Villainous Singer (2)
Song Xuyi wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt there was something suspicious about Song Yi’s actions, though now wasn’t the time to investigate this matter.
When Song Xuyi thought about the Ruoshui people mining underground without social benefits, their eyes going blind yet still unable to earn enough for basic sustenance, she felt the heavy weight of responsibility on her shoulders.
The original body had done well, developing machinery in the future to help the Ruoshui people with mining. Although these machines had significant limitations and weren’t widely distributed by the end of the plot outline, they had somewhat relieved the Ruoshui people from their burdensome work.
Now that Song Xuyi had entered the original body, she naturally needed to accomplish what the original person would have achieved. Otherwise, even if she completed her mission, she wouldn’t feel at peace.
The original body was adopted by Song Yi largely because of her extraordinary learning ability – her capacity to absorb knowledge was frighteningly strong. This put immense pressure on Song Xuyi, unsure if she could reach the original’s heights.
But Song Xuyi always believed in the principle of “diligence makes up for lack of talent”. Whatever the original body could achieve in the future, Song Xuyi was willing to put in a hundred or thousand times more effort to accomplish.
Song Xuyi immediately began poring over books under the dim cabin light.
These books came from the Ruoshui Kingdom, items long obsolete on other more civilized planets.
It was clear these books were carefully selected by Song Yi: records about Ruoshui Kingdom’s centuries of traditions and customs, documentation of Ruoshui Star’s dynastic changes and cultural transitions… and more importantly, records of Ruoshui Star’s current technological capabilities.
While this technology appeared backward and conservative, it had its own ingenious aspects.
The more Song Xuyi learned, the more she sighed: though Ruoshui Star’s technology was behind, it was slowly developing. Ruoshui Star didn’t lack wisdom; compared to Bilin Star which had developed for ten thousand years, Ruoshui Star simply lacked time for development.
However, these books helped Song Xuyi gradually adapt to this planet’s writing system and narrative style.
With the mindset of absorbing whatever knowledge she could, Song Xuyi immediately buried herself in studying…
After the invasion by the advanced civilization planets, to save meal times and force Ruoshui people to spend more time mining, the advanced planets began giving them cheap nutritional supplements. The various native ingredients that originally belonged to Ruoshui Star were shipped as exotic delicacies to the dining tables of advanced civilization planets. Despite the Ruoshui people’s hard work in growing these ingredients, they ultimately lost all rights to enjoy them.
Song Xuyi now understood why her cabin was so bumpy – she was on the lowest level of the interstellar ship. The ship was divided into four levels: the topmost level served wealthy passengers from Bilin Star and other advanced civilization planets, with excellent shock absorption; the middle two levels accommodated less wealthy passengers with relatively comfortable environments; while the bottom level was for Ruoshui people and interstellar vagrants who couldn’t afford better.
The bottom level housed various species, including even cannibalistic insectoids and fugitives.
The original body, being just a young girl, had stayed in her cabin these past few days surviving on nutritional supplements, not daring to leave. Confined in such a small space, she naturally felt stifled.
Song Xuyi inherited these habits from the original body, spending all day studying books and drinking nutritional supplements when hungry. Even though fighting sounds and angry shouts occasionally came from outside, and someone would violently kick her cabin door every few days, she remained inside, never stepping out once.
Time passed quickly, and after a month, the ship finally reached Bilin Star.
A tall, thin girl named Luo Xi came to receive Song Xuyi.
As an advanced civilization planet, Bilin Star was extremely arrogant. Although they were clearly Ruoshui Star’s invaders, they claimed to be helping Ruoshui people progress and escape royal persecution. To maintain this facade, they established a program: every two years, Bilin Star would recruit a certain number of children from Ruoshui Star to study there.
They claimed this was to nurture future technological talent for Ruoshui Star, but in reality, the program was full of prejudice and arrogance. The upper class of Bilin Star implemented this program believing these children would abandon their homeland after witnessing Bilin Star’s advancement and superiority, never choosing to return to Ruoshui Star.
However, regardless of Bilin Star’s ulterior motives, this was a rare opportunity for the people of Ruoshui Star.
In the first year of the program, Ruoshui Star carefully selected many children to go to Bilin Star. Song Xuyi was now part of the third batch of children sent there, while Luo Xi, who came to receive her, was from the second batch.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, and thank you for coming to receive me.”
Compared to the obese, abnormally large-headed Bilin Star natives, Luo Xi’s Ruoshui characteristics were very obvious, especially her glasses that looked identical to Song Xuyi’s. Song Xuyi spotted her immediately in the crowd and stood before her with her suitcase.
Seeing that Song Xuyi appeared unimpressed by Bilin Star’s advanced civilization, a hint of amusement appeared in Luo Xi’s eyes, and her impression of Song Xuyi improved considerably.
“I haven’t waited long.”
“I didn’t expect you to be so young!” Luo Xi looked Song Xuyi up and down, grabbed her suitcase, and led her forward while explaining: “All of us Ruoshui children are sent to Kelin Academy. Although we have translators, it’s Bilin Star’s rule that we must first learn their writing system, then their etiquette, before we can choose our preferred subjects to study…”
“But,” Luo Xi’s smile faltered as she glanced at Song Xuyi, pausing her next words: “You’ve just arrived, so I won’t talk about the unpleasant things yet. You’ll understand eventually.”
“There are fewer than a hundred Ruoshui students here now, so we should look out for each other. Including you, five children arrived today, and everyone has prepared a grand welcome party for you all.”
With that, Luo Xi led Song Xuyi onto a hovering bus.
The ticket collector on the hovering bus was a robot.
This robot was exceptionally beautiful, indistinguishable from a real person, and looked more like a Ruoshui person. When the two boarded, the robot was performing some kind of animal imitation for the Bilin passengers in the compartment, making everyone laugh. After carelessly glancing at the two, the robot exaggerated its eyes wide and babbled something—
As the robot spoke, all the Bilin Star people on the bus turned to look, whispering to each other in a language Song Xuyi couldn’t understand. Though she didn’t know what they were saying, seeing their oversized pupils and the way they examined the two like merchandise made her instinctively uncomfortable.
Luo Xi clearly understood what these people were saying, and her expression immediately darkened. She didn’t explain their words to Song Xuyi, but demonstrated her protection through actions. Though she wasn’t much taller than Song Xuyi, she stood in front of her, shielding her from those prying eyes.
Song Xuyi felt warmth in her heart, gaining a new understanding of the mutual support inherent in Ruoshui people’s nature.
If at first she had only planned to continue the original host’s unfinished work out of conscience, from this moment on, Song Xuyi truly felt herself becoming a Ruoshui person, wanting to do something from the depths of her heart for this disaster-plagued, oppressed planet.
Since accepting these Ruoshui children was merely a face-saving project, the school Bilin Star arranged for them naturally wasn’t particularly good. Kelin Academy was located in a remote suburban area, and the hovering bus reached it only at its final stop.
Throughout the journey, passengers came and went, but the malicious staring directed at the two remained constant.
From start to finish, although Song Xuyi suggested several times that Luo Xi sit down, Luo Xi remained standing, trying to be a human wall separating Song Xuyi from the outside world’s malice, until they finally reached Kelin Academy.
Kelin Academy was an eight-year institution.
Bilin Star believed in an elite system – people generally started school at age six, graduating after eight years of study, with only a small portion continuing to higher education.
Due to extremely low birth rates, Bilin Star people typically married around fifteen or sixteen, meaning they reached marriageable age right after graduation.
Kelin Academy had prepared a dedicated building as dormitory for the Ruoshui children.
Song Xuyi had prepared herself for extremely poor living conditions, but to her surprise, the dormitory prepared for the Ruoshui children wasn’t bad at all – it even looked more luxurious on the outside than the dormitories for native Bilin Star students. The interior conditions were quite good too, with complete facilities and nutritional supplements in various flavors. Song Xuyi even found a small box of fruit in her welcome package—
Even though these fruits originally came from Ruoshui Kingdom, compared to the residents still there who hadn’t seen fruit in ten years, this was already an extremely privileged condition.
Luo Xi kept watching Song Xuyi’s expression. She seemed to want to say something but perhaps thought Song Xuyi was too young and didn’t speak up. However, seeing Song Xuyi’s calm demeanor when facing the welcome package, the trace of worry in Luo Xi’s eyes instantly disappeared.
After Song Xuyi had put away her luggage and freshened up, darkness fell, and the welcome party quickly began.
Song Xuyi went to the first-floor hall with the other four children. Many people were already standing in the hall, with various nutritional supplements and drinks laid out. Song Xuyi noticed that many people were no longer wearing the Ruoshui Kingdom glasses, and the party wasn’t exclusively for Ruoshui people – there were quite a few people from Bilin Kingdom as well.
Song Xuyi’s attention was quickly captured by someone at the entrance—
A girl with a languid expression stood at the doorway. Though Song Xuyi considered herself worldly, she had never seen such a beautiful girl before!
LP: Re-translated on January 12, 2025
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