Having spent thirty years in a task world, Ding Yun finally completed all the missions within the "Eternal Emperor System." After abdicating to her daughter, she lived for another fifty-two years.
Finally, she managed to spend all the unextractable and hence "free" points from the system before returning. Those points were, after all, hard-earned.
Upon her return, the system would require a submission.
Since the points were free, Ding Yun didn't rush back after completing her commissioned tasks and golden finger trial missions. She deliberately enjoyed herself for over fifty years before returning. This allowed her to fulfill a small wish she once had: to spend all her money before she died, rather than dying with money unspent. Now, she had spent all her points before she died, which was not much different.
After returning, Ding Yun, as usual, first submitted her commissioned tasks and then wrote her trial reports.
She detailed her user experience, the drawbacks, and areas for improvement. She also documented the benefits and disadvantages of accepting or delaying tasks at her own will, and the pros and cons of unlimited rewards for exceeding mission objectives. All of this was meticulously recorded in her usage report, which she reviewed several times before uploading.
Subsequently, she reopened the settlement page to check if the rewards for the first golden finger trial mission, submitted the previous time, had been disbursed.
[New Version: Ultra-Fast Growth Farm Golden Finger Trial Mission Settled. Evaluation: Qualified. Salary Credited!]
[Deposit: 300 Source Coins.]
For beings in the Source Universe and those working within it, their primary currency was Source Coins, generated from world or cosmic origins. Theoretically, these coins could transform into any material or energy in existence. This included merit, luck, and souls. Everything, in essence, evolved from the Source.
Merit and luck earned from task planes ultimately had to be exchanged for Source Coins at the Source Bank. Three thousand merit points yielded approximately three hundred Source Coins. Missions that rewarded thirty thousand merit points per commission were exceedingly rare, hence the description of this part-time job as paying very well.
"Good, it's been settled. If it wasn't, I'd start suspecting them of wage arrears," Ding Yun grumbled, though she was quite satisfied internally. Her satisfaction meant she wasn't eager for a vacation or rest. Instead, she immediately applied for another golden finger. This was because such golden finger trial positions weren't constant; they came in waves. This was the sixth generation of golden fingers being trialed. After this batch concluded, it would likely take several hundred years for the seventh generation to appear. Therefore, Ding Yun naturally had to seize the opportunity to accept more tasks during this period and earn more Source Coins.
Soon, the new golden finger arrived. Ding Yun, as always, sent the relevant information about the new golden finger to Jin Xinxin, awaiting his assignment of a new commissioned task. The wait was less than fifteen minutes before she smoothly received her new mission and immediately chose to enter the commissioned world.
...
[Client: Du Zhongxia]
[Commissioned Task: I don't want to be called a jinx, a harbinger of doom, or a solitary star anymore. I want to protect the small medical clinic left to me by my great-grandfather and stop being bullied. I also want to know if I am truly a bringer of misfortune.]
[Commission Reward: 30 Luck, 10 Soul Points]
After reviewing the commissioned task, Ding Yun immediately began integrating with the original body and simultaneously used her consciousness chip to sift through the original body's memories.
From the original body's memories, it seemed she was unwelcome in her family from birth. Her childhood memories were rather vague, pieced together from occasional recollections and curses from her elders. For instance, before she was even born, when her mother was six months pregnant, her maternal grandfather, while working at a steel plant, died in an accident involving molten iron, turning into ash. Her mother was deeply saddened, which affected her pregnancy. She required significant expenditure to maintain the pregnancy.
When her mother was nine months pregnant, she experienced a difficult labor. The midwife was hesitant and uncertain, forcing her father to rush her mother to the hospital. Along the way, due to their haste, anxiety, and uneven roads, they fell. Her father shielded his pregnant wife, acting as a human cushion, and severely injured his lumbar spine.
Upon birth, her mother suffered severe bleeding. Furthermore, because she was a girl, her paternal grandparents showed little concern and provided no postpartum care. This led to her mother developing chronic ailments.
On the day of the "capture the first object" ceremony, her paternal grandfather did not attend. He went to a housewarming banquet in a neighboring village. However, a poorly repaired roof tile fell, coincidentally striking the original body's grandfather while he was eating, resulting in his immediate death. Allegedly, he didn't die instantly and succumbed on the way to the hospital. Afterward, the original body's grandmother, after receiving compensation, hired someone to perform a ritual and calculate their fate. The fortune teller declared their family had a "Heavenly Solitary Star" enter their household, a "Broom Star" among them, and a "Disaster Star" within their abode. As for who this Broom Star and Disaster Star was, it was clearly the only new addition to the family that year: the original body.
Upon hearing this, people quickly linked all the misfortunes that had befallen the family and its relatives in the past year to the original body, blaming her. The original body's grandmother even vocally advocated for abandoning her or, if necessary, killing her, lest she lead the family to ruin. However, at the time, although her mother and father harbored some doubts, they ultimately couldn't bear to do so. They didn't comply but instead severed ties with relatives to avoid them being implicated or attracting disaster.
The following year, her mother became pregnant again. At six months, she suffered an accidental miscarriage, with it being clearly evident that the aborted fetus was male. By the end of the same year, her maternal uncle, due to an operational error, had three fingers severed by machinery. The day before New Year's Eve, her paternal uncle encountered a wild boar while hunting in the mountains. The boar's tusks pierced his abdomen, causing severe bleeding. Although he survived, he was gravely injured. These three incidents caused the rumors of the original body being a Heavenly Solitary Star and Broom Star to resurface with even greater fervor. Her paternal uncle's family, her maternal grandmother, and her maternal uncle all confronted her parents, demanding that they "deal with" the original body, or at least send her away as far as possible, as they did not wish for their families to be destroyed.
At this point, her parents' psychological defenses completely crumbled. They also began to believe that the original body was somewhat of a jinx to her relatives. However, people in the vicinity had heard of the original body's reputation as a Heavenly Solitary Star and were well aware of the incidents within their family. Consequently, no one was willing to adopt her. Killing her directly was something they lacked the courage to do. Thus, they could only find ways to send her to a distant place.
However, their attempt to send her away ultimately failed. A patriarch-level elder in the village, having lost both his children and grandchildren, with no descendants remaining, felt he resembled a Heavenly Solitary Star more than anyone else and would certainly have no one to see him off in death. Therefore, he wished to adopt the original body. A few years later, when he died, he would have someone to send him off.
Her paternal grandmother was still somewhat reluctant, feeling this was too close and might still bring them misfortune. But at that time, the original body's mother couldn't bear to send her daughter to an unknown location. Adopting her into the same village meant she could at least see her. Thus, they ultimately decided to give her in adoption to the patriarch.
Consequently, the original body became the grandchild of the patriarch's eldest grandson. Even her name, Zhongxia, was given by her great-grandfather. After the adoption, their family experienced no major incidents in the following years, with no significant casualties. This might have been a good thing, but it only solidified the belief that the original body was a Heavenly Solitary Star. The patriarch remained unharmed because he had a strong fate, and two individuals who were considered "kin-killers" being together somehow didn't cause harm.
Under the shadow of such a reputation, the original body had few friends from childhood. Even if a few children were willing to play with her, their parents would sternly admonish them and forbid them from playing with the original body, lest they invite misfortune and disaster into their own homes. This situation did not change even when she started primary school. The students in primary school were mostly from the surrounding villages, and everyone knew her reputation. If any teacher dared to seat other children at the same desk as the original body, the child's parents would confront the school the next day, demanding a change. Otherwise, they would accuse the teacher of malicious intent, aiming to harm their family.
It was only when the original body moved to the county town for junior high school, where most of the students didn't know her and the teachers were unaware of her "Heavenly Solitary Star" title, that this situation improved. She finally had her first deskmate and her first friend. Even when individuals who knew her spread rumors, it didn't have a significant impact. Teachers even counseled those who spread rumors about her being a Heavenly Solitary Star, urging them to abandon such superstitious beliefs. In modern society, there was no room for ghosts or spirits, nor were they permitted. Those were the happiest days of her life.
Unfortunately, her academic performance was poor. She failed to get into high school after junior high. Concurrently, her great-grandfather passed away from illness. Before his death, he bequeathed to her a small medical clinic located in a prosperous area of the county town, which he had acquired a few years prior. He advised her to run the business herself if she was capable, or to rent it out and collect rent if she wasn't. Because of this, the original body not only gave up retaking exams but also abandoned her chance at vocational school. Grieving deeply, she single-handedly began to arrange her great-grandfather's funeral. The villagers, while willing to help, were afraid of getting tainted with bad luck and bringing disaster upon themselves. The most outrageous claim was that her great-grandfather's death was due to old age, and his own fate was no match for the original body's Heavenly Solitary Star aura. Many people believed this. By heaven and earth, her great-grandfather was ninety-four years old when he passed away. How many normal people lived to be ninety-four? It was perfectly normal for someone of that age to pass away. To claim he was "cursed" to death, was that even reasonable? Even far-fetched explanations weren't this far-fetched.
However, the original body truly believed it. If a lie is told a thousand times, it becomes the truth. Especially when it had been said for over a decade. No matter how much the original body internally refused to admit she was a Heavenly Solitary Star, she still felt a pang of guilt, thinking she might indeed be one. Thus, hearing outsiders say this, coupled with her deep affection for her great-grandfather, inevitably led her to internalize these emotions. With feelings of gratitude, regret, and guilt, she handled her great-grandfather's funeral and mourning rituals. It's important to remember that she was merely a fifteen-year-old girl, soon to be sixteen, and organizing an entire funeral by herself was incredibly arduous. Moreover, she wanted to hold the best possible funeral for her great-grandfather. Consequently, before the funeral was even over, she fell ill. She stubbornly persevered, taking only basic medication and continuing her work.
Then, after she finally managed to complete the funeral arrangements, and while enduring her physical discomfort and intending to observe a period of mourning for her great-grandfather, some families in the village with distant blood ties to her great-grandfather, along with her birth parents, paternal grandmother, and uncle's family, arrived without fear of the Heavenly Solitary Star. They demanded that she hand over everything her great-grandfather had left her. The reason given by those with distant kinship to her great-grandfather was that she was not his direct descendant but adopted, and as a girl, she was not entitled to inherit an elder's property. Her birth parents, grandmother, and uncle claimed that even though she was adopted, her bloodline remained theirs. When they gave her up for adoption, they hadn't asked for a single cent or item. She owed them for raising her, and thus, she must give them her great-grandfather's inheritance to repay their parental kindness.
An argument ensued, escalating to shoves. The original body's health, already compromised by overwork and lack of rest, was further aggravated by the argument, causing a severe headache. Combined with the physical scuffles, she was soon pushed by an unknown assailant, hitting a corner of the wall. Her head began to bleed, and she lost consciousness.
Only then did the arguing parties realize their panic and fear. However, in their terror, they never thought of sending the original body to the hospital. Instead, they fled in fright. This action undoubtedly led to the original body, who might have been saved, losing the opportunity for immediate medical attention. After lying there for a while, she tragically passed away. Her death could not be attributed to illness, fatigue, or sudden collapse, nor solely to excessive bleeding. It was the cumulative effect of these factors that led to her demise.
It was after this that Ding Yun arrived. As she processed these memories, she finally fused with the body and experienced overwhelming fatigue, a splitting headache, palpitations, and nausea—all negative sensations.