The 'Adopted Daughter'

The interstellar train glided smoothly along the space lane.

From the Zhuyun Frontier back to the Capital Star, the ride took two days. A pale-faced girl stared listlessly at the void outside the window, her long, thick black hair falling at her sides. A service robot approached, offering the medicine she was supposed to take today.

Xu Lingqu frowned, unmoving, and couldn't help but cough twice.

Three days ago, on an utterly ordinary day, Xu Lingqu had been carrying out a mission as usual in the eleventh year of the apocalypse—leaving the human protection zone of Lake Arden to search for supplies. The next second, she was transported from that end-times world to this so-called interstellar era, becoming a frail, sickly girl who shared her name.

They were both named Lingqu.

"Your health matters most; please take the medicine first." A middle-aged woman in a deep green uniform appeared. Her name was Gina, and she had worked by General Xu Chengbi's side for many years. This time, she had been specifically ordered to bring this adopted daughter from the Zhuyun Frontier back home.

Although they called her an adopted daughter, the gossips in the capital's noble circles were all spreading rumors that this was actually General Xu Chengbi's illegitimate daughter, born from some affair in the Zhuyun Frontier.

Even though they had no evidence at all.

This baseless speculation seemed deliberately instigated, and the Xu family had never issued a paternity test report between Xu Lingqu and Xu Chengbi to clear his name, so the rumors only spread further.

Xu Lingqu was unwilling to take the medicine.

Seeing this, Gina took the medicine from the service robot and consumed it herself, then directed the robot to bring out a new one.

"Miss Lingqu, if you need me to test it, I can keep trying until you're willing to take it." Gina's expression didn't change. When she had first met Miss Lingqu in the Zhuyun Star System, she had noticed the girl's pallid face, looking as if she didn't have long to live.

Gina had immediately summoned the best physician in the Zhuyun Frontier to diagnose and prepare medicine, and she reported the news to General Xu Chengbi at the Capital Star without delay. What she hadn't expected was that the biggest obstacle to treatment was Xu Lingqu herself refusing to take the medicine.

"Then you go ahead and eat it." Xu Lingqu glanced at Gina and said indifferently.

Hearing this, Gina consumed a second dose without changing her expression.

When she was about to take a fourth, Xu Lingqu finally let her stop.

"Give it to me." That was enough testing.

The medicine-making technology in the interstellar era was much more advanced; it tasted like strawberry milk when drunk, which Xu Lingqu didn't like, but she forced it down anyway.

Gina saw that she had finally taken the medicine, had the service robot bring up dinner, and then withdrew.

Xu Lingqu tried a bit of the food, but halfway through, her stomach began to feel uncomfortable and nauseous, so she stopped eating and had the robot leave as well.

This body was far too fragile—eating too much made it uncomfortable, and eating too little made it worse. It coughed at the slightest thing and occasionally spat blood. In the apocalypse, such a body would have been prime food for Mutant Beasts.

The original owner had died three days ago due to her frail health, allowing Xu Lingqu—a soul from the apocalypse with the same name but a different surname, though she had taken the surname after being adopted—to occupy the body and inherit her memories and language system.

The original owner's life had been very simple: the Zhuyun Frontier consisted of four planets, and she lived on the most remote, Zhuyun-X. She had been sickly since childhood and had no memories of family from a young age.

Her daily life was basically staying home and drinking nutrient fluid to maintain her vital signs.

Xu Lingqu had only been in this body for three days when this woman Gina suddenly appeared to take her back to the Capital Star, to become the true adopted daughter of General Xu Chengbi.

During those three days, Xu Lingqu had been exploring this interstellar era on her own through the brain-computer interface.

This world seemed to be divided into two major factions: the Interstellar Federation and the Interstellar Empire. The Empire had split from the Federation 95 years ago, and the two sides had been in a tense standoff, with frequent small wars that had eased somewhat in recent years.

Xu Lingqu couldn't quite understand why, in the interstellar age, there were still two political systems like the Federation and the Empire. She had originally imagined that an interstellar world would be highly socialized, with the state uniformly nurturing newborns and most labor replaced by robots and artificial intelligence...

But this interstellar world was different.

The star in this interstellar world was called Xuanluo, and overall it was a multi-planetary system. The planets here were generally small, much smaller than Earth, numbering around a few dozen. The Empire and Federation roughly split these planets in half.

The technological tree of this interstellar world had developed towards environmental modification. Many small planets were either too close to or too far from the star, making them unsuitable for human survival in their natural state. But with the help of this world's technology, some of the land had been transformed into places suitable for human habitation.

The eight planets closest to the Interstellar Empire and Federation formed the Zhuyun Frontier and the Mulan Frontier. The frontier planets had small interstellar populations—each planet had only 300 million to 500 million people, with military personnel making up a large proportion.

Moreover, the Interstellar Empire had internally defined four star systems. The Capital Star occupied one star system alone as the First Star System, while the other three systems had sharply declining wealth levels. The Star System No. 4 wasn't a slum, but it was just as bad...

It had the same drawbacks as a feudal imperial society: highly centralized power and absurdly uneven distribution of social wealth.

Clearly, this wasn't a good place, and the identity of the original owner she had transmigrated into was also a mystery, but regardless, she accepted this interstellar world. After all, it was much better than the apocalypse where one lived on the edge of death.

Xu Lingqu treasured this rare peace and tranquility.

She subconsciously stroked the white serpent-patterned ring on the index finger of her right hand. It had been on the original owner's hand since the day she arrived. The snake scales were lifelike, making one feel this was no ordinary object.

This world and the original owner both had many secrets waiting for her to uncover.

-

The interstellar train, like a silver dragon, pulled into the enormous station of the Capital Star.

Despite having prepared herself mentally, Xu Lingqu was still taken aback by the Capital Star's prosperity and beauty. The futuristic world that humans had once fantasized about in movies had become reality: countless flying vehicles of various shapes passed overhead, modern and tech-inspired skyscrapers stood tall, and service robots on the streets came in all shapes and forms.

Riding in the flying car heading to the Xu Mansion, the central area of the Capital Star, the high-rises and crowded crowds disappeared, giving way to a colossal mech statue at the landing site, surrounded by flowers and fountains.

Compared to the sci-fi world outside, this place was more like a paradise, a residential area exclusive to the interstellar noble circles. Ecology simulators adjusted the temperature and humidity to eternal spring, and the geography had been modified so that all flowers could bloom.

Cold-resistant plum blossoms and tender spring flowers simultaneously appeared in the same flowerbed. This place was like an Eden created by God.

They then switched to a shuttle to reach their destination, the Xu Mansion.

The car stopped, and Gina carefully helped her out. The architectural style of the Xu Mansion was neither Chinese nor Western, resembling the style of warlords from the Republican era, with a plaque above bearing the words "Xu Mansion" in interstellar script, which at first glance looked somewhat like regular script.

"The lady of the house wants to see you first; the General is still in a meeting." Gina whispered in her ear, "...The lady tends to be quite direct in how she speaks and acts."

She was deliberately warning her. Xu Lingqu gave a soft cough to acknowledge, and pushed open the door of the Xu Mansion.

TL Note:

Excited to start translating this novel! I love face-slapping scifi novels, show em girl!

Republican era refers to the Republic of China period from 1912 to 1949