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The winding mountain road beneath the Twin Shelters.
On the cracked, dust-choked asphalt, a corpse lay slumped against the guardrail, eyes wide open in death.
He wore a shelter uniform, soaked in blood.
A rusted shard of metal was lodged deep in his throat.
The wound was massive.
The blood inside had long since stopped flowing.
The body lay completely still, its skin a lifeless gray.
In this wasteland…
The dead were the least noticeable, least valuable things around.
Like weeds, scattered everywhere by the roadside.
Honestly, Jack Miller hadn't been in this world for long—but in a strange way, he'd already adapted pretty well.
It had been over twenty-three hours since he'd stabbed himself to death like an idiot.
And during all that time, he'd remained in this bizarre state—both dead and somehow not.
No question about it.
Physically, he was as dead as it gets.
But his mind was still active.
Painfully so.
He could clearly feel the agony from his final moments—the suffocation, the slow draining of blood, the way his thoughts dulled and his body turned cold.
Experiencing his own death in such vivid detail wasn't exactly pleasant.
But it did something important.
It finally cooled down his overexcited brain after getting that so-called "cheat."
Only now could he think clearly.
So… he died again.
That part was certain.
But this time, the flashing text hadn't appeared.
No reward.
No crossing into another world.
Which meant one thing—there had to be some other condition to trigger his ability.
And that realization hit him hard.
Right now, the most important thing was figuring out how his cheat actually worked.
Otherwise, he might end up like this again—lying here as a corpse, wasting time for nothing.
Jack carefully compared his three deaths.
The first time, raiders threw him off a mountain.
The second time, he got crushed by a fishing boat pushed by Godzilla.
The third time… he killed himself with that metal shard.
The first two were clearly murder.
Only the third was suicide.
So maybe…
Only deaths that weren't self-inflicted could trigger the ability.
Still, he'd need more testing to be sure.
Even without the text prompt, his mind was still active—just like during previous revivals.
That meant he should still be able to come back.
Finally, the clock hit the 24-hour mark.
Color slowly returned to his corpse.
The metal shard in his throat was pushed out.
Flesh began to regrow at the wound, rapidly sealing it up.
"Gah—!"
Jack's eyes snapped open as he sucked in a huge breath of hot, dry air, like someone who had just crawled out of drowning.
He was alive again.
Immediately, he lowered his head and checked the personal terminal on his left wrist.
"June 17…"
He remembered arriving in this world on June 15.
Adding in the time he'd spent lying "dead," he finally figured it out.
His revival time—
24 hours.
He'd died twice, and two days had passed. It matched perfectly.
From the moment of death, the countdown began.
After 24 hours, no matter how damaged his body was, it would fully regenerate.
That was insanely powerful.
Still, he'd need to be careful.
Being immortal didn't mean he couldn't be restrained.
If someone trapped him, things could get messy fast.
Getting dumped into a river with cement, for example—that would be a nightmare.
Then again… no need to be overly cautious.
As long as no one discovered his secret—his ability to travel between worlds and gain rewards after death—
That was his strongest trump card in this wasteland.
Even if he really did get sunk in cement, given enough time, he could break out.
After all, that wouldn't count as suicide.
Which meant… he could keep triggering his ability.
Wait—
Jack's eyes lit up.
That actually didn't sound half bad.
Man, now I kinda want someone to toss me into a river in cement…
The reckless urge to court death, which he'd just barely suppressed, started bubbling up again.
"…Later. I'll test that later. First, I need to get back to the shelter."
He slapped his own face hard, forcing himself to calm down.
There were more urgent things to deal with.
Looking up, he glanced toward the mountain peak.
Shelters 91 and 92 were up there.
He had to go back.
Sure, he'd only been a shelter resident for less than an hour.
But he understood one thing clearly—
If you wanted to survive in the wasteland, you needed shelter tech.
Not to mention…
Those raiders had not only lost his "wife," they'd also killed him once.
And Jack?
He held grudges.
No way he was letting that slide.
He was getting revenge.
He set off up the winding road, full of energy and determination.
The plan was simple: get back, crush those raiders, and have the shelter residents clinging to his legs, calling him "dad."
But before he even made it far up the mountain…
All that passion vanished.
He wilted like a plant hit by frost.
He was starving.
Thirsty, overheated, and starving.
Thinking about it, including the revival time, he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for two whole days.
No wonder his body felt like crap.
He looked around.
He was halfway up an unnamed mountain.
All around him were withered, yellowed trees.
Not a good sign.
If he starved to death now, that probably wouldn't count as murder or an accident.
No reward.
And after reviving, he might just starve again.
A complete waste of time.
He needed another plan.
Just then—
Rustling sounds came from the woods beside the road.
He turned his head.
A deer stood there.
Or… something like a deer.
Its skin was shriveled, parts of its body rotting, dark brown and black in patches—a radiation-mutated roe deer.
It had noticed Jack too.
But it didn't run.
It stood calmly on the slope, tilting its head as it gnawed on a dead tree trunk as thick as an arm.
Crunch. Crunch.
Its teeth sounded strong.
Perfect timing.
Jack hadn't expected to find any living creature in this godforsaken place.
Sure, the thing looked rotten and inedible.
But that wasn't his goal.
He crouched low.
Climbing over the guardrail, he slowly crept up the slope.
The mutated deer kept watching him, chewing lazily, showing no intention of fleeing.
It recognized this kind of two-legged creature.
They'd never attacked before.
No need to run.
If anything, it was curious.
What was this human trying to do?
So it stayed put, waiting.
Finally, Jack got close.
A bright, friendly smile spread across his face.
Then—
He lunged.
In one swift motion, he tackled the deer, grabbing its front legs tightly with both arms.
"Woof! Woof!"
The deer panicked, letting out strange, dog-like barks.
It kicked violently, trying to shake him off.
But Jack clung on like a madman, laughing wildly.
"Either you kill me, or I eat you! Hahaha!"
Lowering his head, he bit down hard on its leg, tearing off a chunk of rotten flesh.
On his wrist, the Geiger counter on his terminal began blaring frantically.
Radiation levels—extremely high.
Forget eating it.
Even touching the thing was dangerous for a normal human.
No wonder the deer had no fear.
It had never imagined some lunatic would target it like this.
"Woof! Woof!"
It didn't understand his words.
But it was absolutely terrified.
Struggling violently, it tumbled down the slope with Jack, crashing hard into the guardrail.
Pain shot through Jack's body.
But he refused to let go.
Clinging tightly, he kept biting and tearing at its rotting flesh.
Even a stupid deer had limits.
Realizing it couldn't escape, it lowered its head and bit back.
Hard.
Its bite force was terrifying.
Jack's flesh and bone shattered under its jaws.
The pain nearly knocked him unconscious.
Finally, after breaking free, the deer bit down on his head one last time.
Crack!
Half his skull caved in.
Darkness swallowed his vision.
And once again, Jack embraced death.
The deer, as if it had just encountered something utterly disgusting, bolted away the moment it killed him.
It wanted nothing more to do with that insane human.
At the same time—
Lines of familiar, flickering text appeared before Jack's "eyes."
[Beginning world traversal…]
"....."