Chapter 7: Suspicion (Part II)

The other person likely never imagined that while he stepped away for a moment to prepare equipment, Jiang Hui had already run through so many thoughts. He picked up a device resembling a blood pressure monitor, fiddled with it for a moment, then reached out to take Jiang Hui’s hand and strapped it on.

Although he had started with an "apology" and maintained a professional sense of boundaries while handling her hand, Jiang Hui—who had already mentally constructed several elaborate scenarios—instantly began running through various strategies for breaking free and counterattacking.

However, she forcefully suppressed all these impulses. No, it wouldn't do; the situation remained unclear. If things were truly as she suspected, acting rashly would only alert the enemy and potentially work to her disadvantage.

It was better to endure for now. Since things had already reached this point, she wanted to see what these people were actually planning by abducting her here.

Sure enough, as the cuff—similar to a blood pressure monitor—wrapped around her arm, Jiang Hui felt a sensation unlike any she had known. A coldness, distinct to metallic materials, seeped into her skin. Even more unsettling, the large expanse of metal didn't feel entirely smooth; there was a subtle, prickly sensation.

Could there be needles hidden in there?

Jiang Hui had always been the type with a vivid imagination. While she never quite applied this creativity toward career advancement or developing practical skills, she certainly put it to good use in her daily life and entertainment.

As she felt her skin crawl, she kept trying to guess the purpose of the device, doing her best to convince herself to endure it—it shouldn't be capable of shriveling up her arm, surely. But the more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. She was going to scare herself to death eventually. Although she managed to suppress any violent reaction, her face had already turned deathly pale. She became even more convinced that this was some sort of laboratory conducting human experimentation under false pretenses.

Unaware of her internal turmoil, the man spoke in a gentle, soothing tone: "Relax. If you stay like this, we won't be able to collect the samples properly. If the results are incomplete, we'll have to do it all over again, which would be quite troublesome."

Ultimately, Jiang Hui managed to convince herself to calm down and submit to his so-called "examination." Let's just see... after all, in terms of physical strength and the disparity in information, she was at an absolute disadvantage. Regardless of the situation, "patience" was her best course of action for now.

"Yes, yes, that’s perfect. Miss Jiang, you don’t need to be so nervous. The equipment in our district’s intermediate hospital is procured through superior-level bidding and mostly comes from high-end medical device manufacturers registered with the Interstellar Federation. It is absolutely safe." Fry breathed a sigh of relief as the ultrasonic analyzer finally succeeded in collecting the blood samples and other data.

He could, however, understand the girl’s anxiety. He had reviewed the publicly available records alongside the lead physician in charge of her emergency care.

This was a child in a difficult situation. Both parents were deceased, and she had no reliable extended family. Her clan wasn't entirely heartless—they had provided some resources and universal currency—but they had followed protocol by transferring her household registration to the collective public pool, effectively signaling that she should not expect further support from them.

As for "Miss" Jiang—though he addressed her as a lady, she was, in reality, only a teenager, still at an age where she should be in school. To be suddenly thrust into this unfamiliar place where she knew no one, and to suffer such an accident on her first night, she must be terrified.

While he sympathized with Jiang Hui, his hands kept moving, deftly tapping the instrument. Data scrolled down the screen in a dozen lines, and then a progress bar appeared.

"That's it. You don't need to take off the hydraulic cuff just yet. We need to compare some fluctuating data from your body during this process. It will take about half a star-hour or so," Fry said gently to Jiang Hui, who was staring at the cuff.

Mistaking her focus for discomfort from the strap, he even adjusted the tightness for her.

He did not know that Jiang Hui was thinking of something entirely different. She realized that this "hydraulic cuff" didn't seem as dangerous as she had imagined. Although there had been a moment of stinging pain at the start, it hadn't lasted long—just like an ant bite.

Her attention was not on the cuff, but on the strange, persistent feeling that had plagued her since she arrived.

First, there was the inexplicable appearance in a strange room, then the data collection, the peculiar, never-before-seen instruments, the architectural style that differed from anything she had ever known, and a sense of cultural alienation that felt as if she were separated by a thick barrier. And then there were terms like "Interstellar medical manufacturer" and "star-hour"... Good heavens, had she actually been caught in some cosmic trap?

She had felt strange ever since she woke up. Jiang Hui felt a chill, yet she still clung to a glimmer of hope.

"Miss Jiang... Miss Jiang?" Fry asked suspiciously, his concern for this underage girl deepening.

She had been admitted due to a brain injury. He had assisted the lead physician in her treatment, so he knew her injury was severe. Although later tests of her cerebral functions showed no functional damage beyond some chaotic brain waves, how could an injury of that magnitude have no effect on a person?

She was awake now, and her consciousness seemed to have recovered without obstruction, yet she kept zoning out and staring blankly, as if her mind couldn't quite keep up. It was clear she had been deeply affected.

Fry decided to perform a deeper check later with a deep-brain wave detector to see if they could uncover any issues they might have missed.

"Are you tired? Once these results are out, if everything is fine, I’ll take you back to your ward to rest. It won't be long, just about a dozen star-minutes. Although this type of ultrasonic medical equipment is technologically quite ancient—a relic from the Old Era—it is the gentlest currently available and has the least impact on the mental state of the unawakened. Just bear with it a little lon—" The man was cut off by the girl opposite him.

"May I venture to ask, who am I?" The girl's eyes, which had been dim and listless, suddenly became sharp and alert. As if touched by a master's brush, her entire demeanor became vibrant, no longer appearing as weak or ethereal as she had just moments before.

However, her question seemed... a bit too strange.

The therapist, known as Fry, froze.

"May I ask which planet I am currently on? What year is it? And how exactly... did I get here?"

Jiang Hui’s questions spilled out like a string of firecrackers. Her expression was a mix of confusion and urgency, disbelief and suspicion, forming a strange, fractured look.

Fry did not say another word. The relatively relaxed atmosphere between them shattered into pieces, turning rigid to the point of absurdity. They stared at each other in silence. Then...

"Chief Medical Officer! Chief Medical Officer! Miss Jiang Hui in room KY8047 seems to have a problem with her brain function. Please send a medical response team immediately..." Fry panicked, calling into the small voice-collector hanging on his chest.

Jiang Hui: ...