Chapter 1: The Eighth Year
“Ding——”
The class bell rang just as the video on the display screen ended. Even with the howling wind and torrential rain outside, the students’ good mood after class was undampened. Less than half a minute after the bell’s final echo faded, the classroom, which had been packed moments before, now held only a few scattered students.
After Ming Fei turned off the teaching equipment, the two students in the very front row suddenly burst into excited cries.
“Oh my god! The forum says the Chief Justice might attend the centennial celebration of our school!!”
“Really!? Is my idol really coming?”
Their exclamations drew the attention of the remaining students. A student by the window in the second row also showed a look of delight, but quickly followed up with a puzzled question.
“But… doesn’t Chief Justice Zhu never participate in these kinds of social events?”
Ming Fei didn’t react much to the students’ chatter. Only when she had packed her things, picked up her briefcase, and prepared to leave, did she look up and find all the students staring intently at her, as if trying to glean some clue from her.
Perhaps it was Ming Fei’s consistently gentle and reserved demeanor that emboldened the student on the left in the front row to ask, “Professor Ming, is the news true? Will Chief Justice Zhu really come?”
Ming Fei didn’t pay attention to these things and could only apologize, “I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay!” the student quickly said with a smile. “It’s my fault for bothering you, Professor Ming, with so many questions. Goodbye, Professor Ming!”
The other students echoed, “Goodbye, Professor Ming!”
Ming Fei didn’t say anything more, softly replied goodbye, and then left the classroom.
The walk from the teaching building to the parking garage was a bit long. The rain was so heavy that an umbrella was useless, and Ming Fei’s trench coat was already more than half soaked by the time she got into her car.
The car started its autopilot sequence after she confirmed her destination.
Ming Fei quickly took off her brown trench coat, rolled her shirt sleeves up to her elbows, and wiped the water droplets off her briefcase with a clean, soft tissue.
Her eyes flickered across a scar on her right wrist, her movements pausing for a beat.
This was her eighth year in this world.
Before the age of seventeen, she lived in a completely different ABO world. In her original world, scientists, based on male and female sexes, further divided humans into six categories according to secondary characteristics like glands and pheromones.
Different categories of humans also had different hierarchical differences.
Before coming to this world, due to injuries and an accident, she was classified as an F-rank alpha after differentiation, the lowest rank of alpha. Not only could she not perceive any omega pheromones or release her own pheromones, she didn’t even have the alpha’s characteristic rut.
Overall, she was no different from an ordinary beta.
Initially, eight years ago, when she first crossed over, she tried various methods to return. Because at least there, she had received an acceptance letter from her dream university, TOP, and was about to embark on the new life she had longed for. And, in a familiar world, she could still find her connection to it, not be completely swallowed by strangeness and fear.
When all her attempts failed, after learning about this new world, she gave up the idea of returning and began to adapt to the new social order.
Compared to her previous life, this new world had no ABO classification, no excessive exploitation or injustice, and no men. In addition, the new world had a more developed social economy and science and technology, and better social welfare benefits.
Relying on government subsidies for undocumented orphans, she worked part-time in a restaurant while self-studying for the independent enrollment exam of the Yi Meng Independent State where she resided.
Although the learning content after crossing over was different, because her academic performance had always been good, coupled with her hard work, she was eventually lucky enough to be admitted to the best university in Yi Meng Independent State, becoming a student in the Robotics Engineering program at Q University.
The educational atmosphere in Yi Meng Independent State was very relaxed and free. Students could decide the length of their undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral studies, and all tuition and other fees were basically waived. As long as they could complete the final graduation assessment, they could receive their degree.
Therefore, it only took her a year and a half to complete all the undergraduate courses.
She originally wanted to go straight to work, but due to her talent and outstanding performance in her major, under the persuasion and recommendation of her advisor, she continued to complete her master’s and doctoral studies and eventually joined the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Q University, serving as an assistant researcher and a lecturer at the college.
All of this took her only five years.
The rain outside blurred the road ahead into a watery curtain. Ming Fei’s fingertips traced the scar that had once torn her flesh, her clear gaze shifting to the red string on her wrist.
On New Year’s Eve of her fifth year after crossing over, she had just finished her studies and started working at the university. Alone and solitary, living in the university apartment, she watched families setting off fireworks in the distance, filled with laughter and joy.
She had grown up in an orphanage and had experienced four adoptions. She should have been used to loneliness, but perhaps because the lights of thousands of homes were too bright, the memories of being ignored, forgotten, and abandoned kept replaying in her mind. For the first time, she realized—she had… never had a sense of belonging.
Never.
Neither before crossing over nor after.
…Perhaps it was fate. The next day, while shopping for New Year’s goods, she stumbled upon the entrance of the Government Gene Cultivation Center.
Of course, she knew about this cutting-edge gene technology. Due to the declining birth rate, the government began encouraging gene-matched conception several years ago. Because it didn’t require the mother to bear the burden of childbirth, it had become the main method of conception for the citizens of the Yi Meng Independent State.
After thinking about it for three months, she finally tried gene matching.
On June 1, 164 New Era, government staff informed her that she had passed the gene matching test.
On July 1, 164 New Era, she achieved a perfect score in the government’s rigorous parenting assessment and testing.
On September 1, 164 New Era, the gene matching was successful.
At 11:45 pm on July 1, 165 New Era, a daughter connected to her by blood was born.
At that moment, her soul trembled with the world, as if some kind of pivotal connection had been implanted within her, allowing her to truly find her link to this world.
—She was no longer alone.
“Beep—This trip is about to end, thirty seconds remaining until arrival at Huifu Gardens.”
The self-driving car arrived at its destination. Ming Fei turned off the operating system and got out of the car, carrying the damp trench coat and the cherry cake she had bought for her daughter. Because she had to pick up a package from the lobby on the first floor, Ming Fei didn’t wait for the elevator and instead took the stairs from the underground parking garage.
As she stepped into the bright and spacious lobby, the property manager at the service desk gave her a standard smile.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Ming.”
Having lived in Huifu Gardens for three years, Ming Fei still couldn’t quite handle the enthusiasm of the property staff. She politely greeted them, collected her package, and while waiting for the elevator, the literary news on the public screen suddenly switched to military and political news.
Even the host’s tone became more serious.
“This station interrupts with a breaking news report—at 4:45 pm on September 7, 167 New Era, while investigating the SE Group in the North District—”
“Ding——”
The elevator arrived. Ming Fei stepped inside, still faintly hearing the broadcast.
“—Chief Justice Zhu Yiqiao discovered that the group was not only involved in treason, but also in severe, egregious gene theft—”
On such an ordinary afternoon, Ming Fei didn’t pay attention to these matters that seemed utterly disconnected from her life. Looking at the cherry cake reflected in the elevator mirror, she began to anticipate Ming Zaozao’s reaction upon seeing it.
As the elevator doors closed, the news broadcast abruptly cut off.
