Chapter: 42. Traps and Framing
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
The humid sea breeze swept across the surface of the sea, raising lines of white spray that crashed against the rocky shores of the desolate island, echoing dully.
The island itself is not large, with rugged terrain, almost cut into several segments by the sea, far away from shipping routes and satellite surveillance paths. In the center of the island sits a low-key, concealed military complex, disguised on the surface as an abandoned weather observation station, but internally it is one of the strongholds of the Starlight Society, operating in secrecy.
At this moment, the perimeter of the stronghold remained howling with wind, only occasionally a seabird would sweep low overhead, leaving behind a brief, mournful cry.
To avoid revealing their location to the Star Academy, the A2 team of the Starlight Society did not fly their star-type tactical aircraft directly back to this place, but chose to abandon it in an unmanned area in the mid-Pacific. An esper was supposed to use their abilities to bring Professor Tiancheng back to the island.
Although the spatial folding ability of the star-type machine is precious, they were more worried that the Star Academy might track them using the locator on the aircraft.
Deep within the island, the steel buildings stood like fortresses embedded in the rocky skeleton, silent and cold.
A heavy pressure door slowly slid into the wall after being activated, and a cold air mingled with the smell of disinfectant and metal rushed toward them.
Professor Tiancheng was led into the interior of the building.
The inner walls of the corridor were made of titanium alloy, smooth as a mirror, with cold light fixtures embedded along both sides of the ceiling and floor, leaving not a single shadow, as if to guard against something.
Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor.
He was almost hurriedly taken into the interrogation room.
The interrogation was conducted by DD Sauce, who held the highest command authority at the scene.
Within the isolation of the interrogation room, which blocked external esper perception, Professor Tiancheng sat on a silver chair, his hands unbound, as if they understood his esper abilities very well, knowing that he had no combat power to escape from here or transmit information to the outside.
“Professor, I hope I can call you that moving forward,” DD Sauce hovered in front of Professor Tiancheng, looking down at him with a condescending gaze, and began:
“Let’s get straight to the point. Where exactly is the system you developed?”
“…What system?”
Faced with DD Sauce’s direct question, Professor Tiancheng decided to play dumb.
While stalling for time, his mind raced to devise a countermeasure.
“I think you should cooperate a bit, Professor,” DD Sauce intentionally lowered its voice, pretending to be menacing: “I have the ability to invade your memories, and I can dig out everything you know at any time, but that would cause you immense pain, so I hope we can cooperate more pleasantly—”
What DD Sauce said was true.
Its abilities could indeed penetrate Professor Tiancheng’s memories and pry into his recollections.
But the reason DD Sauce did not choose to do so immediately was—
“—Then you can give it a try.” Professor Tiancheng interrupted DD Sauce’s threat with confidence.
“……”
“You can’t do it. No, you don’t dare to do it, right?” Professor Tiancheng revealed a bitter smile: “Although I don’t know what to call you, you look like a highly intelligent fantasy entity.”
“And you seem to know me very well; because of that, you dare not enter my consciousness.” As he spoke, Professor Tiancheng surveyed his surroundings.
As with the titanium alloy corridor outside, cold light fixtures were everywhere, leaving no shadows in the interrogation room.
“The taste of the Fragment of the End, it seems you also do not wish to taste it.”
Professor Tiancheng pointed to his heart, shaking his head with a sigh.
The Fragment of the End, the curse that once tormented him, unexpectedly became his greatest assurance for concealing the truth at this moment.
After the incident with the Fragment of the End, the more powerful the existence in this world, the more they would refrain from the power of the End.
No one could guarantee that such an act of entering another person’s consciousness would not become infected with the Fragment of the End.
“……”
“Looks like I guessed correctly.”
DD Sauce’s reaction made Professor Tiancheng secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed that his mind didn’t need to be messed with by other entities.
“…So we can’t cooperate pleasantly after all?”
“No, at this point, I am still willing to cooperate with you— you might not believe it, but I recently found a new meaning to live… I want to live and see that child grow up.”
This statement from Professor Tiancheng was not a lie.
If it were the past him, to keep a secret, he might have chosen to take his own life at this moment.
But now, he wanted to see that girl’s happy smile more than he wanted to die.
In that girl, who resembled his granddaughter, he found the reason to live.
“However, I really do not know what system you are referring to—”
“—That system refers to the ‘β system’, a global monitoring system developed under your leadership.”
Before Professor Tiancheng could finish his sentence, the door to the interrogation room was suddenly flung open. Alice, who had just escaped from the academy and still hadn’t changed out of her combat uniform, was supported by Maria into the room.
Professor Tiancheng’s heart jolted at the words.
“If you still want to play dumb, I can give you a more accurate answer.” Alice exchanged glances with DD Sauce and then pulled over a chair to sit opposite Professor Tiancheng, while Maria leaned against the wall nearby, arms crossed over her chest.
“That system began development approximately three years ago; it’s a confidential project with no official documentation within the Star Academy. It’s a system that ‘does not exist.'”
—They really know about the β system…
—Who leaked the information?
Faces of all those involved in the project flashed through Professor Tiancheng’s mind, but he quickly ruled them out.
Since the other party knew this much about the system,
He believed that pretending any longer was useless.
Might as well be partially honest and see if there was a chance to live and escape—
“…Since you are already aware of this, what is your aim?”
“To prevent this system from going live after tomorrow’s meeting.” Alice replied earnestly at once.
“This system absolutely cannot go live.”
As if to emphasize this point, Alice repeated it.
Hearing this, Professor Tiancheng couldn’t help but chuckle:
“Well, it seems you’ve wasted your efforts.”
“…What do you mean?” DD Sauce expressed confusion at Professor Tiancheng’s words.
“What I mean is, even if you didn’t launch tonight’s attack, your target would still be achieved.” As he spoke, Professor Tiancheng couldn’t help but bend over, exposing a self-deprecating smile.
The first to react was Alice.
“There is an unresolved software issue with the system?”
“No, it’s an unresolved hardware issue,” Professor Tiancheng denied. “And it’s a very simple yet temporarily unsolvable problem.”
“The system comprises two core components: the ‘physical carrier architecture’ and the ‘master control key.’ The former is like a ‘body’ that constitutes the operational basis of the system, including the globally deployed server matrix, high-frequency computing nodes, and the data aggregation hub. The latter we refer to as the ‘key,’ which is both the key to activating the system and the essential core of the system’s existence—”
“Just like the relationship between humans and souls, without it, this entire architecture will forever be a dormant shell.”
Professor Tiancheng explained slowly.
“Moreover, this ‘key’ can no longer be copied or reproduced.”
“And this unique ‘key’ was lost yesterday.”
“Even if you did none of this, the system could not be launched tomorrow—”
“—He’s lying!” Another voice interrupted the professor’s self-deprecation.
It was the team members from Team B tonight, the buzz-cut man and the girl with twin ponytails.
“We found the matrix center where the system was stored after entering the research institute according to the plan, but someone got there before us and took the master control key,” the buzz-cut man said firmly.
“What?! How is that possible—” Professor Tiancheng reacted with surprise.
“He’s right, I was there too and can confirm that the master control key was just taken from the matrix, not more than ten minutes ago,” the girl with twin ponytails added, explaining.
“Nonsense, the matrix within the institute had long stopped operating months ago, and the key was dismantled at that time and transported to another research room to complete the final…” The more Professor Tiancheng spoke, the quieter his voice became until he stopped directly.
Because during this process, his mind thought of a certain possibility.
And the same thought also appeared in Alice’s mind.
The two exchanged a glance unbidden.
“…We’ve been set up.” Alice was the first to react.
DD Sauce and Maria exchanged glances, also thinking about what was happening.
If everyone present was telling the truth, then—
“This action is a trap; someone wants to frame us for the loss of the master control key.”
