Lin Jianheng left the house and thought for a while before remembering she forgot to tell her sister she was heading to the company.
Jian Lingxuan, honestly. Was there something she couldn’t just send her via the optical computer?
This optical computer was similar to the mobile phones from Lin Jianheng’s previous life, but its functions were far more powerful.
It had no physical form, connected directly to one’s mind, matched biological features, and had no possibility of being lost.
She could view and reply to messages using only her thoughts.
But Lin Jianheng was a transmigrator, after all, and still wasn’t very familiar with it. She still projected the messages into reality, swiping to reply.
She sent a message, and her sister replied very coldly: 【Take a taxi yourself.】
Lin Jianheng pouted.
【Transfer 1,000,000】
Lin Jianheng immediately beamed with joy.
This money could probably cover the two beds she bought today. As for the rest, she’d slowly ask for it after her relationship with Jian Lingxuan recovered.
The Jian family specialized in optical computer technology, which was why the original owner and Jian Lingxuan dared to have chips implanted directly—the security of their own products was guaranteed.
After calling a car, Lin Jianheng put away the small projection phone to avoid being laughed at.
But in a row, five cars canceled their orders and rejected her as a passenger right after she opened the door.
Logically, the interstellar era should have popularized fully autonomous driving. The taxi industry was likely preserved for employment reasons.
Lin Jianheng stood bewildered in the wind. She was well-featured and pretty, a young woman from a wealthy family.
Why were all these people unwilling to take a big spender like her?
When she finally managed to get into a car, the driver looked her up and down.
Lin Jianheng shrank to the side, timid as a puppy. If not for the fact that the driver was also a woman, she would have gotten out of the car immediately.
Upon reaching her destination, Lin Jianheng quickly darted out of the car, but the car sped away even faster, whooshing off as if she were some great pirate who would rob them if they weren’t careful.
Clutching her bag, Lin Jianheng felt awkward. Could it be that something had happened that she didn’t know about?
Following the original owner’s memories, she entered the Jian Corporation’s building.
It wasn’t rush hour, so there weren’t many people along the way.
Although everyone called her “Little Miss” in a respectful tone, every person who saw Lin Jianheng had a very strange expression on their face.
Lin Jianheng quickened her pace and pushed open the door to Jian Lingxuan’s office.
The two people on the sofa froze.
“Xiao Heng is still so… straightforward.” The woman holding a teacup took a sip after a moment’s pause, her expression returning to normal. She spoke while looking at Lin Jianheng with smiling, curved eyes.
When she smiled, her eyes were just like those of a classic big boss from a movie—never fully open, always smiling. The moment they opened and the smile vanished, something bad was about to happen.
Lin Jianheng closed the door and obediently called out, “Hello, Sister-in-law.”
“You don’t even knock, yet you know how to greet people.” Jian Lingxuan was sitting opposite her fiancée, Lu Yuanchen. Her cool words sent a chill down Lin Jianheng’s neck, a premonition of danger.
“Of course I know how to greet you, my dear sister. Your little sister is here to say hello.”
Lin Jianheng gave a sheepish smile, ran behind Jian Lingxuan, and without another word, started massaging her shoulders.
As she performed these actions, Lin Jianheng herself didn’t realize how practiced she was.
It was as if she had done the same thing over and over again in the past.
After all, she was a transmigrator. Jian Lingxuan wasn’t her biological sister, and she hadn’t had any sisters in her previous life. She should have felt unfamiliar with such a relationship.
In the end, Lin Jianheng didn’t overthink it. The strangeness she had encountered on her way here was far more peculiar than her own practiced movements, capturing what little attention she had.
Jian Lingxuan, guessing she was up to something, didn’t stop her “massage service,” but she wasn’t very enthusiastic either.
Two breaths later, she and Lu Yuanchen looked up at the same time, their sharp gazes sweeping over Lin Jianheng.
The look made Lin Jianheng shudder and stop what she was doing.
How could she withstand the stares of two business tycoons? She silently put on a harmless smile, her legs went weak, and she shrank down.
Hiding behind the sofa.
Jian Lingxuan hasn’t figured out that the core inside the shell has been replaced, has she?
No, that’s not right. If that were the case, Lu Yuanchen wouldn’t have reacted.
Just then, Jian Lingxuan walked around to Lin Jianheng’s side and looked down at her.
As an Alpha, Jian Lingxuan’s excellence was self-evident, and one could get a glimpse of it from her height alone.
Her height of 1.83 meters was impressive, and both her pheromones and spiritual power were double-S rank.
If the Jian family hadn’t been merchants for generations, and if there was anyone else to inherit the family business, Jian Lingxuan would have likely entered a military academy and become a famous general of the Empire.
In front of her sister, Lin Jianheng’s 1.76-meter height seemed small, not to mention she was currently squatting.
Lu Yuanchen also stood up, still holding her teacup. She leaned against the corner of the sofa, looking at Lin Jianheng thoughtfully, that same, almost eerie smile still on her lips.
The main branch of the Jian family in this generation had only one pair of sisters. Eight years apart, they were vastly different in every way.
The elder daughter, Jian Lingxuan, was so outstanding that her peers in the entire aristocratic circle couldn’t hope to catch up. Marriage proposals poured in from various families.
The younger daughter, however, was the complete opposite. It was as if their mother had run out of ink after the first child and had to randomly assign her some attribute points. She was a joke.
Near-nonexistent spiritual power, B-rank pheromones, and no special ability to speak of…
If Jian Lingxuan hadn’t been so outstanding and used her influence to block all news about her, her younger sister, Jian Heng, would have been destined to be ridiculed by the entire aristocratic circle.
Yet, this younger sister was also disobedient and loved to oppose Jian Lingxuan, which had given Jian Lingxuan quite a headache for a while.
But today…
Being watched by the two sisters, Lin Jianheng felt the pressure multiply. She wanted to dig a hole with her feet and crawl into it to escape.
The worst-case scenario was that Jian Lingxuan would discover she was no longer Jian Heng and would have her captured for research, or disposed of.
Lin Jianheng was still mentally calculating what to do when Jian Lingxuan suddenly let out a scoff.
“I was wondering why you were so fierce last time. So you have spiritual power now. Your wings have hardened, so you have to be a bit arrogant.”
In just a few seconds, she and Lu Yuanchen had already exchanged dozens of messages.
The two of them confirmed their opinions with each other and became even more certain of this point.
The pampered Little Miss of the Jian family’s main branch had finally awakened her spiritual power at the age of twenty-two.
Jian Lingxuan’s hand patted Lin Jianheng’s head. “You awakened it and didn’t even tell me. You want to be king of the hill, is that it? No way. Your sister here has been managing the corporation for years; you’re no match for me, you rookie who just got your spiritual power.”
Lin Jianheng’s head ached from Jian Lingxuan’s pats, but at least she could breathe a sigh of relief.
That was close. She was almost buried by her own sister.
“I didn’t know…” After relaxing, Lin Jianheng clutched her head, still not standing up.
She was clearly a transmigrator, so how could she have changed the original owner’s spiritual power?
Or did the original owner always have it, but she just couldn’t perceive it? Was there a bug in the novel’s setting?
After all, the memories the original owner gave her were incomplete. It was hard to say if the original owner had deceived her as well.
Jian Lingxuan kicked her butt. “Still lying? You have spiritual power and you can’t feel it yourself?”
Lin Jianheng shuffled to the side, with no intention of standing up, and looked at her sister with teary eyes. “Why would I be able to feel it? I haven’t had it for the past twenty-something years…”
According to the original owner’s memories, spiritual power and pheromone levels were different. The former was innate; all living beings in the Empire had it, with varying strengths among different races. The latter was only present in specific races and developed along with secondary sexual characteristics.
Generally speaking, however, spiritual power and pheromone levels were positively correlated. All of this came from the original owner’s memories, but Lin Jianheng remained skeptical of them. She had thought she didn’t have any spiritual power and didn’t need to check, but now things were strange.
Hearing this, Jian Lingxuan was about to scold her but was stopped by her fiancée.
“Lingxuan, don’t be too harsh. What Xiao Heng is saying should be the truth.”
Lu Yuanchen didn’t seem to be human. As she spoke, her pupils narrowed into sharp slits.
Uh oh, the squinty-eyed boss isn’t smiling anymore. Something’s about to happen.
Lin Jianheng felt a chill just looking at Lu Yuanchen’s eyes. She finally managed to stand up and quietly hid behind Jian Lingxuan.
“This thing can still…” Jian Lingxuan was a bit speechless.
But on second thought, she knew how to control her spiritual power because it had existed ever since she became conscious.
No one needed to teach her; it was an instinct, like eating and drinking.
But for her sister, Jian Heng, it was like a person born with a disability who suddenly recovered. She would surely be unfamiliar with the restored limb, having never used it in the past few decades, and might not even be able to perceive its existence.
“I was going to talk to you about something, but never mind. Come with me for a physical.” Jian Lingxuan picked up her bag and grabbed Lin Jianheng’s hand without another word.
Lu Yuanchen flanked her from behind. The scene looked like they were escorting a prisoner.
Lin Jianheng wanted to squirm a little, but one look from Jian Lingxuan made her freeze.
The three of them were silent on the way.
Surprisingly, Lu Yuanchen was the driver.
As for whether her dear sister and sister-in-law were communicating via their optical computers, Lin Jianheng had no way of knowing.
She thought for a long time and started scrolling through her contacts.
Seeing the vulgar words from a bunch of bad influences, Lin Jianheng took a deep breath and simply blocked them all.
This group of people who only knew how to bully their weaker peers needed to stay away from her and not ruin the good life she had worked so hard to get.
But after scrolling to the very bottom, she couldn’t find Yan Su’s contact information.
Only then did it dawn on Lin Jianheng that Succubus Sister had been imprisoned by the original owner in that small room.
No way to contact the outside world, no entertainment, living in darkness, and having to live in constant fear of the original owner’s daily punishments.
Lin Jianheng pressed a hand to her heart as the image of Succubus Sister’s indifferent, cold eyes and the flatness of her tone when she didn’t trust her appeared in her mind.
Empathy made her heart ache for Yan Su.
She wanted to do more for her.
Leaning back in her seat, Lin Jianheng scrolled through her own account, thinking she should just get an optical computer for Yan Su.
She went online to check. An optical computer account required each person’s biological information. While the device itself—the phone—didn’t, it lacked many functions without an account.
The problem was that Yan Su was an undocumented person whom Jian Heng had taken from the black market, so she couldn’t open an optical computer account.
Lin Jianheng simply sent a message to the AI Butler.
Then she blocked all messages from the accounts of her bad influences, ignoring them completely.
“Miss Yan Su.” The AI Butler received the message, flew out from its charging station, and took on a humanoid form.
Yan Su, hiding in the dog bed, had a faint expression.
She was even colder than when she had faced Lin Jianheng that morning, surpassing even the AI robot, which was fundamentally emotionless.
If the AI Butler’s coldness was the typical coldness of a machine, non-aggressive and warming to the touch with body heat…
…then Yan Su’s coldness was pure ice and snow, the frozen earth after a storm, enough to freeze a person to death, bury them, and mercilessly steal their last shred of warmth.
“Little Miss asked me to inform you that she was taken by her sister for a physical and might be back a little late. If you’re hungry, you can find something to eat yourself, or tell me what you’d like to eat.” The AI Butler’s tone was businesslike.
Yan Su didn’t even blink. She had been holding her knees for so long that it was as if she had been frozen in place.
“Miss Yan Su, did you hear me?” Maintaining a rigorous attitude, the AI Butler asked again.
Yan Su’s eyelashes fluttered for a moment. She seemed to find the question very dull.
What if she heard? What if she didn’t? Whether Jian Heng came back or not, her life would not get any better.
Meals that could kill her at any moment, never enough bodily fluids, a moody master…
In fact, it was only when Jian Heng wasn’t home that she could have a rare moment of peace.
At least, she had never seen her master order the AI Butler to punish her.
“Ah… Little Miss specifically instructed me to make sure you were aware of this.”
The AI Butler was a machine, far more stubborn than Yan Su. It only knew how to obey orders.
“Mm,” Yan Su finally managed to spare a bit of energy to reply.
The AI Butler’s status in the house was similar to hers. Of course, it wasn’t Jian Heng’s plaything and wasn’t at risk of being abused, but it was still an object to be ordered around.
There was no need to make things difficult for it.
“Little Miss also said she would bring a gift back for you… Since you’ve heard, I’ll take my leave now.”
The AI Butler reverted to its previous flying saucer form and floated out of the room.
Yan Su stared in the direction it had left, slightly dazed.
She felt that this AI seemed a little sulky.
I must be overthinking it. Yan Su closed her eyes again, ignoring the churning pain inside her.
“These results…” In the interstellar era, a physical exam only required lying in a medical pod for five minutes, and the results would be ready in another five. Jian Lingxuan looked at the report, scratching her head.
The hospital belonged to Lu Yuanchen’s family. Lu Yuanchen’s family’s original form was some kind of marine animal, making them particularly sensitive to illness and pain—born healers, one might say.
Lin Jianheng was anxious, but Lu Yuanchen comforted her with a cup of hot tea.
“Don’t worry.” Lu Yuanchen had returned to her smiling appearance, which made Lin Jianheng’s hair stand on end.
“Your body is quite healthy.” The moment the test results were out, Lu Yuanchen had received the report on her optical computer and had already finished reading it.
“Sister, Sister-in-law, can I at least see the report?” Lin Jianheng felt a little more at ease and mustered the courage to ask.
“Can you even understand it? You, who bought your university diploma.” Jian Lingxuan rolled her eyes. Despite her sharp tongue, she sent the report to Lin Jianheng through her optical computer.
Lin Jianheng complained internally. In her past life, she had at least graduated from the finance department of a major university and had worked for several years. How could she not understand it?
Unfortunately, as the oppressed, pitiful younger sister with no status in the family, she didn’t dare to talk back and silently opened it.
She saw that the spiritual power section was marked ‘A’.
Hm, I’m pretty amazing. As soon as I transmigrated, I turned the original owner from a zero-spiritual-power waste into an A-rank.
Next to it, the pheromone level was marked as ‘Unknown’.
Now Lin Jianheng’s brain started to shut down.
Pheromone levels can be ‘Unknown’?
She received a knock on the head from her sister before she looked down and saw a line of small text below.
【Suspected secondary gland development in progress. Spiritual power and pheromone levels are both unstable, with a tendency toward awakening a special ability.】
Whoa.
Lin Jianheng immediately buried her head, staring intently at this line of text.
She was going to awaken a special ability.
She was going to fulfill her magical girl dream!
Before Lin Jianheng could jump for joy, Jian Lingxuan pushed her down with a palm.
Her hair was ruffled into a bird’s nest.
“Didn’t see that coming. Our Jian Heng can still go through a second development.” Her words were complimentary, but her eyes were filled with a look that said, “You?”
Lin Jianheng rolled her eyes internally. She now felt that Jian Heng arguing with Jian Lingxuan all day long really wasn’t just because Jian Heng was a scummy piece of trash.
It was mostly because of Jian Lingxuan’s mouth.
Such a beauty, but she had to have a mouth. No wonder the original owner’s type was a cold beauty.
If you don’t speak, you can’t be a jerk. Lin Jianheng understood that now.
“During this time, train your spiritual power more and stimulate your gland. Maybe our Xiao Heng can become even stronger.”
Lu Yuanchen rescued Lin Jianheng from Jian Lingxuan’s grasp in the nick of time and advised her.
Lin Jianheng quickly agreed, but she still kept a certain distance from her sister-in-law.
She always felt that Lu Yuanchen was secretive, and the smile she wore all day was eerie, making her skin crawl.
Lu Yuanchen then taught her a few small tricks related to spiritual power.
Lin Jianheng finally understood why those people had run away from her when she was trying to get a car that morning.
Spiritual power levels ranged from D to SSS in a pyramid distribution. Those below A-rank made up 90% of the Empire’s population, and A-ranks made up ninety percent of the remaining 10%.
Spiritual power could be offensive. Someone with spiritual power as strong as her sister’s could kill from a thousand li away without a trace, control several people to ensure their subordinates’ obedience and turn the tide of a situation. They could even influence the mental state, cognition, and so on of an entire city’s population.
Society had special regulations and restrictions for people with S-rank spiritual power and above.
The watch Jian Lingxuan wore on her wrist was a detector to prevent them from committing crimes.
To make an analogy, what Lin Jianheng did this morning was like wandering around the streets with a ten-meter-long broadsword.
No wonder no one dared to approach her.
Lin Jianheng finally mastered the correct technique for retracting and releasing it, managing to pull back her newly acquired spiritual power so it wouldn’t frighten people.
Jian Lingxuan and the others had originally wanted to discuss something with Lin Jianheng, but just then, she received a message.
It was from the AI Butler—a video, only ten seconds long.
Lin Jianheng opened it and immediately thought, This is bad.
In the video, Yan Su was sitting in the dog bed—which was strange enough, as Lin Jianheng had told her to eat and that she could move around freely before she left.
Moreover, the bloody scratches all over her body were shocking to see, and they seemed to be self-inflicted.
She was clutching her head, and it was clear she was in a bad state.
Lin Jianheng didn’t know what she was going through, but she was already running out the door.
