Chapter 1796 – The World as a Gift
Hearing these words from others wouldn’t surprise the Old Commander, but when it’s Jiang Pengji saying it, that’s a whole different story.
What kind of temper Jiang Pengji has—doesn’t she know?
“Even though I can’t see your expression right now, I can guess that you must be shocked, right?”
Though it was framed as a question, every syllable dripped with certainty.
Just as the Old Commander understood Jiang Pengji, she understood him just as well.
Your Dad: Indeed, a little surprised. You’re not exactly one for unnecessary actions.
To the idle audience, it seems perfectly natural for parents to plan for their kids—just part of the parenting gig—yet this notion doesn’t hold much water in Jiang Pengji’s time. The Federation’s survey revealed that over seventy-three percent of people were child-free by choice.
They would rather spend their time and energy on work, creating value, enjoying life, and being with their partners…
Very few people want to raise a child, teaching a blank slate of a baby bit by bit about the world.
First, many young folks feel unprepared to take on the parenting role and can’t be responsible for someone else’s life; second, the Federation has a robust system and institutions, teaching children more efficiently and effectively than young parents could; third, in an age of rapid economic development, the survival pressures on young people are immense, making it common for even those who do have kids to rely on household robots for their care.
Since the advent of artificial gestation pods, this mindset has gradually become mainstream.
In the past, people questioned whether children could excel without active parental involvement and worried about their emotional deficits from lacking love. Still, once put into practice, the results turned out surprisingly well. Many parents had their own quirks, like moral flaws or tendencies toward violence, consciously or unconsciously passing these traits onto their children. Even if they tried to restrain themselves, no human is perfect—they can’t be cautious and composed every single moment. Household care robots, however, lack those flaws; they always present perfection to the children.
No matter how mischievous the kids are, the robots can repeat their teachings again and again, unlike regular parents who slowly lose patience and show negative emotions. If a child misbehaves, they can’t simply escape punishment through cuddles or tears; aside from the rare cases where a child might have a genetic defect that impedes empathy, most children’s educational outcomes exceed those of normal parents, delivering higher efficiency.
This kind of education has its pros and cons; the benefits are clear, but so are the downsides.
Take Jiang Pengji as an example. She resonates with her identities as a legion commander and a lord, understanding how to care for her subordinates, weigh pros and cons, and navigate complex situations because these were drilled into her from a young age. As a soldier, she wouldn’t abandon her comrades; as a legion commander, she prioritizes the bigger picture, trying to protect the soldiers under her command; as a lord, she wouldn’t betray anyone’s hopes…
Yet no one had ever taught her how to play the role of a parent.
Jiang Pengji naturally fantasized about her own parents but never considered the idea of becoming a parent herself.
Without that concept, she wouldn’t adjust her role perception; instead, she would default to roles she was familiar with.
Like a lord with subordinates or a king with ministers—where the former commands the latter, that’s the directive role.
Jiang Pengji only needed to tell others what to do correctly, leaving it to them to tackle their own issues without guidance.
If Jiang Pengji were to reach the Old Commander’s age, she might adopt that “elders and juniors” template.
But she wasn’t at that age; the role of a parent was entirely foreign to Jiang Pengji, leaving her to navigate it on her own.
The Old Commander likely thought he needed to step in and guide her, but to his surprise, Jiang Pengji had already come to her own realizations.
Relying on Jiang Pengji to have an epiphany was hardly feasible as there were subtleties others weren’t privy to.
Nonetheless, Jiang Pengji’s change was a good thing.
“I initially didn’t want to make these unnecessary arrangements, but—” Jiang Pengji recalled Wei Ci’s past life, a strange agitation bubbling within her, “it’s just that this world is different from ours; children here are—too fragile. So weak that a minor illness could take them away. Unlike the newborns in the Federation, who have a household care robot at their side, even their parents can’t harm them.”
When children emerge from artificial gestation pods, their genes get bound to a household care robot.
From birth until the age of ten, a high level of protection is provided by the robot, which gradually decreases from age ten to fifteen, and completely disconnects once they turn eighteen. During this protective phase, even parents can’t even commit any malicious harm to the children. Incidents of abuse or violence, like those from this era where kids could be beaten or drowned for merely being girls, are utterly impossible. Because those household care robots are equipped with combat modes.
The combat mode consists of collected data on the physiques and fighting capabilities of thousands of martial artists.
Even the immensely powerful Jiang Pengji of her previous life couldn’t take down such a robot in a single encounter without unleashing her strongest techniques.
Ordinary folks, forget it. Once the robot triggers its protection mechanism for the child, the most they could expect is to be pinned down for some rough love, and the worst would leave them dismembered, facing legal prosecution, losing custody rights, and tanking their reputations, leading them into the Federation’s blacklist, denying them various benefits.
There’s even a silly online joke where a user ranked the combat effectiveness of family members—an eight-year-old son couldn’t beat his wife, the wife couldn’t beat him, but he couldn’t beat his eight-month-old daughter, and the eight-month-old daughter couldn’t beat her eight-day-old uncle! _(:з)∠)_
The younger the child, the higher the battle prowess of the bound household care robot; the restrictions on their use of force become more lenient.
To Jiang Pengji, this was all commonplace, so she imagined that infants should be the safest creatures.
But in this era, without household care robots, infants are the weakest link, easily devoured by cruel thugs in a chaotic world.
Even the barbaric people of the southern tribes wrote a piece called “Cannibalism Ode,” lavishly bragging about how tender infant meat was. If such a person were around during Jiang Pengji’s time, they’d likely get treated to an instant judgement from a household care robot.
Before, Jiang Pengji had been outraged, wishing that she could take out each and every one of them.
Now, as she took on the role of a mother, those violent emotions surged stronger than ever.
Because she couldn’t fathom the idea of her own flesh and blood being discussed as delicate meat in such an ode.
Recognizing this, Jiang Pengji was bound to learn how to play the role of a household care robot and provide the necessary protection for her child.
“I can’t give her everything she rightfully deserves—a household care robot’s eighteen years of care and guidance—so all I can offer her is a world as compensation.” Jiang Pengji smiled gently, “Anyone who dares to obstruct her should weigh their own worth.”
