Pain did not come first.
Clarity did.
Zhang Wei opened his eyes to the scent of incense and aged wood. The ceiling above him was carved with fading cloud patterns—traditional Eastern craftsmanship, hand-carved, expensive, and old. Not museum-old. Clan-old.
For a brief moment, he simply breathed.
Then memory followed.
This body was male, eighteen years old as of today. The name attached to it surfaced naturally—Zhang Wei. He was standing inside a residence located in San Francisco's Chinatown, a place that blended modern architecture with old-world Eastern design.
But the soul inhabiting this body did not belong here.
He remembered dying.
Not violently. Not dramatically. Just… gone. One moment awareness existed, the next it didn't. Then came weight, breath, sensation.
Rebirth.
Not as a child.
Not as an infant.
He had awakened directly into a body that had just crossed adulthood. Bones fully grown. Nervous system intact. Fate unshaped.
A deliberate choice.
The smell of incense thickened as the clock on the wall ticked forward.
11:59 PM.
12:00 AM.
The second hand clicked into place.
His eighteenth birthday.
Something changed.
[DING!]
The sound did not come from the room. It echoed directly within his consciousness—calm, mechanical, unquestionable.
[Daily Sign-In System successfully bound.]
[Host identified: Zhang Wei.]
[Age requirement met.]
[World confirmed: Marvel Cinematic Multiverse — Primary Timeline.]
Zhang Wei did not panic.
His previous life had taught him that when the impossible announced itself so plainly, denial was pointless.
The air distorted subtly, as if reality itself acknowledged the declaration.
[This system allows the host to perform daily sign-ins.]
[Each sign-in grants rewards drawn from any universe, timeline, dimension, or fictional construct.]
[Reward parameters: Randomized.]
[Safety clause: Rewards will not directly harm the host.]
A brief pause followed.
[First sign-in available.]
Zhang Wei exhaled slowly.
"Confirm."
The world stopped.
Sound vanished. Gravity loosened its grip. His consciousness was pulled from his body and submerged into an endless white expanse where symbols—alien, arcane, and mechanical—floated like distant stars.
[First Sign-In Reward confirmed.]
[Reward: SUPERMAN TEMPLATE (Complete).]
For a fraction of a second, there was nothing.
Then everything happened at once.
Kryptonian genetics unfolded and merged with his own at a conceptual level. Cells reforged themselves molecule by molecule. His skeletal structure densified. His blood glowed faintly before stabilizing. His heart beat once—
—and that single beat reverberated like thunder across dimensions.
His soul trembled under the pressure of it.
Not from fear.
From magnitude.
This was not a copy. Not a weakened variant. Not an imitation.
This was the complete, prime Superman template.
The system reacted immediately.
[WARNING: Energy overload detected.]
[Applying safety seal.]
[Eastern Meridian Suppression Array deployed.]
[Power output restricted to 0.1% pending host adaptation.]
The pressure vanished.
Zhang Wei collapsed onto the wooden floor, breath coming fast but controlled. His body felt heavy, grounded, real.
He was alive.
More than alive.
He could hear the entire residence—every creak, every breath, every insect outside the walls. He could feel the planet beneath him, the distant pull of the sun, the fragile weakness of matter itself.
He clenched his fist.
The air cracked.
He released it instantly.
"…So this is Marvel," he murmured.
Morning came.
Soft sunlight filtered through the lattice windows, brushing against his skin. The moment the light touched him, something deep within his cells stirred—hungry, instinctive, ancient. Yellow-star radiation was absorbed effortlessly, silently reinforcing every fiber of his being.
He rose from the floor as if nothing had happened.
Before him stood a bronze mirror embedded into the wall of the inner hall. Zhang Wei stepped closer and examined his reflection. Black hair. Calm eyes. Sharp features.
The memories of this body settled fully.
Zhang Wei.
Eighteen years old.
Member of the Zhang Family.
Officially, the family ran import–export businesses, antique trade, and traditional medicine. Unofficially, they were the remnants of an Eastern cultivation lineage that had survived migration, wars, and the suffocation of the modern world.
Once, they had walked alongside legends.
Now, they hid.
This body had reached adulthood only hours ago. No karmic debts. No broken foundation. No wasted potential.
A perfect vessel.
The air rippled again.
[DING!]
[Daily Sign-In System standing by.]
[Next sign-in available in 24 hours.]
Zhang Wei flexed his fingers slowly.
The power beneath his skin was terrifyingly restrained. A simple instinct told him that if the seal were lifted, the entire residence would not collapse—it would be erased.
He did not test it.
He stepped out of the ancestral hall and into the courtyard.
Outside, the city awakened. Cars moved. People spoke. Radios played.
A television inside the outer room echoed faintly.
"—Stark Industries reports another breakthrough in clean-energy arc reactor applications—"
Tony Stark.
A man who relied on intelligence, preparation, and technology.
Zhang Wei turned away.
"I don't need armor," he said quietly.
Sunlight bathed him fully now, feeding him, strengthening him, welcoming him.
High above, an orbital satellite experienced a brief system malfunction.
Far away, a sorcerer paused mid-incantation, frowning for reasons he could not explain.
And in the vast, unseen fabric of the multiverse, something ancient and patient had opened its eyes.