Fusion

In the South China Sea, a terribly dilapidated wooden fishing boat was out fishing under the blazing sun.

The boat looked like it had seen better days. Almost all of its original white paint had peeled away, leaving only mottled patches, and its hull was riddled with dents and damage from collisions, hastily patched with a few boards and nails.

The sea breeze made the sail ropes creak, and the boat rocked incessantly. It looked as though even a slightly stronger wind or wave could capsize it at any moment.

On the boat, a youth of only seventeen or eighteen was gritting his teeth as he struggled to haul up a fishing net from beneath the surface. The veins stood out on his arms, and sweat covered his sun-darkened skin. His undershirt was completely soaked, with tiny white salt stains left behind by the blazing sun.

Years of fishing had given him well-defined muscles, though he still looked rather thin.

His name was Nie Yun. This decrepit little fishing boat was the only property his old man had left him. The old man wasn't his biological father; Nie Yun was an orphan, adopted by him when he was young.

His family had been poor, so he'd only finished primary school. Then, naturally enough, he'd followed in his adoptive father's footsteps and become an honorable fisherman.

As for why fishermen were honorable, that was because his alcoholic old man had told him, "Mao said that working people are honorable. Fishermen are working people too, so fishermen are honorable!"

So when his teacher had asked Nie Yun about his ambitions in primary school, he'd proudly answered, "My ambition is to become an honorable fisherman!"

The whole class had burst out laughing. It wasn't until much later that Nie Yun finally learned the truth.

Even now, during the time since the old man's death, Nie Yun would sometimes bring it up in front of his grave, cursing the old bastard for being so dishonest. Then he'd lie face-down on a rock and fall asleep with tear tracks still on his cheeks.

"Whether I eat like a king tonight or live on bran and weeds depends on this catch!" Nie Yun shouted, mangling the chant as he strained with all his might. At last, he hauled up the net.

Then he stared dumbfounded at the few tiny shrimp inside. After a long while, he sighed and smacked his lips. "It's fine, it's fine. Millet porridge with shrimp soup. The radio says it's good for your health!"

After a bit of self-hypnosis, he banished thoughts of braised pork and huge sausages from his mind. He checked the sky, then began gathering up the net and adjusting the sail to head back. His movements were quick and practiced, displaying his superb boat-handling skills.

The best time for fishing had passed. This was close to shore, and he knew full well that fishing any longer would be a waste of effort.

The little boat did have an ancient diesel engine. As Nie Yun's old man used to say, their Sea Wolf was a high-end hybrid fishing boat!

But to save that precious little bit of diesel, Nie Yun usually relied on a natural, pollution-free energy source—wind power—as his primary means of propulsion.

"Just think how much I help the country save energy and reduce emissions every year! How many people in all of Zhonghua work as hard as I do, day in and day out, for the good of the country and its people?" Nie Yun boasted to anyone who would listen.

The little fishing boat, the Sea Wolf, slowly drifted toward the mainland. Yes, it really was "drifting." At this speed, it would probably arrive by evening...

Once he'd set the course, Nie Yun lay down on the deck at the bow, a squid tail dangling from his mouth as he watched the white clouds overhead. Sleepiness gradually crept over him. He yawned and was just about to take a nap when a streak of light flashed at the corner of his eye.

Nie Yun froze and looked toward the light. Far off in the sky, a silver fireball like a shooting star was hurtling toward the earth. From its trajectory, it was heading straight for his little fishing boat.

The silver fireball shrieked as it rubbed against the air, shrinking as it burned fiercely, until, at a height of several hundred meters, all that remained was something the size of a fingertip.

"Heh, I've often heard on the radio that when someone's unlucky, they can get killed by a falling star just by stepping outside. I should... I can't be that unlucky, can I?" Nie Yun's forehead broke out in a dense sheen of cold sweat as the thought flashed through his mind.

The very next moment, with a whoosh, the silver streak shot straight through Nie Yun's abdomen before he could react, punched through the poor Sea Wolf, and plunged into the deep sea.

"Cough, cough!" Nie Yun coughed up a final mouthful of blood and tissue. His last words were, "Holy shit!"

Then his eyes rolled back, and he breathed his last at the age of seventeen years and ten months!

But perhaps even Heaven thought Nie Yun's life had been far too tragic. At this crucial moment, the Goddess of Fate finally took pity on the unlucky boy.

In his abdomen, pierced through with a gaping wound and a bloody mess, a speck of silvery-white material like stardust clung to the injury. It seemed to be a fragment of the meteorite that had just struck him.

After the silvery-white specks touched Nie Yun's blood, they absorbed it like thirsty sponges. The blood vanished at a visible rate, while the specks seemed to gain energy and began multiplying wildly. They gradually spread, forming a silver circle, then finally followed the blood trail into Nie Yun's body.

At a level invisible to the naked eye, those minute silver particles were actually microscopic robots, each a million times smaller than a nanometer. Their structures were intricate and complex, etched with elaborate patterns.

After wandering through the universe for billions of years, this unknown entity, its energy nearly exhausted and its end imminent, had finally found a host. To gain a chance at survival, it took the initiative to fuse with its host!

The silvery substance raced upstream through the blood vessels until it reached the heart, then circulated throughout the body. Everywhere it passed turned silver!

Nie Yun's body rapidly underwent a strange fusion and parasitism, affecting his endocrine, respiratory, digestive, and even nervous systems.

Ten minutes later, Nie Yun, his lower half submerged in seawater, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. He gasped for breath, as though he'd just faced some terrible fear.

Then, bewildered, he looked down at the smooth, flat stomach exposed beneath his torn undershirt, complete with an eight-pack. He pressed a finger against it. Yep, still firm and springy—definitely his original equipment!

But his torn clothes and the gaping hole in the Sea Wolf clearly told him that what had just happened hadn't been a dream. What on earth was going on?

Wait, a gaping hole in the Sea Wolf?

"Holy shit!" He finally remembered that he and the Sea Wolf were slowly sinking. With no time to think about this utterly bizarre situation, he hurried into the cabin and dragged out every useful thing he could find—boards, clothes, and anything else—to patch the hole. At the same time, he reluctantly fired up the diesel bilge pump to pump out the water. Otherwise, before he could finish patching the Sea Wolf, the two brothers would both end up as fish food.

Because his old man had treated the Sea Wolf better than he treated Nie Yun when he was a child. He'd often say, "The Sea Wolf's my real son. You're just a stray I picked up. You think that's the same as being my own flesh and blood?"

And so, from childhood, Nie Yun and the Sea Wolf had called each other brothers. Nie Yun considered the Sea Wolf his only family, the brother he depended on to survive! How could he not be heartbroken to see the Sea Wolf suffer damage that was almost impossible to repair?

Half an hour later, Nie Yun finally managed to patch the hole, though water was still seeping in around the edges. He had to switch on the bilge pump every so often to drain it.

At that point, he didn't care whether the energy was clean or not. Nie Yun pushed the engine to full power, and the diesel engine belched black smoke as the boat headed for the mainland...