Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Ghost Festival

Jiang Qin had to admit she was quite satisfied with the Female Protection Center.

Their stance was crystal clear: they favored females, regardless of whether she was a low-level female from a Barren Star.

It was understandable, though. If the Female Protection Center’s stance wasn’t strong enough, the Interstellar laws protecting females wouldn’t be nearly so comprehensive.

It came back to the same principle: a precedent could not be set.

It had nothing to do with being a High-level female.

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

She had originally been prepared to cooperate with them, but their very first demand was for her to go to the Main Star.

She didn’t want to.

If she really ended up on their turf, she’d be utterly helpless.

But those people were just too damn annoying. They’d send more than a dozen private messages at a time.

They’d tried everything: threats, bribes, a mix of hard and soft tactics, even guilt-tripping.

Lately, they’d even stooped to threatening her with her half-brothers from the Jiang Family.

Honestly, Jiang Qin almost had to laugh when she saw that message.

Fortunately, the Jiang Family of this life meant nothing more to her than strangers. If this had been her past life, their threats might have actually worked.

That was why she truly despised the Genetic Research Institute.

Since the Female Protection Center had offered to handle it for her, she was more than happy to enjoy the preferential treatment afforded to females.

After all, this preferential treatment didn’t come for free.

Females also had their own responsibilities.

In addition to placating males, they also bore the responsibility of procreation.

Whether in the Empire or the Federation, there was a law stipulating that D-level females over the age of 30 must have at least one partner.

C-level, at least two.

B-level, at least three.

A-level, at least seven.

That’s right. For A-level females, it was a mandatory “more work for the more able” policy.

If they fell short of this number, their Light Computer would automatically assign them a partner.

As for S-level females, while they also had a quota to meet, they weren’t subject to forced pairings.

Because from the moment they were tested, the junior members of all the major powers would have already been sent to their side as prospective Beast Husbands.

Therefore, once they came of age, they would marry these prospective Beast Husbands.

The resources required for their upbringing would also be provided by the powers backing these Beast Husbands.

As for higher-level females, the Federation had none, but it was said the Empire had one SS-level female.

However, she was already quite old, and the Empire was trying everything in its power to prolong her life.

To that end, they poured vast sums of money into the Life Research Institute every year.

***

The fifteenth of the seventh month.

The Federation had no custom of celebrating the Ghost Festival. In fact, the very concept of ghosts and monsters no longer existed here.

Jiang Qin had once mentioned the legends about things like ghosts to Xie An’an, but Xie An’an had just looked completely bewildered.

“What’s a ghost?”

Jiang Qin said, “…It’s an energy entity that appears in a different form after a person dies.”

Xie An’an still couldn’t grasp the concept.

“After people die, they’re cremated. Then their ashes are recycled and used as fertilizer to grow natural food. How could they possibly reappear?

Do you mean like a recording of them from when they were alive, projected as a hologram?

I’ve heard that’s what some males do when they can’t accept their female’s death.

They spend their days watching projections of their female from when she was alive, pretending she’s still with them.”

’Recycle ashes? To grow vegetables??’

Jiang Qin felt her world collapsing.

Thankfully, she’d been dirt-poor ever since she crossed over to this Interstellar era and couldn’t afford natural food.

The very thought that those crisp, fresh vegetables were grown with cremated ashes completely killed her appetite.

’Nutrient liquid is so much better.’

Nutrient liquid was synthesized from Exotic Plant and Alien Beast extracts. No human remains.

It took Jiang Qin considerable effort to finally explain the concept of a ghost to Xie An’an.

Her explanation, however, only made An’an more curious. Her eyes filled with an intense desire for knowledge; she was desperate to know if people truly had souls after death.

“Ahem. Let’s stop here for today. If you want to know, I’ll tell you later.”

’The main reason was that she couldn’t handle all of Xie An’an’s questions.’

’Even though she’d crossed over, it’s not like she’d ever seen a ghost herself. They were called folk *legends* for a reason. You were just supposed to listen to them like stories!’

Still, Xie An’an had given her an idea.

Today was the fifteenth of the seventh month. It didn’t matter that this Interstellar world didn’t celebrate the festival—she could celebrate it on her own.

’For instance, she could release a thematically appropriate music video.’

So, with that in mind, Jiang Qin went up to the rooftop again.

The bodyguards assigned to protect her were already used to her habit of periodically heading to the rooftop to feel the wind and search for inspiration.

Without a sound, they dutifully guarded the door to the rooftop stairwell and waited.

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

…

Wen Jiaqi had been spending all her time on Blue Star lately. Her family wasn’t hurting for cash, so Mr. Wen had bought her a small house there outright.

He had her and Wen Jiahui stay there so they could go to the bar every day and listen to Jiang Qin sing.

Even though she could hear the live performance every day, it was still only three songs!

That’s right. Ever since she was abducted and rescued, Jiang Qin had changed her set list, increasing it from two songs to three.

But for her fans—the Jiang Fan—this still wasn’t enough.

So what were they to do when they wanted to hear more of her music?

Their only option was to listen to the songs Jiang Qin had uploaded to the Star Network. After all, compared to all the other garbage out there, her music was far superior.

Wen Jiaqi figured she wouldn’t get tired of them for at least a few months.

However, as she was listening to music and reading a novel that evening, she suddenly received a notification: *The artist you follow has uploaded a new song!*

!!!

She tapped it open and her eyes widened. Oh my god! It was Jiang Qin!

Lately, Jiang Qin hadn’t been performing new songs at the bar, and it had been many days since she’d uploaded anything new.

Her fans, the Jiang Fan, didn’t think anything of it.

Some artists went a whole year without releasing new music, so it was perfectly normal.

They were just getting antsy, that’s all.

They never expected a sudden surprise today!!

The Jiang Fan fan groups instantly erupted.

[AHHHH, Qin Bao uploaded a new song! Let’s go, everyone! Let’s get her on the charts!]

[Stanning Jiang Bao was the best decision! Who else is as productive as our girl!]

[Gotta go, I’m off to listen!]

…

“Whoa, it even has a music video!”

Wen Jiaqi immediately paid the Star Coins to download it.

She didn’t recognize the instruments, but she didn’t dwell on it. As long as it sounded good, that’s all that mattered. She was a musical neophyte, after all.

The music video opened on a gloomy forest. A wedding procession was making its way through the trees.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Wen Jiaqi felt that the bride’s posture beneath the red veil was… off.

“The eighteenth of the first month,

A day of fortune told.

The sorghum sedan rises,

Lifting the bride in red.

Every step, a new hate unfolds…”

For some reason, Wen Jiaqi found the song incredibly unsettling.

Because she’d hit play too quickly, she hadn’t seen the warnings at the beginning of the video:

Not for the faint of heart.

Not for viewers with heart conditions.

So all she could do was listen on, a creeping sense of dread washing over her as the strange, resentful song continued.

The visuals in the music video also grew stranger and stranger.

For instance, during the ceremonial bows, it looked as if someone was forcibly pushing the bride’s head down from behind…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep