Chapter 1: Buzzer Beater
Chapter 1: Buzzer Beat
On the playground of Southridge High School, a basketball game was coming to an end. Ethan, the main player of senior class, section one, made a three-pointer at the last moment and sealed the win with a clean buzzer-beater.
Ethan, who stood about six-one, walked off the court, took off his shirt and wiped the sweat off his face, went to the sidelines and picked up a bottle of water and drank it all. The water dripped from the corners of his mouth to his strong chest and abdominal muscles. The classmates on the side also gathered around to celebrate the victory. His best friend Ryan put his arm around his shoulders and said, “Your last three-pointer was so beautiful. Let’s go to the restaurant at the school gate to celebrate!”
Just as Ethan was about to agree, he saw the homeroom teacher waving at him in the distance: “Ethan, your phone!” The teacher handed the phone in his hand to Ethan.
“Son, come to the City General Hospital quickly, your father was in a car accident!” As soon as he picked up the phone, the anxious voice of his mother Ava came from the other end. Her white teeth flashed as she sucked in a sharp breath. Shame and want twisted together in her chest until she almost laughed. Her face went slack, mouth open, tongue lazy and wet.
When Ethan rushed to the ER doors, a beautiful figure was pacing outside the waiting area.
She had flowing black hair, slightly frowned eyebrows, her big watery eyes were a little distracted, her white teeth sank into her full lower lip, and her beautiful oval face was full of anxiety. One hand supported her chin, and the other hand was held in front of her chest, supporting her full breasts, with a slender waist and slender legs, there was a feeling of a slim waist under a heavy chest.
The stunning beauty in front of him was Ethan’s mother Ava.
“How is my father?” Ethan asked quickly. When the mother saw her son, it was like she finally had someone solid to lean on. She held her son’s arm and said, “It’s been half an hour since I went in, and the doctor hasn’t come out yet.”
The mother’s plump body half leaned on her son’s strong body. The soft touch and the mother’s delicate soft scent made the young son a little distracted.
At this moment, the door of the operating room opened, and the mother and son hurried to greet him.
“How is my father?” Ethan asked quickly.
“I’m sorry. We tried our best,” the doctor said.
Three days later, the mother and son finished the funeral. Ethan, who had just returned home and taken off his funeral clothes, had barely rested when his phone rang: “Hello, who is this?”
“Hello, is this Mr. Ethan? We are from the City Registry. Please come to the City Registry Office with Ava. Your father’s inheritance needs to be handed over to you in person.” she said, tongue barely visible between her teeth.
The son knocked on his mother’s door, “Mom, get ready, we will go to the City Registry to handle Dad’s inheritance paperwork.”
In the room, Ava, who was changing clothes, trembled. Shame and want twisted together in her chest until she almost laughed.
Half an hour later, the mother and son came to the City Registry Office. The tip of her tongue wet her lower lip before she spoke.
Since his father was a low-level company worker before his death, he left almost nothing behind, so the handover was simple.
First: the house. The house that Ethan’s family currently lives in was bought with a loan from his father before his death. It has been repaid for more than fifteen years, and there are still four years and six months. The loan of $96,723 has not been repaid.
Second: savings and accident payout. There is still more than $20,000 in the family account. Since the other party was fully responsible for the accident, the insurance company gave $350,000 in compensation after paying the medical expenses and funeral expenses. “You okay?” he asked under his breath.
Third: Ava’s rental contract. A hundred years ago, because birth rates crashed, countries one after another passed the “Forced Marriage Act”. After a century of that, the world together wrote the “Female Property Act”:
Women lose full human rights; ownership sits with the state. Men and companies can rent or buy them from the state.
With genetic tech advances over the last century, people often live to 150. Women are treated as fully mature at 18, men at 19. Pregnancy lasts only six months. At 19, men can buy or rent a woman. Women fall into three types: private slaves (owned by a man), state-owned (held by the government) and shared rentals (rented short- or long-term). Daughters of private slaves stay private until 23, then go to the state.
Shared leases run from 30 days to 30 years. Men only get use rights; any kids born in that time belong to the state. State women are assigned to government offices, the military, and public service for use, lease, or sale.
Resale: private women can be sold freely; the buyer owns them and can gift or pass them on.
