High Above

   Chapter 1 Ian

  The wind and rain in Harrison Port are unpredictable, as is always the case in cities located in tropical regions, the sky is still clear in the morning, and it rains in the afternoon.

  By contrast, so are the people in Port Harrison. Before falling asleep, Ian was just a smart and quick-witted child, but when he woke up, Ian was already a reincarnated person who solved the mystery in the fetus and retrieved the memory of his previous life.

   "My head hurts..."

  Ian opened his eyes on the half-new and old crude wooden bed, his blue pupils were scattered and dazed, but soon focused on the moldy wooden beams in front of him.

  The July sun should have been bright, but it was blocked by a thick curtain. The room was cramped and the air was stale.

  As soon as he took a breath, there was a sharp pain coming from the depths of his head, which caused tinnitus, and the slightly fishy air along the coast, mixed with the smell of rotting wood and slowly rotting, poured into his nostrils.

  It feels like a person with motion sickness sitting on a four-hour long-distance ride, while the next seat is a middle-aged aunt who is covered in inferior perfume and has severe body odor, chattering to her ears.

  Intense stimulation came from the depths of the brain at the same time as the sensory nerves, and an unbearable nausea surged into the throat.

  Ian wanted to vomit, but there was nothing in his belly, not even acid water. The chapped lips and dry eyeballs all prove that he has not eaten or watered for a long time, and the weak limbs and torso indicate that the situation is very dangerous, and his body is on the verge of danger.

   But I have to get up now.

  —Food is okay. If you don’t drink water, your body will completely lose its ability to move. At that time, if there is no help, you may really die.

  Ian struggled to prop up his body from the bed.

  The child's slender wrist made him feel extremely uncomfortable, and the pale to somewhat sickly skin made him feel even more uneasy.

At this moment, he keenly sensed that besides the dizziness caused by thirst, the pain in his head was actually more caused by trauma. There was a bandage on his head, and the dried blood scab covered the wound, and he felt a drowsy shock feeling. It is from that origin.

   "Interesting, I was kidnapped and beat Sap?"

  Just woke up, a little confused about the situation, Ian murmured in his heart: "No, it's not as efficient as it is to hack the auxiliary engineering AI."

  His occupation is an aerospace engineer at the Vacuum Propulsion Research Center affiliated to East Asia Heavy Industries. He is responsible for the commissioning and maintenance of the third East Asia moon development rocket.

   In other words, it’s just a shipboard tool man.

  When there is an auxiliary maintenance AI, it is generally not necessary for him to actually maintain it, and the importance is even lower than that of the water dispenser. Usually, I often tease each other with my colleagues and just make up for it.

   But going into space is a dream for Ian, who has been very curious since he was a child and yearns for the stars and the sea.

  A water dispenser is a water dispenser, who cares!

  While performing routine inspections on the nozzle, Ian was still thinking about whether he would have the opportunity to work in the Seventh Space Machinery Industry Department on Mars after his advanced studies at the moon base.

  The first light-speed spacecraft in human history is being built there. If you can participate in it, you will really live up to your life.

   And here he wakes up.

   "No, I was reincarnated a long time ago... I just remembered it now."

  Raise your hand and gently press around the wound on your head.

   After Ian confirmed that the wound was not suppurative and swollen, he couldn't help frowning slightly: "The child's brain can't bear my memory, so I can only recover it bit by bit in the form of dreams and inspiration as I get older."

   "It wasn't until I got such a blow on the head that I remembered everything."

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the memories flowing in his mind.

  —birth.

  The father who was buried in a shipwreck and never met.

  My kind and hardworking mother who died young due to illness.

  The young brother and the indifferent stepfather who abandoned his wife and son.

  Like a devil, a terrifying and hateful uncle.

   And finally, the slap in the face of my uncle that reminded me of everything, the unforgettable pain.

   Followed by a soft sigh.

  “Eight years are really like a dream.”

  Ian opened his eyes. In the darkness, a pair of crystal blue eyes shone like gems.

  The boy whispered calmly: "But I'm already awake."

  For the reincarnation, the most difficult thing is actually to accept the past memory. The experience of two lives is like a turbulent torrent, and the weak brain of a child cannot bear it at all.

  But probably because of Ian's physical talent in this life, his brain at the age of eight can withstand his two lives, at most, the wound on his head hurts a bit.

  The stick was really hard, and now Ian's head is a little dizzy, obviously a slight concussion.

   "Terra Continent, Empire, Port Harrison. White People, Psionics, Natives and Immigrants—Another World or Another Planet? I'm guessing Another World."

Calmly reviewing his current situation and extracting key words from his memory, Ian let out a deep breath, but sighing was useless anyway, he laughed instead: "An orphan from another world, a child abuser The half-crazy uncle, it’s a **** of a start.”

   "It doesn't matter, the problems that need to be solved one after another, so that it is interesting."

   With such a smile, something went wrong. The corners of his chapped mouth were pulled, and the pain made Ian frown.

  He got out of bed and controlled his weak body to slowly move forward in the narrow and dark room. Relying on his memory, Ian found the water storage bucket next to the stone trough by the window.

   After taking a big gulp, he was moistened with water, and he felt faster thinking.

  It is the morning at this moment, most people are working, uncle is no exception, it is estimated that he will not come back until the evening.

  Ian lifted the curtain, the light outside the window was bright, and no one was walking at the entrance of the street.

  The surrounding buildings are built of gray-white stones, which are rough and solid. The walls are covered with white vines and creeper leaves, and the rocks under the leaves have been cracked and full of vicissitudes under the sea wind for many years.

  Following the road, you can clearly see a blue sea in the distance, with fishing boats going back and forth, a scene of a classical coastal port town.

   "The scenery is really nice."

  Ian withdrew his gaze from the window, lowered his head, saw his own appearance from the reflection in the water, and said in a surprised tone, "But I actually look better."

Judging from the appearance, even if Ian has a blackened bandage wrapped around his head, he can be called very good-looking, even beyond his gender. The white-haired and blue-eyed boy is still immature, but it is enough to see The future is handsome and delicate.

   "It's already very good, and the average adjuster doesn't have this level."

  Ian, who is used to seeing handsome men and beautiful women, can't help nodding. Although his appearance in this life is clean and cute, he can be regarded as very good in the environment of genetic modification per capita in the previous life, but the obvious malnutrition and fatigue make him look extremely haggard.

   And looking carefully, rolled up the cuffs to find that there are many wounds on the boy's white arm, new and old superimposed, it is not clear at all.

   "My uncle is really good at it, I am a child under ten years old now!"

  Ian frowned slightly, he turned his head sideways, pulled off his collar a bit, and could see a blue-purple pinch mark on his neck above his collarbone.

  He had the memory of his uncle choking him and throwing himself to the ground forcefully, and the brutal beating was only because Ian didn't clean the house before he went home.

  —No one can clean it up. This dilapidated house is starting to rot. Unless it is demolished and rebuilt, there will always be that rancid smell!

  He complained in his heart that the boy's hair was a bit long, covering the scars. Ian pushed his hair back, feeling that his neck had finally cooled down, and he could clearly see the size of the bluish-purple marks.

   "Well, this strength... Uncle Cheap really wanted to kill me at that time?"

  He stared at the water with deep eyes, while his hand was placed on the collarbone, sliding sideways all the way down.

  Pain came all the way.

  Although it was covered by clothes, the boy's thin body and slender waist were covered with bruises and whip marks of different shades.

Every time I stroked a wound, the corresponding memory played back in Ian's mind - he was beaten for being late for buying wine, he was beaten for stuttering, he was beaten for holding a hatchet with his left hand, he was beaten for stepping into the door with his right foot first …

  Although the wound on the head is the most serious, it is clear that the boy's daily life is not very good, even being beaten is a daily routine.

"what…"

  Finally, with his hands on his lower abdomen, Ian suddenly turned pale and took a breath.

  The severe pain made him sweat coldly.

   There was a burst of hunger, mixed with tearing pain from overuse in the waist and abdomen... This was obviously the result of working too long without getting a rest, left behind by hidden injuries.

   "It's really a crime." Ian complained softly, wiped the cold sweat off his head, and Ian smiled instead of annoyance.

  Abusing and oppressing, beating and scolding for no reason, even mutilation—if he hadn't woken up by himself, maybe Ian really couldn't sleep, and fell into a long sleep.

-only.

   If that's all, it's nothing.

  He's still alive, isn't he?

  Although Ian was an engineer in his previous life, he didn’t fail his history. Combining the memories of the eight years in this life, in this different world, which is probably around the time of industrialization, there are countless children who have experienced similar experiences.

  Even if it's not Harrison Port, which place's apprentices are not treated like this? Since they have lost their parents and are dependent on others, they should suffer. At least the uncle gave the two brothers a bite to eat.

   You know, among those child laborers who entered factories in the pre-industrial era, God knows how many of them survived—the family rules of Bai Zhimin’s blood relatives really helped a lot. If the uncle was not a lunatic, the two brothers could really grow up safely.

  The biggest problem is still my cheap uncle.

  He is a real scumbag.

The child Ian may not understand, but according to his memory, Ian can be sure that the lame man is an underground informant of the local aborigines, or a tool man who has been manipulated, and is keen to smoke a kind of black mushroom native to the Bison Mountains Extract.

  This kind of addictive natural chemical substance understands everything. People who are addicted to it are crazy, and they cannot be treated as human beings, they are animals.

  Therefore, for a few days every month, his uncle, who is keen to find trouble and beat him, would huddle in his room and **** mushrooms, enjoying the drunken life and dreaming. It was one of the few times Ian could take a breather in the past.

  In the past, in order to **** mushrooms, the man had no money left, and often had to borrow money from Ian's parents.

After Ian's parents passed away for some reason, he had to adopt the two brothers because of the blood relationship and the custom of "blood relatives are the most important" among the white people. .

  The people of the tribe watched, he couldn't get rid of this responsibility, plus some personal reasons, so this man always angrily violent to Brother Ian to vent his resentment.

   "Who can bear this!"

   Recalling this point, Ian couldn't help complaining.

  Before he recovered his memory, Ian, who was only a child, couldn't stand this kind of beating and scolding for no reason at all, and was afraid of his own death.

  The boy even secretly hid a thaler coin in the corner, looking for a chance to escape.

  Although it is a bit naive, it is also a kind of choice and courage.

  Switched to the current Ian, I am afraid that he will make a similar move, at most it will be more perfect.

  An idiot would want to live under the same roof as this lunatic!

   It's just that the real highlight is not these.

  As he pondered, Ian recalled some more important sporadic fragments from his memory.

   "Good guy."

   Frowning, Ian couldn't help straightening up, and he looked at the room on the other side.

   That was the room of my two-year-old brother.

  Even if he is being abused, Ian can still smile indifferently—a person is so low-quality that he will be violent to a child, what else can he do? Can only obey him, because he has terminal cancer.

   If you are not in a hurry, collect evidence and report it to the elders in the clan or the city guards. If the situation is critical, you can run away by yourself. Anyway, if my uncle wants to smoke mushrooms, there will always be time for him to prepare.

  He is not a real child. He is just a violent child abuser in two lives. There are many ways to deal with it, so naturally it doesn't matter.

but now.

   "Indigenous...trading...young children...blood sacrifice...sacrifice?!"

  Ian recalled many details, and his tone was filled with anger for the first time: "Sacrificing children?!"

  (end of this chapter)