Chapter 338: I Have Reborn

Energetic yet slightly childish students, a peaceful campus, and the innocent girls in white dresses...

Seeing these scenes, somewhat familiar yet distant, before him, Li Yan found a rare sense of calm. He couldn’t help but touch the trees, feeling their real texture, and then looked towards the direction of the teaching building, walking slowly forward.

Along the way, he saw many boys and girls who were students of the same school, all were middle school students. They were still carefree, but the high school students were no longer as relaxed.

I also used to be like this...

Li Yan sighed inwardly, a bit envious of them. But now, I should be preparing for college entrance exams...

What he saw and felt made him uneasy, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

He kept walking forward. The road which should have been very familiar now seemed extremely distant, as if he hadn’t been here for a long time, only seen it in dreams. This puzzled him. The teachers he encountered on the way, both men and women, he didn’t greet, nor did any of them greet him.

This was somewhat strange, as Li Yan had always been well-behaved and respectful towards teachers, performing well academically. Yet what surprised him now was that the faces of these teachers... seemed completely unfamiliar, with no recollection at all.

Continuing to walk, he saw small groups of students, slightly older than the middle schoolers, who should be high school students. But... why did they also seem so young?

People view things with themselves as the reference, so in the eyes of elementary students, they’ll distinguish bigger and smaller people, but kids of the same age don’t seem small; growing up together into middle school, high school, and college, will have the same feeling. People of the same age don’t appear strange.

Li Yan was the same, seeing middle schoolers as a bit younger was normal. But he was plainly a high school student, so why did other high schoolers seem so young to him?

He wanted to return to his classroom, but for some reason, he suddenly couldn’t remember the direction of his classroom and walked to a classroom he had in middle school!

This classroom was certainly familiar, but he was already a high school student, and shouldn’t be here anymore.

He continued to walk, reaching a newspaper stand. This too felt extremely distant, and he couldn’t help but stop to have a look. Reading the newspapers inside, he saw some news that seemed strangely familiar.

People can be nostalgic, but news can’t echo the past.

A headline seemed natural, normal even, but then suddenly he realized, isn’t this significant news from over ten years ago? Why would it still be on the front page?

Over ten years ago?!

This notion devolved into a tangled mess as he associated it with everything around him, both familiar and distant. Li Yan was filled with turmoil. Originally, he thought he was attending high school, but now vaguely felt as if he had left school for over a decade...

Why do high school students seem like children; is it because I’m looking at them through the eyes of an adult now?

Could it be... I have reborn?

I’ve actually been reborn?!

This thought made Li Yan’s head hurt even more. He never knew the concept of rebirth before, until he started working at Paradise Group, and it was introduced by a friend named Xu Ping who liked reading online novels. It’s said that after historical and otherworldly time-travel stories reached a bottleneck, time-travel stories where people return to their former selves in earlier years began to emerge around late 2004. With novels like "Dreaming of 1997" and "Legend of Rebirth" paving the way, an innumerable number of rebirth novels followed. Even a mid-90s novel "Feminine Masculinity" from Cloud Island involves rebirth.

Initially, through Xu Ping’s introduction, while slacking off in the business department, Li Yan read a few rebirth novels. But those were just tales of reclaiming lost regrets or out-of-reach fantasies. Experiencing a real rebirth was impossible.

But now, standing in this familiar campus, surrounded by everything both familiar and strange, Li Yan wasn’t sure if he really had been reborn, dreamt of returning to school, or dreamt of returning to social life...

Growing increasingly tangled and with a splitting headache, though the notion of living life over wasn’t unfamiliar, the reality of returning to retake classes, memorize texts and words, learn formulas, and take exams was unbearable. Moreover, having returned, could he really change the future? And if he couldn’t, wouldn’t he just be taken through that painful phase all over again?

...

This thought caused Li Yan to shout aloud!

His head ached terribly, and the surroundings abruptly changed again, pulling him into a strange yet highly resistant place.

It was a massive arena-like place, filled with many people who, to his eyes, were merely youths. At present, each was armed with various implements and weapons, embroiled in a chaotic melee!

A closer look revealed half of them held weapons, even simple ones like sticks! During the chaos, those without tried to seize a weapon, while those armed attempted to eliminate others!

This scene...

Li Yan recalled even this most unwilling memory, understood more swiftly than before the where and the when.

Everyone was aware that in such conditions, survival offered no alternative. Even a moment’s hesitation resulted in a fatal end.

Despite his headache and protest against the scene, Li Yan vividly recalled that his luck was good; there had been an axe nearby which he immediately seized.

Already, several people were upon him, and the axe in his hand swung up, blood splattered onto his hands.

In this instant, Li Yan closed his eyes, contemplating whether it was better if he died now, ending it altogether!

Almost everyone surviving was in a similar state.

Everyone treasures life; even by the rules, if half would commit, or allow themselves to be, the rest could live unscathed. But who would volunteer for death?

The end result of the scramble was half ended dead; those living, half-dead themselves.

This experience, Li Yan endured but once, and if now a memory decided rebirth point, he’d never pick this point. Having endured such mortal struggle once, he doubted if he could survive it again!

Yet more cruel, not one lousy survival test won alone suffices; wounds partially healed, brutally intense training must precede the third round, the fourth round’s testing!

Abandon the axe!

This present Li Yan confirmed at least he wasn’t dreaming as a student. How could a high school student dream such bloodshed and brutality? That determined, adult dream or rebirth had to be pinned down.

If it’s a dream, then getting knife-slain should awaken him, right? If reborn... alright, reborn to such grim place for years anew, dying is kinder.

Thus, as Li Yan’s axe neared its mark once more, he let it go!

Sure, partially wise, seeing through life, tired of it all, partially head-splitting pain stole strength, hardly holding the axe.

Then, a knife drove into his waist from behind, a pipe smashed over his head before!

They say twisting oneself in dreams doesn’t hurt. Yet recalling twisting to check dreaming usually means awake. Truly asleep for dreams, no one remembers that rule.

Dying in a dream supposedly wakes you. Because pain means dreaming, or scared awake? No experiential claim exists. Generally, scared awake, people soon forget dream content.

As axe dropped, lethal blows fell, grievously pained Li Yan managed but a curse: "Damn!" and lost consciousness!

Next moment, drenched in sweat, Li Yan’s eyes snapped open to his familiar bedroom.

Slightly dazed, he examined his room, asking if the dream ended, or if home was but his third stop on this journey?

(Haha, if reborn for a prequel like this, someone might beat me up, right?) (To be continued, for further details, please log on to www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support proper reading!)