Chapter 4: Something Doesn't Add Up
I tried not to open the novel the next morning.
That was the plan, at least.
Usually the first thing I do after waking up is grab my phone and start scrolling before my brain even wakes up properly. Today I forced myself not to. I left the phone on the table while I brushed my teeth.
It didn't help.
My mind kept drifting back to the message from last night.
Someone who's already read ahead.
At the time it sounded like someone trying too hard to be mysterious. But the more I thought about it, the less funny it felt.
Eventually I gave up pretending I wasn't curious.
I picked up the phone and opened the platform again.
No new chapter.
For some reason that disappointed me. I wasn't sure if I wanted the story to continue or stop completely, but the silence felt worse.
The latest chapter was still Second Life: Minor Deviations.
The comments were active as usual. People were arguing about what the main character should do next.
One person wrote:
If I had 100 lives I'd just start experimenting immediately.
Someone replied:
Easy to say when you're not the one dying.
I stared at that reply longer than I meant to before scrolling past it.
Then I went back to the chapter where the ability first appeared.
I'd read it already, but this time I slowed down and paid attention to the wording.
The ability description was simple.
Hundred Man Revival.
I skimmed past the dramatic name and focused on the line explaining how it worked.
The user returns to the moment of awakening after death.
Something about that sentence made me pause.
I read it again.
The moment of awakening.
Not the moment before death.
Not the moment of revival.
The moment of awakening.
That meant the ability had a starting point.
And the story never actually showed it.
I frowned slightly and scrolled back a few paragraphs, wondering if I'd missed something earlier.
Nope.
The chapter jumped straight from the accident to the revival. One moment the character died, and the next moment he woke up in the same room again.
No explanation about when he got the ability in the first place.
Which was strange.
Because in stories like this, the awakening scene is usually a big deal.
I leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling for a moment while my brain tried to put the pieces together.
If the ability sends someone back to the moment of awakening, that moment has to exist somewhere before the death.
Right?
So when exactly did it happen?
I tried to remember the beginning of the story.
Chapter one started with the main character waking up in his room. Tired. Scrolling through his phone. Thinking about nothing important.
Basically my morning routine.
At the time I thought it was just a slow introduction.
Now I wasn't so sure.
I went back and reread the first chapter again.
Same room.
Same ceiling.
Same lazy thoughts about checking messages and wasting time online.
Everything about it felt uncomfortably familiar.
Too familiar.
When I finished reading it again, a thought crept in that I really didn't like.
What if that wasn't the beginning?
What if that was the restart point?
I sat there quietly for a few seconds, trying to convince myself I was overthinking things.
But the feeling didn't go away.
So I opened the chapter where the character died.
The accident scene was still short. Almost annoyingly short.
One moment he was alive.
The next moment—
Nothing.
Then the next line appeared.
This was the first time I died.
I remembered that line from before. It had stuck in my head for some reason.
Now I understood why.
Why phrase it like that?
Why not just say I died?
Saying first time implies something else.
Like whoever said it already expected a second.
I kept reading until I reached the revival scene again.
The character woke up staring at the same ceiling.
Same room.
Same day.
Then the ability appeared.
Hundred Man Revival.
My eyes moved slowly over the description again until they stopped at another line.
I don't remember choosing this power.
I blinked.
That sentence felt… strange.
Because it suggested something happened before the story started.
Some moment where the power was given.
A moment the character couldn't remember.
Which meant the timeline might look like this:
Awakening.
Then life continues.
Then death.
Then revival begins.
But the story started after the awakening.
Which meant the first life had already reached that point.
A small knot formed in my stomach.
I locked my phone and rubbed my eyes for a second.
This was getting ridiculous.
I was building conspiracy theories around a web novel.
But when I unlocked the phone again, I still couldn't shake the thought.
If the awakening happened before the story started…
Then the life I remember might not be the first one.
It might already be the second.
I stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then I noticed something new at the bottom of the page.
I was sure it hadn't been there earlier.
Just a single line.
Plain text.
No explanation.
Lives Remaining: 99
My phone buzzed before I could process that properly.
A message notification appeared.
Same blank account as before.
I opened it slowly.
The message said:
Took you long enough.
I didn't reply.
I wasn't even sure what I would say.
A second message arrived a few seconds later.
Don't worry.
You still have plenty of lives left.
I stared at the screen.
Then a final message appeared.
Try not to waste the next one.