Sun Weiwei had been noticing Li Jiayu sleeping in the last row for a long time!
This boy!
This terrible boy!
How dare he sleep with his head on the desk while she and the classmates were discussing the "Love and Peace" class program?
Others at least showed her, Sun Weiwei, some support, went through the motions somewhat, occasionally even telling some stories promoting true human feelings to elicit a few tears...
But you, you specifically, not only ignored everyone but also slept like a log! It was only just the start of sophomore year!
"Li Jiayu, just how long are you going to be spacing out? Is the program I'm hosting really that uninteresting to you? Do you have a problem with me? Is this how you treat your Class Monitor?"
Sun Weiwei's face flushed red as she strode over to Li Jiayu, brows furrowed, questioning him sharply.
"Who..."
Li Jiayu grunted, lifelessly lifting his head like a piece of rotten wood. His expression was bewildered, utterly lacking spirit, as if his soul had departed.
Sun Weiwei felt an inexplicable tremor in her heart. She had never seen anyone's eyes look like such stagnant water, so hollow they exuded a chilling despair. A phrase came to mind – utterly disheartened, all hope lost.
Like a pitiful person about to die of thirst deep in the desert, or even more like a terminally ill patient with no time left, completely devoid of vitality.
"Ooh, a show's starting."
The surrounding students stirred, whispering amongst themselves. Sun Weiwei had a competitive personality, while Li Jiayu was somewhat soft-natured and known for being polite and gentle. Rumor had it that there was something going on between this pair with starkly contrasting personalities.
Whether the rumors were true or false, the onlookers just couldn't wait for another intense conflict to erupt between the two, leading to some enjoyable melodrama.
Hearing the faint discussions, Sun Weiwei felt even more embarrassed. Her ears turned completely red, and she bit her lip, silent. She glared at Li Jiayu for a full half-minute before finally shouting, unable to contain her anger:
"I'm talking to you! Get up!"
"This voice... this voice sounds familiar. Are you... are you Sun... Sun Weiwei?" The despair and confusion in Li Jiayu's eyes were gradually replaced by immense terror, his entire body feeling as if plunged into an ice cellar.
"Weren't you... didn't the Soul-Devouring Beast pry open your skull and suck out your brain matter? No... my eyes, my eyes were clearly blinded, why can I still see things..."
He looked as if he had seen something utterly unbelievable. His expression changed drastically, and he shot up from his chair, looking terrified. He looked at Sun Weiwei, at the once-familiar classmates, at the desks and chairs in the classroom, the walls and bulletin boards – the mottled colors and old memories sent Li Jiayu's thoughts racing.
"Yoho, still pretending to have amnesia."
"Jiayu, don't play the amnesia card, it's too outdated. Girls don't fall for that anymore..."
"Huh? Maybe it's not amnesia, but he got reborn?"
"Idiot! You've read too many web novels. How could something as good as rebirth happen in this world?"
The surrounding students chuckled, purely treating Li Jiayu as someone trying different tricks to pick up girls.
Sun Weiwei was also furious with embarrassment. Her eyes widened as she glared at Li Jiayu, stamping her foot hard:
"Li Jiayu! Can't you be serious for once! Were you provoking me just now to get my attention? Let me tell you, you're very boring!"
"..."
Li Jiayu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start. He tried desperately to hear what his classmates were saying, yet couldn't take in a single word. It felt as if hundreds of thunderbolts were exploding in his mind, a chaotic mess. Countless regrets, countless remorse, innumerable pains surged into his heart, nearly suffocating him!
(Class meeting? Which class meeting?)
(That ironic "Love and Peace" opening publicity class meeting?)
(Didn't I die? Why am I still...)
(Resurrection? No, not resurrection, it's rebirth! Fate heard the sorrowful cry of my soul, I've actually been reborn! Back to the moment before the apocalypse, and back to the starting line of all regrets!)
(I can fix those regrets that made me wish for death... I can protect those precious things that were lost...)
(Fate is unpredictable. Perhaps I will walk an even more arduous path, maybe I won't even live as long as my previous life, but at least... this time, I still have a chance to turn the tables!)
(Even if I have to gamble everything I have...)
In his previous life, he was still naive and suffered greatly. He blamed himself for being too soft-hearted, making bad friends. During the first major school escape, he was pushed towards blood-sucking insects by a "friend" trying to save their own skin... Although he survived by luck, he was severely weakened, almost becoming a dried-up husk. Even after recovering later, he had fallen behind others on the starting line of pursuing strength.
Because of his own arrogance, he provoked a behemoth-level enemy for the Demon Hunting Group he once served. In a fit of rage, the entire group was slaughtered, blood flowing like rivers. The leader, who had treated him with immense kindness, was skinned alive, tortured to death by slow slicing, and fed to dogs!
He regretted not listening to his father's advice and going out alone to hunt giant insects. He returned to their shelter covered in injuries, barely breathing. To trade for a bottle of healing fluid for him, his father willingly allowed the organization to transform him into a "Biochemical Blood Corpse," a zombie puppet left with only the instinct to kill...
He blamed himself for being blinded by hatred at the time, failing to notice his sister's feelings. In the end, he watched helplessly as she was taken away by someone immensely powerful. He thought she could find a safe and warm haven, but ultimately heard the devastating news of her suicide by slitting her wrists...
His cousin-in-law, who had silently supported him, was also implicated by him and dismembered by random knives; most of his former friends lived miserable lives, their fates unknown; those female companions he had been entangled with were never heard from again...
A heart full of regrets, bone-deep sorrow, left Li Jiayu filled with endless remorse, jolted awake by nightmares night after cold, desolate night.
He once had the chance to become a powerful warrior but missed it because his tendons were severed; he once had the potential to become a Flame Dancer but gave it away to repay a debt of gratitude; he once had the opportunity to inherit a great treasure but gave it up for various reasons...
The world changed, people changed, everyone he cared about left him. All that remained were numerous deeply ingrained hatreds, irreconcilable mortal enemies...
Li Jiayu only remembered that in his previous life, he had no place left to belong. He was hunted by Insectoids, Undead, and other alien races. Even the major human factions pushed him towards death. Isolated and helpless, his old injuries eventually flared up, and he died alone in a dark, damp tree hollow.
No one knew that Li Jiayu—the Wild Summoner who caused headaches for the major powers of Tianchao the lowly rural bandit, smeared as an anti-human tyrant, yet who made outstanding contributions in resisting the Insectoid and Undead invasions—died at the young age of twenty-four, buried and laid to rest in such an unknown place...
Everything, everything, would be reshuffled!
A wave of bitterness and melancholy suddenly surged in his heart. His nose tingled, and tears welled up, but Li Jiayu forcibly suppressed the tremor in his heart, took a deep breath, regained his composure, and smiled faintly:
"Sorry, I was actually just teasing you. Seeing you so actively participating in class meeting work, I wanted to make you laugh. I didn't expect it to backfire, annoy you, and cause a misunderstanding..."
It was still Li Jiayu's characteristically gentle voice, but for some reason, hearing it this time felt deeper, more resonant, less peaceful, and more distinct, like metal striking stone.
And his smile was also subtly different from before. As for how it was different, Sun Weiwei couldn't tell. In short, it was a very restrained, very light smile, unlike the sunny, handsome smiles of pretty boys.
Sun Weiwei just liked seeing Li Jiayu smile; she thought he looked very handsome when he smiled, even though he wasn't her boyfriend.
"Alright, since you apologized, I won't bother pursuing it. However, you have to join the 'Youth Volunteer Association.' On weekends, go out and distribute health flyers, do volunteer work, clean the streets. You're idle anyway," Sun Weiwei laid out her condition. In her view, Li Jiayu would never refuse a girl's request, let alone hers.
"Youth Volunteer Association? Heh... Truly nothing better to do when you're full. I'm sorry, perhaps I won't have the leisure..."
Li Jiayu's smile suddenly vanished, a faint mockery tugging at the corner of his lips. That mockery struck Sun Weiwei's eyes like a blade.
"Nothing better to do when you're full? How can you talk like that? Do you look down on youth volunteers?"
An inexplicable panic rose in Sun Weiwei's heart. Her eyebrows knitted together, her face pale as she angrily pointed at Li Jiayu.
The surrounding students also joined the attack, denouncing Li Jiayu. After all, many of them had joined the "Youth Volunteer Association," and wasn't Li Jiayu just saying they had nothing better to do?
The sarcastic tone in Li Jiayu's voice deepened, and he quickened his speech:
"Youth volunteers are established on the basis of surplus labor, letting you college students with nothing better to do vent your excess energy and satisfy your sense of honor... But, when your very survival is precarious, when you could be devoured by insects or stabbed by companions at any moment, when living is worse than death, I estimate you won't remember this term anymore..."
Li Jiayu took out his phone and checked the time—August 29, 2013, 4:32:39 PM.
"There isn't much time left, less than a minute. Not even enough time to call family... Fine, for the sake of being classmates, I'll tell you a bit more."
"Everyone has studied physics, you should know that one dimension is a line, two dimensions is a plane, three dimensions is volume, and four dimensions adds a time axis to normal three-dimensional space... By analogy, there are N-dimensional spaces in the universe. This explains the existence of different worlds, different planes!"
"Nonsense! Of course, we know that! Stop rambling..." Sun Weiwei wasn't about to accept his explanation graciously and interrupted bluntly.
"Let me finish!"
Li Jiayu shook his head, ignoring Sun Weiwei's pestering, and dropped the first depth charge:
"In half a minute, the surface space of Earth will begin to oscillate and crack open with countless tiny spatial fissures. At the same time, a cosmic storm from another dimension will sweep across Earth, causing drastic changes to Earth's gravity, climate, geography, and so on!"
Saying this, Li Jiayu looked at the still bewildered and disbelieving faces of his classmates, gently shook his head, a cold, bitter smile hanging on his lips, and said in a low voice:
"You still don't understand the terror of the cosmic storm. When it hits... the vast majority of electronic devices and precision instruments on Earth will completely fail! That means human civilization, technological civilization, will suffer an unprecedentedly heavy blow! Your phones, computers, air conditioners, even the electric lights for illumination, the massage wands girls use, ninety-nine point nine percent of all the electrical appliances inseparable from daily life will be paralyzed! That will be a... primitive, dark, barbaric, bloody final era of human society!"
Li Jiayu's expression dimmed, the bitter smile turning into helpless self-mockery. His voice dropped even lower, enunciating each word:
"And this is merely the beginning. Even more terrifying, more fatal things will follow close behind..."