And... their daughter was there too.
I remember it clearly; I was glaring at him. I asked him why he didn't fight back, why he didn't dodge.
Blood was streaming from his mouth, and he smiled bitterly as he told me, "I failed! That path was a dead end. And I lost everything because of it."
At the time, I didn't understand what those words meant, but many years later, I finally understood!
That guy left in pain, and we never saw each other again after that day. I returned to the service center headquarters many times afterward, but I never saw him again. I heard that he later moved away from Home Island and lived somewhere else. For all those years, until I eventually left the service center, I never encountered him again.
Their daughter told me she didn't want to go back to the island. She wanted to inherit her mother's watch shop. I naturally wouldn't refuse that request; in my opinion, she shouldn't go back to that jerk. My only concern was that he might come back and forcibly take her away.
However, after he left injured that time, he never returned. I stayed with that little girl and started helping her run the watch shop. Although she was only twelve years old, she was extremely intelligent and knew everything. Possessing inherited abilities, she had mastered all of her parents' abilities, including that bastard's time-manipulation ability!
For many years afterward, I treated her like my own daughter. Even after she grew up, she always called me "uncle." Eventually, she found her own love, started a family, and had children... Her husband was an ordinary person, but soon, we were surprised to discover that her daughter had inherited the same abilities! The child was born with many abilities! She was almost a carbon copy of her mother!
At that time, I understood something: the ability to inherit superpowers can be hereditary! This ability first appeared in Mingyue's daughter, and then it will be passed down to her descendants! Mingyue's daughter gave birth to another daughter, and we named her Nianyue, in memory of her grandmother, the woman I once loved.
But a new problem arose!
Right after Xiao Nianyue was born, her mother, Mingyue's daughter, suddenly lost her superpowers! Although she didn't lose her knowledge, the time-manipulation ability she had copied from her father completely disappeared!
It was as if all these superpowers had been transferred to Xiao Nianyue in an instant!
Aside from her vast knowledge, she became almost an ordinary person.
When Xiao Nianyue was fourteen, China entered a turbulent and war-torn era that would last for more than half a century. I had no choice but to take her family and leave China, bringing them to North America.
Unfortunately, the couple later died in a car accident while traveling on a long trip.
Later, I had to go back and leave North America with Xiao Nianyue. She was still too young, and I was worried about leaving her alone. Coincidentally, I had some business to attend to on Home Island, so I took her there. And then... she met a man on the island. That man was a superhuman who could shapeshift.
What followed was just like it had happened years ago: the two met, fell in love… From beginning to end, I stood by Xiao Nianyue like a father. Actually… if you consider my relationship with Mingyue, I could almost be considered her grandfather; if you consider our actual ages, I'm probably even older…
Xiao Nianyue later had another child, this time a daughter. And then, just like when she was born many years ago! After the child was born, it seemed as if Xiao Nianyue's time-manipulation ability was immediately taken away, and Xiao Nianyue became an ordinary person.
However, because Nianyue's husband possessed shapeshifting abilities, their child was born with two powers: time travel and shapeshifting!
Old Tian looked very tired.
“I accompanied Xiao Nianyue’s daughter through her remarriage and childbirth... but things didn’t turn out as happily and smoothly as I had imagined.”
Old Tian sighed as he finished speaking: "And now I finally understand why that bastard said it was a failure! The path he was pursuing was simply impossible! Utterly impossible!"
"Why?"
Chen Xiao was very concerned.
Old Tian's expression was gloomy: "Let's start with Mingyue's daughter! Mingyue's daughter died in an accident at the age of thirty-seven! And later, Xiao Nianyue only lived to thirty-nine! Xiao Nianyue's daughter only lived to thirty-eight! If Mingyue's daughter's death was an accident, then Xiao Nianyue and her daughter... both died of natural causes, but far too young! None of them lived past forty! This is truly an irony! The so-called inheritance, although it allows humans to directly inherit all the knowledge of their predecessors through heredity, at the same time, children take away all of their mother's abilities! Meanwhile, the mother's lifespan is greatly shortened! Just as I said, although it saves more than ten years of learning time, it shortens lifespan even more!"
Chen Xiao's heart skipped a beat!
Will he not live past forty?
According to the story Lao Tian told, the phoenix is most likely a descendant of the bright moon... Could it also not live past... forty years old?!
"Actually, I tried to find that bastard about this! Because I thought maybe only he knew the truth. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to see him again, and he didn't seem willing to see me either. But later, there were still some of my friends in the service center... um. You've met Shi Gaofei, many years ago. At that time, Phoenix's mother was with us. She was the owner of the watch shop, and I was worried that she wouldn't live past forty. But what surprised me was that when she was in her thirties, she still looked as beautiful and delicate as a young girl, without showing any signs of aging. Of course, this was on the premise that she had always been single."
After Shi Gaofei gave her a comprehensive examination, he told me a guess: perhaps this kind of inheritance has some kind of natural flaw.
Originally, this was a low-probability, accidental combination of two special genes that resulted in a mutation we cannot understand, creating a new superpower. However, although this superpower is called inheritance, it also causes offspring to inherit all of the mother's superpowers.
Don't forget, that bastard... he was also a long-lived guy! Although not as long as me, as a superhuman, his lifespan could still reach over two hundred years. There's no reason why his children, who inherited his time-manipulation ability, wouldn't inherit his longevity and wouldn't live past forty.
Therefore, Shi Gaofei's guess is that this is closely related to childbirth!
When a child is born, it absorbs all the supernatural abilities gained from the mother's mutations! As a result, the mother not only loses supernatural abilities such as time manipulation, shapeshifting, and mind reading, but also loses the ability to live a long life!
It can even damage the mother's vitality, causing her to age faster as her vitality fades, and she may die before the age of forty due to health problems.
This kind of inheritance has huge flaws!
Once offspring are born, it means that the mother's life is nearing its end.
Unfortunately, Phoenix's mother eventually fell in love with a man. That man wasn't a superhuman, yet he captivated Phoenix's mother. She was in her thirties at the time, but still possessed the beauty of a young girl. The man loved her madly, and in the end, Phoenix's mother succumbed to his feelings.
Although I warned her that once she got married and had children, she might repeat the path of her mother and ancestors, not only losing her superpowers but also dying young.
But after all, the power of love is great.
Firstly, she was deeply in love with that man at the time, to the point of disregarding everything. She was willing to die to be with him! I even pleaded with her, telling her that if she wanted to be with him, she could do so as long as she didn't have children. But Phoenix's mother refused to listen. She was determined to bear him an heir. Secondly, Shi Gaofei had only made a guess at the time; he couldn't be entirely certain. Phoenix's mother loved that man to the extreme. She argued that if her guess was wrong, she wouldn't live past forty even without children—what then? So she was willing to risk her life to do it…”
Chen Xiao sighed.
The rest is history.
Now that the phoenix has been born, what else needs to be said?
After getting to know Phoenix, I never heard her mention her mother... I suppose...
"Phoenix's mother finally broke the lifespan limit of Mingyue's descendants, living past forty, but that's because she had children late. I've calculated it. Once Mingyue's descendants have children, their lifespan will not exceed twenty years at most! Hmph, that terrible inheritance, though miraculous, seems to have become a shackle, cursing Mingyue's descendants!"
Chen Xiao thought for a while and came up with a possibility: "Since it is true that the baby will take away the mother's supernatural power during the birthing process... then what if Mingyue's offspring is a boy? As long as he is not a woman and does not have children, there will be no problem, right?"
"It seems like a curse." Old Tian shook his head, his expression helpless. "After Mingyue, all her descendants for generations have been women! Not a single man! I asked Shi Gaofei, and he explained that it seems to be caused by a genetic mutation! No matter whether Mingyue's descendants later married ordinary people or people with superpowers, all their offspring were women! To this day, there hasn't been a single exception!"
These words, each one like a curse, struck Chen Xiao's heart like a hammer blow!
A curse! That damned inherited ability! It really is like a curse!!!