Anthony woke up to see a dull ceiling above him.
Where am I?
Anthony thought to himself as he tried to sit up, a wave of nausea hit him and forced him to lay back down again. He had seen tables and chairs around him made out of wood.
Which fancy place is this?!
Anthony then remembered what the god had said before they were reincarnated.
"He said something about the 21st Century and... Demons?"
Anthony mumbled to himself as he waited for nausea to clear from his system. He found himself to be in a bar. If this was the 27th Century, the bar would've practically been a national treasure. Wood was extremely expensive, the loss of land had made the production of wood practically stagnate.
This caused wood to only be a luxury that could be afforded by the extremely wealthy. Carpenters suddenly became a highly respected and high wage job.
Anthony unconsciously caressed the wood. He knew what wood looked like from the digital images but he had never seen it face to face. Not to mention be able to touch it.
Anthony looked around to see 3 others passed out. It was his friends also passed out with him.
I guess the reincarnation process made us inhabit the bodies of these drunkards.
Anthony thought to himself. He went to the bartender and asked for a bucket of ice cold water. The bartender immediately went to the back and came out with a bucket a few minutes later.
Anthony picked it up and splashed his friends with the freezing water. All 3 woke up with a startled yelp and started looking around in a panic. They quickly noticed the low temperatures and started shivering in response.
Anthony realized that Zhao Chun's clothing had turned slightly transparent from the good soaking he had just given the three of them. Anthony's face turned a deep scarlet red. He started looking around for a robe.
Strangely enough, he found one hanging on one of the backs of the chair. He quickly grabbed it and threw it over Zhao Chun's shoulders. Zhao Chun's face flushed a deep red as she realized the result of the splashing. Zhao Chun thanked Anthony for the robe and wrapped the robe around her tightly.
The two others shook themselves off and wiped themselves with napkins from the counter.
Since this is a bar, I wonder why we're the only ones here.
Anthony wondered to himself. All of a sudden, a memory surfaced from his thoughts. He remembered going to the bar and reserving the place. Apparently, his dad's company owned the place and allowed him to use it at will.
Wait, that isn't my memories. I guess we must have reincarnated into dead bodies and have taken over these people's identities.
Anthony wasn't a gracious person, but he still gave a silent thank you to the people who had previously inhabited the bodies.
Anthony was about to try to figure out how he would accommodate to these new conditions when he realized that the people who they had inhabited conveniently had the same names as them.
Turns out the Anthony Nguyen, that had previously inhabited this body, was a son of a moderately sized corporate business. He was also a big sponsor of one of the Demon Hunter Associations. They were called the "7 Red Lotus Association", one of the bigwigs of San Francisco.
The previous Anthony had aspirations to become a demon hunter and a high ranking talent, but when he found out what becoming one entailed, he immediately dismissed the notion. The current Anthony reflected on his life. In his previous life, he was a poor kid living on the streets. Now, he was the son of the CEO of a major corporation.
I'll take advantage of this life and show that so-called god what for!
Anthony clenched his fists. He could still see that disgusting malicious smile on that face. He couldn't wait until he made it to the top. He could already imagine the shocked face of the god as his fist passed into the god's face. Just thinking about it gave Anthony a strange sense of satisfaction.
Elsewhere, in an extremely bleached office room. The god sneezed as he was talking to another group of "clients".
"I wonder who's been cursing at me this time. Oh, well. I'm a god so they can't really do much about it."
The god shrugged to himself. He didn't have many expectations for any of those that he had reincarnated so far. He was only one of the gods that managed the reincarnation services and always obtained the worst candidates.
Anthony pulled up a chair and got his friends to form a circle. They all had rather imposing identities, but at the same time, their predecessors had offended many people during their short and pitiful lives. One of them being the son of a rival corporation's CEO. But strangely enough, none of them had killed previous Anthony. Instead, he had drunk himself to death.
Anthony's eyebrows started to twitch as he thought of how he had died in his previous life. He started to feel more considerate about the previous Anthony, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. He sighed and looked towards his friends.
"So, how should we start our rise to power?"
The 4 friends started brainstorming ideas.
"Ooh! How about we use your connections to hire high ranking demon hunters to train us?"
Ba Gao shouted out his idea, brimming with pride for his newfound "intelligence".
"We could build up our merit through reputable deeds to build a good reputation for ourselves. We should also resolve all these tensions that our past lives have been building up."
Zhao Chun spoke up. The other three were flabberghasted. Was the previous Zhao Chun an extrovert or had Zhao Chun really spoken more than one sentence?
"Why are you guys looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
The new Zhao Chun started to look around for a mirror.
"No, no. It's just that... we aren't exactly used to you being... 'socially active'"
Ba Gao spoke out bluntly. The three waited for the reaction. Would the "new" Zhao Chun react violently or would she continue to keep her pacifist trait?