Sewage flowing in rivulets, bacterial colonies sprawling.
Deep inside an abandoned prison...
Smack!
A clump of cells wrapped in a membrane surprisingly separates from the surface of a corpse.
The cell cluster is only the size of a human fingertip, its macroscopic appearance like a dollop of white snot.
This cell clump seems to possess an independent thinking ability and the power to act.
However, due to the imperfection of the nervous system, it has no five senses.
But when it comes into contact with external objects, it can obtain basic information about the substance by a special method, namely 'intercellular signal transfer'.
The separated cell cluster does not stay for long, and begins to move.
Transcription and translation.
Generation of actin.
This fingertip-sized cluster of cells begins an extremely slow 'migration movement', roughly equivalent to the moving speed of a snail.
"No... It's not perfect, not what I want."
The cell cluster seems to willingly discard this seemingly complete and strong body, continuing its search throughout the prison...
If there were a torch providing illumination at this moment.
You would find that in this gigantic cell, the numbers of bodies discarded by the cell clump reaches hundreds.
...
The cell cluster was not formed autonomously.
It has its own name - Han Dong.
An overseas Chinese, an associate professor at the Life Science College, University of Florence, he was exactly 31 years old before he became this cell condensate.
On July 21st, 2018, he died from lung cancer on the sickbed of Florence Central Hospital.
The hospital room was filled with fresh flowers, however, these flowers were from his students, not family.
At the moment of death, the torturous illness dissipated, Han Dong instead felt relieved.
No ascension to heaven or descent into hell, no drinking of the soup of Meng Po, no crossing of the Bridge of Helplessness, or experiencing the so-called cycle of rebirth.
What greeted him was only endless darkness.
However, his consciousness persistently existed within this process.
"Am I dead or not?! After a person dies, the brain continues to maintain activity for five minutes...but it has been an hour since I died, right?"
Han Dong's sense of 'time' is extremely strong, his conscious breakdown allows him to clearly understand how long it has been since his 'death'.
Han Dong slowly tries to sense his 'body', who knew, surprisingly, the image of the cell clump appeared in his consciousness.
Only two things could be done.
First, from intercellular signal transmission, it can sense the detailed information of the object it touches.
Second, by generating actin and gaining the ability to move.
It was then, when Han Dong synthesized actin in a cell for the first time and performed related activity, that a system prompt echoed in his mind.
"Please select a 'suitable' body from within the prison, the current maximum Load Value is [100].
If you're not quite satisfied with the selected body, you can send the body to the processing room for cell separation.
Under a non-cellular state, one cannot move or transfer other prisoner bodies."
The prompt ends.
In Han Dong's cognitive layer, a floor plan of the prison is generated.
Single-storey structure.
A total of 204 cells.
The floor plan indicates with light dots and notes, marking every prisoner in each cell, accompanied by the words 'already dead'.
In addition to that, in the central area of the prison, a red-marked room appeared, named [Administration Room] and it was locked.
The room where Han Dong was currently was the [Processing Room].
"A foreign prison? Rebirth after death? What in the world am I?"
These questions did not perplex Han Dong for long.
Being at the frontiers of scientific development for a long time, his ability to accept new things is extremely strong.
In a short time, he realizes that he is an independent group of cells with a protective membrane, yet unclear how such a bunch of cells can sustain life and bear consciousness.
Cells are the fundamental units of life, sufficiently indicating that he has not died yet.
"So-called death transmigration happened to me? Moreover, it turned me into a cluster of cells? How ironic."
Han Dong, dedicated his life to the study of cellular biology, published a paper titled 'Activating and regulating cells through gene encoding' on the international top-level journal Cell half a year ago.
Han Dong, who was promoted to an associate professor because of his paper, was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer during the teachers' physical examination at the school. His brilliant future was devastated by the relentless growth of cancer cells.
He who should have passed away and lost consciousness has instead been reborn in the form of a cell clump.
...
Without much hesitation and considering that the cell group also needs energy supply for normal activity, the current priority is to find a 'proper' body as instructed by the mysterious system.
Following the directions on the map.
Han Dong, using an extremely slow 'crawling' method, heads to the nearest prison cell.
Moving at a speed almost the same as a snail, it took him an entire day.
Matching the map in his consciousness to the small light point symbolizing 'himself', he migrated along the shortest path to the adjacent prison cell, coming into contact with a prisoner's corpse for the first time.
"Thankfully there's a map to guide me, it would have been troublesome otherwise, with the loss of all five senses."
The moment he touched the corpse.
A complete human body cross-section diagram surfaced in Han Dong's consciousness, with detailed text annotations that can be viewed at the conscious level.
Campbell Frank (an underground boxer before death)
[Head] Inferior, Load value required: 5
[Left Arm] Common, Load value required: 11
[Right Arm] Superior, has 'Quick Punch' skill, Load value required: 23
[Body Trunk] Common, Load value required: 13
[Left Leg] Common, Load value required: 11
[Right Leg] Common, Load value required: 14
A series of data information is fed back to Han Dong's conscious layer.
"It seems that the prisoner underwent some 'special treatment' before death, which kept the corpse from decomposing and let me take over and control it.
As per the previous instructions, if I am not satisfied with the body, I can discard it in the 'Processing Room' and choose another one.
There are many bodies to choose from, it makes sense to use one to understand the current situation."
"Would you like to acquire 'Campbell Frank's' entire body? Required load value is 77."
"Yes!"
In a blink of an eye.
The cell clump enters the prisoner's body through a 'hole' on the body surface, activates the full body in a short time, and restores vitality.
First, a buzzing sound resonates in his mind.
Then, the cold sensation of stone spreads across his body.... indicating that the entire nerve system is connected.
The simplistic prison cell made of black rocks and steel bars comes into view, vision restored.
Just as Han Dong was about to investigate and analyze the mysterious prison, to reason why he was reborn, and to delve into the secrets hidden in the prison.
Buzz! He suddenly freezes.
Han Dong leans against the wall with one hand, gritting his teeth and letting out a roar!
"Wow… This guy is an idiot!"
Han Dong feels very unpleasant after completely taking over [Campbell Frank].
As a result of the recovery of the five senses that provided environmental information, when he wanted to further process complex data through the brain, there was a serious problem!
Han Dong, the host consciousness, is the youngest associate professor at the reputable Life Science College, University of Florence, an academic prodigy.
But consciousness is just consciousness. When consciousness collects data from the senses, formulates related processing formulas, and wants to involve the brain in processing, there is a great problem!
It's like buying a top-level Eye 2080ti graphics card, yet installing it into a host computer with an old version of the I3 processor CPU.
What's worse, this processor has been water-damaged!
As a result of the large amount of introduced data, the system nearly crashes.
Han Dong can only close his eyes, silently chanting Buddhist scriptures, minimizing the intake of external information and trying to clear his mind as much as possible!
Otherwise, this idiotic brain will 'burn out' due to the massive influx of data.