At 05:21 PM on January 7th, year 2004 on Earth

The 29-year-old Lan Huan's breathing ceased as she lied down on the hospital bed, surrounded by her sobbing family.

Lan Huan's parents were an ordinary, loving family. They adored their only daughter since they already had three sons, but that happiness didn't last. At the age of three, Lan Huan collapsed with a high fever. She would endure an excruciating pain a few times a day. Her body functioned abnormally and she was always on the verge of death during such outbreaks. The hospital could not identify what was wrong with Lan Huan, but they found a way to preserve the young girl's life, however, it was very expensive. The couple grit their teeth and dug out what was left of their meager savings after buying the house a year ago. Eventually, they had to sell their house, but that still wasn't enough.

The military made an offer to take care of the fees in exchange for the right to study and experiment with Lan Huan's body. Lan Huan's parents wanted to immediately decline, but they didn't have the means for the hospital to continue the treatment. They were conflicted. The three-year-old Lan Huan heard their conversation and opened the door with her frail body. She said with her melodious, young voice, "Mommy, daddy, accept the offer. I know that I'm a burden and that you've tried your best to help me. If you accept the offer, I can live longer and be less of a burden on mommy and daddy."

It was heartbreaking to hear such mature words come out of a young girl's mouth. "Huan'er! What are you saying? Your body might be experimented on!" Yan Huan's mother replied.

"But, it's true. I don't know how much money my treatment costs, but it must be expensive. Even if I get experimented on, it's worth it because I can live longer. I just hope that I can still see mommy and daddy."

"Huan'er..." After discussing the problem seriously, they ended up accepting the offer. Lan Huan didn't blame them at all. She understood that they tried their best to keep her out of harm's way, but fate caused her to have such a strange illness.

Lan Huan's three brothers doted on their one and only little sister a lot, so they were devastated to find that she had to suffer. The eldest brother was 15 years older that Lan Huan. The second eldest brother was 11 years older than her and her third brother was 7 years older. All three brothers started doting their little sister even more, hoping that their sensible little sister would be more comfortable.

Even when Lan Huan was getting treatment, all of her family visited her at least once a week, if not more. When they couldn't, they made sure to call her. Due to her frail body caused by the strange illness, Lan Huan couldn't eat many of her favorite foods, so her family worked hard to make the watery gruel taste like her favorite foods.

As you can see, Lan Huan's family loved her very much. Of course they would feel sorrowful when she perished. Even Lan Huan's normally expressionless eldest brother was in tears.

Lan Huan, however, was viewing this scene. She had lived through 27 years of experiments, but she still died. She understood that she would die eventually, but she still felt a bit regretful towards burdening her beloved family. Lan Huan was curious as to why she could see her own body and that she seemed to be... floating? 

What went through her mind was, So, souls actually exist? Lan Huan found it to be a curious thing. Did novels contain a hint of truth?

"Hey!" a childish voice called. Lan Huan was still in a daze as a young girl called out to her.

"Hey! Lan Huan!" the young girl called once again.

Finally regaining her senses, Lan Huan answered, "Yes?"

"I'm your Growth System that's linked to your soul! Your soul is going to dissipate soon and I have already found a new vessel for you!"

Although there were some disturbing deatils mixed in the little girl's words, what she wanted to know was, "Wait? Dissipate, and not reincarnate like in the myths?"

"Yes! So, that's why I'm in a rush! Quickly! Follow me!" The little girl led Lan Huan to what appeared to be a portal.

"Wait, what do you-" Before Lan Huan could finish her sentence, she was sucked into the portal.

Year 7540 of the Nova Star System Calendar

Pah! A seductive-looking woman's face was slapped by a fat man. "Why are you pregnant with a three-month-old fetus?! Now, I can't enjoy myself!"

Ever since year 1255 of the Nova Star System Calendar, the murder of a fetus is considered a crime unless it was unintentional. In the Nova Star System, they can check if the offender was aware. The second resort was to use a lie detector.

"You should've just hid it from me, so that I could enjoy myself. You're just a lowly concubine for my pleasure!"

In year 2175, polygamy for both genders was approved. Of course, all parties must agree. If the first partner of the said person disapproved, the said person could not cheat with or take in the second partner.

"It's not like I wanted to be one! My family was poor in the first place and you just had to pressure them into marrying me off to you! You idiotic fat pig!"

The woman quickly covered her mouth to prevent herself from saying more words that would anger the pig. That fat pig's name was Feng Ping which meant tranquil. His name really suit him, considering how violent he is and his sadistic tendencies. Perhaps that fat pig was handsome, but it was ruined by his temperament, fatness, and lack of hygiene! She had accidentally spoke out her true thoughts just then, but she couldn't help it! Just because of her natural appearance, that pig said that she was trying to seduce him.

She didn't want to be born with these looks! She wished that she looked more like her simple and neat mother or her honest father instead of her great-grandmother who relied on her appearance to make a living as a dancer before finally meeting her great-grandfather who was an honest and kind man.

When she was young, she had a childhood sweetheart. Although he was not very handsome nor talented, he was at least considerate. He would call her 'little meimei' gently. A treasured memory of hers was when he said, "Tang Mei, huh? What a beautiful name. It really suits you because you really are like a lucky, red gem."

Thinking of him, a tear slid out of her eyes. You liar, I'm not lucky at all...

"Why are you acting so pitiful, huh? It's not like I'm abusing you!"

Even Feng Ping, who was from a powerful family, was scared of breaking the law. One law established was that there must be no domestic violence within a household. Consequences could vary between loss of power, demotion to a lower planet, life sentence, and even worse, death by torture. It was even worse since he was only from a third-rate planet. Although he could bully people from lower planets like Tang Mei who was from a fifth-rate planet, but he could not go against any forces on higher planets. An extremely powerful force was the military which had a law enforcement division.

Hearing those words, Tang Mei glared at him. This wasn't abuse? Then, what was abuse? Tang Mei took a deep breath to calm herself down and said with a shaky voice, "If you continue to outrage me, I just might accidentally miscarry, and it'll be all your fault!"

"You, you know how to threaten me now, don't you!" Feng Ping pointed his trembling finger at Tang Mei. Feng Ping proceeded to try to slap her, but stopped in the middle. "Forget it! This young master is too noble to argue with such a lowly being." He hmphed and turned around to walk out. If you observed closely, you could see that Feng Ping's eyes held a trace of fear that Tang Mei would report him to the authorities. Feng Ping made sure to carefully lock the door.

After the fat pig left, Tang Mei heaved a sigh of relief as she stroked her slightly swollen stomach affectionately. "Don't worry, baby. I made sure not to contaminate your blood with that fat pig's genes."

"As for how, that's a secret for now." Tang Mei smiled mysteriously.