"Ding, congratulations to the host for a successful check-in today. Rewards: 10 check-in points, 1,000 copper coins, 10 silver coins, 1 gold coin, 1 Inanition Pill. You are 200 points away from a system upgrade. Please keep up the good work and strive for an early upgrade!"
A familiar electronic voice rang in her ears. Su Ci skillfully opened the system interface and checked her accumulated check-in rewards over the past few days.
The interface showed: Points: 100, Copper: [insufficient display/omitted], Silver: 100, Gold: 10, Inanition Pill: 1.
A single Inanition Pill could keep a person from feeling hungry for an entire day, so Su Ci ate her daily pill every single day.
After swallowing her daily Inanition Pill, Su Ci looked at the numbers on the interface and nodded with satisfaction.
She had already saved up a fair amount of money and points. Just a little longer, and she would be able to upgrade the system. Once upgraded, she could open the system mall and purchase whatever she needed.
As for the mandatory beginner's gift pack typical of system novels, Su Ci had impatiently opened it the moment she received her golden finger.
The beginner's gift pack contained a Marrow Cleansing Pill.
True to its name, it was a pill that cleansed the tendons and marrow. The manual stated that this item could alter Su Ci's innate bone structure, widen her meridians, enhance her comprehension, and completely transform her body, making her much more suited for cultivation.
Doing the math, Su Ci had been in this fictional dynasty named Daxi for ten days now. On the very first day she woke up, she had smoothly unlocked the golden finger sent by Xie Bi'an—the system.
As a seasoned novel reader, Su Ci had read all kinds of transmigration and system novels.
Therefore, the moment she obtained her golden finger, she had been beyond excited, fantasizing about relying on the system to cultivate diligently, slaughtering her way through the world, reaching the pinnacle of life, and perhaps even achieving Shattering the Void to return to her original world.
Regrettably, reality dealt Su Ci a harsh slap to the face, telling her that she was overthinking things.
Aside from the daily check-in button, the system interface only had three buttons: a task button, a mall button, and a message viewer.
The messages section only contained a single notification about the upcoming system upgrade; everything else was completely blank, bare enough to double as a mirror.
What was even more exasperating was that both the task and mall buttons were grayed out and unusable.
Su Ci figured she would probably have to wait until the system upgraded before those two buttons could be unlocked.
Looking at this system, which was practically indistinguishable from a blank slate, Su Ci felt like crying.
Fortunately, the daily check-ins yielded a decent amount of money, and the daily Inanition Pill solved her most pressing emergency, saving her from starving to death.
The existence of the system gave Su Ci a sense of security and the confidence to live a better life.
The body Su Ci had possessed belonged to a young girl who had just breathed her last, having died from a high fever.
After absorbing the original owner's memories, she discovered that the girl was only twelve years old, both of her parents had passed away, and her entire fortune amounted to a mere one liang of silver and fifty copper coins.
The only comforting thought Su Ci had was that the original owner's father had left her a house, sparing her from sleeping on the streets the moment she arrived.
The original owner's father had been a highly skilled physician, and her mother was the daughter of a scholar. After getting married, the couple had always been deeply in love, and before long, they had the original owner.
Following her birth, her parents cherished her like a precious pearl, and the family of three lived a happy and fulfilling life.
However, unpredictable weather hits the skies without warning. When the original owner was six years old, her mother fell ill. The sickness lingered on and off for a whole year with no sign of recovery.
Shortly after the original owner celebrated her seventh birthday, her mother's condition suddenly worsened, and before long, she left, abandoning the father and daughter behind.
Her mother's death dealt a devastating blow to the original owner's father, and he fell bedridden. If the original owner hadn't been so young at the time, her father probably would have followed her mother.
Fortunately, unable to let go of his daughter, the original owner's father forced himself to hold on, narrowly preventing the young girl from becoming a complete orphan at such a tender age.
From then on, however, the house lost its former laughter and joy.
The original owner's father devoted all his time to teaching her, imparting medical skills so she would have a means to stand on her own feet in the world.
Fortunately, the original owner was talented and learned quite well, which brought her father a great deal of comfort.
The father and daughter depended on each other, and the days passed blandly like this for five years.
If life could have continued like this forever, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Unfortunately, fate loves to play jokes.
Last month, while the original owner's father was out on a house call, he was caught in the crossfire of a battle between two pugilists. He sustained severe internal injuries and collapsed the moment he reached home. Before dawn the next day, he passed away.
With the help of her neighbors, the original owner forced back her grief to handle the funeral, but that very night, she developed a high fever and lost her life.
When she woke up again, her soul had been replaced by Su Ci.
Su Ci had once considered avenging Father Su to repay the little girl's kindness.
Regrettably, the little girl's memories did not retain the appearance of the culprits. Their names, what they looked like, which martial arts sect they belonged to—none of it was known. There were no surveillance cameras in this era, so even if Su Ci wanted to help exact revenge, she couldn't find the enemies.
The only thing she could do was properly observe the mourning period for the little girl.
Therefore, for these past ten days, Su Ci could only stay at home, sorting through the original owner's memories while adapting to her new life.
Fortunately, backed by the original owner's memories and kind neighbors who were willing to look out for her out of respect for her father, Su Ci adapted to her new life quite well.
However, the most crucial thing for Su Ci at present was to acquire the ability to protect herself. Otherwise, a twelve-year-old orphan living alone would easily become a target for people with malicious intentions.
Not only would she fail to keep the house, but she herself would likely come to harm.
On top of that, she needed to make money. Although the system check-ins provided a fair amount of cash every day, this was hardly a long-term solution; who knew when these perks might disappear?
To live well in this unfamiliar era, money was absolutely essential, so figuring out how to make a living was a problem that needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
Furthermore, Su Ci had not forgotten that she was supposed to have transmigrated into an immortal cultivation world. Yet, in the original owner's memories, there were no legends of cultivators, nor had she ever heard of immortal cultivation; immortals were merely the stuff of storybooks.
This gave Su Ci a bad premonition. If the place where the original owner lived wasn't simply too remote for anyone to know such information, then there was a high possibility that she had transmigrated to the wrong world.
Based on the intelligence and observations she had gathered over the past few days, the latter possibility was quite significant.
Regardless of the situation, Su Ci had to gather more information, deepen her understanding of this world, and figure out exactly what kind of world she was in, so she wouldn't remain completely in the dark.
Having sorted out her thoughts, Su Ci began to plan her future life.
She decided to first check whether her late father's medical clinic could still be operated. If not, she would have to look for another way out.
Guided by her memories, Su Ci arrived at the clinic and found that everything inside was complete, save for a thick layer of dust coating the tables, chairs, and benches.
She carefully inspected the clinic and discovered that the medicinal herbs and tools were all in order; they simply required some cleaning and tidying up. This realization greatly reassured her.
After the inspection, Su Ci rolled up her sleeves, started cleaning, organized the herbs, and prepared to reopen for business.
After a bout of hard work, the clinic finally took on a completely new look.
Su Ci dusted off her hands, stood at the entrance, looked at the fruits of her labor, and felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
Glancing up at the sky, she realized it was getting late. She decided to go home, get a good rest, and officially open for business tomorrow.
That night, Su Ci went to bed early to build up her energy and prepare to dive into work tomorrow.