She looked at the tears—how pitiful. The blanket had been lifted, letting the cold air in. The boy shivered a little, but he didn't wake up.
Quinn pulled the blanket open a bit more and looked down. What she saw made her heart sink—it was unbearable. "Beast," she cursed herself quietly, then put the blanket back over him.
The boy wouldn't wake up any time soon. She had to use this chance to figure out the original host's basic information, so she wouldn't give herself away.
Thinking this, Quinn picked up the wristband on the small table and tried to use it the way the original host would. She managed to unlock it, and the wristband's screen projected into the air.
Luckily, even though the time period and devices were different, the way the communication tools worked wasn't too unfamiliar. The wristband had all kinds of apps, like a photo gallery and a contact list.
There were many strange apps, but she didn't have time to check each one. First, she opened the personal info page to see the original host's details:
Name: Quinn
Gender: Female
Age: 18
...
Ability: None
...
Contribution Level: 0
Contribution Points: 0
Contribution Ratio: 0.1
Criminal Record: Entered Taiji City illegally and stayed for a month. Later sent back to the third lower district of Kunba City.
Points: 3
After reading the info, she noticed that the original host had the same name as her. Maybe that's why she ended up in this body?
She remembered hearing her teammates talk about this old trend from the past—something about people suddenly ending up inside books if they had the same name as a character. They said if that happened, you better memorize the whole book fast or you'd be lost after crossing over.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. The important thing was that this personal profile showed that abilities exist in this world. She didn't know how they worked or what types there were, but she'd find out later.
Also, the contribution level and points probably worked like a form of money—maybe they could be used to buy things.
Another thing… she stared at the criminal record: Taiji City, lower district, illegal entry… It looked like this world had a strict class system, and lower-class people weren't allowed into upper-class areas…
Now that she had a general idea of the original host's background, she opened the contact list to check her social connections.
But there were only spam messages and scams—no real contacts. It seemed like the original host had no friends or family. Honestly, her life looked like a failure.
Next, Quinn opened the photo album. It was full of secretly taken photos. A few were of a boy on the wall—his pictures were intact. But most of the photos were of the boy lying on the bed now. No doubt about it: the ripped photo on the wall was him too.
In the photos, the boy wore simple but expensive clothes.
But Quinn didn't care at all about what the original host thought. After all, the original host was nowhere to be found now. Her soul might not even exist anymore.
From the photos, she could tell that the boy lying in bed probably came from a rich and powerful family. Someone like him would have absolutely nothing to do with a "rat from the gutter" like the original host.
It seemed like the original host had secretly taken all these pictures during that one month she illegally stayed in Taiji City. So, the boy and the original host were nothing more than strangers.
As for why the boy ended up here—in the middle of winter, wearing such thin clothes in the slums—he must have had nowhere else to go. Whether his family was destroyed or he was abandoned, Quinn didn't care.
The fact that this delicate boy managed to escape all the way here to the original host's place meant no one cared about where he went or whether he lived or died. Otherwise, he would've been killed long before getting here.
After checking the contact list and the photo album, Quinn now had a general idea of the original host. No family, no friends, probably an orphan—the kind of person who could die and no one would even notice. Quinn finally felt at ease.
Now, she needed to understand the world she had landed in…
After some searching, Quinn finally found an information app and started looking up this era's facts.
And just like that, she froze—Wife Lord? Companion Husband? Men… giving birth?!
Even someone as mentally strong as Quinn was shaken. What kind of world had she landed in?
After rebuilding her worldview, Quinn finally got a basic grasp of this new reality.
This world had a recorded history of about 8,000 years. The first 7,000 years were somewhat similar to Earth's history—except it was a matriarchal world.
From ancient times, women were the leaders and decision-makers, while men gave birth, raised children, and supported their wives.
Women were tall and powerful. Men were smaller and more delicate. After marriage, the woman was called the Wife Lord, and the man became her Companion Husband.
In ancient times, men were treated very harshly. Women could have multiple husbands or lovers, but men weren't allowed to show themselves in public. Having no talent was seen as a virtue.
A man's purity was also extremely important. If a man's body was seen, he was considered "used." He would either be drowned in a pig cage or forced to marry the one who saw him—very outdated and cruel.
Thankfully, as the economy and society developed, people's thinking started to change. The rules around men slowly relaxed. Nowadays, men could appear in public and even work to support their families.
On the surface, men and women now had equal rights. But in reality, society still held a lot of prejudice against men. Delicate, gentle men were still often mistreated.
Quinn, who had just hurt such a boy, froze.
At that moment, she clearly understood just how cruel and damaging her actions last night had been for the boy. She might have ruined his whole life…
Looking at online posts like:
"He's not a virgin? Who would want him?"
"Used goods trying to marry a good man? Dream on."
"On our wedding night, I found out my husband wasn't pure—I divorced him on the spot, ha!"
Quinn's heart sank.
Even if she didn't believe purity defined a person's worth, society clearly did—and it judged men even more harshly.