She quickly took off the white blouse that was slipping off her shoulders. The reflection in the mirror showed her own delicate, fair body, making her face flush crimson.

It was a pity that the girl before her eyes was herself; Mo Zhiyuan felt a mix of disappointment and excitement.

She clumsily put on her underwear. She hadn't really wanted to, but her C-cup size left her no choice.

If she didn't... the friction from her earlier movements had already sent waves of stimulation through her, making her legs too weak to stand...

Next, she put on a white-and-blue sundress. She sat on the edge of the bed, rolled the pale blue thigh-high stockings down to the toes, held the edge, lifted her fair leg, slipped her bare foot in, and gently rolled the stocking back up to the top. She repeated the process for the other leg.

Finally, a white garter was fastened above her right knee. Like the finishing touch, it elevated her entire aura to a new level.

The pale blue stockings outlined the soft curves of her legs. The fair skin peeking out between the hem of her skirt and the top of the stockings was elusive yet inviting. Her appearance was innocent and serene, a perfect blend of two contrasting temperaments.

Brighter than the stars.

Mo Zhiyuan stared blankly at herself in the mirror. She didn't even hear Mo Xiaoxiao knock several times from outside the door.

Creeeak...

When there was no answer for a long while, Mo Xiaoxiao opened the door and went in. The moment she saw the person in the room, whose beauty outshone a thousand stars, she couldn't help freezing in surprise.

They say girls can't resist cute things, and Mo Xiaoxiao was no different. She couldn't help swooping in and hugging her soft, squishy older brother.

"Huh?! Xiaoxiao? When did you come in?"

Without meaning to, Mo Zhiyuan had let her thoughts slip out loud again, costing her another thousand yuan. But before she could even regret the loss, embarrassment completely took over her thoughts.

Mo Zhiyuan asked shyly, "Xiaoxiao, what do you think?"

"You look beautiful."

"Mm... yeah..."

Mo Zhiyuan lowered her bright-red face in embarrassment. She clutched her skirt with both hands and squirmed, unable to meet Xiaoxiao's gaze.

Suddenly, Mo Xiaoxiao raised her hands in slow motion and pressed them against her brother's chest. Feeling that endless softness, she nodded calmly.

Looks like Big Brother did put one on. There's still a little room for improvement, though.

Ignoring Mo Zhiyuan, who had gone stiff, she squatted down and placed her hands on Zhiyuan's pale blue-stockinged legs, feeling them carefully.

"Hah?!"

Mo Zhiyuan let out another cute squeak of protest.

Am I... am I being molested by my own daughter?

Xiaoxiao's hands rubbed back and forth between her legs like warm jade carrying an electric current, making her tremble uncontrollably.

Even more, feeling Xiaoxiao's breath against the absolute territory between her skirt and over-knee socks left her flustered and confused.

If Mo Zhiyuan had to say, being touched by someone else was far more stimulating than touching herself.

She'd read online that one's body gets used to its own bioelectricity, but contact with someone else's different bioelectricity creates a vastly different sensitivity, resulting in that electric shock-like sensation.

Fortunately, Xiaoxiao didn't spend much longer checking her legs. She was done in about ten seconds, then turned the flushed Zhiyuan around to face the full-length mirror. The whole atmosphere changed at once.

She looked much more poised.

Xiaoxiao wrote on the piece of cardboard: "Your tights are crooked."

"..."

Mo Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief. So her tights were just crooked. She'd thought Xiaoxiao had some strange idea in mind.

Little did she know, Mo Xiaoxiao's hands were already behind her back, fingers intertwined and rubbing together as if savoring something.

Big Brother's legs... nice!

"Then I'll go out and look for work."

Mo Zhiyuan was about to gather a few things before heading out to look for a job. After all, showing up for an interview empty-handed would double her chances of being rejected—unless the place was desperate and couldn't find anyone else. She didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

But when she picked up the ID card she'd carried around for years out of habit, she couldn't help freezing.

Come to think of it... do I even have a legal identity now?

She'd completely parted ways with her old self, and naturally, she couldn't use that identity anymore.

Her relationships from college, her academic record, her diploma, her work experience... All of it belonged to someone else's life now.

How was she supposed to find a job with a completely blank résumé?

Her fighting spirit kept rising, only for one setback after another to come crashing down. It was hard not to feel discouraged.

This world was way too unfriendly. A smooth road ahead was out of the question; all she could expect was one twist after another.

Mo Zhiyuan sat there in a daze for a long while. For the first time, she felt just how heavy the pressures of life could be.

'Should I take some kind of gray-area job?... No, better not. I doubt that would end well...'

'But who's going to hire me for a legitimate job without an ID?!'

Those were all Mo Zhiyuan's inner thoughts.

One problem after another came to mind, each adding to the crushing weight on her chest.

The first problem was her ID.

Without it, everything became difficult. Naturally, Mo Zhiyuan couldn't get a job without one, either.

It wasn't that Mo Zhiyuan didn't want to apply for a replacement ID. But first, she'd need a household registration. She was undocumented now, and who knew how long it would take to get registered and then obtain a new ID?

Could she just treat it as a few days off?

No, no, no! She was so broke she could hear the coins rattling in her pockets! Taking time off would be the same as waiting to die!

'Maybe I can tell the employer that I lost my ID and have applied for a replacement, then submit the new one later.'

That wasn't a bad idea. Plenty of companies in Country Z accepted that sort of arrangement.

But another problem soon made Mo Zhiyuan's face fall. She opened the system's Host Information panel, and her gaze stopped on the line labeled 'Height.'

She was only 152 cm tall...

In Country Z, now prosperous and full of people enjoying better material lives, being 152 cm tall at seventeen was really, really short. Mo Zhiyuan had seen plenty of first-year high school students over 175 cm tall, and she'd been amazed by them at the time.

And the most fatal problem wasn't her height. It was her young, fresh-faced appearance.

Her face made her look like a slightly more developed middle schooler. Probably no one would believe she was seventeen.

No one would risk being accused of hiring a child just to take on this 'middle schooler.'

Mm... I guess I might get taller later, right?

Mo Zhiyuan stared at the height listed on her status screen, deeply troubled by the issue.

152 cm... three centimeters shorter than her daughter, who was 155 cm. Thinking about how she and her daughter had just interacted, why did it feel like their roles had been reversed?

For some reason, her gaze wandered. She looked farther down, at the parts of the status screen she hadn't checked yet, and what she saw nearly made her explode on the spot.

Because farther down, Mo Zhiyuan found that she had a passive skill, too.

—Passive Skill: Forever Seventeen

Skill Effect: Physical development is permanently fixed at the current stage and will not change under any circumstances (except for bust size, which can be manually developed).

What the hell is this ridiculous thing supposed to be?!

Does this mean I'll never grow any taller?!

And what the hell is 'bust size can be manually developed' supposed to mean?!