[Fair warning. This chapter will cover a lot of dark things, if you are not strong enough, leave. I am dead serious, the main experience many horrible things in his first life. So for your own good, leave if you are not strong enough.]
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[Earth, Year ????. Era of the End.]
It was unknown how long it had been, but humanity had changed too much. Resources had thinned, the population had grown. Humanity had no more resources to keep up with the demand. Wars had broken out multiple times, resulting in even fewer resources. But at the same time, it also meant fewer people who lived.
Crimes had gone up as the governments around the world had been taken down. Without enough resources, many things had been shut down. Rape, Murder, Stealing, Kidnapping, among other crimes, had become very common. It wasn't rare to see dead bodies in the ground.
Women had it the worst, beauty attracted bad people. Many women suffered from this the most. They would be used as tools to relieve stress. Of course, many tried to stop it but the gangs that did this were able to defend themselves.
Thus things such as this were common.
The big families who had enough resources for themselves kept themselves safe in bunkers. But the rich could not bear to live such a lifestyle without enjoying it. They would hire others to kidnap women for their own pleasure, or even go for their own family.
That is how bad human civilization had fallen.
Many tried to go to other worlds, but even then it was hard. The number of resources and time required to build rocketships was almost all gone. This is why scientists tried time and time again to make a 'cure' that could make humans evolve and live without food.
Or at least not the traditional food.
This is the reason why orphans keep on vanishing, not like anyone cared.
――
Crackle!
The sound of electricity running through the area could be heard, accompanied by screams of children.
This was a facility where kids were used as 'experiments' by scientists to help humans develop a liquid to speed evolution up. The progress? None.
No matter how much they tried, nothing worked. Even then they kept on trying. The number of children who have been killed number in one hundred thousand throughout the world.
That was in a year alone.
Currently a boy was strapped to a metal table, cuts visible on his body. The amount of blood around him was sickening. One could see many men in white coats with rubber gloves cutting the poor boy as he screamed.
Yet they turned a blind eye, all for the future of humans.
The boy had black hair that was long and dirty. His eyes had no hope, they were darker than any abyss. Bags under his eyes made him seem dead inside. The boy was malnourished, it was very obvious due to how weak he looked. His skeletal frame could be seen through his skin.
"Tch, another failure." The scientists all clicked their tongues when they saw the boy was dead.
"Let's go check on experiment H-0000. He is the only one strong enough to survive." Another scientist said, the others agreeing quickly as they moved out and went towards another testing room.
The room they headed to was like any other, except the screams being heard inside were inhuman. The sound of electricity and metal cutting flesh was heard.
When they entered the room one saw a similar scene as the past. Except for the boy here was still alive and kicking. Although his eyes were also starting to lose hope, his body was more nourished, even then not too much. The boy looked to be around eighteen. He was called 'boy' since he had been here for over ten years. Hence his name, H-0000. Hope-0000.
He had brown hair that reached his back, green eyes that had long since lost color. Even then the youth tried to live.
"How is H-0000 going? Any progress?" One of the scientists that just entered asked.
"Nothing, except for his resilience. The boy is nothing special." Another one replied, never stopping cutting the boy.
"Cells, tissues, brain activity. Everything is normal." Zap, electricity ran through the youth's head, heading towards the brain. Making his body convulse as it soon began to weaken.
The youth was giving up. His soul had been worn out. He was tired.
'I don't want to suffer anymore. I don't want to anymore... I am tired. Make it stop.' The boy's thoughts were like magic, as soon as he thought that his hurt and brain began to calm down and stop.
It was like they too wanted rest, so they were giving up now that the boy had given up.
Baddum!
Baddum
Baddum
Every beat of the boy's heart became weaker and shorter. The intervals between each one becoming longer.
His brain cut all connections to the body, to make sure nothing they did made the boy stop. His brain activity weakened, as the heard stopped.
Every organ in his body began to shut down, his body grew pale as his blood stopped flowing.
"No! He is dying!" One scientist said as he tried to revive him by shocking his heart, to make it beat again.
The other scientists began to do something similar as well, alas it was useless,
The boy's soul had long since escaped the body, the heart and brain being still. Nothing making it move.
The scientists despaired, they had lost their most useful lab rat, although they had made no progress they all thought they were close.
At this moment, the boy's soul was shutting down. Soon to go through the cycle of reincarnation.
――
Darkness.
That was all the boy could see.
He was aware he was 'alive.' But did not know in what form.
He could not feel, move, or talk.
Just see in front of him, but all he saw was darkness.
The youth did not know, nor remember for how long he had been here. After his death, all he saw was darkness. He could tell he was moving forward, but not by how much.
It could have been hours, maybe days, weeks, months, years even. He did not know how long it had been.
All he knew is that he was going somewhere.
But during that time, the boy had a lot of time to think, scream, and let his emotions out. Which ended up making him calm down, he started to grow cold in the darkness. His soul and will were still shattered, but it worked full time.
The boy who had lived a cruel life started to become cruel himself. He hated how he suffered, all for what? He did not even know why. All he know was that he suffered, for a decade. Day after day. With cold, rotten food as the only meal.
Only being able to sleep three hours per day, he did not know how he was still alive. It was unknown to him. It really was.
But he did not know, that his wish would come true. It was something not even the divine beings expected.
Although reincarnation is real, one would be cleansed, therefore forgetting everything about their past life. Reborn as a new person, with a different identity and ideals.
Of course, some beings had the knowledge about reincarnation, but they could do nothing against it. They couldn't even talk about it as the cosmos would punish them for talking about the secrets of the universe. Thus, everyone believed it wasn't real.
Still, many continued to believe in it, as a way to feel better if someone they cared about died. Knowing that they would have reincarnated.
As the soul of the youth moved through the darkness around it, it slowly healed. Becoming stronger, but the boy wasn't even aware of these changes. A mortal can not expect to know about a concept even cultivators cannot fully comprehend, the soul.
Like this, the soul of a once broken boy slowly moved towards a speck of light in the distance. During all of this time, the boy thought about different things in life. How he could have done better and improved. Maybe even change a few things. But in the end, they were only thoughts. He was now dead. For all he knew this could be purgatory, where he was bound to suffer for all eternity while moving endlessly for being too weak to save the woman he loved.