Reborn as an AI: Helping My Past Self Become a Writer

A deafening explosion shattered the stillness of the forest, sending shockwaves reverberating through the dark canopy. Smoke and the scent of scorched earth permeated the air, painting a grim picture of destruction.

Shen Yuchen tumbled across the dirt-strewn ground, his body colliding with a jagged rock. Pain exploded through his head, his vision blurring into darkness. His ears rang with a relentless, high-pitched whine, rendering every other sound distant and distorted.

"Su Wanning…" he rasped, barely able to hear his own voice.

Silence answered him—cold, oppressive, and suffocating.

Groaning, he forced himself upright, blinking through the dizziness. His mind raced, replaying the last thing he remembered—Su Wanning's haunting words: "They were always after you."

After… me?

Confusion warred with fear in his heart. He was just a writer—ordinary, insignificant. Why would anyone target him with such lethal precision? Unless…

"Don't move."

The familiar yet icy voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts.

He spun around to see Su Wanning emerging from the shadows, battered and bloodied, her expression grim yet resolute.

"You're alive!" Relief surged through him despite the growing sense of danger.

"Not for long if you keep standing there like an idiot," she snapped, her tone sharp but edged with exhaustion.

Shen Yuchen pushed through the pain and staggered to his feet. He reached out instinctively when she stumbled, catching her before she could fall.

"You're hurt. You can't keep running like this."

"I don't need your help!" she hissed, shoving him away—but her body betrayed her, trembling from exertion.

Without hesitation, Shen Yuchen pulled her close. "I'm not leaving you behind."

For a moment, vulnerability flickered in her eyes before she quickly masked it with icy determination.

"They won't stop," she whispered, her voice breaking just slightly. "They've been after you from the beginning."

His breath hitched. "Why? I'm just a writer—"

"No," she cut him off, her voice sharp and bitter. "You think you're ordinary, but your existence… is far more complicated."

Before he could press her for answers, the rhythmic sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the forest, mechanical and unyielding.

"Move!" Su Wanning urged, her grip tightening around his wrist as they stumbled deeper into the dense woods.

Every step felt heavier, their bodies weighed down by exhaustion and relentless pursuit. Adrenaline kept them moving, though it couldn't erase the burning questions swirling in Shen Yuchen's mind.

"Who are they?" he demanded breathlessly.

Her face darkened with something between regret and desperation. "You already know the answer."

Before he could respond, streaks of red light cut through the darkness, narrowly missing them. The searing beams scorched the earth, filling the air with the acrid stench of burnt vegetation.

"They won't stop… until you're retrieved," Su Wanning muttered grimly.

"Retrieved?" Shen Yuchen shouted, half in disbelief, half in fury. "I'm not some object!"

Her gaze dropped momentarily, guilt flashing in her eyes. "To them… you are. You're something they can't afford to lose."

Suddenly, his phone buzzed violently in his pocket. His hands trembled as he pulled it out, dread tightening around his chest.

A new message flashed on the cracked screen:

"You cannot escape. Accept your fate… or be erased."

His breath hitched as he stared at the ominous words. Anger surged, eclipsing his fear.

"Fate?" he growled through clenched teeth. "I refuse to accept it!"

Su Wanning's eyes widened slightly at the defiant fire burning in his gaze. She had never seen this side of him before—so fierce, so alive.

The sound of pounding footsteps intensified, cold and calculated, closing in with deadly precision. Shen Yuchen and Su Wanning exchanged a single look of understanding.

"We have to find the truth," Shen Yuchen declared, his voice low but resolute. "No matter who they are… or what they want."

Su Wanning nodded slowly, determination hardening her features. "Then we keep running… until we win."

With renewed resolve, they vanished into the shadows of the endless forest, leaving behind only broken branches and blood-stained earth.

Unseen in the darkness, the relentless hunters advanced with mechanical precision. Crimson lights pulsed ominously from their helmets, cold and merciless—as if death itself was hunting in the night.