Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance - Chapter 16: Investigation

I’m a high school student who became an author after debuting at Dengeki Bunko. After taking a year of hiatus from school to write my work, I transferred out to another high school to study, and met a girl called Eri Nitadori in school, a rookie voice actress cast as a character in the anime adaptation of my work.

In school, we treat our professions as a secret. However, Nitadori’s very popular in class, and I’m a loner…the only chance we get to talk to each other is when we take the Limited Express train together every Thursday, seated side by side as we head off for an anime, After Recording.

To improve her skills, she asked me questions regarding the profession. While I was answering the questions regarding the process–how did it end up like this.

This is what I last remembered before I lost consciousness, and the story of my near-death experience.

Chu Xuan transmigrated to a fantasy world and became the young master of a powerful family. He was rebuked for misbehaving just because he sneezed during a banquet. As punishment, he was banished from the ancestral mansion and was relocated to a remote residence.

He did not mind the punishment at all. He just needed a spot that could allow him to be a shut-in. With the system that would allow him to grow stronger by being a shut-in, the longer he stayed indoors, the more powerful he became.

After being a shut-in for a day, he was rewarded with the Indestructible Body Technique.

After being a shut-in for a month, he was rewarded with the Immovable Mountain Technique.

After being a shut-in for a year, he was rewarded with the Yuxu Celestial Scripture and 100 years of cultivation.

After being a shut-in for 10 years, he was rewarded with the Chaotic Indestructible Body and the Bell of Chaos.

…

Chu Xuan declared, “No one can make me leave my home. I like being a shut-in!”

Life from birth has been nothing but hell. I lost my parents to some stupid aristocrats whom they offended. Executed for no good reason.

My relatives abandoned me and pushed me aside. They feared for their lives and left me and my sister to starve and wander the streets alone!

No, this is worse than hell!

I watched my sister die of starvation. Her lips were dry and her feet bloody. Her nails were broken and her fingers riddled with cuts. She struggled in my hands and after a few seconds of struggle she passed away. She seemed joyful in death so I prayed mine will come just as swift and merciful as hers.

So I stayed in the alleyway, alone with her rotten corpse awaiting my fate for God knows how long. I could see it already. The darkness encroaching from all sides

Everyone said death is scary but I say it’s the end! Who needs life after death? What is the need for reincarnation?

Who would want to return to this crazy world?

“It’s not yet time for you to go… You have one more task to accomplish as my host” A voice called out to me.

I could barely see or speak but how can I miss such a beautiful face? It was an extremely handsome man who gazed at me with tender eyes.

.....

“Haven’t I suffered enough? Can’t I just rest?” I cried out. Why would I want to stay back in such a cruel world?

“Don’t you want to avenge the death of your parents? Don’t you want to become something greater? I can make that happen!” The beautiful man said with an alluring voice.

“You… Who are you?” I asked with an anxious heart.

My parents always said God is the only one who cares about me! Maybe in my final hours, he has come to save me.

“Call me Death…”

“You nearly killed me in the past timeline and destroyed my life. Now that I have been given the chance to return to the past timeline, I will be changing everything and fight the future that was meant to be a dead end. Once we meet again, it will never be the same!”

When the only Virtual Reality game called Alternate World made the players gain abilities, the world changed drastically. The whole world undergoes a change of lifestyle, people started to manifest abilities, and playing the game became a job.

Manato Tsukasa, a player who is also one of the players of Alternate World was targeted by his enemies during the evening before his wedding and was almost killed in the process. Due to a certain encounter, he was allowed to gain a second chance to go back to the past and change everything.

With the chance to change everything and start from scratch, he decided to take advantage of all his knowledge and so that he can prepare to kill the person who ruined his life. And to start his vengeance against his enemy, he played the game again that didn't only change the gaming industry but also the whole world.