Chapter One

Chapter One

"What is one plus three?"

Beneath her was something hard, and nearby, the lights of a heart rate monitor seemed to be flashing erratically.

A white mechanical arm, emitting a cold, metallic sheen, extended towards Baisha, holding a tablet that displayed a simple math question.

"What is one plus three?"

The soft yet emotionless female robotic voice tirelessly repeated.

This question left Baisha somewhat dazed.

It wasn't that she was so intellectually challenged that she couldn't answer such a question. What puzzled her was — where on earth was she?

She only remembered uploading her design drawings and then falling asleep, a sleep that was unusually sound.

It felt like she was enveloped by something warm and fluid-like, experiencing a long, beautiful dream.

But the latter half of the dream wasn’t so pleasant, filled with jolts and noise, as if thunder and electricity were buzzing past her ears.

When she awoke, she found herself in this completely unfamiliar place —

A narrow room resembling a laboratory, its four walls clad in metal. Her body seemed to have shrunk to that of a five or six-year-old child, weak and powerless.

She was tied to a device monitoring her heartbeat, and beside the bed, there was a metal arm. Upon her awakening, the arm silently extended, offering her a glass of water.

Baisha drank the water down to the last drop, but still felt a dreamlike haziness.

"Physiological characteristics stable," said the metallic arm. "Autonomous eating function normal."

"Maintain heartbeat monitoring, begin intelligence testing."

Then, the metallic arm presented the tablet to her, asking "What is one plus three?"

Baisha took a deep breath and answered with a hoarse voice, "It equals four. Where am I?"

"Correct. Next question, what is the square root of nine?"

Baisha: "..."

"Alright, enough. Just proving the kid isn't intellectually challenged is sufficient." The lab door was suddenly kicked open by a burly man with a cigarette in his mouth and unkempt hair like wild grass. "She's fine now. There are other kids waiting for the treatment room... Vian, Zalek, you two troublesome brats, come here! Gwyneth, bandage them up."

Baisha curiously looked over to see the burly man pulling out two boys from behind him. Both about ten years old, one clutching his arm, the other with a bleeding head, both wincing in pain but with fierce expressions on their faces.

Before Baisha could figure out who "Gwyneth" was, the mechanical arm in front of her swiftly retracted the tablet into its slot, then menacingly pointed at the burly man at the door.

"This child's physiological state has just stabilized. She needs rest!" The gentle robotic voice slightly modulated.

"What about these two brats then?" The burly man pushed the boys forward, a confident smile on his face.

The mechanical arm didn’t further engage with the man across, rapidly transforming its hand to reveal a scanner, scanning the boys: "Vian... superficial skin injury and soft tissue contusion. Zalek, minor humeral fracture."

"You handle the one with the fracture," the burly man scratched his head, "I'll take care of the other."

The mechanical arm didn’t respond verbally, passing over iodine, gauze, and other medical tools, then turned to Baisha, its voice warm and gentle: "Don't be afraid. You are currently in the Nurture Institute, a professional orphan relief organization jointly established by Kangheng Life Safety Company and the federal government. We couldn't find your birth information in our system, but you still meet our relief criteria, so please don’t worry."

Baisha: "..."

Had she just become an orphan?

Baisha turned to watch the burly man treating the wounds of the two injured boys.

The burly man skillfully treated the injuries, quickly bandaging one boy's arm and stitching up the other boy's head. Strikingly, the boys neither cried nor fussed, just biting their lips and enduring, as if accustomed to such treatment.

"All done. As usual, don't move until the bone heals, and keep the wound disinfected and dry until the stitches are removed," the burly man patted their backs, his previously cheerful demeanor suddenly turning grim. "But this time, you went too far. Injuries can affect your future job prospects; a scar on the head can make people think you're a reckless brute. Fighting is one thing, but you crossed the line this time, understand?"

The two boys shivered, finally showing a hint of fear.

Baisha: "..."

That was certainly a unique way to threaten someone.

The burly man waved his hand dismissively, herding the two boys away like sheep, then glanced at Baisha with a frown and a cigarette in his mouth: "Huh, this kid hasn’t made a peep for a while. Not a simpleton, right? Didn't she just answer one plus three is four?"

Baisha wanted to roll her eyes at him, but a wave of fatigue suddenly washed over her.

"Not a simpleton?" The burly man saw Baisha's look and laughed, "Then she must be the quiet type. Good, our institute needs quiet and well-behaved children."

Beep beep, beep beep—

The previously quiet heart rate monitor started to make noise again.

Baisha's vision blurred, and she fainted outright.

……

After an unknown amount of time, Baisha woke up again to find herself in a new room.

The room was shabbier than the previous medical ward but had more signs of life. It was a cramped cabin, about ten square meters, barely accommodating a ceiling fan, bed, wardrobe, table, and chairs, leaving little free space.

The burly man was still wearing the same clothes Baisha had seen him in last time, only now he wasn't smoking. He sat in front of Baisha's bed, his tall frame of 1.9 meters awkwardly hunched due to the low ceiling. This uncomfortable posture, coupled with his rugged face, looked oppressively imposing from Baisha's perspective.

"Awake?" the burly man asked with concern, "I never thought you would faint from hunger. We initially thought you lost consciousness due to external injuries..."

Baisha: "..."

Her gaze drifted off into the distance. She recalled feeling weak and powerless. Ah, so it was hunger that caused her to faint? Quite an unusual experience.

...Did she look like someone who would inherit a fortune?

Baisha numbly pulled the blanket over her face. She had no strength and didn’t feel like speaking.

Although the blanket was thin and worn, it was relatively clean and soft, suggesting it was washed frequently...

Seeing Baisha's uncooperative demeanor, the burly man paused, then said, "Hey, I was just joking. I found you in the abandoned minefield, which has become a dumping ground on Lanslo Star. Usually, no one goes near there... Seriously, kid, what were you doing in such a forsaken place?"

Baisha remained silent.

No one wants to inexplicably find themselves in another world, especially starting as an 'orphan'.

She thought about the blueprint she had just finished designing, and her research project that was so close to completion—

Baisha clenched her teeth in frustration.

For some, transmigration is an adventure. For others, it's an utter disaster.

About twenty seconds later, the muscular man relented. Sensing Bai Sha's sour mood, he ceased his teasing.

He said with a hint of helplessness, "Alright then. At least you could tell me your name."

"Bai Sha," Bai Sha heard her own hoarse voice respond, "My name is Bai Sha."

"Hmm, Bai Sha. While this isn't exactly a great place, we still welcome you... to the Lanslo Star Orphanage."

"I'm the security guard and a teacher here. You can just call me by my name, Holman."

"If you don't like me, another teacher will meet you tomorrow. She will teach you how to adapt to this place."

Having said that, Holman got up and left.

A faint sound of footsteps; Bai Sha could almost picture Holman's brown boots stepping on the ground, stirring a small cloud of dust.

As soon as the door closed, Bai Sha decisively threw off the covers and sat up.

In a corner of the room was a partition wall, likely a bathroom. A mirror hung above the washbasin. She awkwardly ran over with her short legs, dragged a chair to step on, and peered into the mirror.

The mirror reflected a face both familiar and strange.

How to put it... Purely in terms of facial features, there were remnants of 'Bai Sha,' but it was also entirely different. Bai Sha in her previous life was of pure Huaxia descent, but this face looked more mixed.

It was a tender and frail face, looking malnourished, as if it hadn't been properly fed for days.

She had shoulder-length silver-grey hair with a pearlescent sheen and deep blue eyes sparkling like bright stars in the night sky.

Bai Sha observed carefully: When she calmed down, her face would show a composure far beyond her years, but still with a hint of naivety.

Like a noble child fallen on hard times.

...So far, Bai Sha hadn't interacted with many people, apart from Holman and two boys brought to the infirmary for fighting, but since this was an 'orphanage,' she could roughly guess their usual circumstances.

No wonder Holman said those things to 'collect a debt' from her.

But Bai Sha couldn't be blamed; she herself was equally confused.

The reason for her transmigration, the background of this body, she knew nothing about.

Although her body housed the soul of an adult, visibly, her small arms and legs were not capable of much. For now, she could only rely on others' charity to survive.

"I need to find a way to gather more information from the outside world. The technological level of this world is unknown, but I can learn and maybe even return to my old profession as a research scientist."

Bai Sha tried to make fierce, indifferent, or inscrutable expressions in the mirror. But due to the young age of her face, each expression turned out to be more cute and slightly comical than intended.

Bai Sha felt deflated.

She lay back on the bed, pulling the quilt over her head, and let her mind go blank.

"Let it be, whatever it is."