Chapter 1: Rebirth

Yuxun Ge opened her eyes and stared blankly at the luxurious chandelier on the ceiling.

Hadn’t she been tied to the bloodletting magic circle in the dungeon by Yuxun Huan?

For only a second, she reacted on instinct and drew the energy in her body. A year on the run had made survival second nature; no matter where she was or what the situation, she would always get to safety first and think later.

And yet, when she made that graceful, fish-like spring up from the bed, nothing happened at all.

The response of her body told her the truth: she was just an ordinary person now.

Then she heard voices outside the door.

A voice she would never forget, even in her dreams. Her agent, Liu Zhengliu.

She sat up and looked around. A hotel? There was even a phone by her pillow, one she had not seen in years. She picked it up and saw the time: 11:00 p.m. on February 21.

The year was 2078.

Yuxun Ge felt her breathing quicken. Had she been reborn? Reborn a year before the game invasion?

No one knew that on this day, one year from now, the entire Blue Star would be invaded by a game world called Demonic Beasts: Rift of Fear.

In order to plant a foothold and establish a link with Blue Star, this invading game would descend upon Blue Star in the form of a game in 2078. Before the true invasion, it had quietly run three brief closed tests, each lasting only seven hours and leaving almost no trace. Yet a few hundred people, through boredom or chance, still downloaded it. By the third test, after word had leaked, as many as six figures of players had logged in early.

Among those who had taken part in the tests, some spent their lives regretting that they had only played for a few minutes, while others soared skyward in a single leap. Her dear younger brother was one of the latter.

And at 2:22 a.m. on February 22, the first closed test would begin.

But she had no interest in saving the world or warning everyone. The invasion of foreign races, under many restrictions, would unfold over a fairly long period of time. During that process, far more people would die at the hands of their own kind than at the hands of the invaders.

As Yuxun Ge sorted through her present circumstances, she changed into something light and practical.

Though four years had passed, these few days were still etched into her memory.

Because tomorrow was the day when someone’s fate would be changed forever by a single game. Yet tonight, in the small hours of the morning, her agent Liu Zhengliu had gotten her drunk and delivered her to the bed of a company executive. Back then, she had frightened that man off by wrapping herself in the madness of a woman ready to die with everyone else that day. But the consequence was relentless smear after smear, being sent to low-class drinking banquets of every sort, and being given only bit parts—maidservants, or little roles that required her to soak in icy water and be slapped around.

Yuxun Ge pushed open the door. Outside, Liu Zhengliu was holding a wine bottle and gave her an affectionate smile. "Xun Ge? Have a drink?"

Yuxun Ge wanted to kill her on the spot, but years of running for her life had taught her not only endurance, but also concealment. She smiled even more warmly than Liu Zhengliu. "No. My brother’s in trouble. I have to go back."

The moment she said that, Liu Zhengliu knew she would not be able to keep Yuxun Ge tonight.

In Liu Zhengliu’s eyes, Yuxun Ge was the ultimate doting sister to her brother: the kind of idiot who gave half of all her acting pay to her younger brother, and if she injured her leg while filming and her brother said he missed his sister, she would still crawl all the way back for him.

In Liu Zhengliu’s mind, the only way she could keep Yuxun Ge would be to say that the whole family had died.

But that excuse was far too flimsy. Yuxun Ge had seen her calling her family yesterday.

Liu Zhengliu drew a deep breath and told herself not to rush. There was still a chance. Smiling, she said, "It’s so late. Wait here a moment, I’ll have Xiaowu wake up and take you."

Yuxun Ge nodded. She was still at the crew’s hotel and did indeed need a car. There were less than three hours left before the closed test began, and she had to get home in time to stop Yuxun Huan from playing that game.

In her previous life, Yuxun Huan had clearly participated in the closed test long ago and obtained power a full year ahead of ordinary people, power beyond imagination. Yet he had hidden it completely, watching coldly as she suffered in the entertainment industry, while using the money and resources she earned to strengthen himself.

Then, for three whole years, he had worn the mask of innocence beside her. Even when she was hunted in that third year, she had still believed Yuxun Huan was innocent and that all of it was simply fate. It had all been for the sake of stripping her of her god-tier talent. She had not learned the truth until the very moment before her death.

Still, she had not let him have a happy ending either. She had endured the agony of bloodletting just to wait for the幕后黑手 to appear, then detonated the item on her called "If I Must Die, You Die Too," trying to drag everyone present that day down with her.

Only in her final moments had she learned that she was merely the villain in a book.

Worse, she was the obsessively possessive elder sister secretly in love with Yuxun Huan, the male lead.

Fine. So you want to be fashionable, but because of the rules you can’t write an incest plot, and instead you make it this nauseating?

...

After getting in the car, she made sure Xiaowu heard it and transferred him a thousand. "Get me home within two hours, and I’ll give you another two thousand as a bonus."

Xiaowu’s resentment at being dragged up in the middle of the night to work instantly vanished. In his announcer’s voice, he said, "Boss, please fasten your seat belt."

An hour and forty minutes later, Yuxun Ge sat in the passenger seat with a pale green face. She had arrived, but her soul had nearly flown away.

"What were you doing before you came to work for me?"

Xiaowu opened the QR code for payment. "I drove hearses."

"…"

So that was it.

Yuxun Ge transferred 2,500 yuan. "Go to the convenience store across the street and buy me a small bottle of baijiu."

With money, everything was easy to discuss. Xiaowu’s service attitude went all the way to full throttle. In less than ten minutes he was back, bringing her a small bottle of liquor.

Yuxun Ge had been reborn at 11 p.m. last night, and by the time she got home it was already 1:47 a.m.

She poured the baijiu into a glass, then poured herself a glass of water as well, and went to Yuxun Huan’s room with the two cups in hand. After knocking twice, the door opened. That useless good-for-nothing indeed had not gone to sleep.

Yuxun Ge could become a celebrity, and Yuxun Huan could become the kept son-in-law of a wealthy family. Naturally, the siblings’ looks were far from ordinary. Yuxun Ge looked gentle and intelligent, while Yuxun Huan seemed obedient and harmless. But the latter had a heart blacker than anyone’s.

She handed the glass of baijiu to Yuxun Huan. "Come on, one for the road! Your sister is about to earn enough to buy you a villa!"

Yuxun Ge did not consider herself a fool. The reason she had been deceived by Yuxun Huan for so many years was because he almost always gave her whatever she wanted. He was nothing like the brothers online who only knew how to bleed their sisters dry.

This brother really was a master manipulator.

If there was something delicious, he would wait for Yuxun Ge to come home and eat it together. Whatever request she made, he would fulfill it. If Yuxun Ge fell in love, he would be fiercely jealous. Any pocket money he got from her, he would save up, and then earlier this year he had used it to buy Yuxun Ge a villa, even putting the property under her name.

With a brother like that, Yuxun Ge had been tricked into total confusion in her previous life. She felt it was understandable—if not understandable, then what could she do? Her own pig-brained self, her own spoiled self.

But now, once the fog was lifted, she could see it clearly. Yuxun Huan had indeed done everything he could, but he had also received every benefit he wanted, because the couple, Yuxun Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo, had been helping him from behind the scenes.

Even that villa that had moved her to tears was bought with her own money. Of course it would be under her name. She had used her own money to buy herself a villa—what exactly had she been moved by? And then she immediately turned around and bought Yuxun Huan an even bigger one...

Fortunately, she had been reborn in time. They were still at the stage of looking at houses, and she had wanted to secretly give her brother a surprise.

Low-level exploitation was the whole family gaslighting you together. High-level exploitation was always a coordinated attack: one person did the beating, one handled the healing, and one poured the tea and water so you could catch your breath.

But this life, there was still time.

Her good brother Yuxun Huan naturally would not refuse his sister’s request. Even though it was two in the morning. Even though his sister knew he was a one-glass drunk and still made him drink baijiu. Even though Yuxun Ge’s reason for it was vague and strange. He did not even furrow his brow, only looked concerned. "You need to take care of your health too. Money can never be earned all at once... as long as our family is together..."

Yuxun Ge clinked her glass against his.

With a face full of helpless indulgence, Yuxun Huan downed it in one go, then swayed once and collapsed.

Trust without reservation.

Yuxun Ge looked coldly at Yuxun Huan lying on the floor. From the master bedroom not far away came a sound, perhaps Yuxun Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo had heard the noise. She hurried into Yuxun Huan’s room, dragged him inside, and shut the door.

Then she sat on the sofa in Yuxun Huan’s room, opened her phone, and stared tightly at the time. The game would last only seven hours. She was not planning to leave tonight, and even though Yuxun Huan was always drunk until dawn whenever he drank himself stupid, she still could not放心.

In her previous life, Yuxun Huan had been like the male lead of a power fantasy novel, cheating his way through life with luck and cheats at every turn. Whatever good thing existed, it was always his. His god-given talent was the only SS-rank one on the entire Blue Star. Even after he married into the Su family, the eldest daughter of the Su family had initially treated him like a beautiful pet, but in the end she became his devoted dog, and under Yuxun Huan’s guidance she suppressed Yuxun Ge. In the end, she even set her sights on Yuxun Ge’s god-given talent.