[Xiao Yi, do you know how to pick locks?] Jiang Lijin casually gave the system a name.
The system was very tactful and replied immediately: [I don't have any physical operation functions! But I can try to conduct a logical analysis—wait, Host, what are you doing?]
[Physical lock picking.] Jiang Lijin simply picked up the chair in front of the desk and smashed it hard against the lock of the box.
After a loud bang, the lock on the box finally broke apart, and the front end of the box lid was also smashed, leaving a dent.
Xiao Yi exclaimed in awe: [Host, you're amazing!]
Jiang Lijin chuckled softly; it was actually quite good at providing emotional value.
She lifted the lid of the box. There wasn't much inside: a faded plush toy, a diary, and a small iron box.
She picked up the diary first and casually flipped a page. The handwriting was neat, even a bit rigid.
[June 12, New Era Calendar Year 337.
Today was the mental power test. The result is Grade C, stable. Father said it is good as long as it is stable, but Mother cried. I don't understand why.]
[March 3, New Era Calendar Year 338.
The matching results are out: three Grade S Lords. Everyone says I am very lucky. Father smiled, but Mother is still crying.]
[September 15, New Era Calendar Year 338.
I met Lord Rex. He is very handsome, but he doesn't seem to like me very much. There is also Lord Kieran. He is very polite, but it feels like there is a vast distance between us. Lord Arden didn't come at all. I really want to go home.]
Jiang Lijin quickly flipped through the diary. Most of the content was very plain, recording the original owner's dull day-to-day life and her extreme caution toward those three men.
Until the last few pages, the handwriting suddenly became scribbled.
[They all say Miss Felwin is so wonderful. Grade S mental power, gentle and beautiful, and even her genetic grade is Grade A.]
[Lord Kieran went next door again.]
[Lord Rex gave her a Star Emblem Flower.]
[Lord Arden lost his temper at me because I didn't reply to Miss Felwin's greetings in time. But I have already tried so hard...]
[I fainted today. The medical department said it was due to excessive mental power consumption.]
[I fainted again. When I woke up in the medical cabin, I heard the nurse say: So pitiful. The compatibility is so high, but her body just can't handle it.]
The last page had only one line of words, written so heavily that it almost tore through the paper.
[I want to go home.]
Jiang Lijin closed the diary and stayed silent for a long time. Even though she already knew all this from the memory fragments, seeing the diary written by the original owner with her own eyes still made her heart ache for a moment for this pitiful girl.
"Xiao Yi," she asked softly, "what was the compatibility between the original owner and those three beast husbands?"
[Accessing the database... Found it. The compatibility between the original owner Jiang Lijin and Rex is 92%, with Kieran is 90%, and with Arden is 89%. All are rarely seen high compatibilities.]
"That high?" Jiang Lijin raised an eyebrow. "Then why..."
Why was she still despised? Why was she still given the cold shoulder? Why did she live like an outsider when they were clearly the most suitable people for each other?
Xiao Yi's voice sounded at the right time. It was still a gentle tone, but it rarely carried a hint of caution:
[According to the literature on mental power research in this world, when females purify the mental power of males, the optimal choice is to be of the same grade. If the male's grade is higher than the female's, the greater the gap, the heavier the mental power burden on the female during the soothing process. When the gap exceeds one tier, the soothing effect itself will drop significantly; if the gap exceeds two tiers, the female's mental power will suffer irreversible depletion due to long-term forced matching. In severe cases, it can even be life-threatening.]
Therefore, it wasn't that the original owner didn't want to, but that she couldn't do it. It wasn't that she didn't try hard, but that this body couldn't endure it.
And those three men, with their cold and taken-for-granted neglect, never even thought about what a Grade C female had to sacrifice in order to coexist with three Grade S beastmen.
They only saw the radiant glory of Felwin's Grade S, but no one ever asked that little Grade C girl if it hurt when she fainted alone in the medical cabin after every purification.
Yes, although the original owner was only Grade C, as their female master, she had given them quite a few mental purifications over the past three years.
In this world, there are two ways for females to soothe and purify males: one is mental power purification, and the other is physical contact. They were very resistant to physical contact with the original owner, perhaps wanting to preserve their chastity for their goddess Felwin. So all along, the original owner had been performing mental power purifications for them. And mental power purification was even more difficult for someone like her who was only Grade C.
Although those three treated the original owner very coldly, their mental entities were exceptionally close to her, probably due to the high compatibility.
Jiang Lijin snorted softly and opened the small iron box. There was no jewelry inside, no secret documents, only two things.
A bouquet of dried flowers tied with a ribbon. Jiang Lijin carefully picked it up and took a look—it was a Star Emblem Flower.
[It is a Star Emblem Flower, Host.] Xiao Yi said in her mind.
Jiang Lijin nodded and put it back. She picked up the other item, which was a holographic photo.
Jiang Lijin activated the photo, and the image floated before her eyes: a middle-aged man with a gentle smile and a woman with tender features, with the young original owner standing between them. All three were wearing simple loungewear, and the background was a small courtyard blooming with Star Emblem Flowers.
There was a line of small text in the lower left corner of the photo: Lili's seventh birthday, at the old residence on Blue Star.
Blue Star?!
Jiang Lijin almost sprang up from her seat.
"Blue Star?" she couldn't help but murmur aloud. "How could it be Blue Star?"
Could it just be a coincidence? The place she lived before she transmigrated was also Blue Star.
Xiao Yi noticed her emotional fluctuations and immediately started searching, quickly replying: [Host, in the interstellar encyclopedia of this world, that is a marginal agricultural planet that was destroyed in a war long ago. It was wiped from the star map ten years ago.]
"What do you mean?" Jiang Lijin fell silent for a moment. "Isn't the original owner an orphan? It was wiped from the star map ten years ago? Where are her parents? The diary still mentioned her parents three years ago!"
[I am very sorry, Host, but this cannot be found in the database. Because in the book's plot, the original owner is just a cannon fodder supporting female character.]
"The book?" Jiang Lijin caught the keyword. "This is also a book?"
[Yes, the title of the book is "Interstellar Beast World: Three Handsome Beast Husbands Spoil Me to the Skies," which is a very popular sweet romance novel. The female lead, Felwin, is a Grade S mental power healer, gentle and kind, and capable of healing. However, she met the wrong people and was matched with three Grade A beast husbands who emotionally manipulated her because of their inferiority complexes. In the end, after divorcing them, the female lead and three Grade S males with poor reputations redeemed each other, eventually reaching a one-versus-three happy ending.]
Little One paused, then added: [And you, Host, are the cannon fodder ex-wife who appeared in the very first chapter of the original book. Your role was that after those three divorced you, they fell into a public relations crisis. They were maliciously framed by bad people who claimed they bullied females. Originally, the 'you' in the book was supposed to testify in court to prove their innocence. But in chapter three, you died in an accident on a spaceship heading to the fringe star sector, causing them to sink even deeper into the scandal.]
Hearing this, Jiang Lijin's mouth twitched. They weren't maliciously framed at all; it was the blatant truth!
Moreover, the female lead of the original book really needed to get her eyes checked. Wasn't this just jumping out of the tiger's den and straight into the wolf's lair? Were these three males actually any good?
"An accident? What kind of accident?" Jiang Lijin asked.
[The spaceship either encountered space pirates or suffered a navigation failure. Don't worry, Host! Now that you know the plot, you just need to avoid that ship!]
Fine. After all that, she was still in a book, and she had gone from a tragic female lead to a cannon fodder supporting character! Whatever. Jiang Lijin couldn't be bothered to dwell on it; as long as she didn't have to be a desperate simp, it was fine.
She picked up the holographic photo again and looked at it for a long time. In the original owner's fragmented memories, the impression of her parents was extremely blurry, leaving only two gentle silhouettes. She had always thought the original owner was born an orphan—at least, she was set up as one from the start, growing up in an orphanage before being randomly tossed into this absurd marriage by the matchmaking system.
But now, she felt there were many suspicious points.
"Little One, is there any way to find out where the original owner's parents are?" She held onto a sliver of hope.
[Nope.] Little One answered quickly. [The original owner's background information before the book's plotline began was simply labeled as 'orphan, from the fringe star sector,' with no detailed backstory. This photo might be a hidden setting not fully designed in the plot. Host, according to this system's exploration principles, discovering hidden plots also falls under unlocking new knowledge, which grants extra point rewards. We can explore related clues later.]
Jiang Lijin nodded. She was more interested in the place that shared the same name as her hometown—Blue Star.
But right now, the most important thing was to get the divorce sorted out first. She carefully placed the photo back into the iron box.
She looked again at the star emblem flower in the iron box, her state of mind shifting. At first, she thought this star emblem flower was a gift from those three beast husbands, because the diary mentioned that Kieran had once given Felwin a star emblem flower. Maybe he had given her one on a whim too?
Looking at it now, this star emblem flower probably represented her hometown.
[Host.] Little One's voice suddenly became a bit cautious. [I have detected significant emotional fluctuations. Do you need me to play some soothing music or tell you a joke?]
Jiang Lijin was taken aback. "You can tell jokes?" She thought of Little Two, who used to secretly play funny videos for her.
[I can!] Little One perked up. [This is a system's basic code of conduct. This system has a built-in library of 3,654 jokes and can even match different jokes based on the host's hometown. For example, the joke I matched for you is: There was an illiterate blind man. Why did he suddenly know how to read while walking?]
"...Why?"
[Because he walked to a crossroad!]
Jiang Lijin fell silent, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly. Sure enough, people really do laugh when they are rendered speechless.
She closed the iron box and placed it, along with the plush toys and diary, into her suitcase. These were all things left behind by the original owner; she had to take them with her.
"Little One, about that spaceship heading to the fringe star sector you said I need to avoid, when exactly does it depart?"
[According to the original book, it happens on the third day after the original owner divorces her three beast husbands.]
The third day after the divorce, which meant three days from now.
Jiang Lijin thought for a moment. Just in case, she shouldn't leave the capital planet for the next month. She would find a place to live here first. Females were allocated housing; it was only because she had mated with those three beast husbands that she moved into Rex's house. She would visit the Female Protection Center tomorrow to apply for an apartment. Though she could already guess that the living conditions for a C-grade female wouldn't be very good.
She scanned the room once more to make sure she hadn't missed anything, then sat on the edge of the bed to catch her breath. After bustling about all morning and not sleeping a wink last night, she was so exhausted her eyelids were fighting to stay open.
She lay on the bed, but her mind was a mess, and she couldn't fall asleep right away.
"Little One," she suddenly spoke up, "you said the original owner lived in a beast world where females are extremely scarce, and she had such a high compatibility rate with those three S-grades, yet she lived so... cautiously?"
Little One fell silent for a few seconds. [This question involves emotional and sociological domains, so I cannot provide an accurate answer. But if I were to analyze it, it might be because compatibility only represents physical harmony; it doesn't mean they will cherish you emotionally.]
[Host, although I am not human, we are instilled with a lot of data from the moment we are born. Some couples with a 90 percent compatibility rate live like enemies, while some with only seventy-something percent stay deeply in love for a lifetime. Compatibility is not love; it is merely an indicator.]
Jiang Lijin was stunned for a few seconds, then smiled and praised, "You are a bit smarter than Little Two. It just couldn't understand some things." She remembered how, right before she died, Little Two was still insisting that Gu Chenyuan had feelings for her.
[Thank you for the compliment.] Little One's tone seemed to carry a hint of pride. [My emotion simulation module is top-tier. I can simulate 37 different human emotional reactions. Do you want me to simulate excitement?]
"No need," Jiang Lijin laughed. "Save it for later."
She stared at a crack in the ceiling as drowsiness finally washed over her, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
But just as she was about to fall asleep, Little One's voice suddenly rang out again, carrying a rare trace of solemnity.
[Host, there is something I feel I should tell you.]
Half of Jiang Lijin's sleepiness vanished, and she said in exasperation, "Can't you say everything at once? I was almost asleep."
[I just found out myself.] Little One's tone carried a hint of acting spoiled.
"Speak." Jiang Lijin sighed helplessly.
[Just now, while conducting a deep scan of your physical data, I discovered some hidden information. The original owner's spiritual power and genetic grades are not C-grade and D-grade.]
"...What!?"
With that, Jiang Lijin was completely wide awake.
