Chapter 59: The Mid-July Festival

Must admit, Jiang Qin was quite satisfied with the Female Protection Center.

Their stance was exceptionally clear, firmly favoring females, regardless of whether she originated from a barren planet as a low-ranking female.

Yet this was understandable. If the Female Protection Center’s attitude were not so unyielding, the Interstellar Female Protection Law would hardly be so comprehensive today.

To reiterate, this precedent could not be set.

It had nothing to do with whether one was a high-ranking female or not.

With the Female Protection Center acting as her representative to communicate with the Genetics Research Institute, Jiang Qin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She had initially been willing to cooperate with them to some extent, but their very first demand was for her to travel to the Capital Star.

She had no desire to do so.

Once she stepped onto their territory, her cries to heaven would go unheard and her pleas to earth unanswered.

However, those people were genuinely exasperating, bombarding her with dozens of private messages every time.

Coercion and temptation, gentle persuasion and harsh pressure, moral blackmail—every single tactic had been deployed.

Recently, they had even attempted to probe her by using her maternal half-brothers from the Jiang family to threaten her.

To be honest, upon seeing that message, Jiang Qin had almost laughed out of sheer anger.

Fortunately, the current Jiang family held the same status in her heart as complete strangers; had it been her previous life, they might well have succeeded in their threats.

Thus, her aversion to the Genetics Research Institute was absolute.

Since the Female Protection Center had voluntarily offered to help her resolve the matter, she was more than happy to enjoy this preferential treatment afforded to females.

After all, the privileges enjoyed by females did not come free of charge.

Females bore their own responsibilities as well.

Aside from soothing males, they also had to shoulder the duty of reproduction.

Both the Empire and the Federation enforced a regulation stipulating that D-class females over the age of thirty must have at least one partner.

C-class females required a minimum of two.

B-class females required at least three.

A-class females required a minimum of seven.

That was correct; A-class females were subjected to the mandatory principle of the capable shouldering more work.

Should the count fall below this threshold, the optical brain would automatically pair the female up.

As for S-class females, while they too had numerical requirements, they were exempt from compulsory pairing.

The very moment their grade was measured, the younger generations of various major factions would already be dispatched to their sides as prospective beast-husbands.

Consequently, upon reaching adulthood, they would marry these prospective beast-husbands.

The resources required during their upbringing would likewise be provided by the factions standing behind these beast-husbands.

As for even higher-ranking females, none existed in the Federation, though rumor had it that the Empire possessed an SS-class female.

However, she was already quite advanced in age, and the authorities there were exhausting every possible means to prolong her life.

To this end, vast sums of money were poured into the Life Research Institute year after year.

***

July fifteenth.

The Federation possessed no custom of observing the Ghost Festival; indeed, the very concept of ghosts and spirits no longer existed here.

Jiang Qin had once mentioned the folklore surrounding ghosts to Xie An'an, only to be met with a face full of utter confusion.

"What is a ghost?"

Jiang Qin: "…… It's an energy form that appears in a different identity after a person dies."

Xie An'an remained utterly incapable of comprehension.

"After a person dies, aren't they cremated and reduced to ashes, which are then recycled as fertilizer for growing natural food? How could they possibly appear again?"

"Is it a recording from their lifetime, projected via holography?"

"I've heard that some males who cannot accept the death of their females do that sort of thing. They look at their deceased female's avatar every day and live as though she were still alive."

?? Recycled ashes? Growing vegetables?

Jiang Qin felt as though the sky had fallen.

Fortunately, ever since her transmigration into the interstellar era, she had remained an impoverished wretch who could never afford natural food.

The mere thought that those tender, vibrant vegetables had been cultivated using human ashes robbed her of all appetite.

Nutrient fluid was vastly superior after all.

Nutrient fluid was synthesized from extracts of mutated plants and mutated beasts, containing no human fragments whatsoever.

Jiang Qin expended considerable effort before finally explaining the concept of a ghost clearly to Xie An'an.

This only left Xie An'an all the more intrigued, her eyes brimming with a thirst for knowledge as she urgently desired to know whether human souls truly existed after death.

"Ahem, let's leave it at that for today. If you want to know more, I'll tell you later."

Her primary motivation was that she could no longer withstand Xie An'an's endless stream of questions.

Although she had transmigrated, she had never laid eyes on a ghost herself; it was explicitly stated to be folklore, which meant it was simply meant to be heard as a story!

Yet Xie An'an had inadvertently provided her with inspiration.

Today was the fifteenth of July; it mattered not that the interstellar world lacked this festival—she would celebrate it herself.

For instance, by releasing a fitting music video.

And so, Jiang Qin once more ascended to the rooftop.

The personnel assigned to protect her had long grown accustomed to this routine of hers, stepping out to the rooftop to catch the breeze and seek inspiration from time to time.

Without a word, they dutifully and responsibly guarded just outside the stairwell door of the rooftop, waiting.

One hour later, a new song was quietly uploaded to the largest music platform on the Star Network.

……

Wen Jiaqi had been lingering on Blue Star lately. Her family lacked for nothing in terms of wealth, so her father had directly purchased a small residence for her.

He permitted her and Wen Jiahui to stay here, visiting the bar every single day to hear Jiang Qin sing.

Though she could listen to live performances daily, they consisted of a mere three songs!

That was correct; ever since Jiang Qin had been abducted and subsequently rescued, she had altered her setlist, increasing the number of songs from two to three.

Yet for devoted fans of Jiang, this remained insufficient.

What was one to do when the urge to listen to her singing struck?

One had no choice but to log onto the Star Network and listen to the tracks uploaded by Jiang Qin; after all, compared to all sorts of chaotic and messy tunes, hers were infinitely more pleasing to the ear.

Wen Jiaqi figured she would not grow tired of them for at least several months.

Yet tonight, just as she was immersed in the music, a notification suddenly popped up: The singer you follow has uploaded a new song!

！！！

She clicked to open it, and oh heavens! It was Jiang Qin!

Recently, the songs Jiang Qin performed at work were none of them new releases, and she had gone many days without uploading any fresh tracks.

To this, Jiang's fans had not felt anything amiss.

Certain singers went an entire year without releasing a single new song, which was entirely normal.

They merely harbored a quiet longing for more.

Never had they anticipated such a sudden, delightful surprise today!!

Within the fan club of Jiang's supporters, the chat instantly erupted into a frenzy.

[Ahhhhh, Qin-bao has uploaded a new song! Family members, charge! Let's get Qin-bao to the top of the charts.]

[Stanning Jiang-bao was truly the right choice; which creator's output can possibly compare to hers!]

[I'm heading out, going to listen to the song.]

……

"Oh, there's even a music video."

Wen Jiaqi immediately paid the Star Coins to download it.

As for the unfamiliar instrumental sounds, she did not dwell on them; as long as it sounded good, it was fine, seeing as she was essentially a cultural illiterate.

The opening of the music video displayed a gloomy forest, through which a bridal procession was making its way.

Whether it was a trick of Wen Jiaqi's imagination or not, she always felt that the posture of the bride beneath the red veil was somewhat abnormal.

"The eighteenth of the first month,

An auspicious day,

The sorghum sedan is lifted,

Dressed in red garments,

An inch of longing, an inch of resentment……"

For reasons unknown, Wen Jiaqi invariably felt that listening to this song left a creeping, unsettling sensation in her heart.

Because she had clicked play far too quickly, she had completely missed the line of text noted at the very beginning of the music video:

Those of faint heart, enter not.

Those suffering from cardiac ailments, enter not.

Consequently, she could only cling to a creeping sense of dread as she continued to listen to this bizarre melody laced with lingering resentment.

The visuals of the music video grew increasingly uncanny as well.

For instance, during the wedding bow ceremony, the bride's head appeared less as though she were bowing willingly and more as though someone was pressing it down from behind……