Upon hearing m3’s words, a flicker of comprehension passed through Perlica’s eyes.
The Administrator’s sudden departure had indeed caught every one of them flat-footed, and her own choice to clamp down on the news had not been wrong — but perhaps she shouldn’t have been thinking she could rely on Endfield’s strength alone.
The footprints the Administrator had left across Talos II were too numerous to count, and the most widely-known among them all was the very fact that she had been the one to bring about the conclusion of the «Belt Pact», truly uniting the humans on Talos II together.
And the three major powers who had taken the lead at the time — every single one of them had countless tightly-tangled connections to the Administrator.
“We could try going to the people of the HSA for help first.”
The HSA — full name, the Hongshan Science Academy Affiliated to the Tianshi Court of Greater Yan — was, among the three giants of the Civilization Belt, primarily in charge of scientific research and agriculture.
They had been deeply rooted in the study of Talos II’s environment and of the legacies of the pre-civilization, almost single-handedly meeting both the Belt’s food supply and its cutting-edge research demands.
Back in the day, the HSA had also poured considerable effort into the construction of the Dijiang as well as the research on the Protocol Core — it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that, apart from Endfield Industries itself, they were the people who knew the most, and the deepest, about the Administrator’s research.
Looked at this way, the HSA was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most appropriate power for them to send a call for help to at this point.
“On top of that, there are quite a few people in the HSA who used to be extremely close with the Administrator back in those days — odds are very good that they won’t refuse to help.”
“Mm — I understand.” Perlica gave a nod.
“I’ll go and start preparing for the cooperation arrangements with the HSA right away.”
“Hold on hold on hold on hold on…”
Watching as Perlica was on the verge of charging off in a tearing hurry, m3 let out a string of restraining noises.
“Don’t be in such a rush.
First, get a clean handle on the situation as we currently understand it, and at the same time make proper preparations for the cooperation that’s coming.
Most importantly of all — keep your mental state steady.”
Perlica was briefly stunned, but very quickly grasped what m3 was getting at.
“Sorry…”
Ever since she had become Overseer, it had been a very long time since she had let herself slip like this.
m3 was right — she shouldn’t be flying into a panic just because the Administrator had left.
The history of Talos II had proven, time and time again, just how reliable the Administrator was.
This departure of hers, perhaps, was also part of the Administrator’s plan…
Perlica lightly pressed a hand to her forehead and, very quickly, got her emotions back in order — and it was right at this moment that she suddenly noticed a pair of dragon-horns sticking up from behind a far-off operations console.
“…”
“m3 — let’s continue this conversation later.”
“No problem.”
After giving m3 a nod, Perlica took the initiative to end the call.
After turning around and walking some distance away from the Central Control Hub, she silently doubled back, heading straight for that operations console.
‘No…
no more sound?
Perlica probably left, right?’ This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Behind the console, Chen Qianyu was clamping both hands tightly over her own mouth, not daring to release so much as a single breath, terrified of being discovered hiding in this spot.
Even though, because of the distance, she hadn’t quite caught Perlica and m3’s conversation clearly, nor entirely understood it, there was one thing she was certain about — she had, in all likelihood, just overheard some piece of massive news.
And on top of that, it was massive news related to Endfield, the HSA, and even that legendary Administrator everyone had only ever heard tell of.
Originally, she’d only come over to ask Perlica about something concerning her own situation — who could’ve predicted she’d end up overhearing some earth-shattering secret of this caliber?
This couldn’t be some incredibly heavyweight classified intel, could it?
She wasn’t going to have her entire Endfield Industries career come to an end before her very first assignment had even started, was she?
“Chen Qianyu!
You stepped into my office with your left foot first just now, didn’t you?!
You’re fired!”
In the Dragonborn girl’s ears, Perlica’s reprimanding voice already seemed to be ringing out — along with the looming fact that she was about to refresh her own personal record for fastest job change yet again.
Only, this time, it wouldn’t be her leaving on her own — it would be a genuine, full-fledged firing.
“Chen…”
Perlica’s voice rang in her ears once more.
Chen Qianyu kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut, refusing to lift her head, her tone carrying the weight of one bidding the world farewell.
“I’m sorry, Perlica.
I’ve failed your trust.”
“I know the rules.
I’ll be leaving the Dijiang right now.”
With that, Chen Qianyu pulled the Protocol Synchronizer off her wrist and, with stern resolve in every step, marched toward the door.
Until Perlica’s voice rang out again — only this time, her tone was overflowing with helpless resignation.
“Chen — first of all, I have absolutely no idea where you heard these ‘rules’ of yours…”
“And secondly — by taking off your Protocol Synchronizer, are you planning to jump off the Dijiang?
Quick reminder: the Dijiang is a full thirty-six thousand kilometers above the surface of Talos II.”
“Thirty-six thousand kilometers…” Chen Qianyu stared at the Perlica of her own imagining, her eyes going wide on the spot.
“From a height like that, wouldn’t even I die from jumping?”
Guess she couldn’t just…
Wait — no!!
Chen Qianyu suddenly whipped her head back around, looking at that Liberi girl standing just a few steps away from her.
This absolutely could not be her imagination — because there was no way at all an imaginary Perlica could know the distance between the Dijiang and Talos II!
“It’s the kind of hour where you really ought to be heading back to rest by now, but I’m going to have to trouble you to make a quick stop by my office first, Chen.”
“R…
roger that.”
Chen Qianyu nodded heavily — wilted like a frost-stricken eggplant, she followed weakly and listlessly along behind Perlica as she made her way out.
“Your name is Saito, a Catastrophe Messenger and traveling merchant from Shangshu in Yan.
Out of curiosity about the environment of the Ursus Frozen Plains, you’ll be staying in these parts for some time…”
“All right — now you repeat it back.”
The next day, at the main gate of the No.
7 Mining Site, the Administrator was helping Saito load up the snowmobile with assorted ‘merchandise’ while reading aloud the temporary persona she had drafted up for him the night before, drilling it deeper into his head with every repetition.
“My name is Saito, I am a…” Saito instinctively played along — only, after barely getting through a line or two, he came to a halt.
“Do we really have to be this thorough about all this?”
“Thorough where, exactly?”
The Administrator instinctively shot back.
The flimsy backstory Saito had cobbled together earlier had been so riddled with gaping holes you could’ve driven a truck through it — what kind of decent person came to do business in a godforsaken hole like this?
After a great deal of deliberation, she’d had no choice but to slap a Catastrophe Messenger patch over the whole identity.
As it happened, she’d done a bit of cursory research on this very subject herself.
With the Protocol Synchronizer on hand, Saito wouldn’t end up blowing his cover the second he opened his mouth.
“What I mean is — do we really have to go to all this trouble?”
“Of course we do.
Based on what you described earlier, that town doesn’t sound at all like just some remote little village.”
At the time, Saito had trailed those two all the way to the outskirts of that town.
The settlement was much larger than he had imagined — at a glance, there were at least a few dozen people there, and even the basic infrastructure was thoroughly well-developed.
For the Frozen Plains, this could absolutely be counted as a fairly large-scale human gathering.
To develop a gathering on this kind of scale in a place like this — to claim there wasn’t some Ursus backing behind it was something the Administrator was absolutely never going to buy.
This was, in all likelihood, the sort of town that would be marked on official Ursus maps.
“Given that, there’s a very high chance of running into officials.”
And when that time came, this identity of his would come in handy.
____
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