Xiao Tian looked away, unable to meet the beast's eyes.Something inside him trembled. A memory resurfaced—an inexplicable feeling, a lingering echo from the moment he touched the energy core.It was strange. Foreign. Yet familiar, as if it had always been a part of him, waiting for the right moment to awaken.
The beast continued to stare at him, unwavering.
"Say it," it said, voice low and calm."Say 'Activate system,' and you will understand everything I've said."
Xiao Tian's chest tightened. His throat went dry.A part of him screamed caution.But another—louder, more insistent—burned with the fire of curiosity.
He thought of the impossible things he had experienced.The strange visions, the instinctive movements that had saved him, the strange whispers of guidance when he was lost.He couldn't explain them.Not logically.Not without admitting… something else was at work.
He clenched his fists.A breath in.
"…Fine," he whispered under his breath.
He raised his head, locking eyes with the beast. His voice trembled—but his eyes, sharp with determination, did not.
"Activate system."
The moment the words left his lips, something inside him clicked.
His body jolted as if struck by invisible force.Muscles spasmed.His vision went white.His mind was pulled backward, inward, into a space that wasn't physical—but utterly real.
Everything around him slowed.Even sound faded.
And then—
Beep. Beep. Beep.
[System initializing...][Boot sequence recognized. Core host identified: Unit - Xiaotian_Prototype_██][Establishing link with cognitive interface...][Synchronizing internal memory map...][Activating passive protocols...]
Words. Lines of code. Unknown glyphs.
They floated in front of his vision, not with his eyes but within his mind—clear, precise, relentless.
[Restoring: Backup Memory Protocol...][Restoring: Anti-Detection Skill...][Restoring: Basic Module Hack...][Restoring: Shadow Archive Memory...][Restoring: Combat Prediction Engine...][Restoring: Language Library – Galactic Set B][Restoring: Skill Tree Placeholder Branches...][Installing: Primary Command Suite...]
Data surged.
Each line felt like a thunderclap in his skull.Symbols burned themselves into memory.Maps. Names. Images. Numbers. Possibilities.
[System interface loading...][Estimated total memory sync: 92%... 96%... 99%...]
A final prompt echoed.
[Download ready. Are you prepared to proceed?]
His mind was spinning. He couldn't breathe properly.He didn't understand what any of it meant.
But still… his mouth responded:
"Ready."
The moment the word left him, the markings on his arm exploded with light—pulsing like a heartbeat.
What had once been dormant lines etched faintly under the skin now ignited into brilliance.Glowing veins of azure surged across his forearm in intricate patterns—spiraling, branching, then collapsing back into lines like circuitry made of light.
The light didn't just glow.It moved.
It ran like electricity, flashing in pulses, streaming from fingertip to shoulder in synchronized loops—like digital running lights across a living interface.
Tiny nodes blinked in and out along the pattern, forming shifting symbols that looked almost like command code evolving in real time.The speed of it increased—moving faster, sharper, as if the system recognized his consent and was reconfiguring his very structure.
To any onlooker, it would have seemed as if Xiao Tian's arm had turned into the arm of a machine.But this wasn't technology grafted onto flesh.This was something deeper—something designed to exist within a human host, and now... fully awake.
He winced as the energy surged upward, leaving trails of pale blue light across his skin.And just as suddenly as it had begun—it stabilized, focusing around the central sigil on his forearm.
It throbbed once.Twice.Then—calm.
Then the flood came.
Memories.Of places he had never seen.Of languages he had never spoken.Of strategies, survival instincts, combat systems, and the coded framework of something far larger than himself.
Knowledge.How to access locked doors.How to analyze battlefields.How to disappear within the system without alerting it.How to predict a target's next move three seconds before it happened.
It was too much.
He gasped.His knees gave out.He collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, drenched in sweat.
Pain seared through his head. His pulse hammered in his ears.And still—more came.
World layouts. Historical simulations.Alternate event trees.Error logs from other iterations—versions of himself he had never lived.
Then—
Sudden silence.
The stream ended.
He blinked. His body trembled. His chest rose and fell, chest heaving from the strain.But he was… awake.
He was himself.And yet—he was not.
The fear in his gaze was gone.What replaced it… was clarity.
He stood up, slowly, like a man seeing the world for the first time.
Scene Transition—
Xiao Tian stepped out of the containment chamber.
The cold metallic floor echoed faintly beneath his feet.But even the echoes felt different.Each step—measured. Confident.There was a rhythm to his gait now. A pattern his muscles remembered even if he didn't.
He could feel the presence of the system within him—silent, humming just beneath the surface.
Around him, the corridor remained frozen in time.Lanterns stood suspended mid-flicker.The water itself floated like glass.
He looked ahead.
The city lord remained frozen mid-step, exactly as before.It was like nothing had changed—except for him.
He looked down at his hand.The light from the markings had faded… but something deeper remained.
He whispered to himself:
"Deactivate anti-detection skill."
And then—
Click—
The world restarted.
The current of water flowed again.The pearl lanterns shimmered gently.The chill in the corridor returned.
The city lord took another step, then spoke without turning:
"We're almost at the exit."
Xiao Tian said nothing.He simply followed.
His face was calm. Neutral.But inside his mind—thousands of subroutines were running in silence.
No one noticed.Not the city lord. Not the system.
But Xiao Tian…was no longer just an NPC.