Aashish_Kookna

“If you could relive your life—not to chase fame or fortune, but to right your deepest regrets—would you dare face your own past?”

Yun Fei was an ordinary man in his thirties, living a life soaked in the bitter wine of missed opportunities and mistakes. A failed business, a broken family, friendships turned sour, and the loss of the only girl who truly loved him—his world was a long list of what-ifs and if-onlys. He wasn’t evil, but he had been weak. Not cruel, but often silent when he should have spoken. His was a life not ruined by one catastrophic event—but by a thousand small regrets that, over time, swallowed him whole.

And then he died.

Not in glory, not in battle, not even in some poetic tragedy.

Just… alone. Forgotten.

But death wasn’t the end

Born Again with My Future Regrets

Yun Xi stood at the boundary of the Old Town ruins, a place forgotten by both maps and memory. The air shimmered strangely here—static, charged. Cracked stone and twisted metal whispered secrets to those who dared to listen.

But tonight, there was no time to listen. Only time to survive.

He could feel it—a presence. Cold. Calculated. Watching him from beyond the veil.

Clad in armor of woven shadow, eyes like collapsing stars, the Harvester walked with inhuman grace. It bore no weapon, yet the air around it cracked with pressure. It didn't speak. Didn't gesture. It only looked at Yun Xi—and the Echoes fluttering near him.

The Echo beside Yun Xi—an old soldier with a scarred voice from a past long erased—shuddered. "He's not bound to time," the Echo muttered. "He doesn't follow the rules."

Yun Xi clenched his fists. He had read about them in the Echo Records the system revealed: Harvesters. Not born, not made—released. Silent executioners sent to erase anomalies in timelines. Echoes were their primary targets.

"I'm not giving them up," he said softly, eyes never leaving the Harvester. "Not again."

Just the world ripping as its foot touched the earth, leaving a fracture behind.

Yun Xi's instincts screamed. He threw up the first Echo Shield he had ever formed without assistance—a shimmering disc of memory and light. The impact cracked it instantly, sending him flying into a wall.

But he had seen something—a blink of vulnerability when the Harvester struck.

His hands glowed. An old memory he had only practiced once before—the memory of a dying warrior who turned fear into fire.

The Harvester tilted its head. Its next strike was faster.

Threads of golden light wrapped around the Harvester's limbs—but only for a second. It broke them with sheer force.

But that second was all Yun Xi needed.

He dove toward the memory flare the system had stored earlier—an Echo of his own childhood laughter, used as bait. The Harvester lunged. But just before contact, Yun Xi whispered:

A shockwave burst outward, slamming both of them back.

Dust settled. Yun Xi lay sprawled, blood dripping from his temple. But the Harvester… stood still, twitching. Cracks ran through its form.

The Echo beside Yun Xi stepped forward. "That shouldn't be possible…"

He stood, trembling, and summoned the last stored energy he had—the Echo of a future yet to happen. A gamble.

A gust of wind scattered its pieces like ash. And silence returned.

Yun Xi collapsed to one knee, heart hammering.

First Harvester Defeated – Timeline Resistance Gained

Reward: Echo Core Fragment – Class A

Hidden Trait Unlocked: Temporal Defiance

Yun Xi looked at the sky, breath ragged.

He had just fought something outside of time. And won.

But the way the air still trembled… there would be more.

Chapter 22: The Harvester's Silence