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Jiang Pengji. General of the Federal Forces. Female. Former Leading General of Corps Seven.
Why "former"?
Because she died on the battlefield.
A sudden death that she remembered very well—it had happened too quickly for her to prepare for it.
Deafening blasts had rung in her ears. The world had been stained crimson.
Then her vision had darkened. An inexplicable chill had overwhelmed her soul.
Yet, an unexpected death had its merits. Before she could feel any pain, she had already lost consciousness.
Jiang Pengji used to think she would die of a better cause, and she somehow felt sorry for herself.
Still, dying without the slightest sense of pain was a blessing for many soldiers.
What surprised her, as an atheist who embraced science, was that sentience remained after dying.
Jiang Pengji now felt intense agony—not before death but after it—and she did not know what to think about the whole situation.
The anguish was so acute that, although she usually wouldn't even frown at her own injury, she now almost howled out loud.
The pain persisted along with the dizziness it caused.
It was an unforgettable sensation, as if she were being squashed into a cramped box with someone squeezing the little space tighter and tighter. It felt like the relentless pressure would only cease when she was finally compacted to the size of a palm.
All at once, the excruciating pain exceeded its maximum level, and something banged against her head.
That hurt!
Jiang Pengji involuntarily huddled herself into a ball. The agony in her brain decidedly surpassed that in her arms and legs so that she couldn't think about anything apart from the tortured sensations of ruptures and tears.
Scorching hot!
She had hardly gotten used to the blasting in her mind when blazing heat enfolded her entirely out of nowhere. It was as if she were immersed in a boundless sea of flames that threatened to evaporate all the water in her body.
Where am I?
As the question appeared in her mind, Jiang Pengji was eager to open her eyes to observe her surroundings.
Had she fallen to Hell?
Contrary to her intentions, her eyelids seemed to contain thousands of pounds of lead. However hard she tried, her eyes did not open to admit even the thinnest beam of light.
Dazed out of consciousness, Jiang Pengji thought she could hear the indistinct voice of a computer.
Ding. "Court Intrigue Stream is reanalyzing host. Start scanning for analysis. Scanning progress: one percent …"
The cold voice of the machine was getting closer and closer, drawing more of her attention to its words.
"Scanning progress: 23 percent, 27 percent, 36 percent, 42 percent, 51…"
What is that?
Jiang Pengji struggled to focus, wanting to know who was speaking. But the speaker seemed to ignore her and continued reporting.
Ding. "Scanning of host completed. Verifying binding… Binding… Further verifying identity of host. Please wait a moment… Verifying… Verification complete."
Ding!
At the sharp sound, Jiang Pengji broke out in a cold sweat.
She felt as if her mind was thrust into black mist, unable to think even though it wanted to.
The peculiar electronic voice continued to announce at its own pace, neither too quickly nor too slowly:
"Name: Jiang Pengji
Gender: Female
Age: 41
Background: Unknown (Temporary)
Strength: Fighting (Temporary), Intelligence (Temporary), Others (Temporary)
Attribute: Unknown (Temporary)."
As she heard her own name and age, she regained much of her consciousness, and the voice in her ears sounded less distant.
"Starting Soul Fusion. Progress: 0.1 percent."
Ding. "Host accumulated insufficient points, Soul Fusion paused. Current progress: 0.3 percent."
"System: Liu Lanting (Jiang Pengji), Aide 007 of Court Intrigue Stream is at your service."
After that, everything fell into silence, as if the voice had never been there.
Before Jiang Pengji could figure out the situation, something brushed her cheek like wind, bringing all her faded senses together.
Then she began to feel the earth shake. As time went by, it developed from a slight movement to heavy jolting.
Creak. The only sounds she could discern were wood creaking and then some repressed sobbing.
Is somebody there?
With great effort, she attempted to open her eyes. The darkness gradually turned into a blur.
The new vision did not last long, however. The large amount of energy required to move her eyelids soon exhausted her, and the heavy lids once again shut.
"Lanting, Lanting… Wake up… Look at me… I am Wan'er…"
Jiang Pengji did not suspect that the woman was addressing her. She was just concerned that the weeping lady was grabbing her shoulders and shaking them, inflicting cutting pain on her already foggy, fatigued head.
With her limited strength Jiang Pengji said, "Stop… Stop it… I am dizzy… You are making me feel sick…"
Perhaps her voice was too low and could not be heard by anyone except herself, but the unpleasant shaker intent on crying did not halt.
Jiang Pengji tried to push those merciless hands away, but her arms felt as cumbersome as a thousand pounds of gold. Even an insignificant lift of a finger would sap all her energy. Eventually, she gave up and decided to endure the annoying sobbing by adjusting her own breathing.
Now that she was too weak to object to the woman's shaking, the only option she had was to tolerate it. She might feel better if she became accustomed to the sickening sobbing.
It appeared that Jiang Pengji was not the only one bothered by the blubbering, since another person also expressed distaste. "Such irritating weeping and crying! Bah!"
The coarse man was also the driver of the carriage. He spat and then forcefully whipped the horse.
Bumping along the rugged mountains roads, the vehicle almost fell into pieces.
The grumbling of the man, however, not only failed to quiet the sobbing but also struck more fear into the girl and made the noise even louder.
Irked, the man raised his whip and violently lashed the beaded curtain of the cart several times, causing the beads and bells to jingle randomly and the noble ladies to panic and pale. "Silent! Or I will whip you to death right away!"
Speeding on the roads were also two other carriages that were not far from one another.
If the environment were unfamiliar to them, driving in such a reckless manner would probably have resulted in both the people and the carts perishing.
But the drivers knew the trails like the back of their hands, so the ride and its perils were nothing to them. The sophisticated carriages under their command charged like the wind.
"Speak gently. It was not easy to take these pretties. All of them are well-known fair ladies in Hejian County. We are too lucky to see any one of them, not to mention having them all now."
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