Chen Gu opened his eyes to see a middle-aged man standing before him. The man pressed lightly on his wrist, and with a soft ZIPP, several electronic legal documents projected into the space between them.
Chen Gu ignored this advanced technology, as his mind was in turmoil. How could I be here? I was just getting ready to meet up with an attractive, mature female film producer on my stylish motorcycle...
"These documents can prove that a biological father-son relationship exists between us," the middle-aged man spoke.
Chen Gu had already stood up from the bed, but that statement made him sit back down with a THUMP. "Are you saying... you are my father?"
Chen Gu scrutinized the other person: around forty years old, wearing a stiff black uniform with silver trim. A medal hung on the left side of his chest, and three stripes of matte metallic plating adorned his right shoulder.
His eyes were half-closed, just enough to mostly conceal his eyeballs, giving a "listless" impression, as if there wasn’t much left in the world that could pique his interest.
The middle-aged man’s eyelids didn’t move an inch as he said in a slow, indifferent tone, "No, I am your son."
"What?!" Chen Gu jumped up again, hitting his head on the frame of the upper bunk. The bed frame shook violently, but he was too shocked to mind the pain. "So, I’m the father all of a sudden? This has to be the wrong script! You’re so old, how could you possibly be my son? Come on, close your eyes. Let’s try this again."
Upon opening his eyes again, the middle-aged man was still standing there ramrod straight, his listless eyes carrying a hint of coldness, completely unaffected by Chen Gu’s nonsensical outburst.
Chen Gu’s mind was a mess. What’s going on? What exactly is happening?
Upon closer examination of this older ’son,’ Chen Gu incredulously discovered that if the man’s eyelids were fully opened, he indeed... bore some resemblance to himself?!
The middle-aged man tapped on one of the documents, which automatically enlarged and zoomed in before Chen Gu. The file contained a series of proofs confirming they were indeed biological father and son.
While Chen Gu was still looking, the middle-aged man, eyelids unmoving, pushed an electronic check in front of him.
Chen Gu’s eyes immediately fixed on the long string of "0s." He sheepishly started counting them. Before he could finish, the middle-aged man, his eyes still half-closed, spoke again, his voice cold, "This is one billion Starshield. Take the money, find yourself a place to live, and try to have no further contact with my family."
After saying his piece, he turned and left, clean and decisive.
Chen Gu was stunned again. This script is wrong again! Staring at the one-billion electronic check for a good while, Chen Gu finally finished counting. Nine "0s"—that’s right, one billion.
What the hell... Am I really being kicked out of the house by my own son with a check?
Isn’t this the kind of script you find with a domineering President, an evil mother-in-law, and a daughter-in-law from a humble background?
But casually throwing around one billion at least confirms that my family is indeed wealthy. Chen Gu actually felt somewhat relieved. He was sure he must have transported to another world. And it seems... not bad? Starting off with one billion.
But what on earth is going on?
Suddenly, Chen Gu felt a dizzying sensation in his head, as if something was about to break free, even causing intense, tearing pain in his brain.
Just then, from the honeycomb-shaped loudspeaker in an upper corner of the room, a synthetic electronic voice sounded: "Prisoner 8203, congratulations. You have been released early."
Prisoner! Release? Memories flooded Chen Gu’s brain explosively. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed. THUD.
Chen Jixian, his eyes half-closed and listless, walked out of the prison with a standard military gait. Outside the dark grey heavy alloy gate, a dark green maglev car awaited him.
The orderly immediately opened the car door. Just as Chen Jixian was about to get in, the warden hurried out after him. "Colonel, he’s fainted—it might be a side effect of the Soul Imprisonment."
Chen Jixian frowned. He felt nothing but indifference toward this "biological father." In comparison, his feelings for his grandfather were even more complex.
However, he had just spoken to the man, and now he had fainted. Chen Jixian hesitated for a moment, then said to the orderly, "Wait for me a bit longer."
A few hours later, Chen Gu finally woke up. The hospital ward was a sterile, bright white.
His own son, Chen Jixian, sat upright in a chair against the wall. He spoke with the same indifference, "Your things have all been packed. There’s nothing seriously wrong with your body. Once you’ve rested enough, you can be discharged from prison."
After a slight hesitation, he added, "After you get out, start a new life. Live your own life."
Then, he pushed the door open and left.
During his unconsciousness, Chen Gu’s memories had integrated with those of the original body’s owner. Sitting on the hospital bed, he calmed himself for a moment. Then, the electronic synthetic voice filled the ward: "Prisoner 8203, your sentence is now complete. You may leave at your convenience."
Twenty minutes later, Chen Gu, carrying a shabby backpack, walked out of the prison’s heavy alloy gate. He looked back and saw eight luminous green characters on the gate: Wuzhaoyin City Second Prison.
Outside, a world far more advanced than his previous life unfolded before Chen Gu’s eyes: skyscrapers of bizarre designs, disc-shaped floating islands twinkling with lights, rainbow-like superconducting transport bridges, perpetually slow public mag-trains, and luxurious, streamlined maglev cars...
In his previous life, Chen Gu had been a minor actor. So, after merging memories while unconscious, he was, in fact, "performing" as another version of himself.
Once he boarded the mag-train heading to the city center, he placed his backpack at his feet, leaned back slowly into the seat, took a deep breath, and buoyed his spirits. So what if my own son kicked me out? I’m now a man with a billion in my grasp! In my last life, the most I ever handled was two hundred million. Things are very different now!
Not long after Chen Gu had left, people started to gather in twos and threes outside the prison. Once everyone had arrived, a leader with a wolfish face took out a red bandana and tied it around his head.
The others had already donned theirs. In the center of each red bandana was the symbol of a radiant bow and arrow.
With a wave from the wolfish leader, several people quickly planted high-yield metallic hydrogen bombs beneath the prison’s 3-foot-thick layered armor wall.
The massive explosion shook the entire prison violently. The outer wall was blasted open, creating a breach over 5 meters long. The guards stationed outside suffered heavy casualties.
Amidst the prison’s piercing alarms, these individuals, brandishing guns, charged in, yelling, "Prophet, we’ve come to save you!"
The shaken prison guards returned fire from behind various forms of cover. The wolfish leader was the last to slowly walk into the prison. Arriving at the firefight, he ignored the guards’ ferocious barrage and marched forward, various bullets striking him with a series of PINGS and CLANGS.
The wolfish leader suddenly let out a demonic laugh, "KEH KEH KEH—" With a RRRIP, his clothes burst apart, flying in all directions. The roar of massive machinery sounded as the wolfish leader’s frame suddenly surged in height. Underneath his tattered clothes, a grotesque cybernetic body was revealed.
A core power reactor flickered with a dark red glow. Eight mechanical arms extended, each wielding a different weapon: a chainsaw sword, Plasma Halberd, Thermobaric Orb, magnetic bow, heat-ray wheel, superdense mace, High Wave Bell, and Field Force Seal!
The eight arms spread out behind him in a radial pattern, exuding an eerie, mystical, almost religious aura.
The surfaces of the mechanical components were rust-spotted. His massive frame was supported by a thick metallic spine, which protected the wolfish leader’s entire spinal cord and connected upwards to his brain.
The chest cavity, which once housed internal organs, had been replaced with two large-caliber energy stream projectors.
The prison guards screamed in alarm, "That’s powerful illegal body modification! Run for it!"