Reward

"Tomorrow morning we have to report to the Pioneer Team center in the Administrative Building. Get a good night's sleep."

Tu Ran was restless and anxious—how could she possibly sleep now? The people she'd meet tomorrow would surely be her colleagues, and what if someone else noticed she wasn't acting right?

"You don't need to worry," Xi Chunzhi said, seeing her anxiety and offering reassurance. "You're a loner, not much of a talker. Aside from me, you have no friends at the center, and they won't go out of their way to bother you."

"As for forgetting how to use firearms and fight, I don't think you need to worry about that either. Even though you've lost your memory, your muscle memory is still there. When you grabbed me in the elevator, the reaction speed and force weren't anything just anyone could pull off. With a bit of training, you should recover your former abilities before long."

Tu Ran could indeed feel that this body had excellent physical conditioning, and when faced with danger, its muscle memory would react a step ahead of her conscious mind.

Maybe this body she'd inherited was a treasure trove, just waiting quietly for her to dig in.

That counted as one of the few pieces of good news at the moment.

Tu Ran finally had something to look forward to.

She said goodbye to Xi Chunzhi and walked to her own front door.

It had a keypad lock.

Presumably, only this kind of old residential neighborhood in this world still used keypad locks.

Tu Ran did her best to empty her mind, not thinking about what the password might be, simply letting her fingers follow muscle memory and pressing the code out of habit.

A green light blinked, and the door opened.

Before Tu Ran could even feel surprised, Xi Chunzhi poked her head out from behind her shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up.

Tu Ran nearly jumped out of her skin again.

She was getting a bit frayed at this point.

"I was afraid you'd forgotten the password, so I came out to check. I didn't expect you to still remember it," Xi Chunzhi praised her.

Tu Ran forced a smile. Just then, the elevator door in the hallway opened, and a woman in a black uniform walked toward them carrying a bag.

"Pioneer Tu Ran, this is a work communicator the center has reconfigured for you. Given your excellent results during this trip into the Threshold, the communicator is a complimentary gift, and we've added 1,000 credits to your work card."

Tu Ran had never heard of the jargon in that sentence, but that didn't stop her from using her imagination to piece it together.

Xi Chunzhi had said earlier that part of a Pioneer's duty was to enter the Threshold, gather all kinds of information, and hand it over to the Federal Government.

And after leaving the Threshold, Tu Ran hadn't met any Federal Government workers or handed them anything.

Except for a holographic recording ring.

Judging by the name, that ring must have recorded everything the original body had seen and done in the Threshold and sent it to the proper agency for data analysis, which then determined contribution value based on the video's content.

The original body's contribution on this trip must have been significant, which was why she got the work communicator free and 1,000 credits added to her card.

Taking the bag from the woman's hands, Tu Ran said a few words of thanks. The woman replied that it was no trouble, then left.

Curious about what the communicator looked like, Tu Ran opened the bag and found it identical to the one on Xi Chunzhi's wrist.

It resembled a watch, but with sleeker, more natural lines.

Xi Chunzhi, however, was eyeing it with surprise. "What did you record that they gave you so many credits?"

No clue.

Tu Ran shrugged. "I can't remember either."