reaction speed in close combat.]
[Memory fragment: Panic. “Mom… I should’ve gone home earlier.”]
[Minor stat bonus: +1 Vitality]
Li Ming exhaled slowly. The memories were hazy, like watching through fog, but they carried the kid’s last thoughts. He felt pity for the kid.
The surviving scuttler started dragging the body away. Li Ming stepped out, pipe raised. With the new passive, his movements felt a hair smoother. He closed the distance in a rush and smashed the creature’s spine before it could turn fully.
[You have killed a Spined Scuttler (Level 4).]
[Experience gained: 60]
[Basic Loot: 1x Minor Mana Pellet, 12 Copper Coins.]
Another absorption hit as the second body cooled nearby.
[Throne Absorption triggered.]
[Absorbed: Scuttler Carapace Fragment (Passive - Lv.1) - Minor damage reduction against slashing attacks.]
[Minor stat bonus: +1 Strength]
Li Ming’s lips twitched in a thin smile. Three kills, three small gains, and he hadn’t even used the reincarnation yet. The Throne worked even on monsters if they counted as part of the Game. Good to know.
He looted the bodies quickly, more coins, a couple of pellets, and a cheap lighter from one of the kids’ pockets. No big skills yet, but the range limit meant he had to stay close to the dying. Risky, but controllable.
Sirens wailed in the distance, then cut off abruptly. Police weren’t handling this. Probably dead already.
Li Ming dragged the corpses into the alley and piled some trash over them. No point leaving easy evidence if smarter players started hunting for loot. He found a quiet spot behind a dumpster, sat down, and focused.
“Create Throne Anchor.”
A soft blue glow pulsed under his feet for a second, invisible to anyone else.
[Throne Anchor 1 created: Current location marked as respawn point.]
[You may create up to 3 anchors at current level. Anchors can be moved or destroyed.]
One safe point secured. If he died again, he’d wake up right here, stronger for it. The +15% multiplier from his first death had already bumped his base stats slightly when he checked again.
Strength: 10 → 11.5 (effective)
Agility: 12 → 13.8
And so on. Small, but it stacked. Every death would multiply the gains.
A heavy thud shook the ground nearby. Something bigger than the scuttlers was moving through the street. Li Ming stayed low, peering out. A hulking brute with gray skin and jagged bone plates lumbered past, dragging a broken lamppost like a club. Level 8, probably. Too much for him right now.
He waited until it passed, then slipped the other way, toward the edge of the school zone where fewer people had been. Better to avoid crowds. Crowds meant competition and witnesses.
His mind raced with plans. Find a weak dungeon if one has spawned nearby, those reset weekly according to the system. Farm it smart. Build more anchors in hidden spots. Steal better skills from players who thought they were hot shit after one lucky kill.
The global timer in the corner of his vision ticked down.
[Time until First Monster Tide: 22 hours, 47 minutes.]
Plenty of time to prepare. Or to die a few more times and come back harder.
Li Ming gripped the pipe tighter, the new brawler instinct making his steps quieter. He wasn’t going to charge in swinging like those idiots.
He was going to play the long game.
And when the strong ones showed up thinking they owned Qingyun City, he’d be ready to take everything they had.
Even if it meant dying to do it.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The Warehouse Door
Li Ming woke before sunrise in the quiet loading yard of the old textile factory. The second anchor felt solid under him, like a hidden safety net no one else could see. He stood, stretched, and checked the global timer out of habit.[Next Monster Tide: 5 days, 18 hours.]The city had grown louder overnight. Distant shouts, he could hear metal being hammered into barricades, and the scream when someone walked too close to a resident pack of shadow wolves or scuttlers. The monsters hadn’t vanished with the tide. They had simply spread out, smaller groups now claimed alleys, rooftops, and abandoned buildings as their territory. The big waves were gone, but Qingyun City remained a hunting ground.He ate a piece of dried scuttler meat from his inventory (the cooking skill fragment actually helped make it edible) and headed straight for the school sports field. The dungeon reset cooldown had nearly ticked over. One more run before the day got too crowded.The black door still hovered above
The Warehouse Door
Li Ming woke before sunrise in the quiet loading yard of the old textile factory. The second anchor felt solid under him, like a hidden safety net no one else could see. He stood, stretched, and checked the global timer out of habit.[Next Monster Tide: 5 days, 18 hours.]The city had grown louder overnight. Distant shouts, he could hear metal being hammered into barricades, and the scream when someone walked too close to a resident pack of shadow wolves or scuttlers. The monsters hadn’t vanished with the tide. They had simply spread out, smaller groups now claimed alleys, rooftops, and abandoned buildings as their territory. The big waves were gone, but Qingyun City remained a hunting ground.He ate a piece of dried scuttler meat from his inventory (the cooking skill fragment actually helped make it edible) and headed straight for the school sports field. The dungeon reset cooldown had nearly ticked over. One more run before the day got too crowded.The black door still hovered above
Echoes in the Streets
Li Ming left the sports field behind without looking back. The five bodies were hidden well enough behind the bleachers. By the time anyone found them, the blood would have dried and the dungeon door would still be his alone. He jogged toward the city center at an easy pace, new stats eating the distance. The leather vest he’d looted from the leader fit better than the old one, tougher, less noisy.Stats had settled after the kills.Strength: 54Agility: 42Vitality: 43Level: 17The Throne was getting greedy. Each death fed it faster now, like it was waking up.Qingyun City’s main roads were waking up too. Groups of survivors moved in packs of ten or twenty, dragging carts of scavenged food and weapons. Makeshift camps had sprung up in the wider intersections, guarded by guys with bats and knives. Li Ming kept to the side streets, fifty meters from the biggest crowds. Close enough to listen, far enough to stay invisible.A global announcement rang out as he passed a burned-out bus st
Second Run
Li Ming stood on the empty sports field,. The city noise was picking up, shouts, arguments, the clatter of people dragging barricades. Survivors were waking up to the new reality. He didn’t care. His inventory was heavier with coins and the new iron dagger. The Mana Bolt skill sat ready in his palm, a faint blue spark he could feel even without casting.He checked the system again.[Dungeon: Abandoned Warehouse – Cleared][Reset available: Once per week.][Resetting will increase all monster levels by 1. Loot scales accordingly.]One week cooldown, but he could start the second run right now. No point waiting. Every hour the other survivors grew bolder, and someone would eventually stumble on this door. Better to farm it alone while it was still quiet.He jumped up, grabbed the edge, and pulled himself through.The warehouse air hit him colder this time. Lights flickered the same, but the shadows felt thicker. The system updated instantly.[Reset complete.][All monsters now Level 5–8
The First Door
Li Ming walked the quieting streets of Qingyun City as the last of the monster tide faded. Dawn light cut through the cracked sky, bodies lay everywhere, human and monster mixed together like trash. The global system chimed once, loud in every survivor’s head.[First Monster Tide complete.][Casualties on Floor 0: 1,847,392 (global).][New dungeons spawning in low-population zones. First beginner dungeon detected within 3 kilometers.][Safe zones have shrunk 30%. Next tide in 6 days.]He didn’t stop to count the dead around him. His own body felt different now, stronger, tighter, the lizard scale fragments making his skin itch less against the new vest. Stats had settled after the reincarnation boost.Strength: 34Agility: 27Vitality: 25Intelligence: 15Mana: 11Luck: 10Level: 9The Throne had turned one stupid death into real progress. He tested Spiked Charge on a lamppost as he passed. The metal dented deep. Good.Most survivors who lived through the night were hiding or forming
First Reaping
Li Ming slipped between two wrecked cars, with his dagger low at his side. The second wave of the tide was worse. Bigger wolves howled through the commercial street, and a few spiked lizards the size of motorcycles had joined them. Survivors were down to maybe fifteen now, scattered and desperate. The four loudmouths’ group was gone, only their leader’s fresh corpse still fed the Throne.He stayed on the edges, always moving, always inside fifty meters of the heaviest fighting. Adrenaline Rush was on cooldown, but the new stats made his steps lighter, his swings harder.A wolf pack of three tore into a small family barricaded behind a flipped truck. Li Ming circled wide, staying forty meters back. The parents went down first. Then the kid.[Throne Absorption triggered.][Absorbed: Family Bond Fragment (Passive Lv.1) – Minor boost to protecting nearby allies (irrelevant for now).][Absorbed: Desperate Throw (Active Lv.1) – Accurate projectile toss once per minute.][Stat bonuses: +1 Ag
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