Windsor, London, England
“Anna, come down for breakfast! You’re going to be late!” a gentle female voice called from downstairs.
“Okay, Mom!”
Anna hurried down the stairs but only saw her mother in the kitchen.
“Where are Dad and Luke?”
“Your dad’s in the garage checking the car. Luke is probably still in his room. Could you go call him down for breakfast?”
“Okay, Mom.”
Anna turned around and ran back upstairs to Luke’s room.
Inside the room, Luke Kirk stared at the pile of wooden blocks scattered across the floor.
“Sigh… it failed again.”
A bitter smile appeared on his face as another attempt at mental training ended in failure.
Seven years had passed since he arrived in this world.
Ever since he saw Tony Stark’s face on the front page of a newspaper, he had never truly been at ease.
As a transmigrator, he knew exactly how dangerous this universe would become.
If his calculations were correct, there were still seventeen years until Thanos snapped away half of all life.
But from the moment Tony Stark declared, “I am Iron Man,” the world had officially begun changing forever, assuming this wasn’t some alternate timeline.
Luke had been born into this world with the memories of his previous life.
Along with those memories came a mysterious system that had been constantly analyzing his mind.
Unfortunately, the analysis had stopped at 98% two years after his birth and hadn’t progressed ever since.
Fortunately, the system wasn’t the only unusual thing about him.
Luke also discovered that he possessed extraordinary mental abilities.
Besides having a photographic memory, he could manipulate objects with his mind.
He had been practicing precise control over that power.
“Well…”
He let out another helpless sigh.
“Luke, you’re so lazy! I had to come upstairs to call you for breakfast.”
A tiny figure rushed into the room and picked up one of the wooden blocks from the floor.
“Huh? You’re so old, and you’re still playing with my toys? I don’t even play with them anymore,” Anna declared proudly.
Anna Kirk was Luke’s three-year-old younger sister.
“Anna…” Luke said with a threatening smile.
“Do you still want to hear a bedtime story tonight?”
Hearing that, Anna immediately turned and ran.
“Mom! Mom! I called Luke downstairs! Can I have an ice cream after school today?”
“I already ate all the ice cream,” Luke said with a grin as he followed behind her.
“Mom! Luke’s bullying me!”
She immediately ran behind Helen for protection.
In the kitchen…
“Anna is such a good girl. Hurry up and eat your breakfast. We don’t want your brother anymore, so we’re going to sell him later,” Helen said with a perfectly straight face.
Helen Kirk, Luke’s mother, was a British-Chinese secondary school music teacher who had just finished preparing breakfast.
Anna blinked in confusion.
“Does that mean no one will play with me anymore?”
“You’ll still have your mom and dad. We’ll play with you.”
Anna’s eyes widened in alarm.
She quickly hugged Helen’s leg.
“Did Dad agree to this? Why didn’t anyone ask me? I don’t agree! Luke is my brother! You can’t sell him!”
Helen struggled to suppress a laugh.
“Your father and I already discussed it. We’re selling him when we go out later.”
“W-Who are you selling Luke to?”
“To John, the man who runs the barbecue stand in town.”
Anna gasped.
“Huh?! He’s going to eat him? He’s my brother!”
At that moment, James walked in from the garage.
“Who’s getting eaten?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Anna, why are you shouting instead of eating breakfast? I could hear you all the way from the garage.”
James Kirk, Luke’s father, was a painter and every bit the image of a traditional English gentleman.
“Mom, it’s an English breakfast again today,” Luke said with a disappointed sigh.
Every now and then, Helen would make Chinese-style breakfasts for the family.
Luke always ate much more on those mornings than when she served a traditional English breakfast.
“Didn’t we have Chinese breakfast yesterday?” Helen said as she handed Luke a glass of milk.
“Sometimes I wonder if you were Chinese in your previous life with how much you love Chinese food.”
“That’s because Chinese food is delicious. If you don’t believe me, ask Dad. He loves it too.”
Before James could answer, Anna eagerly raised her hand.
“I love Chinese food too!”
Helen smiled warmly as she took her seat at the table.
“All right, all right. I’ll make Chinese breakfast again tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks for breakfast, honey. I’ll make it tomorrow,” James volunteered.
The moment he heard that, Luke nearly choked on his food.
In his opinion, James’s cooking was nothing short of a culinary catastrophe.
Wanting to save himself from tomorrow’s breakfast, Luke quickly changed the subject.
“Dad, I finished drawing The Lion King yesterday.”
Thanks to Helen and James’s backgrounds, both Luke and Anna had received excellent training in music and art from an early age.
With the discipline and focus of an adult mind, Luke showed exceptional talent in painting, as well as the piano and guitar.
“I want to see it! I want to see it!” Anna shouted excitedly between bites of breakfast.
“I want to see Simba become the Lion King!”
“Didn’t Luke already tell you the ending as a bedtime story last night?” James said with a smile.
“I’ll have it bound today, and you can read it after you get home from school.”
He paused before adding, “Actually, a publisher contacted me the day before yesterday. They’re very interested in publishing this picture book.”
“A publisher already reached out?” Helen asked in surprise.
James nodded.
“It all started because Anna showed Luke’s picture book to her classmates. The other children loved it and kept asking their parents to read The Lion King. Eventually, the parents contacted the school to find out who created it. One of the children’s fathers works for a publishing company, so he approached me about publishing it. Since Luke hadn’t finished the story at the time, I turned him down.”
James turned toward Luke.
“So, son, what do you think?”
When Luke first realized that The Lion King didn’t exist in this world, he had searched extensively online.
To his surprise, not only The Lion King, but many famous books, songs, and films from his previous life were nowhere to be found.
Since his mysterious system had remained stuck at 98% for years with no sign of changing, Luke had decided to use the knowledge from his previous life to make money.
“I agree to publish it,” Luke replied without hesitation.
“Great.” James smiled proudly.
“I’ll get it bound today and arrange another meeting with the publisher.”
The thought of his seven-year-old son becoming a published author filled him with pride.
“I’m done eating. I’m going outside to wait for the school bus.”
Luke slung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried toward the front door.
“Don’t run,” Helen called after him.
“Be careful.”