Chapter 2 After Rebirth, I Bound a System_1

So, this is what it feels like to be blown to smithereens.

My body torn apart and shattered.

In one word:

Pain.

In one sentence:

It freaking hurts.

-

"Get up."

"Get up, get up."

"The enemy will reach your location in 30 seconds, get up..."

So annoying.

Ming Ge irritably snapped her eyes open!

Above her was a hotel ceiling decorated with images of the floating world, the lighting dimmed just right, adding a subtle, floating haze to the entire room.

...Has the Underworld become this upscale, offering a presidential suite to each person postmortem?

Surely, as someone who committed murder and accrued so much bad karma, I was bound for Hell.

Ming Ge wildly speculated with a headache splitting her head, while a persistent voice in her head kept babbling nonsense.

"Hey, if you don't get up now, you're going to die," the voice said, sounding impatient and quite rude.

Ming Ge paused, "Black and White Impermanence?"

"..."

"Ox-Head and Horse-Face?"

"..."

"It can't be Lord Hades himself, can it?"

"...Go ahead, keep guessing wildly."

The System rolled its eyes, "Stupid human, you were dead..."

That's what I thought. I was blown to bits; without a body left, it made no sense to be alive.

Ming Ge sighed.

But with my vengeance fulfilled, the intense malice that overwhelmed me has faded, leaving me without turning into a vengeful spirit even after death.

I could even reunite with my dear old man and that scumbag in the netherworld.

It was a comforting thought.

The next second, I heard the voice again, "But you are alive again."

Ming Ge: "..."

Are you freaking kidding me?

What does "You were dead, but now you're alive again" even mean?

Even if I had descended to the Underworld to be reincarnated, I haven't had my sip of the forgetfulness soup served by Meng Po yet. Otherwise, how could these vivid and painful memories still be so clear?

"Heh, foolish human." The System scorned her, then introduced itself, "I am the Superstar Cultivation System 438 from the Alpha Nebula..."

438?

Dead dumbass?

Pff.

Ming Ge couldn't hide her laughter and mocked it.

But what it said next made her stop laughing and stare in shock.

"Strictly speaking, you were indeed dead. However, the great 438 System chose you out of the multitude for your unique bones. So naturally, you cannot die... Now, you have returned to ten years ago."

Returned to ten years ago, what does that mean?

Ming Ge frowned.

Then, a bold conjecture slowly took shape in her mind.

...Rebirth?

The concept of rebirth was not uncommon in the latter days, with some of the blockbuster works on web literature platforms like Qidian being based on this theme.

But Ming Ge had never imagined that one day this term would be associated with her.

The immense shock took over her mind, causing her to overlook the unusual feeling within her body.

She sat there stunned for a few seconds, then flipped out of bed and began frantically searching for her phone.

A strange and outdated black phone crashed onto the ground. With trembling fingers, she picked it up.

In the year 2020, iPhones had already reached model 15. Although she was destitute at that time, penniless and unable to afford one, iPhone 15 ads were plastered everywhere you looked.

Why did she know that?

Because the spokesperson for the iPhone 15 in the China region was none other than her nemesis, Yin Ruowei.

However, the phone she now held was clearly an ancient flip-style model that had been out of date for many years.

Ming Ge, with trembling fingers, flipped open the phone and saw a line with the time and date on the screen.

April 1, 2010.

...

Her mind was a battlefield, images flickering by like a swiftly turning zoetrope.

Nearly exploding.

She... really was reborn?

Ming Ge held her breath in disbelief, and glanced again at the screen of the old-fashioned flip phone.

Meticulously, she didn't dare miss even one punctuation mark.

It was still—

April 1st, 2010.

No matter how many times she blinked, it didn't change.

Thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

Ming Ge's heart trembled, beating rapidly.

She had been reborn.

She had returned to that exact day ten years ago, April Fool's Day.

Reflecting on her life, Heaven really played a huge joke on her mother!

Ming Ge buried her face in her palms, her shoulders trembling as low laughter spilled out from deep in her throat.

She was laughing, but it sounded inexplicably sad.

As if she was laughing out all the bitterness from her past life.

Tears streamed through her fingers, hot against the smoothness of her cheeks that felt new, and the voice in her head calling itself 'damned 438' with its nonsense banter...

Everything was indicating—

She, Ming Ge, had been reborn.

It took her three seconds to fully digest this astonishing fact, then Ming Ge lowered her hands from her face.

Ming Ge lifted her head.

Her eyes were slightly red and tear-stained, but they shone clear and bright, scattering light playfully.

The look in her eyes was not pitiful or tearful.

Instead—

It was excitement, the gleam of someone ready to stir things up!

Ming Ge controlled the eagerness in her heart and asked pointedly, "Tell me, what price do I have to pay for being reborn?"

There's no such thing as a free lunch, a fact Ming Ge understood all too well.

In her later life, impoverished and dwelling in a basement rental room, she had read several popular rebirth novels on her peeling old phone, daydreaming that one day she might get a 'golden finger' and be reborn herself.

Now that the one-in-a-million chance had fallen to her, Ming Ge was wary, ever so wary.

After all, she had lived a life worse than a dog's, plagued by misfortune. How could such incredible luck fall upon her?

Ming Ge remained skeptical.

It couldn't possibly be because she was beautiful, could it?

Hmm, that's quite logical.

Seems this human isn't particularly stupid.

The System changed its approach, [As the host personally chosen by the great Superstar Cultivation System, what you need to do is...]

[Accumulate a hundred billion star luck value within ten years and become the invincible superstar of the universe.]

Star luck value?

A hundred billion?!

That truly was an astronomical figure.

Ming Ge's heart quivered, and she asked, "How much do I currently have of that whatever-value?"

[-250000.]

Ming Ge: "..."

Go to hell with your 'damned fool'—you're the fooled one.

And it's a negative.

She's really up for a challenge.

After the System's explanation, Ming Ge learned that star luck value was popularity, prestige, and belief.

It was entirely dependent on how much humanity loved her.

Put simply, the star luck value was determined by her fans.

Haters -10.

Neutral observers 0, negligible.

Fans +5.

Die-hard fans 10.

"So, do I have twenty-five thousand haters right now?" Ming Ge asked the soul-crushing question, "Even if a die-hard fan is worth 10, to reach a hundred billion, I'd need, ten, a hundred, a thousand… ten billion, right?"

[Yes, that's correct.]

Oh, damn it.

Do you know the total population of China?

You're really defying the heavens.

Ming Ge thought hopelessly, "What happens if I don't achieve it within ten years?"

The System answered her with a tone devoid of emotion, two words:

[Annihilation.]