“Integration in progress, please wait…”
A frail girl lay unconscious on the ground, her body suddenly twitching twice.
“Mom, look she moved! She’s not dead! I told you she was faking it,” a sharp, unpleasant young female voice rang out.
“Li Min, Xiu Jun is bleeding so much, what should we do?” another anxious voice inquired.
“She’s definitely pretending! Just trying to make you feel sorry for her and get Dad to punish me!”
“No, no, Xiu Jun wouldn’t do something like that…”
After experiencing a wave of dizziness, No. 8292 opened her eyes to see two plainly dressed women standing over her as she lay at their feet.
“Memory loading in progress…”
As the mechanical voice sounded, memories of this body began flooding into her mind.
She was originally a service-type system from the Quick Transmigration Bureau. According to the Bureau’s regulations—after serving 1,000 hosts, she could freely choose a dimensional world to retire in peace.
Originally, she had chosen a scenic small town in China in 2024. She had already made plans to open a homestay and café there. A former host had once told her this was called “poetry and distant lands.”
However, during the deployment process, the Quick Transmigration Bureau was invaded by an unknown signal, resulting in an incorrect deployment.
Now she had ended up in Shanghai, China in 1972—wrong time, wrong place, and wrong host character!
Song Xiu Jun, the original body’s owner, was a pitiful girl whose father had died and whose mother showed no affection.
“She just opened her eyes!” The speaker was the original body’s stepsister Jiang Li Min. Just five minutes earlier, the original body had been struck down by her stepsister with a stick, after which she had taken over the body.
The original body’s father had been an employee at Shanghai Food Factory. When the original body was twelve, he died in the line of duty. The factory provided compensation and a job, agreeing that the original body could join the factory after graduating high school. To take care of her, they would arrange an office position.
This good job had caught Jiang Li Min’s attention. Not wanting to be sent down to the countryside, she threatened the original body to give up the job, leading to the conflict that resulted in the beating.
She had come here to retire in peace, yet in this world she had to start by taking a beating first.
No. 8292—no, she was Song Xiu Jun now—quickly reviewed the original body’s memories and sneered inwardly. Under normal circumstances, she wasn’t someone who got angry easily, having survived for too long as a system and long forgotten the seven emotions and six desires of being human.
But the Jiang family was truly despicable!
When she was younger, her stepbrother and stepsister would frequently team up to beat and curse the original body. Despite using the compensation money from the original body’s father, they still called her a freeloader.
Li Qiu Ying would tell the original body to endure it because she also considered her daughter a freeloader. Originally, Li Qiu Ying wanted the original body to change her surname to Jiang and call Jiang Jian Guo “Dad,” but the original body refused.
Jiang Jian Guo held this against the original body, and Li Qiu Ying felt guilty toward Jiang Jian Guo, believing the original body was harming her. This was a woman who couldn’t survive without attaching herself to a man.
As she grew older, her stepbrother Jiang Ai Dang would occasionally harass the original body, making her existence in this household like walking on thin ice.
The entire family treated the original body like a servant. Jiang Jian Guo, well aware that his own children disliked the original body, would frequently praise her for being hardworking. Consequently, her biological mother, to please Jiang Jian Guo, assigned her more household chores, while her stepbrother and stepsister could do nothing at all.
“Xiu Jun, get up quickly, don’t make your sister angry,” Li Qiu Ying sighed in relief when she saw her daughter open her eyes, grabbing her clothes and pulling her up.
She had been lying down all this time, actually adapting to and examining this body.
The Quick Transmigration Bureau equipped every system with a basic space. When they parasitized a host, the host could also use it. After leaving the host, the space would be taken along, including any items the host stored inside.
Before retirement, she had exchanged quite a few supplies and gold bars from the Quick Transmigration Bureau’s mall.
Originally worried that the incorrect deployment might cause changes, now that she confirmed the space and its contents were still there, she felt reassured. Following Li Qiu Ying’s motion, she got up from the ground.
Jiang Li Min spoke with disgust: “Did you think pretending to be dead would get you out of going to the countryside? Let me tell you the truth, I’ve already signed you up. Whether you want to or not, you have to go. You must give up that job!”
Li Qiu Ying whispered in persuasion: “Xiu Jun, why don’t you just give the job to your sister? She’s reached the age for marriage discussions, having a job makes it easier to find a match. You’re still young, going to the countryside for a few years won’t delay anything. Your Uncle Jiang said he’ll help you find another job.”
Song Xiu Jun’s gaze swept across Li Qiu Ying’s face.
The woman’s face already bore many wrinkles, her head lowered, avoiding eye contact.
In the original host’s memories, she always used this gentle yet weak voice to persuade the original host to yield.
Jiang Li Min rolled her eyes, thinking she had everything under control, and turned to leave. Li Qiu Ying eagerly followed her: “Li Min, don’t be angry with your sister. She’s younger and not as sensible as you. What would you like to eat tonight? Mom will make it for you.”
Song Xiu Jun rotated her wrist, taking out an Invigorating Pill from her space and placing it in her mouth. The bitter medicinal taste spread throughout her mouth.
This medicine was obtained from a cultivation world. As a system, she naturally couldn’t trade with others – these were all items left behind by that particular host. After consumption, it could maintain immense strength for an entire month.
Soon, her originally weak body regained its strength.
A wooden stick stained with fresh blood was picked up. With a “thud,” it landed heavily on the back of Jiang Li Min’s head.
Song Xiu Jun controlled her strength – after all, she couldn’t kill the person. She sneered coldly; this was just the beginning.
Li Qiu Ying screamed and caught the falling stepdaughter: “Xiu Jun, have you gone mad!”
Song Xiu Jun couldn’t be bothered with this foolish woman. If she weren’t the original host’s mother, she would have liked to give this woman a blow too.
When her own biological daughter was beaten, she left her lying on the ground. The moment her stepdaughter got injured, she couldn’t wait to send her to the hospital.
“Quick, help Mom take Li Min to the hospital,” Li Qiu Ying panicked, “It’s over, it’s over. When Jian Guo comes back, he’ll definitely beat you to death.”
She completely ignored the two of them and went straight back to her room. This room was shared with Jiang Li Min, but what belonged to the original host was only the small bed against the wall. Clothes had to be stored in cardboard boxes placed under the bed – all four seasons’ worth of clothing could fit in just one box.
The wardrobe, the desk… Jiang Li Min forbade the original host from using any of them, and didn’t allow her to stay in the room during daytime either.
Originally, she wanted the original host to sleep in the living room, but Jiang Jian Guo was afraid neighbors would see and cause gossip.
The original host’s biological father had been allocated an apartment. After Li Qiu Ying remarried, Jiang Jian Guo exchanged both the Jiang and Song family’s apartments for this three-bedroom unit, so this apartment actually had Song Xiu Jun’s share too.
What a shameless family.
Song Xiu Jun immediately locked the door from the inside, then took out some wound medicine from her space to treat the injury on her forehead.
Li Qiu Ying called the neighbors and together they sent Jiang Li Min to the hospital. After everyone had left, she came out to look for food.
First, she drank a Nutrient Solution Potion that didn’t belong to this world – it was obtained by a former host from an interstellar world. The original body was severely depleted, with a sallow complexion and hands covered in calluses.
After filling her stomach, she returned to her room, locked the door again, and had a good sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of door-kicking echoed in the room.
“Bitch, get the hell out here now!”
“Xiu Jun, open the door quickly…”
Song Xiu Jun stretched lazily. Accompanied by the continuous kicking sounds, she suddenly pulled the door open. Jiang Ai Dang, having missed his kick, couldn’t stop his momentum and crashed to the ground.
This despicable man had repeatedly made inappropriate advances toward the original body. When the original body told Li Qiu Ying about it, not only did Li Qiu Ying fail to protect her, but she also suspected that she had done something to make Jiang Ai Dang misunderstand.
Today, she would help the original body properly loosen up this pervert’s joints!