The air smelled like oil, rust, and heat. A ceiling fan clicked loudly overhead, pushing around the warm, sticky air of early summer. Outside the open window, the distant clang of metal against metal echoed through the dusty courtyard — the same sound that had filled Li Wei's life for as long as he could remember.
He sat up abruptly in his small, creaky bed, his chest heaving. Sweat clung to his skin. His eyes darted around the cramped room: a faded desk, a stack of textbooks, a tattered calendar on the wall.
June 1st, 1985.
No. It couldn't be.
"This… this isn't possible," Li Wei whispered, pressing a hand to his chest. "I died. Didn't I… die?"
Memories crashed into him like a flood.
His father's motorcycle factory — bankrupt.
Suppliers suddenly refusing to deliver parts.
Competitors using dirty tricks, buying out the suppliers and leaving them with nothing but empty orders and broken promises.
His father had worked himself into an early grave. Li Wei had spent years scraping by, bitter and angry, until the factory was seized and sold for scrap. A lifetime of failure.
And now…
He looked down at his hands. Young again. Thin. No callouses. No scars from a decade of repairing machines and welding steel.
He was seventeen again.
A knock at the door broke the silence.
"Wei, wake up! Don't forget your tutoring session! The college exam is in a few weeks!" his mother called from outside.
"Coming!" he shouted back, his voice shaking.
Later that afternoon, Li Wei stood in the factory workshop, pretending to study under the shade of a half-rusted steel canopy. His father's workers were assembling motorcycles — attaching frames, screwing on wheels, adjusting brake lines. But every part was sourced from other companies. His father didn't manufacture anything. They only assembled.
Just like last time.
He watched as the delivery truck arrived. Crates of parts were offloaded, each one tagged with the name of a different supplier. All of them could be cut off with a single call — just like before.
He clenched his fists. Not this time. Not again.
A sudden spark flew as one of the workers fumbled a loose wire on a cooling fan. The machine jerked, and instinctively, Li Wei stepped forward to help.
"Be careful! It's still—!"
ZAP.
The shock hit him like lightning. His muscles locked up, and for a split second, everything went white.
Then — silence.
And then, a voice.
[HyperTech System Activated.]
User recognized: Li Wei
System initializing…
Skill Unlocked: Photographic Memory (Passive)
Skill Unlocked: Mechanical Comprehension I
Welcome, Host. Let us rebuild the future.
Li Wei stumbled back, eyes wide, as a translucent blue interface hovered in the air before him — like something out of a sci-fi movie. He blinked, and it followed his gaze.
He looked at the broken fan.
[Analyzing Device…]
Type: Electric Motor Fan
Issues Detected: Loose capacitor wire. Dust blockage. Worn bearing.
Suggested Fixes: Rewire capacitor. Clean vents. Replace bearing. Estimated cost: 0.28 yuan.
His jaw dropped.
He reached down and began fixing the fan as if possessed. Every wire made sense. Every screw had a purpose. He knew what it needed — not by guessing, but by knowing.
This is real. The system… it's real.
He looked around the workshop again — at the piles of parts, at the workers hunched over tools they didn't fully understand.
His eyes burned with purpose.
Last time, we relied on others. This time… we build it all ourselves.