thefictionvixens Chapter 1: Reborn as Hong, the Eve of the Great Nirvana
Chapter 1: Reborn as Hong, the Eve of the Great Nirvana
A sharp pain, as if tearing his soul apart, jolted Lin Jue open his eyes.
What comes into view is a mottled, damp concrete ceiling, with a dim incandescent light hanging in the center, and fine dust floating in the air under the light.
"hiss……"
He tried to sit up, but it felt like all the bones in his body had been disassembled and reassembled, and every muscle ached terribly.
Lin Jue looked down and saw a pair of unfamiliar hands. The palms and knuckles were covered with thick calluses and crisscrossing scars. These were definitely not the hands of an ordinary office worker.
Just then, countless chaotic fragments of memory flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.
A dark alleyway, a cold gun barrel, the target's shocked gaze as he fell...
Training beyond human limits, the burning sensation of bullets grazing your scalp...
A code name, a name that strikes fear into the hearts of people in the underworld—"Hong"!
The shock of the memory fusion left his brain buzzing, and it took him a long time to recover.
He, Lin Jue, an ordinary person, actually transmigrated.
Moreover, he transmigrated into the world of the novel "Swallowing the Stars," which he knew all too well.
His current identity is Hong, the future strongest person on Earth and the founder of the Ultimate Martial Arts Academy!
"No... the timeline is wrong... it's still 2010." He muttered to himself.
According to my memory, there are still only a few years left before the RR virus, which swept the globe and ushered in the "Great Rebirth" era, completely breaks out. The current "flood," although it is already the world's number one killer, is still within the realm of humanity. Faced with the impending "Great Rebirth," it is nothing more than a large "ant" struggling to survive in the quagmire.
"Thump, thump, thump."
A dull knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Hong, are you still alive? I have a big job for you, the pay is very high." A hoarse male voice came from outside the door.
Lin Jue struggled to his feet, leaning against the cold wall, his mind racing. He rummaged through his memories to find the owner of the voice—"Demon Heart," his direct contact in this underground organization.
"I'm a little injured and need to rest. What kind of work is it?" Lin Jue replied, mimicking Hong's cold tone.
"Oh? You can get hurt too?" Yao Xin's voice carried a hint of mockery. "The target is an arms dealer in Eastern Europe. I've sent you the information. I need to see results in three days, or else... you know the rules, right?"
The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away.
Lin Jue ignored the mission email sent by Yao Xin. He leaned against the wall and walked to the only small window in the room, lifting a corner of the heavy curtains.
Outside, it was eternal night—the norm in the underground base. But Lin Jue's heart had already flown to the outside world.
"The Great Nirvana... Monster... Luo Feng... Meteorite Star..."
Familiar words swirled in his mind.
"Following the original story's trajectory definitely won't work! I'm not the original Hong; I don't possess his resilience to rise from adversity. To survive, and even become stronger, I must utilize my greatest advantage—prophecy!"
His gaze sharpened.
"Cultivating step by step is too slow. By the time I reach the planetary level, Earth will almost be destroyed by the Golden Horned Beast. I must find a shortcut!"
"On Earth, there are quite a few relics left behind by Hu Yanbo, the master of Meteorite Star. Among them, the dilapidated ruins on the Australian continent are probably the least dangerous ones I can explore. That's the only opportunity I can seize right now!"
After making up his mind, Lin Jue's entire demeanor changed.
He ignored all tasks assigned by the organization and devoted all his time to the most intense training.
In the training grounds of the underground base, the other assassins looked at him as if he were a madman.
Hong abandoned all sophisticated assassination techniques and did only four things every day: excessive strength training, extreme endurance running, and practicing the most basic straight thrust over and over again. In the dead of night, when no one was around, he awkwardly imitated the "Five Hearts Facing the Sky" cultivation method as described in the original work, hoping to feel and absorb the energy in the universe.
He strapped several heavy steel plates to his body, challenging the limits of human physiology with every run; he thrust his alloy spear tens of thousands of times a day, his training clothes soaked with sweat, his arm muscles torn and regenerated.
"Hey Hong, did you hit your head on that last mission?" A killer codenamed "Lan" leaned against the entrance to the training ground, speaking sarcastically. "Practicing this kind of brute force all day long, do you even consider yourself an assassin anymore? Have you forgotten all your stealth and knife skills?"
Hong did not stop moving; the sound of the spear whistling through the air was his only response.
"What good is this piece of junk? Piercing through concrete walls?" Lan curled her lip. "The real targets are things that move and run, not wooden targets. If you keep going like this, you'll be useless sooner or later, you know that?"
"What I need is the power to pierce through concrete walls." Hong finally stopped, turned his head, his eyes shining brightly in the dim light, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable air, "Besides, the future target... is much harder than concrete walls."
Lan felt a little uneasy under his gaze, muttered "madman" under her breath, and walked away boredly.
Two years later.
News reports are increasingly frequent about mutated organisms and new, highly contagious influenza viruses appearing around the world. Ordinary people might only feel a slight sense of panic, but Lin Jue knows that this is the prelude to a great rebirth.
Thanks to the increasingly active cosmic energy over the past two years, Hong's clumsy "Five Hearts Facing the Sky Method" has enabled him to vaguely sense and absorb some cosmic energy to strengthen himself. With his almost self-destructive crazy training, his physical fitness has been infinitely close to the threshold of "junior warrior" in the original work.
"Thump, thump, thump."
It was that familiar knocking sound, but this time, Yao Xin's tone was no longer playful; instead, it carried a hint of seriousness.
He personally went into Hong's room.
"Hong, this is your last chance." Yao Xin threw a document on the table. "A tycoon leader who spans across Eurasia. If you take him down, the organization will give you an eight-figure reward, enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life."
Hong was wiping his badly worn alloy spear with a soft cloth when he heard this, and without even looking up, said, "Not interested."
"Say that again?" Yao Xin's voice turned cold. "Hong, don't push your luck! You haven't taken on a single mission this year, and the organization is already very dissatisfied with you. Do you really think this is a place you can come and go as you please?"
"I'm leaving today," Hong said calmly, putting down the soft cloth and picking up the spear.
"Leave?" Yao Xin laughed angrily, suddenly pulling a pistol from his pocket and pointing it at Hong's forehead. "Let me tell you, from the day you joined the organization, your life belongs to the organization! You can leave, but leave your life behind!"
However, Hong never glanced at him once.
Just as Yao Xin was about to pull the trigger, Hong Dong moved.
No one saw his movements clearly; they only heard a soft "hum," and a dark shadow seemed to tear through the air.
The next second, Yao Xin felt a chill on his neck, and a sharp aura made the hairs on his body stand on end.
He stiffly lowered his head and saw a cold, sharp spearhead, resting steadily less than a millimeter from his Adam's apple. The force of the wind emanating from the spearhead even made his skin sting.
The gun in his hand clattered to the ground.
Hong slowly withdrew his spear, picked up the huge bag that had been prepared in the corner, slung it over his shoulder, and brushed past the still-shaken Yao Xin.
"Times have changed, and so has the heart of a demon."
His last words came from the doorway.
"The little money you have will soon become worthless. Tell the people above not to mess with me."
Stepping out of the dark underground base, a stench of industrial fumes and earthy smell hit me.
The sky was an eerie dark red.
Hong squinted and looked up into the distance.
"Australia...I've arrived."