Birth is suffering, death is suffering, separation from loved ones is suffering, meeting with the unloved is suffering, and not obtaining what one wants is suffering. Buddha spoke of eight kinds of suffering, Nie Yan experienced five of them. His life was essentially a history of hardship, luckily it was a short story because he only lived to be twenty-eight years old.

His life perhaps should have ended there, but fate took a turn at that very moment.

Nie Yan rolled over, a dampness spreading across his back. His clothes clung uncomfortably to him. He vaguely remembered being shot in the heart, collapsing to the ground, blood staining the earth red.

Well, isn't death just that? Nie Yan seemed rather at ease with it. To simply die like this, quietly fading away, wouldn't be a bad way to go either.

He lay in ambush at the gate of Cao Xu's villa for a full five days. He finally waited until Cao Xu appeared, and in that split second before Cao Xu got into his car, he pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into Cao Xu's head with a sniper rifle. With a bang, blood splattered everywhere. Through the long-range scope, a hole appeared on Cao Xu's head, oozing with fresh blood.

Cao Xu's eyes were full of confusion, eventually gradually becoming vacant and losing focus.

The process of the bullet exploding a head replayed in Nie Yan's mind, filling him with immense satisfaction, a catharsis of hatred.

Cao Xu enjoyed a life of wealth and honor, yet he died at the hands of Nie Yan, a mere nobody. He must be very unwilling to die even as a ghost, I reckon. In the face of death, everyone is equal; his riches, rivaling that of a country, could not save his life.

To commit too many evil deeds, one will inevitably fall victim to the cycle of retribution.

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The moment Cao Xu's brain exploded, Nie Yan realized his worldview had undergone a complete metamorphosis. It turned out that everything was just a bullet. Tomorrow morning's newspaper might feature his photo on the front page, with a headline like "Richest Man Cao Xu Murdered," followed by a large mugshot of a bandit for all to admire and worship.

After Nie Yan shot Cao Xu, Cao Xu's bodyguard discovered him and chased after him. He fired a bullet that hit Nie Yan in the back of his heart.

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A sharp pain stabbed at Nie Yan's back. This was what it felt like to be shot. His heart gradually went numb, and he could feel his life force rapidly draining away.

>

He was about to die, but he smiled. He laughed at the brevity of life and at himself for living a pointless existence until his deathbed realization.

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And so, tears streamed down her face.

The parents' deep hatred was finally over. Scenes from the past played in his mind like a movie. Nie Yan’s only concern in this world was her smile, pure and untouched by worldly affairs.

She was Nie Yan's high school classmate and is now married, but her beautiful face remains imprinted in Nie Yan's heart as it was before. With the passage of time, this memory has become even more deeply ingrained. He wonders what she would think when she hears the news of his and Cao Xu's shared demise. Would she sigh or shed tears of sadness?

The sealed memories were like a burst dam, flooding his mind. He regretted many things; some things weren't understood until it was too late. He had too many regrets in his life, too many unfulfilled wishes.

Nie Yan reached out to grasp at something, but found everything gradually receding. Life was coming to an end, and ahead lay the eternal darkness.

Regret and dejection sliced through him like a sharp knife, leaving an agonizing wound in his heart.

What on earth did I do in my past life to deserve such punishment and torment?!

Nie Yan's resentment surged, he was filled with unwillingness. He roared in his heart, tears streaming down his face.

Gradually, after an unknown amount of time, Nie Yan's emotions slowly calmed down.

His thoughts were still active, his mind could still think. Could this be death? Perhaps this was my soul.

After a long time, Nie Yan’s fingers felt a slight touch, and it was so real. Why did he still have consciousness after all this time? He suddenly sat up and looked around, feeling lost and confused.

Could this be hell?

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Nie Yan's lifeless eyes slowly regained focus. He looked around, and some old items came into view: a wooden bed, a chair, and some damaged floorboards.

Where am I? I thought I was dead.

It felt like a dream, unreal. He touched his heart and his hand was full of viscous liquid. Looking at it, his palm wasn't bloody, but covered in sweat. His shirt was soaked with sweat, which is why it felt damp on his back.

>

What's going on?

I wasn't bleeding a lot, was I? He vaguely recalled the blood, like red wine, with a crimson hue. It was the color of life fading away.

Nie Yan pinched himself, he still felt pain. This wasn't a dream. Could what happened before when he assassinated Cao Xu have all been a dream?

Why is it so real there?

Just as Zhuang Zhou murmured upon waking from his dream, I wonder, am I Zhuang Zhou who dreamt of the butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou?

Which one is real, and which one is a dream?

He looked around in confusion, he had too many questions.

The dim lighting, the slightly worn wooden bed, desk, and chairs, and on the wall, Dad's so-called antique grandfather clock, ticking away... Nie Yan still remembered that its time was never accurate.

Memory is like an old photo album, slowly turning the pages.

This environment is so familiar, isn't this the house he lived in back when he was in high school?

Sunlight streaming through the holes in the curtains shone into his eyes, pupils dilated violently by the light. The pain it brought gave him a searing sense of reality.

I'm still alive, Nie Yan spread his right hand out in front of him, his slightly immature hands were an unhealthy pale.

"What's wrong with me? Am I the me from ten years ago, or the me from ten years in the future?" Nie Yan scratched his head, deeply troubled.

He organized his thoughts, and certain fragments of memory gradually became clearer.

This is a test.

That year when he was eighteen, during his sophomore summer vacation, his parents were away from home. He developed a fever of forty degrees and almost died, but luckily he recovered.

During that time, his parents left him some money and disappeared without a word. They didn't come back for two or three months, and their phone was always unreachable. It was as if they had vanished. At the time, he thought his parents had abandoned him. Fear, anxiety, and terror overwhelmed him. These emotions were compounded by a high fever, leaving a deep psychological scar. He became timid and withdrawn, a personality trait that persisted until he was around twenty-five years old before showing any change.

Later on, when he grew up, he realized that his parents hadn't abandoned him. Instead, they had borrowed money from relatives and friends to engage in smuggling operations along the border. At the time, the country urgently needed a metal called polonium, a crucial strategic material. After discovering its uses, all countries quickly tightened their export restrictions and stockpiled it. Nie Yan's parents somehow found a way to collect this substance and smuggle it back into the country. It was purchased by the government at hundreds of times its original price, earning them a huge sum of money.

During that time, things were very tense. Nie Yan's parents couldn't get in touch with him, and the matter was a military secret. If it leaked, it would lead to dire consequences. Nie Yan and his parents' misunderstanding thus took root, and it wasn't until many years later, after the incident had passed, that his father told him the truth and Nie Yan forgave them.

That year, father used the first pot of gold he earned to start a metal smelting company. He landed several large orders, his business boomed, and the family's financial difficulties were solved. Nie Yan was thus able to transfer to the city's elite school.

Could it be that I've really gone back in time?

Can everything really start over again?

Surprise and anxiety were intertwined, Nie Yan found it hard to describe his current feelings. He was caught between hope and fear, worried that everything happening now might just be a dream.

>

Nie Yan got out of bed, pulled open the curtains, and the intense sunlight poured in like flames, radiating heat. This scorching sensation told him plainly that he wasn't dreaming.

He lowered his head, and on the windowsill there were still textbooks: Mechanical Theory, Automation Theory, Chinese Language, Higher Mathematics, Intelligent Programming Language...

Nie Yan opened the book. These familiar and friendly words, like a spring, flowed with past memories, refreshing his heart. These textbooks were his lost youth. In his senior year of high school, he transferred to a prestigious private school in the city. His father's successful career and abundant material conditions made him jump into a wealthy second-generation life, giving rise to laziness in his mind. After his third year of high school, his grades weren't good. Later, his father spent money to get him into a famous university, but until he graduated, he didn't learn much and spent his days doing nothing.

By the time Nie Yan turned twenty-five, his father's business was being targeted by Cao Xu's conglomerate. Several trusted relatives and friends were bought off by Cao Xu and betrayed his father, leading to setbacks for the company and plunging the family back into poverty. His father committed suicide after poisoning himself, and his mother fell ill from grief and passed away soon after. After losing both parents, Nie Yan finally learned to strive for success, teaching himself many subjects. However, by then, he had missed out on much.

Nie Yan once prepared to make a name for himself, but Cao Xu wouldn't allow the son of his enemy to rise again. Under Cao Xu's interference, no company dared to hire Nie Yan, pushing him to a desperate situation. If not for Nie Yan playing the virtual online game Faith and earning a meager income, he wouldn't even have enough to eat.

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To defeat Cao Xu head-on was out of the question. Driven to desperation, the rabbit would bite, and Nie Yan, cornered with no other choice, finally opted to take Cao Xu down with him. That gunshot echoed with Nie Yan's resentment.

Heaven's retribution is clear. Cao Xu probably didn't expect to end up like this.

Nie Yan thought he was dead, but time played a trick on him. He found himself back in his second year of high school, during the summer vacation.

Although he couldn't get in touch with his parents, Nie Yan could be sure that they were both still alive. Every time he thought about this, he felt tears welling up in his eyes.

In the past, one's parents may have been alive but couldn't raise their children properly. Nie Yan's heartache is something others cannot understand.

God gave him another chance, he would never muddle through again.

Father and mother won't be back for over twenty days. It's the summer vacation, so he can only stay at home alone.

“During the second semester of my sophomore year, that year, I remember that the virtual online game Faith had just been released not long ago.” Nie Yan remembered clearly that in the year Faith was released, countless consortia poured into Faith’s bustling scene. Because of these consortia's massive capital injection, large-scale development of Faith took place, making Faith truly worthy of being called humanity’s second world.

He later attended a prestigious school and spent over a semester there before entering the world of faith through an introduction from a close friend. However, by then, many players were already at high levels, and he had missed the optimal leveling period, leaving him to frantically catch up.

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Every page of memory has been re-colored, a kaleidoscope of hues. Those moments spent in the game are the most unforgettable chapters of his life. He made many friends, and those lonely days were less dreary because of them.

Before assassinating Cao Xu, Nie Yan was a high-level bandit with over 180 levels. While he wasn't the best, he was considered a skilled fighter.

Nie Yan suddenly remembered that he had a bank card in his drawer, which contained all his savings.

"I can afford a helmet," Nie Yan thought to himself, pulling open the drawer and rummaging through it. Finally, he found the silver-white bank card tucked away in the corner. If his memory served him right, there were two thousand credit points inside, one credit point equaling one yuan. That was all he had saved up over several years, meticulously pinching pennies. Back then, he wanted to buy the most advanced X3 model computer, but within a few years, before he could save enough money, the X3 model became obsolete. Afterward, after his father's successful business ventures, his pocket money increased significantly. His father wanted to compensate Nie Yan, almost granting him any wish. If Nie Yan desired something, it was basically within his reach.

At eighteen years old, Nie Yan possessed the soul of a twenty-eight-year-old. Everything started anew, and his life turned over a new page. Lacking sufficient capital, he couldn't do anything. So, he began in the game. With his previous experience playing games, becoming a professional player to earn some money was still quite simple.

>

He remembered that when the faith gaming helmets were first released, they were very cheap to promote them. There were three models: A, B, and C. Each model had different configurations, with virtual degrees ranging from 76% to 98%. The cheapest C-type only cost one thousand three hundred credits. With Nie Yan's current savings, he could afford a low-end helmet.

He remembered many things in the game clearly. If he started over, it wouldn't be difficult to make a name for himself.

Putting the bank card into his pocket, Nie Yan's gaze fell on the advanced mathematics textbook beside him. As if possessed, he picked up the textbook and shook it. A crisp hundred-yuan bill fell out. Some memories surfaced in his mind.

Suddenly, he remembered that his first encounter with Xie Yao was today, caused by him taking one hundred yuan out to buy medicine from the pharmacy.

Xie Yao was his deskmate in high school and the class beauty. That unbearable past, truly shocking. Ten years later, Xie Yao fell in love with Liu Rui, the recognized genius of their class, and they moved to the moon. Later, when Nie Yan talked to Xie Yao a few times on the phone, he realized she wasn't happy at all. When they talked about high school, they both sighed wistfully.

If he had been braver back then, and not so timid and insecure in front of Xie Yao, perhaps he wouldn't have missed his chance.

Sometimes, a turn can be a lifetime, becoming an irreparable regret.

>

Xiè Yáo used to like wearing white dresses, beautiful and pure. Her appearance was deeply engraved in Niè Yán's heart. That kind of wistful longing was like the flute music at dusk, distant yet tranquil.

Nie Yan glanced at the dilapidated clock, which was pointing to three o'clock. He should still have time. He picked up the bank note and sprinted downstairs.

They lived in the suburbs, very desolate. The old and broken road wasn't wide, and when the wind blew, it would raise a lot of dust. On both sides, however, many trees had been planted, which were still lush under the scorching sun, casting a patch of green shade on the ground.

This is a good example. It's easy to see how this works!

The afternoon was hot with little foot traffic and even fewer cars. Occasionally, one or two flying cars would pass by.

In his past life, Nie Yan disliked this city very much, but after being reborn, when he saw this remote place again, Nie Yan didn't feel disgusted. Instead, he felt a strange sense of familiarity. This was the place where he had lived for eighteen years.

Nie Yan's timid personality before the age of twenty-five was also related to his later living environment. As a wild boy from a small city, because his family suddenly became wealthy, he transferred to a noble school in the city. Originally, his grades were considered excellent in high school and junior high, but there he could only be ranked at the bottom and was often ridiculed for lacking fashion sense. In addition to what happened during summer vacation, it made him feel insecure and left psychological shadows. When he arrived in the new environment, he became even more timid and inferior, feeling out of place everywhere. If it wasn't for knowing a few close friends, he might have collapsed mentally.

Unexpectedly, after a lifetime apart, he had returned to the starting point. Nie Yan would never be the same as in his past life.

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He ran all the way to the drugstore.

This is a test.

The surrounding buildings are somewhat dilapidated and deserted. As urbanization accelerates, people from these small cities are flocking to larger ones. This has resulted in widespread depopulation in small cities. With a few more decades, this place will likely be demolished and transformed back into farmland.

“Over there is the school, and over here is the supermarket.” Nie Yan, an old horse who knew the area well, saw these familiar buildings, and his mood gradually brightened. “I’m back, I really am back!”

He used to resent fate's unfairness, but now, he has to be grateful to heaven.

I want to start over! Start over well! Nie Yan couldn't help but want to shout, releasing the excitement in his heart.

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