Chapter 1: The First Day of Rebirth, a Strange Knock at the Door

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(The first three chapters form a complete short story, so be sure to read all three! Also, please don’t approach this book with the mindset of other supernatural novels!)

“Knock, knock, knock!”

In an old rented room, the sound of knocking suddenly echoed.

On a cracked black leather sofa lay a young man fast asleep. Awakened by the noise, his face showed confusion and suspicion.

Looking around, he saw worn-out tables and chairs, peeling white walls covered with mold, and a yellowed calendar.

“This room… feels familiar!”

He murmured to himself, then suddenly widened his eyes.

Isn’t this the house I rented five years ago?

“Have I been reborn?”

He quickly glanced left and right, fishing out his phone from the sofa’s crevice.

“June 30, 2028, 11:38 p.m., two days before the eerie descent. It’s really a rebirth!”

Summer Sky’s heart leapt with joy, almost shouting out loud.

In his previous life, countless supernatural entities suddenly appeared, luring humans through various means to trigger death rules, then devouring their bodies and souls.

The entire world plunged into panic, with massive human casualties.

Cities fell one after another, becoming ghost towns where humans were nothing but caged food.

Summer Sky struggled to survive in this chaotic world for five years, fortunately becoming a hunter of these entities and even killing some weaker ones. His life was harsh and unstable.

In the end, he died at the hands of a powerful entity.

Never did he expect to be reborn, given a chance to start over.

His mind retained vast knowledge about these entities and how to deal with them.

He could now contract with powerful entities at the very beginning of their arrival, improving his chances of survival.

“Right, the most important thing now is to burn some spirit money for myself!”

Suddenly struck by a good idea, Summer Sky recalled that after the entities arrived, people discovered that the currency they used was the spirit money burned during ancestral offerings.

As the saying goes, money makes the supernatural go round.

With enough spirit money, entities could be made to serve you, obeying your commands.

“The entities will arrive the night after tomorrow; there’s still one day left. That’s enough time.”

Summer Sky was planning to visit the funeral shop early the next morning to buy spirit money when the knocking came again.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

In his previous life, even after the entities had appeared for some time, he never encountered one knocking on his door, so he didn’t think much of it.

He assumed it was the female neighbor next door asking him to fix the plumbing or change a light bulb, so he got up to open the door.

“Sir, your delivery.”

In the dim hallway stood a delivery man in blue, holding a white package.

A waft of meaty aroma drifted out, making Summer Sky’s mouth water and appetite surge.

He swallowed instinctively and reached out to take the delivery.

But then he stopped himself—he hadn’t ordered anything.

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“I didn’t…”

Just as he was about to speak, a piece of information about the entities flashed in his mind.

His whole body tensed, heart pounding wildly.

There was a type of entity called the Delivery Entity, which could use its ghostly power to form fragrant, enticing food, randomly sending it to people as deliveries. It lured recipients into accepting freebies; eating the food would trigger death rules.

Summer Sky stared at the delivery man.

Could this be the Delivery Entity?

But that couldn’t be—the official announcement in his last life said the entities should only arrive the night after tomorrow. How could one appear now?

There was an even more serious problem.

On this very day in his last life, no one—human or entity—knocked on his door.

Why was this time different?

“Sir, your delivery.”

The delivery man repeated himself, seeing Summer Sky dazed.

He spoke sincerely and looked perfectly normal—a regular person.

Could he be mistaken?

Summer Sky hesitated, then took the package. “Oh, thank you.”

The delivery man turned and descended the stairs. Summer Sky stood at the doorway, watching until the figure disappeared before closing the door.

“Let’s see if this is really the Delivery Entity. If it is, then great! Maybe I can contract an entity on the very first day of rebirth!”

Summer Sky’s interest was piqued. He placed the delivery on the coffee table without opening it.

Entities couldn’t kill people outright; the rules of their realm forbade it.

They had to use various tricks to coerce or trick humans into triggering death rules, after which they could legitimately devour them.

Summer Sky had already triggered the preliminary death rule by accepting the delivery, but only the precondition.

As long as he didn’t open the delivery and returned it when the Delivery Entity came to retrieve it, the rule would be terminated without harm.

But that wouldn’t confirm whether it was truly the Delivery Entity; the delivery man might have genuinely made a mistake.

The Delivery Entity’s food, formed from ghostly energy, had a unique taste and special effects.

If Summer Sky took just one bite, he could be sure.

However, before tasting it, he needed some spirit money.

Otherwise, if it really was the Delivery Entity and he failed to compensate it with spirit money, he would be doomed.

Spirit money could be the colorful paper notes worth billions sold at funeral shops, or gold and silver paper folded into ingots.

They needed to be burned through special rituals to be effective for oneself or one’s family.

Summer Sky didn’t have ready-made spirit money but could fold ingots himself.

The materials were simple—any gold- or silver-colored paper would do.

Sitting on the sofa, he found the silver foil lining from a half-empty cigarette pack, wrote his birth date and time on its back, and folded it skillfully.

In the blink of an eye, a small silver ingot took shape.

“Not bad, my skill hasn’t faded.”

Holding the silver ingot, Summer Sky felt quite satisfied.

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In his last life, countless people lost their jobs and, to survive, many folded ingots at home full-time. Some burned them for personal use, others exchanged them with officials for food and supplies.

That was how he barely made it through the initial wave of the entity invasion.

But this practice had serious side effects—it drained the spirit and couldn’t be done daily, or it would accelerate aging and shorten lifespan.

Yet at that time, no one had any other choice.

Now, one ingot might not be enough. He rummaged through the trash bin, found an empty cigarette box, removed the silver foil, and folded another ingot.

Next came a simple but crucial ritual.

Summer Sky looked out into the pitch-black night, identified true north, then cupped the two ingots in his hands and raised them above his head.

He bowed deeply toward the north.

He bowed three times in succession to complete the ritual.

All that remained was to burn the paper ingots to obtain spirit money—it was that simple.

“Wait, where’s the lighter?”

Summer Sky searched everywhere—from the sofa crevice to under the coffee table and on the bed—but couldn’t find one.

He smoked regularly and always had lighters at home.

Yet today, not a single one was to be found!

How strange.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

The door knocked again suddenly.

Startled, Summer Sky thought, “Why are they back so soon?”

Luckily, he hadn’t touched the delivery; otherwise, he would have doomed himself.

He silently thanked his luck and prepared to return the delivery.

But when he looked toward the coffee table, his pupils constricted sharply, and he froze.

The delivery had somehow spilled, broth leaking out of the white package.

The meaty aroma filled the entire room.

“Oh no!”

Summer Sky’s heart sank.

He was sure he hadn’t knocked the delivery over when searching for the lighter, having been very careful.

So how had it tipped now?

A damaged delivery also counted as triggering the rules.

He would have to compensate with either money or his life.

But without a lighter, he couldn’t burn spirit money to protect himself. If it really was the Delivery Entity outside, death was certain.

To die on the very first day of rebirth by his own mistake—that would be absurdly ironic!

Suddenly, the room’s lights flickered several times.

Then, with a creak!

The door handle turned by an unseen force, slowly opening.