"Beep… beep… beep…"
In the dimly lit bedchamber, Alex lay motionless upon an ivory sickbed. His face was pale, his breathing faint. A silver respirator masked his features, while the magical device beside him emitted intermittent beeps, recording the fading ripples of his life. The glowing line was nearly flat.
"Alex… don't blame me."
A low murmur slipped from the lips of a golden-haired, sapphire-eyed beauty. Her name was Lois, his wife in name only. At this moment, her slender fingers reached slowly toward the arcane apparatus that sustained his life.
"This is for your own good. You're no different from a corpse already."
Death's shadow crept closer, yet Alex's soul howled in defiance. He remembered vividly—the sudden carriage accident that had shattered his body, leaving him at death's door. Though he had inherited a vast family fortune, he had become nothing more than a helpless ruin, ripe for betrayal.
He could hear everything, yet his body refused to obey. Only the stubborn will to survive made his fingertips quiver ever so slightly. But that fragile struggle went unseen by Lois.
"What's taking you so long?"
The heavy wooden door creaked open. A sharp-eyed young man strode in, his expression dark and venomous. His name was Simon—once Alex's so-called "friend."
Alex's heart sank.
It's him!?
"As long as he dies, you'll be the sole legal heir," Simon sneered, his arm snaking around Lois's waist, greed burning in his eyes.
"I've waited three years for this day."
Three years—three years of false smiles, of plotting in the shadows, of wearing a mask. Now, at last, their disguises were cast aside.
Lois rolled her eyes with sultry disdain, her lips curling into a mocking smile.
"Too bad your little… indulgences were more satisfying than you let on. Watching me with him—didn't you enjoy that too?"
From the very beginning, Simon had been Lois's true lover. Every move, every scheme—they were all designed to seize Alex's fortune.
The carriage accident? Nothing but a carefully crafted trap!
"Tch. Such a hassle," Lois said coldly. "If only he'd died on the spot, we wouldn't have needed all this trouble."
"It doesn't matter." Simon's eyes glinted with malice as he ripped the mask from Alex's face.
"Today, even the gods themselves couldn't save him!"
Lois simply folded her arms, watching with a faint, mocking smile as the two turned and embraced, leaving Alex to sink into suffocating darkness.
Rage. Despair. Only now did he fully realize—the truth was nothing but a web of betrayal and conspiracy from the very start.
As the last fragile thread of his breath threatened to snap—
—The heavens trembled!
A colossal gate, vast and majestic, manifested high above the firmament. Across every corner of the world, every being could clearly see the sacred portal that stretched across the skies. Golden radiance spilled forth, and the hearts of billions quaked in unison.
Then, a solemn and mysterious voice thundered within the minds of all:
[Congratulations, chosen world. You shall now partake in the "Trial of the Gods."]
[Thirty breaths from now, the trial begins!]
In an instant, the entire world was thrown into chaos.
"What is this… this voice in my head!?"
"Transmigration? Starting from zero?"
"Hah! Look at those pampered nobles—now they're the same as us!"
"I pray my talent is strong enough!"
Shouts of shock, cries of excitement, and frantic prayers merged into a cacophony that echoed across the land.
But within the secluded villa, where moments ago Lois and Simon basked in lustful triumph, their faces had turned deathly pale.
"Transmigration!? Then all the wealth we schemed for…"
"Damn it! Three years of plotting—ruined in a single night?"
Only then did they realize: if everyone was to start anew, wealth, power, and noble titles would vanish like smoke. The only thing that mattered now… was the initial stats and talents bestowed upon transmigration!
"As long as he still has a breath left… he can enter the trial…" Lois's eyes widened as the realization struck her, her voice trembling in a hushed whisper.
"Could it be… Alex will enter as well?"
Simon sneered. "That cripple? Even if he makes it in, his stats will be trash at the very bottom. Don't worry."
Yet—amid suffocation and agony, Alex's soul suddenly clung to that voice. It was as if he had glimpsed a ray of holy light in endless darkness. A final spark of obsession ignited within him:
I cannot die! I will never forgive them!
Thirty breaths. Each one stretched into an eternity. His boundless hatred and desperate will to live kept him from slipping completely into the abyss.
At last—
BOOM!
The colossal gate flared open, unleashing a downpour of radiant gold. Countless pillars of light speared through the heavens and earth, each one locking precisely onto a single soul.
And in the blink of an eye—
The pillars faded.
Every living being vanished without a trace.
—The Trial… had descended!