Mei stepped out of the simulation room. Carrying a freshly printed, slightly warm report, she headed toward the R&D Department. Everyone she met along the way nodded to her in a friendly manner; her popularity was ten thousand times better than a certain someone who stayed cooped up in a lab.
However, they didn't know why Mei had come out of the simulation room. Was there a project being conducted in there?
"Dr. Mei, there is a new communication for you from Dr. Vil-V." Prometheus naturally walked over and followed behind her. Her appearance was indistinguishable from a human's, and her figure was similar to Mei's, making them look like women of the same age.
"Is it another report on where she went to perform? For the past year, it's like she's trying to get back at me by reporting unnecessary matters like she's submitting a thesis." Mei didn't look at Prometheus beside her; she held two reports, carefully comparing the changes in data. "Her suspension wasn't my decision. To be honest, I feel we're so short-handed I want her back."
Over the past year, Mei had taken over all projects for both R&D and Engineering. She wished she could split herself in two. She was often incredibly busy.
The project to transform the base into a sky base alone had consumed more than half a year of her energy. From room planning to resource cycling to energy replenishment, she had personally designed and improved every step. Others either couldn't keep up with her thinking or could only follow her instructions exactly.
So, Mei actually missed the Vil-V who, despite having mostly useless ideas, often came up with brilliant flashes of inspiration. At least she wouldn't look at Mei with the blank expression of a primary school student being taught calculus by a university professor.
"What did she send? Read it, I'm listening."
Mei stopped at the entrance of the R&D Department. Her tone was hurried. Prometheus's eyes flashed with green data streams, and then she spoke: "Dear Dr. Mei, I wonder if you enjoyed a cup of hot milk heated by your boyfriend when you woke up today."
"..."
Kevin... hot milk?
Well, him heating it with a machine counts as heating, though Kevin more often ate instant noodles in the morning. Mei didn't mind much.
"I still don't know when my vacation will end, but I think it's quite good. It gives me more time to do things I didn't have time for before, like properly developing Lin kinks."
"..."
Prometheus stopped. She looked at Mei, and Mei looked back. The people passing by fell into a bizarre silence.
"Read on." Mei lowered her head and continued calculating data.
"I heard that many of your recent projects are progressing smoothly. Congratulations in advance. In the midst of your busy schedule, please don't forget that little 'toy' we discussed before."
Little toy?
Mei thought back to her conversations with Vil-V. The "little toys" Vil-V mentioned were far too many: a toilet brush that could be used to brush teeth, contact lenses that let a normal person experience nearsightedness, clothes that could be completely ripped off by just pulling a strap...
"Is that all?" Mei looked up and asked.
"That is all."
Mei crumpled the data in her hand and placed it in Prometheus's hand. "Same as usual."
Then, she walked toward the Helix Workshop.
...
The layout of the Helix Workshop remained exactly as it was before Vil-V left, moved wholesale by Mei to the sky base. No one dared touch the things here; nobody knew what kind of traps the whimsical Engineering Head had set in her workshop.
Except Mei.
After entering the workshop, she ignored the thick layer of dust and walked toward Vil-V storage room.
Vil-V communication seemed no different from her usual chatter, but Mei noticed a few issues.
Vil-V had mentioned her suspension in those boring communications before, but it was always with a complaining tone, not saying it was "quite good."
Mei felt she was being sarcastic toward the high-level officials who suspended her. There was something fishy here.
Blowing the dust off the desk, Mei turned on the room's air circulation system and watched the dust being sucked into the vents.
"Things I didn't have time for before," "projects progressing smoothly," "little toy."
Mei tied her long hair back with a rubber band, making her look more focused. She began searching through Vil-V pile of "junk."
After searching for half an hour, Mei found an old-fashioned telephone. She opened the bottom cover of the phone, revealing a high-definition display screen.
It was truly filled with that person's nonsensical style.
Mei briefly observed the phone and quickly found the switch. She turned on the display, which showed an interface very similar to a Fire Moth communicator.
In the message column, there was a message sent just yesterday.
Mei frowned as she opened the message. She already had a faint guess as to what it would be, but she was still surprised when she saw the contents.
As expected, Vil-V was someone who disliked being obedient or controlled.
...
"After investigating, you learned that the Stargate incident from a year ago was planned by some insiders to make the Moon remains incident public." Ato listened to Einstein's explanation, his brow furrowed tightly. "A high-level official is involved, and they have links with the remnants of the Chairman's faction."
"Correct."
Einstein was also involved in the Stargate incident. She and Ato were the ones who encountered the attack while investigating the Stargate.
Einstein bit the end of the pen in her hand. "Furthermore, they said something of ambiguous meaning."
"What?"
"The Eighth Herrscher is a remnant of the Chairman's faction."
"The Eighth Herrscher?"
A look of surprise appeared on Ato's face. "But a Herrscher..."
"They likely mean that hacker named Qianqi. She was probably the Chairman's subordinate before becoming a Herrscher. After all, the scope of the Chairman's rebellion was extremely wide; it would be hard to succeed without help from many parties." Einstein sighed with a headache. "And after the Eighth Herrscher replaced Qianqi's consciousness, it used its own power to fabricate an identical consciousness for disguise. In other words, even if it isn't truly the same consciousness, that girl with the Eighth Herrscher core is no different from the original Qianqi."
"Are you saying... they plan to use the Herrscher's power for a rebellion? That's too reckless!"
"We don't know their plan yet, but it's undoubtedly related to the Herrscher." Einstein smiled bitterly. "Humanity... has it already reached out its greed toward uncontrollable power?"
Listening to Einstein, Ato clenched his fists tightly.