Major General

If she hadn't stepped out of the Threshold today, these people would have stopped treatment without a second thought.

Tu Ran sneered inwardly. She hadn't expected that during her time inside the Threshold, the Medical Department would be the ones most hoping she survived.

She turned and pressed the payment button in the lower right corner of the electronic screen in her hand.

A facial recognition prompt appeared, and she aligned her face with the camera for verification.

[Payment Successful]

The screen chimed.

The doctor's face broke into a broad smile. He picked up a bag of fluid from the cart a nurse had wheeled in, walked to Xi Chunzhi's bedside, hung it on the IV stand, and inserted the needle into Xi Chunzhi's vein.

Tu Ran handed the screen back to the nurse, sat down in the chair by the bed, and glanced at the name tag on his chest—Xie Xinyu.

"When will she wake up?"

"We can't determine that yet."

Tu Ran's brows knit tightly. "So you can't save her, and four thousand Federation credits go down the drain every day?"

Xie Xinyu choked on his words, pausing mid-motion. "Those four thousand credits keep her alive, sustaining her until you came back. Otherwise, all you'd be looking at right now is her headstone."

"Doctor Xie, I think you could phrase that better." Tu Ran's voice was ice-cold.

Xie Xinyu was taken aback by her suddenly darkened expression.

He feared she'd whip out a machine gun and riddle him with bullets the next second.

His attitude instantly improved, and a professional smile settled on his face.

"We're actively looking for ways to wake her up. Rest assured, the Medical Department won't tarnish its own reputation."

"Good." Tu Ran stood up.

Xie Xinyu took a wary step back. "What are you doing?"

Confused by his reaction, Tu Ran shot back, "What are you doing?"

"Don't try to hit me—I'm pretty tough." He made a boxing gesture with his fists.

Tu Ran was speechless. This guy could be a doctor? Was he suffering from paranoid delusions?

"Does the Medical Department have a psychiatry wing?"

"Yeah... why do you ask?" Xie Xinyu looked baffled.

"Go get your head checked."

Leaving those words behind, Tu Ran turned and walked away.

She still had to return her equipment, attend a meeting, and explain why her holographic recording ring was gone. She had plenty on her plate—no time to bicker with him.

Back where he stood, Xie Xinyu touched his face. Was he overthinking things? Did he actually have a mental illness?

Impossible! He quickly dismissed the thought.

He was just a little timid... no wait, he was simply cautious.

As she left the Medical Department, Zero's voice came through her earpiece.

"The Research Institute reports that your holographic recording ring's signal cannot be detected. Where is it?"

"Lost it," Tu Ran said, keeping her voice as steady as possible so her heart rate and breathing would stay at normal levels, giving Zero nothing to latch onto. "I fainted inside the Threshold. When I woke up, the ring was gone."

"Zero has relayed the report to the Research Institute. They should respond shortly."

"Mm." Tu Ran kept walking, her face neutral. She stopped at the maglev tram stop, boarded the next train as usual when it arrived, paid via facial recognition, and waited for the Administrative Building stop.

Zero said, "I detect your heart rate is quite low. Are you worried about losing points because you lost your holographic recording ring?"

Tu Ran thought: She admired herself for managing to keep her heart rate below normal.

"A little concerned," she replied, playing along.

"No need to worry. While you were inside the Threshold, the Federal Government adjusted the plan for Threshold scene reconstruction. Instead of relying solely on holographic recording rings for modeling, they now use a dual method combining holographic recording rings with memory readers to rebuild Threshold scenes."

"So losing your holographic recording ring won't cause much waste of your actual points."

Tu Ran stiffened. "Holographic recording rings combined with memory readers?"

If they used a memory reader on her, wouldn't everything be exposed?

"With so many Pioneers, wouldn't using memory readers waste too much time?"

"It's certainly not as fast as analyzing data from holographic recording rings. However, according to Research Institute estimates, with all memory readers working around the clock, it should take about three days to read all Pioneers' memories."

Zero's voice was mechanical and cold.

Tu Ran's palms had begun to sweat. She discreetly turned her hands over, exposing them to the air, letting the sweat evaporate quickly and carry away her body heat.

She couldn't let her body temperature rise too fast—Zero would detect it.

Her face remained expressionless. "Why the sudden change?"

Had the Federation discovered something?

Like the inner core?

"Zero does not have clearance to know the specific reason," Zero said coldly.

Tu Ran pressed her lips together. "What number am I in line for memory reading?"

She remembered she was the first to come out of the Threshold—was she going to be the first to have her memory read?

"The order is arranged by points, from high-level Pioneers to mid-level Pioneers to low-level Pioneers. You should be scheduled for the third day."

Tu Ran silently let out a breath of relief. Okay, she wasn't first. That left her three days to figure out a solution.

"Administrative Building has arrived. Passengers getting off, please take your belongings and prepare to exit."

The mechanical female voice echoed through the carriage. Tu Ran stood up and waited at the door.

The maglev train came to a stop, the doors slid open, and she stepped off.

She first went to the Pioneers' equipment room to return her gear.

Other Pioneers had already started trickling back, each looking exhausted as they sorted their equipment into designated areas for the maintenance crew.

Tu Ran walked over to the women's changing room next door, grabbed a clean set of clothes from her assigned locker, stepped into the shower to wash off, and changed.

She glanced at the time—already 9:30. She followed the flow of people to Conference Room 721.

The room was sparsely filled, about a third of the seats occupied.

Tu Ran picked a spot at random, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

At the front of the room sat none other than Xie Zhao, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pioneer Team, in a crisp major general's uniform that made him look refined and utterly unapproachable.

Compared to them—weathered by life and death, disheveled, yet still forced to attend this meeting—the contrast was stark.

This was the sheen of those at the top.

Beside him sat Li Wenchuan, who had also just come out of the Threshold and didn't look too well.

Tu Ran propped her chin on her hand, casually studying Xie Zhao's face, which bore a three or four-tenths resemblance to Xie Xu.

What role did the Xie Family play in the Federal Government?

Xie Zhao held the rank of major general and was the overall commander of the Pioneer Team—a position of considerable power.

Xie Xu was a senior member of the Research Institute, a select group where you could count all the members on ten fingers. He was also the youngest senior member, capable of independently building a memory reader worth a fortune. His abilities spoke for themselves.