NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4 - Salvation
Jiang Hui now felt both chaotic and uncomfortable. She couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination, but her vision seemed to be getting blurrier, and the surroundings were swaying violently. A “buzzing” sound echoed in her head, and she had the unsettling feeling that she would faint at any moment.
No, she couldn’t pass out. She still hadn’t figured out what was going on… She was afraid that the next time she woke up, she would find herself in an even worse situation.
Thinking back to those bizarre yet terrifying real stories she had seen on the news, like “girls drugged and sold to remote villages” or “a boy tricked into selling his kidney for an apple,” Jiang Hui felt that she could still struggle a bit. At least this place looked more like a village with internet access, and she didn’t feel like she was about to lose a kidney.
But for now, she still needed to be cautious. The unknown doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous; perhaps it’s just that everything hasn’t come to pass yet. So even though she could barely stand and her head was pounding, she still reminded herself to stay awake.
Unfortunately, her rationality couldn’t compete with her body’s instincts. She fought desperately to prevent her consciousness from slipping into chaos, but her body was limp, close to collapsing.
In her panic, she randomly grabbed a tall object nearby to steady herself, trying to avoid falling down and being unable to get back up.
“Beep beep—” The mechanical sound close by startled Jiang Hui, and she nearly let go of what she was holding. Luckily, she remembered that she was the one who needed support, so she stopped herself from letting go and steadied herself again.
“Beep beep… Beep beep… Restarting.” A very mechanical voice sounded again, followed by another sentence.
What restart? Restarting? Did she press the remote control for the TV? Why did such a voice suddenly pop up? It sounded… a bit strange.
“TM—ATO69372 at your service.” The strange voice continued. Jiang Hui’s mind felt as muddled as glue, and she struggled to keep up. She could hear the voice but couldn’t discern its meaning.
“Scanning… scanning… Incomplete awakening detected, injury sustained to the back of the head, classified as severe injury, significant blood loss detected, immediate hospital treatment recommended.”
“Beep beep, identity of the incomplete awakener confirmed, recognized as the owner of the device. Currently in severe injury and imminent unconsciousness, automatic alarm function activated, calling the nearest district medium hospital, please wait patiently… calling… calling…”
“Doo-doo—” On the other end, it seemed to connect, and a voice came through: “Hello, may I speak with Ms. Jiang, the owner of apartment 7-A at 385 Changhe Street? We received an alert from your smart system indicating a severe head injury. Can you confirm this? Are you okay right now?”
Confirm what? Confirm whether she’s dead? Why is it so noisy over there? She feels really uncomfortable, and they keep making a racket.
“…Alright, send a vehicle over to pick her up. No need for confirmation; the child has already lost too much blood and is confused. Wow, there’s so much blood on the ground—why is the smart system only alerting now? Yes… yes… yes, her household registration is tied to the collective user here; it’s under a temporary guardian…”
There was a lot more chatter, lengthy phrases bouncing around in her head, but she couldn’t make sense of any of it and only felt more and more overwhelmed by the noise.
Finally, the clamor subsided, and the annoying beeping sound that had been bothering her was gone. However, a machine-like “hissing” sound continued to echo in her ears, like a 4D audio effect.
The room fell silent again, but Jiang Hui didn’t feel any better. Instead, with the distraction gone, she became more aware of her own feelings. Earlier, she had only noticed a headache and discomfort in her internal organs, but as time passed, she began to experience another troubling symptom: she was starting to lose body heat.
It dawned on Jiang Hui that she was indeed in serious trouble. Her internal organs were burning, yet her skin was gradually cooling down to levels far below normal. It’s important to know that when a person loses body heat, they can become disoriented, gradually lose consciousness, and eventually even suffer cardiac arrest in the later stages.
She instinctively knew that she couldn’t let her guard down now; if she succumbed to sleep, she might never wake up again. It dawned on her that whatever it was had called… a hospital? What else? Ah, it didn’t matter; someone seemed to be coming to rescue her.
Standing was too exhausting, so Jiang Hui simply changed her position and sat down on the floor.
But the thing beside her that had been making noise continued to make a ruckus. It had stopped calling out, but now it was moving around, rolling back and forth like a vacuum cleaner.
At this point, Jiang Hui couldn’t even lift her eyelids and didn’t bother to look at what it was.
“Click, click… click, click…” A series of intermittent sounds broke the silence of the night.
Jiang Hui, in a hazy state and on the verge of losing consciousness, instinctively lifted her head upon hearing the sound, squinting her eyes to try to see what was making the noise.
“Boom!” A loud crash suddenly erupted at the doorway, startling Jiang Hui, who was on the brink of complete unconsciousness. She widened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“…What’s going on? Why can’t the connected smart system link up again? It was just in contact with the hospital… We have no choice but to resort to this method.”
“Maybe it’s malfunctioning. The homeowner remembers to report it only after getting injured like this. I remember it’s the TM series from the Hailusi Group; it just came out last year and they dare to claim a thirty-year warranty. I doubt we’ll even need to wait that long. If the homeowner encounters this situation, they’ll probably just send the person away instead of bothering with the warranty; they could retire early…”
“Hey, hey, what are you two doing? Get back to work! You’re just chatting here while that kid could bleed out and die in there! Do you want to lose your jobs?”
“Chief Medical Officer, this bedroom is connected to the smart system. Unless the homeowner, Miss Jiang, releases the permissions, we can’t get the door open in a short time. What do you think…”
“You two idiots, was all that first aid training for nothing? Are you really going to uphold civic norms while the person is about to die? Just break the door down! Forget it, I’ll handle it myself…”
“Boom boom boom—” This time, it sounded like thunder. The nearby door shattered, and Jiang Hui, lying on the ground, was covered in dust.
They’re in.
Seeing a small figure sprawled on the floor with a bloodstained back of the head, her hair matted in clumps, blood spread all around her.
Having lost so much blood, even the most physically robust interstellar beings would probably struggle to endure it. The few medical staff who entered seriously doubted whether this person was still alive.
However, in the next moment, the person displayed a remarkable will to survive at the highest level.
That small head trembled and tried to lift up, showing evident effort, but ultimately could only raise it to meet their feet at eye level. With a voice that was almost a whisper, the person managed to say, “Help… me (in Blue Star language)…”
And then, they collapsed again.