Rover gathered her long black hair and neatly tied it into a ponytail with a hair tie.
In the mirror, her eyes were calm as still water.
“Same as always.”
Her voice was very light, yet carried an unquestionable force.
“First squeeze all the intelligence dry, then dispose of the people in a humane and harmless manner.
Pay attention to the aftermath and do not leave any traces that could invite criticism.”
“Yes.”
Shorekeeper finished recording and waited a few seconds.
Seeing no new instructions, she prepared to end the communication.
“Wait.” Rover suddenly spoke.
She picked up a very light-colored lipstick and gently applied it while facing the mirror, asking in a seemingly casual tone, “How has Camellya been these past two days?
I haven’t gone to find her.
What was her reaction?”
The other end of the line fell quiet for a moment.
Shorekeeper seemed to be retrieving data.
After a few seconds she answered, “According to schedule records and limited surveillance footage, Camellya completed the seven intelligence-gathering tasks you assigned within the past 48 hours, with an efficiency rating of excellent.”
“For the rest of the time, she mostly sunbathed on the rooftop platforms of various buildings in the Academy Metropolis, or went to the cafeteria and restaurants in the commercial district for meals.
Her behavior pattern matches her personal habits, with no obvious abnormalities.”
“However, last night.”
For the first time, there was an extremely subtle pause in Shorekeeper’s voice.
“There is a segment in her whereabouts record that cannot be completely closed.”
Rover stopped applying lipstick.
“Explain clearly.”
“Yes.
At 23:47 last night, while the Tethys System was conducting its routine inspection of Startorch Academy’s campus security monitoring network, it captured a figure suspected to be Camellya in the surveillance footage near the C Zone boys’ dormitory buildings.”
Shorekeeper’s narration was as objective as reading a report.
“The target possesses a high level of anti-reconnaissance awareness and actively avoided frontal shots from most cameras, making complete confirmation through facial recognition impossible.”
“However, based on body type, movement habits, clothing style, and the outline of suspected plant-type Resonance creations, the system determined a match rate exceeding 92%.”
Rover turned around, her back to the mirror, her gaze turning toward the campus outside the window, which was gradually growing lively.
“She entered the C Zone dormitory?”
Her voice remained steady, revealing neither joy nor anger.
“Yes.
She entered Building 7 of C Zone at 23:51 and left at 00:08 the next day.
Shorekeeper added, “Which specific room she entered and what she did inside could not be recorded with effective footage due to camera angle issues in the relevant areas.
Current information is insufficient to determine the purpose of her actions.”
C Zone Building 7.
Noah’s dormitory building.
In Rover’s mind, Noah’s abnormal behavior in the lecture hall yesterday instantly surfaced.
There was also the complex gaze of scrutiny and surprise in his eyes when he had looked at the new student representative named Chisa Kuchiba earlier.
Many fragments floated in her mind.
They could not yet piece together a complete picture, but a certain intuition was gently tapping at her nerves.
She remained silent for a few seconds.
Her fingers quickly slid across the screen of her personal terminal and pulled up today’s class schedule.
“Shorekeeper.”
She spoke, her voice betraying no emotion.
“Notify Camellya.
This afternoon, after the tenth period ends, I want to meet her on the teaching building rooftop.”
“Understood.
The instruction has been recorded and will be conveyed immediately.”
Shorekeeper responded at once.
Rover nodded.
Her fingertip hovered above the earpiece, ready to end the communication.
At the very moment she was about to press it, the scene from yesterday’s welcome party flashed through her mind once again.
Noah’s gaze tightly following Chisa’s figure – if it was not love at first sight, it was certainly not the look one gives a stranger.
Her finger stopped.
“One more thing.”
Rover spoke again, a trace of inquiry now in her tone.
“Look up the new student representative from the Department of Exostrider Engineering this year – Kuchiba Chisa.
I want all her basic information, everything that can be found in the academy archives.”
She paused.
The light in her golden pupils darkened slightly.
“If conditions allow, send a team of reliable people to Ashinohara.”
“Investigate her experiences before coming to Startorch Academy, her family background, and social connections.
Especially… whether there is anything special that might be connected to my research assistant.”
This time, Shorekeeper’s response on the other end was half a beat slower.
It was not hesitation, but more like a slight processing lag regarding the potential intent behind the complex human instructions.
“…Understood.”
The investigation team heading to Ashinohara will be assembled and depart within one day.”
“Very good.”
The communication was cut off.
The faint glow of the earpiece extinguished.
The washroom suddenly became quiet, leaving only the distant clamor of the campus morning faintly drifting in from outside the window.
Rover turned around and looked at herself in the mirror once more.
Her makeup was exquisite, her ponytail neat, the buttons of her shirt fastened meticulously, the academy uniform jacket outlining the magnificent curves of her chest, and the green bow tie properly fastened at the collar.
It was a face that could make anyone stop and stare – calm, beautiful, carrying the gentleness and detachment that comes after years of sedimentation.
Yet at this moment, on this face, she saw a trace of faint melancholy that even she could not fully decipher.
Uncontrollably, a face surfaced in her mind.
A face belonging to the young man named Noah, whose eyes seemed clear yet seemed to hide many secrets.
She gently furrowed her brows.
Why?
Why was she paying so much attention to this Chongzhou centennial remnant whose origins were a mystery, who had nothing particularly outstanding besides a decent appearance and some special Resonance aptitude?
Even the two new instructions she had just given Shorekeeper – meeting Camellya and investigating Kuchiba Chisa when traced back to their roots, were more or less related to that person.
A subtle, unfamiliar sense of irritation, like a small stone thrown into a still lake, rippled outward almost invisibly.
Rover closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
When she opened her eyes again, the slight waves in those golden pupils in the mirror had vanished, returning to the calm of a deep pool.
Indulgent thoughts, baseless speculations, unnecessary personal emotions.
She gently pressed all of these down and sealed them back into a corner of her heart.
Now was not the time to think about these things.
…
Afterward, Rover walked out of the washroom and returned to her desk.
She tucked the small portable terminal into the inner pocket of her uniform jacket and picked up the brown leather bag she had already packed containing her personal portable terminal and today’s textbooks.
She pushed open the dormitory door.
Bright light from the corridor poured in.
Rover walked with steady steps, merging into the flow of people heading toward the teaching area in the morning.
Her expression was gentle.
Occasionally she nodded slightly to classmates who passed by and cast amazed or curious glances at her.
Everything was perfect and impeccable.
Only she herself knew that beneath the calm campus life, several new threads had already been quietly pulled.
And at the other end of those threads were connected that research assistant of hers whom she was increasingly paying attention to, a guard with strange whereabouts, and a new student whose background was a mystery.
A brand new day in the Academy Metropolis had begun.
Beneath the water’s surface, undercurrents were quietly shifting.