The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

The person in front of them seemed more like a dead body, but Jiang Hui continued checking.

During this process, there were indeed faint signs of life still present in his body. In fact, just a moment ago, she noticed his eyelashes twitch for a second time. It wasn’t caused by external movement but by the slight shifting of his eyes, indicating that his eyeballs were still moving. This suggested that he might still be conscious.

Xierman was far more anxious than Jiang Hui. After checking for himself, the conclusion he reached shattered him even more. He clearly found it difficult to accept what he saw.

He began blaming himself—why hadn’t he found this place sooner? How could things have ended up like this? Why hadn’t the school managed to locate and save them by now?

Witnessing the tragic state of the instructor who had been protecting them, Xierman’s emotions nearly collapsed. He stood frozen, his entire body numb. It was Jiang Hui who pulled him aside so she could continue her examination.

Then Xierman saw Jiang Hui pull out something from her bag, a vial that looked like some kind of supplement. He was puzzled, thinking, “Why would she give him an energy supplement when he’s in this condition? What good would it do?”

But… isn’t the color of this supplement a bit off?

Jiang Hui tentatively pinched the man’s cheek, and surprisingly, it was still soft. She quickly pried his mouth open and poured the liquid inside.

“What did you just give him?” someone, who clearly didn’t believe in the saying “men don’t cry easily,” belatedly asked, realizing what she had done.

“I’m not really sure, just giving it a try,” Jiang Hui answered honestly.

It was the last vial of anything remotely related to healing in her bag, a living cell bio-serum she had exchanged for at the temporary outpost. At the time, she had no idea why she spent so many points on the serum, not even fully understanding its effects. She only knew it was supposed to have some healing properties. The senior sister who gave it to her had even exaggerated, saying the serum could be used to treat injuries as severe as severed limbs.

So now, Jiang Hui thought she’d try it out… if it didn’t work, then it was all down to fate.

Worried that the man’s jaw might be too stiff to close, causing the serum to spill out, she held his chin in place while monitoring his condition.

One breath, two breaths… after three or four minutes, the man still appeared as if he were deep in sleep, with no reaction at all.

It seemed like it hadn’t worked after all. After all, he wasn’t even breathing. With injuries this severe, it was normal that he couldn’t survive. How could one vial of medicine bring him back? Even in the interstellar age… Wait, what?

Jiang Hui suddenly felt a faint pulse under the cold skin of her palm. Before she could pull her hand away, the tightly shut eyelids in front of her flickered rapidly.

There was a reaction.

Both Jiang Hui and Xierman instinctively held their breath, unsure of how to respond.

The eyelids twitched a few more times before suddenly calming down again, as if nothing had happened. But Jiang Hui, who was close enough to see clearly, noticed that a slight flush of color seemed to return to the man’s face. Though his complexion remained mostly pale, there was now a faint trace of life.

“Instructor… Instructor?” Jiang Hui called out softly.

Xierman also shouted urgently a few times.

Then, as if roused by their voices, or perhaps waking on his own, the man slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was still half-covered, but he had indeed opened them.

“Instructor, can you recognize us?” Jiang Hui asked, trying to confirm his awareness. She assumed that with his severe shoulder injury and likely blood-clogged throat, he wouldn’t be able to speak, so she added, “If you can recognize us, blink for a bit longer.”

She wasn’t holding out much hope, though. The officer was gravely injured, with a massive claw as thick as an adult’s arm piercing through his shoulder, lungs, and close to his heart. With so much blood loss, survival seemed unlikely.

Jiang Hui was a bit worried that the officer’s response was just a brief resurgence of energy triggered by the drug.

To her surprise, the Instructor’s consciousness was exceptionally clear, and he obediently blinked once in response.

Good, it seemed like there was still hope.

“Alright, from now on, make sure you don’t fall asleep. We’re going to figure out a way to get you out of here. The end point isn’t far from here, and if you can hang on without falling asleep, you’ll make it. Did you hear that?” Jiang Hui continued.

In truth, she wasn’t confident. Life and death can change in an instant, and when that moment comes, no matter how miraculous the medicine, it might not be enough to save a person.

Moreover, a distance of several kilometers, though not far, could be insurmountable for someone on the brink of death. And considering that the school hadn’t even realized a group of students was nearly swallowed by star beasts here, and a commanding officer was close to dying right in front of them—her heart was full of doubt.

In her previous life, Jiang Hui had been just an ordinary office worker. Now, after being thrust into this world, her life hadn’t even really begun before she was faced with such a crisis. At this moment, she was panicked too, probably even more so than Xierman, who was still just a child.

But Jiang Hui knew she couldn’t panic. If she did, this young Instructor, who had taught them many things and protected a group of freshmen with his own body, might truly lose any chance of survival.

So, when Jiang Hui spoke to Mace like that, it was to give him faith and to give herself a bit of confidence as well.

Then she saw the Instructor slowly and deliberately blink again in response.

Alright, even if he didn’t fully understand her words, she took that as a sign that he did.

Now, the real problem was how to pull this black, terrifying object out of his body. That was the first issue they faced.

It was a good question. Jiang Hui had to be thankful that the school hadn’t skimped on safety equipment for the students because she realized that the trekking pole, which she had thought to be quite sharp, was indeed very sharp.

She tried using the hidden blade edge of the pole to cut through the giant claw, and surprisingly, it worked. The result was much better than using the mech fragments.

She had earlier tried to pull some useful pieces from the mech, only to accidentally cut the side of her hand, leaving it covered in blood. While the wound wasn’t deep, it bled enough to obscure her vision with red.

It turned out that, while the mech fragments were sharp, they weren’t effective in cutting through the claw. Or perhaps the claw was resistant to that type of material, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even cut through half of it.

Seeing their instructor growing more and more delirious as time passed, Jiang Hui and Xierman had no choice but to speed up and try harder. But their efforts yielded little progress.

Just as both of them were starting to get anxious, Jiang Hui suddenly remembered the trekking pole she had set aside earlier, which had one side that seemed quite sharp. She took it out, thinking she might as well give it a try, and to her surprise, it worked like a charm.

The blade of the trekking pole was much more effective than the mech fragments, and she quickly managed to cut through one side. Without even catching her breath, Jiang Hui handed the pole over to Xierman on the other side without hesitation.