"Qin Xiaoyou! Are you even human?!"
Qin Feng's eyes flew open, bloodshot, trembling.
A sharp pain lanced through his skull, and veins bulged on his forehead as his chest heaved like a storm barely contained.
Shock.
Anger.
And a disappointment so deep it carved straight into his soul.
It hurt.
It hurt so much he thought his heart might burst.
He would never have believed that the girl he'd raised with his own hands, the one he'd fed, clothed, and shielded from the cruelties of the world..... would one day drive a blade through his heart.
"I thought you were just a childish fan…" His voice quivered between fury and heartbreak. "But it turns out… You were a stranger all along."
The memory surged back cold and suffocating.
No one knew his secret.
That he was not of this world.
That he had transmigrated into this life as an orphan, only to be adopted by a gentle couple who gave him love and a family name.
When he was five, they had a daughter: Qin Xiaoyou.
They were happy.
She was his little sister, a bright, laughing child who clung to his leg and called him "Brother Feng."
Even after their parents died in a car crash, Qin Feng endured it all.
He worked himself to the bone, suffered hunger, humiliation, and sleepless nights to make sure she never lacked a thing.
But then… the world changed.
The God Forsaken Game descended from the heavens like a curse.
Monsters poured into reality.
Humans awakened abilities.
One could kill to gain lifespan or burn their own life to extract power from the Game into the real world.
And the strong…
The strong shattered tanks with their fists. They leapt into the sky and walked through nuclear fire.
Qin Feng was among the few who rose through that nightmare.
With his sister at his side, he fought tooth and nail, clawed through ruins, and became one of the top hundred strongest on Earth.
He should have been untouchable.
But fate… was crueller than any monster.
In the depths of an ancient ruin, he obtained a divine relic
The Eye of Judgment.
That was supposed to be the key to his ascension.
Instead, it became the reason for his death.
Because the one who betrayed him… wasn't a stranger.
It was her.
His sister.
Qin Xiaoyou.
He hadn't suspected a thing. Not when she smiled. Not when she poured him a drink.
Until the Soul Wandering Water in his cup robbed him of strength, freezing his body from the inside out.
He couldn't move. Couldn't scream.
Could only watch.
As she stepped before him,
the sister he had once promised to protect until his last breath.
"From the moment I was born," she said, her eyes eerily calm, " You've tried to control me."
"You never let me live my own life, never let me breathe!"
Her tone cracked like ice.
"I wasn't allowed to go to parties. You wouldn't let me meet friends, go to concerts, do anything! You locked me away like a bird in a gilded cage!"
"Qin Xiaoyou…" His lips barely moved. "I did all of that to protect you…"
She laughed a brittle, bitter sound that shattered him.
"Protect me? Or own me?"
Her gaze turned feverish. "Do you know who messaged me today? Brother Song Fei! He told me he's always known about me… that he couldn't approach me because of you."
A tremor of twisted delight ran through her as she continued,
"But now he finally can! Once he gets your Ancient God Eye, Brother Song Fei will surpass you. And then—"
She leaned close, her whisper colder than death,
"Then you won't be able to stop us anymore."
He couldn't even blink. Couldn't plead. Couldn't stop the nightmare.
Qin Xiaoyou, dressed in pure white, her face aglow with excitement, reached out with trembling hands.....
and gouged his eyes from their sockets.
Pain.
White-hot agony tore through his soul.
"Don't worry, Brother," she said softly, smiling like an angel with blood-stained fingers. "Brother Song Fei promised he'll give you new eyes. As long as you stop standing between us…"
She left, humming a tune as she carried away the eyes he had bled for.
Her footsteps faded down the hall, each one a nail in his coffin.
What she didn't know… was that Song Fei had poisoned her.
The Soul Wandering Water he'd gifted her was laced with death.
A fitting reward for her betrayal.
Moments later, Qin Feng's heartbeat slowed.
His vision dimmed to black.
And the world vanished.
When he opened his eyes again, sunlight warmed his face.
He lay in a modest bedroom, the curtains dancing lazily in the morning breeze, the scent of fresh linen in the air.
"…What is this?"
He sat up, heart pounding.
The clock on the wall. The calendar date. The familiar wallpaper.
"Nine years ago?"
His hands trembled.
"I… I've gone back?!"
He had been reborn.
All at once, memories came flooding back: her laughter, her betrayal, the pain of having his eyes torn out.
His jaw clenched.
"Song Fei…"
That name was acid in his throat.
In this timeline, Song Fei was still just a rising star, a celebrity adored by millions, including Qin Xiaoyou.
She had been obsessed with him, reckless, rebellious, blind to everything else.
He had scolded her, grounded her, and stopped her from going to concerts and fan meets.
She had hated him for it.
But he never imagined that childish resentment would one day grow into murder.
He still remembered that day.
Song Fei's concert in a neighbouring city.
And Xiaoyou's calculus exam happened to be on the same day.
"Skip the exam?" he had said back then, sternly. "For a singer?"
She had screamed at him, called him cruel, and left anyway.
He had waited for her to come home.
Waited for an apology.
But the next day, the God Forsaken Game descended, and the world fell apart.
Even then, he had forgiven her.
He had searched for her through fire and ruin, risked everything to keep her alive.
And for what?
For a knife in the back.
"Brother Song Fei…" Qin Feng's lips curled into a sneer.
"Even if you had stolen my Eye for yourself, I could understand. But to hand it over to that man?"
He laughed coldly, a sound that barely hid the grief underneath.
"Did you really believe he loved you, Xiaoyou? He used you. You were nothing more than a pawn."
Back then, Song Fei had been a nobody compared to him, a mediocre fighter, a glorified idol.
For nine years, he had never dared challenge Qin Feng.
But the moment Qin Feng obtained the Ancient God Eye, the leech had appeared smiling, charming, lying through his teeth.
And Qin Xiaoyou had delivered him everything.
"In my past life," Qin Feng whispered, his voice low and heavy with regret, "I gave up too much for you. Too many opportunities. Too many chances to rise higher."
"I turned away from danger, abandoned power, just to keep you safe."
He exhaled slowly, his eyes gleaming with icy determination.
"But this time…"
"This time, I won't protect you."
"This time, I'll climb higher than ever before, without you dragging me down."
If it had been anyone else, he would have crushed them without mercy.
But Qin Xiaoyou… was still the daughter of the parents who once saved him.
For their sake, he would let her live.
He will let her live, sure, But that would be the final grace.
No more carrying her to levels she didn't work for, no more helping her when everybody else abandoned her, no more being a Brother.
"You'll fend for yourself."He murmured.
But Song Fei,
The mere thought of that name filled the room with killing intent.
He was already marked for death.
As Qin Feng cast aside the weight of the past, he felt something shift like chains breaking deep within his soul.
A lightness spread through his chest, and for the first time in years, he could breathe.
For the first time in all these years, He was free.
Then, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
['Eye of Judgment' initialising…]
[Authority of Judgment acquired.]
His eyes widened. "What?"
Symbols of gold and black danced before his vision, burning with divine radiance.
The Eye of Judgment.
The ancient god's relic that had once chosen him.
He could feel it now—awake, alive, resonating with his heartbeat.
"So it returned with me…"
A slow smile spread across his lips.
"In my last life, I couldn't awaken you. But now…"
He lifted his gaze, and light flared behind his eyes...
the gaze of a man who had been betrayed, reborn, and destined to judge the world.
"…Now, let's begin."