Buddhist player

Bai Chen always considered himself an ordinary person.

Although he started thinking about life when he was in kindergarten, completed junior and senior high school courses by himself in elementary school, mastered university-level knowledge such as calculus by junior high school, and taught himself multiple languages... he still believes that he is no different from others.

Compared to others, he was just a little smarter, which was nothing to be proud of. Showing off too much would only bring him unnecessary trouble.

...He hates trouble.

Furthermore, everyone is the same; everyone has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth; everyone has a head, two hands, and two feet. And most importantly, everyone is human; everyone dies.

...But he never expected to be able to open his eyes again.

When he opened his eyes, a middle-aged man dressed as a homeless man was trying to take off his coat. When he saw that he was awake, the homeless man looked like he had seen a ghost.

After kindly taking off his coat and giving it to the other person as a gift, Bai Chen went to a nearby public restroom to wash his face.

He was already dead, that much was certain, after all, no one could survive an explosion of a plane thousands of meters in the air.

So I've been... reborn?

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, which looked several years younger, and recalling the memories he had received, Bai Chen looked thoughtful.

When he saw his younger self reflected in the mirror, he thought he had traveled back in time, but the memories he received suggested that things were different.

I am still myself, my name is the same, my appearance is the same, but the world itself has undergone some subtle changes.

In the original timeline, he grew up in a wealthy family where money was just a number to him. But in this timeline, he lost his family and became destitute from a young age.

At his poorest, he managed to survive for half a month on just twenty yuan.

...Travel between parallel worlds?

Bai Chen reached out and touched his chin, lost in thought.

Actually, having the chance to live again seems like a pretty good experience. After all, he died young in his previous life and never even had a romantic relationship. Now that he's been reborn, it would be a lie to say he doesn't have any emotional fluctuations.

But the problem is... this world seems to have a few minor issues.

Bai Chen raised her eyelids slightly and looked at herself in the mirror. Although the lights in the public restroom were dim at night, it did not hinder her vision.

In the mirror, a hand rested precisely on his right shoulder. The hand was long and slender, seemingly belonging to a young girl, with manicured nails. From Kira Yoshikage's perspective, the hand was flawless.

...Unfortunately, he wasn't Yoshikage Kira.

With that severed hand resting on his shoulder, he felt nothing except a slight heaviness in his right shoulder. Moreover, this thing could only be seen in a mirror; to the naked eye, there was nothing on his shoulder.

For ordinary people, this scene would be terrifying, but for Bai Chen, who had died once, it was nothing to be surprised about. He had seen the severed hand on his shoulder when he came to the toilet to wash his face, but he still calmly finished washing his face.

You see, in the past, when he felt his home wasn't lively enough, he would deliberately watch horror movies late at night. Before he was even halfway through the movie, he would feel like there were people everywhere in the house. It never failed him and effectively alleviated the emptiness, loneliness, and coldness that modern young people experience.

He had considered promoting this method in various nursing homes to alleviate the loneliness of the elderly, but unfortunately, after one trial, it was abruptly stopped due to some unforeseen circumstances.

He expressed deep regret over this.

"...That's why I said I hate trouble."

Looking at the severed hand on his shoulder, Bai Chen pressed his brow and sighed helplessly.

The slight emotion he felt upon discovering his rebirth was instantly suppressed by the cold touch on his shoulder. Although he enjoyed watching all kinds of horror movies, it didn't mean he was willing to have direct contact with these ghostly things. After all, who knew if these things had any infectious diseases...

"...Come to think of it, this hand looks somewhat familiar?"

Looking at the hand on his shoulder in the mirror, Bai Chen raised an eyebrow as if he had thought of something.

—In the memory of another "him" in my mind, this severed hand has appeared.

It's currently mid-July, and the college entrance exams have been over for almost a month. To save up for living expenses during college, "I" have been busy delivering food for the past month.

To reward himself, and also for work, he discarded his old-fashioned mobile phone that he had used for several years and reluctantly bought himself a second-hand smartphone.

Besides taking orders and delivering food using his phone, he also watches short videos in his spare time. The hand currently resting on his shoulder had appeared in one of those short videos.

...or to be more precise, he appeared in a live stream.

The name of that live stream room was very simple: painting and photography. Every time it went live, the screen in the live stream room was always just one hand painting on paper. At the same time, the streamer was very aloof, only showing his hand and never his face, and never speaking in the live stream room. With his superb painting skills and that really beautiful hand, the live stream room was quite popular.

The only interaction in the live stream is the occasional lucky draw. The lucky winner can send a photo to the streamer and have them draw a picture on the spot. The photo can be anything; you can send your own photo or a landscape photo. After the drawing is completed, the streamer will mail the finished painting to you for free.

—The predecessor was just such a survivor.

Of course, "self" wasn't foolish enough to open her own box and send her own photo. Instead, she picked a decent landscape photo from her phone's album and then forgot about it.

If I hadn't suddenly received a text message from the courier station today, I almost wouldn't have remembered this. After delivering the food, I went to the courier station to pick up the package.

...and then that was it.

My memory after that is very hazy. I can't remember what happened at all. I just vaguely remember that after I managed to lock the electric bike, I didn't get very far before I collapsed and lost consciousness.

Then, he opened his eyes again.

"Sudden death... So, for that homeless man, it was like seeing a dead person come back to life right in front of him?"

Subconsciously, Bai Chen reached out and pressed his hand to his chest.

If he hadn't seen the severed hand on his shoulder in the mirror, he might have thought that his predecessor had died suddenly from overwork. What's worse, judging from the memories in his mind, there were other problems in this world besides this one.

Several months before the college entrance examination, various urban legends began to emerge in an explosive manner.

What? A night shift driver witnessed a wedding procession carrying a large red sedan chair on the street in the middle of the night, leaving white paper money scattered on the ground afterward; what? Someone filmed a knight in ancient costume riding a fine horse on the road at night, then pulling out a Gatling gun that spewed blue flames and firing wildly into the darkness; what? A certain village was shrouded in thick fog overnight, cutting off communications and remaining inaccessible to this day…

Even on the day of the college entrance examination, it is said that a bloody incident broke out in a certain examination room, with thousands of candidates, and only thirteen candidates survived the exam.

If it weren't for the severed hand resting on his shoulder and his own experience, Bai Chen would have treated these news reports as mere entertainment. But now... he discovered that the world was far more exciting than he had imagined.

So, does this mean I've won the lottery?

Looking at the severed hand in the mirror, Bai Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

He hates trouble, so his style of doing things has always been to eliminate problems completely. Since the social order of this world has not collapsed, then these damned things... are not without a solution.