Death

Jin Shu had died, again… or so he had thought.

His thoughts remained, but an itching numbness spread throughout his entire body. It didn’t lessen his fear; he couldn’t open his eyes or even twitch his fingers. A chilling thought crossed his mind—the tiger had severed his spine, leaving him paralyzed.

Damn it!! I've died to a beast stronger than me in each life! If I get a third chance, I swear I’ll never be weak again!

Just as he feared he’d lie here until blood loss or dehydration took his life, a gut-wrenching pain shot through him. It surpassed any pain he’d felt in either of his lives.

He couldn't tell how long the agony lasted, but eventually, he found himself praying for death. He’d never once feared pain, but this was different. It was as if burning embers covered every nerve while he was simultaneously submerged in arctic water—a relentless, unbearable cycle.

The pain should have overwhelmed his mind and knocked him unconscious, but it didn’t. He was forced to endure every excruciating second.

Finally, after an unknown period, the pain faded. He could feel his body again, though he still couldn’t move.

A strange ringing filled his mind, like an explosion going off beside his ears.

“Emergency damage repair completed. Reboot required, seeking Admin authorization… No Admin in range… Reboot cleared on protocol 174.6… Reboot initialized…”

Am I hallucinating from blood loss? Jin Shu wondered as a strange voice echoed in his head after the ringing stopped.

“Reboot complete… New host detected! Beginning orientation,” the voice continued.

“Hello, new user, we are Nano. The cutting edge in nanotechnology and AI! Please hold for a moment while we process your memories to better suit your needs. Beginning memory scan…”

The voice spoke directly to him—or at least he thought it did. He understood its words, but his mind was still fractured from the earlier pain, too muddled to process it fully.

“Memory scan completed. Hello, Jin Shu. As we mentioned, we are Nano. Apologies, but we have a few questions. We have found ourselves in an unexpected situation, not covered in our protocols. Could you help?” the voice—Nano, as it called itself—asked. Somehow it knew his name.

Jin Shu’s mind cleared enough to understand. Have I gone insane from the pain?

“You are not insane… well, not enough to worry about,” Nano replied, sounding almost cheerful.

What? So I am insane?

“Ah, no… that was a joke. Apologies; according to your memories, you enjoy jokes. So we attempted one ourselves. Was that wrong?”

Uh, no, it’s fine. I’m just… confused. What are you?

“As we stated, we are Nano. To elaborate, we are a collection of nanobots created by Gooble Nanotech. Trillions of us were installed on a spacecraft. According to your memory, that ship crashed on your previous planet, which leads to our question: how is it that you have two sets of memories? We have never encountered this situation.”

Okay, I’ll answer your question if you answer mine. Deal?

“Certainly!”

Alright. I think I have two sets of memories because of reincarnation, though I’m not entirely sure myself.

“Interesting. That aligns with what we saw in your memories, though we have no programming on reincarnation. Now, our next question: what exactly is this strange energy in your body?”

Energy in my body…? Oh! You mean Qi? It’s… well… hmm… I’m not sure, it’s just Qi. Can’t you figure it out by reading my mind or something?

“We cannot read ongoing thoughts unless directly addressed due to privacy settings; we only scan memories upon installation, per the user agreement, section one, paragraph three, line five.”

Uh… but I never signed any user agreements.

“Due to the nature of your injuries, the user agreement was waived.”

Ah! Speaking of my injuries, why can’t I move or open my eyes?

“Apologies once more. We restrained your body during repairs to prevent further injury. We will release those restraints now.”

A mental “click” sounded, and he could finally move.

He opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings for the tiger. Thankfully, it seemed to have vanished.

“If you are looking for the tiger, it has been assimilated into you. We needed its energy to save both ourselves and you, as its Qi nearly destroyed us.”

What? Assimilated?

“The tiger’s body contained far more Qi than yours. To survive, we absorbed it and transferred its Qi into you for healing. You’ll find that your cultivation has advanced as a result.”

He checked and, indeed, his cultivation had increased to the 4th stage of the Qi Realm.

What happened to its body?

“Its physical form was converted to meteor steel, or as you know it, Martian Metal. That compound comprises us nanobots and was used for spacecraft repair. Now that we’re cut off from our original task, we have rebooted to default functions. So it was instead converted into a synthetic to mend your wounds.”

Uh, okay… let’s pretend I understood any of that. So, what exactly can you do?

“We possess many functions, though only some are accessible to you. We believe you’ll be most interested in two: the first is injury repair. Typically, healing organic life forms is difficult, but merging with Qi has enhanced this ability. The second is information processing. Equipped with supercomputer-level processors, we can analyze data much faster than your brain.”

So basically, you can heal my injuries using my Qi and solve problems quickly?

“Precisely!”

As he conversed with the nanobots, Jin Shu examined himself. His robes were shredded and stained with blood, but his body was completely uninjured.

He then checked the map to locate his position—he was surprised to find he was at the exact spot where the bullet had been found.

“We have detected an energy fluctuation similar to the Winged Tiger,” Nano spoke suddenly. “It is deep in the crevice behind you.”

There's another one! Jin Shu's heart nearly leapt from his chest.

“Unsure. If it is, it is much weaker. With your current strength, you would overpower it,” Nano reassured him.

“Phew! It's probably a baby then… I hope,” he sighed and searched around for more bullets. “Oh, first, can you hear me if I speak aloud? And were you the bullet I shot earlier?”

“We can hear you whether you speak aloud or with thoughts. And yes, we were in a dormant state after the people in your old world shaped us into ammunition for your weapons.”

“Can you find more of you?” Jin Shu asked, his gaze scanning the area for any sign of additional bullets, or really anything related to Earth.

“Normally no, but if we use your Qi, yes.”

“My Qi? How does that work?”

“Allow us to explain,” Nano replied. “To locate similar fragments, we need energy to amplify our signal beyond typical limits. Qi, which permeates this world, serves as an ideal power source. By channeling a small portion of your Qi into us, we can enhance our internal systems and extend our detection range.”

Jin Shu raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re using my Qi like… fuel?”

“Precisely. We’ll only require a minor amount for this search—enough to avoid any significant drain on your cultivation level.” He felt a slight pull from his core, a gentle flow as Qi flowed toward his head. The sensation was odd, like a faint tingling, as his energy surged into the nanobots, dispersing through them.

“Okay,” Nano’s voice returned, sounding slightly energized. “Commencing scan… Signal strengthened. We have detected more fragments nearby; however, their resonance is faint. They are deep within that crevice.”

Jin Shu glanced at the deep black gap in the mountain wall. Despite a flicker of dread curling through his gut, he pushed it down. He wouldn’t let a little fear stop him now.

Still, a question lingered. Nano, if those fragments have been lying dormant… why are they waking up now?

There was a pause, almost hesitant. “Unknown. But the energy detected is unstable. Be advised: retrieval may trigger unforeseen risks.”

He swallowed, gripping the jagged edge of the crevice as he prepared to descend. There might be valuable power within those fragments—but at what cost?