The Rebirth Glitch: Burning My Way to the Top

Everyone who witnessed the battle was utterly dumbfounded.

Yuan Feng, who had almost been electrocuted to death by the net, collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Onlookers Luan Yuling and Han Xueying exchanged glances as they looked at the limp Yuan Feng on the floor. Their expressions had changed.

After all, Yuan Feng was the one who had claimed the global announcement title!

How could he...

Get completely wrecked the moment he stepped outside?!

Only now did they begin to realize how overrated that global title truly was!

Yuan Feng didn't get it because he was strong—it was because no one else had figured out how to level up yet!

With that thought, both girls turned to look at Kai, the first to discover the existence of energy cores.

Well, well... That sneaky guy had been hiding at the start of the battle!

Whatever. He's just a worthless F-rank trash anyway!

Then, everyone's eyes turned to Lei Ming.

Lei Ming had tanked hundreds of explosive fireballs and looked extremely battered.

But compared to Yuan Feng, who was so scared his legs gave out, Lei Ming didn't even seem to feel pain. His excited, bloodthirsty gaze made him look like a true powerhouse.

He suddenly burst out laughing maniacally, "Hahaha! Global Number One? All stats +1? That's it? I didn't even level up, and I still crushed your ass!"

"What?! He didn't even level up?! What kind of freak is that? He beat someone way above his level?!"

"Damn! Yuan Feng got that +1 to all attributes! That means his stats were already double that of a normal human! And he still lost to that lunatic?!"

"Holy crap! That guy is a monster! Could he be an S-rank gifted?"

"Definitely! That kind of power? That's gotta be S-rank! This is the first S-rank I've ever seen. So damn strong!"

"Anyone know who that psycho is? Is he from our school?"

"No clue... Never seen him before."

Lei Ming had been such a loner before the apocalypse, no one recognized him now.

He didn't bother introducing himself either. Instead, he walked right up to Yuan Feng, looked down on him, and sneered menacingly:

"Heh, Global Number One? Just a lucky trash. Don't wanna die? Then tell me how to level up!"

Yuan Feng sat limp on the ground, surrounded by whispers, stared into Lei Ming's mocking eyes, and seethed with humiliation and hatred.

But stronger than hate... was his will to live.

His life as a powerful man had only just begun. He couldn't die like this, not on day one!

Finally, before Lei Ming's patience ran out, he forced out his words:

"Kill monsters... find energy cores... absorb them... you gain experience that way..."

"You serious?! I've killed like 40 or 50 monsters already. Where the hell are my energy cores?!"

Readers of post-apocalyptic novels often know to dig through monsters' heads for loot.

Lei Ming had done that—he searched through the monsters' skulls—but hadn't found anything.

Yuan Feng's face twitched; he didn't want to reveal what he knew.

Thankfully, the leader of a nearby team stepped forward and offered, "Those white bug-like ones—sometimes there's an energy core in their heads. I found one once. From what I can tell, the drop rate is about 1%."

"1%…" Lei Ming frowned deeply. Then asked, "And how much XP does one core give?"

"1 point," the guy replied.

Lei Ming's eyes narrowed. His voice turned dangerous. "So… to reach level 1, I'd have to kill about a thousand bugs? And you, a weakling like you, did that in such a short time?!"

He was sharp—immediately catching the inconsistencies.

Now, his glare at Yuan Feng brimmed with killing intent.

Yuan Feng turned pale. After a long struggle, he finally said, "I can tell you the real shortcut to level up. But you have to promise not to kill me!"

"Fine. I promise… not to kill you today." Lei Ming emphasized "today."

Yuan Feng heard the threat loud and clear, but had no room to bargain.

Because the so-called "secret" wasn't really much of a secret. Most people in the gym could've guessed it.

And besides, Kai—the one who first uncovered the secret—was still hiding nearby, watching everything.

Yuan Feng gritted his teeth and announced:

"I don't know about the 1% drop rate from monsters. But from killing people… energy cores drop almost 100% of the time."

Hiss—

The whole crowd gasped in horror.

Kill 100 monsters to maybe get 1 core.

But kill one human… and you get one for sure?

Everyone smart enough could instantly grasp what this implied.

And Kai understood it better than anyone: From this day on, the dimensional beasts would only get stronger.

If humanity wanted to survive, they couldn't just grind on monsters—they'd fall behind.

Only by killing each other could they keep up!

This was the real Slaughter Game.

The monsters weren't the main way to level up.

They were just external pressure—a force to push people into killing one another.

Kai had already seen through it all.

The others were still struggling to accept it.

Except Lei Ming—the madman.

He laughed again, bone-chilling laughter echoing through the square.

Then muttered to himself, "So it's that easy to level up, huh..."

He looked at the corpse of Wan Gang, the one he had electrocuted earlier.

Without hesitation, he stomped on Wan Gang's head, crushing it completely.

The sight was nauseating.

Yet Lei Ming didn't care—he happily retrieved an energy core from the mush of brain matter.

Cackling again, he turned and walked away like a king.

Everyone sighed in relief when he left.

Some even puked from the gore.

Kai, who had stayed far away during the chaos, finally strolled back casually.

A flicker of flame danced from his fingertip, incinerating Wan Gang's corpse until nothing remained.

Then a voice echoed in his mind:

[Ding! Burned a level 0 player's corpse! Plundered B-rank talent: Diamond Shield!]

Nice. A B-rank defensive talent—pretty decent.

Although Kai could grow stronger by burning corpses, in the early days of the apocalypse, he was still at his weakest.

For now, he only wanted to stay low, build up in the shadows, and quietly grow stronger.

As for showing off?

Didn't matter.

To him, the world had only two kinds of people:

Those ready to be burned now... and those who could wait a little longer to be burned later.

He gave Yuan Feng a "gentle" look, like watching a soon-to-be-dead man, and kindly helped him up:

"Feng-ge, are you alright? That lunatic was way too much! He actually killed someone!"

Yuan Feng didn't even register this F-rank loser, but played along to save face:

"That guy must be S-rank! Too arrogant! Just kills people in public like that! Does he think he can do whatever he wants just because he's S-rank?!"

Kai chimed in, "You're right, Feng-ge! He's totally arrogant!"

But what he was really thinking was—

Arrogant? Please. In my last life, I made Lei Ming look like a kitten.