"Dead again."
"Another death."
"Breaking news! Another suicide at Fontaine! Is this a distortion of human nature or a collapse of moral standards? What hidden grievances could there be? For details, see the latest Steam Bird!"
At that moment, a crowd had gathered around a horrifying corpse. None of them noticed a transparent youth floating not too high above their heads.
"I actually got 99 points this time. Not bad, not bad."
Lofan—the transparent youth hovering in mid-air—skilled as he was, opened the system interface. Seeing his points finally break through the three-hundred mark, he shed tears of joy.
He'd died ten times for these mere three hundred points!
Of course, dying so many times wasn't due to any mental issues. Even if there had been problems, repeated skull fractures and brain stirring should have cured them by now.
The real reason was that when Lofan first appeared on the Teyvat continent, he'd come with a "Flamboyant Death System."
In simple terms, the more spectacular his deaths became, and the more people who witnessed them, the more points he'd earn.
These points could be exchanged for various benefits: status, wealth, power, and more. They could even open a path back to his original world, allowing Lofan to return home.
At first, Lofan was utterly devastated to learn that this System demanded his creative deaths in exchange for benefits. His heart burned with curses, and his attitude was one of outright rejection.
However, when he discovered he could completely control his body's hormones and perceptions, thereby eliminating physical pain, he sprang into action. With practiced ease, he charged at a knife-wielding robber and, under the shocked gaze of onlookers, deliberately thrust his soft belly against the blade's edge.
After this act, Lofan immediately accelerated his heart's efficiency, forcing blood to spray violently. Though the wound wasn't fatal, the gushing blood covered the now-dazed robber's face.
As expected, Lofan's first life ended there.
Now a floating soul, Lofan watched the robber scream "Injustice! That madman threw himself at me! I just wanted to get rich - I never meant to kill!" as Maison Gardiennage officers escorted him away. The officers' cold response echoed through the air: "Save your lies for Chief Justice Neuvillette at Opera Epiclese's Trial Court." As the figures faded into the distance, Lofan turned his attention back to the System interface.
When Lofan saw that his score had only increased by thirteen points, and that even the lowest-quality body required ten points, he was nearly driven to madness!
Oh wait, he was already dead.
Lofan hadn't expected that all his efforts would only earn him three points. He realized he had died too recklessly.
Though he had given a robber a chance to redeem himself, it was still completely insufficient. He needed a death far more impactful!
Originally, Lofan planned to stage a heaven-and-earth-shaking... suicide spectacle. But then he discovered that while the lowest-quality body was cheap, it came completely empty.
Name, identity, money - none of it existed.
Forget about a heaven-and-earth-shaking suicide spectacle. If he didn't find a way to die quickly, he might literally starve to death.
If he died of starvation, Lofan thought the System would be acting as a great philanthropist if it gave him even one point.
So after realizing this problem, Lofan returned to his old profession - acting bravely for justice!
Though this method earned fewer points, it was reliable and even contributed to society.
However, not every day brought robbers, and some came without weapons!
How can you protect yourself properly without a knife in this dangerous world?!
After failing to find better opportunities, Lofan decided to prevent starvation, dehydration, or fatal falls that might cost him all his points. He found a high spot and jumped.
This leap revealed a new path to wealth!
It added twenty points!
Twenty points! After accounting for costs, that was equivalent to three acts of righteous bravery—saving three robbers and guiding them to redemption!
And leaping from buildings was far simpler than risking life for justice.
Find a high spot, close your eyes, fall forward, and watch the points roll in. Couldn't be easier!
This discovery made Lofan's mind race with possibilities. He began considering other dramatic ways to die.
Lofan had considered transforming himself into a vicious criminal, ultimately to be tried and executed before all the Fontainians. However, this thought only crossed his mind briefly before being abandoned. Though he knew this world was actually the game Genshin Impact where he'd been spending his retirement, observing the people's behavior revealed they didn't act like NPCs at all. This made Lofan unable to bring himself to act.
Apart from this, Lofan had several other good ideas, but his current low-tier body made them difficult to implement.
No matter. Jumping off buildings was thrilling enough. What more could he ask for?
Through repeated jumps, Lofan discovered that the location of his leap affected the points he earned.
Thus, he found an ideal spot: Fontaine.
As Fontaine's most important city, its daily foot traffic was nothing short of terrifying.
Lofan located a high vantage point and leaped without hesitation.
As expected, he received far more points than before, his face splitting into a grin!
From then on, every time Lofan respawned, he immediately rushed to Fontaine, found a suitable spot, and jumped. His point total skyrocketed.
After several jumps, Lofan noticed that the points he earned from each building leap kept increasing. It seemed his consecutive stunts were drawing more and more attention.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Lofan decided to make all Fontainians believe this was a serial case. Each time he jumped, he draped a banner across his body emblazoned with phrases like "Your silence is deafening" or "Alone in the dark alley."
As expected, this tactic made his point accumulation skyrocket!
Finally, after his tenth death - this very attempt - his points surpassed three hundred, enough to exchange for a low-grade body.
Lofan had previously checked: this type of body wasn't randomly generated. It came with a defined social status and established relationships.
His earlier suicides had yielded fewer points partly because official investigators couldn't verify his true identity, limiting his impact on the Fontainians.
But now was different. Time to give the Fontainians a taste of death's shock!
With a smug smile, Lofan selected the exchange without hesitation.