Transition (2)

Soon, it was Song Jia's turn. She said her goodbyes to her senior and entered the guidance counselor's office.

Song Jia's session didn't last long. After ten minutes, she was done.

The psychiatrist was left feeling amazed at Song Jia's mental strength. She was so logical with her emotions that it was a bit scary. Before he could say anything, she had already analyzed the situation on her own.

Usually, a professional transmigrator like them would meet up with a psychiatrist like him shortly after they completed a mission. Transmigration missions were often difficult and put a strain on one's mind and emotions. It was because in every world they visited, due to the nature of their work, they would have to pretend to be someone else and even feign intimate relationships.

For a normal person, they would have a hard time being apathetic and completely withdraw themselves from the personalities and the people they had interacted with for a long time.

But, it was different for Song Jia. The reason it was so easy for her to move on was because she often viewed everything in a level-headed way. In addition, her external self-awareness was very low. She was very dense about how other people saw her, more often basing on her own assumptions and hidden insecurities. That's why she didn't think those she left behind would be heavily affected by her disappearance.

"886, there's going to be a seminar here at the headquarters tomorrow. Are you coming?" Before she left, her senior called out to her.

Song Jia was surprised. "A seminar?"

To renew their transmigrator license, there was a required number of credits they needed to fulfil. These credits came from trainings and seminars that they had attended.

"Yeah. You didn't get an e-flyer? You should come. There's free snacks."

Song Jia laughed. "Free snacks? Consider me persuaded. I guess I'm going to stay here in the dorms for tonight."

"See you tomorrow!"

"See you!"

...

Song Jia briefly left the headquarters, going out for shopping.

She still had some money left from her second mission's salary, and she needed to replace her anti-gravity boots. At this point, her old pair seemed to be not so much as resisting gravity as resisting decay.

Song Jia's storage space ring, anti-gravity boots, and other gadgets all came from the same brand, Hua. It was because they were the only company that made the latest cutting edge technology, including inter-spacial devices and anti-gravity boots. Even if Song Jia wanted to buy cheaper products, she couldn't. Only items from the Hua brand would be allowed to be stored inside their inter-spacial devices, garnering them them a never-ending demand from their consumers.

This was why the star system where Hua's main branch was located had a plutocratic government. [1]

When Song Jia arrived at the mall, it was almost empty. Unlike Song Jia, most people preferred online shopping. In the 23rd century, a mall was almost similar to a museum. Only people like her who held a fondness for history would even bother to visit.

"Welcome, customer #99013148875! It's great to see you again. What can we do for you today?"

A hologram of a sales attendant popped up in front of Song Jia as soon as she stepped on the ground floor. Song Jia waved the hologram away. The ground floor was filled with beauty products, from serums that could make the skin look poreless to creams that could fix pimples in a second.

It was even rumored that the greatest beauty in the galaxy once had an average face, but after she became the brand ambassador of Hua, the four ancient beauties [2] became nothing in front of her. Song Jia eyed their beauty products covetously. It was the usual case of the flower having the intention, but the water has no feeling. [3].

As expected, poverty is the enemy of all women wanting to be beautiful!

No one was ugly. It was just a matter of having money or not!

Song Jia went to the third floor, where special items like her anti-gravity boots were being sold. She bought the cheapest one and just as she was about to leave, she overheard a loud exclamation from somewhere near her.

"Hua already invented this kind of historical recording device? How amazing!"

Song Jia turned around. She saw three women staring with wide eyes at a small orb revolving in mid-air that was a complete replica of their original planet, Earth. When one of the women touched a part of the orb, it suddenly expanded into a flat map that looked as if they were peering from the atmosphere.

"Zoom it in! Zoom it in!" Her friends excitedly encouraged her.

The young woman tapped it twice again, and a 3D holographic model of a city expanded in front of them. The architecture and the landmarks were accurately similar with the 21st century where Song Jia just came from. Everything was replicated in great detail—from the type of birds flying on the sky, to the people busily rushing back and forth.

"Are those the prototype for hover cars? They look so clunky and old-fashioned. Also, too slow!"

"They're so lucky, they can actually stroll on the ground like that. Right now, even if we have vertigo, we can only fly. All roads are in mid-air, if we ever so much as touch the ground, with all those electromagnetic rails and electrified coils, our bodies will get fried."

"Ah...but the ground would be so bumpy. I don't think it would be very comfortable."

The small group of women chatted for a while longer before leaving, and Song Jia took their place. She glanced at the swift date picker widget [4] hovering on top of the small revolving planet. It was set on the 21st century.

A little curious, Song Jia tapped her finger on the location of Lin Yitian's mansion. Instantly, a small scale model of the mansion appeared in front of her. There was even a miniature version of the flower garden, with all of its flowers accounted for. As Song Jia watched, a lone figure went out of the mansion and crouched in front of the bed of tulips. She began cutting a few stems, putting it inside her basket. Inside that small world, the figure was only half as big as her pinky finger.

Song Jia instantly recognized her. It was Su Jia!

How could that be? The worlds she transmigrated into were only parallel versions of the original one! How could they have been integrated into their planet's own history?

[1] type of government ruled by the wealthy

[2] refers to the four legendary beauties of ancient China: Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diaochan, and Yang Guifei.

[3] Ch. idiom for unrequited love

[4] There are several types of date pickers, but the one I'm referring to (swift date picker) is the one in iOS.