> "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent."
— A Bronx Tale
Yu Liyue used to laugh at quotes like that. Melodramatic, she once thought, the kind of thing people say when they fail and wanted the world to feel sorry for them.
Now, lying in the middle of the road with headlights blinding her and time slowing to a stop, the weight of it sinks in.
She had wasted it. She had wasted her damn life.
All those hours training, failing, trying again. All the years refusing love, stability, even her mother's kind insistence: "Just be a housewife, it's safer."
But the stars had called to her, unreachable, blinding, and beautiful stars.
She reached for them until her fingers broke.
And now the truck was the final punctuation mark.
Thirty-three years gone in one loud bang.
"Ahh. Mother, I've been a fool." she cried bitterly.
These were her last words as her final breath left her.
How easy it was for one to disappear from existence.
How can one live and have no story to tell?
Truly. Liyue's heart was filled with regrets.
She should have lived, she would have tried harder, she should have paid more attention to her family, she should have been better.
But her story has come to its end.
The void she was in was endless, she could feel her unconsciousness somewhere but never fully awake.
A tiny sound was heard and a bright light filled her dark world.
[Hmm? Another regretful soul? Let's see how you lived your life and if you're worthy of a second chance]
Liyue wondered who was talking, their hands felt cold to the touch.
Whatever it was, had made her remember all the parts of her life and she left even more at loss.
[What a pitiful soul. You were blinded by your love for the stars, so much that you couldn't see the other things around you.]
How unfortunate.
[Very well. I will grant you this new life. Since you like the stars so much. I will take you to a place when you see them every morning when you wake up and every night when you sleep.]
Syncing system recalibration…
Transferring soul 1341 to galaxy C4137
Life count: 2
The light deepened.
It curled like silk around her, seeping into memory, thought, breath. She had no sense of time, whether seconds passed or centuries. There was no pain, only the ache of becoming something else.
[Syncing consciousness…]
[Initializing neural merge. Compatibility... 97.3%. Adjusting for cognitive variance.]
[Organic-AI shell stabilization… complete.]
[Warning: Memory fragments detected. Emotional overflow: high. Recommending partial suppression.]
A breath she didn't remember taking was released from her new lungs. It echoed like wind through metal.
[Soul imprint confirmed. Subject Yu Liyue is now registered under Host ID: Huiya.]
[Welcome to Galaxy C4137.]
[System Yunshi online]
She opened her eyes instantly, a sharp pang rang through her head.
A million pieces of information ran through her head, from ones she was familiar with to ones she couldn't comprehend.
"Where am I??"
[Welcome! I'm Yunshi, your passive-aggressive system. You are Huiya.]
[Race: Human-Ai hybrid.]
[Type: Synthetic-organic hybrid]
She blinked, reaching for her head. She had two different memories in her head but she couldn't remember which one was her original.
"So I'm Huiya??"
[><]
[Uh-huh. You are Huiya.]
Her eyes darkened slightly, all her memories had settled in, she had dreamed of becoming an astronaut in her past life and got in an accident, that led her soul being transferred to this body.
This body that has been deemed a traitor by her home planet and forced to flee.
She could remember everything from her past life except from her name. She couldn't remember her name and everything that lead to her being said or shown was blocked or erased.
"They won't stop until they find me. That Zepthorian bastard, he's the reason why she's in this predicament right?"
[Pretty much. Saving him was the one human thing Huiya has ever done.]
".."
From her memories, this body was built for war, she was sent to war, to conquer planets, her fight with the Zepthorian was one she couldn't win.
[You keep calling yourself her? You are her? Are you not ready to accept this identity? Only when you accept this identity will I be given a form.]
Liyue's hands clenched, until she has died, her wish to see the stars had been granted.
So she had no choice but to accept this life.
"Very well. I will accepted becoming Huiya."
[Congratulations! You've triggered a death flag. I am Yunshi, your multiple choice, passive aggressive, event based system. Whenever you've triggered a death flag, you'll be given a multiple choices to escape it. Your first task is to clear your name. You'll be given 30 Zepthorian cycle to gather your evidence, then you'll be given 10 Ambrosian cycle to return to galaxy Ambrosia. Do you understand it all]
Huiya lowered her hand. She felt the cold metal of her thigh, the soft hum of energy under her skin. Even now, it was hard to tell where she ended and where the body began.
"I understand," she said.
[Great. Then let's begin.]
Her surroundings lit up slowly, like a curtain being drawn back. She was lying on a bed, but it wasn't soft. It was made of something firm and warm. The ceiling above her was clear glass, and beyond it, stars glimmered like silver dust.
The sight made her breath catch.
They were so close. The stars.
She reached out to touch them, palm pressing flat to the glass. Her hand looked human, even felt human. She could see the faint lines of her palm, the curve of her fingers, the softness of skin, but she knew it wasn't skin.
[You're currently aboard a dormant freighter vessel named Orien 9. Abandoned twelve cycles ago. Located in the outer ring of Zepthor's mining zone. My hiding skills are pretty neat ><]
"How long was I offline?"
[Three cycles. No one knows you're awake yet.]