Lin Xuanyuan woke with a start, gasping for breath as if the air itself had turned to ice in his lungs.
The crimson sky outside still stretched endlessly, casting a bloody light across the shattered ruins around him. But something inside his body was different—something alive and trembling.
He sat up slowly, muscles twitching unnaturally. The aches from before had vanished, replaced by a strange tingling sensation that crept beneath his skin like fire and ice intertwined.
His hand twitched, and the veins beneath his skin pulsed with a faint golden glow.
"Not again…" he muttered, voice hoarse.
The AI's calm, clinical voice filled his mind without warning.
> "Host bio-signals indicate drastic cellular mutation. Meridians initiating unnatural expansion."
Lin's fingers curled, and suddenly a shockwave of static rippled outward, cracking a nearby stone slab.
He stumbled back, eyes wide with a mixture of awe and fear.
> "Meridians are energy channels traditionally used in cultivation practices. Your body is developing new pathways, enhanced by nanocore technology."
Nanocore. The word echoed in his mind like a mantra.
He remembered the Forbidden Core—the pulsing black orb—how it had burned through his flesh and spirit, leaving a permanent mark.
His heart pounded harder. The AI continued.
> "This fusion is rare, Lin Xuanyuan. A blend of ancient cultivation and cutting-edge technology—Techno-Spirit Channeling."
He blinked. Cultivation? Technology? It felt like madness.
Yet his mind had never been clearer.
Complex formulas and symbols flashed through his vision like digital code.
He focused on his hands, willing the golden light to flow.
Suddenly, a spark jumped from his palm to a nearby rusted pipe. The metal flared with sudden heat, sizzling as it ignited.
Lin yelped and pulled back.
"Slow down," he whispered. "I don't even know how to control this."
> "Instinctual response activated. Your neural pathways are adapting faster than average."
He clenched his fists, feeling the hum of power coursing beneath his skin.
The ruins around him groaned with the weight of forgotten history.
He was no longer just a starving orphan. He was something… more.
But with power came danger.
Suddenly, sharp footsteps echoed from behind a broken wall.
Lin's head snapped up.
Figures emerged—ragged, desperate scavengers with sunken eyes and makeshift weapons.
"Hey! You there! Give us your tech!" one snarled.
Lin's breath caught.
The AI was already analyzing the threat.
> "Hostile entities detected. Threat level: high."
Lin backed away, heart hammering.
But as the scavengers advanced, a cold clarity settled over him.
He raised his hand instinctively.
Golden light surged, crackling like lightning.
A pulse of energy shot forward, knocking one attacker off his feet with a thunderous boom.
The others hesitated, eyes wide with shock.
Lin didn't wait.
He sprinted through the ruins, limbs moving faster and more fluidly than ever before.
The scavengers gave chase, screaming curses and firing crude projectiles.
The air shimmered around him as the AI offered tactical guidance.
> "Use the environment. Activate Palm Pulse. Aim for disruption and escape."
Lin barely understood the words, but his body responded.
Another wave of golden energy blasted a pile of rubble, sending it crashing onto his pursuers.
His lungs burned, sweat poured down his face, but he felt alive in a way he never had before.
He was no longer prey—he was a predator, armed with a secret power that even he barely understood.
Finally, he ducked into the hollow remains of a building.
His chest heaved as the scavengers stopped at the entrance, snarling in frustration.
Lin pressed his back against the cold wall, golden veins still glowing faintly beneath his skin.
> "Mutation progression: 62%. Neural pathways adapting."
The AI's voice was calm, but Lin felt a storm inside him.
"How am I supposed to survive this world… if I don't even know who or what I'm becoming?" he whispered.
A new resolve bloomed.
He was not going to be a victim.
Not anymore.
Not while the last spark of an ancient empire burned within him.
The future was uncertain.
The wasteland was merciless.
But Lin Xuanyuan was beginning to rise.
And this was only the first mutation.
The scavengers' snarls slowly faded into the distance, but Lin Xuanyuan remained still, crouched in the shadow of the ruined building.
His breath came in ragged gasps, but his mind buzzed—not with fear, but calculation. Every cell in his body seemed to be shifting, optimizing. He could hear more clearly. Smell rust and blood in the air. His muscles didn't tremble from exhaustion—they trembled with hunger.
> "Host body entering Stage One Optimization. Combat reflexes enhanced. Cognitive processing speed increased by 37%."
He stared at his hands again. His fingertips glowed with a faint, pulsing energy. The static under his skin hadn't faded. It wanted out.
"I can't stay here," he whispered. "Not if they're still hunting."
> "Recommendation: head east. Energy readings indicate residual quantum signature—likely an ancient relay beacon."
"A beacon?" he asked. "From before the Fall?"
> "Affirmative. Potential link to legacy data. Possible access to lost archives."
His eyes narrowed. If that beacon still functioned, even barely, it could hold knowledge about the world before everything burned—maybe even clues about the empire the AI kept referencing.
He stood slowly, stretching his limbs. Even the weight of exhaustion felt distant now—pushed away by the mutating force inside him.
But then… a sound.
Not footsteps.
Whispers.
Low. Raspy. Unnatural.
He spun around and peered through a crack in the crumbling wall.
A new figure was approaching. Not a scavenger. Taller. Wrapped in black ragged robes that fluttered unnaturally despite the still air. No face—just a white mask with a cracked golden rune.
Lin's body tensed.
> "Warning: energy anomaly detected. Entity is not human. Caution advised."
The figure tilted its head slowly, as though it could sense him. Then it raised its hand—three skeletal fingers stretched toward the air.
Dark mist slithered from its palm like liquid shadow.
And Lin heard it.
A voice. Inside his mind.
"You carry the spark… The Echo remembers…"
Pain exploded in Lin's skull. He fell to one knee, clutching his temples.
> "Mental intrusion detected. Initiating firewall protocol."
The AI's voice was strained now, distorted.
His vision blurred—he saw flashes of an ancient throne… a city floating in the skies… men and women with blazing eyes and divine armor…
And then… a fall. The sky split. Screaming metal. Heaven, shattered.
He gasped, and the vision vanished.
The figure was gone.
The mist too.
Just a smear of black ash where it once stood.
Lin staggered to his feet, heart pounding.
"What the hell was that?"
> "Data corruption… Entity registered in ancient archives as 'Whispered Revenant.' Artifact of the old war. Class: Exile."
He didn't understand all of it—but one thing was clear.
He wasn't alone.
And whatever haunted this world now… it remembered the empire he had glimpsed. The same one Heaven's Will spoke of. The same one the Forbidden Core had linked him to.
He took a shaky breath and began moving east, toward the beacon the AI had mentioned.
The ruins stretched endlessly around him. The wind howled. But he kept walking.
Each step burned into the cracked earth with a new kind of purpose.
He didn't understand everything—not yet.
But if he truly carried the last spark of Heaven's fallen empire…
Then he would forge it into fire.
One mutation at a time.