The server didn’t even look at Huo You.
First, it was an unspoken rule in this line of work—everyone knew it was unclean, so why should an employee care?
Moreover, she wasn’t a native of Brook Star, nor was she an exile.
She was an employee under the company that owned the granary and would be transferred once her tenure was over.
The reason they didn’t hire locals was that locals had too many connections and interests, making them more likely to break the rules.
See?
It’s no surprise that Mickey Mouse Granary has made a name for itself as a private grain storage platform.
Rules are important.
More established than Little Sheep… with more discipline.
As Huo You was thinking this, she quickly received a shopping card and headed to the only halfway decent mall on Brook Star, straight to the bank inside.
There was a vending machine nearby, so she exchanged it for a corn cake.
Technology and ruthless efficiency preserved everything.
Just eat.
At least it smelled good and was filling.
The once-renowned lawyer nonchalantly kept one hand in her pocket while holding the corn cake in the other, exuding a relaxed elegance… and a bit of pretense.
She opened her bank account, deposited nearly 300 Federation Copper Coins (one day’s worth of personal loot), and paid off her bank debt.
“Payment complete. According to contract procedures, your holographic helmet will now be issued. Please confirm the delivery location.”
“Confirm. Change it to the mall near the granary…”
“Confirmed. Item issued.”
“Also, I want to sell metal materials in exchange for other items. Please provide service.”
“Please place the items for sale at the scanning window…”
They called it cyber, but to Huo You, it was cyber for the lower class.
Scrapyards, pizza joints, garbage planets—everything was low-class and difficult.
Suppressed technology, a controlled life.
But for powerful institutions like banks… even on Brook Star, she could see these high-end service counters.
She glanced at the equipment, silently estimating its value.
Damn.
A lawyer contemplating robbing a bank—not for money, but for equipment.
This world was terrifying.
Huo You felt melancholic inside, but her movements were swift as she placed the piece of Thunder Chrome down.
The bank didn’t care much about a single piece of Thunder Chrome.
After all, their main clientele was never the lower-class people of Brook Star, but rather Little Sheep’s domestic market business on the planet and interstellar trade operations.
They handled countless food and retail companies—transactions of thousands, even tens of millions of Federation Copper Coins flowed through them daily.
So really, this was nothing.
“Raw Thunder Chrome ore, 157g. Our bank’s current market buyout price is 7,500 Federation Copper Coins. Would you like to sell or exchange it for an item of similar value?”
Selling it outside would fetch nearly 10,000, but here at the bank…
Vampires.
Ugh!
As someone who had been called a vampire countless times, Huo You didn’t hesitate to throw the insult back at the bank in her mind.
But on the surface, she remained polite and agreeable.
“I want to exchange it. I need an F-grade wild parasite embryo.”
Truthfully, she wanted an E-grade parasite embryo, but those ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in price.
Due to the difference between market price and bank buyout price, she simply couldn’t afford that much, so she had to settle for the wild variant.
Even though it was still F-grade, wild embryos—like Electromechanical Pythons and Wriggling Worms—had significantly better potential, with a 25%-40% increase in quality.
A normal F-grade parasite embryo cost less than 1,000 Federation Copper Coins.
For Fourth Species degenerates, that was still expensive and required a long time to save up.
But even after spending 7,000-8,000 more… this was all she could get?
Really, everything came down to burning money to gain an edge.
“Even the least talented side branches of the Huo family in Iselle—once they were confirmed to be capable of hosting a parasite—would receive a minimum of an E-grade wild parasite embryo, worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of Copper Coins.”
“As for Huo Xirou, after testing at a 50% compatibility rate… with her bloodline, family status, and the possibility of marrying into the Xiao family, the parasite she would receive would be extremely high-grade—probably C or even B.”
Huo You wasn’t trying to compare.
She was just forming a clearer concept of value and disparity.
However, parasites couldn’t upgrade indefinitely.
At most, they could grow from juvenile to mature form with proper nurturing… but their upper limit would never surpass the next grade.
Unless they devoured other parasites and were properly trained with compatible mental constructs.
That would increase the gap, but even then, an F-grade parasite could never match a C-grade.
“No more than three tiers apart” was a hard rule.
So at this moment, Huo You was painfully aware that no matter how hard she worked, she would never be able to reach Huo Xirou’s level—let alone fight her way back to the Huo family with an underdog comeback.
Forget the dramatic “The times have changed! Don’t look down on the poor!” kind of return.
She just wanted to keep herself in decent shape, get good grades, attend a good school, and move somewhere beyond the Huo family’s influence…
Live a stable life.
That was her goal.
She made her request to the bank, and the bank responded.
“Understood. Based on our inventory of F-grade wild embryos matching the price range, we currently have a total of 43,562 in our main stock.
However, at our Brook branch warehouse, there are only 257 available. Would you like to select from the total inventory and have it shipped, or choose from the local stock for immediate pickup?”
She wasn’t the kind of protagonist who would maximize her opportunities.
Right now, she needed to move fast.
“I’ll choose from the Brook inventory. Direct pickup.”
“Understood. We have unlocked data on the 257 available embryo samples, along with their pheromone information. Please enter the side chamber and use sensory selection. You have ten minutes to choose your embryo.”
“Reminder: All selection is based on your compatibility and subjective emotional response. Once chosen, it cannot be undone. Final interpretation rights belong to the bank.”
“Please begin.”
To the staff, this was just another routine transaction.
But as Huo You stepped into the small selection chamber, a subtle change flickered across her face under the brim of her cap.
She didn’t have the means to maximize opportunity, but that didn’t mean she had no advantages at all.
…
An infinite abyss of darkness, like the void beyond a dimensional gate.
She looked up to see 257 embryo eggs suspended at all angles in a 365-degree formation.
At first glance, they looked like colorful chicken, duck, and goose eggs… differing in size, material, and shape.
Yet, the biological pheromones they released formed 257 distinct lines.
A degenerative body… could actually sense them?
If the Huo family saw this, they would laugh to death.
But if they saw what happened next, they would seriously send people to… kill her!
Huo You stretched out her left hand, fingers spread open, quietly sensing.
Yes, she could sense them.
No devices, no assistance—just direct perception.
In fact, this detail had already been hinted at when she was able to absorb the parasitic vine’s nutrient fluid—something degenerative bodies were completely incapable of doing.
Without a parasite, her body’s immune system was weak, its adaptability low.
In theory, parasitic nutrient fluids should have been repelled, and if absorbed directly?
Instant death!
But she didn’t die.
Not only did she absorb it—she digested it at an insane speed.
At first, Huo You hadn’t thought much of it. But after getting battered by Little Tyrant’s exam questions, she finally realized—something wasn’t right.
She still had some foundation.
Huo You knew she wasn’t originally from this world.
When she crossed over, she came as her real body, replacing the original host—who had collapsed from illness after the death of her parents.
She just happened to arrive right before a compatibility test.
Double zeros as a result—probably because she wasn’t from this world and standard equipment couldn’t detect her properly.
But when it came to sensing parasites…
Huo You glanced at the embryos and felt an overwhelming sensory connection to all their pheromones.
She also recalled her innate talent for mixing corrosive fluids.
Sometimes, just by smell, she could instinctively determine their composition and properties.
If the knowledge of this world was genuinely accurate, then she could probably pick the best embryo for herself…
Wait.
Out of 257 lines, 256 faded into dull obscurity—only one remained, gray, domineering, and ominous, standing out starkly in her sensory world.
Huo You’s eyes snapped open, locking onto the smallest, most unremarkable embryo among the 257.
It was… deformed.
Gray and rough, resembling a granite shard with jagged edges.
What the hell is this?
She pulled up the data.