I died in a white flash of fire and fractured metal. One
second I was calibrating a dark matter stabilizer in my lab. The next, my body
was thrown across steel and silence—then nothing.
No warmth. No pain. Just void.
Until I woke up in blood.
Sticky, drying, unfamiliar blood. It soaked through fine
silk torn at the waist. My vision blurred, catching the shimmer of incense
smoke rising through the cracks in a crumbling ceiling. Something creaked—wood,
old and rotted.
This wasn't my lab.
This wasn't Earth.
And this wasn't my body.
My limbs felt too light, too small. I moved a hand in front
of my face and froze. Pale skin. Delicate fingers stained crimson. There was a
thick bruise forming around my wrist—like someone had grabbed me hard and flung
me against something.
A sharp pain pulsed behind my eyes, and then—
[Initializing…]
[Vital Signs: Stabilizing.]
[System Boot: Heavenly Mandate Protocol v10.13. Host Bound.]
My heart jumped. "What the hell…?"
[Welcome, Host Shen Li. Dimensional displacement
detected. Current location: Exile Colony 7, Dead Moon Orbit. Cultivation Level:
None.]
I sat up too fast and nearly blacked out. My lungs burned.
The air here was thin and stale—like it hadn't been cycled in weeks. The only
source of light was the glowing red interface now flickering in the corner of
my vision.
No, not just a screen.
A system.
An actual, functioning AI—bound to my neural field, speaking
directly into my brain. But it wasn't anything from Earth. The format, the
language, even the syntax—it felt ancient. Spiritual.
[Quest Activated: Survive 72 hours. Objective: Avoid
assassination. Reward: Basic Cultivation Unlocked.]
Assassination? What the hell kind of welcome gift was that?
A sudden groan echoed from outside the room. I scrambled to
my feet—or, rather, her feet—and looked around. The room was sparse: a bed of
straw, a broken mirror, and a rusted blade propped against the far wall.
The door creaked open. I snatched the blade without
hesitation.
A girl stepped in, no older than sixteen. Her robes were
patched, her expression torn between fear and disbelief.
"Y-you're alive?" she whispered. "I—I thought the poison…"
I didn't lower the blade. "Start talking. What poison? What
happened to me?"
She backed up, trembling. "They said you tried to kill the
Emperor… with forbidden alchemy. They accused you of treason, witchcraft,
possession—everything. They left you here to die."
Treason. Witchcraft. Forbidden alchemy.
My headache flared like a solar flare behind my eyes.
[Memory Integration Unlocked: Accessing Host Body
Identity…]
[Name: Lady Shen Li]
Title: Imperial Concubine (Stripped)
Charges: Poisoning the Emperor, Treason, Consorting with
Spirits.
Sentence: Death by Isolation]
I swallowed back a curse. They'd dumped this girl—me, now—on
a dead moon with no supplies and no spiritual core. She was supposed to rot
here. Quietly. Forgotten.
But she hadn't died. I hadn't.
And now I had her body, her face… and the chance to rewrite
everything.
"Bring me water," I told the maid. "And don't breathe a word
of this to anyone."
She nodded and fled, nearly tripping over herself.
I staggered to the mirror, and for the first time, saw the
face I now wore.
She was beautiful. Even bruised and half-dead, she had those
kind of sharp, noble features that screamed of old blood and buried pride. Her
black hair was matted with blood, her lips cracked, her eyes half-sunken—but
the bones beneath were regal.
This was no ordinary woman.
And yet, they cast her away like garbage.
[New Karma Mission Unlocked: Clear Host's Name or Forge
a New Fate.]
[Optional Objective: Identify the real poisoner. Bonus:
Skill Tree Expansion.]
I leaned closer to the cracked glass and smirked. "System,"
I said aloud, "can you give me any combat skills?"
> [Locked. Spiritual Core Inactive.]
"Fine. What can I do?"
[Tutorial Mode: Activated. Host may access: Basic
Energy Mapping, Spirit Sense (Level 1), Inventory, and Passive Memory Sync.]
[Tip: Survival unlocks power. Death resets progress.]
I glanced at the rusted blade in my hand. It was a poor
weapon. The handle was loose, the edge chipped—but the grip felt familiar. In
my past life, I studied the laws of space. I understood pressure, mass,
acceleration. Force was universal.
And right now, I needed all of it.
Outside, the wind howled. The scent of dust and blood never
quite left the air.
They sent me here to die quietly.
But now I had a system. I had knowledge. And I had nothing
to lose.
Let the stars bear witness:
I would not fade away.
I would rise—and make the empire regret ever burying Lady
Shen.