[300 Yang will be deducted for Quick Recall, do you wish to proceed?
Y/N]
“We will first identify the date of Emperor Jiajing’s ascension to the Ming throne,” Mi-Reu explained, her voice steady despite the burgeoning anticipation. “Once we have that fixed point in history, we can finally calculate our current year according to the modern calendar and know exactly how much time we have left.”
With a focused thought, she mentally selected Y.
The world around her, the familiar shadows of the room, the flickering candlelight, and Gi-Reu’s expectant face, instantly dissolved into that disorienting, shifting gray static. It was the same sensory void she had experienced during her first purchase, a liminal space between her current reality and the locked archives of her soul.
A chaotic jumble of sensations flooded her mind with overwhelming force. She smelled the sharp, metallic scent of floor wax and the faint aroma of a cafeteria lunch. She felt the cool, slightly grainy texture of a heavy hardcover textbook under her fingertips. Then, the voice returned: the low, monotonous drone of her old history professor, a man whose face was a blur but whose lectures were now being forcibly reconstructed by the System.
Fragments of text, highlighted in her mind’s eye as if by a neon marker, flashed across her vision with blinding speed:
“...the Zhengde Emperor died childless in 1521, leading to a brief succession crisis. His cousin, a young prince from Hubei, was chosen to lead the Great Ming. Thus began the era of Jiajing, starting in the year 1521 AD. His reign would span over four decades, marked by his obsession with Daoist immortality and the eventual rise of the northern threats...”
The static vanished as abruptly as it had arrived, the sudden return of physical weight leaving Mi-Reu staggering. She gasped, stumbling back a full step and clutching the edge of the low table for support. It felt as though she had been physically hammered with information into her brain in a single second.
[Quick Recall: Successful. Data Snippet Retrieved.]
“So... if our records state this is the 40th year of the Jiajing era, and he ascended in 1521,” Gi-Reu murmured, his brush dancing across the parchment as he performed the mental arithmetic. He paused, his eyes brightening as he looked up. “That means the current year is 1561 according to your modern calendar.” He finished with a triumphant smile, finally placing a concrete number on their existence.
Mi-Reu nodded, her expression grim despite his success. The number felt real now, a ticking clock in the back of her mind. “I will now look for the exact moment the Ming Dynasty collapsed. We need to know how long the world as we know it has left before the Manchus turn everything to ash.”
[Memory Archive Store (Current Balance: 540 Yang)
Cost: 300 Yang - Quick Recall: search memories from past life archive for a specific, short snippet of information
Cost: 2000 Yang - Re-watch: enter and view a specific archive memory in detail
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Cost: 5000 Yang - Paused Memory: enter a specific archive memory and freeze it ]
She focused her intent on the Quick Recall option. The now-familiar confirmation prompt materialized in the dim light of the room.
[300 Yang will be deducted for Quick Recall, do you wish to proceed?
Y/N]
With another Y selected, the world tilted once more. The physical room dissolved into that familiar, static-filled void. This time, the vision felt even sharper, as if the System were becoming more efficient at dredging through the depths of her soul.
A specific page of a history textbook materialized in her mind’s eye, the text crisp and black against the white paper. She could see the paper:
“After decades of internal strife, fiscal collapse, and the rising power of the Later Jin, soon renamed the Qing, the end finally came. In 1644, the rebel leader Li Zicheng captured Beijing, and the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, took his own life. Shortly after, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass, beginning their long, bloody conquest of the south...”
The static vanished, and the sounds of the palace, the distant sound of the evening drums and the rustle of the wind, rushed back in. Mi-Reu gasped, her heart hammering against her ribs.
[Quick Recall: Successful. Data Snippet Retrieved.]
“It happened in 1644,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Let me see...” Gi-Reu muttered, his brush scratching furiously against the parchment. “From 1561 to 1644... that’s 83 away. Nearly a century.” He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “We might actually have time to do something. We might even be long gone by then...”
Mi-Reu didn't answer immediately. Her eyes were fixed on the panel floating in front of her. Something was different. The numbers were shifting, glowing with a new intensity.
[Memory Archive System
Balance: 240 Yang
Cognitive Bandwidth: 1.9↑]
“My Cognitive Bandwidth increased!?” she muttered, stunned. The jump was significant, a clear sign that the act of bridging two lives and processing such heavy historical data was physically expanding her mind's capacity to handle the System.
“That is amazing, Mi-Reu! But what is even better is that this Qing Dynasty doesn’t rise in the near future!” Gi-Reu added, his face lighting up with a joyous, triumphant smile. He looked at his scribbled parchment, the numbers 1561 and 1644 circled in thick ink. “We are 83 years away. We have time to prepare, to change things, to make Haebang strong enough that the Manchus won't dare cross our borders!”
Mi-Reu felt a wave of relief wash over her, a warmth that finally chased away the chill of the history class ghosts. She nodded, a genuine smile matching her brother's. “You’re right. We aren't just witnessing a tragedy; we are being given the chance to rewrite the script. We can prepare.”
“So,” Mi-Reu asked, her mind already shifting back to the pragmatic, strategic mode that had served her well in her past life. “What do you think is our first step? How do we even begin to build a defense against a threat that hasn't arrived yet?”
Gi-Reu considered this, his brow furrowed in concentration. He nodded slowly. “Shouldn’t the first step be us earning enough money to actually use your future knowledge consistently? If every snippet of information costs Yang, we are going to need a fortune.”
“That is the absolute truth,” Mi-Reu sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. “But the ministers will keep getting in our way. If we try to start any sort of business or trade, they will go on and on about the 'virtues of honest poverty' and the 'dangers of material wealth' corrupting the royal family.”
Gi-Reu let out his own long, frustrated sigh, mirroring his sister. They both knew the ideological wall they were facing was as thick as the palace stonewalls.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the soft crackle of the wick in the oil lamp. Mi-Reu was mentally cycling through modern industries: soap, paper, glass, etc. trying to figure out which would be the least "problematic" for them to suggest.
“Hmm…” Gi-Reu suddenly made a thoughtful hum, his eyes darting toward the window overlooking the darkening capital. “I might actually have an idea.”
