Life and Death Dilemma, Transmigrating into the Swallowed Star World

On July 1, 2056, in a remote corner of Yangzhou City, inside an old residential complex, a young man with delicate features but a weary expression lay in a deep sleep, unable to wake.

Inside the room, a stove with a dim, flickering flame was burning blue, the charcoal heat becoming unbearable; the youth had fallen into a coma due to the fumes and was suffering from severe carbon monoxide poisoning.

Yet, after an unknown amount of time, a streak of light flew in, shattered the window, and landed beside the youth. The radiance split in two; one part dove into the youth's body, while the other transformed into a crystal ball that settled at his side.

A fierce wind whistled in through the window, causing the youth's fingers to twitch as he finally regained consciousness.

"Hiss, what is going on? My head is spinning!"

Liu Yun struggled to climb up, his head throbbing. He forced himself to scan his surroundings; it was a completely unfamiliar place, and the panic left him utterly bewildered.

In the room stood a table displaying several medals of honor, a certificate of disability, and a photograph.

It was a picture of a young girl and the youth himself. The girl looked fair and petite, her long hair flowing, dressed in a modest student outfit, which made the youth stare in a daze.

Immediately after, a series of memories flooded his mind—monsters, martial artists, War General, and other such concepts surged forth, allowing the youth to remember everything.

"I've transmigrated into the world of Swallowed Star? My god! Is this girl his former girlfriend who abandoned him?"

As he fully digested the original owner's memories, everything that had been blurry became clear to Liu Yun, though the shock was difficult to process in such a short time.

The original owner was also named Liu Yun, a capable martial artist. Unfortunately, half a year ago, while resisting a beast tide, he suffered a spinal injury and lost his strength. He had squandered his savings as a martial artist to pay for treatment, enduring endless misery and frustration, yet he still couldn't fill the bottomless pit of his medical expenses.

At the same time, a martial artist's disability greatly affected a partner's perception; he had long since been heartlessly abandoned by the girlfriend he once loved deeply! Even before Liu Yun transmigrated, he had seen countless warriors who, after fighting heroically and losing an arm, were subsequently spurned by their wives and lovers.

Because he was abandoned, the original owner felt too ashamed to face his former companions, so he left the villa area and chose to live an anonymous life in an ordinary neighborhood.

Liu Yun's parents had passed away long ago, and they were merely workers at a broadcast station, so their life was frugal. Fortunately, Liu Yun had successfully become a martial artist, which allowed him to buy a house in the Yi'an District of Yangzhou City.

However, after being severely injured, he lost all his strength, and within a year, Liu Yun would be paralyzed. With the current level of Earth's technology, there was certainly no way to treat him. Despondent and not wanting to become a burden to his younger sister, Liu Yun chose to end his life, leaving his body to rot in the shadows of the flickering lamp, his blood staining the empty room.

Now, Liu Yun's body had not improved. Although Liu Yun occupied his body and possessed a wealth of knowledge unique to Swallowed Star, he had no good way to preserve Liu Yun's strength.

"Let me think carefully about how to handle these matters; I cannot miss a single detail."

By the broken window, Liu Yun looked at the lights of ten thousand homes, his heart racing as he began to consider how to make the best use of everything before him, to keep Liu Yun alive, and perhaps even set him on a path to invincibility.

Liu Yun loved Swallowed Star very much; he had read it many times and therefore knew the characters and plot of the book like the back of his hand. It was truly a vast world, and a difficult one at that.

Countless monsters had appeared on Earth, first occupying the sky and then seizing the oceans, forcing humanity to struggle for survival amidst the beast tides.

When Luo Feng emerged and resolved the beast tide, humanity began to come into contact with cosmic civilization, only to discover that humanity was merely in a small, unnoticed corner of the Milky Way controlled by the Silver Blue Empire.

The Silver Blue Empire possessed eight galaxies as large as the Milky Way, yet it was only a primary civilization empire. Above it was the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, which was a thousand times more powerful and controlled over eight thousand spiral galaxies.

And the Black Dragon Mountain Empire was merely a vassal state to others. Human territory was practically infinite; the universe was incredibly vast, with five other major races competing against them, all of whom possessed formidable means. Of course, to those smaller races, the universe was a place where six evil races fought over every possible resource.

Although Earth was like a speck of dust floating under the setting sun, it was the home of the protagonist, Luo Feng. Liu Yun wondered if he should use his extensive knowledge of martial arts to go and teach Luo Feng some techniques.

As long as he could teach that kid a move or two, given his future achievements, if he pulled Liu Yun up, Liu Yun would take off immediately.

However, after thinking for a long time, Liu Yun felt exhausted. He felt that relying on others' power was mostly unreliable. While Luo Feng's character was not bad, for a long time, he couldn't even save his own brother from paralysis, let alone save him.

He first fetched some water from the bathroom to extinguish the charcoal stove. Watching the hissing steam, he thought that he must not give up on life; he had to come up with a plan.

As the dim, flickering fire in the stove finally died out, the faint red glow emitted by the crystal ball that had entered the room earlier was finally noticed by Liu Yun.

This was the Life Core of a Machine Race member, which had transmigrated with him to find a suitable host for symbiosis.

Liu Yun had already formed a life-blood contract with it, and this core had become Liu Yun's Machine Race Clone. As Liu Yun waved his hand, the core slowly flew into his palm, and in an instant, endless knowledge flooded into Liu Yun's mind.

The Machine Race was a powerful race capable of continuing to function even after their consciousness was extinguished; even if only one ten-thousandth of their computing power leaked out, it was wisdom far beyond human imagination. This crystal ball was actually the core of a powerful Machine Race individual, and now it had fallen into Liu Yun's hands.

In the world of Swallowed Star, the Machine Race was also a top-tier, powerful race that occupied infinite territories and possessed many terrifying abilities and means that transcended the imagination of Earthlings.

"Very good, this is my cheat! Flesh is weak, machinery ascends! With the Machine Race Clone, my future will surely be a smooth path."

After the excitement, Liu Yun forced himself to calm down. How he would develop in the future remained an unknown, but for now, he had to rely on this magical crystal ball.

This object was the Life Core of a powerful Machine Race individual whose original body had been destroyed, and now it could only serve as Liu Yun's clone.

The Machine Race could mass-produce troops to help Liu Yun acquire resources, and they could also pivot to production, manufacturing all kinds of terrifying high-tech weapons! All in all, it was much better than the Zerg; the Zerg could not pivot to production to perfectly integrate into human life, and the Zerg's mass-produced troops were mostly meaningless in the face of the Machine Race's firepower suppression. Moreover, the Machine Race's ability to mass-produce troops was not inferior to the Zerg at all; they could completely, like the Zerg, build bases and continuously upgrade, helping Liu Yun exert a decisive influence throughout society.