The Embers of Stardust: An Endless Journey Against the Tide
In 2749 AD, the Interstellar Federation labels the people at the bottom of society "disposable resources" and dumps them at the Rusted Star Ring, a refuse station orbiting a dying red dwarf, leaving them to perish amid radiation and oppression. Lin Ye, Number 734, is one of them. The life-monitoring band on his wrist flashes a failing red, and he has just three months before he is thrown into the star's flames, until he accidentally touches a "Star Core Fragment" hidden among the scrap.
The mysterious fragment, glowing blue, not only suffuses his blood with starlight but also becomes his key to escaping hell. Amid the chaos bought with the life of Boy 512, Lin Ye pilots an abandoned transport ship out of the Star Ring, only to be caught up in the Federation and pirates' struggle over the Star Core. Su Qing, captain of a Federation exploration team, gives her life to entrust him with a star map protecting the coordinates of the "Star Core's source." Before she dies, she reveals the Federation's conspiracy: anyone who possesses a Star Core Fragment will ultimately be treated as a "living vessel," drained of energy and then destroyed.
Bearing the weight of two sacrifices, Lin Ye crosses eight standard years of cosmic wasteland and reaches the Star Core's source, a place wrapped in blue nebulae. There, he awakens the planet's crystal-bodied guardian and unlocks the inherited power to control the Star Core's energy. As the Federation fleet bears down with dimensional weapons and Star Core missiles, the former "disposable resource" has transformed into a rebel clad in crystal armor, with wings of stardust spread behind him.
This is not the end, but the beginning of the journey against the tide. With the crisis at the Star Core's source resolved, the shadow of entropy corrosion from the transdimensional "Reverse Entropy Alliance" now looms over the universe. Lin Ye will lead more oppressed civilizations through the clash of technology and energy, and the struggle between survival and plunder, continuing a tale of
