Chapter 1

In the evening, a bustling second-tier city exuded a sense of restlessness.

The streets were filled with traffic, and the start of nightlife had many young people escaping from their sweltering rooms to indulge in the night.

Suxiao squatted on the roof of a two-story villa, feeling a cool breeze as it blew past him.

Suxiao was dressed in black, wearing a large black hood that concealed his figure in the darkness of the roof.

This outfit, even in the cool night of a scorching summer, would make anyone feel stiflingly hot.

But compared to his unfortunate experiences, this was nothing. He had already been waiting for two hours.

At his current age, Suxiao should have been enjoying his college years, but he had abandoned his studies three years ago due to hatred and began learning other skills.

Human anatomy, combat, and lock-picking, among other things.

The long wait began...

Two hours later, a black luxury car slowly drove into the villa's courtyard. The engine's dull sound ceased, and the car door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with a drunken demeanor stepping out.

Due to excessive drinking, the man's steps were noticeably unsteady.

Suxiao, on the roof of the villa, picked up a long knife. The blade, black and hard to detect in the darkness, was drawn from its sheath.

He leaped from the six-meter-high roof, and his agile arms caught the protruding corners of the villa, slowing his descent.

Landing smoothly, Suxiao appeared right in front of his enemy.

Without any unnecessary words, Suxiao's long knife sliced through the air, emitting a whistling sound before cutting through his enemy's throat.

Blood spurted out, and despite Suxiao's efforts to avoid it, his sleeves and the back of his hands were still stained with blood.

The drunken enemy, still unaware of what had happened, fell backward.

This injury was fatal, so Suxiao immediately ran toward a sparsely populated area.

Glancing around, Suxiao saw a security guard in uniform.

Although he was in the middle of committing a crime, he was not concerned about being caught, as his appearance was well hidden.

However, in the next moment, Suxiao's hair stood on end as the security guard pulled out a gun from his waist. The black, long-barreled gun was clearly equipped with a silencer.

How could a security guard have a gun? Suxiao had no time to think about it.

Behind him was a villa at least ten meters wide, and the security guard was about twenty meters away. If he chose to run, his back would be completely exposed to the enemy, making him a sitting duck.

In the face of danger, Suxiao's first reaction was to eliminate the source of the threat, not to run.

He charged forward in an S-shaped pattern, trying to avoid being shot.

"Thud, thud, thud..."

The gun, equipped with a silencer, made only a faint sound.

Suxiao had only run about five meters when he felt a tingling in his calf, followed by a similar sensation in his chest.

Suxiao knew he had been shot. Although he was a seeker of revenge, he had never been shot before.

A sense of powerlessness spread through his body, but Suxiao was not afraid; he was just unwilling.

His revenge was not yet complete, and he was already falling, killed by an unknown enemy. What a pathetic way to die.

With his last bit of strength, Suxiao threw the long knife in his hand.

This throw was a matter of fate, but it seemed that the heavens were aware of Suxiao's unwillingness and his unjust fate. The long knife, after spinning rapidly in the air, miraculously pierced the chest of the security guard.

Suxiao, who had collapsed on the ground, smiled.

The long knife was coated with a neurotoxin, a mixture of types, and the security guard who had been stabbed was surely dead.

His consciousness began to blur, and Suxiao felt a heavy blow to his head, followed by darkness.

In his last remaining consciousness, Suxiao faintly heard:

"Hunter, the 'Cycle Paradise' is open for you."

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[Body transfer in progress...]

[10%, 50%, 100%, transfer complete. Detected significant damage to the hunter's body, repair pending...]

[Hunter's consciousness not yet awakened, repair command delayed, maintaining minimum survival state, duration ten minutes...]

[Drip... Detected the hunter's talent as a growth talent, survival time extended by two hours.]

In the darkness, several lines of pale blue text floated in the air, emitting a faint glow.

Below the pale blue text, Suxiao lay in a pool of blood in the void.

His fingers twitched, and Suxiao slowly regained consciousness.

Upon waking, Suxiao was initially dazed, but recalling the black gun barrel, he immediately tried to stand up.

Pain shot through him, nearly causing him to faint again.

Struggling to sit up, Suxiao scanned his surroundings. Apart from the lines of blue text, everything was pitch black.

[Hunter, welcome to 'Cycle Paradise']

A line of text appeared before Suxiao, but he did not look at it, instead focusing on examining his injuries.

His calf was pierced, the wound flayed open, and his fingers could easily probe inside.

This bloody scene only made Suxiao frown; he had experienced far worse, so it did not move him.

The wound on his chest was even more severe, but neither the calf nor the chest wound was bleeding anymore.

"Am I not dead?"

Placing his hand on his chest, Suxiao felt his heart beating strongly.

[Hunter, you are not dead. Do you wish to join 'Cycle Paradise'? Here, you can have everything you desire.]

Suxiao had already noticed the suspicious text but, wary of the unknown, had ignored it.

The situation was now strange. He had suffered fatal injuries but had miraculously survived, and a line of blood-red numbers was counting down before him.

[1:35:10], [1:35:9]...

One hour, thirty-five minutes, and nine seconds. If Suxiao's guess was correct, this was the meaning of the numbers, and they were continuously counting down.

The blood-red numbers gave Suxiao an ominous feeling, as if he would lose his life when the numbers reached zero.

[Hunter, please communicate with 'Paradise' quickly to sign the contract, or you will die in '1 hour 35 minutes'.]

Indeed, the numbers represented the time he had left to live. Suxiao had already suspected this, as his injuries were too severe for him to have survived.

"Where is my knife?"

Suxiao did not care about the 'contract' or 'Paradise'; he asked for his knife.

The knife was the only memento left to him by his parents, a military officer's knife that had been passed down to him from his great-grandfather.

[Most real-world items cannot be brought into 'Paradise'. Please sign the contract quickly.]

Suxiao was silent, and the pale blue text flickered, possibly because it had never encountered a hunter like Suxiao.

"Contract? Tell me, what do I need to give, and what will I receive?"

The decreasing survival time left Suxiao with little time to waste, and he felt that he had encountered some 'supernatural' event, which stirred his emotions.

Suxiao needed power to seek revenge, and while 'supernatural' events carried great risks, they could also grant extraordinary power.

[By signing the contract, you will travel through various 'derived planes' to complete tasks issued by 'Cycle Paradise', obtaining 'World Origin'. The amount of 'World Origin' will determine the richness of the rewards.]

['Cycle Paradise' can do anything.]

...

A large amount of text appeared, and Suxiao read it carefully.

"Can do anything? Can it bring back the dead?"

All the pale blue text suddenly stopped in mid-air and then disappeared.

[Given your status as a hunter, no.]