Fate is unpredictable, and life can be cruel. Su Nuo never expected that at the young age of twenty, he would suddenly cease to exist with a snap.
He wasn't afraid of death itself; he feared the consequences it would bring.
What would happen to Lin Mu if he died? Lin Mu had worked so hard to bring him up. Su Nuo hadn't even had the chance to take care of Lin Mu in his old age, and now he was gone. How could that be acceptable? Besides, he hadn't even lived a quarter of his life yet.
Thinking about these things, Su Nuo started to fear death.
And then he came back to life.
Abruptly sitting up from the bed, he breathed in the slightly cold air in large gulps, his heart pounding frantically.
He found himself in his own room, surrounded by the silent night. Though the lights were off, the moonlight was exceptionally bright, casting a serene glow throughout the room.
Su Nuo had never seen such a massive and radiant moon before. It almost occupied half of the sky, and the craters on its surface were clearly visible.
But... wasn't he dead?
Su Nuo got up and stood in front of the mirror, using the moonlight to see his reflection clearly. He was around 1.7 meters tall, not too tall, a bit skinny, and wore a pair of thick glasses. Faint scars from past injuries could still be seen on his body.
It was him. He hadn't traveled through time, nor had he been reborn. He really hadn't died.
But he vividly remembered being hit by the speeding car, even hearing the sound of bones breaking.
What on earth was happening?
Just as Su Nuo was puzzled, words slowly appeared on the mirror before his eyes.
A chill ran down Su Nuo's spine. Wasn't this the plot of a horror movie? Would a bloody "death" word or something like "mourning" appear in the mirror?
Then a few words appeared: System decompressing...
Phew, luckily it didn't escalate like a horror movie. Su Nuo breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that the current situation was that the mirror in their house had obtained a system because he died.
Hmm, it made sense...
...Yeah right!! Why did the mirror get the system instead of him?! What does his death have to do with the mirror??
Su Nuo turned to look at the wall, and the words appeared there too: System decompressing...
Did even the wall get the system?
Ah!!
Wait, Su Nuo was taken aback. He turned his head, and the words followed his gaze.
Adapting to the host individual...
Retrieving information...
Constructing the system interface...
Ah... So it was him who obtained the system. Su Nuo scratched his head.
After about three minutes, a mechanical voice devoid of any emotion echoed in Su Nuo's mind, "System adaptation complete."
A system interface consisting of simple lines appeared before Su Nuo's eyes, displaying several categories: Shop, Inventory, and Status.
Before Su Nuo could figure out what all these miscellaneous things were about, a string of text flickered across his field of vision.
Basic rewards being distributed...
Obtained First-tier Skills:
Physical Enhancement: +100% Stamina, +100% Defense. Lasts 2 hours, cooldown 1 hour.
Speed Enhancement: +100% Movement Speed, +100% Attack Speed. Lasts 2 hours, cooldown 1 hour.
Strength Enhancement: +100% Physical Attack Power. Lasts 2 hours, cooldown 1 hour.
Perception Enhancement: +100% Insight, +100% Elemental Control. Lasts 2 hours, cooldown 1 hour.
In the next moment, four book-like items appeared in Su Nuo's inventory, with a "Learn" button below them.
"This... seems like a video game," Su Nuo murmured to himself.
"Explanation: The original system involves 27,000 unknown areas for hosts, including reality distortion, event interference, memetic viruses, etc. To facilitate understanding, it switches to a familiar operating mode for the host," the cold and emotionless electronic voice sounded once again.
"So... because I'm dumb, the system appears like a video game?" Su Nuo asked rhetorically.
"Yes," the electronic voice succinctly replied.
Su Nuo: "..."
"What exactly are you? Why are you talking in my head, and now you're insulting me? Living in my house and still humiliating me?"
"Explanation: I am an artificial intelligence assistant system attached to the system, codenamed Tian Shu, designed to answer the host's questions about the system."
Su Nuo had nothing to say. It seemed pointless to argue with an emotionless system machine. It would be better to study the skills at hand.
He opened the four skill books and clicked on "Use."
Instantly, Su Nuo's mind was filled with something indescribable. It was like suddenly having a wealth of knowledge in his mind, and using them felt as simple as basic arithmetic.
"Perception Enhancement, activate!" Su Nuo murmured to himself.
In the next moment, he felt an intangible force spreading out from himself, extending to about ten meters around him.
It was an extremely profound feeling. Everything within a ten-meter range suddenly became exceptionally clear without the need to rely on his eyes. He could sense the table behind him, the trees outside the wall, and even the floating specks of dust around him.
"Damn, this skill is quite amazing..." Su Nuo felt excited. With this skill, he could... he could... well... compensate for his nearsightedness?
Alright! This seemingly impressive skill that wasn't actually useful seemed to have no practical purpose. Speaking of which... none of these four skills seemed to have any particularly useful aspects!
Strength? He didn't need to do heavy lifting!
Speed? Wasn't the car good enough?
Physical enhancement... what could he do with it? Resist a cold? Great, he obtained two hours of cold resistance, so impressive!!!
Su Nuo began to doubt the existence of this system and wondered if there was any customer service or if he could apply for after-sales service.
But at that moment, Su Nuo's perception ability provided him with an abnormal feedback. There was someone standing in the living room outside the door.
Su Nuo looked up at the clock. It was 8 o'clock in the evening. Lin Mu usually came home around 9 o'clock, so the person outside the door... probably wasn't Lin Mu?
Su Nuo carefully grasped the doorknob, intending to go out and take a look. He didn't notice that the second hand on the clock was constantly jumping, but not in a clockwise direction. It seemed like that one second of time was repeating itself.
Su Nuo pushed open the door and then froze. The person outside was indeed not Lin Mu, but a girl. A girl who was unbelievably beautiful.
Her pure white dress outlined a perfect figure, and her light silver hair cascaded gently down to her waist. Her delicate features seemed as if they were drawn by an artist.
At this moment, she was standing under the slightly weathered window frame. Her captivating sapphire eyes appeared slightly lost, and the moonlight's soft radiance spilled through the window, casting a light that made the girl seem otherworldly, elegant, and breathtakingly beautiful.
Su Nuo stood at the door, and for a moment, he felt as if he hadn't experienced any emotions for more than a decade and was now having some kind of illusion. Human appearances couldn't possibly reach such an extreme level, right?
"You're awake. I was wondering how long you were going to sleep," the girl turned her head to look at Su Nuo, her voice gentle and ethereal.
"Uh, I just woke up too..." Su Nuo scratched his head. "By the way, did you save me?"
"In a way, you could say that," the girl nodded.
"Uh... um... well... thank you," Su Nuo scratched his head again, unsure of what else to say.
"No need to thank me," the girl chuckled, and even the moonlight seemed to dim. "Because dying like that would be too easy for you. That's why I decided to bring you back to life and torture you properly!"