Bai Ming transmigrated, but not completely.
Although his soul was successfully brought over, his body was destroyed during the journey.
"Damn it... Isn't this the end? I feel like I'm going to die."
Bai Ming couldn't feel his body, nor could he see or hear anything.
He had no idea where he had been taken or what state he was in.
He only felt that he was about to die.
But soon, in a very classic manner, a "ding—" sound rang out.
As a light screen appeared before his eyes, the sensation of gradually dying was abruptly halted.
[role-playing system]
[Name: Bai Ming]
[Lifespan: 03:26 (Paused)]
[Transformable Characters: None]
[Draw Attempts: 1]
Ah, it was the silent type of system.
Bai Ming looked at the rudimentary panel, and detailed information about the system was displayed before him.
He couldn't withstand crossing worlds, which led to the annihilation of his physical body.
If he, now only a soul, didn't have the system, he would have perished.
Moreover, as the frail soul of an ordinary person, he couldn't use mismatched bodies long-term, and living in a soul state would quickly lead to dissipation.
However, Bai Ming could extend his lifespan by role-playing some already famous characters and causing major incidents in this world.
He could collect emotional energy for survival based on the attention and fame generated by his actions.
If the character's original counterpart reacted to the impersonation, the gains would increase significantly.
As for whether there would ever be a day when he could break free from the lifespan restrictions, the system didn't say, and Bai Ming couldn't guess.
But looking at the mere three and a half minutes of life he had left, Bai Ming had no choice but to trust the system.
Forget it, draw first!
Looking at 'Draw Attempts' at the bottom, Bai Ming chose to draw a card immediately.
[Detecting Host's first draw. Automatically matching the most suitable Character Card based on the environment...]
Text resembling a beginner's welfare benefit appeared before his eyes.
And then, quickly, the familiar Star Rail draw screen materialized.
As a purple light shone, and the Astral Express's door opened, a beautiful woman wearing a pointed, witch-like hat appeared before Bai Ming.
"The Herta?"
But very quickly, before Bai Ming had time to react, The Herta's card emitted a suction force.
Bai Ming's consciousness was rapidly pulled into it.
Quickly, Bai Ming felt as if he had gained control of a strange body.
Not only that, Bai Ming even felt that he had inherited Ms. Herta's intellect, as if he had gained an external supercomputer.
However, Bai Ming could sense that this intellect belonged to 'Heita' and not to him.
It was merely that since Bai Ming was controlling Heita, he could borrow Heita's wisdom.
It was like playing a game and controlling a character; Bai Ming could cast skills, but he couldn't possibly understand how the skills were actually released.
It was at this moment that Bai Ming truly understood what an "unmatched body" meant.
Although the thoughts originated from him, the body responded and even delivered results.
Yet, Bai Ming could not comprehend how this was achieved or how many thoughts flashed through that brain.
But none of that mattered.
Bai Ming never deluded himself into thinking he could become a true genius just by stealing knowledge.
More than that, Bai Ming now needed to confirm his surroundings.
Thus, he controlled The Herta's eyes to slowly open, and the beautiful eyes finally allowed Bai Ming to see everything clearly.
Before him was a huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window was an extremely massive combined flying apparatus.
The gigantic facility being supported by these flying devices, if Bai Ming's memory served him correctly, was identical to the Herta Space Station from the Honkai: Star Rail game.
And according to the broadcast from within the building, today appeared to be the day the Herta Space Station was scheduled to launch.
Realizing this, Bai Ming was suddenly startled.
If the Herta Space Station was launching today, wouldn't Heita also be here watching?!
Wouldn't he be caught red-handed by the original counterpart the moment he arrived?
Although performing in front of the actual person yields higher rewards, wasn't acting opposite the original counterpart right from the start a little too difficult?
No, wait.
Given Heita's personality, for a project like the Herta Space Station, which operates on a timescale of years, she would, at most, pay attention when the project first started.
As for a minor detail like the launch, Heita sending a puppet would probably count as serious attention.
She might not even have arranged for a puppet.
She would probably just wait until after the launch to send her collection of wondrous item over in batches for containment.
Right. That must be it.
Bai Ming slightly relaxed and glanced at his panel:
[role-playing system]
[Name: Bai Ming (The Herta)]
[Lifespan: 03:26 (Paused) + 30 Days (Role-playing)]
[Transformable Characters: The Herta]
[Draw Attempts: 0 (0%)]
His core lifespan hadn't moved, but a new 30-day countdown had been added afterward.
Since it was clearly separated from the three-and-a-half-minute countdown, the two times represented different meanings.
It seemed the issue the system mentioned regarding the soul and body mismatch was this.
Three and a half minutes represented the time until Bai Ming's soul completely dissipated and he died, while this one month was the duration that The Herta's body could preserve Bai Ming's soul.
After one month, his soul would start dissipating again.
He just didn't know if, after one month, when he could switch to a new body, whether this The Herta character card would need to be redrawn, or if he could continue using it after a cooldown period.