The world was ending in a symphony of static and blue light.
Raven, the world's most notorious hacker, felt the cold sting of the bullet entering her shoulder. Her fingers, slick with blood, danced over the holographic keyboard one last time.
"Enter," she whispered.
[File: CORRUPTION_DATABASE.exe — Sent to Global Media.]
She had done it. She had exposed the government's illegal human experiments. As the black-clad soldiers broke through her door, Raven leaned back in her chair and smiled. The screen flickered, a strange error message appearing just as her heart stopped.
[Critical System Error: Life Pulse Terminated.] [Scanning for Compatible Server...] [Data Migration Initiated. Welcome, User.]
Then, there was only darkness.
"Wake up, you useless girl! The fire is spreading!"
A sharp kick to her ribs brought Raven screaming back to consciousness. She gasped, her lungs burning with thick, acrid smoke. But she wasn't in her high-tech apartment in 2025.
She was lying on a cold stone floor. Looking down, she didn't see her tactical gear—she saw tattered, blood-stained silk robes. Her hands were small, delicate, and covered in grime.
"Mei Lin! Please! We have to go!"
A young boy, no older than twelve, was shaking her shoulder. He was dressed in rags, his face streaked with tears and soot.
"Mei Lin?" Raven's voice sounded different. Higher. Fragile. "Who...?"
Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in her skull. Memories that weren't hers flooded in: The Great Han Empire. General Mei's daughter. A false accusation of treason. Her father's execution. The burning of their estate.
She wasn't Raven anymore. She was Mei Lin, the disgraced daughter of a "traitor."
"The guards are coming to finish us off!" the boy—Jiro—cried out.
Mei Lin tried to stand, but her legs were weak. Just as a burning beam fell from the ceiling, a familiar flicker appeared in her vision.
[System Online.] [Hardware: Ancient Body (Low Performance).] [Software: Raven_OS 1.0 (Active).] [Scanning Environment...]
"A... hologram?" Mei Lin blinked. The blue screen was floating in the air, translucent and glowing.
[Alert: 3 Imperial Soldiers approaching from North Entrance.] [Tactical Analysis: You are weak. Combat is not recommended.] [Solution: Hack the environment.]
Mei Lin's eyes narrowed. If this was a dream, it was a very vivid one. If it was real... then she was a hacker in a world of swords.
"Jiro, get behind me," she commanded. Her voice had regained the cold authority of Raven.
"But Mei Lin, you can't fight—"
"I said, get behind me."
The door burst open. Three soldiers in iron armor stepped in, their swords unsheathed. The leader sneered, his eyes scanning the burning room. "The General's daughter still breathes? Let's fix that mistake."
Mei Lin didn't look at the swords. She looked at the blue screen.
[Object Detected: Support Pillar (Structure Compromised by Fire).] [Action: Initiate 'Structural_Collapse'. Target: Pillar Base.] [Processing... 100%. Executing Command: DELETE.]
Mei Lin reached out and "swiped" the air.
To the soldiers, it looked like a desperate gesture. But a second later, the heavy stone pillar supporting the roof groaned. A series of tiny, calculated fractures—forced by the System's manipulation of physics—snapped the stone.
CRACK.
The entire ceiling above the soldiers collapsed in a roar of dust and fire. They didn't even have time to scream before being buried under tons of debris.
Jiro stared, his mouth hanging open. "How... how did you do that? You didn't even touch them!"
Mei Lin stood up, brushing the soot from her silk robes. She looked at the blue screen hovering before her.
[Objective Complete: Survival.] [New Objective: Escape the Palace Perimeter.] [Current Status: Wanted Level - Maximum.]
"It's called a 'system update,' Jiro," Mei Lin said, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "And I think it's time we hacked this Empire to pieces."