Yun Cheng.
The shabby ward in the affiliated hospital.
"My daughter got a concussion from the fall, and your school is only willing to pay this little amount of money to get rid of us? What if she has after-effects and becomes an idiot who can't study anymore? Her life would be ruined! Who's going to take responsibility for this? I'm telling you, if I don't get at least 100,000-80,000 yuan today, I'm going to the police station. I'll make sure everyone knows how your school handles things and ruin your reputation!"
"Mrs. Qiao, please be reasonable. Your daughter isn't a preschooler that needs constant supervision from teachers. Besides, she fell down the stairs because she's too fat. She has only herself to blame. It's already very generous of the school to cover half of her medical expenses."
"Qiao Ying usually doesn't behave well in school either. Her grades are terrible and she doesn't strive to improve. Not to mention she distracts other students from learning. Her classmates have complained to me about this multiple times. Just a few days ago, she was even dating a male classmate and bringing him breakfast. This severely damages the school's moral standards. The boy's parents have already come to me to complain."
Li Lilian put her hands on her hips with the stance of a shrew: "You're just trying to get out of paying money, aren't you?"
The few quarreled until their faces were red.
Suddenly, a cold voice snapped: "All of you shut up!"
Li Lilian, Mr. Qiao, the head teacher, and the principal simultaneously went silent and looked towards the chubby girl lying in the hospital bed.
Qiao Ying pressed a hand to her aching temples as she sat up from the bed. The thin mattress let out a tortured creak under her weight.
Sharp pain radiated from the back of her head throughout her body, causing her to frown. Then, she seemed to sense something. Her movement of massaging her temples froze abruptly. In the next moment, her eyes flung wide open.
She didn't die?
Qiao Ying quickly scanned the hospital room, her gaze landing on the four ordinary-looking people standing at the foot of her bed.
"Who are you people?"
The moment she spoke, Qiao Ying's eyes froze over. That wasn't her voice. She immediately touched her throat, only then noticing the fat arm she had raised.
This time, she deeply furrowed her brows.
What was going on here?
The girl's question left the four people dumbfounded.
Li Lilian immediately threw herself at the teachers, yelling and making a scene: "Look what's become of my daughter! And your school only wants to pay some medical fees? You're basically inhuman! Heartless jerks!"
The bespectacled head teacher in his forties also panicked a little: "Calm down, Mrs. Qiao."
"Xiao Ying, I'm your dad. Don't you recognize me?"
"Qiao, don't try to scare your teacher. Is your mind not clear yet? Take a good look at who we are."
But the girl just kept staring at her own fat arm.
Just then, the TV news anchor reported: "A massive explosion occurred on a remote island in Southeast Asia this morning at 7:10 AM..."
Qiao Ying looked towards the TV screen.
Before she could react, a segment of foreign memories suddenly poured into her mind like a flood. She grimaced in pain.
Li Lilian was still loudly arguing with the head teacher about money. Mr. Qiao and the principal kept asking Qiao Ying if she was okay in worried voices beside her.
Her head throbbed unbearably. She couldn't stand it anymore. "All of you get out!"
"Stop making noise. Xiao Ying just woke up. Let her rest properly. We can discuss things outside." Mr. Qiao finally steeled himself and brought the endless nagging Li Lilian out of the ward.
The room finally quieted down. Breathing in the faint smell of disinfectant in the air, Qiao Ying maintained an unusually calm composure.
Li Lilian's loud voice could still be heard from the hallway outside.
The girl had been staring at the unfamiliar face reflected in the bathroom mirror for over ten minutes now. Her features were quite pretty, and although her body was fat, her face didn't have much flesh. Her skin was fair and lustrous.
If she lost weight, she probably wouldn't look bad.
"Qiao Ying."
After a long pause, the girl uttered two words at the mirror.
This name happened to have an affinity with her.
Reincarnation of the soul?
Having seen many strange and bizarre things, this wasn't too difficult to accept either.
She had only been standing for a little over ten minutes, yet her body already felt weak. Her legs were shaky. This wasn't only caused by the concussion, but more so due to the lack of exercise resulting in poor physical health.
Qiao Ying really wondered how this body managed to be both obese and frail at the same time.
What a pity. What a pity that her body, once sturdy as sheets of copper and iron walls, had been completely obliterated in that explosion, reduced to fish food in the sea. All those years of intense training, only to end up as nutrients for marine life in the end.
Qiao Ying closed her eyes, then opened them again. By now, she had fully accepted this new body and identity.
Qiao Ying.
Not bad. It sounded much more human than Blood Shadow.
Back in the hospital room, the hallway outside had gone silent. The doctor came in holding a medical chart and asked: "Qiao Ying?"
The girl's bright eyes looked up as she responded: "That's me."
Beijing, Qin Family Home
In a study decorated in an understated yet luxurious style, a man sat at his desk looking over a document.
"What a shame."
The man murmured in a deep, magnetic voice, carrying a note of regret that the hope for his father's cure was now gone.
A moment later, another lament: "What a shame to lose such a genius." This sentence straightforwardly expressed his grief.
His gaze rested upon the document, which had the name Blood Shadow printed clearly at the top.
This elusive, genius assassin whom countless people didn't even know the gender of - yet this man had the bulk of her information laid out plainly before him.
Qiao Ying only stayed one night in the hospital before her mother, Li Lilian, urged her to go home the next morning.
"Hurry up and get changed so we can go home. The school only compensated a tiny amount. We don't have money for you to be hospitalized."
Li Lilian threw the clothes she'd brought at Qiao Ying while complaining nonstop about the paltry sum they were paid.
Qiao Ying's eyes turned icy as she sat motionless on the hospital bed.
"Hurry up! What are you dazed for? I still have work soon. If I'm late and they dock my pay, you'll have to cover it for me!"
Money-grubbing words spewed from her mouth.
Considering she had taken over Qiao Ying's body after all, Qiao Ying endured this mean spirited biological mother.
Once they left the hospital, Li Lilian abandoned her, giving her a couple dollars for bus fare and shoving the house keys in her hand before rushing off to work herself.
With the original host's memories as guidance, Qiao Ying found her way back to this body's home.
The original host's family lived in an urban village slum area. Before even entering the dilapidated housing complex, she encountered a boy with refined features.
He wore a blue and white school uniform and seemed full of youthful spirit, though a bit skinny and quiet.
Although Li Lilian was nasty, she was beautiful, leading to her haughty personality unwilling to accept mediocrity.
This boy had nicely inherited Li Lilian's genes in terms of looks.
Seeing her, the boy paused briefly at first, then glanced at the bandage wrapped around her head.
Qiao Ying also cast an appraising look his way.
Perhaps the old Qiao Ying was accustomed to being meek and avoiding eye contact, so her bold gaze made the boy frown in surprise.
The boy walked towards her. Qiao Ying noticed he limped slightly when he walked.
Qiao Yi didn't say anything to her, but as he passed by, he shoved what was in his hand at her - a steamed bun. Then he headed off to school with his book bag on his back.
This cheap younger brother didn't seem to have inherited his mother's nasty personality.
A concussion was no small matter. The doctor absolutely did not approve of Qiao Ying being discharged, but the penny-pinching Li Lilian could not be stopped. Thus, after Qiao Ying got home, she didn't do anything except go to bed and sleep.
She slept until night fell.
"You fat pig, no wonder you were born a swine. All you do is eat and sleep all day. Why didn't you die falling down?"
Qiao Ying opened her eyes to see Qiao Lingling standing at her bedside, looking at her with utter disgust and contempt.
"What are you looking at? Get up and come eat since you're awake. You need someone to call you even for meals. You're more useless than a cripple!" After speaking, Qiao Lingling immediately stormed off, unwilling to stay in her room a second longer.
In terms of looks and personality, she was truly cast from the same mold as Li Lilian.
Qiao Ying sat up, feeling something was quite wrong with this whole family.
Especially this younger sister of hers, Qiao Lingling. Having inherited the original host's memories, Qiao Ying understood very well just how much bullying the original host suffered under this "wonderful" sister.
Young in years yet cruel in heart, she really deserved a good beating!
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