Chapter 3: Strange Family

After leaving the school grounds, Zoe Pierce finally let her shoulders slump, certain that no one was watching.

She hadn’t expected her very first day back at school to be so dramatic.

It was clear Erin Xavier and their group had a terrible attitude toward her, but Zoe didn’t dare say a word.

After all, her mind was still reeling from what Damien Pierce had told her last night—that he wanted her to seduce them.

That’s why she felt a strange sense of guilt whenever she saw them.

Even now, she could hardly believe that the original host’s brother would actually ask her to do something like that.

That’s right—Zoe Pierce had transmigrated. She had no idea why it happened, only that she had ended up in a world with six genders.

Alpha, Beta, Omega... The world she’d only ever read about in novels was now her reality.

The original host was an Omega, so upon transmigration, she had become a female Omega herself.

Zoe Pierce breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she hadn’t grown any strange new organs. Still, she found it quite a coincidence that she shared the same name: Zoe Pierce.

Moreover, for some unknown reason, ever since this Zoe Pierce had woken up in this body, she had been diagnosed with a pheromone disorder.

The pheromones that every Omega should have were virtually gone from Zoe Pierce’s body. Her pheromones had vanished. While she could still smell the pheromones of Alphas, her glands didn’t react in the slightest.

She used amnesia as an excuse and spent a long time adjusting before she could truly accept that she was in a new world.

At first, she wasn’t sad about it. In her original world, Zoe Pierce had no family to speak of, but here, she had a kind and amiable older brother.

But that idealized image was completely shattered last night.

Damien Pierce’s words from last night had been a harsh slap in the face.

She couldn’t tell whether Damien Pierce was taking his anger about their parents out on her, or if he genuinely intended to sell her off to help the Pierce Family overcome their crisis.

Someone was supposed to pick her up after school, but because of everything that had happened, Zoe Pierce refused the ride. She wanted to walk around a bit and get to know this new world better.

Damien Pierce had been worried, but when he remembered that Zoe currently had no pheromones, he agreed. After all, no one would be driven into a rut by an Omega who lacked pheromones.

Having won herself a moment of freedom, Zoe Pierce rode a hover train. Once she’d had her fill of sightseeing, she picked a stop, got off, and started walking home.

There was a corner up ahead. As if in a trance, Zoe Pierce subconsciously stopped walking.

She heard the screech of sudden brakes as a Hovercar came to a halt. The window rolled down, and an Alpha peered around. Spotting Zoe standing at least three meters away, he frowned. "Strange. She’s so far away. Why did the car stop?"

Zoe Pierce froze for a second. She watched the window roll back up before the Hovercar sped away.

She touched her chest, feeling her heart thumping erratically. A sudden realization struck her. ’That must have been my spiritual power. My spiritual power was warning me.’

’It was subconsciously warning me of danger, telling me to stop.’

’And that Alpha didn’t seem to notice my spiritual power at all.’

Standing to the side, Zoe Pierce couldn’t resist experimenting. When she wrapped herself in her spiritual power, it seemed to diminish her presence. But when she sent it outward, it acted like a second pair of eyes, allowing her to perceive things far in the distance.

She hurried home without stopping.

The Pierce Family estate was located in a villa district. Instead of taking a driverless Hovercar directly to the house, Zoe had it drop her at the entrance and decided to walk the rest of the way.

As she walked, she sent her spiritual power probing ahead.

"Is the old mansion in Oakhaven taken care of?"

It was Damien Pierce’s voice.

"It’s been handled. I guarantee the Young Miss won’t notice anything amiss when she moves in." Zoe didn’t recognize the voice of the person speaking.

Instantly, Zoe Pierce shrouded herself in spiritual power. She found a pillar and hid her slender frame behind it with ease.

Peeking forward, she saw two men standing and talking in the middle of a flower garden.

"Did you find any ledgers?" Damien Pierce asked.

The man shook his head. "No. We’ve already searched the Young Miss’s room and the master and madam’s room."

"Keep searching. Go through the ruins over there, too." Seen from the side, Damien Pierce’s expression was unnervingly grim. "Zoe Pierce mentioned a ledger to me before. We have to find it before she remembers anything."

"Yes," the man answered in a low voice.

Damien Pierce frowned and waved him away. "Alright, you can go. Don’t come here for a while."

After the man left in a Hovercar, Damien Pierce sat alone on a bench in the middle of the garden, lost in thought. After a long moment, he glanced at the time, his brow knitting into a deep frown.

"Mrs. Chambers!" he called out.

A middle-aged woman quickly trotted out of the villa.

Zoe Pierce recognized her. She was the Beta servant who, according to Damien, had taken care of her since she was a child.

"Bring me my Intelligent Brain. Why isn’t the Young Miss back yet?"

A wave of unease washed over Zoe. Watching Mrs. Chambers go to fetch Damien’s Intelligent Brain, she quickly doubled back to the main gate, preparing to act as if she had just arrived.

She had only taken a few steps back when, as expected, she saw Mrs. Chambers hand Damien a button-shaped Intelligent Brain, no bigger than a cherry.

A blue screen materialized in the air. Zoe watched as a yellow dot suddenly appeared on the light blue display, which showed a thumbnail map of the area.

’Damien’s Intelligent Brain is tracking my location!’

Zoe’s face paled. But before Damien could make a move...

Suddenly, a sharp pain, like a needle piercing her skull, shot through her head. She stumbled forward a few steps, her face ashen, and cried out, "Brother."

The next moment, the world spun. A wave of vertigo washed over her, and before she could react, her vision went black as she collapsed heavily onto the ground.

She fell into a strange and vivid dream.

The dreamscape flew by like a fast-forwarding film reel.

It began with her birth. She was wailing, but her eyes weren’t those of a normal newborn.

Everything after that was a blur. She saw a young Damien Pierce’s face, and her parents’ faces as well.

She saw a family of four, all smiles for a photograph. But in the next instant, she and Damien were arguing. Her ears filled with white noise, and she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

An immense pressure, like a great stone, crushed her chest, causing unbearable pain.

When Zoe Pierce awoke, tears were streaming uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.

"Zoe, you’re awake? Why are you crying?"

An anxious voice reached her ears. Zoe looked up blankly, meeting Damien Pierce’s tense expression.

She reached up to wipe her face and saw the back of her hand glistening with tears.

Her chest still ached. With tears still streaming down her face, Zoe said, "I dreamed about Mom and Dad..."

It felt strange. These should have been the original host’s memories, yet she felt a startling sense of familiarity, as if that person in the dream had been her.

A wild thought suddenly struck Zoe Pierce.

’Could it be that I... transmigrated into the womb?’

’Otherwise, why would I have had such a mature expression as a newborn? And why did this dream feel so heart-wrenching?’

’As if they were my real parents.’

’And Damien... is he my real brother, too?’

Damien Pierce’s expression changed in a flash. A scrutinizing look entered his eyes as he lowered his voice. "Zoe... you remember everything now?"