"Ariana, go to hell!" screamed the woman, her eyes bloodshot with rage as she lunged forward and drove the knife into Ariana.
The two bodyguards at the door saw the knife plunge into her. It was too late to stop it. One of them tackled the crazed woman, pinning her down, while the other rushed to Ariana’s side to check her wound.
Warm blood soaked through her clothes, the red spreading fast. Ariana could feel her body temperature dropping quickly. One guard pressed hard on the gushing wound, trying to slow the bleeding, while urgently reporting the attack up the chain.
Just before everything faded to black, Ariana’s last thought was, "Maybe dying isn’t so bad… I just wish I’d finished that experiment. Grandma’s still waiting for me to come home."
Ariana Stallworth—total genius of the 23rd century—had made groundbreaking contributions to biology, physics, and chemistry. She got into college at twelve, earned her PhD at sixteen, joined the national research academy, and became an academician by twenty. With full state protection, she was assassinated at just twenty-five.
But behind all that brilliance was a broken childhood and an emotional detachment she never outran. She was sold right after birth to adoptive parents who beat her until she was five, then dumped her. She spent three years in an orphanage before a couple of scientists adopted her.
The couple didn’t have kids and wanted someone to care for them in old age. Ariana, with her sky-high IQ, impressed them at first. But when they realized she barely reacted to things, always distant and unreadable, they took her to a psychologist. Diagnosis: emotional disorder.
The doctor explained that with time, patience, and warmth, she could improve. But the couple freaked out—they thought they’d hit the jackpot, only to end up with this. They couldn’t return her, so they sent her off to the wife’s mother’s place and washed their hands of her.
The old lady, a retired military doctor, didn’t know how to handle a child like Ariana. She raised her with strict discipline, old-school military style, harping on patriotism, discipline, and duty. Ariana stayed with her for four years, jumped grades all the way into the elite youth program at the China University of Science and Technology, and eventually landed a spot at the national research institute.
The one who killed her was her biological mother.
When Ariana discovered a revolutionary clean energy source at twenty, she became a national icon overnight. Her birth parents came crawling back, demanding money under the guise of a reunion. She refused. When that didn’t work and they got slammed by the public, they held a grudge. A foreign power bribed her mother to carry out the killing.
Despite top-level protection, no one expected her own mother to go that far.Huaxia Nation, July 1975. Under the big tree near the grain-drying yard in Jiangwan Production Brigade, Liujiang Town, Anling County, Southwest Province.
“Hey, Mrs. Captain, your youngest daughter-in-law’s about to pop again, huh? Bet it’s another boy. Must be nice, having such luck,” said the Party Secretary’s wife, clearly envious.
“Pfft! No way. It’s a girl this time, for sure,” Grace Reed answered confidently.
Heaven knew how badly she wanted a granddaughter. Eleven rowdy boys in the family already—always running wild, giving her a headache. If her youngest daughter-in-law could just give her a sweet, cuddly little girl, she’d be over the moon. Just thinking about having a soft, lovely granddaughter brought a smile to her face.
In the corner, a skinny woman with sharp cheekbones glared daggers at Grace. Bitterness simmered in her chest. “Why does she get four sons, while I gave birth to four girls before finally getting a boy, and now it's three girls in a row again? Not a single grandson. Why’s fate so unfair?”
“Ma! Come eat!” someone yelled in the distance.
Grace recognized the voice—it was her third daughter-in-law. She turned to the women nearby and said, “My daughter-in-law’s calling, I better head back. Drop by sometime for a chat!”
When she got home, dinner was already laid out.
A table full of green veggies, with just one meat dish—tiny river fish stewed with tofu.
“Where’d the fish come from?” Grace asked her husband, Hugh Mercer, the brigade leader, as she sat down.
“Ma, didn’t you hear? My wife’s due soon, so I went and set traps by the river. Gotta make something nice for her and our baby girl-to-be,” Elliot Mercer replied proudly.
Grace lit up at the mention of a girl, but made a face and scolded lightheartedly, “Always up to tricks instead of doing real work.”
Then she turned, her tone instantly softening as she told Lillian Reed, “You eat up, sweetie. That fish broth will do you good.”
“I will, Ma,” Lillian replied gently, one hand resting on her belly, silently hoping her baby would be a girl too.
Elliot watched his mother switch moods faster than flipping a page. He shoved a mouthful of greens into his mouth and muttered to himself how he was really just a human tool around here.
“Grandma, I want fish too!” said three-year-old Tanner Mercer, eyes wide with longing as he stared at the dish, his little voice syrupy.
Grace carefully picked out a boneless bite and placed it on his plate. “Here you go.”
Then she glanced at the rest of the grandkids and said, clearly unimpressed, “The rest of you are old enough to feed yourselves. Grandma’s not serving you.”
The kids knew their place—they grabbed food themselves and tore into it like a whirlwind.
None of the adults touched the fish. They stuck to vegetables and tofu, leaving the meat for the kids and the pregnant daughter-in-law.
It’s not that the Mercers couldn’t afford meat; it was just that, in those days, meat had to be purchased with ration tickets, and each family only got so many per month.Late at night, Lillian Reed felt sharp pains in her belly and quickly nudged her husband awake. “Elliot, get up and go call Fiona and Mom. I think it’s happening. Ahh—”
Seeing his wife soaked in sweat from the pain, Elliot Mercer rushed to throw on his shoes and ran out to find his sister-in-law and mother.
As soon as Fiona Hathaway and Grace Reed heard him shouting, they jumped out of bed. Fiona, being a nurse at the hospital, stayed calm and efficient. “Elliot, boil a pot of water. Mom, make some brown sugar eggs. I’ll go check on Lillian.”
Fiona stepped into the room, spotting Lillian lying on the bed, gripping the sheets in pain. She quickly leaned over and asked, “How are you feeling now, Lillian?”
“It hurts… over and over… ughhh.”
After checking her condition, Fiona held her hand firmly. “You’ve only dilated four centimeters. Still a way to go.”
Just then, Grace came in with the brown sugar eggs.
“Mom, help her eat some. She’ll need the strength. I’m gonna go prepare a few things.”
When dawn started to break, Lillian finally gave birth. As everyone had hoped—it was a baby girl.
Elliot had been waiting anxiously outside and jumped up when he heard a final cry from inside, then silence. “Mom, Fiona, how is it? Everything okay?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine! A little girl! Just give us a minute, Fiona’s cleaning up your wife.” Grace walked out, full of joy, then turned right back into the room and couldn’t help cuddling and kissing her new granddaughter.
A little while later, Fiona had Lillian cleaned up and called Elliot in.
Elliot looked at his worn-out wife lying in bed, nervous. “Is she alright, Fiona?”
“She’s fine. Just exhausted—she’s passed out for now. Alright, I’m heading back. If she wakes up and doesn’t seem to be producing milk, call me, alright?”
“Sure, sure. Thanks, Fiona.”
Once daylight fully hit, Grace reluctantly handed the baby over to her eager son and went off to make breakfast.
Elliot cradled his little treasure carefully, heart melting. Then, to his amazement, the tiny girl opened her eyes. Big, clear, black eyes stared up at him. “Hey sweetie, I’m your dad.”
Ariana Stallworth looked up at the face of the middle-aged man looming over her, confused. “Dad? Didn’t I die?”
Just then, Lillian woke up, her voice anxious. “Elliot, where’s the baby? Let me see her.”
“Here, look—our baby girl. Isn’t she gorgeous?” Elliot gently placed the baby into Lillian’s arms.
“Yeah… Mama’s little sweetheart.” Lillian gazed tenderly at the infant.
Looking at the woman holding her, Ariana started to realize—she had been reborn. Her eyes fixed on Lillian for a long moment before she drifted back to sleep.
By morning, a bunch of boys were already yelling outside Elliot’s door, eager to get a look at their new baby sister.