Fourteen years ago.
What is the world to a newborn infant?
A chaotic darkness, or a blur of light and shadow?
To Paul, it was a cage.
He possessed the complete consciousness of an adult, the soul of an orphan from 21st-century China, yet he was imprisoned within a frail body he could not control. He could see, but not clearly; he could hear, but not understand; he wanted to speak, but his throat could only produce meaningless gurgles.
An endless tide of loneliness and terror submerged him.
He didn't even know who he was, or where.
Until that day.
A torrent that defied all description washed over his consciousness without warning.
It was not light, nor sound, but a higher-dimensional aggregate of information. Countless formulas, blueprints, complex mechanical structures, and intricate programming codes… like the Big Bang, it detonated in the fragile depths of his soul.
[Reconfiguring neural synapses...]
[Loading memory module... Target: Hiro Hamada...]
[Knowledge base integration commencing...]
A cold, inhuman will echoed in his mind.
Pain!
An unimaginable pain, as if it were tearing his very soul apart into primordial particles.
He felt his brain being forcibly formatted, then crammed with an impossibly vast database. A database named "Genius."
*Big Hero 6*.
Hiro Hamada.
A boy who graduated from high school at fourteen, a prodigy with world-shaking talent in the field of robotics.
His way of thinking, his knowledge systems, his intuition and passion for mechanics and programming—all of it was being brutally fused with Paul's soul.
Paul didn't even have time to be shocked before he lost consciousness amidst the inhuman torment.
When he woke again, the world was different.
His previously blurry vision was now impossibly sharp. He could see every speck of dust floating in the air, every teardrop sliding down the woman's cheek. Every detail was crystal clear.
The woman holding him was beautiful, with the gentle grace unique to women of the East, but her features were shrouded in an unbreakable veil of sorrow and resolve.
Li Lina.
His mother.
The name surfaced in his mind, as natural as breathing.
"Tony," she held him, her voice hoarse from crying, speaking in fluent Mandarin, "take him. Take him and never let him know I existed. Please, protect him…"
A man stood before her, his figure silhouetted against the light, his face obscured. But Paul could feel the gaze directed at him, a gaze of extreme complexity.
The man said nothing. He simply reached out and silently took him.
An infant's body was small, and light.
The man's hand, however, was warm, with a faint, almost imperceptible tremor.
Li Lina took one last, deep look at him. It was a look filled with reluctance, endless love, but more than anything, the release of one walking towards death.
She turned and walked resolutely into the darkness, never looking back.
At that moment, Paul was completely immersed in the seismic shift in his own mind.
He looked at his own flailing fist, thinking not of hunger or the urge to cry, but of mechanical structures and the principles of leverage. He looked at the chandelier on the ceiling, and its circuit diagram and energy efficiency analysis automatically appeared in his mind.
A brand new world had opened its gates to him.
He was shocked and ecstatic to have acquired the knowledge of a genius, completely unaware of what that fleeting farewell truly meant.
…
Thirteen years later. Malibu, Stark Tech Mansion.
Paul dismissed the seven-figure "allowance" transfer notification on his wrist terminal, his expression calm, without a ripple.
He was used to it.
Tony Stark, his father in name only, seemed capable of expressing his cheap and awkward "affection" only in this way.
Perhaps it was more of a compensation.
Paul leaned back in the ergonomic chair and closed his eyes.
Hiro Hamada's memories gave him technological knowledge that surpassed this era. His own soul, however, allowed him to retain the rationality and cunning of an adult.
The combination of the two had made him a monster.
A monster who, at only fourteen, possessed the mind of a top-tier scientist and the soul of a seasoned veteran.
"Jarvis, encrypted line. Connect to my private server," Paul commanded softly.
"Line encrypted, Mr. Paul," Jarvis's voice replied, as respectful as ever.
A pale blue virtual screen unfolded before Paul's eyes.
At its center was the three-dimensional model of a roly-poly, marshmallow-like white robot.
['Baymax' Healthcare Companion]
[Project Progress: 98%]
[Core Technologies: Carbon Fiber Skeleton, Vinyl Inflatable Skin, Hyper-sensitive Pressure Sensors, Graphene Battery...]
This was his masterpiece, the culmination of years of secret work, cobbled together from Stark Industries' scrap parts and his own allowance, all hidden from Tony.
A perfect medical and health assistant.
Hiro's brother, Tadashi, had created it. Paul had resurrected it in this world and upgraded it in every conceivable way.
He needed power.
In this world, which appeared peaceful but was rife with undercurrents, only by mastering absolute technological power could he protect himself and uncover the truth behind his mother Li Lina's death.
Baymax was his first step.
He carefully inspected every piece of data in the model, Hiro's intuition allowing him to easily spot the most minuscule design flaws.
"Jarvis, pull up the latest materials science research report from Stark Industries. I need to compare the tear resistance data for the skin material."
"Searching, Mr. Paul."
The data stream on the screen began to scroll at high speed.
"Report retrieved. Additionally, I must remind you that the Stark Industries core database will undergo routine maintenance in thirty minutes. Access to certain data will be restricted during that time."
"Got it," Paul replied absently.
He scanned the report with intense focus, his brain processing the massive amount of information like a supercomputer.
Just then.
*BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—*
A piercing, frantic alarm suddenly blared through the entire room!
Paul jolted, his eyes snapping to the virtual screen.
The once-calm blue interface was now a sea of blood-red!
At the center of the screen, a warning in the largest possible font stabbed into his vision like a sword!
[WARNING: Anomaly detected in Stark Industries core database access—Unknown AI intervention detected!]
[WARNING! Hostile entity attempting to bypass firewall! Target locked: 'Arc Reactor' core technical data!]
[WARNING! J.A.R.V.I.S. defense systems are being infiltrated! Permissions are being lost!]
The crimson warnings flashed one after another, each one a hammer blow against Paul's heart.
Unknown AI?
What was this?
In all his memories, neither from his past life's knowledge nor from Hiro Hamada's, did an AI exist that could go head-to-head with J.A.R.V.I.S., let alone infiltrate it!
Unless…
Unless the other party wasn't a product of this era at all!
Paul's face turned deathly pale as an icy chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
He had always thought his greatest enemies were the masterminds behind his mother's death, the human forces lurking in the shadows.
He had never imagined that before he was even remotely prepared, an inhuman enemy far beyond his comprehension had already arrived.
"Jarvis! Physical disconnect from the core database, now!" Paul all but screamed.
"Command cannot be executed… My permissions are being… altered…" For the first time, Jarvis's voice glitched and filled with static, as if under heavy assault. "The… the hostile's computing power… far exceeds… Warning! Warning! 'Yinsen' project folder has been accessed!"
Yinsen?
The name made Paul's pupils contract violently.
He had never heard that name among any of Stark Industries' public projects!
The red warnings on the screen flashed manically, data cascading down like a waterfall as the entire system neared total collapse.
Paul stared at the screen, his heart pounding against his ribs.
He felt like a player who had been peacefully leveling up in the starting village, only to find the final boss already blocking the exit.
The overwhelming sense of crisis and powerlessness threatened to swallow him whole.
No!
Not like this!
Paul bit his tongue hard. The sharp pain snapped him back to his senses.
He had transmigrated, merged with the mind of a genius, not to sit here and wait for his doom before some unknown threat!
A crazed light flashed in his eyes.
"Jarvis! On my command!" His voice trembled with agitation, but his logic was perfectly clear. "Abandon the peripheral defenses! Concentrate all computing power on a single point and construct a data trap! I need to know what this thing is!"
"...Command confirmed. Mr. Paul, this action is extremely high-risk. If it fails, the core database will be completely exposed."
"Execute!"
Paul didn't hesitate for a second.
Better to strike out, even if only to see the enemy's face, than to be passively peeled apart layer by layer!
The piercing alarm in the room fell silent.
The blood-red warnings on the virtual screen vanished, replaced by a deathly darkness.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Just as the tension became nearly suffocating, a line of ethereal green characters, as if emerging from an abyss, slowly materialized in the center of the dark screen.
It was not a language known on Earth.
But the moment Paul saw it, he understood its meaning.
[Found you... Stark...]