POV: MC
Silence.
That’s all I feel right now.
I can’t move my body, I can’t speak, but my brain is still churning.
I have no idea where I am.
Everything is pitch black because I can’t even open my eyes.
I can’t tell if time is passing or standing still.
Occasionally, I blank out, caught in a hazy cycle of sleeping and waking.
After a long, agonizing wait, a certain liquid passed through my mouth.
It tasted slightly sweet, a bit salty, and somewhat bland like a diluted saline solution.
From then on, I’d swallow the liquid from time to time, noting how its flavor subtly changed from time to time.
I could also feel my arms and legs.
I couldn’t move them yet, but the sensation was there.
Then, it happened.
The sound of a beating drum echoed from everywhere at once, giving me the jump scare of a lifetime.
I tried to scream, but no words came out.
The rhythmic thumping ‘lub-dub’, finally made me realize the truth.
I had been reincarnated, and I was currently a baby still in the manufacturing process.
I felt a surge of pure joy at getting a second chance at life and thanked every god I could think of.
Weeks later, I started hearing the muffled voices of people outside.
My inner ear bones must have finally developed.
To pass the time, I counted or tried multiplying random numbers in my head, figuring it might stimulate my developing neural pathways.
Soon after, I began detecting the faint scent of the liquid surrounding me.
My olfactory(smell) system was officially online.
As more time passed, I finally gained the strength to move my limbs.
Sometimes, I’d throw a little kick against my new mother’s womb, just to let her know her baby was healthy and energetic.
Eventually, I could even see a faint glow like looking through thick, closed curtains in a dark room on a sunny day.
I still didn’t know what language the voices outside were speaking, but I guessed it was either Chinese or Korean.
I ruled out Japanese because, thanks to years of watching subbed anime, I knew enough words to recognize it, even if I wasn’t proficient.
Around this time, I started shifting my body so my head faced the entrance of the birth canal.
I wanted to make sure I was in the right position so my new mother wouldn’t need a complex procedure like a C-section.
I figured I only had a few days left in this dark, warm hotel I’d been staying in for the past eight months.
Because I’d been so focused on just growing, I completely forgot to check the most important thing: did I have a cheat like all those novel protagonists?
‘System,’ I called out in my mind.
No response.
‘Status Window’
Instantly, a translucent blue panel materialized in front of me in the darkness.
========================
STATUS WINDOW
========================
>> PROFILE STATUS
NAME : <Unnamed>
TITLES : [The Good Boy<You will always be a favorite and easily receive goodwill from strangers>]
AGE : 256 Days (Biological) / 26 Years (Mental)
>>SKILLS
> [Programming] : Lv.
23
> [Cooking] : Lv.
27
> [Farming] : Lv.
19
> [Money Management] : Lv.
17
> [Physical Fitness Theory] : Lv.
14
> [Communication] : Lv.
11
>> MAGICAL CULTIVATION
[STATUS] : LOCKED (Awaiting Awakening)
========================
Seeing those stats, my first thought was: I won the lottery.
With a system, I could achieve anything.
I started mentally asking the system a barrage of questions, but there was still no response.
It seemed this thing wasn’t sentient; it was just a passive interface revealing my skills.
Looking at those skills, it made sense.
My programming was decent because of my mediocre desk job.
My cooking was slightly higher because living alone meant watching endless YouTube tutorials just to feed myself.
Communication wasn’t terrible either, I may have been lonely, but I always made a point to chat with the neighbors.
As for Magical Cultivation, it confirmed I was indeed born into a magical world.
I couldn’t wait for the day I’d be slinging fire from one hand and ice from the other.
Daydreaming about all the magical chaos I was going to cause made me completely lose track of time.
Delivery day was quickly approaching.
POV: Zhang Hui Xi (MC’s Mother)
The delivery date was drawing near.
The doctor assured us there would be no complications, telling us the baby was growing healthy and strong.
My heart swelled with anticipation and excitement at the thought of raising a child with Zhang Min(MC’s Father).
June 5th was my due date, but no matter what I did, the baby wouldn’t budge, acting like he wanted to stay in my womb for the rest of his life.
We stayed overnight at the hospital.
Finally, on June 6th at 2:59 AM, his head crowned.
Gathering every ounce of energy I could muster, I started pushing.
I had never experienced such immense pain and overwhelming happiness at the same time.
For the first time in my life, I was giving birth.
Boy or girl, I vowed to cherish and spoil this child with everything I had.
Then, I heard it the sharp, wailing cry of my baby.
A massive wave of relief washed over me as I watched the doctor clean him off.
“It’s a healthy boy.
No complications,” the doctor announced with a warm smile.
Hearing those words, tears of pure joy streamed down my face.
I had never felt this happy in my entire life.
When the doctor gently placed my son in my arms, I stared down at him.
He stopped crying immediately, looking up at me before snuggling close to my chest.
“Zhang Xiaohou,” I whispered softly.
“From now on, your name will be Zhang Xiaohou.”
After that, I began to nurse him, and he drank like there was no tomorrow.
POV: Zhang Xiaohou
I had never felt happier to be alive than in that moment even if getting squeezed through a birth canal was an absolute nightmare.
Knowing for sure that I was in a magical world doubled the joy.
I felt a little embarrassed about crying from the pain of being squished, but hey, I was literally a newborn baby.
What else was I supposed to do?
A nurse quickly cleaned me up, clamped, and cut the umbilical cord.
Once I was clean, she handed me over to a woman lying on the hospital bed, her face streaked with tears.
Seeing her, I instantly knew this was my mother.
I snuggled as close to her as possible, seeking her warmth because it was freezing out here compared to where I just came from.
While I was in my mother’s arms, the nurse wrapped me tightly in a thick cloth to keep me warm.
My mother whispered something to me in a language I didn’t quite understand yet, and then she began to feed me.
I didn’t have a single hint of the awkward hesitation that reincarnated protagonists in novels always seem to have about drinking breast milk.
It’s not gross; it’s literally the only food I’m going to get for the next few months.
After drinking until my tiny stomach was full, I felt myself drifting off.
Getting squeezed out into the world was exhausting, and I was still dizzy from the whole ordeal.
As I slept, I had a dream.
I saw my parents from my previous life standing together.
They were smiling, telling me to take care of my health, not to get into petty arguments with others, and reciting all those classic parental worries before finally saying goodbye.
They told me they were in a much better place now, and that I needed to live this new life without any regrets.
When I woke up, my vision was blurry, and hot tears were silently trailing down both sides of my face.
Right then and there, I made a promise to myself ‘I will live this life without a single regret.’