Late at night, in a courtyard residence in Donghai City.

"Whew—!"

Zhou Huai sat up abruptly from the bed, gasping heavily for breath.

He had thought that after experiencing death and resurrection, and having completely freed himself from the constant urgency of impending death, he would finally be able to get a peaceful night's sleep tonight.

However, as soon as he closed his eyes, he had a nightmare.

In the dream, the sky was shattered, with dark red cracks stretched across the horizon like hideous wounds.

The earth was devastated, littered everywhere with collapsed skyscrapers and burning ruins.

It was clearly an extremely modern supercity—one that even surpassed the level of present-day civilization!

And he was struggling to survive in this ruined city, fleeing for his life.

Behind him was an endless black tide of terrifying mutated beasts emanating world-destroying aura.

Beside him were dozens of blood-drenched figures.

They closely guarded him in the center, engaging in a tragic, fierce struggle against the beasts.

Among those blurred figures, Zhou Huai saw a solitary, proud swordsman holding a long sword and controlling thunder that filled the sky.

He also saw an old gray-robed mage wielding a staff, summoning a sky-blotting Meteor Fire Rain.

Even at the front line of defense, there was a burly man as tall and imposing as an iron tower, uttering sky-shattering roars as he firmly held back the impact of the beast tide.

They were too similar.

They were practically identical to his Avatars!

But he knew very well that the people in the dream were fundamentally different from the Puppet Avatars created by the System.

They were real humans with flesh and blood that bled, with emotions, and above all, with their own independent souls!

Zhou Huai sat dazed on the bed, his gaze somewhat blank.

"Why would I have such a dream?" he questioned the air in a low voice. "Even though it was just a dream, those scenes... were so clear, as if they had actually happened before."

What was even stranger was that after having this nightmare, there wasn't a trace of fear or dread in his heart.

Instead, an indescribable, bittersweet sorrow surged up within him.

It was as if he really had once helplessly watched those people die fighting in those bloody ruins just to protect him.

"What on earth is going on?"

In the silent room, there was only the sound of the wind blowing outside occasionally; no one could give him an answer.

Zhou Huai pulled back the covers, walked barefoot to the table, poured himself a glass of cold water, and gulped it down.

The icy liquid flowed down his throat and into his stomach, slowly bringing calm back to his mind.

"Young Master? What's wrong?"

A sudden set of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Immediately following that, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Uncle Fu—who had been reborn and restored to his Peak state—walked in with quick steps.

Now, not only was Uncle Fu strong and healthy, but as a former B-rank Professional, his five senses had also become exceptionally sharp after his physical body was reconstructed. Even the sound of Zhou Huai gasping heavily in the room instantly awakened him as he guarded outside.

"Young Master, are you feeling unwell somewhere?" Uncle Fu rushed over to the bedside, anxiously looking Zhou Huai up and down, terrified that something had gone wrong with this newly resurrected body.

Zhou Huai shook his head and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "I'm fine, Uncle Fu. I just went to sleep, had a nightmare, and woke up frightened."

Hearing that it was just a dream, Uncle Fu finally let out a long sigh of relief, his tense muscles relaxing.

"Oh, Young Master, you scared me to death." Uncle Fu patted his chest, his voice full of heartache. "You've just been resurrected. Although your body has recovered, your spirit must still be very weak. After all, you exerted yourself far too much back in Tokyo."

"Don't be so nervous, Uncle Fu." Zhou Huai lifted the blanket, feeling the powerful and tangible sensation in his legs. "It's just that suddenly being able to walk normally, combined with no longer worrying about dying at any moment, caused my nerves to relax all at once, making it a bit hard to adjust."

Uncle Fu nodded, walked to a nearby table, adeptly poured a cup of warm water, and handed it to Zhou Huai.

"Young Master, have a sip of water to calm your nerves," Uncle Fu comforted softly. "In the army before, veterans who had just crawled out of piles of corpses would often have nightmares and wake up startled in the middle of the night during their first few days back. It takes time to gradually recover."

Zhou Huai took the water cup, feeling the warmth spread through his palm.

"Perhaps. By the way, what time is it now?"

"Two-thirty in the morning." Uncle Fu glanced at his communicator. "You've only been asleep for less than three hours. How about I bring you some soothing incense? You can sleep a bit longer."

"No need to trouble yourself." Zhou Huai waved his hand. "After being startled like that, I can't fall back asleep at all now. You go get some rest first; don't worry about me. I want to be quiet alone for a bit."

Uncle Fu hesitated, but seeing the insistent look in Zhou Huai's eyes, he nodded respectfully.

"Alright then, I'll wait outside the door. If you need anything, call me at any time."

"Go on, don't get yourself so tense." Zhou Huai smiled.

Uncle Fu stepped out of the room and softly closed the door.

Quiet restored to the room once again.

Zhou Huai took a sip of warm water, his Adam's apple moving, as his mood gradually calmed down.

In fact, when he was resurrected by the Pendulum of Life this time, Zhou Huai had a massive confusion in his heart that he hadn't spoken out loud.

It was also the deepest secret inside his heart.

In Zhou Huai's subconscious all along, he firmly believed he was a transmigrator. The original Zhou Huai died, allowing his foreign soul to transmigrate into this body.

In other words, although he became Zhou Huai, he wasn't the real Zhou Huai.

Yet when the Pendulum of Life resurrected Zhou Huai...

...why was he the one resurrected, rather than the real Zhou Huai?

Where did the original Zhou Huai's soul go? Was it devoured by the Law? Or did it dissipate?

Following this logic through, there might only be one answer.

There was no such thing as the so-called 'original Zhou Huai' at all.

He himself was the original owner all along!

It was just that during that period, he suddenly awakened long-buried memories from the distant past, causing a severe deviation and disorder in his memories. His subconscious forcibly separated his pre-Transmigration memories from his current memories, giving him the illusion that he had just transmigrated and replaced the original host.

Thinking deeply and carefully about it now—I am called Zhou Huai now, but what was my name before transmigrating?

What did I do in my past life? I can't remember the faces of my family and loved ones at all, as if a piece was forcibly erased by someone.

In my subconscious, I only felt that the level of civilization in my previous life was similar to this world, or even higher.

Everything else was a chaotic blur. On the contrary, the world in the dream—that collapsed city—gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

The more he thought about it, the more terrified Zhou Huai felt upon deeper reflection.

Could I also be an Awakened One among the ancient Human Race?!

However, his situation seemed completely different from Natsume Rinku, whom he had met before.

Inside Natsume Rinku, a completely different second personality had awakened, resulting in dual souls coexisting. Yet he seemed to have always been himself, with no second personality popping up to fight for control.

Damn it, things seem to be getting more and more complicated.

Before even unraveling the conspiracy of the Dawnbreaker Guild, the mystery surrounding himself has grown even bigger.