They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.
They lied.
When Lin Xiao—codename: Phantom—felt the bullet pierce through his chest, all he could think about was how fucking annoying this was.
"Seriously?" he muttered, blood bubbling at his lips as he stumbled backward. "A sniper? How cliché."
The rooftop of the Golden Pearl Hotel spun around him. Forty-three stories below, the city of Shanghai glittered like a jewelry box, completely unaware that the world's most feared assassin was currently bleeding out on top of their most expensive building.
Mission Status: FAILED
Lin Xiao's legs gave out. He collapsed against the rooftop's edge, his tactical gear now a very stylish but ultimately useless accessory. The communication device in his ear crackled with static before a familiar voice cut through.
"Phantom? PHANTOM! Status report!"
Ah. That voice.
Even dying, Lin Xiao's heart did a stupid little flutter. He'd recognize that voice anywhere—smooth as aged whiskey, sharp as a blade's edge, and belonging to the one person in this world who'd ever made him feel... something.
"Handler..." Lin Xiao coughed, more blood staining his lips. "I think... I'm gonna have to cancel our dinner reservation."
"Don't you DARE joke right now! Where are you hit? I'm sending medical—"
"Don't bother." Lin Xiao's vision was already going dark at the edges. Funny. He'd killed over three hundred people in his twenty-three years of life, and not once had he imagined this would be his end. Betrayed by his own organization. Shot by one of his own.
The mission had been simple: eliminate the CEO of Chen Industries for corporate espionage. Get in, get out, get paid.
Except the moment he'd pulled the trigger on the empty penthouse (the target had never shown up), he'd felt the burn of a bullet in his back.
A setup.
The Organization wanted him dead.
He'd been too good, too independent, too dangerous. They'd decided their perfect weapon needed to be... retired.
"Phantom! Stay with me! I'm almost there—"
Lin Xiao closed his eyes. His handler would arrive in approximately four minutes and thirty-seven seconds. He'd be dead in two.
Well. It was a good run.
He'd started as a nameless orphan at eight years old, starving on the streets. The Organization had found him, fed him, trained him, and turned him into a ghost that walked among men. By fifteen, he'd completed his first kill. By eighteen, he was ranked #1 globally.
Phantom—the assassin who'd never failed a mission, never left a trace, never showed his face.
And now? Dying on a rooftop because he'd been stupid enough to trust the people who'd made him into a monster.
Ironic.
"...I'm sorry," he whispered, though he wasn't sure if his handler could still hear him. "I wanted... to tell you..."
What? That you loved him?
Lin Xiao almost laughed. Love? He was an assassin. He didn't get to have love. He'd killed someone's father today (well, tried to). Someone's brother. Someone's son.
People like him didn't deserve happy endings.
The static in his ear intensified, and then—
"I'm here! Phantom, I'm—"
Strong arms caught him as he slumped forward. Lin Xiao's fading vision focused just enough to see him.
Xie Yunlan.
Twenty-eight years old, devastatingly handsome, and currently looking at Lin Xiao like his world was ending.
"You idiot," Xie Yunlan choked out, pressing his hands desperately against Lin Xiao's wound. "You absolute idiot. Why didn't you call for backup? Why didn't you—"
"Betrayal... from inside..." Lin Xiao managed. "Couldn't... trust anyone..."
"You could have trusted me!"
Could he have? Lin Xiao wasn't sure. In their line of work, trust was a commodity more valuable than gold and twice as rare. He'd trusted Xie Yunlan with his missions, his safety, his... but not with his heart.
Never with his heart.
"Yunlan..." His voice was barely a whisper now. "If there's... another life..."
"Don't." Xie Yunlan's hands were shaking."Don't you dare say goodbye. Medical is two minutes out. You're going to be fine. You're Phantom. You don't die. You don't—"
But they both knew the truth.
Lin Xiao reached up with his last bit of strength and touched Xie Yunlan's face. His handler was crying. He'd never seen Xie Yunlan cry before.
"Next time..." Lin Xiao smiled, blood staining his teeth. "Find me... okay?"
"Xiao—"
"Promise... me..."
Xie Yunlan grabbed his hand, pressing it desperately against his own chest. Lin Xiao could feel the thundering heartbeat beneath his palm.
"I promise," Xie Yunlan said fiercely, tears streaming down his perfect face. "I'll find you. Even if it takes a hundred years. Even if you're on the other side of the world. Even if—"
"Even if... I'm someone... different?"
"Especially then." Xie Yunlan leaned down, pressing his forehead against Lin Xiao's. "I'll recognize you. Always. Your soul, your essence,"
Lin Xiao's eyes drifted closed.
That's... really cheesy, you know...
But also...
...kind of nice.
His last thought before the darkness took him was a simple wish:
If there's a god, any god, listening... please. Just this once.
Let me be ordinary.
Let me be normal.
Let me be... someone who deserves to be loved.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[HOST SOUL DETECTED]
[COMPATIBLE VESSEL FOUND]
[BEGINNING TRANSFER PROCESS...]
[TRANSFER COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE, LIN XIAO]
[...OR SHOULD WE SAY...]
[LIN YUER?]
Lin Xiao—no, that wasn't his name anymore, was it?—jolted awake with a gasp.
His chest heaved. His hands flew to where the bullet wound should be.
Nothing.
No blood. No wound.
He blinked rapidly, his mind racing,What the hell?
He looked around .
He was in... a bedroom? A very small, very shabby bedroom. The walls were water-stained. The single window had a crack running through it. The mattress he was lying on felt like it was stuffed with rocks.
This is the afterlife?
God's budget must be REALLY tight.
Lin Xiao tried to sit up and immediately felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. His body was too light. His limbs too short. His center of gravity completely off.
He scrambled out of bed and immediately tripped over his own feet.
"What the—"
Panic rising, Lin Xiao stumbled toward the small, dirty mirror hanging on the wall. He gripped the edges of the dresser beneath it and looked up.
Staring back at him was not Lin Xiao.
The face in the mirror belonged to a teenage boy—maybe sixteen or seventeen—with dull brown hair that stuck up in every direction, a round face with pudgy cheeks, small eyes magnified awkwardly by thick glasses, and a smattering of acne across his forehead.
He was also wearing a school uniform that was at least two sizes too small and looked like it had been through a war.
Lin Xiao opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
"WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?!"
[DING!]
A cheerful ping sound echoed in his head, and suddenly a translucent blue screen appeared floating in front of his face.
[CONGRATULATIONS, HOST! YOU HAVE BEEN REINCARNATED!]
[SYSTEM: Beauty Restoration System]
[CURRENT STATUS: Activated]
[HOST NAME: Lin Yuer]
[AGE: 16]
[BEAUTY LEVEL: 2/100]
[...Yikes.]
"YIKES?!" Lin Xiao—Lin Yuer?—shrieked at the floating screen. "Did you just 'yikes' me?! What kind of system ARE you?!"
[The kind that's going to help you, obviously! ❤]
[Original Lin Yuer (deceased) made a wish before dying: "I want to be beautiful."]
[Your soul was a perfect match for this body!]
[MISSION: Restore your beauty to 100/100!]
[REWARD: A happy life! ✨]
Lin Yuer stared at the screen. Then at the mirror. Then back at the screen.
"Okay," he said slowly. "Let me get this straight. I died. Got reincarnated into a teenage boy's body. This boy was so ugly he literally died wishing to be pretty. And now I have a system that's going to help me become... beautiful?"
[Correct! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ:・゚✧]*
[Also, just FYI: Original Lin Yuer died from poisoning! His own sister did it! And blamed him for theft! And everyone believed her! And he was bullied so badly he gave up on life!]
[ISN'T THAT SAD? (╥﹏╥)]
Lin Yuer felt a sudden wave of memories that weren't his own crash into his mind.
A beautiful older sister with a venomous smile.
Classmates laughing as they dumped water on his head.
Teachers ignoring his pleas for help.
A school nurse handing him rat poison in place of medicine.
Dying alone in this room, choking, with no one to care.
When the memories faded, Lin Yuer was gripping the dresser so hard his knuckles were white.
"That's..." His voice came out strangled. "That's really fucked up."
[I KNOW, RIGHT?! щ(゚Д゚щ)]
[But don't worry! You're Phantom! The world's greatest assassin! This will be EASY MODE for you!]
Lin Yuer looked back at the mirror. At the plain, chubby face with acne and bad eyesight. At the school uniform of St. Amadeus Academy for Boys—apparently one of the most elite schools in the country, which the original Lin Yuer had only gotten into through a scholarship.
At the body that had been bullied, poisoned, and killed at sixteen years old.
Ordinary, he'd wished. Normal.
Be careful what you wish for, I guess.
He took a deep breath. Okay. Fine. He'd been trained to adapt to any situation. This was just... a really weird situation.
"Alright, System," he said. "What do I need to do?"
[YAY! COOPERATION! 🎉]
[TUTORIAL MISSION UNLOCKED!]
[MISSION: Survive your first day at St. Amadeus Academy without revealing your assassin skills!]
[REWARD: +5 Beauty Points]
[TIME LIMIT: Today]
[GOOD LUCK, HOST! ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪]
Lin Yuer looked at the system screen. Then at his new, unfortunate face. Then at the clock on the wall that showed 6:30 AM.
School started at 7:30.
"My second life," he muttered, "is already a nightmare."
He grabbed his school bag, noted that it had several suspicious stains
and headed for the door.
St. Amadeus Academy for Boys.
Elite school for the rich and talented.
Where Lin Yuer was neither rich nor talented.
Where he'd been bullied every single day for two years.
Lin Yuer paused at the doorway of his shabby apartment.
Then he smiled."Well," he said softly. "This should be interesting."
**[Author's Note:
HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL READERS! ✨
Welcome to "The Assassin's Beautiful Rebirth"! This is going to be a wild ride of action, romance, comedy, and FOUR gorgeous male leads who will absolutely SIMP for our MC.
Next update: Chapter 2 - "Welcome to Hell Academy"
Don't forget to add to your library! (ノ≧∀≦)ノ
Love you all!