Chapter 24: Putting Things in Order

Jiang Hui couldn't help but think that the original owner's brain might have truly sustained some damage. After all, the human brain consists of four frontal lobes, and to have two of them injured at once—even with the highly advanced technology of the interstellar era, she found it hard to believe there wouldn't be any lasting effects.

Wasn't this the onset of sequelae? She couldn't clearly keep track of time, and she was experiencing jet lag.

Jiang Hui widened her eyes and checked the time on her optical computer again, only to find it was still the exact moment she had seen moments ago.

Great. Either there was something wrong with the computer, or... could it be that interstellar timekeeping was just that different from Earth's?

She couldn't make sense of it, and without a trace of sleepiness, she had no choice but to crawl out of bed.

Regardless, she hadn't really looked at the place properly, and the original owner’s memories didn't offer a concrete impression of it, likely because she hadn't moved in very long.

Only now did Jiang Hui have the time to look at the garden view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Although it was a simulated night, it looked remarkably real, and the scene outside was bathed in a tranquil stillness.

After watching for a while, she got up and wandered around the room. The house was quite new; the bathroom and walk-in closet were empty, save for a few garments hanging here and there, as if she hadn't yet purchased anything new.

As she stepped out of the bedroom, the hallway lights flickered on one by one, and the house seemed to brighten all at once.

Walking into the living room, the air conditioning had already turned on automatically. A faint current of air began to circulate, instantly bringing a sense of vitality to the space.

She sat down on a sofa whose design felt quite consistent with the futuristic concepts of Earthlings. She discovered that while it looked hard on the outside, it yielded under pressure, recovering even more slowly than memory foam—it was incredibly soft and comfortable.

She sat there blankly for a while, finally beginning to organize the memories of this body.

The more distant past was pushed aside for now; having been set for so long, those memories were buried deep within her mind. What surfaced most easily now were the vibrant, colorful, and happy memories hidden within the original owner’s heart.

Back then, there were parents, relatives, friends, interesting school stories, the pride of her first awakening and advancement, and the curiosity of seeing a mecha for the first time... there were so many, many happy memories. The original owner had been a lively and kind-hearted girl.

However, after her parents passed away, the backdrop of her memories gradually dimmed. The people and things she encountered became increasingly faint, as if all color had drained from her world.

Her eventual decision to leave the planet where she was born wasn't due to some dark secret, nor was it a simple matter of right or wrong; her family hadn't failed her. She simply didn't want to stay there anymore. So, when an opportunity arose, she left with hope, seeking a fresh start.

Regrettably, the fate of human life is unpredictable. The original owner arrived in this brand-new environment but, before she could even properly plan for her future, she perished in an accident.

Now, Jiang Hui finally recalled exactly how the accident had happened. Truth be told, the Hailusi Group was not being wronged; the culprit behind this unprovoked disaster was indeed that TM-series robot.

The intelligent robot had been purchased as part of the home furnishing package, a brand-new, unopened product. The original owner hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, as the home smart system in her house back in the inner star systems had never given her any trouble from childhood to adulthood. Assuming all such devices were the same, she had simply checked the "recommended brand" box for the smart system.

Little did she know that the TM series released by the Hailusi Group was a total trap. It began lagging frequently after only a day or two of use, which deeply annoyed the original owner.

She had intended to report it for a return the next day, but that very night, disaster struck. The damn thing suddenly started blaring an automatic alarm in the middle of the night, startling the sleeping owner into jumping up, before it suddenly went dead and silent.

At the time, the original owner wanted to see what it was doing, but the robot connected to the smart system suddenly malfunctioned, lost control, and rushed out, knocking her over. She fell in the wrong direction, her head striking the adjacent table, and that was that.

What was even more hateful was that the robot connected to the smart system happened to shut down automatically at that exact moment, leading to the subsequent tragedy.

What a tightly linked tragicomedy. The pitiful part was the innocent, young life lost, while the rest was nothing but a farcical joke.

In the interstellar world, smart systems—even home smart systems—had long been ubiquitous, and the industry had reached a highly mature stage. There had been very few instances of such technical issues in interstellar history; they had always been excellent assistants to the people. The Hailusi Group's TM series could almost be written into the history of interstellar smart systems as a mark of shame.

So, the Hailusi Group really hadn't failed her intuition. To dare to keep selling such a product—they were truly the most unscrupulous of merchants, the scum of the high-tech manufacturing industry.

Jiang Hui didn't even know what to say.

After tidying up the fragmented memories, she checked the time again. It was past midnight, yet she still felt no trace of drowsiness.

Thinking that she seemed to have only eaten lunch all day and nothing else, Jiang Hui hauled her stiff bones off the sofa and walked toward the open-plan kitchen, intending to scavenge something to fill her stomach.

Oh, here was another set of kitchen smart tools she couldn't understand: strange-shaped grooves, things that looked like wrenches, and some unfathomable composite panels... *Ahem*, the original owner hadn't been someone who could cook back home; she wouldn't have understood these things at all.

She stared at the various automatic kitchen tools for a long time, eventually deciding to rummage through the refrigerator to find the instant food from the original owner’s memories.

Finally finding something she could use, Jiang Hui tapped a button on the side. Suddenly, a light screen appeared on a metal, double-door-like structure next to the open kitchen, displaying a list of items like an interface, with a familiar-looking operation menu at the bottom.

Jiang Hui took a look and managed to identify that the items on the list were likely ingredients. So, this must be the refrigerator?

Sure enough, after a moment, the double doors pushed into the wall, revealing a wall full of "odds and ends." Although it was a refrigerator, it wasn't cold inside; instead, a strange white vapor swirled about. She guessed this must be the secret to how interstellar people preserved their food.

Jiang Hui managed to fish out a familiar-looking instant meal box from the pile and placed it into the nearby semi-finished product processing cabinet according to the instructions.

"Ding—" In less than half a second, it was done.

Feeling the satisfaction of impending fullness, she impatiently took it out, opened the packaging, and prepared to have a big meal.

But as she saw what was inside the disposable container, her expression instantly stiffened.

Instant noodles.

Heaven knows, even after reaching the interstellar age, she still couldn't escape the fate of eating instant noodles...