Chapter 31: Awakening

Jiang Hui was stunned.

Good grief, did this space actually come with a glitch that allowed for instant restoration? That was truly an eye-opener. Does that mean it’s inexhaustible?

Jiang Hui tentatively took the only passion fruit out of the refrigerator. Then, she closed it and opened it again...

!

It was indeed as she had thought. Staring at the fragrant fruit, Jiang Hui opened and closed the fridge, taking out over a dozen of them.

Ah, how refreshing.

If it weren't for the fact that it was so stifling in here, she might have stayed for quite a while.

While enjoying a hot pot and sipping on passion fruit honey water, she thought with a touch of melancholy that it would be perfect if there were some TV shows or movies to liven things up.

She dawdled through her meal and cleaning, fumbled around with things, and then spent some time idly tinkering with the mutated computer. Once she had poked at it here and there, it was already ten o'clock. Having something to do certainly made the time pass less agonizingly.

However, Jiang Hui was truly exhausted. Thinking there was nothing else to do, she decided she might as well try to sleep again. She had a faint intuition... that this time, it might actually work.

So, she lay on the bed with a relatively calm mind and drifted off to sleep before long.

After the girl in the room fell asleep, the room returned to silence once more.

Tick-tock, tick-tock—

At some point, the mutated computer had flickered out, and the hall was plunged into dead silence.

The clock on the wall showed 11:55, fast approaching the stroke of midnight.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

When the minute and hour hands finally landed on the number twelve, the person on the bed vanished in an instant, and the entire room collapsed into white light before dissolving into darkness.

Jiang Hui felt as though she had a very long, drawn-out dream. She dreamt that she fell into an open field and was chased by a beast of unknown species. She was filled with terror but could not break free, and it wasn't until she had run for a long time that she woke up with a gasp, panting for breath.

Perhaps the quality of her sleep had been so poor that, upon waking, she felt unsettled and her mind was muddled; for a moment, she couldn't even grasp the reality of her life.

It wasn't until she saw a ceiling that was both unfamiliar and yet known that her mind cleared, and she realized: had she returned to the Interstellar realm?

Jiang Hui sat up abruptly from the sofa and looked around. Only after clearly seeing her surroundings did she confirm that she had truly returned to the interstellar world—out of that strange space.

She seemed unable to process this sudden reality for a long time, and it was only after taking a deep breath that she confirmed her present situation.

So, she was really alright.

"Ding-ding... ding-ding..."

Startled by the sudden ringing, Jiang Hui moved before her mind could catch up and answered the optical computer call.

However, once connected, Jiang Hui immediately regretted it, as she saw the "Helios Group XXX" label in the top left corner. She didn't even want to see the face of the person on the other end; she just wanted to hang up.

After all, she still remembered what a terrible conversation she had had with their salesperson not long ago. Jiang Hui did not want to deal with this unscrupulous conglomerate anymore; who knew if she’d be swallowed whole, bones and all, if she kept engaging with them.

"Ms. Jiang, wait, it’s me. It’s Andy. I’m sorry to bother you again. I know this is rude, but please, could you listen one more time? It will be brief, and I will try my best to give you a satisfactory response." The young man’s voice was urgent, though it sounded much more pleasant.

Jiang Hui recognized him as Mr. Andy, who had spoken with her yesterday, not the employee from the Helios Group who had harassed her earlier this morning.

Given that she had a decent impression of this young man, she was willing to give him a bit more time to finish his piece.

Of course, because of the idiot from this morning, her patience for the Helios Group had reached its limit.

If they continued to be difficult, Jiang Hui planned to stop negotiating compensation with them entirely and simply have the inspection team file a lawsuit.

This type of lawsuit was similar to a legal complaint on Earth, only much simpler in the interstellar world; there were no layers of bureaucracy to navigate, and no piles of documents to submit.

The inspection bureau already had a record of the incident from their earlier investigation.

As long as Jiang Hui refused to agree to a settlement, the bureau would directly issue a writ of summons to the Helios Group. The company would then be required to pay compensation according to legal standards.

Furthermore, the bureau would impose official administrative penalties on the Helios Group. This was a result all merchants dreaded, as it would severely damage the conglomerate’s reputation, which was why the Helios Group had been so eager to resolve this phase peacefully.

Jiang Hui wouldn't tell Andy any of this. No matter how good her impression of him was, he was still an employee of the Helios Group. Who knew what he might report back to the conglomerate?

However, the fact that he was calling now revealed some unusual information.

Jiang Hui’s thoughts raced, but she didn't let them show. She remained calm, watching the young man, as if waiting to see what he could possibly say.

Andy truly felt that this past year had been a streak of bad luck. It was bad enough that he worked for such an unreliable, dark-hearted company, constantly bullied and squeezed by the old-timers in his department, and forced to do shady work that went against his conscience, all while fearing retribution.

And finally, he had been pushed into this case to handle this messy farce.

He truly admired Ms. Jiang. But at the same time, he felt immense pressure from her. Even though she was not yet a fully awakened individual, the pressure she exerted on him was no less than that of his upper-level superiors. In conversations with her, he always felt it was difficult to maneuver; he felt that whatever he said, it would be hard to deceive or manipulate her—even if he hadn't had such intentions to begin with, he still felt a sense of guilt.

So, people really are different from one another.

But no matter how difficult it was, he had to push through. Because of some issues yesterday, he had had a very unpleasant fallout with the company and, in a fit of anger, had submitted his resignation. He hadn't cared about the aftermath; he had already conveyed the message from Jiang Hui's side, and the group should be capable enough to handle it, no matter how incompetent they were.

He had expected to be ignored for a while, but to his surprise, the company had responded quickly. Today, they suddenly sent a message saying his resignation was accepted, but on the condition that he help resolve the matter with Ms. Jiang.

Once he finished the handover with her, he could resign, and the group would even give him a substantial bonus. So, even though he felt embarrassed, Andy had to press on.

Thinking of this, he truly felt a bit guilty toward Ms. Jiang.