I’m Li Wei, a programmer who died suddenly. I wake up at an altar in another world.
The blood moon hangs overhead as the formation activates. I’m branded an “anomaly in the Heavenly Way” and sentenced to be burned alive by spiritual fire. At the moment of my death, however, I see through the truth: the flames that scorch the heavens, the formation that binds the gods, and the so-called “Heavenly Way” that governs the world are all, at their core, lines of vast and ancient code.
So, under the gaze of gods and demons across the myriad heavens, I use the blood on my fingertip to draw a logical NOT gate on the altar.
The formation reverses. The divine fire turns on its masters.
From then on, the cultivation world undergoes a drastic transformation:
While sword immortals fly a thousand miles on their swords, my rune rifles can already strike beyond visual range.
While alchemists painstakingly refine their medicines, my automated assembly lines mass-produce special-effect elixirs.
While sects monopolize the secrets of ascension, the “Spiritnet” I built makes knowledge freely available to ordinary people.
With my own hands, I forge the “Silicon Federation,” spanning an entire continent, and propel civilization toward the stars. Yet on the day of my apotheosis ceremony, I receive an error message from the very foundations of the world:
[Warning: Unauthorized civilizational meme detected. Execute protocol: Erase/Assimilate?]
I press Enter and find myself back in front of my computer in the real world. On the screen is the million-word manuscript I’ve just finished.
Neon lights flicker outside, and traffic streams by.
So was the civilization I just saved and created with my own hands real history, or was it a simulation… terrifyingly lifelike?
And I, Li Wei, an ordinary programmer, am launching the highest-level reverse-engineering project against this cultivation world.
