On the airship, Ning Xuan used her Light Computer to learn a great deal of basic information about this world.
Eight hundred years ago, this world suffered an extinction-level crisis. Fire fell from the sky, the ground collapsed, and an unknown virus spread across the globe, causing plants and animals to mutate. Toxic mists blanketed the lands, and humans died off in massive numbers. The world's overall environment became extremely harsh.
With their fragile constitutions, humans struggled to survive. Scientists developed gene fusion technology, extracting genes from mutated flora and fauna and injecting them into the human genome to strengthen the human body and adapt to this new environment.
Relying on this gene fusion technology, humans awakened spiritual power, which in turn awakened their Superpower Bodies, turning them into Spirit Controllers.
The physical constitution of a Spirit Controller was far superior to that of an ordinary person, and their resistance to the unknown virus and toxic fog was also much stronger. This was how humanity managed to survive.
However, decades later, people discovered the drawbacks of gene fusion. The success rate for males was far higher than for females, at a ratio of about 100 to 1. But once the fusion was successful, male Spirit Controllers would be affected by the foreign genes and begin to alienate. In severe cases, they would even lose their sanity and devolve into beasts. Female Spirit Controllers, on the other hand, could completely control the foreign genes.
If gene fusion was considered a form of evolution, then male Spirit Controllers represented an incomplete evolution, while female Spirit Controllers represented a perfect one.
To address this situation, scientists developed the Genetic Suppression Potion. Its raw materials were difficult to obtain, making the potions expensive, rare, and in short supply.
Even so, the Genetic Suppression Potion couldn't completely solve the problem of alienation. Instead, it was the spiritual power channeling and pheromonal soothing from a female Spirit Controller that could slow a male's alienation. For those with high genetic compatibility, a female could even help the male completely resolve the issue, allowing him to achieve perfect evolution.
Under these circumstances, scientists developed a super-mainframe that could test for genetic compatibility, leading to the formation of a genetic matching system. A man and a woman could only form a union if their genetic compatibility reached 60% or higher.
Because of the severe gender imbalance and the fact that men needed women's help to solve their existential crisis, the former marital relationship was replaced by a contract system. The woman is the Contractor; the man is also a Contractor. Once a formal Contract is formed and a spiritual connection is made, the male Contractor must submit to the female Contractor in body and spirit. Under Federation law, the male Contractor must also unconditionally obey the female Contractor, and all his assets must be shared with her.
Nearly a thousand years had passed since the extinction crisis, and the once-severe gender imbalance had now improved significantly.
Women did not suffer from alienation, and their survival rate and average lifespan were higher than men's. As a result, the current ratio of men to women was approximately 10 to 1.
However, perhaps because women lived in relatively safer environments and bore fewer societal risks, more and more of them were unable to awaken their spiritual power. Even among those who did, most were only Low-Level Spirit Controllers.
Male Spirit Controllers, on the other hand, generally had higher Spiritual Power Levels, and their levels were easier to raise through the process of slaughtering Exotic Beasts.
If a female Spirit Controller's spiritual power was two Levels lower than a male's, she could not effectively channel his spiritual power rampages, let alone solve his alienation problem. Therefore, what was truly scarce were High-level Female Spirit Controllers. Female Spirit Controllers with a Spiritual Power Level of B-Class or higher were known as Controllers.
Ning Xuan looked at her own D-level spiritual power, then back at the message from the mainframe—the sentence that read, "The other party's Spiritual Power Level is far higher than yours." She instantly understood the situation with her five genetically matched partners.
As a Contractor, she couldn't fulfill her only obligation, yet she could hold her male Contractors in the palm of her hand. For them, this was a situation with nothing but downsides and no benefits. It would be a miracle if they were willing to accept it!
Lin Mo appeared cold on the surface, but inwardly he was restless. 'I awakened my spiritual power at birth with a value of 74, making me D-level. By the time I turned eighteen, my spiritual power had naturally grown to B-Class. After that, through constant battle and slaughtering Exotic Beasts, it gradually rose to 2S-Class. But in the last two years, my spiritual power rampages have become more and more frequent, and my fever periods have grown harder to endure. In my current state, even with the suppression of High-level Potions, it'll be difficult to survive my Companion Spirit's next transformation. If I don't make it through, the best-case scenario is a severe injury and a drop in Level. The worst-case is complete alienation, turning into a beast.'
'My father started helping me look for a suitable Contractor long ago. Unfortunately, female Spirit Controllers are few in number to begin with, and High-level Controllers are even rarer. Every single High-level Controller possesses countless male Contractors. They're so high and mighty, treating their Contractors like private property to be disposed of at will, with no respect whatsoever. I've seen many outstanding seniors, colleagues, and friends become their Contractor's playthings after forming a Contract.'
'I would rather endure the agony of my spiritual power rampages than be reduced to such a state.'
'My father couldn't bear to see me be abused, so after all these years of searching, he never found anyone suitable. And now, I've been forcibly matched by the mainframe!'
Lin Mo secretly glanced at Ning Xuan. 'She's so beautiful and so young. She seems emotionally stable, not like someone with a tyrannical nature. Although the gap in our Spiritual Power Levels is huge, our genetic compatibility is high. Forming a Contract with her... it might not be so bad. But if we form a formal Contract, regulations state I have to stay by my Contractor's side for a year. My alienation has already reached a very dangerous point, and I could lose control at any moment. I don't want to bring that danger to her.'
Although Lin Mo could choose to hide his information, he couldn't dissolve the contract. Under Federation law, he was already Ning Xuan's Contractor!
After dropping Ning Xuan off at Xingluo Bay, a distraught Lin Mo didn't linger for a moment. He left immediately after she was out of the vehicle.
As Ning Xuan stepped toward the address she had found in her personal information, an agent from the Housing Property Bureau was arguing with a mother-daughter pair. "Ms. Ning, according to the household registration records, your niece is not deceased. You cannot transfer ownership of this residence at this time!"
"Impossible! Three days ago, I saw her enter the B-rank Mysterious Barrier Land with my own eyes! A good-for-nothing without any spiritual power could never survive in there," Ning Fei shouted. She had bullied this younger cousin since childhood and never gave her a second thought. She never imagined that the house they were living in actually belonged to Ning Xuan. The house had been purchased by Ning Xuan's mother, Ning Zilan, before her death, and ownership had automatically transferred to Ning Xuan when she turned sixteen.
The residences in Xingluo Bay were in a relatively safe part of Zone D, located near the zone's best school. On the current market, this house was valued at approximately 3 million Star Coins.
Such a nice house, and her family had lived here for over ten years, yet her mother had never once mentioned that it belonged to Ning Xuan. 'Still,' she thought, 'as long as Ning Xuan is dead, Mom, as Ning Zilan's only sister and Ning Xuan's maternal aunt, has the right to inherit it.'