The atmosphere in the living room remained tense.
Baal strode up to her.
"You shouldn't have kept them!" he kept his voice low. "These two have an unknown background and are full of lies. With them in the house, you'll have to sleep with one eye open."
Jiang Lijin ignored his murderous glare and reached out to pat the sofa cushion beside her.
"Sit down."
Baal didn't move, his golden slit-pupils staring fixedly at her.
"My neck is getting sore. Chief Commander Baal, do you really have to keep looking down at me like this?"
Baal's face was taut as he sat down heavily, his tall and robust body causing the sofa to sink deeply.
Jiang Lijin turned to look at him. "I know what you're worried about. Unknown origins, excellent combat skills—keeping them in the house is indeed a risk."
"Then why did you keep them?" Baal retorted.
"Keeping them right under our noses is better than having them watch us from the shadows. Since the Mastermind matched us, if we kick them out today, they might turn around and pull some little tricks in the dark of the Capital Star, which would be impossible to defend against. If we really want to investigate them, keeping them at home is the most convenient way."
Jiang Lijin dropped her casual expression and said seriously, "Chief Commander Baal, you are used to giving orders in the military. Your first reaction to danger is to protect all the weak behind you. There is nothing wrong with that. But I am not one of those civilians on the frontlines who need your protection, nor am I a fragile greenhouse flower. I am also an SSS-rank."
Baal's brows furrowed even tighter. "Females don't have the coercion and aggressiveness of males, and you don't have any actual combat experience!"
"That's exactly why I need to grow. You can't always keep me confined in a safe zone. Today we met two matches of unknown origins, and you want to sweep them out the door. Tomorrow, if the Zerg really attacks the Capital Star, are you going to lock me in an underground bunker?"
Baal was left speechless; he had indeed planned to do exactly that.
Jiang Lijin looked straight into his eyes. "I need space. You can teach me combat, you can provide me with fire support, but don't break my bones and lock me up in a place you consider safe. I need equal respect, not one-sided protection."
The living room fell quiet.
Baal stared at her for a long time, then rubbed his short hair in frustration.
"If something really goes wrong, you must call me immediately."
Jiang Lijin reached out and patted his sturdy forearm. "Got it, Chief Commander."
She turned to look at Tinia, who was still sulking on the long sofa. Those blue eyes stared straight over, his face written all over with grievance.
Jiang Lijin walked over and ruffled his brilliant blonde hair.
"Alright, don't pull a long face. You're the heir to the Yunlan Group, are you really afraid of being outshone by two country bumpkins who have never even been to the Capital Star?"
Tinia immediately leaned in, resting his head on her shoulder, his fluffy hair rubbing against the crook of her neck.
"I'm not afraid of them. I just don't want anyone else taking away your attention, Sister. Promise me, Sister, even if they move in, I'll still be the one you dote on the most!"
"Yes, yes, yes, I dote on you the most. Now hurry up and have the butler send them some daily necessities, lest it seem like we are mistreating our new roommates."
Having received her reassurance, Tinia, though reluctant, obediently got up to make the arrangements.
Jiang Lijin smiled and turned to look at Chiron.
He sat quietly on the single sofa. Seeing Jiang Lijin look over, he smiled gently.
He stood up, gathered the tea set from the table, and turned to enter the kitchen.
He asked nothing, and he hindered nothing.
...
Late at night.
The main light in the second-floor master bedroom was off; only a sleep lamp on the nightstand was lit.
Jiang Lijin, having finished her shower, leaned against the headboard, playing with the bouquet of faint blue Star Emblem flowers in her hand.
[Come out, stop playing dead. You still haven't given me an explanation about the original owner's matter. What exactly is going on?]
Xiao Yi spoke hesitantly, exuding a guilty conscience.
[Host, take a deep breath first. This matter... is a bit complex. I suggest you mentally prepare yourself.]
[Cut the nonsense and speak directly.]
Xiao Yi fell silent for two seconds, as if organizing its words. Finally, it sighed and abandoned all tactful phrasing.
[Actually... when you crossed over, the original owner wasn't completely dead.]
Jiang Lijin's fingers paused their playing with the petals.
[She was indeed on the verge of death at the time. Her spiritual sea had completely collapsed, and her vital signs were so weak they were almost undetectable. According to the system's standard procedures, this state could already be judged as soul dissipation, and the insertion was executed.]
Xiao Yi's voice grew very soft, as if treading carefully.
[But right at the moment your soul was inserted into this body... her soul remnants suddenly had a stress response. It wasn't rejection; it was... resonance.]
[Resonance?] Jiang Lijin's heartbeat began to accelerate.
[Your soul gene compatibility was too high. The system's protocol has always been soul overriding, meaning using your soul to completely replace her residual consciousness fragments. But what actually happened completely deviated from the contingency plan.]
[Then what was the actual situation?]
[Fusion. In the instant of contact, the souls of you two spontaneously completed a deep fusion. There was no primary or secondary, no devouring relationship. It was like... two drops of water falling into the sea; you can no longer tell which drop was the original one and which came later.]
The bedroom was so quiet that Jiang Lijin could hear her own heartbeat.
[So, theoretically speaking, you are now both the Jiang Lijin from the other world and the Jiang Lijin of this interstellar world. You bear all her memories, emotions, and even some subconscious instincts that are deep in the bones.]
Jiang Lijin's hand released the Star Emblem flowers.
She stared at the ceiling, her mind completely blank. She was so shocked that she didn't even know what she should be thinking about at this moment.
Fusion...
No wonder Xiao Yi hadn't dared to say anything.
This meant that every decision she thought she had made herself, every subconscious reaction, might be mixed with the will of another person. And she couldn't even distinguish which parts were "hers" and which parts were "hers."
Because they were already the same "her."
[Think about it carefully,] Xiao Yi's voice was exceedingly soft, [are there times when the things you do, or the emotions you feel, completely contradict your style of doing things from before you crossed over?]
Jiang Lijin closed her eyes, reviewing all her actions since coming to this world.
The most obvious was her attitude towards these beastmen husbands.
She and the original owner shared similar tragic experiences. The difference was that the original owner, after experiencing an unequal relationship, still retained a trace of innocence, still believed in love, and even begged for it. But what about her? She had long been immune to such things as "intimate relationships."
No, not immune; she was terrified of them.
When she first crossed over, she had indeed acted that way. She was superficially polite to the three beastmen husbands, but she only treated them as a temporary shelter, constantly thinking about discarding them at any moment.
But since some unknown point in time, things had changed.
She was starting to get used to the warmth of that passionate, youthful body whenever Tinia clung to her. She could now see the clumsy care hidden beneath Baal's domineering, macho facade. Today in the living room, she had actually managed to patiently soothe their tempers, one by one.
Even...
Images flashed uncontrollably through her mind.
That aggressive yet restrained kiss from Baal, and Tinia's fleeting touch on her cheek... To her surprise, she hadn't resisted them. Deep down, there had even been a trace of secret yearning.
Those weren't her feelings... No, more accurately, they weren't the feelings of the Jiang Lijin from the other world, but rather the Jiang Lijin of this interstellar world.
A longing for a family. A longing to be seen. A longing for someone to stop and help her when she fell, rather than just walking past.
Yet, every judgment she made carried the strength and decisiveness of the Jiang Lijin from the other world.
[I've become a patched-up monster.] She laughed at herself mockingly in her mind.
Xiao Yi immediately spoke up, its tone filled with anxious certainty.
[You are not a monster!]
[You are completing each other. She gave you a sense of belonging to survive in this interstellar world, a body that will never reject you, and the ability to feel warmth. And you gave her the edge and the courage to fight against fate. Without you, she would just be a lonely soul silently dying in despair; without her, you would just be a rootless weed thrown into a strange world, forever wandering on the fringes of it.]
[You have simply become more complete.]
Become more complete.
These words were like a heavy hammer, smashing the last layer of solid ice in her heart. At that moment, deep within her consciousness, she seemed to see another bruised and battered girl embracing her tightly across time and space.
Jiang Lijin did not answer, but a warm tear quietly slipped from the corner of her eye.
Knock, knock—
A sudden knock on the door broke the silence of the room.
Jiang Lijin snapped back to reality and raised a hand to wipe away the moisture from her eyes. She took a deep breath, and her gaze became clear once more.
