Chapter 1 – Lin Jichen

Chapter 1 – Lin Jichen

Earth.

Jiangling City, West Mountain Cemetery.

A woman stood silently in front of a newly erected tombstone, mourning the last journey of the deceased.

The tombstone bore the name of the departed: Lin Jichen, aged 29.

The woman, Ren Lan, was Lin Jichen's senior from university.

She stood quietly before the grave, gazing at the portrait on the stone, which depicted a man with a handsome and clear-cut visage, his eyes bright as stars.

Lost in the photograph, Ren Lan was momentarily transfixed.

A cemetery worker approached, pushing a cart that held a dark mahogany ashes box.

"It's time for the burial, ma'am. Would you like to do it, or shall we?" the worker reminded her.

"I'll do it."

With a heavy heart, Ren Lan walked over, took the ashes box, and carefully placed it into the small, square pit beneath the tombstone.

"I never imagined that after all these years without seeing each other, this would be our next meeting."

She spoke to herself, mist forming in her eyes.

Her voice choked up, unable to hide her sorrow.

"You see, if you had just believed me back then, none of this would have happened. You had such a promising future in 'Tale of Immortal', but you chose to trust the wrong people, got cheated, and didn't even realize it... Ah, well, it's all in the past now..."

"Ma'am, please place the deceased's personal effects in as well," the worker prompted again.

Ren Lan nodded, her eyes reddening as she placed Lin Jichen's last belongings into the grave.

But suddenly, she remembered something and hurriedly retrieved a voice recorder from among the items.

A note was stuck to the recorder, with a message written in small letters: "Ren Lan, open this when I'm buried."

She had always remembered it, but in her grief, she had nearly forgotten.

Holding the voice recorder, Ren Lan chose to play it, and a voice message began to play.

"Miss Frenzy, long time no see, haha, surprise! I've achieved enlightenment and am about to ascend to the heavens. This might be the last chance we have to 'meet,' so I thought I'd leave you a recording..."

The voice in the audio was cheerful, without a trace of the solemnity or sadness one might expect in a final message, even jokingly equating his own death to ascending to immortality.

Ren Lan wasn't surprised, as the Lin Jichen she knew had always been optimistic and sunny.

The recording continued.

"Actually, I owe you an apology. I should have listened to you sooner. But my own blindness is to blame, not others. I'm sorry, my dear senior Ren Lan. If fate allows, we'll meet again in another life, and I'll continue to tease you, be your Taekwondo sandbag... Hehe... Well... it's time to say goodbye..."

Hearing this, Ren Lan's tears flowed freely. This was the second time in her life that she had cried.

The first time was when Lin Jichen misunderstood her and they parted ways.

Ren Lan, who had always prided herself on never crying, broke down because of Lin Jichen.

But in the next second, the tone of the audio changed abruptly.

"Damn! Where is this? Why is it so dark? Wasn't I supposed to ascend to immortality? Why am I locked in a little box? Help!"

Is anyone there to save me? I'm scared~ Stop! No, No! Stop~"

The cemetery workers nearby couldn't help but laugh; they had never heard such an unusual last message.

Their job usually precluded laughter, given their professional training.

Pfft. Ren Lan laughed too, wiping away her tears and cursing at the tombstone's occupant, "Lin Jichen, fuck you!"

***

Ding-ding-dong-dong...

The ringing of a cell phone woke Lin Jichen from his deep sleep.

"Ouch, my head hurts."

A virtual online game with a realism rate of 100%, named 'Tale of Immortal,' created by the universe-level artificial intelligence 'Nuwa,' emerged, drawing on the cultural backgrounds of many countries to craft this epoch-making first virtual game.

Everyone thought it was just a virtual game.

Until five years after the game's launch, strange things began to happen!

First, a few players discovered that abilities and Magic Treasures from the game could be brought into reality, and even the NPCs from the game could come to the real world.

Once this discovery was made public, humanity flocked to 'Tale of Immortal,' all to gain the various abilities, cultivation levels, Magic Treasures, Immortal Pills, Supernatural Powers, and so on from the game.

But with that came the various demons, villains, and massive Beast Tides from the game, descending upon reality.

Even the worlds within the game merged with reality.

It was this game that made Lin Jichen a practitioner of the Enlightenment Realm, that gave him everything, and also took everything away.

But now, everything was starting from scratch, starting anew.

Lin Jichen believed that with his ten years of knowledge about 'Tale of Immortal.'

He was well aware of the various Secret Realms, hidden quests, immortal caves, Divine Pets, and divine weapons.

With the skills he had honed over the past ten years, Lin Jichen was confident he could become the strongest cultivator in 'Tale of Immortal'!

The game had been running for ten years, but if you discount the time when the worlds merged, the actual game time was only five years.

And Lin Jichen had only played for four years.

He only came across the game in the second year after its public test, and he had a rough start, receiving a rather mediocre talent.

Despite that, he rose above it.

He caught up with most players and even made it into the top ten of the 'Tale of Immortal' leaderboard.

And now, the date was August 7, 2040.

The public test for 'Tale of Immortal' was tonight!

Lin Jichen tried to calm his breathing and contain his emotions, sweeping away the gloom of his previous life, and grinned at the mirror.

In this life, he would start over, seek revenge, and right wrongs!

In this life, he would make up for the regrets of his past life and compensate those he had let down.

In this life, he must not miss another year, wasting the most precious initial period of the game.

Even if his start was the same as his previous life, receiving only a mediocre talent.

Lin Jichen was still confident that with his knowledge of 'Tale of Immortal' and ten years of skill, he could leave everyone far behind and reach the pinnacle of the 'Tale of Immortal' world!

Ding-ding-dong-dong...

The phone rang again.

Lin Jichen picked up his Huawei Tianwen phone from ten years ago, and the caller ID displayed: "Miss Frenzy."

Seeing this name, Lin Jichen couldn't help but smile brightly and immediately answered the call.

"Little Lin! Why did you take so long to answer my call? Big news, you have to brace yourself!"

On the other end of the phone, a youthful female voice came through.

Lin Jichen didn't pay attention to the content, simply savoring the sound of the voice.

How long had it been since he heard this voice? A full ten years.

Yet it was still so familiar, so comforting.

"I'm sorry, Miss Frenzy," Lin Jichen suddenly whispered.

"Huh? Sorry for what?" The person on the other end clearly didn't catch on.

"Nothing, just felt like saying it."

Lin Jichen chuckled, casually brushing it off.

In his past life, he owed apologies to two girls, and Ren Lan was one of them.