Chapter 26: Mental Stabilizer (Part II)

Mental stabilizer, also known as the K-type GD3NM agent, is the oldest pharmaceutical currently existing in the interstellar era. It is said to have existed even before the current era, making it the earliest known medicinal agent in human history that cannot be accurately traced to its origin.

In its early years, it did not bear such a mild-sounding name that implies a harmless, supplemental medication. It was originally a clinical agent launched by the Human Interstellar Migration Bureau known as K-type GD3NM, or the Human Body Modification Agent. It was initially developed to help fragile humans adapt to the interstellar environment after leaving their home planet. By extracting radioactive uranium floating in the cosmos—which possessed a precision a hundred times greater than what could be artificially extracted on Earth—the agent could modify the fragile human flesh and nervous system, allowing humanity to survive in a radiation-filled universe.

However, gain always comes with loss. The first generation of explorers paid a heavy price. Because technology lagged behind and extraction methods were based entirely on trial and error, handling radioactive uranium became an extremely dangerous task. Frontline workers often measured their remaining lives in months rather than years, with most not living past the age of thirty. Those who took the agent were similarly tormented, as residual uranium often remained in their bodies, haunting them for life.

Thanks to these pioneers, the paths they forged grew wider, and through this process, humanity mastered increasingly advanced technologies, eventually securing a place among the various interstellar races. By the eighth interstellar era, humans no longer suffer from cosmic radiation, generally live over five hundred years, and have developed robust cerebral domains and psychic powers through the process of species evolution.

Mental stabilizers have also undergone generations of refinement and no longer carry the dangers of the early versions. Although they still contain radioactive uranium, it is now extracted through multiple layers of processing and precisely adjusted to a level acceptable to the human brain. Consequently, with the physique of modern interstellar humans—who can naturally tolerate and absorb certain amounts of radioactive uranium—only the cerebral domain and psychic powers remain sensitive, while the physical body is no longer affected.

Thus, the K-type GD3NM, once regarded by countless humans as a life-saving elixir, faded from its role as a body modification agent and transitioned into a specialized mental adjustment medication, later renamed "Mental Stabilizer" according to the New Interstellar Medical Code.

However, the essence of the stabilizer is not as harmless as its name suggests. Due to the radioactive uranium content, its potency remains as fierce as it was tens of thousands of years ago, and the human body never truly adapts to it. This is why Xu Jia warned Jiang Hui the way she did; taking a mental stabilizer is truly an excruciating experience. It is said that for every milligram consumed, one experiences the compressed pressure equivalent to what the first generation of explorers endured after a full year of exposure to cosmic radiation.

This batch of mental stabilizers contains a total of 2.5mg of radioactive uranium across five vials, with each vial holding 0.5mg diluted thousands of times in a Suiyan solution. If ingested by an ancient human who had not migrated or a human who had not undergone reinforcement, this dosage would be fatal. Even for the physique of a modern interstellar citizen, it triggers a certain degree of rejection, making it one of the most unpopular medications in the galaxy—perhaps even the most unpopular.

Nevertheless, this agent is highly effective for stabilizing and consolidating one's mental state. The original owner’s records indicated that after just surviving a second mental awakening, she suffered this accident, leaving her psychic power in a highly unstable state; only a mental stabilizer could remedy such instability. Furthermore, it is known that all those who have not fully awakened may experience spontaneous mutation and awakening during their development phase. To some extent, the mental stabilizer is also a prescription drug capable of triggering such a mutation. However, the Interstellar Government maintains strict control over this medication, prohibiting private circulation and requiring every usage to be officially registered.

Jiang Hui was unaware of all this, assuming the mental stabilizer was merely an ordinary, albeit expensive, medicine. She glanced at the simple instruction manual provided by the hospital. The method of administration was simple: swallow it, keep away from high-radiation sources and large magnetic resonance machinery, and wait for the drug to take effect. However, when her eyes fell on the lower half of the instructions—which took up most of the page—a warning caught her attention: the drug was highly likely to cause a degree of rejection, and if any discomfort occurred, one should immediately report it to the hospital system for treatment.

Jiang Hui: ...Doesn't that just make it even more terrifying?

Regardless, it is always best to follow medical advice. Adhering to the warning, she turned off the high-power machines in her room, took out a vial, and swallowed it.

The fluorescent blue liquid dissolved instantly upon entering her mouth, vanishing like mist, leaving behind a faint sweetness that quickly dissipated. It seemed... as if there was nothing special about it. Suddenly, the girl, who was sitting on the sofa trying to recall the details of the stabilizer, stiffened.

"Thump-thump... thump-thump... thump-thump—" It was the sound of her own heartbeat. It beat in rhythm with her circulatory system, and a three-dimensional echo of her heartbeat seemed to resonate in her ears.

The girl clutched her chest, gasping for air as if suffocating. Veins bulged on her forehead and neck, and sweat poured from her like rain with every breath. This was merely the beginning. The abnormal throbbing of her heart was the starting point, and from the vessels and veins supplying her body, the sensation radiated into the surrounding nerves. Jiang Hui felt as though her entire being was being held by a force too powerful to ignore; it felt as if her flesh and bone were separating, and her soul was detaching from her central nervous system.

"Puff... puff..." Time seemed to slow down. She felt less and less able to breathe, and the pain became the primary, all-consuming sensation.

The girl collapsed heavily onto the sofa, her eyes unfocused. The empty vial slipped from her weak fingers, hitting the carpet with a dull thud, her palm still pressed against her chest.

Jiang Hui felt as if she had died once again for no reason. Otherwise, why would she feel so light and drifting, as if she had neither head nor feet? Her consciousness and senses were diffusing, expanding further and further. She thought aimlessly that perhaps there was a basis for the human belief that the soul returns to the universe after death. Perhaps when the soul detaches from the body, it truly feels like this—a sense of drifting and dispersal.

How long would she drift? Would she continue until she could no longer feel herself and vanished completely, or would she arrive at some other destination? ...Hmm, it seemed she had arrived.

Jiang Hui felt her feet touch the ground.