Chapter 25: Mental Stabilizers (Part I)

After facing the first harsh reality of her arrival in the interstellar era, Jiang Hui returned to the practicalities of life, tidied up, and retreated to her room to go to bed for real.

It was already a little past one in the morning. After such an eventful day, any person would naturally feel exhausted and eager for rest.

Jiang Hui certainly did too... wait, what was going on? How could she still be unable to sleep? Had the bodies of interstellar humans been enhanced to such a degree that they no longer needed sleep?

She huddled in bed, staring into the darkness, her eyes wide open. The more she stared, the more energetic she became. Was it because she had taken a one-hour nap at the hospital yesterday afternoon, leaving her body fully rested?

Yet, according to the memories of the original owner, the rest requirements for interstellar humans were no different from those of Earthlings.

Jiang Hui was utterly baffled. Being unable to sleep when one desperately wants to is a true form of torture. She went from lying still and trying to drift off to tossing and turning, kicking her legs, and feeling completely restless.

She checked the time again... Wow, so much time had passed—a whole hour.

Driven to the brink of madness, she leapt out of bed, rummaged through her cupboards, and pulled out a spare set of bedding to change her sheets.

That should do it, she thought. Surely a fresh, unused quilt wouldn’t hold any lingering scents. The girl sank into the soft, large bed, and then—

She still couldn’t fall asleep.

She was absolutely losing her mind, resorting to all sorts of methods to force herself to drift off.

Alas, until daybreak, when the first rays of light filtered into the room, Jiang Hui remained wide awake.

***

The person who had been tormented by insomnia all night was still remarkably spirited; a night without sleep had not dampened her energy in the slightest.

Realizing that lying in bed any longer wouldn't help her sleep, she changed into fresh clothes and headed to the living area to wander around and find something to eat.

This was her second day in the interstellar world since regaining consciousness, and even the most turbulent emotions had begun to settle. She was gradually coming to terms with her situation and responding to it with relative positivity.

With a subtle shift in mood, Jiang Hui avoided the type of food container she had grabbed the night before. Instead, she sat on the sofa in the living room with some processed fast food and turned on the television—or rather, the "Star-View," as it was called here.

"The ×&%￥#@ Legion announces its departure today. An extraterrestrial nest is suspected to have appeared in the outer sector NT-8439579..."

"The Intelligent Robot Design Competition is being held in a district of the Capital Planet in the Central Sector. A brilliant student from XXX University took home the championship; it is reported that he is not yet seventeen and has not even undergone his second awakening..."

"Interstellar superstar XXX gives their first interview. Originally from a Heavenly-class planet in a remote galaxy, after years of struggle, they have finally settled in the Capital Galaxy, inspiring thousands of 'Capital Drifters'..."

Jiang Hui was unfamiliar with most of these things and felt no sense of connection, so she just watched them with bored detachment while she ate. Well, one thing was for sure: this braised hairy-pig rice bowl actually tasted quite good.

"Recently, a neutral meteor shower descended upon the B-ring zone of the Inner Galaxy, causing magnetic field disturbances across a series of planets. Some organisms have experienced shadow fluctuations. According to the Star Journal, residents reported feeling their mental energy becoming exceptionally restless during their sleep, possibly due to the influence of quantum energy..."

Suddenly, a piece of news caught Jiang Hui’s attention, and her movements paused.

She remembered that the last moment she could recall on Earth was watching a meteor shower, though it seemed she never actually saw it before her memories faded.

And on the very night Jiang Hui arrived here, the Inner Galaxy had also experienced a meteor shower...

***

Could there be a connection between the two? Or was it merely a coincidence? Jiang Hui became lost in thought.

"Ding—" The sound of a notification snapped her back to reality.

By now, Jiang Hui could naturally operate her light-brain just like swiping on a smartphone to check for messages.

One was a notification from the hospital, congratulating her on her recovery and discharge, reminding her to take her mental stabilizers on schedule, and informing her of the date for her follow-up appointment.

Jiang Hui read it through carefully twice to ensure she hadn't missed anything, then tapped to set the follow-up time as a special reminder, which would alert her half a day in advance.

After a moment's thought, she took the row of mental stabilizers out of her spatial storage device and placed them on the table, intending to study the dosage instructions shortly.

She then shifted her gaze to the second message. Unlike the automated hospital notification, this one was sent privately by a department, with the suffix "After-Sales Department – Halimu."

Jiang Hui’s eyes lingered on the sender prefix, "Helius Group," before she opened it.

The message was brief, asking her to come to the Helius Group tomorrow to discuss compensation matters. The wording was polite but formulaic, carrying a cold, detached tone.

They weren't even sending someone over; they just sent a notification? And they expected her to go to their headquarters in person to negotiate... Did they think they were gods? It wasn't as if she were begging them for anything.