Chapter 3

Xu Qingran sat in the vehicle, his gaze somewhat vacant. The bloodstains that had accidentally gotten on his white shirt had been soaked and spread by the rain. His still-damp hair clung to his cheeks, and droplets occasionally slid down his neck and disappeared beneath his shirt.

Glaier Galaxy Cluster, Kaian Empire.

The system said this was where they were now.

"Host, you can think of the latter as equivalent to one of the countries on Blue Star, in your previous world. The Kaian Empire's dominant species is primarily human. It currently occupies thirteen galaxies in Glaier, not including scattered star groups used for resource extraction."

"Our current location is Red Maple Star in the Kaian-FR Andromeda Galaxy."

"It doesn't look particularly safe either," Xu Qingran said, his gaze fixed on the building gradually coming into view ahead.

It was dark gray and about a hundred stories tall, with several large characters illuminated on a sign at the very top.

[Red City South 13–South 11 checkpoint]

Apart from the plain at the lowest level, the floors above were all passageways large enough for aircraft to pass through. As he drew closer, he saw a large ball flashing red on either side, responsible for organizing traffic and assigning checkpoint lanes.

Several armed soldiers guarded each lane inside the checkpoint.

Their uniforms were predominantly silver and black, and each wore a silver dragon badge on his chest.

"Sigh, weather like this is perfect for sleeping at home." A young soldier hugged his gun and gazed longingly at the torrential rain outside the checkpoint.

"Nobody wants to be called in for overtime at the last minute."

His slightly older colleague, who had been standing nearby, bent down to check the person inside an aircraft before waving it through. He turned and walked over to the young soldier. "If it were just an ordinary wanted criminal, we could leave it to the system to scan and match automatically."

As he spoke, the man took the cigarette from his mouth, tossed it on the ground, and stamped out the last ember. "But that's an E-type Mental Power user who escaped from the Evil Tower. One moment of carelessness could cost someone their life."

The young soldier's shoulders slumped, and he complained, "Seriously, how did we get unlucky enough to run into an S-rank fugitive while we're on duty..."

As they talked, another aircraft entered the passage.

Inside sat a pale young man in a white shirt, his expression cold. A thick bruise marked his neck, and his shirt was wrinkled and disheveled, with a few suspicious red stains on it.

He had obviously just done something "big."

The middle-aged man glanced him over and waved him through.

What did that have to do with me? As long as he wasn't on my wanted list, I could let him through.

The aircraft then entered the scanning area. It quickly passed the system check and left without incident.

Most machinery in this world ran on Mental Power, including aircraft.

The system had set the navigation destination for Xu Qingran as his "home" in this world. But the Mental Power his current body possessed wasn't enough to get him all the way there, so he could only stop at the Red City West 3–West 6 checkpoint rest stop to recover for a while.

There was a vending machine for drinks at the rest stop. Xu Qingran's neck was injured, and he happened to feel a little thirsty, so he walked over. He found a few glowing blue coins in his pocket and fed two into the star coin slot.

As he waited, his thoughts began to wander again.

The crowds passing by around him also gradually made the fact that he had transmigrated feel real.

Xu Qingran had met the system after he died.

The system said he was the "big villain" in an apocalypse novel. Because he had awakened self-awareness and strayed from the villain's original plotline, the system had chosen him to transmigrate to another world after death and start a new life.

He lowered his head to look at his palm, a trace of disappointment passing through his eyes.

The standard of living in the new world was indeed higher, but without the ability that had been with him for years, he couldn't feel happy at all.

While he was thinking, the juice he had bought had come to rest silently in the collection slot.

He bent down to take it out, and just as he stood up, he suddenly heard two girls talking beside him.

"Right, it's Xu Qingran, the Xu Family's eldest young master. You heard what happened this afternoon too?"

"Jeez... Having a child like him is such a huge disgrace to the Xu Family."

Chapter 2: Family

Red City West 3–West 6 checkpoint rest stop.

Beside a wall displaying a district map, two girls were chatting with cups of hot coffee in their hands.

The one with short hair shook her head. "Although the relationship between the three of them is unclear, sending a white funeral wreath on his own younger brother's engagement day, hiring people to wail in mourning, and even giving the groom a suicide note... That's going way too far!"

"I heard even his mom fainted from fright. He's really crazy!"

"That's the eldest young master's stepmother, though. He probably wouldn't care, would he?"

The two girls chatted and laughed together.

Xu Qingran unscrewed the cap of his grape juice. The words "Can accelerate MT recovery" were engraved underneath it. Just as he was about to drink, he suddenly noticed a blue mark on the back of the hand he was holding the bottle with.

It was the size of a thumbnail, with curving lines that looked like flowing water and flames.

"So what happened? Did Xu Qingran really, um... go and do that to himself?"

"Who knows? The engagement banquet is already over, and there still haven't been any updates on the gossip posts online." The short-haired girl lowered her voice and murmured, "Maybe the Xu Family isn't even planning to look for him. Maybe they're just hoping he really died out there so they can go collect his body..."

Her friend exclaimed, "Surely not?! The father at home is at least the eldest young master's biological father!"

The girl lowered her voice even further. Xu Qingran could only make out what she was saying because he was listening closely.

"The Xu Family was on the verge of collapse before they formed a marriage alliance with the Qi Family. More than half their businesses were only rebuilt by incorporating what the Qi Family had back then. The Qi Family may no longer be part of high society, but I heard the eldest young master's mother left behind a huge fortune in her name."

"Before she died, she made a will leaving everything to the eldest young master. He can inherit it once he turns twenty-two. His father is only managing it for him temporarily."

"Think about it. If you were the eldest young master's father, would you be willing to give back the fortune, including controlling stakes in some of the businesses?"