The first thing I did after being reborn was spend tens of millions with an open hand and take my best friend and the campus belle to get tattoos.
My buddy got Nezha on his left arm, Erlang Shen on his right arm. The campus belle got the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden. I got Pangu Separating Heaven and Earth on my chest and Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin on my back. Donghuang Taiyi on my left leg. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven on my right leg.
I even put up three hundred million in cash to buy an abandoned air raid shelter in a remote mountain. Everyone laughed at me for being a prodigal son. But they had no idea that in twenty days the apocalypse would descend, when all the world's flora and fauna would mutate wildly.
Docile pets turning into bloodthirsty beasts. Roadside plants becoming meat grinders. Humanity would instantly fall from the top of the food chain to the bottom. Only those with tattoos could awaken extraordinary totemic powers.
There were exactly twenty days left until the crimson moon descended.
Without a moment's hesitation, I called my private lawyer. Lawyer Zheng immediately mortgaged all my shares, worth one billion, my real estate, my luxury cars, to the international underground bank. Yes, all in cash, even at a seventy percent discount fire-sale price.
"Within twenty-four hours, I need to see three hundred million cash in my account."
After hanging up, I quickly dialed two more numbers.
Half an hour later, at Jiangzhou City's most secretive underground tattoo parlor, Ghost Axe, my sworn brother Su Xiaodao and Jiang Xinyi, the university's acknowledged aloof campus belle, were pulled here by me, looking utterly bewildered.
"Brother Lie, are you crazy? You mortgaged your entire family fortune just to drag the two of us here for tattoos?"
"Chen Lie. What on earth are you doing? If it's because that woman Xiao Yujing broke up with you and you're taking it out on yourself, you don't have to do this."
I looked at them, my voice more serious than ever.
"Xinyi, Xiaodao, there's no time to explain. If you still trust me, just do as I say today."
Seeing my stern, almost unfamiliar gaze, they finally gritted their teeth and nodded in agreement.
I turned to the burly, fierce-looking master tattooist in the shop and slapped a bank card with one million on the table.
"Master, a big job." I pointed at Su Xiaodao. "For my brother. Nezha on the left arm, Erlang Shen on the right."
Then I looked at Jiang Xinyi. "A full back piece of the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden for her."
Jiang Xinyi froze, a flicker of complexity in her cool eyes. "Chen Lie. When did I agree to let you make decisions for me?"
I looked at her, my voice lowering. "This time around, I won't let you die."
Jiang Xinyi's pupils contracted slightly. She didn't know what I meant, but I remembered. In my previous life she was dragged into a nest by a mutated spider queen. When I finally found her, all that remained was half of a blood-soaked school uniform. This time, I had to protect her at all costs.
The old tattoo master's eyelids twitched. He took the bank card. "All right, then. What about you?"
I took off my shirt. I revealed my muscular upper body and said, word by word, "Me. I want Pangu Separating Heaven and Earth on my chest and Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin on my back. Donghuang Taiyi on my left leg. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven on my right leg."
Clatter.
The tattoo machine fell from the old master's hand. He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Kid, do you have a death wish? Pangu Separating Heaven and Earth alone is a forbidden fate pattern, and you still want the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin? That thing isn't an ordinary mythical totem at all. It's a forbidden ominous pattern that buries all souls."
I smiled. "Add money. If one million isn't enough, I'll give you ten million. I want you to personally handle the needle. Others will assist you. It must be done within seven days."
The old master's face changed. "Seven days? Are you insane? Such a large area is impossible in seven days."
I took a list from my pocket and threw it on the table. "Military grade rapid healing gel, bionic repair patches, imported painkillers, anti-infection drugs. I've prepared everything. You just do the tattooing. My life, I'll bear it myself."
The old master stared hard at me. He was silent for a full half minute. Finally, he bent down to pick up the tattoo machine. His voice was rough.
"Fine. I've been tattooing my whole life. Never seen anyone as crazy as you. This job Ghost Axe accepts."
Three days later, in the mountains on the outskirts of Jiangzhou, a decommissioned underground base code-named Blackstone. On the surface it was a fallout shelter left over from the Cold War, later converted into a maximum security prison. But I knew its true identity was an underground command post sealed away from the old era. The main structure, power well, ventilation ducts, water storage system were all still there. What I paid for wasn't building from scratch, but restarting it, reinforcing it, completing the firepower system.
In those three days I only went to Blackstone Base once, in person, to sign the contract and inspect the structure. I confirmed the power well and ventilation system were intact. Everything else I left to the lawyers and the construction team. After all, what really took time wasn't buying the base, but the four forbidden totems on my body.
"Are you sure you want to spend thirty million to buy this godforsaken dump?"
The real estate agent wiped cold sweat from his forehead, looking at me, Jiangzhou's infamous prodigal son.
"Not just buying it, but renovating it." I signed the contract with a flourish. "Also, get me in touch with the nation's best security construction team. I want to turn this place into a doomsday fortress in ten days. So tight not even a fly could get in. Five-meter-high military grade titanium alloy walls, million-dollar blast proof gates, a top tier ecological life support system, and that sealed energy core underground. All repaired and restarted. I'm putting up a billion in cash. Pour it all in within ten days. Money is no object. I'll pay triple wages, twenty-four seven, non-stop."
As I issued order after order, the entire Jiangzhou construction world was rocked.
At that moment, I was shirtless, sitting in the deepest private room of the underground tattoo parlor, Ghost Axe. Dim yellow light fell on the walls covered in all sorts of fierce, bizarre totem sketches. The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant mixed with tattoo ink.
Master Gui himself held the needle. Three apprentices assisted nearby, mixing colors, tracing lines, wiping the work area. The Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin on my back had the outline of the first black dragon completed. Even without the dragon's eyes inked yet, it already carried an indescribable sense of pressure.
Su Xiaodao sat beside me, the Nezha on his left arm taking shape, grimacing in pain. Jiang Xinyi was in a separate room next door, where female tattoo artists continued detailing the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden.
My phone lay nearby, screen lit with constant messages from lawyers, agents, construction teams, material suppliers. Enduring the sharp pain of the needle piercing my skin, I gave remote orders. The transformation of Blackstone Base was advancing simultaneously.
Neither the tattoos nor the doomsday fortress could be delayed.