Swallowed Star

When he woke again, he was already lying in a hospital bed in the military district hospital.

An IV was running into his right hand. Looking at the white blanket and smelling the disinfectant lingering in the air, Lin Yan suddenly felt as though everything he had just experienced had been nothing more than a dream.

He opened the system panel.

Host: Lin Yan

Identity: First-year student at Huaxia National Defense University, Second Lieutenant of the Northern Military Region in Tianjing Base City

Realm: None

Soul Power: 58

Skill: Precision Shot (F-rank)

Passive Skill: Firearms Specialization (F-rank)

The original soul of this body has dissipated. You may choose to obtain the body's original memories. This requires 20 Soul Power. Proceed with memory fusion?

Note: Memory fusion can improve the compatibility between soul and body and eliminate negative effects.

Lin Yan was initially delighted. Fifty-eight points of Soul Power was quite a haul, but then he saw the prompt box at the bottom of the system panel.

After giving it some thought, he chose to accept.

He could still afford 20 points of Soul Power.

More importantly, he was eager to understand his current circumstances. He knew nothing about the original owner's family, friends, or any other information. He did not even know what kind of world this was. Under such conditions, there was no way he could properly play his role.

If he aroused suspicion, it would inevitably bring trouble.

After 20 points of Soul Power were deducted, a sharp pain stabbed through his head. Countless fragments of memory appeared in his mind. He closed his eyes and slowly sorted through the information contained within them.

This body was indeed also named Lin Yan.

He had already suspected as much from the system panel.

Last year, he had achieved excellent results on the college entrance examination and enrolled in Huaxia National Defense University. He had already completed his first semester, but since the new term had not yet begun, he was still technically a first-year student.

During the holiday, he and several classmates had applied to join the army for training. In the process, they happened to encounter a beast tide assaulting North Military Region Line 021, and they were deployed to take part in the war.

However, he seemed to have discovered something even more astonishing within those memories.

At present, he was still only an advanced registered student at Limit Martial Hall. His speed was still slightly lacking, so he had yet to truly become a warrior.

The master of Limit Martial Hall was named Hong, Earth's strongest person.

Across the entire world, only Thunder God, the master of the Thunderclap Martial Arts School, barely had the ability to stand alongside him.

The uncontrollable RR virus from forty years ago.

Humanity's Great Nirvana period.

A world where humans and monsters coexisted.

An era that had evolved into one belonging to warriors.

As all sorts of information came together, a huge wave rose in Lin Yan's heart.

This was—

This was the world of Swallowed Star!

He had been a novel fan in his previous life as well, and he was quite familiar with this book. It had been immensely popular during serialization. He had even happened to attend one of the author's book-signing events and met the author once.

Yet he had never imagined that he would be reborn into the world of this story.

In this world, there were Universe Masters who could reverse time and space and bring the dead back to life; Immortal Gods with endless lifespans who would live forever; Universe Country Lords who governed countless starfields. They stood high above all else, eternal and indestructible, capable of shining through the ages.

There were even beings known as the Universe's Strongest, capable of creating Small Universes. Their Word was Law, and they were the supreme existences of the primal universe.

Lin Yan could not help pursing his lips. His emotions were complicated, and he did not know whether to describe them as fear or longing.

However, the protagonist of the original story should have been Luo Feng in Jiangnan Base City, far away from the Tianjing Base City where he was. He had never heard that name in this life, so Luo Feng probably had yet to emerge.

There was No Need to think about that for now. Luo Feng had good character and was an upright man, so Lin Yan did not need to worry that Luo Feng's growth would bring him any disadvantage. Nor did he intend to cling to him. Naturally, there was no need to concern himself with Luo Feng so early on.

Since he had come here, everyone's goal was the road to the stars. Once they rose high enough in the future, they would meet eventually.

Lin Yan pushed those thoughts aside.

What he needed to consider now was that although the original owner had an excellent grasp of firearms, he was also skilled in a sword art called the Thunderclap Sword and had attained considerable proficiency in it. Though Lin Yan had fused with his memories, this fusion only allowed him to understand the original owner's past; it did not grant him his abilities.

If that sword had still been around, he could naturally have learned it perfectly through the Skill Inheritance contained within it.

However, the sword had not been of high quality. It had been damaged beyond use during earlier training, and since it was no longer worth keeping, the original owner had thrown it away. By now, it had probably been smelted into scrap.

Later, various matters had delayed him, and he had yet to replace it with a new sword.

He would have to think of a solution.

Still, it should not be difficult. The Thunderclap Sword was a widely circulated sword art. There should be warriors in the military camp who were proficient in it. Even if there were not, he could learn another sword art instead. As long as he changed his current state of having no foundation in swordsmanship, that would be enough.

At this stage, he was in the military camp and happened to be facing a beast tide, so firearms were more valuable. After all, this was large-scale combat. Even ordinary Warrior Level warriors had no way to contend with the monsters in a beast tide through their own strength.

Not to mention that he was not even a warrior.

But things would be different in the future.

Modern firearms had become highly advanced, yet they were still inadequate against monsters. Firearms could at most threaten Beginner Beast General level monsters. Anything stronger required state-level heavy weaponry. Setting aside whether he could obtain such weapons, even if he did, they were not portable.

Cold weapons, on the other hand, were different.

Through unique methods of exerting force in saber arts and sword arts, warriors could unleash astonishing destructive power, making them far more promising than firearms. With the system by his side, walking the path of a warrior would be much easier for him than for ordinary people.

As he was thinking, two young men in military uniforms entered the ward.

They wore smiles on their faces and carried fruit in their hands.

"You came to visit me, so why did you bring fruit too?"

Lin Yan complained a little. "It's not like I'm really a patient. I only suffered minor injuries and temporarily exhausted myself."

The two before him were both his classmates. One was Wang Bing, and the other was Wei Xinran. He got along well with both of them, which was why they had applied to train in the army together.

There had originally been five of them, but the other two had not been deployed to participate in this war to suppress the beast tide.

Wang Bing set the fruit on the nearby table, sat beside the bed, and patted him. "You brat, you usually keep such a low profile. Who knew you were actually this impressive? You killed those little mutts until they howled on the battlefield. The veterans said you're definitely getting credited for meritorious service this time!"

"How have I ever kept a low profile? I've always ranked among the top in the school's firearms assessments, okay?"

Although Lin Yan's speed had yet to reach the qualification standard for a warrior, so he did not yet have the ability to pass the Quasi-Warrior assessment, his marksmanship had always been excellent. This was also the original owner's exceptional talent.

They chatted casually.

As they talked, Wei Xinran mentioned, "I heard this beast tide is different from the usual ones."

"Beast tides in previous years generally showed signs beforehand, allowing the military district to prepare thoroughly. But this time, Defense Line 021 was suddenly attacked without warning. The line nearly fell, and the garrison suffered severe losses."

Wang Bing picked up the conversation. He had always enjoyed socializing, and no piece of news ever escaped his ears. He had been the same way at school. "Yeah. A scout from the Night Hawk Reconnaissance Company of the Sixth Army sent a message to the military district two days ago. It seemed like he had discovered the cause of the beast tide, but the message was incomplete, and the scout himself has gone missing."

Listening to them, Lin Yan's gaze sharpened. He opened the system panel, deep in thought.

Side Mission triggered:

3: Save Private Ryan. Private Zhang Wei of the Night Hawk Reconnaissance Company in the Northern Military Region seems to have discovered the secret of the beast tide and is currently in danger. Please launch a rescue operation for Private Zhang Wei.

If the mission target dies, the mission will automatically fail.

Mission Reward: SS-rank Movement Technique: Ghost