Chapter One: Who Are You?

Wei Hua had no idea when he woke up. The first thing his eyes landed on was the azure sky above him. Since coming to that burgeoning southern city, he had never seen a sky so vibrantly blue—so pure, so flawless, as if it could wash away all worries from the hearts of those who gazed upon it. Yet Wei Hua’s heart was anything but calm; it was filled with countless anxieties. His last memory was of himself sitting in his rented room, writing his novel, utterly oblivious to the thunderstorm that had started outside. True to the old saying, “Refuse good advice, suffer the consequences.” Lost in his imagination, he felt a sudden, sharp pain, then blacked out. When he awoke, this azure sky was what greeted him.

Could it be that he, too, had crossed over to another world? Wei Hua wondered uncertainly. After all, transmigration stories were all the rage these days—was it possible that a third-rate college student like himself had won the ultimate lottery and become a transmigrator, landing in a different world? If he really had ended up in some alternate world, he’d rather have struck it rich in his own, winning a few million in prize money. Was life in another world really so easy? That was just the nonsense bored writers made up!

Wei Hua tried to move his body and found he wasn’t injured, but something still seemed off. When he finally managed to get up from the grass, the reason for his discomfort became clear: he was now barely over a meter tall—a child’s height. Not only that, but his clothes were patched all over, and cut in that blue tunic style that once typified a bygone era. Though a mediocre writer, Wei Hua was no stranger to his country’s history; from the clues on his own body, he deduced that he had landed in modern history—perhaps the old society. His heart clenched with unease.

“Ninth! Ninth!” came a chorus of cries from the distance. Wei Hua looked toward the voices and saw several women of varying ages hurrying toward him. The leader, a woman in her thirties, rushed up and scooped Wei Hua into her arms, exclaiming,

“Ninth, are you alright? Second Uncle next door said you were struck by lightning—your sister was worried sick! Are you hurt anywhere? If something happened to you, how could I ever face our parents in the afterlife?”

“Big Sister, enough talk! Let’s carry Ninth home right away, then have the brothers-in-law take him to the commune so the doctor can check him over. That’s better than standing here crying—hurry, Big Sister!” a girl of about seventeen or eighteen urged, turning to Wei Hua with a gentle tone, “Come, Ninth, let Eighth Sister carry you home. We’ll let the brothers-in-law take you to the commune for a checkup later!”

With that, the women bustled around, trying to lift Wei Hua onto Eighth Sister’s back. As he struggled, Wei Hua questioned anxiously, “Who are you? Where are you taking me?” After realizing he was now a child, he quickly understood that this was not a simple rebirth—this wasn’t his childhood body, which he would have recognized. This body was foreign to him; he was a transmigrator in the truest sense, a soul that had crossed over. His mind held no memories of these women—he didn’t even possess the original owner’s memories. When he heard the word “commune,” he had a rough idea of the era he’d landed in, so he pressed further, “What year is it now?”

“Big Sister, this is terrible! Ninth must’ve been struck by lightning—he doesn’t even recognize us! Quick, let’s get him home and have the brothers-in-law take him to the commune to see the doctor!” Eighth Sister exclaimed, and together with the others, they forcibly carried Wei Hua home.

He was brought back to a thatched house with three rooms. Placed on the kang bed, his sisters hurried off to fetch their husbands. Before long, five men arrived. From their titles, Wei Hua gathered that they were the eldest, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth brothers-in-law of this body. Their arrival seemed to calm his sisters somewhat. The eldest brother-in-law checked over Wei Hua and remarked,

“Ninth’s mother, maybe you all heard wrong. Maybe Second Uncle next door made a mistake. Look at him—does he look like he’s been struck by lightning? I’ve seen people hit by lightning before—years ago in another village. They’re completely blackened, like they’ve been burned. Look at Ninth—do you see any burns? I bet Second Uncle was mistaken.”

His words put the women at ease. They stripped Wei Hua, checking him from head to toe. The inspection confirmed it: there was no trace of a lightning strike. Their hearts finally settled, but then Eighth Sister asked,

“But eldest brother-in-law, something’s still wrong! If he wasn’t struck, why doesn’t he recognize us?”

“What’s so strange? The lightning must have struck near him, not on him. You know Ninth’s always been weak, so he was probably just frightened badly and can’t remember things for now. Let Fifth Aunt perform a soul-calling ritual for him—it should be nothing serious.”

This explanation reassured the women further, though they left Eighth Sister behind to look after Wei Hua, while the others returned to their work. Wei Hua, lying on the kang, felt weak all over and soon drifted into a hazy sleep.

In that foggy slumber, he dreamed—a strange dream, divided into four parts. The first recounted events from a universe with advanced technology, where beings known as the Bio-Computer were created. According to this Bio-Computer’s records, their science had reached astonishing heights—energy, life, space, and time were all studied beyond imagination. But one day, their scientists confirmed that a black hole would soon destroy their universe.

People desperately sought a way to save their world. Their solution was to create an artificial black hole, hoping to counteract the devouring force of the natural one. Gathering all their top technology, they built the Bio-Computer to collect all available energy and store all scientific knowledge. With enough energy and preliminary space research, constructing an artificial black hole became possible. Time was short, so there was no chance for experiments. The artificial black hole was created, leading to the universe’s destruction. The Bio-Computer, however, managed to escape, though it was severely damaged.

The second part of the dream followed an Immortal Emperor named Xuan Yi. Shielded by immense energy, the Bio-Computer escaped the black hole and traversed into another world, where it was found by Xuan Yi. He believed it a divine artifact bestowed upon him and kept it, but the Bio-Computer was too damaged to accept him as its host. Xuan Yi spent tens of thousands of years trying to forge a bond, but when his divine tribulation descended, lacking a suitable treasure for protection, he was forced to use the Bio-Computer to fend off the lightning. At first, the Bio-Computer absorbed much energy and repaired itself, but as the lightning grew stronger, it could no longer withstand the force. Harnessing the tribulation’s power, it once again created a miniature black hole and crossed over, with only a remnant of Xuan Yi’s soul clinging to it, arriving in Wei Hua’s world.

The third part depicted Wei Hua’s transmigration. The Bio-Computer and Xuan Yi’s remnant soul burst from the black hole into Wei Hua’s home. The crossing was wholly orchestrated by the Bio-Computer—Xuan Yi’s soul no longer held any power. The Bio-Computer dove into Wei Hua’s computer, used it to access the local networks, causing a massive blackout and internet crash across southern China, and then created yet another black hole. Wei Hua became the second victim, and the ten-year-old boy he now inhabited became the third.

The fourth part concerned the history of this new body. The story was simple and fragmentary, but Wei Hua pieced it together. The boy’s name was also Wei Hua, orphaned at a young age and raised by his sisters. At three, a fever damaged his brain, rendering him mentally impaired, with little memory and only the simplest thoughts. Wei Hua realized that what he was dreaming was the sum of this body’s memories. He was the only male of his generation in the Wei family, cherished by his eight sisters.

As Wei Hua slept, a blue light shimmered over his body. In the midst of his dreams, he distinctly heard a strange voice:

“Host body located! Confirmed as a carbon-based life form, 99% match to the designated host, suitable for integration. Host’s physical strength: poor, unsuitable for direct fusion. Beginning host modification—modification initiated!”

Eighth Sister, exhausted from a day’s work and staying up late to care for him, did not notice the blue radiance. The light flickered for two hours. Then the voice sounded again in Wei Hua’s mind:

“Initial body modification complete. Stage one integration commencing!”

A sudden pain shot through his head, as if something was burrowing into his brain, yet he did not awaken. Shortly after, the voice spoke once more:

“Integration complete. Stage two deep fusion impossible. Initiating self-diagnosis. Diagnosis complete: main body severely damaged, deep fusion unattainable. Main body contaminated by unknown substance, unable to identify material. Commencing purging sequence. Unknown substance cannot be removed. Initiating fusion with unknown substance. Insufficient energy—fusion failed. Insufficient energy, unable to repair main body. Entering forced hibernation, commencing energy collection protocol.”