Chapter 1: Crossing Over

Wu Shi was violently awakened by a noise as loud as the early-morning rush at a vegetable market.

"So noisy…… Are they not letting people sleep anymore……"

She muttered groggily, trying to lift her hand to rub her eyes, but found her arms heavy and unresponsive.

With great effort, she barely lifted eyelids that felt as heavy as a thousand jin.

Then she froze.

What she saw was not the familiar ceiling, but a pitch-black universe dotted with countless stars.

"…… Haven't I woken up yet?" she thought instinctively, only to realize she couldn't even perform that simple action.

Her brain felt like rusted gears, creaking as it began to turn.

Space? How am I in space?

She strained to turn her stiff "gaze"—if it could be called that—toward the source of the noise.

Just looking at it almost scared her soul out of her body.

Ahead, countless starships of various sizes and shapes were arrayed in a tight formation, all aimed at her.

That racket seemed to be a mix of the starships' engine roars and the humming when energy builds up.

"What the heck…… A live viewing of an interstellar war? This dream is pretty impressive……"

Wu Shi was still dazed when she saw the starships' gun muzzles suddenly flare with blinding light!

In the next instant, countless energy beams poured down like a violent storm, precisely bombarding her…… uh, "body"?

The expected excruciating pain did not arrive.

Rather than pain, it felt like being flicked by countless mischievous kids with rubber bands—dense, a bit annoying, but definitely not harmful.

The energy bursts exploded on her "body," turning into showers of sparkling light that were actually quite pretty.

"This dream…… feels oddly textured? Is the tactile simulation failing?" She felt bewildered, even a bit amused.

What is this? A cosmic-level massage?

She tried to lower her head to see what state she was in, but the movement was extremely difficult.

She could only go by feel—she seemed, perhaps, maybe…… extremely huge?

Those imposing starships, in her perception, were like a swarm of bees buzzing around an elephant.

In her peripheral vision, she seemed to catch a few dark, indistinct arm‑like objects of unclear material floating silently on either side of her body.

"What…… have I turned into? A space monster?" Wu Shi's bewilderment kept skyrocketing.

Just as she struggled to make sense of the situation, a primal sense of danger suddenly gripped her!

It was intensely stronger—by millions of times—than that earlier "massage rain"!

Almost involuntarily, her "consciousness" drove some kind of power.

A condensed pulse of purple energy wave, emanating Destruction, shot from somewhere on her "body" toward the source of the lethal threat she sensed—a nearly invisible glint of silver light against the cosmic backdrop.

Yet her seemingly all‑powerful counterattack was as flimsy as paper before that silver light.

The silver light—now visible as an antiquated little dagger—sliced through her purple energy wave as easily as a hot knife through cold butter!

Its force showed no diminution!

"What?!" Wu Shi's "consciousness" overflowed with disbelief.

That silver light rapidly expanded in her "field of view" and then precisely pierced the core of her "body".

"Sss—"

A kind of pain, as if her soul were being torn apart violently, erupted instantly, far surpassing all her past cognition of "pain".

"Ugh—ah—!"

Darkness surged like a tide, instantly engulfing all her perception.

……

"Hah—!"

Wu Shi shot up into a sitting position, the motion so vigorous she almost wrenched her waist—if she had a waist now.

She panted violently, her chest heaving, and instinctively patted her breast, feeling the warm, soft touch of human flesh and the fine friction of fabric.

Cold sweat slid down her temples, bringing an icy sensation.

"I…… I just…… was I killed?" she murmured, her voice trembling with the aftermath of survival.

This voice was clear and cold with a hint of softness, completely unlike her own voice as she remembered it.

She finally snapped out of that overly realistic "nightmare" and began to survey her surroundings.

Blank.

Boundless, pure white.

No up, down, left, right, no sense of heaven or earth, and even gravity unfelt, yet she stood firmly "on" this expanse of white.

"Where is this? The afterlife? Or…… another dream?" She rose to her feet, full of doubt, her movements hesitant because this body still felt alien.

She lowered her head and looked at her hands.

They were a pair of extraordinarily beautiful hands.

Pale, slender, with distinct knuckles and nails trimmed round and clean.

But these were definitely not her hands!

She remembered her hands being…… uh, from years of…… what did she do again?

She couldn't recall, but they were certainly not the delicate, pampered hands of a lady who never touched work.

Her gaze continued downward.

She wore an elaborately designed, odd‑material off‑shoulder Lolita Dress, its main tones a mysterious deep black and purple, layers of lace and ribbons tracing a slender waist.

Below the skirt, the revealed leg line was graceful.

On her chest were adorned several small, exquisite skull ornaments, which not only did not look frightening, but added a touch of mysterious cuteness.

She reached up and touched the top of her head — it was an enormous Mo Nu Mao, likewise in black‑purple tones, its brim soft‑ly drooping, decorated with several flowers that seemed to be eternally in bloom, emitting a faint light, purple, with petals that felt delicate and real.

She reached out and lifted a strand of hair that fell to her chest — it was a gray‑white like moonlight mixed with first snow, smooth as silk, reaching her waist.

"I… what… is this…?" Wu Shi was completely dumbfounded.

This outfit, this hair, this voice… they belong to a complete stranger!

She tentatively spoke again, her voice uncertain: "Is anyone there? This… where…?"

The moment her words fell, as if responding to her call, directly before her, without any warning, a huge semi‑transparent panel emitting a soft white light silently appeared.

"Wah!" Wu Shi jumped back a small step in fright, flustered before steadying herself.

The writing on the panel was some kind of strange symbol she had never seen before, yet she strangely could understand its meaning.

【Welcome, esteemed existence.】

The font was elegant and dignified, exuding a non‑human aloofness.

Upon detecting "Emperor III", the automatic praise mode activated:

"Emperor III", unparalleled in the world!

"Iron Tower Titan", supremely intelligent!

"Black Curtain Lady", causing fish to sink and geese to fall!