[System: You have died!]
Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a line of unfamiliar words floating before him.
[System: You have died!]
For several seconds, he simply stared at the message.
I have died?
His mind was still in a daze.
Do you really have to remind me?
And what the hell is this system?
As far as Lin Mo knew, no one in history had ever mentioned a strange system appearing before a dead person just to inform them that they had died.
The words remained etched in his mind, refusing to disappear. He had no idea what had happened.
Then, a familiar voice suddenly echoed through the vast emptiness.
"So, have you decided?"
Lin Mo's brows furrowed.
"Decided on what?"
The moment the words left his mouth, his expression changed.
He froze.
I... spoke?
A moment ago, he had been completely certain that he couldn't move his body, much less utter a single word.
Yet his voice had clearly come from his own mouth. His body reacted instinctively.
Lin Mo pushed himself upright. His upper body moved without resistance. He stared down at himself.
His hands.
His arms.
His legs.
His feet.
There were no bruises. No broken bones. No blood. Not even the slightest trace of the injuries he had suffered before.
Lin Mo's eyes widened.
He slowly examined his body from head to toe, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"This..."
His heart sank. There was only one explanation that made sense. This must be heaven.
I really died.
The realization settled heavily in his mind. He remembered the pain, the beating, the helplessness, the dagger.
And then—
Nothing.
"Have you decided?"
The voice came again. Only then did Lin Mo realize that he had been so distracted that he had forgotten about the mysterious speaker.
He immediately looked around.
Nothing! There was no one.
Lin Mo slowly stood up. His feet touched a strange surface that looked like water but felt as solid as glass.
He lowered his gaze.
His reflection stared back at him from beneath his feet. The surface was perfectly clear, like a spotless mirror stretching endlessly into the distance. Not a single ripple disturbed it.
Above him was an endless expanse of white. There was no sun, no clouds, no horizon, no beginning, no end.
Wherever he looked, there was only white.
Lin Mo felt as though he had been placed in the middle of an infinite void. He turned around. Still nothing.
"Being rude, are you?"
The voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Chosen One?"
Lin Mo's body stiffened. His pupils contracted. Slowly, he turned around.
And then—
His jaw dropped. His entire body trembled. His legs gave way beneath him, and he fell heavily onto his butt. Before him was an eye.
A single, colossal eye.
It was so enormous that Lin Mo couldn't even comprehend its true size. Compared to it, he was nothing.
A speck of dust.
A grain of sand.
A lonely star lost beneath an endless sky.
The eye was completely white, pure and otherworldly, while its golden iris radiated an indescribable majesty.
It stared directly at him. Not at his body, nor at his face.
But at him.
It felt as though the eye could see through his flesh, his memories, his thoughts, and even the deepest secrets buried within his soul.
Lin Mo's body trembled uncontrollably. His mind went blank. He couldn't even breathe.
"A rude, mute, and cowardly one."
The enormous eye seemed to narrow slightly.
"Forget it."
Lin Mo's heart nearly stopped. What the hell is this thing talking about?
"I'll grant you this chance."
The moment those words fell— the world trembled.
"You must live on."
The colossal eye slowly closed.
And then—
An invisible force suddenly seized Lin Mo.
"What—?!"
Before he could even finish speaking, his body was violently thrown backward. The endless white world disappeared. Lin Mo was swallowed by darkness.
He fell.
And fell.
And fell.
There was no ground beneath him. No sky above him, no sound, no light.
Nothing.
He couldn't even see his own hands. It was as though he had been cast into an endless abyss where even darkness itself had lost all meaning.
Lin Mo didn't know how long he had been falling.
A second?
A year?
A thousand years?
Time had completely lost its meaning. For him, it felt like an eternity.
Then—
Crack.
A thin crack suddenly appeared in the darkness. Lin Mo froze. Another crack appeared, then another.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The darkness surrounding him began to fracture like a gigantic mirror. Through the cracks, Lin Mo saw something.
A battlefield.
Humans carrying weapons were fighting against monstrous humanoid creatures. Some of the creatures possessed long, pointed ears.
Others had enormous bodies covered in scales.
A pig-headed monster stood in the middle of the battlefield, chanting something Lin Mo couldn't understand.
Then—
BOOM!
A blazing fireball erupted from its hands and shot across the battlefield. The scene changed.
Dragons soared through the heavens. Their enormous wings tore through the clouds as they clashed with magnificent phoenixes engulfed in brilliant flames.
The sky burned.
The earth trembled.
Mountains shattered.
Oceans boiled.
And Lin Mo could only watch. One scene after another.
Human warriors, monstrous beasts, magic, Dragons, Phoenixes. Creatures that should only exist in myths and legends.
Things that Lin Mo had seen only in movies, games, novels, and fantasies were unfolding before his very eyes.
The scenes continued to change.
Again.
And again.
And again.
It was as if the entire history of another world was being played before him.
No—
It felt more like he was being forced to experience the memories of countless lives.
Time passed.
How much?
Lin Mo didn't know. For him, it was an eternity. He was forced to watch, forced to witness, forced to remember.
Every battle.
Every death.
Every scream.
Every moment of despair.
He couldn't close his eyes. He couldn't turn away. He couldn't escape. Then, suddenly—
The countless cracks disappeared. The endless scenes vanished. Everything collapsed into a single point. A small white sphere appeared in the darkness. It looked almost like a piece of paper that had been crumpled into a ball.
Lin Mo stared at it.
Before he could react—
Whoosh!
The white sphere shot toward him.
Puff!
It struck his chest. The exact place where the dagger had once been plunged into his body.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
A piercing scream tore through the darkness. For the first time since his death—
Lin Mo felt pain.
Real pain.
Excruciating pain.
His body curled into a ball. His fingers clawed desperately at the empty darkness. The memories he had witnessed suddenly surged through his mind.
The slashes.
The burns.
The wounds.
The countless deaths.
Every single sensation.
Every moment of suffering.
It all came rushing back at once. It was as if his body was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Lin Mo kicked violently. He clenched his fists. He grabbed his own head. He twisted his body desperately, trying to escape the pain.
But there was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to hide. The pain followed him. It consumed him. It swallowed his consciousness whole.
Then—
"Hold him!"
A voice suddenly pierced through the darkness.
"Quick! Don't let him fall off the bed!"
Lin Mo's mind trembled.
Bed?
Another voice shouted in panic.
"Damn it! You said he lost so much blood! Why the hell is he so strong?!"
Lin Mo couldn't understand what they were saying. His mind was still drowning in pain.
"Get some shackles!"
"Quickly!"
"Don't let him move!"
Something suddenly wrapped around Lin Mo's body. He felt something cold against his wrists. His vision became blurry.
No—
It wasn't just blurry. Something was covering his eyes. He was blind. Panic surged through him.
Lin Mo struggled desperately.
He twisted his body. He tried to move. He tried to escape. But the pain was unbearable. He had to do something.
Anything.
In desperation, Lin Mo clenched his teeth and bit down hard on his own tongue.
Crunch.
Blood filled his mouth. The sharp pain momentarily distracted him from the torment consuming his body.
But it wasn't enough. His consciousness began to fade. The voices around him grew distant.
The pain slowly became numb. His body finally lost its strength. And just before everything went dark—
Lin Mo heard one final voice.
"He's losing consciousness!"
Then—
Everything went silent.
Lin Mo lost consciousness once more.