Ever-Changing Steel System

"Y-You people, don't come any closer! If you take another step forward, I'll jump!"

Xiao Tian stood on the rooftop of the chemistry building—the tallest building in their school. Before him stood a group of men in sunglasses and sharp suits. They were all professional bodyguards from the Haotian Group, and this chemistry building had been funded by their company.

"Xiao, weren't you pretty fierce when you were with our young miss? Why are you chickening out now? Ow—"

That was the crude remark of the man in black at the front. Because he had carelessly used a disrespectful term for the young miss—the only daughter of the Haotian Group's president—he was kicked away by someone behind him before he could finish speaking.

Of course, that wasn't the point. Ever since that unbearable night—for Xiao Tian, it should have been quite enjoyable—the young miss's belly had gradually grown larger, leading to the scene today.

Well, these men in black said they were taking Xiao Tian, a graduating college student just days away from graduation, back with them so that... well, you know. To outsiders, it looked like a windfall. Who would have thought that this kid named Xiao Tian would make such a fuss over the words "our values don't align" that he ended up on the rooftop of the school's chemistry building?

What was the point of all this?

Xiao Tian had originally planned to put up a token struggle, so he wouldn't have to hang his head in front of that woman afterward. Who knew that the man in black who had been kicked away earlier would lose his footing and suddenly lunge toward their future Young Master Xiao...

Then the other men in black grabbed him by the waistband, while poor Xiao Tian...

Actually, Xiao Tian didn't seem to have died after all. Instead, something strange had caught him. Yes, you read that right—he had been caught by a gigantic mechanical arm. No matter how he struggled, it was useless. At that moment, Xiao Tian discovered that his limbs and body were transparent, like the kind of soul body shown in science-fiction films. What the bizarre mechanical arm had seized was a human soul. In fact, a miraculous white light glowed at the arm's joint, and it was this strange light that had truly captured Xiao Tian's soul.

"Y-You, who are you people? What do you want? I-I'll scream for help!"

Faced with the fear of the unknown, any human would be frightened. But no matter how loudly Xiao Tian protested or screamed, no one answered him. The mechanical arm holding him seemed to be nothing more than a lifeless tool on an automated assembly line. It carried poor Xiao Tian's soul steadily onward until a huge white ball of light appeared ahead, surrounded by what looked like countless static sparks.

What the hell? What are you trying to do?

A deeply ominous feeling suddenly welled up in Xiao Tian's heart. To him, that white sphere looked like the gaping mouth of a demon, waiting at any moment to devour his soul.

Could this be some alien invasion of Earth?

Just as Xiao Tian began letting his imagination run wild, a sound like a human scream came drifting over, drawing closer and closer.

What? There were other people here? Where? Where were they?

Following the increasingly close sound, Xiao Tian strained to turn his neck forty-five degrees. Then... then he saw a terrifying sight. There were many similar white spheres around him, each with a mechanical arm like the one holding him positioned before it. He soon spotted the owner of the scream—a burly, bearded man on the track beside Xiao Tian's. Moreover, the mechanical arm holding him moved far faster than Xiao Tian's. Without pausing for even a moment, it pressed the unfortunate man against the surface of the sphere.

Then Xiao Tian heard the most horrifying howl he had ever heard in his life—the final scream of despair from a human on the brink of death!

"Ahhh!"

And it wasn't just one scream. A whole crowd was screaming one after another, like the scenes of hell described in countless religious scriptures.

"Don't!"

"I—Iahh!"

The white spheres seemed to generate a powerful suction force. Once a human soul was stuck to one, it would be absorbed bit by bit, mouthful by mouthful, like a child sucking down jelly, merging into that terrifying white sphere and becoming part of its body.

Fuck, what kind of setup was this? Were there really aliens this terrifying? Let me out!

At that moment, Xiao Tian was like a big fish trapped in a fisherman's net. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape. It was truly a state where neither heaven nor earth would answer his cries.

Damn it, did it have to be this tragic? All I did was get the campus belle pregnant. Didn't I already promise to take responsibility?

Shrouded in despair, Xiao Tian painfully closed his eyes. All he could hope was that when it was his turn to be swallowed by the sphere before him, it wouldn't hurt too much. But was that even possible?

"Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom!"

As luck would have it, just as Xiao Tian gave up all hope, massive explosions suddenly rang out beside him. The entire space before his eyes, along with the mechanical arm holding him, began shaking violently. Had Earth's allied forces arrived? Had they come to rescue their fellow humans?

It had to be said that Xiao Tian's imagination was truly rich. But what use was that? Though the mechanical arm shook violently, it still dutifully carried Xiao Tian toward his death!

"Boom!"

Perhaps heaven had finally opened its eyes. At the critical moment between life and death, another tremendous explosion sounded above Xiao Tian's head. A massive steel beam fell from high above, smashing the mechanical arm holding him clean apart. The terrifying white sphere also fell from its original position due to the violent shaking—but it seemed to be falling right above Xiao Tian's head.

Fuck, did it have to be this ruthless?

Xiao Tian's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

What Xiao Tian didn't know was that the white sphere that should have devoured him did not directly consume him in the cruelest possible way. Instead, it opened a small gap in its surface, extending numerous tiny mechanical tentacles that pierced into the Earthling's soul one by one. Then, streams of visible information continuously flowed into his body.

After several minutes, those tiny mechanical tentacles dragged Xiao Tian into the white sphere.

Ding. The Ever-Changing Steel System has begun restorative operation! Host identity confirmed: Earthling. Similarity to Transformer Spark energy: 100%. Repair and replacement plan initiated! Beginning input of all memory data. Progress: 1%, progress: 2%...

And just like that, poor student Xiao Tian became some inexplicable alien, um...