The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Since she needed to organize her things, Jiang Hui naturally planned to get a good night’s sleep in the mental space, intending to continue sorting everything after waking up.

The materials she selected had already been checked at a nearby simple sorting station, and she managed to filter out a basket of items prohibited by the school. The filtering rate wasn’t very high, but it turned out to be much better than she had expected.

Moreover, there were no radiation-related tools among them, so there was no issue leaving them at home for now. She would just hold onto them and see if she could use them in the future, as long as she didn’t bring them to school.

The sorting station had roughly grouped similar materials together, which made it easier for Jiang Hui to separate them. She only had to roughly identify each type and then pack them into mesh bags, which she could then store in the space button.

Apart from these, Jiang Hui also cleared out a basket of things she didn’t know what to make of—likely garbage that even the sorting station couldn’t identify in terms of its properties or purpose.

This basket contained even more than the items she had filtered out as school-prohibited goods. She really didn’t understand how these things had ended up in the mech-related section on the seventh floor. Was someone trying to cheat the scale?

Jiang Hui casually flipped through the items and was surprised to find that many of them were things she had randomly picked up earlier in the shop after being pushed back and stumbling into a corner. At the time, with so many people around, she had been distracted and, seeing the situation, had grabbed a few odd-shaped items just to make up the numbers. Looking at them now… no wonder no one else had picked them up. It turned out that everyone had recognized them for what they were—completely useless junk.

But it was fine. This was her first time at the recycling center, and with her lack of experience, problems like this were bound to happen. Next time, she would be more careful.

As for this basket of things, Jiang Hui felt a bit troubled. Since they were classified as waste with little to no practical use, it was highly likely that there was no usable energy in them either, meaning they were basically just garbage. So she couldn’t keep them at home like the items she had previously sorted into the school-prohibited category. What would she even do with this trash?

As she was thinking about whether she should just pack it up and send it to the external recycling station for the robots to pick up the next day, she absentmindedly fiddled with the items in the basket. Suddenly, one fairly regular-looking square metal piece caught her attention.

Instinctively, Jiang Hui picked it up, holding it in her palm and flipping it over to inspect it.

It looked like metal, but it didn’t have the typical shine and feel of interstellar-standard metal. It was light in her hand, but it didn’t feel like plastic either. She weighed it, studied it for a while, but couldn’t make out what it was.

However, this object didn’t seem like an ordinary item. After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Hui tossed it back into one of the mesh bags marked for research, deciding to hold onto it and look at it again in the future.

Seeing that the time was getting late, Jiang Hui left the basket in the living room, planning to go through it again when she woke up to reduce any further waste.

She turned off the lights, leaving the large pile of mech materials in the living room, and returned to her room.

In the dark, a brief flash of dull-colored light suddenly flickered and vanished quickly, soon returning to stillness.

Already inside her room, Jiang Hui didn’t notice anything unusual at that moment.

It was past midnight, and the owner of the room quietly entered another strange realm in her mind.

——————————————

The night was deep, and even people living in the distant stars couldn’t escape the habits of humanity that had been ingrained over millions of years. Most had entered a deep sleep, while only a few remained at their posts, still working diligently.

At Military Management Base No. 732, located on the first ring of the star, a highly prestigious mansion was brightly lit.

The lawn outside was illuminated by long streetlights, casting light on the high-end military spaceship parked in the courtyard. Several soldiers, dressed in neatly fitted uniforms, were vigilantly guarding the area, as if an enemy attack could happen at any moment.

However, the owner of this spaceship had already entered the mansion.

Inside the tall and expansive hall, staff moved with precise, synchronized actions, as if they had undergone extremely strict training, making no sound as they walked. The corridor leading to the back hall was lined with soldiers, all with a vigilant expression on their faces.

As they passed through the long corridor, a large door on the side of the central room opened, revealing the mansion’s first-floor atrium, typically used to receive important guests.

It was clear that the owner of this mansion was currently hosting a group of very important visitors.

Four tall, robust soldiers stood neatly at the entrance of the hall, both inside and outside the door. Judging by their uniforms and ranks, they held considerable military standing, making it hard to imagine the significance of the person sitting inside.

However, the scene in the inner room might have been a bit different from what people might have expected.

The long conference table had only a few people seated at either end.

At the head of the table, directly opposite the entrance, sat a very thin man. His features were sharp and handsome, but his complexion was pale and his lips cracked, giving him a sickly appearance.

He wore a glossy black military uniform, with collar and shoulder decorations representing the Empire’s highest military rank. His left chest was adorned with various medals of honor, subtly hinting at his remarkable past achievements.

This prominent figure’s figure was frail, and no matter how straight he sat, it couldn’t conceal the weakness in his bones. From the waist up, he appeared normal, but if someone came closer or if the man pulled away from his seat, it would become apparent that his lower legs were almost completely disabled.

His knees were damaged, and his legs lacked strength. Without external support, he would have long since fallen off the seat.

Despite this, his expression remained resolute and dignified, with a commanding aura. His eyes were sharp, like a lone wolf, filled with caution.

Seated on either side of him were others.

To his right, there was a young man with an unremarkable face, yet his expression appeared very sharp and intelligent, like a hawk. He wore a military uniform, and though his medals were not as numerous as the man at the head of the table, they still indicated a prestigious past. This was a high-ranking legion commander.

On the left side, closer to the main seat, sat a youthful boy whose appearance was innocent, with delicate eyes and features. He was dressed in a simple military dress uniform. Although he lacked military rank insignia, he appeared composed and unruffled. His overall aura was gentle and refined, yet there was an undeniable, inherited sharpness to his demeanor.

This was somewhat strange— a boy without military rank sitting at a higher position, above a legion commander… yet no one in the room found it unusual. On the contrary, everyone looked as if it were perfectly natural, clearly indicating there was a reason for it.

If Jiang Hui were present at this moment, she would likely exclaim that her earlier prediction had come true. The boy sitting in the leftmost position was none other than her classmate Zhou Xiuwen, whom she had been thinking about just moments ago. After being summoned back home, he had come to attend such an unusual event.