Chapter 1
United States, California – Sierra Nevada Mountains
At the peak of a secluded mountain, Li Ji carefully adjusted the screws of his astronomical telescope, securing it against the strong winds that swept through the Sierra Nevada. Up here, the gusts were relentless. If he didn't properly fix the telescope, he'd be searching for its shattered remains by morning.
As he tightened the last screw, his phone suddenly rang.
"Li Ji, where are you right now?" A loud, energetic voice came through the speaker, practically radiating confidence even over the phone.
Li Ji recognized the voice instantly. "Xiong Chi? Why are you calling me so late? It should be about four in the afternoon in China, right?" He wedged the phone between his shoulder and ear, keeping his hands free to finish securing the telescope.
"Have you forgotten? The Orionid meteor shower! I'm getting a spectacular show over here—more than thirty meteors per hour! I even made wishes for everyone in the family, and I still have some left to spare!"
Li Ji smirked. "How could I forget? I'm in the Sierra Nevada right now. The skies are clear—thin clouds at most. This is probably one of the best places to observe it." He held the phone near the screw he was tightening and gave it a hard twist. The metal let out a sharp hiss.
Xiong Chi groaned. "Ugh, I've been in the U.S. for a few years, and even I haven't picked up American humor as bad as yours."
"Envy me all you want," Li Ji teased. "You're stuck watching from your apartment rooftop while I have a front-row seat to the best show in the sky."
"You don't have to rub it in," Xiong Chi sighed. "Anyway, I only realized after watching the meteor shower that I forgot to make a wish for a girlfriend. Do me a favor and wish for one on my behalf!"
"Yeah, right. The meteors would scatter in fear if they heard that wish. You should just wait for AI to advance and buy yourself a smart girlfriend instead."
Before Xiong Chi could respond, Li Ji hung up with a smirk.
Then he glanced at his telescope—and his expression twisted in horror.
"Damn it! I was so distracted that I twisted the wrong screw!" He groaned, crouching down in despair. Half an hour of careful adjustments, completely wasted.
Evening – The Orionid Meteor Shower Begins
As the sky darkened, Li Ji sat cross-legged on the ground, chewing on a bland chicken sandwich.
Suddenly, a streak of light flashed across the sky.
His body tensed. "Already? That's early!"
In a heartbeat, he was on his feet, eyes locked on the heavens above.
The meteors streaked through the sky like glowing spirits, their fleeting presence painting brief, mesmerizing trails. Unlike how they were often depicted in animation—one after another in a continuous stream—real meteor showers were unpredictable. Even the famous Leonids, known for their intensity, only displayed a true "meteor storm" once every hundred years.
"Still," Li Ji murmured, his eyes reflecting the starlit sky, "the Orionid meteor shower has its own charm. The flow rate isn't high, but each meteor is strikingly beautiful. Maybe it's the mystery of Halley's Comet that makes it special."
The Orionids were unique among meteor showers. Since Halley's Comet moved in a direction opposite to Earth's orbit, the first half of the night often had a higher meteor count than the second. Most casual stargazers would watch for a bit and then head to bed. But for Li Ji—an astronomy enthusiast—sleep was secondary to witnessing this cosmic display.
"It's incredible… These tiny fragments of comet dust, drifting through space for millennia, burning up in an instant. Space junk to some, but to me, they're celestial wonders."
His voice carried a trace of longing. There was so much about the universe still unknown—so many mysteries waiting to be unraveled.
The Unexpected Bolide
"Thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine…" Li Ji muttered, clicking the counter in his hand.
He frowned. "Not quite there yet. The peak hour should be between ten and eleven. Too bad it didn't break the record."
He pulled out his phone and synced it with the counter. The Bluetooth connection transferred the recorded times and numbers to his astronomy app.
"Wait a second…" His eyes widened. "Between 9:40 and 10:00, there were sixteen meteors… and by 10:40, the total reached fifty-one! That means the flow rate exceeded fifty per hour. That's a major meteor shower!"
His heart pounded. Seeing an extreme meteor shower was every enthusiast's dream.
"I can die happy now," he laughed. "The only regret is that I didn't see a bolide… But I guess that's just fate."
A bolide was a rare, exceptionally bright meteor that exploded in the atmosphere. They were unpredictable, and despite all his years of stargazing, he'd never seen one.
"Well, if I had to make a trade… I'd sacrifice Xiong Chi's lifelong happiness just to see a bolide once."
As he made the joke, he chuckled. This kind of humorous self-jinxing was called "poisonous milk" in gaming circles—a sarcastic way to tempt fate.
And then—
A flash.
A blinding flash.
Li Ji's breath hitched. "No way… That actually worked?!"
A brilliant bolide streaked across the sky, so bright that for a moment, it was almost like daylight.
His jaw dropped. "This is the brightest bolide I've seen in years! It must be at least as bright as a minus-eighth magnitude star! Oh my god, making a wish on this would definitely work!"
But then—something felt wrong.
His stomach twisted. The bolide wasn't just bright—it was getting brighter.
And… larger.
"Why is it getting bigger?! No, this—this isn't normal!"
A chilling thought gripped him. "Is it a meteorite? Is it actually falling to the ground?!"
Panic surged through him as he adjusted his telescope, tracking the unusual object.
A Warning from the Sky
Inside the falling object, a computerized voice echoed:
"Warning! Warning! Fuel depleted. Auto-entering emergency landing mode. Auto-entering emergency landing mode."
Li Ji's heart pounded. "This isn't just a meteor… it's something else!"
Sweat beaded on his forehead. "Should I call 911? But what would I even say?"
He tried to estimate the object's size, but his mind was too frantic to make sense of it. If this thing hit the ground…
"No, no, no—what if I'm just overreacting? If I call the authorities and it turns out to be nothing, I'll be treated like some lunatic."
But before he could decide—
"Emergency landing mode failed. Energy depleted. Entering sleep mode in 3… 2… 1…"
The object's descent suddenly accelerated.
Li Ji barely had time to react before the sky exploded in light.
A massive sphere crashed down from above, landing mere meters away. Li Ji stood frozen, his mind blank with shock.
Inside the glowing sphere…
A baby.
A black-haired, golden-skinned infant, sleeping peacefully within the strange vessel.
And on his lower back—
A tail.