She suddenly waved her little fist in the air, the little girl’s face full of indescribable pride: “Yesterday I already broke into their school’s server and left a backdoor. If it comes to it, I’ll just change the grades so he definitely won’t be able to graduate!”

Edward Collins shook her head. The school’s practical courses are all graded on the spot. As for the written exams, whatever the results, Brian Carter surely knows in his heart. Changing grades probably won’t alter the outcome. Thinking that after this year, Brian Carter might leave them, a trace of worry involuntarily appeared on Edward Collins’s face.

……

Stepping onto the handrail of the floating car, Brian Carter had just rushed out of the garage door when a scene of ultimate grandeur instantly unfolded before his eyes. Outside were hundreds, even thousands, of skyscrapers over a hundred stories tall, each with a unique shape, and countless floating vehicles weaving through the streets.

His family’s apartment was on the 102nd floor. Coming out of the garage, he could look down from above at the magical scenes below.

This kind of scene, which in the 21st century could only be seen in Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters, was now more real than ever, displayed right in front of Brian Carter. This wasn’t a movie, nor was it some 3D simulation—it was real!

Even after nine years of seeing this every day when coming and going, Brian Carter still felt a jolt of sensory impact. The reason, after all, was that he still hadn’t fully integrated into this world. Many times, he felt as if he were dreaming a dream from which he would never wake.

Sighing, Brian Carter stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth with one hand, while steering the floating car with the other, merging into the traffic ahead.

The current time was early July, Galactic Era 3704, which, converted to the Common Era, was about 5800 years later. Yet when he, Brian Carter, was born, it should have been 4000 years ago, in an era when humanity had not yet left the solar system.

His real name was Mark Harris, not Brian Carter. He had been an ordinary high school student, but one day, while accompanying his mother to burn incense at Qinglin Daoist Temple in the suburbs, a fortune-teller declared he had the fate of a true emperor. Later, in order to save a little boy, he died under the wheels of a truck. Then, inexplicably, he woke up in this world 4000 years later. His soul had taken over the body of a little boy, and hanging around his neck at the time was the very jade talisman his mother had asked a ‘master’ to bless for him at the temple that day.

Resurrected in this completely unfamiliar world, it was impossible for others to imagine the sense of helplessness he felt at the time. Fortunately, he had a good mother, and now, several good siblings. In this world 4000 years in the future, he was not alone.

After finishing the bread in his hand, Brian Carter reached for the storage box at the back of the car. As expected, he found a packet of fresh milk that Eddie had prepared for him. Gulping it down in a few swigs, a warm smile appeared on Brian Carter’s face.

The reason he got up so late today probably wasn’t entirely Eddie’s doing. The smart housekeeper at home had been set with three layers of passwords by him; to change the instructions would require a co-conspirator skilled in computers and adept at cracking encryption systems. Edward Collins wasn’t good at this, but his younger brothers and sisters all had some knowledge in this area, and were quite proficient.

Actually, he knew what his younger siblings were worried about. But life is always full of helplessness.

The original owner of this body had grown up in an orphanage, with no family or relatives. Not long after he woke from his slumber, he was adopted by a woman named Laura Reed, who had lost her lover in the war. Later, he and several others like Edward Collins, who were also alone in the world, became siblings.

The first few years living in this world, though poor, could be called happy. But good times didn’t last long—two years later, their mother fell ill and passed away. The cause of death was depression from losing her lover, compounded by overwork. It was almost laughable: after their mother fell ill, the family couldn’t even afford medical treatment.

After Laura Reed passed away, the siblings once again found themselves without support. Fortunately, by then Brian Carter was already nineteen, legally an adult. The property left by Laura Reed was transferred to his name according to her will, and with a sympathetic judge looking out for them, other ‘maternal relatives’ who coveted the inheritance could do nothing, so the siblings didn’t end up on the streets.

Brian Carter was the oldest among the children. With Laura Reed gone, it was only natural for him to shoulder the responsibility of raising his younger siblings. He was far more mature than his peers, and after being admitted to a military academy on this planet, he managed to get special permission from the principal and took on several part-time jobs outside, barely managing to support the family. Over the past few years, most of the household expenses had come from his part-time earnings and the military academy’s subsidies.

But now, he had new worries.

Originally, Brian Carter’s personality was unusually unambitious, always content to go with the flow. To put it nicely, he was calm and indifferent; to put it bluntly, he had no ideals or aspirations. Others who died and were reborn in another world might have some unrealistic ambitions, but he didn’t have even a trace of such ambition.

This was partly due to his personality, but also the result of his environment.