The pain felt like a thousand ants gnawing at him; even though it had persisted for a long time, he still couldn’t numb it. But the most painful part wasn’t the battered body, but rather the fragile heart that had just been dealt a fatal blow by the one he loved most.

“Move faster! Is the blood bag here yet? If the person is dead, the blood won’t be fresh anymore!”

A familiar voice urged impatiently, and immediately someone answered eagerly, “Coming, coming! Marshal, the blood bag is here!”

A cold, sharp object pressed against the weakly pulsing artery in his neck, and his eyes had long since gone blind from the spreading toxin. Even so, he still widened his eyes, filled with bitter pain and unwillingness, and fixed his gaze on the man he had been married to for five years.

“Do it.”

The voice, stripped of pretense, was as cold as ice. A sharp pain surged through his neck as a decisive cut sliced open the artery, a hard, thick tube brutally breaking through the skin and being shoved into the fresh wound.

He could even hear the sound of blood gushing out through the tube from within his creaking, broken body.

“Rest assured, Ji Xuanran. Isn’t your wish to help me advance?” The devilish voice finally came closer, condescendingly. “With your blood that has neutralized the toxin, I can successfully advance to the ninth level.”

The man’s voice was filled with mockery.

“Consider it your last bit of usefulness, you waste.”

“Hah… Hah…”

The word “waste” fell heavily, and fresh blood surged into his trachea, choking out intermittent, unwilling gasps.

The darkness that had lingered for so long was forced to reveal a blood-red hue, yet Ji Xuanran couldn’t even utter a final word of hatred.

The feeling of life slowly ebbing away was clearer than the pain, fear entwined with anger and unwillingness, tightly gripping his throat. Death mercilessly pulled at him, dragging him into an endless abyss…

【Ding——!!】

The amplified end notification sound crashed into his ears, causing Shi Jingxian to frown slightly and reach out to lower the volume.

Blood, anger, and noise all faded away, leaving only a clean, soft white light in front of him. Soothing music began to play around him, and a warm, sweet-scented breeze wafted towards him, slowly dispelling the chill that had risen from the depths of his heart.

This was the calming mode specially designed for restorers by the system—warm, pleasant, and safe. However, even with such a humane system, the overly realistic feeling of death often left deep shadows in the minds of restorers. Most restorers needed some time to recover before they could undertake their tasks after viewing the original host’s experiences from a first-person perspective.

But as a restorer who had already obtained the qualification for difficult-level series tasks, Shi Jingxian did not belong to that majority.

His long fingers moved from his ear to his forehead, and with a gentle tap of his fair fingertips on the frame of his glasses, the single-frame glasses perched on his right ear immediately lit up, displaying a large amount of flowing and changing data on the ice-blue transparent lenses.

Once the data gradually stabilized, a mechanical notification sound rang out—

【Task plot viewing completed. Restorer aa010 emotional fluctuation level detection result: 0, below the critical value of 6. Detection result: Task can be executed.】

【Would you like to start execution?】

“Start.”

Shi Jingxian’s tone was slightly cold, his voice as calm and unruffled as the mechanical sound.

【Please note, this task is Ω1 series task number 1. Task content: Fulfill the original host’s long-cherished wish and restore the collapsed consciousness.】

【The system reminds you again, the average difficulty level of this series of tasks: A-level, classified as difficult. Upon successful completion, experience point reward multiplier: double; upon failure, experience penalty multiplier: double.】

【Please confirm if this task is the target selected by the restorer.】

“Confirm.”

With a light “ding,” a semi-transparent balance slowly appeared in front of Shi Jingxian. On the left tray of the balance was a light orb, while the right tray displayed three lines of text—

【Ω1 series task number 1】
【Location: fi732 star system, planet number 14】
【Original experience points: 1230】

One thousand two? Shi Jingxian glanced at the experience points and confirmed that it was indeed a difficult-level series task, with the first task being an S-level.

As the balance rose to a suitable height, the light orb on the left began to slowly expand. Shi Jingxian closed his eyes, and under the illumination of golden light, his cold and exquisite features became even more handsome and flawless.

The expanding light orb engulfed everything, and a faint feeling of floating and descending came over him. Afterward, the light gradually weakened and dispersed. The surroundings became clear again, and when Shi Jingxian came to his senses, he found himself standing in a magnificent, empty corridor.

Beneath his feet was a soft and luxurious long-haired carpet, and he was dressed in a formal outfit with the top button fastened. Shi Jingxian lowered his eyes to look at his empty palms, confirming that he had taken over another person’s body.

The owner of this body was named Ji Xuanran, a young pharmacist adopted by the royal family of Country A. Although he had never known who his biological parents were, Ji Xuanran was exceptionally talented, had a calm personality, and never caused trouble, so during his more than ten years growing up in the royal family, he had not been treated too harshly.

Coupled with his diligence, which was as famous as his talent, a teacher had predicted early on that Ji Xuanran would become an outstanding high-level pharmacist in the future.

If he hadn’t met Yuan Xia, Ji Xuanran could indeed have become one of the extremely rare and highly respected high-level pharmacists among ability users.

Yuan Xia was Ji Xuanran’s partner, and their marriage had a rather convoluted origin, but their life together after marriage was relatively harmonious. The usually reserved Ji Xuanran gradually opened his heart in his interactions with Yuan Xia, who also publicly rejected the beautiful women gifted by the king at the celebration banquet, saying that he only needed Ji Xuanran.

Their love was evident to all, and within Country A, this matter became a beautiful story. Although Yuan Xia’s parents were always concerned about Ji Xuanran’s inability to bear children as a man, Ji Xuanran maintained a positive attitude towards their relationship.

Until he met the prince of the Core Country, Lan Luohai.

When Ji Xuanran first saw Lan Luohai, his initial reaction was surprise. Once he regained his composure, he instinctively looked at Yuan Xia beside him. In the eyes of this familiar man, he saw an unfamiliar heat, brightness, and affection.

That was a love that had never been directed at Ji Xuanran before—despite Ji Xuanran’s appearance being six parts similar to Lan Luohai.

Ji Xuanran had never thought that his partner of five years would have feelings for someone else, and when faced with a choice, Yuan Xia’s answer came without any hesitation.

—From the beginning to the end, Ji Xuanran was merely a disposable substitute.

At the invitation of the Core Country, Yuan Xia, as an ability user, went with Lan Luohai and others to eliminate the invading裂齿果, and Ji Xuanran, as Yuan Xia’s exclusive pharmacist, accompanied them as well. Although Yuan Xia had gained fame for repelling the invading裂齿果 in Country A, the opponents they faced this time were evidently much stronger. Even with all their efforts, they could only temporarily drive the裂齿果 away.

Including the three of them, the vast majority of the team members were poisoned by the裂齿果, with the leader, Yuan Xia, being the first to suffer, as the excessive toxins nearly took his life on the spot. Fortunately, Ji Xuanran, who was also poisoned, unexpectedly awakened an extremely rare healing ability under the toxin’s stimulation. However, when he tried to heal Yuan Xia, the latter stopped him.

“First heal… Prince Lan.”

Yuan Xia’s voice was weak, but his tone was not to be refused.

Ji Xuanran’s healing ability had just awakened, and he was also covered in injuries; being able to clear Yuan Xia’s toxins was already his limit. However, under Yuan Xia’s insistence, he had no choice but to heal Lan Luohai first.

After exhausting all his strength to save Yuan Xia’s life, Ji Xuanran didn’t even have time to clear his own poison before he fell unconscious. When he woke up again, the consequences of overextending his abilities immediately became apparent.

—Ji Xuanran not only lost his hard-earned healing ability but also, due to the toxin’s contamination, lost his ability to create potions.

What could a pharmacist who had lost the ability to make potions do?

While Yuan Xia and his beloved Lan Luohai once again fought side by side against the裂齿果, Ji Xuanran had already been sent back to Country A, where he was met not with comfort and solace, but with the royal family’s accusations and Yuan Xia’s parents’ curses.

In the end, Yuan Xia successfully eliminated the裂齿果 in the Core Country, while Ji Xuanran was intentionally bitten by a裂齿果 released in Country A. He struggled among the裂齿果 for a day and a night until he heard that familiar male voice he dared not hope for yet longed for deeply—

Yuan Xia really came back, but Ji Xuanran did not expect that the reason he rushed back to Country A without rest was not to save him, but to drain the toxin-contaminated blood from his body before he died, as a means to aid in his ability advancement.

Ji Xuanran did not die in the vicious裂齿果, but under the sharp blade of his lover’s dagger.

No wonder this task had over a thousand original experience points.

The experience value was related to the mental trauma suffered by the original host; the larger the value, the more reward points could be obtained, but correspondingly, the difficulty of restoration increased.

As a rule, such S-level tasks would not leave much time for restorers to adapt. Shi Jingxian did not delay further; the urgent task at hand was to understand the original host’s current situation.

However, before he could walk too far down the empty corridor, Shi Jingxian heard a strange notification sound.

【Ding——!】
【Dear master, hello!】

Unlike the previous mechanical voice of the system, this was a sweet, charming, doll-like voice that sounded cute and soft, making one involuntarily feel fondness.

Shi Jingxian frowned.

Here we go again.

【Welcome to the Life Restoration System, I am delighted to serve you~ I am your personal system steward, AI Cupid…】

With a light “ding,” the soft, cute voice abruptly stopped.

Expressionless, Shi Jingxian turned off the AI and then brought up a light screen that only he could see, shutting down all other functional areas of the system, leaving only the initial task panel and system backpack.

Every restorer participating in task execution would be assigned a personal AI to accompany them throughout the task. The AI’s upgrade speed was related to the restorer’s task completion status. Due to his excellent performance, Shi Jingxian’s AI had already evolved from a mechanical voice to a more humanized prompt sound.

However, no matter how it evolved, Shi Jingxian had never used this thing. Every time he started a new task, he would first turn off the AI and the system’s redundant functions.

Looking at the once-complex light screen now reduced to an empty task progress bar and a few scattered backpack slots, Shi Jingxian put away the light screen and began to survey his surroundings.

There were no other people passing through the corridor for the time being, and the air was filled with the scent of expensive incense. Shi Jingxian scanned the area and quickly recognized his location by comparing it with the original host’s memories.

This was the royal palace of Country A. If he went forward and turned a few more corridors, he would reach the palace’s largest banquet hall.

However, since Ji Xuanran was adopted by the royal family, even if he wasn’t particularly favored, he had spent a considerable amount of time in the palace. It was somewhat difficult to determine the exact time point based solely on the surrounding environment.

Based on past task experiences, the time point he entered should always be before the severe harm occurred…

As Shi Jingxian walked, he had just rounded a corridor when he heard a sharp voice coming from not far behind him.

“Where is Ji Xuanran? Where is he? Take me to find him! Hurry up! If I miss the banquet, I’ll make sure to tell my aunt!”

Shi Jingxian narrowed his eyes. A banquet, and that spoiled female voice…

He knew exactly what time it was now.