The Twin Shelters sat quietly above the winding mountain road, like sentinels overlooking the desolate land below.
And on that cracked, yellow-dirt road, littered with stones and patches of dried weeds, a corpse lay slumped beside the guardrail—its eyes wide open, staring into nothing.
The man wore a bloodstained shelter uniform, and a jagged piece of rusted metal was buried deep in his throat.
The wound was massive. The blood had long dried up.
His skin had turned a lifeless gray.
No one would have noticed him.
No one would have cared.
In this wasteland, the dead were just part of the scenery—ignored and forgotten.
Just another pile of bones on the roadside.
But for Xu Wang, this was progress.
He'd only been in this world for a short while, yet somehow, he was already blending in pretty well with the dead.
It had been nearly 24 hours since Xu Wang stabbed himself in the throat with that piece of rusted iron.
And ever since, he'd been stuck in a strange state—caught between life and death.
Physically?
Completely, undeniably dead.
But spiritually?
Still conscious.
He could feel the cold spreading through his limbs.
The tightness in his chest.
The dullness clouding his brain. Even the suffocating pain in his throat hadn't faded.
It was miserable.
Agonizing.
But through that suffering, his mind finally calmed.
The excitement from discovering his cheat ability—his "golden finger"—had passed.
Now came the important part: figuring out how it worked.
He'd died again…
But this time, something was different.
No system message.
No reward.
No new world.
Nothing.
That could only mean one thing: there were conditions to using this ability.
Xu Wang started reviewing his deaths.
The first time, he was thrown off a cliff by marauders.
The second, he was crushed by a fishing boat hurled by Godzilla.
The third, he stabbed himself in the throat.
Only the third was suicide.
"So… the golden finger doesn't activate if I off myself?"
That made sense.
But he needed more tests to be sure.
Still, even without the glowing prompts, he could feel something happening.
A familiar warmth returning.
It wasn't over yet.
Just before the 24th hour struck, Xu Wang's body began to change.
The color returned to his pale skin.
The rusted shard was slowly pushed out of his throat.
His torn flesh started regenerating at a visible speed.
And then—
"Haaaah!"
He gasped, eyes flying open like someone who had just escaped drowning.
The first breath burned his lungs, but it was proof enough.
He was alive.
Again.
Xu Wang glanced down at his personal terminal.
"December 6th…"
Wait… wasn't it June 6th when he first came here?
"So it takes exactly 24 hours to revive…"
No matter how badly he died, as long as it wasn't suicide, he'd come back.
Fully healed. Good as new.
It was absurdly powerful.
But not perfect.
"If someone buries me in concrete or locks me in chains…
I'd still revive, but I wouldn't be able to move."
Just the thought made him shudder.
Even so, as long as no one knew his secret, he could keep this cheat to himself. It was his ultimate trump card.
"Even if I was dumped in a river, I'd still revive. That wouldn't be suicide."
"Huh… that actually doesn't sound like a bad idea."
His eyes lit up.
"What if I find an enemy to throw me in?"
His self-destructive tendencies flared up again.
But he quickly slapped himself across the face.
"Focus! First, I need to head back to the shelter."
He looked up at the cliff above.
Shelters 91 and 92 were up there. That's where it all began.
He hadn't even been there for a full hour before being killed by those damn raiders.
They'd not only stolen his shot at a wife—they murdered him.
"That grudge needs settling."
Fueled by righteous fury, he began climbing the narrow mountain road with fire in his eyes.
"Once I get back, I'll beat the crap out of those bastards."
"Then I'll make the whole shelter worship me. Let 'em line up to call me 'Boss!' No, 'Daddy!'"
But his enthusiasm didn't last long.
Barely halfway up the mountain, he stopped. His legs trembled. His breath grew ragged.
"So… hungry…"
His body was burning up from thirst, the heat, and the sheer exhaustion.
He hadn't had a drop of water or a single bite to eat in two days. Even immortality couldn't fix hunger.
"Dying of starvation… that wouldn't count as murder."
"And if I revive just to starve again…"
"That's just dumb."
He scanned his surroundings. Dead trees. Dust. More dead trees.
Nothing edible.
Then—
Rustle.
A faint noise came from the woods.
Xu Wang turned his head.
A strange creature stood nearby—a radiated roe deer, skin leathery and shriveled, body half-rotten, fur patchy and blackened. It stood on the hillside, chewing calmly on a dead tree branch.
"That thing's alive…?"
He didn't expect to find wildlife in a place like this.
It looked disgusting. Clearly inedible.
But Xu Wang didn't care.
He didn't want food.
He wanted death.
He crouched, slowly stepping over the guardrail. One foot after another, he crept up the slope.
The deer watched him without flinching. It didn't see him as a threat.
"Good."
As he got closer, Xu Wang's lips curled into a smile.
Then—
He lunged.
"WANG WANG WANG!!"
He wrapped both arms around the deer's front legs, hugging it tight like a maniac.
The deer freaked out, letting out strange barks that sounded eerily canine.
It kicked. Struggled. Thrashed.
Xu Wang held on tight, laughing hysterically.
"Either you kill me—OR I EAT YOU!"
He lowered his head and bit down on the creature's leg, tearing off a chunk of rotten flesh.
His Geiger counter blared furiously.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
This thing was swimming in radiation.
Deadly. Not even safe to touch, let alone eat.
No wonder it had no predators. Until now.
"WANG WANG WANG!"
The deer panicked. It bolted, dragging Xu Wang with it as they tumbled down the slope.
They slammed into the guardrail below with a crash.
Xu Wang screamed in pain, but still refused to let go.
"C'mon! Kill me already!"
The deer had had enough.
It twisted, then bit him.
Hard.
Xu Wang's bones crunched as his shoulder was shredded. Blood sprayed from the open wound.
And then—
CRACK.
With one last bite, the deer crushed his skull.
Darkness fell.
The deer, now trembling in horror, backed away from the corpse."That… was not worth it."
It turned and ran, desperate to escape this lunatic of a human.
And as Xu Wang slipped into death once more, the now-familiar glowing text appeared in front of him:
[Death confirmed.]
[Initiating Dimensional Travel...]
(End of Chapter 2)