The afternoon flew by in the blink of an eye.
Preoccupied with her thoughts, Julianna Garland didn’t till much of the soil.
After dark, she hastily ate dinner, washed up, and tidied her surroundings before logging onto the Interstellar Net.
Since her last conversation with Cedric Sutton nearly a month ago, she hadn’t visited the network once.
The moment she logged on, a barrage of messages popped up one after another, making her jump in surprise.
The original owner of this body had never been good at socializing, so her chat history had always been sparse.
Seeing the sudden influx of messages, Julianna hesitated for a moment.
Instead of rushing to open them, she decided to finish her business with Cedric first.
She clicked on Cedric’s name and sent a message.
“Lawyer Sutton, I have a favor to ask of you.
Is that all right?”
Cedric was a renowned lawyer on Novus.
She had assumed it would take at least a day to get a reply.
To her surprise, the voice prompt on the Interstellar Net chimed the second she hit send.
Accompanied by a soft melody, a gentle automated female voice announced: Cedric Sutton invites you to visit his home on the Astral Domain Net.
Julianna accepted without hesitation.
The next moment, she materialized in Cedric’s virtual home on the Astral Domain Net.
This time, however, he was located in his virtual study.
He appeared to have been entertaining guests just moments ago, dressed impeccably behind his desk.
When Julianna spawned in, his projection remained seated, looking every bit like a real person handling official business.
As if sensing her arrival, his projection remained still, but his voice rang out.
“Ms.
Garland, please take a seat for a moment.”
Julianna hummed in acknowledgment and took a seat on the sofa.
A short while later, Cedric stirred.
He turned to look at her.
“Ms.
Garland, you’re finally online.
I thought some unforeseen incident had disconnected the Earth Star from the network.”
He made a lighthearted joke.
The people of Novus simply couldn’t live without the internet.
Nearly thirty billion people across the Astral Domain treated the Interstellar Net as a crucial social hub.
For someone like Julianna to vanish from the network for nearly a month was, in Cedric’s eyes, almost incomprehensible.
After his quip, his expression grew serious again.
“Ms.
Garland, what can I help you with?”
Having had few interactions with him, Julianna knew he was a busy man and had no intention of wasting his time.
“Lawyer Sutton, do you remember mentioning earlier that the Earth Star was appraised at thirty million and could be used for a loan?”
Her lack of dawdling and direct approach immediately improved Cedric’s impression of her.
However, her question took him completely by surprise.
This client was rather unique.
After inheriting the estate, she had immediately traveled alone to the Earth Star and lived in complete solitude for over a month.
Without family or friends for company, and without even logging online—Cedric felt her situation was akin to the exiles recorded in the ancient history of the Earth Era.
When he first received her message, he assumed she had finally succumbed to the misery of isolation and wanted to leave the Earth Star.
Samantha Garland’s will had left her an out: she was granted one round trip to the Earth Star.
If Julianna ever wished to leave, she was free to choose any planet to settle on.
All she had to do was contact Cedric, and he would handle the spaceship tickets.
Yet here she was, bringing up a loan against the Earth Star.
Cedric fell silent in thought for a moment.
He even began to wonder if she had fallen victim to some elaborate scam.
Though past experience warned him against meddling, he twirled the pen in his hand and asked anyway, “Ms.
Garland, have you been in contact with any classmates, old friends, or anyone else recently?”
He phrased it delicately, but Julianna caught on immediately.
She shook her head.
“No.”
A thoughtful glint flashed in Cedric’s eyes.
Julianna decided to lay it out clearly.
“Lawyer Sutton, when you mentioned the Earth Star that day, you said it could be used for commercial purposes, right?”
Cedric understood her intentions at once.
He looked slightly taken aback.
“Yes.
Are you planning to develop the Earth Star for a commercial venture?”
“Yes.” Julianna nodded.
“So, I’d like to ask you to help me use the Earth Star as collateral for an interest-free loan from the Novus Government.
Would that be possible?”
Cedric froze.
The Novus Government had always supported planetary development initiatives, but if the funds were being borrowed under the guise of business operations, the procedures were quite strict.
Fortunately, as a lawyer, he found these supposedly tedious and troublesome protocols to be a walk in the park.
However, Julianna herself neither majored in commerce nor possessed any prior business experience.
Due to the inheritance transfer, Cedric had run a thorough background check on her.
He knew exactly how many cents she had to her name.
For such a girl to casually ask for a thirty-million loan made Cedric wonder if poverty had driven her mad enough to make a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble.
“You want to take out the entire thirty million?” he asked hesitantly.
Julianna nodded.
“Yes.”
Although they were meeting over the network rather than face-to-face, Novus’s technology was so advanced that Cedric’s projection was incredibly lifelike and crisp.
She could even catch his micro-expressions as she spoke.
He had frowned involuntarily, the light in his eyes shifting subtly as the corners of his mouth dipped into a faint look of disapproval.
Cedric clearly thought she was crazy.
Her possession of the system was a secret, and no one knew she had acquired rice and wheat seeds yet.
Although her decision to take out a loan had initially been impulsive, a closer consideration reassured her: once her plants were introduced to the market, they would undoubtedly yield massive returns.
Even if her management of the Earth Star ultimately failed, it wouldn’t be difficult to liquidate her assets by selling off the plants.
Of course, she had no intention of sharing any of these thoughts with Cedric.
Fortunately, Cedric was a mature professional.
After his initial shock, he swiftly regained his composure as a qualified lawyer.
“All right.
Leave the necessary procedures to me.
I have all the files and documents regarding you and the Earth Star on record.
I’ll use them to finalize everything.
Once it’s done, the funds will be disbursed by the bank and deposited directly into your personal account.”
Instead of interrogating her, he simply laid out the next steps.
Julianna breathed a sigh of relief.
That spared her the trouble of cobbling together excuses to fob him off.
“Understood, Lawyer Sutton.
As for your legal fees—” Just as she was about to ask, Cedric chuckled.
“About that…
during the handover of the Earth Star, the legal fees Ms.
Samantha paid actually included the service of securing an operational loan for the planet.”
Hearing this, Julianna couldn’t help but feel that this “Aunt” she had never met was a truly miraculous figure.
It was as if she existed solely for Julianna, making arrangements that synergized perfectly with the Earth Recovery System.
Julianna relaxed.
“If that’s the case, that’s wonderful.
Thank you, Lawyer Sutton.” After expressing her gratitude, she added, “Even though my aunt has already covered the fees, I’ve still caused you a lot of trouble.”
Cedric had also helped her navigate the medical bill situation at the First Star Hospital, a favor Julianna hadn’t forgotten.
She pondered for a moment before saying, “To be honest, I really don’t have any money right now, but I can send you a few gifts to repay your kindness.”
Cedric smiled faintly, rather appreciative of her candid attitude.
Though he didn’t think much of the gifts she mentioned, he knew better than to turn down her goodwill at a time like this.
He nodded.
“In that case, I won’t stand on ceremony.
“However,” he added tactfully, “my work keeps me quite busy, and there are many things I wouldn’t have a use for.
To avoid waste, there’s no need to send too much.”
Catching his underlying meaning, Julianna nodded.
“All right.
Once I have them prepared later, I’ll figure out a way to ship them to you.
If you don’t need them, you can always pass them on to your friends or colleagues.”
Cedric cracked a smile.
Finally, Julianna asked, “When the time comes, can I send them to the Aeturnum Firm in the First Sector and specify that you sign for them personally?”
Cedric nodded.