Shadow Assassin Rebirth

chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 : The Year Everything Began

Crackle… boom… hiss…

That was the sound the world made the day everything ended, and started over again.

It was 2025. The year a strange, almost divine game called LYTABERN descended from the sky and wrapped humanity in madness. People screamed, the air turned crimson, and the heavens cracked open like some broken machine pouring fire and light down to earth.

Nothing was ever the same after that.

The world's laws shattered.

And the only thing that mattered anymore was lifespan.

Lifespan became currency.

Lifespan became power.

Lifespan became everything.

If you died, you lost it.

If you killed monsters, you earned it back.

People called it the new balance , the law of survival. There were two kinds of lifespan: tradable and non-transferable.

Tradable lifespan was a living currency. You could sell it, gift it, or exchange it for food, shelter, and weapons. Some even traded away years of their lives, for love, for family, or just one more chance to live.

But non-transferable lifespan was cruel. You couldn't sell it, couldn't share it. When it ran out, so did you.

When that meter hit zero, you didn't just die , you vanished. Body, soul, memory, gone, like dust in the wind.

People adapted fast. They learned that lifespan could buy anything , strength, miracles, even power from inside the game itself. Players could now drag their in-game abilities into the real world.

And soon, monsters weren't the only danger.

Humans were too.

The strong crushed tanks with their bare hands. They sliced planes in half with a single swing. Some stood in nuclear fire and laughed.

The world of rules was gone. Chaos had replaced it.

Boom… thud… hiss…

Streets became warzones. Skies rained burning debris. Nations fell, cities turned into hunting grounds.

And amid the chaos stood Li Wei.

He didn't shout. He didn't panic. He didn't run.

He just watched, sharp-eyed, calculating, silent.

He and his younger sister, Li Xue, lived in a crumbling apartment that shook every time an explosion hit nearby. They had no one else. Just each other.

Every day was survival. Every night, danger waited.

Li Wei learned to think faster than fear. He planned every fight like chess, mapped escape routes, studied monsters, memorized every scream to avoid repeating it.

He lost friends, sleep, and pieces of himself , but he kept going.

His hands were always bloody. His eyes, cold.

Because warmth could get you killed.

Step by step, battle by battle, Li Wei clawed his way through nine years of ruin. Nine brutal years of war.

He crossed battlefields of corpses. He faced monsters louder than thunder. He endured betrayal until pain became normal.

And still, he endured.

Until he reached the Ruins of the Ancient God, a place where even the strongest dared not go. The ground pulsed with light, the air burned with power, and the screams of the lost never stopped.

There, he found it, the Eye of Judgment.

A divine relic said to predate time itself.

It pulsed with golden veins, staring into his soul.

He thought, This is it. My journey finally means something.

He believed it was the start of greatness.

But fate had other plans.

That night, his sister, the one person he had fought to protect, turned on him.

He still remembered the sound.

Thud… crack… hiss…

The blade sliding between his ribs.

His breath freezing.

The warmth of blood down his hands.

Li Xue's face held no tears. No regret. Only silence.

Something inside him broke.

All his pain, sacrifice, and struggle, gone, meaningless.

He had lived for others.

Fought for others.

And in the end, died because of them.

As darkness closed in, his heart whispered one final wish,

> "If I could live again… I'd fight only for myself."

The world faded.

And then.

Thud… crackle… hiss…

A breath.

A heartbeat.

Li Wei's eyes opened.

He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. No blood. No wound. No pain.

His chest heaved. Thump… thump… thump…

> "Hhh… ahh…"

He sat up sharply. The sheets rustled to the floor. His eyes darted around.

Same pale walls. Same cheap table. Same curtains dancing in the night breeze.

> "What… is this…?"

His voice trembled.

He turned to the desk , his old phone rested there. With shaking fingers, he picked it up.

Click… bzzz…

The screen glowed cold blue.

3:00 AM , June 7, 2025.

He froze.

His pupils widened. His breath slowed.

"This date…" he whispered.

Outside the window, the city still lived. Neon lights shimmered on wet streets. Cars passed. A dog barked somewhere. Life went on. The world was still normal.

Li Wei's heart pounded harder. He knew this night. Every second of it.

It was the night before LYTABERN descended.

He sat still, lips curving into a faint, disbelieving smile.

He laughed quietly.

Hmph… pfft… hhh…

> "So I went back… nine years."

His voice carried awe, and something darker.

> "Time travel? Regression?"

He didn't understand how. He didn't care.

His mind was already racing , sharp and cold.

He replayed his past life, the monsters, the screams, the betrayal.

His hand clenched. Crack… crack…

> "This time," he said softly, eyes like steel, "I won't be fooled again."

Tick… tick…

Only the clock dared to move.

Then .

BOOM!.

The door exploded inward. Splinters flew. The echo hit like thunder.

Li Wei's head snapped toward the sound.

Hiss… crackle… thud…