Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 001: Execution by Firing The autumn morning breeze, carrying gusts of chill, incessantly swept across the half-baked poplar trees, occasionally bringing down a few dry leaves from the branches. Those withered yellow leaves drifted in the morning
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Chapter 1
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 001: Execution by Firing
The autumn morning breeze, carrying gusts of chill, incessantly swept across the half-baked poplar trees, occasionally bringing down a few dry leaves from the branches. Those withered yellow leaves drifted in the morning wind, like a lone boat lost at sea, filled with an atmosphere of desolation and loneliness...
Near the east side of the funeral home, in an open area enclosed by barbed wire, twenty-six death row inmates dressed in prison garb knelt in a row. Hundreds of fully armed police officers stood solemnly guarding the four sides of the execution ground, their guns pointed at the prisoners, waiting for the commander's final order to carry out the execution.
Yang Hongtao knelt amidst a group of prisoners, his lowered body stiff as a withered wooden stake. He knew that at this point, it was too late for anything he said; struggling or resisting would only hasten his death. Earlier in court, Yang Hongtao had considered recanting his testimony, especially when he saw his once-beloved girlfriend, Xiaoya, and his boss, Huang Lianshu, who had framed him, walking intimately into the courtroom. A surge of rage nearly consumed him.
But when his gaze fell upon the tear-streaked faces and concerned eyes of his elderly parents and sister sitting in the audience, the surge of anger and the primal desire to survive that had just welled up within him were immediately overwhelmed by this warmth of family affection! He knew that he could never defeat Huang Lianshu; in fact, it was an unequal struggle, with the two sides completely on different levels.
Once he calmed down, Yang Hongtao realized that even if he dared to tell the truth in court, it would be useless, because he had no direct evidence to prove that his boss, Huang Lianshu, was the mastermind behind that series of economic frauds and criminal cases. Even if the judge accepted Yang Hongtao's testimony, Huang Lianshu could easily find another scapegoat to take the blame for all the crimes, at most causing Huang Lianshu to lose some more money.
However, Yang Hongtao could not escape Huang Lianshu's vicious revenge afterward, and ultimately could not escape death. Even all his relatives were implicated... Yang Hongtao did not want his parents and sister's family to be buried with him, so in the end he could only grit his teeth and bear everything...
After walking out of the courtroom with the mindset of certain death, Yang Hongtao thought he could face death calmly. However, when he truly felt the cold, hard muzzle of the gun pointed at the back of his head, constantly radiating the aura of death, he couldn't help but feel fear...
Unfortunately, regardless of whether Yang Hongtao could accept this ending, what was destined to happen would eventually happen. With a command from the commander of the armed police force, a series of "click-click" sounds of bullets being chambered came from behind. The crisp sound was like an invisible hand knocking heavily on the gates of hell.
"Ready—Fire—"
As the final command was given, a chorus of gunfire echoed across the execution ground, and at the same time, twenty-six 7.62mm rifle bullets, burning with furious flames, roared into the back of each condemned prisoner's head.
Just moments before the gunshot rang out, knowing his life was about to end, Yang Hongtao, filled with an infinite longing for this wonderful world, naturally and rapidly recalled, like a movie playing in his mind, every unforgettable face he had encountered in his short life… his kind mother, his strict father, his most beloved sister, and the girl next door with whom he had once been childhood sweethearts…
Then... Xiaoya's beautiful yet ruthless face and Huang Lianshu's sinister and disdainful face were etched into Yang Hongtao's mind. These two faces were then magnified infinitely, like two legendary ghosts who would snatch away souls, mocking Yang Hongtao, a death row inmate who was about to be deprived of his right to live, with cold and sharp eyes...
Intense anger and resentment burned like a raging fire in Yang Hongtao's soul. As the saying goes, things reach their extremes and then reverse. When this anger and resentment reached their peak, Yang Hongtao's mind suddenly returned to calm.
Whether by some strange twist of fate or by divine will, when his life was about to end, the last face that appeared in Yang Hongtao's mind was an old face covered with wrinkles and vicissitudes!
Yang Hongtao met the old lama by chance in a dilapidated temple during his trip to Lhasa three years ago. The old lama had kind eyes and a benevolent face, and looked like a highly accomplished monk. However, after some persuasion, Yang Hongtao managed to buy a jade pendant from him for 500 yuan, which would have sold for at most 5 yuan on a street stall.
The jade pendant is engraved with the famous six-syllable mantra of Buddhism in Tibetan script. According to the old lama, this six-syllable mantra is the mantra of the compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Long ago, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva himself attained Buddhahood by practicing this mantra.
After selling the jade pendant, the old lama enthusiastically taught Yang Hongtao to recite the six-syllable mantra several times. However, Yang Hongtao felt that the lama's tone when reciting the mantra sounded a bit awkward, like a foreigner speaking Chinese. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that it left such a deep impression on Yang Hongtao.
In that final moment before his death, he inexplicably thought of the cunning old lama and subconsciously began to recite the six-syllable mantra that the old lama had taught him.
"Om Mani Padme Hum—"
However, to Yang Hongtao's utter surprise, just as the six-syllable mantra was reciting in his heart, he seemed to see six enormous characters fly into the air and transform into six white halos of different sizes. The white halos emitted a sacred radiance that enveloped his entire body. Then, before Yang Hongtao could realize what was happening, the six halos began to shrink rapidly.
Although Yang Hongtao's body remained kneeling there, he felt as if he were a fluffy cotton candy being brutally kneaded and suppressed by the six light rings, quickly turning into a small piece of rock candy. In the blink of an eye, Yang Hongtao had completely lost control of his body; all his consciousness was compressed and concentrated into a single point in his mind by the six light rings.
Just then, a scorching bullet, accompanied by a piercing gunshot, pierced through the back of Yang Hongtao's skull, carrying a bloody, unstoppable aura that swept through his mind... Whether by sheer coincidence or not, the bullet, a symbol of death, passed precisely through the center of the six strange, compressed circles as it pierced Yang Hongtao's skull, without missing a beat or deviating even slightly.
The six white halos vanished the instant the bullet passed through, as if they had transformed into an invisible net pattern imprinted on the tiny bullet. The scorching bullet, however, showed no hesitation, gliding past without a second glance before being ejected from Yang Hongtao's wide-open mouth, landing with a "ding" sound seven or eight meters in front of him.
After the gunshots rang out, the twenty-six death row inmates fell to the ground, each with a bullet hole the size of a peanut in the back of their head, like the eyes of demons from hell.
After completing the execution, the armed police officers quickly began cleaning up the execution site. First, a forensic doctor used a special instrument to insert into the bullet hole in the back of the corpse's head and rotate it twice to confirm that the prisoner was completely dead. Then, the officers, in pairs, carried the bodies to the vehicle according to their numbers.
Then, logistics personnel came and quickly cleaned up the blood-stained ground, collecting the spent cartridge cases and bullets used in the execution. These items were to be processed in a standardized manner; once a certain quantity was accumulated, they would be transported to the arsenal to be melted down and recast into various types of bullets.
According to regulations, after each execution, the personnel responsible for cleaning up the scene must collect all the spent cartridge cases and bullets. However, sometimes, perhaps due to the angle of the shot, a few bullets will hit the ground in front of the prisoner after exiting the prisoner's mouth.
Of course, the staff wouldn't dig up the entire execution ground just to find one or two bullets, so collecting two or three fewer bullets each time wasn't a problem at all.
This time, three bullets were not found. The staff responsible for cleaning the execution site did not pay any attention to it either. Seeing that the bloodstains on the ground had been covered with yellow soil, they sealed the found bullets and casings, got into their cars, and drove away amidst the noise of car horns and thick black exhaust fumes...
Yang Hongtao felt as if his consciousness was a block of extremely compressed cheese, tightly bound within a cold, hard bullet. No matter how much he struggled, the moment he touched the invisible mesh on the bullet's surface, he was immediately bounced back to its center. Meanwhile, the bullet was tucked under a flat rock, and through the gaps between the rocks, Yang Hongtao could clearly see everything unfolding before him.
He watched helplessly as "himself," with empty, lifeless eyes, collapsed powerlessly onto the dusty ground, becoming a mangled corpse. Then, he was lifted into a car and driven away. He couldn't tell whether he felt sorrow, shock, or excitement.
So it turns out that after a person dies, there really is a soul! Then the so-called cycle of life and death must be true! But he still doesn't understand why other people's souls are free, while his consciousness is bound in a small bullet after death and he can't move at all.
Yes... Yang Hongtao could clearly see the souls of the other twenty-five death row inmates who were executed in the same batch. In his eyes, those souls were like transparent shadows, which hovered and floated in front of their respective corpses after they appeared, just like a group of children who had lost their house keys and were helplessly guarding their door.
However, the menacing aura emanating from the armed police officers instilled unparalleled fear in these bewildered ghosts. So when the officers carried the body away, despite their immense reluctance, not one of the spirits dared to stay beside the body. They could only helplessly remain where the body had been, drifting aimlessly...
Yang Hongtao simply couldn't understand why he was so unlucky! In life, he had to take the blame for others and was framed by his boss, and after death, as a ghost, he was trapped inside a tiny bullet! Could it be because he recited the six-syllable mantra before he died?
Oh no! This six-syllable mantra is supposed to be the supreme mantra of Buddhism, meant to exorcise evil spirits and demons.
The problem is that Yang Hongtao seemed to turn into a ghost the moment he finished reciting the six-syllable mantra, and naturally became a demon in people's eyes that needed to be purified and eliminated by Buddhism. And he was still silently reciting this mantra in his heart before he died, so wouldn't that be a curse that tormented himself?
Just as Yang Hongtao was wallowing in self-pity and hating himself for being bewitched, the hazy sky grew brighter and brighter, and finally... a warm sun slowly climbed up behind the low hills in the east, casting a ray of golden sunlight onto the boundless earth.
In an instant, the ghosts that had been wandering around the execution ground suddenly became like live chickens thrown into a hot pot, emitting a series of shrill and tragic screams, struggling desperately and scattering in all directions in a daze.
Of course... the cries of those ghosts are probably inaudible to the living; only Yang Hongtao, being one of their kind, can clearly sense the despair and fear in those cries.
The struggles and escapes of those ghosts were utterly futile. The all-pervasive sunlight was like countless sharp swords, piercing through the already ethereal ghostly shadows, leaving them riddled with holes. In an instant, all the ghosts were riddled with holes, none remaining intact. Although they had not yet completely disappeared, it was only a matter of time before they were truly annihilated.
Yang Hongtao stared in disbelief at everything before him, his fear not diminishing at all despite his temporary escape from disaster.
Although his soul was completely compressed inside a bullet and coincidentally hidden under a rock, preventing the sunlight from reaching him, the sunlight refracted through the ground already made him feel as if he were being roasted in a furnace.
Moreover... in just ten minutes, or even a few minutes, the sun will shift a little further west, and the sunlight may shine directly on the bullet through the gaps between the rocks. At that point, would his ghost, which is firmly compressed inside the bullet, still have any chance of escaping?
Although strictly speaking, Yang Hongtao is now dead, he still possesses a strong will to live. Knowing that his soul exists after death, Yang Hongtao no longer feels the same fear regarding the death of his physical body. However, he now knows that if he is directly exposed to the scorching sunlight, the consequence might be the complete annihilation of his soul. Only then would death be truly and utterly complete; once his soul dissipates, Yang Hongtao would be forever gone from this universe.
No—I don't want my soul to be scattered! I don't want to die again!
As he watched the ghosts slowly melt away in the sunlight, Yang Hongtao roared madly in his heart...
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 002 Soul Fusion
Yang Hongtao's intense, almost obsessive, will to survive made it impossible for him to calm down at this moment. The more he couldn't calm down, the more he felt the sunlight, seemingly penetrating every crevice, relentlessly eroding his soul. The once cold bullet head began to gradually heat up...
He couldn't wait any longer! Yang Hongtao knew that such passive waiting would only lead to his death. However, he was now unable to move or run away, so what else could he do but wait passively? Suddenly, Yang Hongtao thought of the Six-Syllable Mantra again. After all, he had personally verified that this six-syllable mantra indeed possessed incredibly miraculous power.
Although the changes brought about by this magical power may not be good, for Yang Hongtao, who was destined
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 213
Chapter 214
Chapter 215
Chapter 216
Chapter 217
Chapter 218
Chapter 219
Chapter 220
Chapter 221
Chapter 222
Chapter 223
Chapter 224
Chapter 225
Chapter 226
Chapter 227
Chapter 228
Chapter 229
Chapter 230
Chapter 231
Chapter 232
Chapter 233
Chapter 234
Chapter 235
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
Chapter 238
Chapter 239
Chapter 240
Chapter 241
Chapter 242
Chapter 243
Chapter 244
Chapter 245
Chapter 246
Chapter 247
Chapter 248
Chapter 249
Chapter 250
Chapter 251
Chapter 252
Chapter 253
Chapter 254
Chapter 255
Chapter 256
Chapter 257
Chapter 258
Chapter 259
Chapter 260
Chapter 261
Chapter 262
Chapter 263
Chapter 264
Chapter 265
Chapter 266
Chapter 267
Chapter 268
Chapter 269
Chapter 270
Chapter 271
Chapter 272
Chapter 273
Chapter 274
Chapter 275
Chapter 276
Chapter 277
Chapter 278
Chapter 279
Chapter 280
Chapter 281
Chapter 282
Chapter 283
Chapter 284
Chapter 285
Chapter 286
Chapter 287
Chapter 288
Chapter 289
Chapter 290
Chapter 291
Chapter 292
Chapter 293
Chapter 294
Chapter 295
Chapter 296
Chapter 297
Chapter 298
Chapter 299
Chapter 300
Chapter 301
Chapter 302
Chapter 303
Chapter 304
Chapter 305
Chapter 306
Chapter 307
Chapter 308
Chapter 309
Chapter 310
Chapter 311
Chapter 312
Chapter 313
Chapter 314
Chapter 315
Chapter 316
Chapter 317
Chapter 318
Chapter 319
Chapter 320
Chapter 321
Chapter 322
Chapter 323
Chapter 324
Chapter 325
Chapter 326
Chapter 327
Chapter 328
Chapter 329
Chapter 330
Chapter 331
Chapter 332
Chapter 333
Chapter 334
Chapter 335
Chapter 336
Chapter 337
Chapter 338
Chapter 339
Chapter 340
Chapter 341
Chapter 342
Chapter 343
Chapter 344
Chapter 345
Chapter 346
Chapter 347
Chapter 348
Chapter 349
Chapter 350
Chapter 351
Chapter 352
Chapter 353
Chapter 354
Chapter 355
Chapter 356
Chapter 357
Chapter 358
Chapter 359
Chapter 360
Chapter 361
Chapter 362
Chapter 363
Chapter 364
Chapter 365
Chapter 366
Chapter 367
Chapter 368
Chapter 369
Chapter 370
Chapter 371
Chapter 372
Chapter 373
Chapter 374
Chapter 375
Chapter 376
Chapter 377
Chapter 378
Chapter 379
Chapter 380
Chapter 381
Chapter 382
Chapter 383
Chapter 384
Chapter 385
Chapter 386
Chapter 387
Chapter 388
Chapter 389
Chapter 390
Chapter 391
Chapter 392
Chapter 393
Chapter 394
Chapter 395
Chapter 396
Chapter 397
Chapter 398
Chapter 399
Chapter 400
Chapter 401
Chapter 402
Chapter 403
Chapter 404
Chapter 405
Chapter 406
Chapter 407
Chapter 408
Chapter 409
