On his way home from work, Shen Yan picked up three strange cards. A flash of white light passed before his eyes, and he assumed it was a hallucination brought on by working overtime. Acting on impulse, he tapped [Transmigration].
When he opened his eyes again, he had become Xiao Yanzhi, the last emperor of the Great Yu dynasty.
A nightmare of a reality crashed down on him.
Outside, warlords divided the realm, each commanding powerful armies and seizing provinces and counties, treating imperial authority as meaningless. The court was rotten to the core: civil officials bickered and fought among factions, corruption ran rampant, and eunuchs plotted to seize power.
The imperial treasury was empty, flames of war blazed everywhere, and the blade of the dynasty’s demise was already at his throat.
With death and the fall of the nation looming at any moment, Shen Yan felt ice settle in his heart.
Fortunately, the cards’ true power finally unlocked: three cards refreshed each day when he woke, and once he chose one, its ability became his forever.
In his first draw after transmigrating, one card landed in his hand: eight hundred space marines.
With their heavy armor and firearms, they could sweep aside every rebel warlord.
But Shen Yan’s first reaction was not boundless ambition. He let out a long sigh of relief: at last, he had what it took to survive in this godforsaken place.
Ground down by reality, he had never even thought of conquering the realm and reclaiming its lost lands.
His demands were modest: stay alive, and keep as many innocent people as possible from dying in the flames of war.
But the trees may wish for stillness while the wind will not subside.
The arrogant warlords sharpened their blades, and treacherous courtiers tightened the noose around him. They gave this laid-back emperor no chance to lie flat.
Forced to the brink time and again, Shen Yan could only give in.
“If you insist on forcing my hand, then I’ll send in the space marines!”
He collected card after card, and his trump cards grew stronger by the day.
The last emperor, who had only wanted to stay alive, looked upon the people displaced across the land, and something inside him quietly began to change.
