Ch1 – The Future World

Beijing International Airport, VIP Lounge.

Ruan Tang was sitting in the VIP lounge with his head lowered, playing on his mobile phone. He had just finished recording the first food show yesterday and was preparing to fly back to his home city.

As a senior food blogger, he has millions of fans on the web and was very popular. His gorgeous dishes and unique food ideas were his hallmarks.

Both of his parents were chefs and so, he learned his cooking skills from an early age. Later, he went abroad to study and was exposed to Western food culture. The two different food cultures merged within him. His cuisine was then even more splendid and every dish he made was a beautiful piece of art. It had both Western-style exquisiteness and Chinese-style deliciousness. It was very popular both in high-end restaurants and online.

The theme of the food show was the collision and exchange of Chinese and Western food culture. In addition to inviting online celebrities like Ruan Tang, the program group also invited chefs from domestic star-rated hotels.

Everyone cooked their own dishes on the spot and presented them to the judges and the audience. When they were cooking, they kept observing the other guests’ methods. They verified each other’s experiences and incorporated them into their own. He was greatly inspired and planned to create a new batch of dishes when he gets back home.

“For passengers travelling to H City, please note that your flight TC7986 is now boarding. Please check in at Counter 3. Thank you!”

The airport broadcast rang out. He glanced at the ticket in his hand, stood up and walked towards counter No. 3. He then boarded the plane smoothly.

After the plane took off, he put on his eye mask, reclined the chair, and fell into a deep sleep. He had recorded 12 hours of continuous programming, and was very tired.

After an unknown time had passed, he woke up to a violent tremor, and a rushing buzzing sound. The passengers in the cabin suddenly panicked. The sweet voice of the flight attendants came through the internal broadcast. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am very sorry to inform you that we have decided to make an emergency landing due to equipment failure on the aircraft. Please follow the flight attendant’s command and we will demonstrate the impact safety posture.”

No one could ever imagine that they would be in an air crash. As the tremors of the plane became more violent, his ears were filled with people’s shouts, complaints, roars and crying.

Things happened too fast, and he blanked out, fully-concentrated on keeping the impact safety posture of bending over his knees.

The roaring in his ears made him unable to think. Even at such a juncture, he still felt half-asleep. With a loud bang, the pain hit, and Ruan Tang completely lost consciousness.

Because of a deafening alarm, he slammed his eyes wide open and was horrified to find himself in a transparent container. The container was filled with light blue liquid and his body was immersed in it. He felt like he was being soaked in formalin, which made the panic in his heart worsen.

“Ding! – the alarm has turned off, the patient’s vital signs are stable, and the diagnosis is complete.” He didn’t know where the electronic voice suddenly came from. As its words fell, the blue liquid in the container was quickly drained away. And then the transparent glass cover also opened on both sides.

Both of Ruan Tang’s legs were weak and he felt his consciousness return to his body. He hurriedly held the edge of the container and climbed out in a panic. Before he could look around, he felt dizzy, and his whole body collapsed forward.

Fortunately, the carpet was quite thick, and there was nothing strewn on the ground, so it was not too bad a fall.

After some time, he recovered a little strength and slowly sat up. There was a floor mirror on his side, so he could clearly see his physical condition.

It was a thin and a bit too gaunt body. The legs are so skinny that only a thin layer of skin was left. The joints were straight and angular, and the muscles had obviously atrophied because his movements were still so slight. His skin was morbidly pale, the narrow lavender blood vessels underneath were clearly visible. It honestly looked a bit scary.

He looked at the person in the mirror and tried to raise his hand. The person in the mirror followed his movements.

Is this my body? There was a sense of absurdity in Ruan Tang’s heart.

Although he didn’t like sports very much, he occasionally went to the beach to swim, so his body was still in very good shape. Also, his skin has always been a healthy wheat color, and this body was now – completely! Not! The! Same!

What’s more, even if he had been in a coma for years which caused his muscles to atrophy, his looks wouldn’t have changed.

– and more importantly, he should have died!

The last memory he had before waking up was the wave of heat caused by the plane’s explosion. The pain when his skin was burned, the unpleasant smell when flesh burned, and the screams and crying — now in retrospect, his brain instinctively remembered the fear and trepidation of that time.

He didn’t believe that the plane crash was just a nightmare. He remembered what he had just heard, and then he thought, had he been miraculously saved, and then was sent to the hospital where he was subjected to some black magic-like technology? The doctor had also put him completely back in order?

But even with the most advanced treatment technology, it was impossible to suddenly change his body. And how did he suddenly become a skeleton from the symmetrical size medium body?

How long has it been? How long has he been in a coma?

There was a rush of footsteps outside the door. Several people wearing light green uniforms and masks came in and helped Ruan Tang who was still sitting on the ground. The two nurses expertly dressed him in a loose set of clothes, and seated him in a wheelchair. They pushed him into a strange room.

When his sense returned, he was already lying on a bed in another room.

“Are you awake?!” With a surprised voice, a woman in her forties with a seemingly good temperament, exclaimed. She was dressed in a white uniform and looked like a doctor. She was followed by two others wearing green uniforms with masks over their mouths.

The female doctor walked quickly to the bed and waved a light stick-like instrument around his body. Then, a projection appeared in front of her, with the perspective view of the human body with pieces of information.

The female doctor looked at the projection and nodded slightly: “Besides being a little weak, all other vital signs are normal.”

Ruan Tang looked at her, stunned. He still couldn’t muster any reaction.

How long has he been in a coma? Why did he feel that the world has completely changed?

“Film emperor Ruan, how do you feel now?” The female doctor looked softly at him.

“Film Emperor…Ruan?” Ruan Tang was dazed for a few second before he realized that she was addressing him. The strange feeling in his heart grew more and more intense. “You’re… Talking to me?”

This time, it was the turn of the female doctor to reveal a startled expression.

She did not give up and asked a few questions in succession. In the end, she could only shake her head and draw a conclusion – Film Emperor Ruan has lost his memory.

“Don’t be afraid, this is a normal phenomenon after the brain has suffered a collision. It should be able to recover in a few days.” The female doctor comforted softly.

Ruan Tang squeezed out a smile, silently agreeing with her explanation, but there was already a very fantastical hunch in his heart.

This speculation was confirmed again after the arrival of a man named Cui Lei.

“A’Tang, you woke up!” The middle-aged man with glasses walked into the sick room.

Ruan Tang looked at the stranger in a confused manner. He was certain that they didn’t know each other.

“Hey, you’ve been sleeping for five years. I thought you wouldn’t wake up…” The man said as he shook his head. “But I came here to tell you something…”

His tone was a little hesitant. It seemed that he didn’t know how to continue.

Ruan Tang was hoping to get a little more information from him, and took the initiative to ask, “What?”

“Sigh, A’Tang, the contract between you and the company has already expired. But since you met with this accident while shooting a scene, the company has paid for your medical expenses for these past five years. They have done all that they can to help. Although you’re awake now, the company won’t renew your contract. The apartment you’ve been renting before is still there for you. They’ve paid for your rent until the end of the year so you don’t have to worry about that for now. Just rest and recover as soon as possible. You’re still young. After you’ve recovered, there will be opportunities waiting for you…”

His speech was very fast. It seems that he was somewhat embarrassed about this matter. Ruan Tang was so confused and couldn’t help but interrupt, “Sorry, the doctor said that I have amnesia. Could I trouble you to give me a more detailed explanation?”

Cui Lei suddenly froze.

“My name is Cui Lei, I was your…former agent.” Cui Lei was kind. Knowing that he had lost his memory, he told him about his affairs in detail and answered many of his related questions.

From his words, Ruan Tang confirmed his own guess – he had passed through and transmigrated into the future thousands of years later.

The plane crash that he had encountered before was not accidental. Not only the airplane, but the entire planet was caught in an unprecedented catastrophe.

An asteroid hit the earth.

No one knows where this asteroid came from, and no satellites or space stations in any country had received any prior sighting of it. It seemed to have appeared near the Earth out of thin air, and then slammed into the Earth fiercely.

The magnetic field was thrown into disorder, all forms of transportation were paralyzed, the climate turned abnormal, and zombies emerged… A doomsday catastrophe quickly swept throughout the entire world. Ruan Tang, having immediately died in the plane crash, could be considered as one of the lucky ones.

Since the earth was no longer suitable for human habitation, human beings were forced to flee to outer space, drifting in the sea of ​​stars, looking for a new livable planet. All the while, regularly sending messages to Earth in in the hopes of returning to their home someday.

However, after having found a suitable planet with much difficulty, they had just settled down when they were targeted by an alien race hidden in the dark.

Faced with a strong alien race, human beings were very vulnerable. After a long and bloody war, enslavement and resistance, humans had finally successfully reconstructed the human genes using the knowledge they have learned from these aliens. They transformed humans from carbon-based living organisms to boron-based living organisms.

Boron has the same ability to extend infinitely as carbon, but its stability was much higher than that of carbon. The number of people who had undergone the boron transformation were tens of times more than the carbon based humans. Not only could they survive in adverse conditions such as high, low or even anaerobic environments, but their lifespan was also much, much longer.

With the extreme perseverance and the spirit of all the people, human beings finally got rid of the control of aliens and succeeded in taking root on the planet. They used this as a starting point to establish the now vast Blue Star Empire.

After the end of the war, everything was in ruins. Because of the long wars and the rush to flee from Earth, they not only lost contact with Earth, but also lost many ancient Earth cultures and techniques in the long years past.

Nowadays, when people’s lives have become stable, the spiritual demand had begun to increase. Many ancient earth entertainment activities have re-emerged, and movies, TV dramas, etc. were highly regarded.

This body was also called Ruan Tang, just like him, and his occupation was an actor. With his good looks and excellent acting skills, he won the trophy for best male lead a few years after his debut. His future was bright. However, when he was at the peak of his acting career, he met with an accident while shooting a mech combat scene. His head was badly hit and he was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

He was very seriously injured. Even his life signs were so weak that he could only survive by regularly entering the treatment cabin. In the past five years, he has never been awake. However, the entertainment company he had signed with was still very kind, paying off his large medical bill and allowing him to soak in a healing fluid for up to five years until he woke up.

It’s just that Ruan Tang who was now awake could no longer sign with them.

“Okay, I agree to cancel the contract.” He looked up and smiled at Cui Lei. “Thank you for your care during these past few years.”