Darkness was the first thing Long Yue remembered — not the soft, habitual dark of sleep, but an active, thick black that had the uneasy awareness of a closing stage. He tasted regret. Regret, bitter and metallic, like cheap instant coffee left in the sun.
SYSTEM: Booting… Max-Level Human System activated. Subject: Long Yue. Initial alignment: Modern soul. Save point created.
A voice. Not audible, but the thought that leapt into his head carried the crispness of a notification.
[MC / Long Yue:] "Okay, that's new."
He tried to open his eyes and instead felt a squeeze. Warmth pressed from all sides; a heartbeat surrounded him in rhythm. He had died — that much he remembered, in fragments: a bus, a screech, a fist-sized sound of metal. Then, absurdly, an ultimatum: when you wish you'd done more, reality sometimes listens.
SYSTEM: Transfer initiated. Temporal coordinates: Tang-dynasty approximate. Destination: maternal host uterus — gestational stage: late first trimester. Reward path unlocked: Neonatal Ascension.
"Neonatal… what?" Long Yue swallowed. He had the knowledge of someone who had read too many web forums at 3 a.m., and now every silly forum post about 'systems' haunted him as real. He had always joked about life resets; he hadn't expected one that required diapers.
Pain — a faint twist — and then an image like a painting: a palace courtyard, lanterns, an embroidered sleeve, and a woman's chest rising and falling, her breath a slow metronome. Long Yue realized, staggeringly, that the warmth was not metaphysical. He smelled incense and iron.
SYSTEM: Physiology: embryonic/newborn hybrid interface engaged. Motor control limited. Language module: neural overlay active. Primary objective: survive labor and be born into favor. Secondary objectives: increase base attributes via training, absorb cultural knowledge via maternal proximity bonuses.
He tried to form a sound. A muffled cry pressed against membranous walls. Beyond that barrier, voices — anxious, urgent — threaded through silk.
[Empress Wu:] "Is it a boy? Midwife, quick—do not alarm the Emperor."
"Boy" — the word hit like warmth. Favor. The system chimed with an invisible grin.
SYSTEM: Affinity bonus applied — Empress proximity +30. Title potential: Imperial Heir. Recommendation: Passive social engineering; micro-expression training. Unlock: Infant Charisma I.
Long Yue, who in his former life could not make a plant survive a week, felt absurdly pleased. Infant Charisma sounded suspiciously like "don't be eaten by palace jealousies."
A harder pain — labor intensified — and the membrane ruptured. He slid, uncomely yet miraculous, into sharp damp air. The world resolved into light and the thunder of voices. Someone slapped his back. Heat, clamor, the artistry of hands. Someone cooed a sound that matched no language he knew and yet felt like lullaby.
[Midwife Li:] "A strong cry! He will live."
He was held up like a small, wet moon; the ceiling spun into a bright tapestry. A face leaned close — eyes like a storm — and for a blink he understood the danger and the advantage both. The woman's gaze was complicated: it contained steel, exhaustion, and something like hunger — for an heir, for leverage, for a future.
[Empress Wu:] "Long Yue. So small, yet… the heavens favor us."
The system pulsed. Name recognition registered. Social Thread: 'Empress Wu' mapped to highest court influence. Suggestion: Immediate loyalty calibration.
Loyalty. He thought of the office where he had wasted years answering emails full of polite fury. He thought of parents who said "be useful." He thought of dumplings and a bus seat.
[MC / Long Yue:] (a thought, not a sound) "Alright, tiny body. Let's not get assassinated today."
He did not know if the system heard humor, but a notification blinked clean and cheerful inside his skull.
SYSTEM: Quest accepted: Survive day one. Reward: 100 XP, 1 Empress Favor token.
Long Yue, new and wet and absurdly alive, let out a small wail that sounded uncannily like determination.
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