Chapter 1: A Hellish Start
Grumble—
Her empty, shriveled stomach began to churn. Gastric juices coated its walls, sending a dull ache through her abdomen once more.
Left with no choice, Jiang Ning got up and rummaged through the house, searching for anything edible.
Finally, under the sofa, she found half a moldy steamed bun.
The bun was as hard as a rock; there was no telling how long it had been lying there.
Jiang Ning hurriedly picked it up, dusted it off, carved away the moldy parts with a knife, added a little water, and wolfishly shoved it into her mouth.
It seemed that when a person hit rock bottom, they really could eat anything.
Jiang Ning ate and cried, the emotions she had bottled up for so long bursting forth all at once.
Three days ago, she had been an agronomy student. One moment she was inspecting her experimental fields, and the next, she was violently knocked unconscious by a bull that had come out of nowhere.
When she woke up again, she had become an interstellar orphan.
In the girl’s memories, she was supposed to have had a happy family. They weren’t wealthy, but they lived comfortably enough. Then one day, a ferocious, high-level mutated beast appeared in her residential area. The beast destroyed the girl’s home and killed many people. The inhabitants of that planet were powerless to fight back. The girl had fled to this planet with her family as a refugee.
A month ago, the girl’s parents had unfortunately died while hunting mutated beasts with a group, leaving her an orphan in this world. The girl herself was unlucky; she eventually succumbed to an infection and went to join her parents.
Coincidentally, the original girl’s name was also Jiang Ning.
“Ugh—”
After finishing the half-eaten bun, Jiang Ning’s tears finally ran dry, and the burning sensation in her stomach eased slightly.
Having starved for two days and two nights, she had no choice but to accept the fact that she had transmigrated into the body of an orphan.
Knock, knock, knock—
A series of urgent knocks came from outside. The rusty iron door was partially wedged into the outer wall of the sheet metal house, and whenever someone knocked, the entire structure seemed to tremble. Jiang Ning was afraid the person outside would knock her house down.
She walked to the door and was about to open it when she heard someone muttering outside.
“Why isn’t anyone opening up? It’s been days. Old Li, you don’t think she died in there, do you?”
The man called Old Li felt a little spooked himself. He pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully for any movement inside. “Let’s wait a bit longer. Maybe she’s asleep and didn’t hear.”
“That child is so pitiful. Losing her parents at such a young age. How is she going to live on!”
Jiang Ning, however, felt no turmoil. She stood at the door and listened for a moment. The young girl had already died from an infected wound; the soul now inhabiting her body was that of an adult. If she didn’t fight to live, she would only end up just like the little girl.
Jiang Ning pulled at the door.
For a moment, it didn’t budge.
Jiang Ning: “?”
She belatedly remembered that on her very first day here, a flying vehicle had, by sheer coincidence, crashed into her house. A corner of her sheet metal shack, including the door and wall, had been smashed out of shape.
But Jiang Ning, who was in a state of post-transmigration apathy, had just lain there like a salted fish for days, and the incident had gradually slipped her mind.
“Jiang Ning, are you home?” Seeing no response from within, the person outside raised their voice and knocked on the iron door more urgently.
Jiang Ning pressed her whole body against the door, wrenching at the lock with all her might.
With her effort, the door finally scraped open a crack.
The iron door left several deep scratches on the ground as it was dragged open.
Jiang Ning: “…”
Great! The security of this house has just been upgraded. Even if a thief managed to pick the lock, they might not be able to open the door!
Through the crack, Jiang Ning saw a middle-aged man and woman standing outside, along with a boy who looked to be about eleven or twelve.
She searched the little girl’s memories. These faces appeared quite frequently, and she quickly matched them to the people she remembered. They were the little girl’s neighbors, who had also fled from the disaster-stricken planet. After the little girl’s parents passed away, they had taken extra care of her.
“Uncle Li, Auntie Li, what can I do for you?” Jiang Ning called out in a clear voice.
This body was incredibly gaunt from years of malnutrition. As the harsh sunlight fell upon her, it made her complexion appear even paler.
“Thank goodness, as long as you’re okay.” Auntie Li’s heart, which had been in her throat, finally settled. She let out a long sigh, a flash of pity quickly crossing her eyes.
Beside her, Uncle Li gently nudged his wife, reminding her that the girl was right there and to watch her words.
Jiang Ning didn’t mind the comment, knowing that Auntie Li was just concerned.
“It’s like this. A few of us are planning to go to the northern uninhabited zone to hunt some mutated beasts to sell at the market. We wanted to ask if you’d like to come with us,” Uncle Li said.
The moment he finished speaking, he regretted it. Looking at the frail girl before him, she hardly seemed capable of fighting a mutated beast. She’d probably be torn to shreds in seconds.
“Dad, hurry up,” the boy not far away said, a look of impatience on his face. He kept urging, “Yan Zhou and the others are still waiting for us.”
“In a minute. What’s this kid rushing for?” Uncle Li grumbled at his son, but he was already certain Jiang Ning would refuse. He rubbed his hands together, preparing to leave.
“Wait, Uncle Li,” Jiang Ning called out to him. “I’ll change my clothes and go with you.”
If she didn’t find a way to earn some money soon, she was going to starve to death.
A ready-made money-making opportunity was waving at her. Since Jiang Ning was already planning to find work, there was no reason to refuse.
In this technologically advanced interstellar era, for an unawakened citizen at the bottom of society, the only ways to make money were to perform hard labor in places like mining planets or to risk hunting low-level mutated beasts for cash.
The former was safer, but it clearly wasn’t suitable for Jiang Ning.
Besides, the people in the group were all old neighbors who had come from the same disaster-stricken planet as the original owner. They could more or less look out for each other.
Acting as a group was much better than fighting alone.
Uncle Li hadn’t expected Jiang Ning to agree and looked a bit stunned.
Before Uncle Li could get his thoughts in order, Auntie Li spoke up first. “Alright, we’ll wait for you.”
Jiang Ning turned and went back inside, not forgetting to close the door behind her.
Watching her retreating back, Auntie Li sighed silently.
Originally, the task of hunting mutated beasts would have fallen to this child’s parents, but… alas, fate is cruel!
After losing her parents, Jiang Ning had no source of income. No one around was willing to take a dead weight on a mission, so she could only resort to rummaging through trash cans.
But the trash in the garbage landfill had already been filtered once by the recycling station. What valuables could possibly be left?
For the past month, Auntie Li had watched her drink the dregs of discarded nutrient solutions mixed with water whenever she was hungry. At one point, Auntie Li couldn’t bear to watch any longer and had saved up a brand-new tube of nutrient solution from her own meager rations to give to her.
Jiang Ning had been overjoyed, cherishing it and making it last for a whole week.
But for the past few days, there had been no movement from Jiang Ning’s house. Auntie Li feared she might have died inside. It just so happened that their group was planning a trip to the northern uninhabited zone, so Auntie Li had persuaded her husband to come and check on her.
After all, scrounging through trash wasn’t a long-term solution. As a girl, Jiang Ning would eventually have to join everyone in hunting mutated beasts.
Jiang Ning quickly emerged, having changed into a neat set of long-sleeved clothes and pants. “Uncle Li, Auntie Li, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure about this?” Jiang Ning’s determined and optimistic expression made the words Auntie Li was about to say catch in her throat. She could only give her a couple of earnest reminders. “Hunting mutated beasts is very dangerous. You must stick close to your Uncle Li, you hear?”
“Okay.” Jiang Ning nodded obediently. “Thank you, Uncle Li and Auntie Li. You’re so kind.”
This was her first time going out since transmigrating to the interstellar era.
“Li Xiang, you remember to look after your little sister Jiang Ning too,” Auntie Li added, not forgetting to instruct her son.
The boy named Li Xiang rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “Dead weight.”
Then he shouldered a black backpack and walked ahead without waiting for the three of them.
“Don’t mind him, that’s just how he is,” Auntie Li said with an awkward smile, trying to make excuses for her son. “Li Xiang is a good person. If something really happened, he would definitely save you.”
Jiang Ning just smiled and said nothing.
In a crisis, it was better to rely on herself than to hope for rescue from others.
“There are ten people in our team this time. Besides your Uncle Li, my son, and me, there’s your Uncle Yan and his son, Yan Zhou. I haven’t met the other five; they’re from another area. Xiao Zhou has been the one in contact with them. This is our first time working together, so the mutated beasts we hunt will be split fifty-fifty between our two areas first. Then, our own people will figure out how to divide our share,” Auntie Li explained, filling Jiang Ning in on the mission details along the way.
Jiang Ning listened attentively.
The slums of Planet M412 were extremely underdeveloped. Sheet metal shacks of varying heights were jumbled together. The scorched-red earth was as barren as a desert, with not a single blade of grass in sight. The ground was riddled with potholes filled with thick, stagnant water that gave off a foul stench.
It was no better than the slums of the modern era.
As Jiang Ning’s thoughts drifted, the group came to a stop in front of an abandoned warehouse.
A father and son were standing at the entrance.
The one in front was tall with a cold, handsome face, but his peach blossom eyes added a touch of gentleness to his features.
The youth looked only a little older than her and Li Xiang.
“Brother Yan Zhou,” Li Xiang greeted him enthusiastically as he ran up.
Yan Zhou glanced at him and the group following behind him, including Jiang Ning, his expression unchanging.
It was Yan Zhou’s father, Yan Zhengxiang, who, upon spotting Jiang Ning in the crowd, said to the Li couple in surprise, “Old Li, why did you bring this girl along?”
Jiang Ning instantly felt several gazes turn towards her—some filled with pity, others with an indescribable mix of annoyance and disdain.
She paid them no mind and explained her presence to Yan Zhengxiang as calmly as ever, “Hello, Uncle Yan. My parents are gone now. It’s time I learned to earn my own living.”
Yan Zhengxiang sensed that something about Jiang Ning seemed to be changing. A trace of gratification mixed with hesitation arose in his heart.
Everyone in the slum neighborhood knew this child had been surviving by scavenging through trash for the past month. Although they wanted to help, they simply didn’t have the means.
Having been neighbors for many years, Father Li saw that Yan Zhengxiang’s resolve was wavering and added fuel to the fire. “Old Yan, the kid has it so tough. Let’s just take her with us. There are so many of us going this time, she’ll be fine.”
Yan Zhengxiang didn’t speak, instead glancing at his son’s expression.
He wasn’t the one who could make the final call on this.
“It’s just one more person. If she wants to come, let her,” Yan Zhou said, feeling several pairs of eyes on him. He glanced over, not even bothering to give Jiang Ning a proper look before agreeing.
To him, it didn’t matter who came. He could handle anything now.
“Wait.” Before the others could rejoice, Li Xiang circled around in front of Yan Zhou.
He said excitedly, “Brother Yan Zhou, have you awakened?”
His eyes were wide with a mixture of shock and joy, looking even happier than if he had found 100 credits himself.