After Being Forced to Be Reborn Again and Again

[Draft in progress. I accidentally clicked the wrong thing when I posted the first chapter, so I'm replacing it here for now.]

After the apocalypse, pollution ran rampant and species mutated.

Some joked that in a life where you might become a different species tomorrow, staying alive was harder than dying.

Su Jiayi wholeheartedly agreed when he heard this.

But he quickly shook his head. "It's not like I have a choice."

Su Jiayi looked to be in his twenties, at least on paper, but he had a secret:

He had been alive for a very long time.

Every time he died, he was forced to come back to life at the same time and place.

By his calculations, his actual age was... probably over a hundred?

-

After opening his eyes an untold number of times, the centenarian young man Su Jiayi had come up with three rules for life:

1. Save whoever you can. If someone wants to die, let them.

2. Keep a low profile. I'm just a kindhearted citizen.

3. Stay away from Xie Cheng (Note: most important).

He diligently followed his life principles, thinking he'd done a pretty good job with the first two.

But... there was a bit of a problem with the last one.

-

At a high-level pollution site, pollutants surged continuously from underground, and many ability-user units were locked in a fierce battle.

Then a streak of black light, impossible to catch with the naked eye, dropped from the sky and plunged straight into the area swarming with the most monsters.

Within minutes, all the pollutants in the area had been wiped out. A tall figure emerged slowly from the smoke and dust.

"Colonel Xie! Colonel Xie is here!"

Cheers rang out across the battlefield.

Only one person reacted differently from everyone else.

Su Jiayi spotted the newcomer in the distance and discreetly furrowed his brow. He turned to leave.

But his feet felt as though they were sinking into a muddy bog. He couldn't take another step.

A cool sensation circled his ankle and crept up his calf, its owner brazenly making his presence known.

The arm hooked over his shoulder, however, was warm. Without turning around, Su Jiayi heard the man chuckle beside his ear. "Why are you running so fast? Don't you want to see me?"

Warm on the outside, unhinged within, sharp and domineering x calm and composed, recipient of the Lifetime Honorary Award for Kindhearted Citizens

Xie Cheng x Su Jiayi

Theme: Love life.