Just as the bitter thoughts of helplessness raged through Kael’s mind, a harsh, booming shout shattered the silence of the seaside courtyard:
"Kael! You lazy brat, you’re slacking off again, aren’t you?!"
It was his maternal uncle. He strode into view, a stern man with messy black hair, wearing the simple, rough cloth garments typical of that era.
Secured tightly around his waist was a scabbard holding a heavy sword, its blade entirely cloaked in a dark, ominous sheath.
Without a moment’s hesitation, the uncle marched straight up to the boy, reached out with a rough hand, and viciously grabbed Kael by the ear, yanking him upward.
"Get up and come with me," the uncle growled harshly, pulling him by the ear.
"Besides, tomorrow we’re finally selling off your mother. And to top it all off, the City Knight Commander’s main wife—your so-called stepmother—is planning to adopt you soon. So, we’re shipping you off to her place tomorrow as well. In exchange for both of you, she’s paying us twenty golden coins."
Kael’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief and shock as the horrifying reality of being sold off hit him. Panic spiked through his veins, and he thrashed wildly, screaming, "I’m not going anywhere! I refuse to be sold like property!"
But the uncle only tightened his grip, dragging the struggling boy along the dirt path. The uncle’s face twisted with pure disgust as he spat venomous words down at him:
"Look at you! You, that squawking, good-for-nothing baby sister of yours, your dead-and-gone father, and my half-sister who is entirely paralyzed and bedridden... you are all absolute burdens to me! Once I get rid of you tomorrow, I’ll make sure to sell your little sister off somewhere too."
Hearing that his baby sister was also going to be sold, Kael felt no surge of familial warmth or protective rage.
Deep down, he didn’t care at all what happened to his mother or his sister; his mind was entirely consumed by raw, selfish panic. Terrified for his own skin, he screamed and kicked solely for his own survival.
But his desperate protests fell on deaf ears as his uncle forcefully dragged him back inside the house.
Unbeknownst to them, a pair of cold, piercing eyes tracked their every movement from the dim edges of the yard.
Shrouded deep within the silent shadows, Ethan watched the entire exchange unfold. A look of profound disbelief and utter disgust crossed his face as he thought to himself:
"What on earth is going on here? Isn’t this supposed to be the chosen one, the grand transmigrator protagonist? Shouldn’t he be stepping up to protect his mother and sister with righteous fury? Instead... he only cares about saving his own skin. What a pathetic, selfish wretch."
Dragging Kael back inside, the uncle hauled him straight into the stifling, cramped interior of their run-down home.
Lying rigidly in the corner on a crude, sagging wooden bed was Kael’s mother. Her striking light-blue hair was damp and matted against her pale forehead, and she wore meager, tattered rags that barely covered her. Unlike Kael, she possessed deep, sorrowful dark eyes that stared blankly upward, completely paralyzed and unable to move a single muscle of her limbs.
Nearby, sitting on the dusty floor, was Kael’s two-year-old baby sister. Her physical condition was just as wretched; she shared her mother’s light-blue hair and possessed a pair of striking golden eyes, but her small arms and legs were marred by ugly bruises and faint marks of physical abuse.
As soon as the little girl saw Kael being thrown inside, her face lit up with a fragile hope. Stretching out her tiny hands, she toddled over and threw her arms around his waist, crying out, "Brother! You’re back?"
But instead of comforting her, Kael shoved her away roughly, his face twisted in bitter frustration as he snapped, "Get away from me!"
He pushed her back onto the dusty floor.
Clang—!
Outside the door, the uncle slammed it shut with a heavy thud and dropped a thick iron latch into place. His cold, muffled voice echoed through the wooden planks: "You stay right there until tomorrow morning."
Frantic and enraged, Kael rushed forward, slamming his fists against the door as he screamed at the top of his lungs:
"Let me out! I’m not staying in this hellhole!"
Turning back toward the empty, dim room, he clutched his head in sheer desperation, shouting into the void:
"Where the hell is my cheat system?! Where is my overpowered golden finger?! Where is that beautiful, divine, sexy milfs who was supposed to welcome me into this new world with open arms?!"
Kael’s gaze drifted away from the empty door and landed on his little sister, who sat huddled in the corner.
Malnourished and neglected, her tiny frame was so emaciated that she looked like a fragile pile of dry bones.
Annoyance flared within him; he shoved her roughly to the side, snapping coldly, "Get away from me. You smell terrible. If no one bathes you, can’t you at least clean yourself up?"
His eyes then shifted toward his mother, lying stiffly on the crude wooden bed.
Even though she was entirely paralyzed and unable to move a single muscle of her body, her physical form retained a breathtaking, mature beauty.
Her striking light-blue hair framed a pale face, and her deep dark eyes stared blankly into space.
Because of the sweltering heat of the room, her tattered rags clung tightly to her skin, drenched in a glistening sheen of sweat that sharply outlined every exquisite contour of her body.
The damp fabric revealed the smooth, pale expanse of her thighs, the thin outline of her undergarments, and the voluptuous, heavy curve of her magnificent breasts rising and falling with her shallow breaths.
For a long, silent moment, Kael stared at her unblinkingly, a strange, twisted fixation flashing in his golden eyes.
He swallowed hard, his throat dry as a sudden, erratic thought crossed his fevered mind. He muttered aloud to himself, a hint of desperate delusion in his voice:
"Wait... I’ve heard rumors back on Earth, or in some of those webnovels... that sometimes transmigrators who cross into a new world unlock some kind of hidden harem or cultivation system if they... you know, cross lines with a woman in this world. Is that actually true? Does a system activate that way?"