The universe is vast, and the nebulae are brilliant.
How many times had she led the sons and daughters of Xia Country into battle?
Tang Ning could no longer remember. She only knew that facing the invading enemy, all she had to do was attack, and attack again!
Standing inside the massive transparent command module, she looked outward. Her army had completely gained the upper hand, and the enemy warships were blown to pieces, blooming like magnificent fireworks across space.
The war was coming to an end, and it was time for her to retire.
Just as Tang Ning was about to withdraw her gaze to deploy post-war tasks, the console sounded an alarm. The enemy's main warship had launched a suicide attack!
The collision was unavoidable. Inside the command module, besides Tang Ning, were the reserve forces she had personally cultivated and trained.
These young people possessed extraordinary ability, knowledge, and military acumen. Most importantly, they each harbored an unwavering, passionate, and pure patriotic heart. They were Tang Ning's successors and the hope for the entire Huaxia in future battles against foreign enemies.
Tang Ning decisively disconnected the command module, piloted the warship, and perished together with the enemy.
A colossal, breathtaking explosion of fireworks bloomed in space. A generation's God of War had fallen, amidst the heartbreak of countless people, seemingly celebrating the ultimate victory of the war.
[Bip—Long Live Love System activated!]
Love... system?
Tang Ning had witnessed quite a few systems, but they were all auxiliary products from the R&D center—designed for combat training or learning. Was love—an illusion caused by human hormone secretions—even worthy of having a system specially developed for it?
[The host must use romance to conquer men...]
What on earth?
Use that illusory, ethereal illusion to conquer others?
In Tang Ning's worldview, there were no longer so-called men and women; only the strong survived.
This bullshit system was still talking, but Tang Ning could no longer hear it. She lost consciousness.
...
"Guilan, your eldest girl is truly thriving! She's wealthy, filial, and went out of her way to get a wife for her younger brother. Who in the village isn't green with envy right now?"
"Haha, thank you, Auntie. Today is Goudan's big day, so you'll have to stay and drink a couple of extra cups later."
"That's for sure. But what are you planning to do with that little daughter-in-law?"
"Hah, what's there to worry about? A couple of days of discipline and she'll fall right in line."
Regaining consciousness, Tang Ning heard the commotion outside, the conversation between the two women ringing out with absolute clarity.
Not far away, there were sounds of people congratulating and bantering with one another, seemingly busy with some joyous occasion.
Strange pain wracked her body, and the surroundings were filled with a bone-chilling cold and a faint, stale stench. Memories that did not belong to her flooded into Tang Ning's mind.
In Group 1, Zhujia Village, Daxing County, Guangshan City, Henan Province, Tang Niuniu had been sensible and hardworking since childhood. Though she was a girl, she put her back into every chore, growing up dark and thin until she was fourteen.
That was the year Tang Mother became pregnant, and it was also the year the natural disasters began.
By the time her parents' long-awaited younger brother was born, the family had run out of food, and Tang Mother had no milk to feed him during her postpartum month. Tang Niuniu tried every possible method, running out to the barren hills behind the village before dawn every single day, dragging back anything edible to give to Tang Mother.
In the freezing cold, Tang Niuniu smashed the ice by the river to wash her baby brother's cloth diapers.
The unbearable stench of infant meconium made one want to retch, yet Tang Niuniu never uttered a single complaint. Her ten fingers had frozen into the shape of rotting radishes. Which of the old women in Zhujia Village didn't praise Tang Family's eldest girl for being capable and filial?
Tang Niuniu's happiest moment was when she was lucky enough to find a nest of bird eggs, cradling them all the way home and earning a rare smile from Tang Mother, who was usually indifferent toward her.
"Our Niuniu is truly a good sister. Tianbao will depend entirely on a sister like you in the future."
Tang Mother even stroked her hair. That was the warmest memory Tang Niuniu possessed.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Tang Mother finished her postpartum month, the Zhujia family came to the Tang household to demand a person.
The Zhujia family had a foolish son named Goudan. Over twenty years old, he still drooled and ran around bare-bottomed. The children in the village all called him Da Shazhu. Da Shazhu had an older sister married into the city, making the Zhujia family the only household in the village without a food shortage.
Tang Niuniu was bought by the Zhujia family for half a sack of grain, assigned to be Da Shazhu's wife.
Tang Niuniu resisted fiercely, so Li Guilan—Da Shazhu's mother—gagged her, tied her up, and threw her into the woodshed. At this moment, the wedding celebration was underway outside.
With the New Year approaching, Li Guilan had even entrusted her married daughter to procure some meat, making the wedding celebration lively indeed.
Tang Ning opened her eyes and looked at everything before her. The cotton-padded jacket she wore was tattered and worn, exposing blackened cotton wadding. Although she didn't know why she had ended up here, or whether this had anything to do with that bullshit system before she lost consciousness, Tang Ning felt no panic.
She waited quietly until the sky gradually darkened.
"Bang!"
The two wooden panels of the door were kicked open, and a bulky, robust man walked inside. He wore a brand-new set of clothes, but drool still leaked from his mouth, leaving a wet patch beneath his chin.
"Wife... want a wife."
He opened his mouth, the gaps in his teeth still holding remnants of the meat he had just gnawed on, and a foul odor rushed toward Tang Ning.
Although Goudan was an idiot, his body had reached physical maturity. He had sneaked peeks at other families in the village taking brides and knew that he had also taken a wife, so naturally, he was overjoyed.
Li Guilan followed closely behind her son. "Goudan, this is the wife your mother got for you," she said, looking over at Tang Family's eldest girl. The girl was sitting quietly, which must mean she was scared; Li Guilan felt satisfied in her heart. This was a wife she had carefully selected—a master at doing hard labor, the only kind of person who could properly wait on her son.
"Niuniu, from now on, live a good life with Goudan. You must be hungry, but once the bridal chamber rituals are done, Mother will bring you some meat to eat!"
As Li Guilan spoke, she went to untie the ropes binding Tang Niuniu. They were going back into the house for the bridal chamber ritual; keeping her tied up looked unsightly.
Tang Niuniu said nothing, so Li Guilan assumed she had resigned herself to her fate.
In times like these, having food so you wouldn't starve to death—what else was there to think about?
The moment Da Shazhu heard the words "bridal chamber," he immediately recalled scenes he had previously peeked at. He couldn't wait to return to the house, nor did he care whether his mother was watching. Lacking any concept of shame whatsoever, he lunged straight onto Tang Ning's body and began rubbing against her.
"Bridal chamber! Bridal chamber!"
Like an animal in heat, he shook with trembling, burning excitement, writhing incessantly.
The villagers lingering outside to watch the commotion had not yet dispersed. A fool taking a bride, and a bought one at that—now *that* was quite a spectacle to watch.
"Oh my, the fool is entering the bridal chamber with his wife!"
"Da Shazhu isn't so stupid after all; he even knows how to use that..."
"The fool drools the moment he sees a woman; I bet he's been bursting for it. I wonder if Tang Niuniu can take it."
Anxious, Li Guilan slapped her son a couple of times. "What's the rush with you? Get back inside the house! In a moment, Mother will send your wife right to your room!"
Just as her voice trailed off, a blood-curdling howl burst from her son's mouth.
The villagers watching the commotion assumed the fool had succeeded and crowded closer, blocking the doorway of the woodshed so tightly not even a drop of water could leak through.
They saw the fool screaming in agony, clutching his ear as he tried to bolt outside. But the doorway was blocked, and in his blinding pain, he leaped up and down, smashing his head against the door.
Tang Ning, who had been lying on the floor like a pile of tattered cotton, stood up, a chunk of flesh clenched between her teeth.
Bright red blood streamed down the corners of her mouth.