Blood and Reboot

Bang—!

The night split open.

A girl's body dropped from twenty meters high, crashing into the concrete below like a marionette with its strings violently severed.

Crack—!

Bones snapped. Blood bloomed beneath her skull like a twisted flower. Silence returned. Then:

"Make it look like a suicide," a man's voice drifted from the rooftop—low, casual, like ordering coffee.

"Shame. I do love that sound. Bones... breaking."

Pain punched back like a freight train. Every nerve caught fire.

The mind that had once negotiated mergers worth billions jolted back to awareness. Muscles, bones—shattered, crushed… then oddly, knitting themselves back together.

What the hell?

Wasn't this supposed to be the IPO ceremony?

Eyes snapped open. Blood, warm and sticky, pooled beneath the skull and slid down the back of the neck.

[Ding! System L.U.S.T.R.A. initialized. Commencing emergency body repair.]

System… L.U.S.T.R.A.?

Jaw tightened.

Then—memories. A pair of coarse hands clamped around the neck. Foul breath at the ear:

"Don't blame us. You were in someone's way."

Ten years of clawing to the top. One moment ringing the opening bell on Wall Street. The next, flat on the ground in a pool of blood.

The gaze dropped.

Bloodstained sportswear. Smooth, too-young skin. Slim wrists bruised purple and blue.

This wasn't the same body.

[Soul mismatch detected. System L.U.S.T.R.A. directive: Newbie Mission 1/3 - SURVIVE]

[Time Limit: 00:10:00]

[Reward: Superpower Awakening ]

Fantastic. Reincarnated and on a timer.

"Guy's generous. Paid a million to off a nobody student like her."

Voices from above again.

"Don't get too excited," another man laughed coldly. "Full payout only if it's ruled suicide. Murder drops it to two hundred K."

The new identity also answered to Avery Blake.

Fine. New rules, same name. The spine straightened.

Fingers twitched. Then toes.

Mobility was returning faster than expected.

In a snap, the body flipped upright.

"Where's the body?!"

A heavyset man burst down the stairs. His scarred face twisted in shock at the empty ground.

The redhead behind him sucked in a breath. "Rick… she's not dead."

"Move! She won't get far!" Rick Dalton grabbed a crowbar and rushed out.

"Tracks go toward the road!" the redhead—Nick Barnes—shouted, already diving into a van.

"You drive," Rick growled. "I'll check the woods."

Avery held her breath behind a pile of rusted junk on the factory's first floor.

No panic. That never helped.

Fake footprints at the roadside. Then backtrack. Classic misdirection.

The van engine roared into the distance. Still, the muscles didn't relax.

Quiet steps carried the body toward a rusted fire ladder.

Dusk stretched a long shadow across the factory rooftop. Far-off streetlights flickered on.

Screech—

"Shit! Blood trail ends here!" Rick's shout rang out.

"You think she stayed inside?" Nick's voice was closer.

Scrape. Crowbar dragged over cement.

Bang! A barrel clattered across the ground.

"Dammit! I'll tear this place apart!"

Rick's voice again. Then—

"Roof."

[ALERT: Killers approaching. Distance: 15 meters.]

The system's red screen blazed across her vision.

[Countdown: 00:01:30]