“001, help me call Doctor Aisen. Ask him to come over,” Ruan Qiao commanded.
“Doctor Aisen doesn’t take night visits,” 001 replied.
The words made Ruan Qiao pause for a moment, giving her a bit of calm.
Of course, the mountain path to the gate was so difficult to walk, with no lights at all.
Even for a young person, coming down would be exhausting. Doctor Aisen was older, and at night it would be even tougher.
But—
Ruan Qiao glanced at the big cat again and ordered, “Connect the call. I’ll talk to him.”
On the phone, Ruan Qiao didn’t ask Doctor Aisen to come in person. Instead, she showed him a video of the cat’s current condition.
The doctor asked a few questions, then gave her a reassurance.
From the video, Doctor Aisen said the cat’s wounds appeared to have been treated before. The reason some had reopened could be due to issues with the transport vehicle or from bumps during the long journey, but it wasn’t serious.
All that was needed was proper cleaning and anti-inflammatory treatment.
As for why the cat was unconscious, that couldn’t be determined from the video.
Fortunately, Doctor Aisen agreed that if the situation didn’t improve by tomorrow, she could contact him again, and he would come to take a look.
With that, Ruan Qiao’s heart finally relaxed a great deal.
She cleaned the dirt from the cat’s wounds with warm water, sprinkled anti-inflammatory powder, and gently wrapped them with gauze.
Then she wiped the filthy fur with wet wipes until it was clean.
Throughout the entire process, the cat remained perfectly still, seemingly feeling no pain at all.
Watching this only made Ruan Qiao’s hatred for those who had harmed the cat grow stronger.
After tidying up the cat, Ruan Qiao still felt uneasy.
Although she had little experience caring for animals, she had read plenty of web novels and watched many TV dramas.
From what she remembered, injured people tended to develop fevers at night.
So… would cats do the same?
“001, send me a copy of the personal files for Jin Ge and Lin Shan, and also gather all the information you can find related to secondary transformation. Send everything over,” Ruan Qiao issued another command.
001 quickly complied. Her light-brain vibrated several times in succession, and she received over ten emails.
Ruan Qiao glanced at the big cat still in a deep sleep, then hurried back to her room to take a quick shower.
Afterwards, she had a few pieces of yesterday’s leftover cookies with some yogurt for dinner, grabbed her blanket and pillow, and went next door.
She couldn’t bring herself to leave the sick cat alone, so she planned to personally care for this big cutie.
Inside, the cat was still lying quietly, not having moved a single inch.
Ruan Qiao sighed, told 001 to go back, and then took a soft mat to sit next to the cat, keeping watch while reviewing the data on her light-brain.
Through this information, Ruan Qiao finally gained a rough understanding of the Xingyu star system where she now was.
She learned that in this star system, people were not equal; they were divided into four levels based on genetics.
A class was the highest, usually born into noble or aristocratic families.
These people generally possessed beast-form genes and underwent two transformations at ages three and six.
After a successful first transformation, their physique was usually strengthened, giving them more energy for the second transformation.
After completing both transformations successfully, they would develop special abilities, varying in strength. At that point, they were reassessed for their rank.
Regardless of the assessment, A class individuals who successfully transformed usually chose military or political careers as adults, entering the ruling class.
B class individuals were considered the elite of the star system.
They lacked beast-form genes, so transformation was not an issue. However, they awakened special abilities during their growth period.
As adults, B class individuals typically worked in government roles, civil servants, law enforcement, military positions, and so on, much like Ruan Qiao’s world’s bureaucrats.
They formed a critical component of the state apparatus, serving the nation while also acting as the most capable assistants to A class individuals.
C class were ordinary people. They had no special abilities and could not transform, belonging to the civilian class.
Although not especially strong, C class people made up the majority of the star system’s population.
They were the backbone of the nation’s development.
As for the last level, D class, it referred to those with genetic defects.
Either they carried A class bloodlines but failed their transformation, never developing special abilities; or they were born with physical disabilities that could not be cured even under advanced medical care.
People like this held the lowest status in the star system, and on some higher-level planets, they were not even allowed to exist.
The children in the orphanage all belonged to the first type, having failed their first transformation.
In other words, their bodies were not strengthened after the first transformation; in Jin Ge’s case, he was even injured during the process.
This meant their chances of succeeding in a second transformation were extremely low, extremely low.
Even if they did succeed, the best outcome would be to become ordinary people like C class; the possibility of gaining special abilities was virtually nonexistent.
From the personal files sent by 001, Ruan Qiao learned that the golden eagle Jin Ge and the squirrel Lin Shan were in slightly better situations. Although they had failed their evolution, they had at least been sent to the orphanage by their families.
Moreover, the family had inspected the orphanage and only proceeded with the paperwork for the two children after being satisfied.
Apart from them, the Maine Coon cat Xiao Wang had been abandoned at the orphanage gate while still in a coma after his first failed transformation.
At that time, he was clutching a name tag tightly in his paw, with the characters “Jiang Wang” written on it.
It was unclear whether this was his name or the name of someone important to him.
To commemorate this and ensure he would not forget, after adopting him, Ella and 001 began calling him Xiao Wang.
The day after Xiao Wang was taken in by the orphanage, an anonymous donation appeared in the orphanage’s account.
Although anonymous, Ella knew it must have come from Xiao Wang’s family as living expenses for him.
They probably wanted to keep his family background secret, hence the discreet method.
The lop-eared rabbit Huihui and the little hedgehog Gungun had similar origins to Xiao Wang; they were also abandoned at the orphanage gate.
However, when they arrived, they didn’t even have a name tag.
The names Huihui and Gungun were given to them later by Ella.
Looking over all this information, Ruan Qiao felt a heavy weight pressing on her chest, making her almost suffocate.
She simply could not understand how these children, merely born with some physical issues, could be treated with such disdain.
It was as if their very existence brought shame to their families!
So what if they’re ordinary?
Who isn’t ordinary?!
Ordinary people can live happy lives too!
Ruan Qiao stood up and paced back and forth in the room several times, trying to calm herself, and finally managed to settle her anger.
She sat back down on the soft mat and gently stroked the big cat’s fur, which was gradually drying, to soothe him.
Looking at him, she realized that from another perspective, there wasn’t really anything to be angry about.
Those families rejecting these kids might actually be a blessing in disguise for them.
At least they were left on Planet 0813, in the Starlight Orphanage, which gave them a second chance at life.
Ruan Qiao believed that as long as she was there, the children wouldn’t face discrimination and certainly wouldn’t be abused.
Thinking of this, she glanced again at the big cat still lying unconscious on the mat.
She couldn’t even imagine if her own little ones hadn’t been sent to the orphanage but had stayed with their respective families, would they have suffered the same torment?
The thought sent a chill down her spine.
Ruan Qiao waved her hand forcefully, trying to brush away the horrifying images in her mind.
She took a deep breath, closed all the files, and opened the information 001 had sent her yesterday about food and produce purchases, studying it carefully.
She hoped to find a way to make money.
What was done was done, dwelling on it wouldn’t help.
If she wanted the children to have a good life, what mattered now was figuring out how to earn money, how to provide them with better nutrition, and how to give them a better chance during their second transformation.
Ruan Qiao hadn’t forgotten what Doctor Aisen had told her: if the second transformation failed, a significant number of the children could die in the process.
That was absolutely not something she wanted to see!
After reviewing the files, she spent a long time online researching and finally decided to stick with her original plan.
It wasn’t the season for farming yet, and besides, she was alone, it was obviously unrealistic to try to clear land and start planting by herself.
For now, the only thing she could, and should, do was grow vegetables.
After observing her surroundings, Ruan Qiao was certain that Planet 0813’s level of technology surpassed that of the world she had previously lived in.
For example, every room here had temperature and humidity controllers. Yet, after walking through the orphanage, she hadn’t seen anything resembling an air conditioner or a humidifier.
She didn’t know what those machines looked like or where they were placed, but at least it proved that building a greenhouse with constant temperature and humidity would definitely be feasible.
That meant she could first maximize the benefits of her mushroom spawn bags, producing as many mushrooms as possible while cultivating new strains.
In addition, due to severe soil pollution on the planet, hydroponic cultivation technology was already very advanced here.
Most importantly, the government was actively promoting this technology, encouraging people to grow their own food at home. As a result, all the supporting small household equipment was very affordably priced.
These devices were perfect for growing strawberries, tomatoes, and the other vegetable seeds she had brought with her.
Although vegetables sold for slightly less than fruit, they had a shorter growth cycle and higher yield!
Looking at the equipment, Ruan Qiao couldn’t help but imagine that soon she wouldn’t need to rely on nutrient solutions anymore, she could eat cucumbers and tomatoes she grew herself and drink vegetable soup she cooked herself.
With that thought, pink stars seemed to fill her eyes, and without hesitating, she immediately placed an order online for a batch of plant-specific nutrients and two sets of hydroponic cultivation equipment.
By the time she finally finished setting all this up, it was already very late at night.
After checking the big cat’s body to make sure he didn’t have a fever, Ruan Qiao curled up on the soft mat beside him and fell asleep.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, she slept extremely soundly, not waking once all night.
It wasn’t until the sunlight streaming through the window hit her eyes that she slowly woke up.
Still unable to open her eyes, her first instinct was to reach out and touch the big cat beside her.
She was afraid that something might have happened to him while she slept.
But the moment her fingers touched his body, she froze, then suddenly widened her eyes in shock!
What… had she just felt?