pr: roki
Everyone’s gazes suddenly fell on Old Master Shao. Shao Heng was momentarily shocked, but he understood the meaning of Chu Si’s words in an instant.
Just now, after receiving a message from Sa’e Yang, Chu Si had been using his spare time to pay attention to the old master’s movements. When he saw the letter, he didn’t react too much. After watching the video, however, his complexion suddenly became very, very ugly.
But because his expression changed too quickly, Chu Si couldn’t distinguish the emotions contained within.
The old master’s eyes were still on the video, and he didn’t lower his eyes until the last second was over. His hand resting on the table clenched into a fist, his thumb unconsciously rubbing over the joints of his index finger. It was a long time before he suddenly spoke. “Esther Cabell… Before this girl’s accident, I actually didn’t even know that there were so many things happening beneath the calm surface. After all, the medical department, combat department, and research department under the military aren’t very connected.”
Everyone looked at each other and listened in silence.
“It was the summer of… 5654, I think. Because of Cabell’s death, there was internal turmoil in the military. At that time, there were several lieutenant generals implicated in that experiment. Later, the experiment was urgently called off, the participants were dealt with in secret, the several lieutenant generals who were implicated were dismissed one after the other, and then a group of young people were promoted to their places. Because of the excessive number of people involved in this incident, it has never been revealed to the public, but the internal purging was indeed very momentous. Leader Feng may still have some impression of that massive transfer,” Old Master Shao whispered.
Zilder Feng gave a stunned “ah” and nodded his head before shaking it instead. “The military’s secrecy mechanisms are too high, and it’s impossible for us to access anything too deep across organizations… I didn’t realize the situation was actually like this…”
“So after that time, we all thought it would be over. Of course, there were some who didn’t believe so and insisted that the purging wasn’t complete. I still had blind faith in the military back then, so I wasn’t among them.” Old Master Shao continued, “Unexpectedly, less than five years later, I once again heard news of that experiment. A lieutenant general from the military led a combat team to raid their lair. That was the second time…and it was also this time that made us realize that this experiment implicated perhaps even more people in higher positions of power than we previously thought.”
“Higher positions of power?” Shao Heng quickly grasped the point. “Those implicated before were already at the level of lieutenant generals, so even higher would be….”
Old Master Shao was quiet for a moment and then nodded. “So, this was a battle with almost no chance of winning. Esther Cabell’s initial advice was right. Head-on confrontation wouldn’t yield an ideal result. The only solution was to be roundabout and leave a way out.”
“So did she succeed?”
“We initially thought she didn’t.” Old Master Shao raised his eyes. “But then something was found in the hands of one of her students.”
“What was it?” Chu Si asked.
Old Master Shao lowered his eyes and sighed. “I have a copy in my room. I’ll bring it here.”
Shao Heng suddenly realized. “So you’ve been hiding from people because you have what she left behind?”
The old master paused slightly and nodded.
“Then I’ll go with you to get it,” Shao Heng said.
The old man caught his wrist and said sternly, “Wait here.”
Shao Heng instinctively nodded.
Although he always called his father “old man,” he was actually a little afraid of Old Master Shao deep down. In fact, it wasn’t because he was afraid, but because he was often punished by Old Master Shao when he was young. When Old Master Shao was in his prime, he had a strong aura, and everyone was a little scared when he had on a straight face. Ever since he could walk, Shao Heng had been encouraged to solve everything by himself and not to expect anyone to help him. It was like living in a military camp.
Over the years, the old master had accumulated a lot of authority. Now that he suddenly became serious, Shao Heng reacted out of reflex.
By the time he came back to his senses and said, “No, wait a minute,” the old master had already walked out of the command center.
Chu Si’s communicator vibrated again, and he lowered his head to look at the screen in his hand. Tang had sent a message saying he was about to connect and Gate 17 could be opened. Chu Si knocked on the table to get Sa’e Yang’s attention.
“Then I’ll leave first.” Sa’e Yang winked at Chu Si, waved casually to the people present, and left the command center.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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After speaking, he said to Shao Heng again, “Now, dispatch a 100-person pursuit team. Again, don’t alert other people. When they receive an order, they’ll leave through Gate 17.”
Shao Heng was stunned. “What’s going on?”
Chu Si patted him on the shoulder. “Just do as you’re told. You will understand later, when the pursuit team leaves. If I tell you too early, I’m afraid you won’t be able to take action.”
Shao Heng: “…???”
As a person who was approaching retirement, Zilder Feng worked in a relatively harmonious work environment. After many years, he was still a little unaccustomed to the twists and turns of the military and was a little overwhelmed. He sat and thought for a while, then raised his head and asked Chu Si, “So what’s going on, Executive?”
Remembering that they hadn’t read that draft yet and weren’t clear about some things, Chu Si explained briefly, “We intercepted some information earlier that indicated that during the Hundred Years of Chaos, a research team under the jurisdiction of the military introduced the time-regressing technology of the City of Silver for some reason and began to study time experiments, with the goal of creating a time-unbounded world. Formerly known as the Immortality Experiment mentioned in that letter, it was later renamed the Devil Project. Behind the entire time experiment were numerous high-ranking generals of the military. Of course, I suspect that the leaders of the general government and our Security Building aren’t uninvolved, either, and digging a little deeper, it directly involves the City of Silver.”
He mockingly curled up the corners of his mouth. “What good could come from involving the City of Silver? What’s more, the methods used in this experiment are very extreme. Miss Esther Cabell in the video just now should’ve been a former opponent of this experiment. As to whether she realized the problems in the process of participating in the experiment and turned against it midway, or whether she was an undercover agent among the experiment’s researchers, it’s unknown at the moment. However, regardless of what she was, the final result obtained in the video is quite chilling. In addition, all the middle and later-stage experiments were conducted on young children, with a theoretical success rate of 0.0037%. And for Old Master Shao’s mention of the second experimental run, they created a so-called successful product and twelve half-finished products. You guys can calculate for yourself how many deaths in the experimental capsule would’ve paved the way behind these successful and half-finished products.
“Not to mention the incalculable consequences of this time experiment.” He paused for a moment, knocked on the tabletop, and said in a deep voice, “Just by looking at the behavior of the military and the City of Silver right now, I’m afraid that the purpose of the experiment is simply more than we know of right now.”
“So those strange things recently, such as the sudden emergence of the Black Swans… are all related to this time experiment?” Shao Heng muttered. “I knew their appearance was suspicious.”
Roger followed suit. “No wonder the Black Swan’s cabin was so strange.”
When Shao Heng mumbled that sentence, Chu Si felt, for some reason, a flash of… incongruity. He felt that he seemed to have missed some very important information, but couldn’t remember what it was at all.
He frowned but quickly returned to normal.
“The military and the City of Silver…” Zilder Feng and the others looked worried.
“They’re indeed a pressing problem, but I don’t think they’re posed for immediate attack.” Chu Si called back the star map and raised his hand to circle an area. “Doesn’t it seem more like they’re circling up, waiting for something?”
“Waiting for what?”
“Anything’s possible,” Chu Si speculated. “Someone, something, some certain timing. But whatever it is, it’s strange. The City of Silver didn’t instantly pounce on us when our planet collapsed, but are instead waiting patiently? Look closely at this strategic star map. They’re circling our entire rescue zone while preventing other planets outside the warning line from interfering.”
No wonder they’d never encountered any looting from other planets or attacks from the City of Silver. The more Chu Si spoke, the more he felt that all the anomalies he had stumbled upon before were explained in this hypothesis.
But what was the City of Silver patiently waiting for…
“The time experiment?” Shao Heng spoke. “I mean, what they’re waiting for should be related to the time experiment. Are they waiting for the results of a certain experiment? Or waiting for a certain experimental process?”
Chu Si nodded. “So there’s one vital question— just how far along is the so-called time experiment? From the situation at hand—” he gestured to the star map and continued, “it seems the answer won’t be very pleasant. Be prepared for the worst.”
“So right now, we’re—”
“We’re looking for answers,” Chu Si said calmly. “We must find the answer first before we can create a solution. Urgency doesn’t mean we should act indiscriminately.”
He picked up the remote control and readjusted the glass screen cover of the conference room to be transparent, so that from inside, he could see the huge surveillance screen. He focused the surveillance on two places— Gate 11 and Gate 17.
The timing was very coincidental. Just after cutting over, Tang’s aircraft connected smoothly with the White Wolf Ship at one end of the gate. Since they needed to stay for a while, the guards at the gate were busy transferring Tang’s aircraft from the connection into the White Wolf Ship, while the people sent by Chu Si were leading Tang towards the command center. The whole Gate 17 looked a little crowded because of the large number of people.
At this moment, a figure flashed past a corner of the surveillance. If one wasn’t looking carefully, they wouldn’t have noticed.
Chu Si picked up his communicator and sent a message to Sa’e Yang again. Just as the message was successfully sent, Chu Si’s personal aircraft appeared at Gate 11. Needless to say, Sa’e Yang was in the cockpit. What was very strange was that behind Chu Si’s personal aircraft, there was another aircraft synchronized and bolted on.
“That’s… the Black Swan?” Roger exclaimed in surprise. “The Black Swan that we examined?”
“That’s right.” Chu Si nodded.
Sa’e Yang drove two aircraft simultaneously and slid out of Gate 11 quietly and unimpeded, turning on the highest-end cloaking shields and anti-radar devices on Chu Si’s personal craft as soon as he exited the gate.
Gate 11 slowly closed behind him. The surveillance video suddenly jumped and cut to the inside of an aircraft. Sa’e Yang, sitting in the cockpit, casually gave a casual OK gesture to the monitor.
Everyone present was a little confused. “What’s Mr. Yang doing?”
Chu Si said, “I’ve told you, he’s looking for answers.”
He fiddled with the communicator in his hand, and the screen stayed on the message exchange interface with Sa’e Yang. The two messages at the top were the words Sa’e Yang had sent to him earlier:
Message one—
No need for your little fools to keep an eye on things, I’ve found the signal receiver for you— the pretty boy’s father. When he entered the command center, he was sending a message to someone.
Message two—
Intercepted the content of the old master’s message: Gate 17, wait.
Then there was a period from Chu Si, indicating that he understood.
Sa’e Yang replied with one word: reward.
Chu Si was busy arranging everyone to cooperate, and he didn’t have time to reply.
However, one thing was very clear— Old Master Shao was the one who had received the signal for Fort Barney, and was perhaps the person responsible for monitoring the progress of the Dragon Pillars from the White Wolf Ship. He was currently in contact with the people behind him, wanting to meet up.
It was actually not a wise move to meet up at this time. Instead of letting the old master risk being discovered by meeting up, it was definitely better to let him continue to stay on the White Wolf Ship. Taking such a risk to pick up Old Master Shao meant it was very likely that they had something that required Old Master Shao’s personal participation.
What Old Master Shao was good at was nothing more than his professional field. Biomedicine, intelligent mechanical treatment… such things easily reminded one of that time experiment.
Regardless of whether Old Master Shao and the people behind him were well-intentioned or malicious, or who they were siding with, as long as they followed him, they would most likely learn of the latest developments in the time experiment, and that was the answer that Chu Si needed right now.
After Sa’e Yang finished his OK gesture, he straightened his long legs, turned his head, and glanced towards the monitor, reminding Chu Si, “Executive, if this trip’s a success, I want a reward.”
Chu Si switched the monitor to two-way dialogue mode and said, “Alright, is there any position you’d like?”
He understood, of course, exactly what kind of nonsense Sa’e Yang’s so-called reward was, but he calmly sidestepped it.
Sa’e Yang frowned solemnly, thought for a moment, and then responded. “How about deputy executive?”
Zilder Feng and the other two deputy executives: “………………………………”
Chu Si smiled. “Should I show you their expressions right now?”
Sa’e Yang snorted. “Stingy. How about leader of the security forces? One level higher than the pretty boy.”
Shao Heng: “…………………………”
Chu Si actually did cross his arms and turn his head to look at Shao Heng. “Any objections?”
Shao Heng: “…” How the fuck could he state his objections in front of Mr. Sa’e Yang?!
Chu Si turned back again and said, “I object.”
Sa’e Yang raised an eyebrow.
Shao Heng: “…” He didn’t know why, but he felt like Sa’e Yang was going to ask for something even worse.
While speaking, Chu Si looked at the surveillance for Gate 17 again. “Has this frame been frozen for a minute?”
“What? What’s going on?!” Roger was stunned. “Is there something wrong with the surveillance?”
Shao Heng was also surprised, “What’s wrong? There are still people taking the risk to mess around under our noses?!”
A surveillance member tried to change the angle of the camera in a panic, only to realize that the screen had actually been replaced without anyone realizing it. By the time the surveillance members finished troubleshooting the problem and repositioned themselves to Gate 17, there was nothing unusual about the gate anymore, and the guards who had pulled away Tang’s aircraft were lined up at the gate again.
Chu Si said to Shao Heng, “Where’s the pursuit team I asked you to dispatch? Start chasing from Gate 17.”
As Shao Heng called for the hundred-person pursuit team to set off immediately, he turned his head and asked Chu Si, “I have a bad premonition. Who’s being chased?”
Chu Si said calmly, “Your father.”
“What?!!!” Shao Heng nearly choked.
Chu Si said, “Didn’t you notice that he went to get something and never came back?”
The hundred-person pursuit team immediately set off from Gate 17, all covered with invisibility cloaks. The surveillance footage switched again, and the entire large screen was occupied by four scenes— the interior of the aircraft piloted by Sa’e Yang, the exterior footage of his aircraft, the interior of the aircraft driven by the pursuit team’s leader, and the exterior footage of that aircraft.
Sa’e Yang was the first to speak. “We’ve locked on, you guessed it right. There are nearly a hundred Black Swans in total. Their aircraft systems seem to have been modified very well and their efficiency is surprisingly high. Why don’t I release the Black Swan I’m carrying and mix it into their team?”
Chu Si said: “Don’t be too flashy. Synchronize your coordinates to the pursuit team.”
“Nearly a hundred Black Swans?!” Zilder Feng said, “What on earth is Old Master Shao trying to do? Is he… could it be… that’s impossible?! And who is the other party? Why’d they dig out the Black Swans to use?”
“It’s hard to say what Old Master Shao’s position is for the time being. I hope he has good intentions. As for the person meeting up with him…who knows, we’ll see their true appearance when we catch them,” Chu Si replied smoothly.
But after saying this, he suddenly paused. That strange feeling came again— he still felt that he seemed to have missed some key information, maybe a certain movement, maybe a certain sentence… He felt that he remembered it, as if it had already reached his lips. But it seemed like it was competing with him, and he couldn’t catch it, no matter what.
What exactly was it…
Damn 😳😳😳 things are getting heated
ahhhh welcome back and thanks for the update! Tings are getting exciting now! I hope we get to se Sa’e kick ass
What are the odds that Chu Si had memory cutting before? I feel like the dream with Sa’e Yang when they were younger was not a dream, but a memory.
Where does Jiang Qi fit in this puzzle?
Thanks for the update! 🫶🫶🫶
Ah, I think you’re onto something! That would totally add up with when doctor Shao was acting strange when he debugged Chu si’s mechanical dna and saying he “forgot something”. I bet he did the memory cutting on chu si
Ah, you have a point! It would mean that the history between Chu Si and Sa’e could be deeper!
thanks for the chapter!