Yuan Ju was jolted awake by the belt digging into him, unable to catch his breath for a moment.
He instinctively struggled, only to realize that his awkward sleeping position had caused the seat belt in the bridge chair to cinch around him.
Of course, another reason for his severe discomfort was that the supply vessel had already entered deep beneath You Chong Star's crust and was descending level by level toward the temporary station.
He seemed to have had a nightmare earlier, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember what it had been about.
Yuan Ju felt somewhat dazed, but did not dwell on it. He pulled himself together and quickly reviewed the receipt list in his virtual workspace, reinforcing his memory in case anyone questioned him.
His preparations had been somewhat excessive. When he returned to No. 1 Subterranean Ship to report back, no one paid attention to the results of his mission. The Special Task Force was probably in a meeting.
"Another meeting? What are they discussing?"
"It's not a discussion. Secretary-General Mo Jia of the Red Silicon Star System Government is here on behalf of Governor Mister Ping Yu to offer condolences."
After a brief exchange with the logistics staff and learning what was going on, even Yuan Ju could not help curling his lip.
Condolences, my ass!
The delegation consisted of nine Celestials, including four Formal Priests. The scale was certainly impressive.
But they had not come earlier or later—only now, to offer "condolences." They had most likely been frightened by the string of major actions taken recently.
As Yuan Ju understood it, deep earthquakes had occurred in several areas of You Chong Star over the past period. They were suspected to be related to the Conjoined Model and the Grease