Beginning

I wonder what justice is?

We all have our own answer.

Justice and evil will change the perspective of every human being.

I, a middle-aged man in my 30s, feel tired and depressed thinking about this pile of philosophies.

I calmed myself by taking deep breaths and trying to concentrate on my main task.

I looked at the computer screen and saw a document several pages long, and checked it word for word. This is the fifth, no, sixth time I've done this. I'm not sure if I've missed a small mistake (if I did, my boss would complain all day), so it's best to check it again carefully.

"Click, click."

"Hmm, I'm finally done with the report!" I exclaimed, standing up. I straightened my shoulders before looking around.

It was a busy office in the morning, but now it looks like a glass prison, shrouded in darkness. Am I its prisoner? And why? I asked myself. How much time have I spent in this damned place where my image appears more often than when I am at home?

"Calm down, if you work hard, I promise...!"

"What will be done. I'll get a pay rise, a promotion, or I'll kicked out of this company when I'm no longer valuable". Every time I thought of my fat boss's juicy promise, I gritted my teeth in anger.

He tricked me into signing a 'slave' contract. He forced me to work overtime, at least two days a week. Well, this week he forced me to work overtime four times. If you ask me why I have to suffer in silence, am I a stupid man. Let me answer honestly.

From childhood to adulthood, I did not have anything too outstanding. I studied at a decent level, without any particular talent for sport. After graduating in the recession of the early 1990s, I was unemployed for the next five years. When I was 27, I was interviewed by this company. With no money and social debts, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and sign those damn conditions. And now I'm sitting here.

That's enough to sum up my miserable life. And now I picked up the printed report and walked over to boss's desk.

"A messy table." I was annoyed. He freely threw scraps of paper and pens with their heads still exposed. The confused documents looked like a rubbish, and then there was the annoying sound from his old computer. Everything seemed to try my patience. Carelessly, some ink was got on my white shirt. I blew up.I was about to throw it all on the floor, but luckily I stopped in time.

I quickly rearranged the papers and utensils scattered across the tabletop. A couple of swimsuit photos falling from a black notebook caught my eye. Only then did I remember boss's face this afternoon when he ordered me to work, he was hugging his newly hired secretary. He was preparing to get into the black car with her and drive off to enjoy himself. I slammed my hand down hard on the table to show my displeasure, but then he came over and kicked me hard. He cursed and laughed contemptuously as he saw me lying on the floor in pain. I couldn't protest, I held my chest and sat up and walked back to my desk.

I'm so used to it.

I carefully placed the report neatly on the table.

"Phew." I sat down on the floor, breathless.

When I looked closer, the room wasn't exactly dark. There was a milky light near the window in front of me.

"Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? Is that light going to save me? No , it's just moonlight." I thought. My hand tiredly reached out and touched the light source.

I asked myself what I was trying to do, no satisfactory answer came to my mind.

◇

I'm going home to get some sleep. Tomorrow I will forget everything outside and immerse myself in the manga I love.

That's a great idea. While I was thinking that, my steps were lighter.

I picked up my bag and left the room, not forgetting to lock the door and leave the key under the potted plant. Hm, the clock in this corridor said it was after midnight.

I walked quickly through the empty corridor, the fluorescent lights flickering. I walked down the stairs, then I was struck by a sudden attack of dizziness.

"Ah, this sucks."

My body was spinning out of control, I tried to hold on to something, but I couldn't. Like a marionette breaking a string, I tumbled in place.

I saw familiar staircases come closer to my face than ever before.

"RUMBLE" A terrible sound rang out.

I lay on the floor, have a spitting headache. I felt like my neck was broken, the nerves were completely disconnected from my lower body. My limbs were stiff, unable to move even when I tried my best. My eyes stared blankly at the red liquid slowly spreading around me.

"It's blood."

"No way. It's my blood."

My body shook incessantly as the blood made contact with my skin. I could hear my heart beating faster than ever. On top of that, 'so cold' - a cold sensation I'd never felt before - enveloped my body.

I'm dying.

"Am I going to die like this!" Tears flowed from my eyes, I tried to struggle in vain, I tried to cry out for someone to help me.

The space fell silent, not a word of response.

"Yes, I'm the hardest worker left here. I'm a working machine.... "

"Ha ha, ha ... ha" I smile wryly, depressed.

I stopped crying. I painfully accepted my fate.

I was as silent as how I endure injustice in the last moments of my life.

As the scenery around me blurred and I gradually lost consciousness, I had one thought before I took my last breath - I saw a scene that wouldn't normally happen, even if it was my last scene before I had to leave the world.

As the scenery around me blurred and I gradually lost consciousness, I had one thought before I took my last breath - I saw a scene that wouldn't normally happen, even if it was my last scene before I had to leave the world.

Time seemed to stand still, accompanied by a tremendous weight on my bloodied body. Breathing heavily, my eyes widened and I saw my tears of anguish floating in front of a circle filled with strange characters. I don't know when I was surrounded by a beautiful silvery-white glow. I felt as if they were squeezing and seeping into each of my cells.

A feeling of comfort soothed me.

I didn't have a single thought anymore.I closed my eyes, calmly recepted death.

◇

"The body transformation is complete. Subject will regain consciousness within 10 seconds..."

"10"

"9"

…

"3"

"2"

"1"

A powerful electric current appeared out of nowhere and aimed directly at a large patch of land, causing smoke and dust everywhere.

The large rock broke in half, revealing a bony creature sitting up, its bloodshot eyes wide as it gazed in bewilderment at everything around it.

"Is this heaven?"

When I awoke, the first thing I noticed were the seven-coloured crystals. Rays of light reflected from the rock slit onto my face. They were beautiful sparkles that I had never seen in my life.

"What happened to me?" I held my head and wondered.

"Right" I sighed, "I'm dead."

It hurt a little to think about it, my hands clenched and my sad eyes looking around.

In addition to the colourful crystals, I couldn't help but be momentarily surprised by the strange scenes.

If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that there is nothing around me that belongs to Earth.

"Yo, awake."

"Is, who is it?"

A voice suddenly rang out, startling me.I turned sideways and vertically in search of the source of the voice. After groping around for a while, I realised that there was no one else in the place but me.

"Did my ears mishear?" I scratched my head.

"You didn't mishear!"

"What the hell." I exclaimed in confusion.

"Slowly, it looks like that voice just popped into my head?"

"You guessed right!"

"That's it again..." I tried to calm down and reframe the strange situation that was happening.

"You are very lucky, you have been blessed by the gods and continue to live!" The voice said softly.

"I live?"

"Yes, the gods have generously provided you with a completely different body and identity in this new world."

"New world?" I panicked "What about my old world?"

"Your body was nearly destroyed in the old world, and your soul was preserved by the gods..."

"Sorry, I can't tell you more, if you want to know, you should find out for yourself, lad!"

"But I, I..."

"I have no more time here. Try to live and train yourself. If I get the chance, I'll talk to you directly in the future."

"Wait..wait"

"Good luck, goodbye!" The mysterious voice disappeared.

"Hello?"

I called out. But no one answered.

◇

After a period of incomprehensible silence, I calmed down.

It was then that I thought of the phrase "new world" that the mysterious voice had referred to.

I remember being dead and dying painfully. There's no reason for me to sit here and listen to this strange voice talking nonsense. Wait, before I closed my eyes, I seemed to see a strange circle of figures accompanied by a powerful white light. It's just like a familiar scenario in the reincarnation novels I've read.

"Probably..."

"Have I been reincarnated like the characters in the manga?"

Just thinking about the possibility made me jump for joy. I'm so proud. I immediately ran around looking for hard evidence to support my argument.

"clack clack"

As soon as I took my first steps in this place, I felt strength rising within me. Even though it's hard to believe, reincarnation is probably one of the happiest things for someone who has suffered so much misfortune like me.

These confused thoughts aside, it's time for me to get back to reality.

"What sound?" I paused, shaken by the terrifying sounds that had just echoed through the space.

"That's a monster. Come here, I'll teach you a lesson." I experienced an over-euphoria.

"Where are you (clack clack)?" I raised my hand in defence.

With the martial arts I learned from the Tekken Chinmi manga, I am confident that I can defeat any monster that dares to rush forward.

"Come here, you coward." (clack clack)

"I am the heir of Huang Fei-hong"

(clack clack)

"Huh, come here like a real man, you bastard!"

(clack...clack)

"Hell, why did that sound still go off without a creature appearing?" I'm annoyed.

After a while of gesticulating, I realised that the sound was coming from my body.

"Hmm? What's that?"

I focused all my senses on the lower part of my body.

"What the hell." I was pass out when I saw a large piece of milky bone looming in front of my eyes.

I panicked, groped all over my body and then down on my knees.

In front of me was a bony image with a faint light emanating from a small fire in my chest.

"This could be a dream. Maybe I've read too many manga?"

I turned my eyes to where the light was, making up a stubborn excuse to comfort myself.

(clack clack) I reached out and touched my face lightly.

"But this feeling and sound..."

"They're so real."

I shook my head in frustration, trembling.

I sighed and lifted my head, looking blankly at my boneless arm covering the sky.

Then I remembered that I was in the another world where I was overjoyed to find existed. And this place is definitely not like Earth, the sky before my eyes is full of moons. Next to the huge silver moon in the centre are four smaller moons, each of a different colour. They are cherry, charcoal, turquoise and yellow. They all followed with beautiful sparkles. And I became an ugly, dry skeleton, alone in a crystal cave.

I understand what has happened to me, I know I have no right to demand, but I am not content to this body. Why can't the gods give me a human body or just an animal body? Reason why a skeleton, a horrible monster, contrary to all species?

Did I just deserve it, did my appearance here just serve to please the gods?

I don't know how long I'm going to desolate. It could be five minutes, it could be hours, I don't know. But then my grief would quickly become silly.

Besides, if I hadn't been reborn, I would have died. Looking back, I consider myself very lucky: I should have disappeared long ago, but my subconscious still exists.

At least that's what I think.

I must accept this reality. Even if I was a monster, I was determined to live happily to make up for my past life.

I took a deep breath, my mind remembering the 'Status Panel' that often appeared in the game. I blurted it out and it actually came out:

"Open the status board!"

It was a transparent blue board with lots of strange characters. I could understand some of the first few words, but the later ones were more and more difficult to understand.

_

Title : Unknown

Race : Lich

Evolution Score : +1

Skill:

/.@;;;' ''

....

@@1/1;';

.....

__

If only I had learned more languages in the old world, I might not have been as miserable as I am now.

"Hm, I'll find out later." I scratched my head and clicked my tongue.

"Close status panel."

I looked around, exclamation:

"So beautiful ! I have to admit, this cave is beautiful!" I was immersed in the glorious light coming from the blue crystals.

"Or am I exploring this cave? That would be a great start." I jumped excitedly, walking quickly into a small passageway that I had noticed from the beginning.

In the sky, through a large hole in the ceiling of the cave, thick clouds carrying strong winds obscured the moonlight.

The sound of bones gradually fade away, now the darkness swallowed up the light completely and everything seemed to sink into a mysterious blackness.

◇