Chapter 8

It was one thing for an old cow to eat tender grass, but he even had this kind of unusual fetish?

Already in a somewhat foul mood, he raised his eyes and happened to notice strangers passing in front of him whispering among themselves and pointing at him. Even those passing by alone gave him strange looks, as if they were looking at someone lowly and contemptible.

More than displeased, Xu Qingran was puzzled.

Leaving aside his inconspicuous clothes, he was also wearing a mask over his face. They shouldn't have been able to recognize him.

So what exactly were they pointing at?

Meanwhile, the system's explanation rang out in his head. "...The S-M System stands for Soul-Mate, meaning a soul mate."

It was a matchmaking-like system in this world.

It extracted the unique "information" from each person's soul, then used a specially designed device to obtain the data, which was uploaded first to the main system of their own faction for matching. Only if no match could be found within the same faction would it be sent to branches in other factions for nationwide, cross-faction matching, identifying the person whose soul was most compatible with theirs.

The matching results could recommend the most suitable people for members of the public to get to know and form relationships with, including friends and confidants.

Xu Qingran returned his attention to the subject for the moment. "So we're going to get close to that admiral by becoming a highly compatible match for him?"

"How high does the compatibility have to be?"

"Soul compatibility ranges from a minimum of 0% to a maximum of 99.99%, regardless of age, gender, birthplace, or even species. According to official recommendations, only those with a compatibility of 65% or above are considered suitable partners for dating and marriage. Below that, the divorce rate is relatively high."

"But we don't just need to meet the basic threshold. We need to become his most compatible match, with a rating above 98%. Because once it exceeds that figure, the Empire will force them to marry. Even if he wants to refuse, he can't!"

Xu Qingran thought, So the plan is to force an innocent man into marriage.

Seeing how confident the system sounded, he asked, "Can you arrange those numbers?"

"No."

Silence was today's Cambridge.

The system hurriedly added, "But if there's an existing set, I can help you swap them out and pull off a grand switcheroo!"

Xu Qingran wasn't happy to hear that.

He thought a rating above 98% sounded exceptionally rare, so finding an existing set would probably be difficult too.

Little did he know, the system said, "Nope, there's a set available right now."

Xu Qingran: ?

The system explained, "In fact, the original owner and Lu Cheng are a pair with a super-high soul compatibility of 99%, just 0.99 short of the legendary full compatibility."

Xu Qingran thought, That's pretty unlucky.

Soul information samples used for matching were generally collected during physical examinations.

Apparently, Xu Qing'an's aunt was one of the senior staff at Silver Dragon Joint Hospital responsible for operating the soul-matching system. A few days before the engagement, the original owner and Lu Cheng happened to have physical examinations at the hospital one after the other. When Xu Qing'an found out, he asked her to secretly arrange a soul compatibility test for them.

Unexpectedly, the result came back at 99%.

Because the matching had been done privately with a testing device, the data had not yet been automatically entered into the Empire's system database.

"Silver Dragon Joint Hospital, where we are now, is where they had their examinations. The original owner and that scumbag childhood sweetheart's information samples should still be at the hospital."

"And as far as I know, Golden Wing Camp happened to send over a batch of information samples today to be uploaded to Silver Dragon Camp's database for matching. They're all single dogs who couldn't find matches within their own faction, and the target's sample is among them."

So they had to wait until later, when most of the hospital staff had gone off work, then sneak into the hospital's matching department and change the registered identity on Lu Cheng's information sample to Shen Tingyu. Then, before the pair of information samples with 99% compatibility was destroyed, they would upload them to the soul system's database first.

The main system on the imperial capital planet would ultimately generate the result.

The system said cheerfully, "Then I'll accept the mission for you, esteemed host!"

Xu Qingran shifted his body and adjusted his sitting position.

The expression on his face beneath the mask wasn't pleasant. "Why are you so happy?"

The system replied frankly, "My KPI is at stake, so of course I'm happy!"

Xu Qingran said nothing more.

A nurse suddenly came over to him. She was the one he had seen in the consultation room earlier.

Xu Qingran glanced at her name badge. Her name was Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao handed him a white glove, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Mr. Xu, this is for you, so you can cover the Soul Mark on your left hand."

He paused, switched the hand holding his mask from his left to his right, then turned the back of his left hand toward Lin Xiao. "You mean this?"

Lin Xiao's face instantly flushed red. She lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Yes, sir. Please put the glove on as soon as possible, so you don't affect the other people in the hospital!"

Xu Qingran didn't quite understand. "Why?"

Before she had said it was a Soul Mark, he hadn't even known what it was.

Lin Xiao thought for a long time before finally giving him a tactful answer. "Because it's indecent."

Xu Qingran fell silent.

He thought he might understand why those people had given him strange looks as they passed.

Although he didn't know the reason behind it, he put the glove on anyway. Only then did Lin Xiao breathe a sigh of relief and finally dare to look him in the eye. She left after repeatedly telling him not to take it off.

By the time Xu Qingran's infusion was finished, it was already dark.

The hospital lobby had grown very quiet, and the television, which had been hard to hear during the day, became clear as well.

The news anchor's voice came through, each word precisely enunciated.

"...Since the invasion of the alien species known as the 'Devils,' they have caused the Empire's residents a great deal of trouble. Land has been surrendered, homes and resources have been lost, and as of today, seven of the Empire's major galaxies have been severely affected by their incursions, including the FR Andromeda Galaxy."

Xu Qingran had just walked over to the nearby water dispenser to get some water when those words caught his attention.

On the news, footage showed strange-looking "creatures."