Chapter 000: Prologue

Rebirth: A Life of Fulfilled Dreams

On the rooftop of the Trade Building in Beihai North City, a young man sat on the railing, lost and bewildered. A cigarette dangled from his lips, its ember flickering like a firefly perched atop the skyscraper. In his hand, he gripped a beer bottle, swinging it back and forth without the slightest fear of falling, as the liquor scattered into the wild wind.

His name was Yang Tian, a senior at Beihai University of Finance and Economics. Yes, he was about to jump, convinced that the past twenty-some years of his life had been a waste.

Above the pitch-black sky, lightning flashed incessantly, though no rain fell. The forked lightning tongues stretched toward the city where he had lived for over twenty years.

He wished, with all his heart, that the thunder would strike him and end his miserable existence.

Looking into the distance, he saw the Little Sand River, now on the verge of being zoned for economic development. Yet that place once brimmed with memories from his youth.

Those were not pleasant memories. Unlike others, his childhood was devoid of laughter and warmth. What he remembered was only his own shyness and timidity, his parents’ disappointment and helplessness, his sister’s sorrow and despair, and the sighs and departure of the girl to whom he had been betrothed as a child.

At this, Yang Tian took another gulp of beer, lit a new cigarette, and swayed drunkenly, barely managing not to fall from the railing.

To the south stood Beihai Second High School. His awkward high school years brought no fond recollections—only a growing sense of cowardice, while his sister and childhood fiancée drifted further away, and his parents’ hopes for him faded into disappointment.

Thanks to his parents’ efforts, he finally made it to college. There, he experienced his first love, though it was a one-sided infatuation. He had hoped that growing up would make him stronger, but never imagined that the vibrant campus life would become the most painful part of his memories.

His family was unremarkable, and he himself was shy and lacked any special talent. Despite his struggles, he turned out to be good at nothing. The once-in-a-century economic crisis made finding a job impossible, and the girl he secretly loved walked hand in hand with another boy into a movie theater.

Thinking of the girl he had silently adored for four years, he touched the ring on his finger. He had scrimped and saved throughout college to buy it from an antique shop in Europe—a replica of the One Ring from "The Lord of the Rings." He spent all his savings on it, believing it worth the price, hoping to use the unique ring to confess his feelings at the graduation party. In the end, the ring remained on his own finger.

“Why am I so cowardly? Why can’t I live like a man? Is it simply because I don’t know who my real parents are?” Yang Tian howled at the sky. Indeed, the couple who raised him were not his biological parents, and the sister who resented him was not his true sibling. He had been taken in and raised by them.

“No one else is to blame for my failures. If I could have another chance, I would seize it. I would cherish those around me, and fulfill every dream! But now, I can only end my cowardly life in this cowardly way!” Drunk beyond fear of cold heights or the raging storm, Yang Tian leapt off the edge…

As he lost consciousness, the ring on his finger blazed with a crimson light, drawing him toward another realm. From that moment, the storm ceased and the dawn broke.