Become A Character Who Dies Within Three Chapters

The young man hurried back home and shut the door before taking a long breath.

He had almost gotten himself into big trouble again. He really couldn't understand why Felix never stopped pestering him.

Sighing, he dropped onto his bed. It wasn't that he refused to sit on a chair—there wasn't any space. No, this place wasn't even considered a "room." It was just a shabby wooden shack that leaked every time a storm came. Fortunately, he lived on the edge of Zone 6, right next to Zone 5—where it never rained.

Even the toilet here had to be shared. His quality of life was abysmal. Around his shack were countless others, forming a wasteland more pitiful than a slum.

Sitting on the bed, he bit into a chunk of chocolate, venting his frustration, his cheek bulging slightly.

His skin was a slight tan, his bangs hung so low they nearly covered his eyes, and his face was covered with uneven freckles. He wasn't exactly neat or handsome, but neither was he hideous. Yet Felix always picked on his face the moment they met. Truly annoying!

"Obviously, I'm supposed to be a damn heartthrob. Who the hell wants to look like this…" Louis muttered bitterly.

That's right—the young man gnawing at chocolate in boredom was none other than Louis, the one believed to have died five months ago.

And why was he still alive?

Louis raised his hand. Suddenly, his palm went limp, morphing into a mass of glossy black, soft, slime-like matter that twisted and stretched freely under his thoughts.

This all traced back to two months ago…

No one could have imagined that something had survived from the ruins of that century-defining battle.

A creature like a slime, its whole body stretching like a puddle of liquid, writhing along the ground, so black that no light could reflect off it.

Louis had no idea how much time had passed. But clearly, a massive battle had occurred here—the land was unrecognizable from what it had once been.

Just what the hell had happened here? Had there been a war? How long had he been unconscious?

His thoughts drifted belatedly to Aboli, Sylus, Luna, and Lucas. By now, maybe they had joined forces and become a criminal group infamous across the entire planet. Perhaps this desolate wasteland was even their doing…

But whatever. None of that had anything to do with him anymore! To hell with the freaks, to hell with the storyline!

He, Louis, was now completely free to live a life entirely separate from the tale of those so-called protagonists!

That day, he had taken the map and Athena's self-destruction device.

Yes, Athena had been just that arrogant. She had placed a device capable of annihilating her entire family right in that secret chest. With one press, the whole Aurellan clan would be finished. The other family members had no idea she had hidden a bomb in her own home—if they had, that old fool would never have dared oppose her.

When Louis detonated the bomb back then, it was only because he was sure he could survive it.

All of it was thanks to that Cosmic Stone. In the original story, the stone passed through several owners before ultimately falling into Sylus's hands—and he discovered how to use it.

By fusing one's will with the stone's energy, one could create another self, escaping one's body—just like Louis did now.

In short, it was a way to carve out life from the jaws of death. That was how miraculous it was. Truly worthy of being a one-of-a-kind artifact. Now, Louis needed a skeleton to transform into a person again.

At first, Louis thought he would wake up and find his own body. But looking at the current situation, that possibility seemed slim.

In the end, all he could do was keep moving. Then, he realized nearly the entirety of Zone 5 had been abandoned. He also noticed something unusual about the darkness—it didn't seem like simple darkness, but more like some substance. Perhaps it was inhospitable to humanity, but Louis felt perfectly at ease within it, so much so that his whole body melted into a puddle.

But no, he still wanted to live as a human.

With that thought, Louis traveled on, night and day alike, until he finally reached the outskirts of Zone 6—a place where low-class citizens, exiled with no homes to return to, gathered.

Thinking about his current identity, Louis couldn't help but feel delighted. Nowhere could be more fitting for him than this!

After lurking for more than a week, he finally found a corpse by the roadside near the exile district—someone who seemed to have collapsed from exhaustion and died on the way.

Without hesitation, Louis devoured the body. His slime form spread into a black film, nearly invisible against the darkness.

"Ha… huff…"

"I'm alive again!"

The withered corpse suddenly sprang upright. Tattered clothes clung loosely to pale white skin, barely fitting. From beneath slightly long bangs shone a pair of brilliant blue eyes, while plum-colored lips curved into a grin as he jumped around joyfully beneath the moonlight—his behavior more than a little unhinged.

But Louis was too overjoyed!

Yet something felt off. Looking down at his body, he realized he hadn't taken on the form of the dead man at all—but had reappeared in his own body.

As much as he wanted to flaunt his handsome face, it wasn't safe. Who knew if he might bump into the main cast tomorrow or the day after? He didn't want that trouble. Let "Louis" stay buried beneath his gravestone.

With that thought, his body shifted and reshaped until it became the appearance he now had. Even his clothes were creations of his own transformation. At first, Louis felt as though he were naked, merely coated in a thin layer of paint—but eventually, he grew used to it.

And honestly, this slimy body was just too convenient. He didn't even need to bathe or change clothes—after all, he wasn't really wearing any in the first place, ha ha ha.

The one thing Louis never expected was that Aboli's gang of criminals never actually came to be!

Moreover, no matter how many times he scanned, he couldn't find any posters he wanted for Luna and Lucas. What the hell was going on? Had the whole world flipped upside down after his death?

It couldn't be that bad, right? He wasn't even an important character!

"Well, whatever, this is even better—less trouble for me."

Louis leaned back smugly. After finishing his chocolate, he went straight to sleep. Don't ask why he didn't brush his teeth—his teeth weren't even real teeth anymore…

The young man on the bed vanished completely in a flash, leaving behind only a jet-black, perfectly round slime. On its surface were just two dark slits representing closed eyes—a peaceful, happy night.

For over a month now, every day had passed like this. Annoying at times, but at least he no longer had to worry about his head being separated from his shoulders. Louis felt that his good days were finally here!

Early the next morning, before dawn, someone knocked loudly on Louis's wooden door. A female voice called out:

"Lucian, hurry up, or we won't earn much today!"

With a swoosh, the slime on the bed instantly transformed into a neatly dressed young man.

Out of habit, Louis adjusted his collar before stepping outside. Sure enough, Julia was waiting for him.

When she saw him come out, Julia smiled faintly and said, "Let's go."

Louis nodded. Lucian was the new name he'd taken on. Julia was a girl he'd met shortly after arriving here.

That day, Julia and her younger siblings had been bullied by Felix. Louis had stepped in to rescue them in time. Because of that, Felix held a grudge against him—but Louis and Julia became friends instead. She treated him thoroughly like her younger brother, helping him understand this place and even finding him somewhere to live.