Lin Xiaohe was running out of breath in the darkness. She couldn’t tell if it was a coincidence or if the Giant Sound Whale was deliberately messing with her, but the speed at which the star river disappeared matched her fastest running pace.
By the time she finally struggled to the end, she felt a sudden dizzying spin, as if she had been stuffed into a washing machine and spun at high speed for forty minutes.
As soon as the spinning stopped, she heard someone say, “A moment of silence, please…”
A moment of silence for whom? For herself?
Lin Xiaohe wanted to get up and tell them that she had come back to life again, but her body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and she couldn’t move even a single finger.
She was really tired. Maybe she should just take a nap first, then get up and tell them?
Just as she was about to give up, she heard that same male voice again: “Prepare the salute.”
Oh, really?!
Is that how you treat someone? You finish a moment of silence, and then you’re about to launch them into space?!
Back in the Huaxia Kingdom, when someone was buried in the ground, you had to keep the body for seven days of mourning!
The thought that she had barely managed to come back to life, only to be launched into space by these people and die all over again—Lin Xiaohe felt absolutely awful!
With great difficulty, she stretched out her hand and made a sound barely louder than a breath: “Wait… wait…”
Don’t launch me. There’s a living person in this coffin.
“Ahhh! A corpse has come back to life!” A girl’s scream was deafening.
The scene turned into total chaos.
Federal soldiers quickly shielded the important politicians behind them and raised their guns at Lin Xiaohe’s coffin.
“What do you think you’re doing? Trying to murder a hero?! Whoever dares to kill my little sister will have to step over my dead body first!” Lin Chiyang spread his arms wide, standing protectively in front of Lin Xiaohe.
Lin Jingqiu didn’t care at all whether it was a corpse coming back to life. She only cared about one thing: her little sister was alive again.
Lin Jingqiu jumped into the coffin and struggled to help Lin Xiaohe sit up.
Lin Xiaohe’s stomach was churning violently. She leaned over the edge of the coffin and started retching.
But since she hadn’t eaten anything in days, her stomach had long been completely empty. Nothing came out except a burning, gnawing hunger.
Lin Jingqiu quickly pulled out a nutritional supplement she had made herself and put it to Lin Xiaohe’s lips.
Lin Xiaohe gulped it down, then looked a little unsatisfied: “Second sister, where did you buy this nutritional supplement? It’s really filling, but the taste is terrible. It’s like a pair of socks that haven’t been washed in decades.”
Lin Jingqiu’s hand paused for a moment, and she gave a polite little smile, pointing toward Mori, who was standing there in a daze.
Lin Xiaohe understood: “So Mori made it. I get it. Men’s tastes are always so weird.”
After downing one tube of the supplement, Lin Xiaohe finally felt like she was truly alive again.
Going from a stiff, unmoving corpse to a rusty robot—that’s still some kind of progress, right?
But Lin Xiaohe had no idea that her “coming back to life” had scared the others half to death.
Xie Tingfeng’s legs felt weak, and his voice trembled as he asked, “Are you human or a ghost?”
Lin Xiaohe rolled her eyes: “Right now, I’m human. But if I had woken up one second later, I’d be a ghost.”
Is this how you treat a hero?!
The memorial service was so sloppy—no live media coverage at all.
How can I ever trust that if I die in the line of duty, the Federation will take good care of my family?!
So sad, so upset, so wronged! Nothing less than fifty million star coins will make this right!
Xie Tingfeng didn’t believe she was human.
Five hospitals had conducted joint examinations on the exam candidates and confirmed that there was no heartbeat and that brain death had occurred. Even the military doctors sent by the army came to the same conclusion.
How could a person come back from the dead?!
Xie Tingfeng looked at Lin Xiaohe warily: “How can you prove that you’re human?”
Lin Xiaohe opened her mouth wide, and the shock in her eyes almost spilled out.
So this is the meanness of politicians?
To avoid giving out compensation and rewards, they simply eliminate the person who needs to be rewarded at the source.
Lin Xiaohe shook her head and said with deep emotion, “I can’t prove that I’m human, but your actions have clearly proven that you’re really not human!”
No one could be this shameless. Absolutely impossible!
“Big… big boss, I feel like throwing up.”
“Big boss, ugh, where are we?”
“Someone, anyone, help me up? I’m dying.”
“Oh my god, for the first time in my life, I’m experiencing seasickness.”
“Big boss, could you add a cabin to the shell boat later? I almost got thrown off.”
More than seven hundred people crawled out of their coffins like zombies.
Without exception, all of them looked miserable.
“Yue An! My child!”
“Lin Ye! Thank goodness, you’re not dead!”
“Victor, Mom will never force you to take the college entrance exam again. Our family has money; a high school diploma is enough.”
The parents, who had been hiding in fear because of Lin Xiaohe’s “resurrection,” saw that their own children had also come back to life.
Their excitement overwhelmed their fear. They ran to the coffins and fussed over their children with concern.
A corpse coming back to life? No such thing.
It was clearly that the children hadn’t died in the first place, and the Federation had made a mistake.
Xie Tingfeng, who had been inexplicably saddled with the blame, really wanted to shout at the heavens, “Oh, heavens, tell the loyal from the wicked!”
Seeing the joyful, tearful smiles of the family members, Xie Tingfeng’s expression softened, and he ordered the soldiers to put away their weapons.
Even though all the exam candidates had come back to life, they were not allowed to leave Satellite No. 3 until after a thorough medical examination.
Lin Xiaohe lay in her private hospital room, comfortably enjoying the care of her family.
Until she fully recovered, the Lin family refused to let the doctors give her an in-depth examination.
It wasn’t because they were avoiding medical treatment out of superstition. It was simply because they didn’t trust them.
As Lin’s grandmother put it: “They can’t even tell whether a person is alive or dead. How can we feel safe leaving our little sweetheart in their hands?”
Lin Xiaohe wanted to explain on behalf of the doctors, but when she saw the slightly frightened look in her grandmother’s eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
They must have been terrified, right? In just a few days, her father’s hair had turned half white.
“Yes, you’re absolutely right—they’re all quacks!” Lin Xiaohe silently apologized to the doctors in her heart.
The whole family stayed by Lin Xiaohe’s side without leaving for a moment. Even at night, they preferred to sleep on the floor in the hospital room rather than leave.
Lin Jingqiu moved Xin Bao, Dou Dou, Fan Fan, and Tian Tian onto the windowsill. She pulled out a special nutritional supplement she had made for them and gently tapped Xin Bao’s tattered little leaves with her fingertip.
Eat up, eat plenty, and get better soon.
The little leaf gently rubbed against Lin Jingqiu’s finger and extended its roots to absorb the supplement.
[Ugh! Gulp, gulp, ugh!]
The supplement was a good thing, but the taste was really awful.
Xin Bao retched while absorbing the supplement, its tattered leaves trembling like it had Parkinson’s disease.
Seeing this, Fan Fan quietly pushed its own supplement toward Xin Bao.
A glimmer of approval shone in Lin Jingqiu’s eyes. She took out another supplement and placed it in front of Fan Fan.
Fan Fan…
Lin Xiaohe pretended not to see anything and looked away.
Just then, Xie Tingfeng, the Ring Master of the Fourth Star Ring, arrived with a chrysanthemum in hand to visit Lin Xiaohe and to discuss compensation and rewards.
Lin Xiaohe was secretly thrilled, but she kept a reserved look on her face and waited for him to speak first.
Xie Tingfeng rambled on about a lot of things, but Lin Xiaohe wasn’t interested in any of it. She only wanted to know how much money the Federation planned to give her and what military rank they would promote her to.
Xie Tingfeng said, “With the unanimous approval of the Federal Parliament, you are hereby awarded the Star Ring Guardian Medal.”
Lin Xiaohe continued to stare at him. That’s it?
Xie Tingfeng looked back at her. That’s it. What more do you want?
