A New Life, Starting from Zero

"Congratulations, Mama Lin. Xuanxuan is a healthy little baby now."

The young nurse carried a somewhat scrawny-looking infant out of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and smiled at the gentle woman waiting by the door.

"Thank you for your trouble, Nurse Yuan!"

The gentle woman's gaze upon the infant was filled with excitement and tenderness.

The conversation suddenly ringing by his ears startled Lin Xuan awake from his sleep.

Though he could only make out blurry outlines before him, the sensations from his body made him realize that he seemed to have been picked up.

"What's going on..."

"Won't they let me sleep properly?"

Feeling inexplicably exhausted after using his brain for even a moment, Lin Xuan no longer had any spare mental capacity to think about his situation. Instinctively, he wanted to tell the two people beside him to stop making so much noise.

But when the words reached his lips, they turned directly into a wailing cry—

"Waaah!!"

His loud cries echoed through the corridor.

Unfortunately, rather than interrupting the conversation, his cries made the atmosphere even more relaxed.

"Mama Lin, listen to how loud the baby's crying. He has more strength in his voice than many full-term babies."

"That's all thanks to how well you and the others took care of him, Nurse Yuan."

A faint smile entered the gentle woman's voice.

At the same time, Lin Xuan felt as though he had been passed from one person's hands into another's...

Wait!

Passed into another person's hands?

The baby they were talking about... was me?

I became a baby??

The moment Lin Xuan realized that the baby was actually himself, his mind went blank!

The violent surge of emotion instantly pushed his already limited brain into overload, and a powerful wave of drowsiness soon engulfed him.

In a daze, a translucent panel popped up in his mind:

"Achievement unlocked: Born at 33 weeks and successfully survived"

"Achievement reward: Title—Premature Infant"

"Premature Infant: Born at 33 weeks, you could only survive through an incubator and the nurses' meticulous care. Weak, pitiful, and helpless"

"Title effect: When wearing this title, people will easily think you are a weakling and feel pity for you"

"Note: Currently your only title. Cannot advance or be changed"

"Character: Lin Xuan"

"Age: 0 years old (21 days)"

"Attributes: Constitution 0.2/10, Spirit 0.7/10"

"Title: Premature Infant (equipped)"

"Talent: None"

"Skills: None"

"Class: None"

"So I transmigrated..."

That was Lin Xuan's final thought after reading the panel's information.

The next moment, he fell asleep once more.

Over the following days, Lin Xuan could only occasionally remain conscious.

The rest of the time, he was either asleep or in a muddled, half-shut-down state.

Until this day.

Still not fully awake, the moment he felt a bottle nipple stuffed into his mouth, he immediately began sucking on it instinctively.

Slurp, slurp—

Not long after he began sucking on the nipple, panel notifications appeared one after another in his mind:

"Consumed premature infant formula, Basic Nutrition +1"

"Consumed premature infant formula, Basic Nutrition +1"

Lin Xuan was naturally no stranger to these notifications, since he had received similar feeding prompts every time he drank milk over the past few days.

But unlike before, not long after he started drinking this time, a new panel notification popped up in his mind:

"Achievement unlocked: Sucked on a bottle nipple a total of five hundred times"

"Achievement reward: Talent—Nutrient Absorption 0/1000"

"Talent effect: There is an upper limit to the nutrition a human body needs each day, and anything beyond that limit becomes a burden on the body... But from this moment onward, such low-level restrictions no longer exist for you. You can even absorb nutrients from food more deeply"

"Note: Can advance"

"Talent—Nutrient Absorption?"

Looking at the suddenly appearing panel notification, Lin Xuan's heart could not help racing.

Though drowsiness came along with it, he had gradually learned how to keep his mind clear for as long as possible in this state.

Most importantly, he could not think too hard.

So, he handed most of his actions over to instinct.

For instance, although he was currently examining the panel notifications in his mind, his mouth continued drinking milk by instinct.

Not long after the notification about gaining the Nutrient Absorption talent appeared, the feeding prompts in his mind changed again:

"Consumed premature infant formula, Basic Nutrition +2"

"Consumed premature infant formula, Basic Nutrition +2"

"It doubled just like that?"

Seeing that the rate at which he gained nutrition had doubled, Lin Xuan was pleasantly surprised. Then he immediately noticed another change in himself—

Even when he was hungry before, he could not drink much milk at once.

Even premature infant formula specifically made for premature babies would make his incredibly fragile stomach protest if he drank too much at once. Yet this time, he drank for a long while without feeling any discomfort.

"Could this Nutrient Absorption talent have strengthened my digestive system too?" Lin Xuan analyzed inwardly.

Just as he was analyzing the situation, his mother Ye Hongyu's familiar, gentle voice suddenly reached his ears, with a trace of annoyance in it.

"Why are you still feeding him? Look at how much the baby has eaten already."

"My fault, my fault!"

His father Lin Hai's somewhat flustered voice followed. "Usually, after drinking for a little while, the baby pushes the bottle away on his own. I don't know why he didn't push it away today..."

Before he could finish, the bottle nipple in Lin Xuan's mouth was immediately pulled away.

"???"

He had only just experienced the benefits of the Nutrient Absorption talent, and they turned around and took away his bottle. This was really messing with his state of mind.

Lin Xuan burst into tears with a "Waaah!"

He could not help it. With his language center not even having begun to develop, crying was the only effective form of protest available to him for now.

"Don't cry, baby, don't cry. Our little Xuanxuan is the sweetest... Daddy's bad. Let's ignore bad Daddy, okay?"

Ye Hongyu took the sobbing Lin Xuan from her husband's arms and complained, "I asked you to help feed him some milk, and you managed to make such a mess of it. Xuanxuan's stomach is already weak. Can't you be more careful?"

Lin Hai naturally apologized again and again. Then he grabbed the car keys and said, "Honey, pick up our son. Let's hurry to the hospital and get him checked!"

Seeing how anxious her husband was, more than half the anger in Ye Hongyu's heart immediately dissipated. She nodded.

"It would be good to have him checked."

Don't do that, why go to the hospital?

Just give the bottle back...

With his vision not yet fully developed and effectively half-blind, Lin Xuan anxiously flailed his tiny hands through the air.

But in the eyes of Lin Hai and Ye Hongyu, it looked as though their son had already begun feeling unwell from drinking too much milk. Their movements immediately became even quicker.

"Waaah!!!"

Lin Xuan cried even harder this time.

******

PS: The thousandths and percentages for talent or skill upgrades are only experience progress bars for leveling up. 1 point of Basic Nutrition ≠ 1 point of progress.

A new book is setting sail. Dear patrons, please do not stockpile it for too long; follow-up reads are especially important during the new-book period. Koi offers heartfelt thanks to all of you!