Author here, I'm sorry for the updates lately, I'm trying to figure out a schedule right now. Before I was releasing fourteen chapters a week which is unsustainable with my university and work, so I'm thinking of seven to ten chapter a week with bonus chapters depending on the power stone support, please be paiteint with me this week-I promise to figure this out.
Also I just wanted to say how thankful I am of your amazing support, the power stones contribution has been amazing for a ff that hasn't even passed a 100K views. Ya'll are amazing and make me wanna write even more. Thanks and enjoy the chapter.
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The slums of Reincarnation Paradise never change. Without the time function provided by the interface, there is no real sense of time in this place. Players constantly move about, searching for any opportunity to grow stronger before their next mission. Veterans who have survived in the slums often glance up at the tower, their faces etched with anticipation and hope for ascension.
Back in Ali's apartment, a handsome, muscular man stepped out of the shower, his body still glistening with droplets of water. Ali stood in the middle of the room, closing his eyes and focusing on his heart. His pulse quickened, his heart beating faster and faster, raising his body temperature until the water evaporated from his skin. He had no towel, but this technique sufficed to dry him off.
Once he was dry, Ali dressed and opened the interface to check the time. It was eight-thirty in the morning—just half an hour before he was to enter a new world.
He walked over to the side of the bed, pocketed both of his knives, and picked up a grey sack filled with bland rations. The sack was made from the grey clothes he'd found upon first entering the apartment.
Ali approached the door, which slid open on its own, and it shut behind him as he descended the stairs and headed toward the city centre. As he walked down a dark street, he heard a man's frantic voice coming from a nearby alley.
"I CAN'T, I CAN'T! I DON'T WANNA GO, NOOOO!"
Ali saw the man, panicked and on the ground, screaming. Suddenly, a blue light enveloped the man, and within moments, he vanished without a trace.
"Shock from bad experiences on the missions. I can see that happening, especially if he was badly hurt and gained nothing from it. It becomes torture without reward or hope, driving people to madness," Ali reflected as he continued down the street.
Arriving at the massive circular area of the city centre, Ali noticed the military man from the previous day. He was wearing the uniform of the Stone Guild, and four other members of the guild surrounded him.
"Those around him don't look like amateurs, and their weapons are expensive. They must have formed a group to ensure he survives his first world-holding the newbie's hand so his talent isn't wasted," Ali thought, eyeing the guild members equipped with spears, swords, and hammers. One woman at the back even had a handgun on her waist, which would have cost a fortune in the slums.
Ali took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then opened them slowly. His expression grew focused, his sharp eyes radiating a deadly calm. "Let's go."
"Teleportation link opening in 3... 2... 1..."
Ali was engulfed in a deep blue light and disappeared.
His vision turned completely white before a new scene unfolded around him. He immediately dropped his sack and surveyed his surroundings.
"Japan... again," Ali muttered, realising he was on the roof of a three-story building somewhere in modern-day Tokyo. It was nighttime, and far in the distance, the Tokyo Tower gleamed beautifully in the dark.
"Tokyo. I've always liked the night here," Ali mused, his ears twitching slightly at a noise coming from the warehouse next to the building.
Picking up his rations, Ali walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at the warehouse. It was a small structure with plastic sheets covering the glass on the roof, but the movement inside was faintly visible.
Ali felt a slight tingling on the tattoo of his name on his wrist. Smiling, he touched his wrist and then jumped from the roof, landing silently on the roof of the warehouse, keeping his presence hidden. He tore a tiny piece of the plastic sheet covering the window, giving him a clear view inside.
There were several refrigerators lined up against the walls, and in the centre of the warehouse stood a young boy, no older than twelve. Opposite him were seven men, each holding weapons ranging from meat cleavers to bats and machetes. What caught Ali's attention immediately were the boy's eyes— completely black, with a shining red iris in the centre.
One of the men stepped toward the boy, knife in hand. Suddenly, a red stinger extended from the boy's lower back, shooting toward the man and piercing his leg. The sharp tip of the stinger left a gaping wound before retracting.
The injured man was dragged back by the others, all of whom bore tattoos that marked them as members of the Japanese mafia—a group Ali was well-acquainted with.
The remaining men advanced slowly, their eyes warily fixed on the boy's pulsing stinger.
Just as they prepared to strike, the warehouse door swung open, revealing a bald man holding a handgun. He had the weapon aimed at the head of a teenage girl walking in front of him.
"Sister!" the boy cried, recognising her instantly.
"If you don't want to see your sister's brains splattered on the floor, I suggest you follow my orders and get on the ground. Ghoul," the bald man commanded, his gun still trained on the girl's head.
The boy gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with rage, but slowly complied, kneeling on the ground as his sister screamed at him not to. As he lay face down, the red stinger retracted back into his body.
The gangsters moved in closer, cautiously, their eyes fixed on the boy. Just as they reached him, the stinger expanded from his back again.
SPLASH.
One of the gangsters, armed with a meat cleaver, anticipated the attack and swung hard, he aimed his strike at the bottom of the body's back severing the stinger. The others pounced on the boy, cutting him to pieces. His head was the first to go. Their attack on the kid was brutal without mercy.
Watching her brother being butchered, the girl's eyes turned black, just like his.
But before she could act—
BANG.
The bald man shot her in the head, killing her instantly. "Boys!" he barked to the others, who paused and looked back at him.
"I'm going to find a buyer for these two. By the time I get back, I want them cut up cleanly and ready for shipment. Understood?" The men nodded at their boss's command before resuming their grim task as their boss left the warehouse.
Ali observed the entire scene in silence. "I don't recognise their tattoos. Since I wiped out most of the Japanese gangs back in my world, I have a pretty good sense of their factions. And those kids looked like demons. They were weak, though, and they died to ordinary weapons used by normal humans." His thoughts were interrupted by a notification from the interface.
-"World Mission: The CCG will attack a Ghoul auction in two days. Support a faction."
-"Personal Mission: Kill members of both factions (0/10)."**
Ali looked at the missions displayed before him and smirked. 'I know which one I'm focusing on. Ghouls, CCG, Tokyo-yeah, I think I know what world I'm in.', Ali thought as he recalled the contents of the red booklet.
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Five extra chapters on patreon.com/Rondo312