'Fuck… is this how it ends for me?'
Oliver lay on the ground in his dorm, clutching his chest in pain as his vision became blurry.
A sudden heart failure had struck him, and unluckily for him, he was the only one present in the room after returning from class on campus.
Slowly, he began to lose strength in every part of his body, and within a few seconds, the young man dropped dead.
***
In a void of eternal darkness, a wisp drifted through it, constantly struggling to remain still.
However, it realized it was traversing the endless void without its own will, as if drawn by an unseen gravitational force.
The wisp was pulled toward a distant radiance, and upon passing through the brilliance, multiple voices began to reach the soul.
They were all distorted like a foreign language, but soon enough, they gradually grew clearer, resembling distant murmurs.
A young man rested his head on a reading table inside an enormous study room.
His eyes slowly opened and his vision sharpened, his bodily senses heightening far beyond that of any ordinary human being.
"Where the hell am I?" Oliver muttered to himself, bewildered.
He raised his head and lifted his two hands toward his face. He noticed his skin appeared unnaturally pale, almost corpse-like.
Apart from that, his heart also felt frigid.
Just minutes ago, he had been drifting through a black void, now he seemed to have manifested in a different place.
Oliver glanced around the room. He saw three expansive shelves filled with various books and letters, all meticulously arranged in a single row each, and behind them was a study area with a large black wooden table and a solitary chair.
Three books were stacked neatly on the table, and beside them was a single black pen resting on a pristine white sheet of paper.
Multiple windows lined the wall of the study, allowing sunlight to pour into the room.
The entire arrangement was remarkably luxurious and almost otherworldly in its minimalism.
He instantly stood up in shock and blurted out:
"What's going on here!?"
Oliver walked closer to one of the windows to observe his reflection. However, he saw a different person staring back at him.
The young man's eyes widened in shock as his hands pressed against the glass, as if to drag out whoever stood beyond it.
The reflection was entirely different from his original body.
He had green hair styled in a wolf cut with darker shades along the sides, his eyes were a vivid emerald, and his facial features were strikingly beautiful, as though sculpted with meticulous precision.
On the other hand, his skin was deathly pale, though it appeared to be his natural complexion. He wore a white shirt with the top button loosened and black trousers.
Instantly realizing who this was, Oliver scoffed sharply.
"There's no way I was reincarnated as a side character from the novel, Garden of Death… who also happens to share the same name as me… Impossible."
The novel, Garden of Death, was regarded as a bestseller within less than a week, having sold over 7.89 million physical copies due to its compelling narrative and immersive worldbuilding.
A dystopian setting where humans were forcibly transported into a realm known as the Garden of Death, just as the title implied, corrupted by Puppets, monstrous abominations driven by an insatiable urge to devour every form of life, at the Age of Maturity, eighteen years old, and forced to struggle for survival with only a system and a beast to aid them.
…Well, that was merely the beginning presented to the readers. The novel was Oliver's favorite and the only one he had actually completed, thus he knew nearly everything about its world and characters.
The main character was not the hero, but rather the Final Villainess, who was later revealed in the concluding volume of the novel as the Puppeteer, created by the Seven Gods to bring about the end of the human world and usher in the salvation of a new reality.
At first, the story had followed her as a hero, perhaps even the most beloved main character across all novels, until the final volume shattered the hearts of readers, including his.
In the end, the real world was completely overrun by the Seven Gods and the Puppets with the assistance of Teresa, the Puppeteer.
However, a new character was then introduced, or rather, a new revelation.
Oliver, in this world, was actually the strongest character in the novel, yet he regarded the world as too insignificant to even engage with.
However, upon the fall of House Rothyl, he swore vengeance and slew the Villainess in less than a day, marking the first instance of a mere side character ending the most powerful main character ever written.
Oliver found it difficult to accept the reality that he had truly reincarnated into the world of the novel as its strongest character.
It was hardly favorable for him, considering that this cursed character ultimately chose to end his own life after everything, as his fate was equally tragic.
But this time, the only thing he intended to change was his death at the end, no matter the cost.
Once the Black Moon appears, everyone at the Age of Maturity is instantly transported into the Garden of Death.
Due to the current state of the world, those at the pinnacle of the hierarchy were the Houses, of which the House of Rothyl was the strongest, never having failed to produce an individual powerful and talented enough to survive the realm.
They amassed resources, authority, and influence, and stood as one of the three dominant Houses in the world, followed by the House of Snow and the House of Devon.
House of Snow housed the main character and was the second-strongest House in the world.
Oliver knew everything about the side character he had possessed, because he was also given enough screen time as one of the most prominent characters, though he was never close with Teresa until their final ending.
He intended to keep it that way. It was better he did not interfere with the storyline from the beginning, the only thing he needed to change was his own fated death after the defeat of the Villainess.
Oliver sighed and rested his back against the window and said to himself with a weary expression.
"I guess the only thing I have to do for now is play by the rules of the storyline, so I do not get overwhelmed by strange events that never happened after tampering too early."
Suddenly, Oliver's senses sharpened.
He began hearing the footsteps of someone ascending the stairs, heading toward his direction despite how far he was from the door.
This was among the innate abilities that Oliver possessed, but it was a real nuisance to him now that he was experiencing it.
The noise seemed so close and amplified in his ears, which made it highly irritating.
The next moment, the door of the study opened without permission being granted for entry.
A young maid walked in, passing through the spaces between the three shelves in the room until she reached where Oliver stood, resting against the window with a nonchalant expression.
After a brief bow, she spoke in a gentle tone:
"Young Master Oliver, it is time for your preparation ceremony. Members of House Snow and House Devon have all gathered to prepare for the Mass Exit."
Oliver furrowed his brows.
"Preparation ceremony? Will the Black Moon be appearing tonight?"
She paused and looked at him with confusion before clearing her throat and responding:
"Yes, young master…"
The young man instantly frowned.
'What perfect timing. It just has to be now when I am still settling in.'