Chapter 1 Ian

The weather at Harrison Port was unpredictable as ever, a common feature of a city in the tropical region, where it could be clear skies in the morning and a torrential downpour by afternoon.

Interestingly, the people of Harrison Port were much the same. Before falling asleep, Ian was just a smart and alert child, but upon awakening, he had become someone who had cracked the mystery of birth and reclaimed the memories of his past life, a reincarnate.

"My head hurts so much..."

On the semi-old and crude wooden bed, Ian opened his eyes, his blue pupils blank and scattered, but they quickly focused on the view before him, the moldy wooden beams overhead.

July's sunlight should have been bright, but it was blocked by a thick curtain, making the room narrow and the air foul.

With each breath, a piercing and intense pain originated from deep within his skull, ringing his ears, while the air that carried the scent of the sea and the slow rot of decaying wood flooded his nostrils.

It felt like a person with motion sickness enduring a four-hour long journey, sitting next to a middle-aged woman drenched in cheap perfume with severe body odor, chattering nonstop into his ear.

The violent stimuli from deep within the brain and the sensory nerves arrived simultaneously, bringing with them an unbearable feeling of nausea rising to his throat.

Ian wanted to vomit, but there was nothing in his stomach, not even bile. His cracked lips and dry eyes proved he hadn't had food or water in a long while, and his weak limbs and torso indicated that his condition was very critical, his body on the edge of survival.

But he had to get up now.

—Food was one thing, but without water intake, the body would completely lose the ability to move, and without help, he might truly die.

Ian struggled to lift himself up from the bed.

The delicateness of the child's wrists felt especially uncomfortable, and the skin so pale it looked almost sickly heightened his unease.

He was acutely aware that, apart from the dizziness caused by thirst, the pain in his head was mostly due to an external injury. There was a bandage wrapped around his head, dry scabs covering the wound, and the dull throbbing originated from there.

"Interesting, was I kidnapped and knocked out with a club?"

Having just awoken and still unclear about the situation, Ian murmured to himself, "That's unlikely, with this efficiency, it'd be better to hack into the assistant engineering AI."

He worked for East Asia Heavy Industries, belonging to the Vacuum Propulsion Research Center as a space engineer, responsible for the testing and maintenance of the third lunar development rocket in the East Asia region.

In other words, just a tool person on the ship.

Usually, with the maintenance AI's assistance, there was seldom a need for him to perform actual maintenance, the importance of his role even less than a water dispenser, and he often joked with colleagues that he was just there to make up the numbers.

But for Ian, who had been curious about the vastness of space since childhood, going into space was a dream.

Who cares if it's just being a water dispenser!

While conducting routine checks on the nozzles, Ian pondered whether, after further training at the Moon Base, he would have a chance to work at the Seventh Space Mechanical Industrial Department located on Mars.

They were constructing humanity's first light speed spacecraft there, and it would truly be a life well spent if he could be involved.

And then he awoke here.

"No, I've already reincarnated... It's just that I'm only now recalling it."

Lifting his hand, he gently pressed around the wound on his head.

After confirming that the wound was not festering or swollen, Ian frowned slightly, "The child's brain cannot withstand my memories, which could only resurface bit by bit with age, in the forms of dreams and inspirations."

"It was only after getting hit in the head like this that I remembered everything."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the memories flowing through his mind.

—Birth.

A father perished at sea, whom he had never met.

A kind and hardworking mother who passed away early due to sickness.

A young brother and a cold-hearted stepfather who abandoned his wife and child.

An uncle as terrifying and hateful as a demon.

And lastly, that strike from the uncle, which brought back all his memories, a pain etched into his bones.

Then there was a light sigh.

"Eight years, it really was like a dream."

Ian opened his eyes, and in the darkness, his shimmering blue pupils glowed like jewels.

The boy murmured calmly, "But I have awakened."

For a reincarnate, the hardest part is actually accepting those past memories. The experiences of two lifetimes are like turbulent floods, and a child's frail mind cannot bear it.

But Ian's body in this life must have been gifted in a special way, for his eight-year-old brain could already bear the life experiences of both his lives, the most it caused was a bit of a headache.

That was quite a forceful strike indeed, leaving Ian's head feeling heavy, clearly indicating a mild concussion.

"Terra Continent, The Empire, Harrison Port. White Folks, Spirit Energy, Natives and Immigrants—Another world or another planet? I guess it's another world."

Calmly assessing his current situation and extracting keywords from his memories, Ian exhaled deeply, but sighing was of no use. Instead, he smiled, "An orphan in another world with an abusive, half-mad uncle, a hellish start."

"It doesn't matter, there are problems after problems to solve, that's what makes it interesting."

But when he smiled, that was a problem; the dry corners of his mouth were pulled, causing pain that made Ian frown.

He got out of bed, controlling his weak body to slowly move around the cramped and dim room, relying on memory, Ian found the water barrel next to the windowsill.

After drinking heartily, with water to hydrate him, his thinking became much swifter.

It was morning, and most people were at work, including his uncle, who likely wouldn't return until evening.