CHAPTER ONE

  Yue was a 39-year-old man from Earth. Lazy, below average, and unremarkable in every way. He worked at a small company that paid just enough for a single person to get by — nothing more, nothing less.

  Yue died by suicide.

  He took his life because he had no one left. His beloved family members had all passed away from old age, one by one, until there was nobody. Sure, there were distant relatives still alive, but he shared no real connection with them. His only reason for staying alive as long as he did was to avoid making them feel guilty. The moment that reason disappeared, so did he.

  Yue was the kind of man you could find anywhere — completely ordinary, completely forgettable. The kind of person who, when they disappear one day, not even God notices.

  His disappearance was not a big deal to anyone.

  Yue found himself trapped somewhere he couldn't identify.

  At first, he thought he was in hell, serving some kind of punishment. It was a dark place — completely silent, completely still. He couldn't feel anything. Not his hands, not his legs, not even the weight of his own body.

  He wandered for what felt like days, searching for an exit, but the place looped endlessly with no end in sight. Strangely though, he could sleep and rest, and somehow that was enough for him.

  And so, he simply... lived there.

  Time passed. How much, he couldn't tell.

  But slowly, something changed.

  He began to glow.

  Wait... I can spot a light. But where is it coming from? Behind me? I can't quite see it.

  He turned around but saw nothing. Then it hit him.

  No... it's me. I'm the one shining.

  It started small — a faint flicker, barely visible against the endless dark. But as more time passed, his entire body began to emit light. With it came sight. He could see farther into the darkness now, though all he found was more of the same.

  Still, he grew. Bigger. Brighter. And with that growth came change.

  He discovered he could manipulate his body, shift his shape, move freely. Eventually, he could fly.

  And so he continued living — drifting through the dark void he had come to call home.

  Until one day, something was different.

  Huh? Wait...

  What is that?

  He stopped.

  A crack?

  A thin line of light split the darkness ahead of him. Before he could even decide what to do, he felt something pull at him — an irresistible force dragging him forward. He couldn't fight it.

  He flew straight through the crack.

  Where am I?

  Yue blinked, adjusting slowly to the overwhelming brightness around him. As his vision cleared, he took in his surroundings.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  What the... is this some kind of industrial workshop? But the technology looks way more advanced than anything I've ever seen.

  He looked down instinctively — back toward where he had come from. His eyes widened.

  What the hell. I was inside a rock? A massive one at that.

  So I spent my entire existence trapped inside an asteroid.

  I thought it was hell... maybe it still is. Either way, let's move forward.

  He turned his attention to the workshop around him. Figures moved between machines and workstations with mechanical precision.

  Robots? No... androids.

  He drifted closer to one, watching carefully.

  I don't think they can see me.

  To test his theory, he floated directly in front of one and whispered. The android stopped, turned its head, and looked around in confusion.

  So they can hear me but not see me. Interesting.

  Yue spent the next while testing his limits. He could touch objects and pick them up. He could pass through walls without resistance. He was invisible to their sensors but not completely undetectable.

  Alright. Let's explore.

  He moved quickly through the facility, slipping through wall after wall until he passed through the final one — and stopped dead.

  Space.

  An endless, star-filled void stretched out before him. He turned back slowly and looked at the structure he had just come from. It was enormous — round and dense, built to look almost like a planet from a distance.

  That's not a station. That's a warship.

  Okay. I need information. Carefully.

  He floated back inside, thinking.

  Wait. I'm a soul, aren't I? Ghosts can possess things. That's usually limited to humans but... what if it works on objects too?

  Only one way to find out.

  He focused himself and pushed his consciousness toward a nearby android.

  Oh.

  It worked instantly — and more naturally than he expected. It didn't feel like invading something foreign. It felt like slipping into a suit made exactly for him.

  This is surprisingly comfortable. Let me check its memory.

  What he found exceeded anything he had anticipated.

  So I'm currently on something called ARO — the third headquarters of an empire made entirely of artificial intelligence. This place manufactures weapons and warships.

  He released the android, leaving it standing confused in the middle of the corridor, and made his way deeper into the ship toward its core.

  The core was breathtaking — a contained ball of brilliant energy, burning like a miniature sun, powering the entire vessel.

  And what's that next to it?

  A secured database terminal.

  Well. Looks like I found myself some treasure.

  He attempted possession again. It worked. He dove in and began pulling data — all of it. It took time. The database was enormous. But he found, to his own surprise, that he could hold it all. Every file, every record, absorbed completely.

  Huh. Souls must have unlimited storage. Convenient.

  Then he found something that made him pause.

  Information about Earth.

  So Earth advanced significantly while I was stuck in that rock. And this empire isn't human — they're the opposing race. The two sides fought for hundreds of years in a bloody war across space. Eventually they reached a peace agreement, though tension still lingers. After that, the emergence of other species shifted everyone's focus toward development and technology sharing.

  Okay. Good to know. What year is it?

  According to the database, the current date in this system was 69,7894. By Earth's calendar, it was 50,2145.

  I was gone for centuries.

  He sat with that for a moment. Then moved on.

  Alright. I may not be the smartest person who ever lived, but I have access to some of the most advanced technology in existence and apparently unlimited mental storage. I can work with that.

  A plan formed quickly.

  He wasn't going to steal their tools. He didn't want to rely on anyone else's systems. What he wanted was something entirely his own — a personal AI, built from scratch, using the best components this facility had to offer. He would manipulate the androids already here into building it for him, leave no trace, and get out.

  The ship's systems had already begun flagging anomalies. He needed to move fast.

  Two days later, it was done.

  A high-performance android body housing a custom-built superintelligent AI — assembled by the facility's own bots, using their own top-grade materials, with no connection to any external network and no record of its creation anywhere in their system. Security footage: wiped. Database entries: deleted.

  Now I just need a name.

  He thought for a moment.

  Short. Simple. Close to mine.

  "Your name is Nue."

  The android stood silently before him.

  Good enough. Now let's get out of here.

  He scanned the hangar until he found what he was looking for — a small, unremarkable pirate-class vessel tucked between rows of warships. Low value. Easy to overlook. The kind of ship nobody would notice going missing.

  He hacked their security system to hold the hangar's sensors while he powered up the engine. Then quietly, without alarm or fanfare, Yue and Nue slipped out into open space.

  For the first time in centuries, he was free.

  Let's see what's out there.