5 5 301 Collins throws the thick stack of files into the air before lying on the black walnut table in the study, his arms and legs stretched like a snow angel.
6 6 301 Collins The stuff we made with Luna's data is nothing but an empty shell. 1
7 7 301 Collins That thing won't help us evolve, not even for a bit. 1
8 8 203 1 0.25 400
9 9 201 2 500337 -400
10 10 301 1 Rebecca Is that so? All the data entries from the reports I've seen have suggested that it's better than any frame in existence. 2
11 11 204 1
12 12 301 Collins USE—LESS. 1
13 13 301 With his sluggish tone, Collins sits up from the desk, loosening his tie and looking at the person reporting to him.
14 14 301 Collins I've never wanted another powerful Construct. 1
15 15 301 Collins What I want is to get humanity to evolve closer to the Ascendants. 1
16 16 301 Collins Don't you get it? If a Construct is an improvement on a human's flesh and bones, then an Ascendant is an extraordinary leap of progress. 1
17 17 301 Collins And that possibility of evolution, the chance to free humanity from its limitations of the last few hundreds of millennia, is hidden inside that agent. 1
18 18 301 Collins It is how we give humanity more leverage on this planet—no, in this universe. 1
19 19 204 2 4
20 20 301 Rebecca It's clearly not something we can decipher for now. 2
21 21 301 Collins Perhaps. 1
22 22 301 Collins But as long as we have Luna with us, we will figure out a way to unlock this treasure trove. 1
23 23 301 Rebecca See, I've been meaning to ask you—are you not avoiding saying that name anymore? 2
24 24 301 Collins That's not necessary with you. 1
25 25 301 Collins After all, we're tentative partners during this exciting journey of opening a treasure trove. 1
26 26 301 Rebecca Sigh... 2
27 27 301 Collins What? You don't seem excited at all. 1
28 28 301 Rebecca Because this is not the time. Based on our eyes and ears in the Parliament, our situation is quite dire currently. We won't be able to touch the commandant for a while. 2
29 29 301 Collins That's fine. Don't you think this whole ordeal is one of the gifts of the trove as well? 1
30 30 301 Collins That feeling when you have the treasure chest in your hands, but not a single thing you do will budge it. The anxiety and thrill when you can't even find the keyhole. 1
31 31 204 1 14
32 32 301 Collins As if ants and insects are crawling and gnawing all over your body, or being engulfed by fire... Hahaha... 1
33 33 301 Collins cries a dramatic tear, it gliding along his wrinkles and the two hands covering his chest, leaving a wet mark on his dark-colored suit.
34 34 301 Collins It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I'm telling you, because you will know that the wait is worth it. You'll know that once you open that chest, you will gain riches that can topple the world. 1
35 35 301 Rebecca But we've lost the only one who can unlock that chest, and this key is being protected by the Parliament right now. 2
36 36 301 Rebecca And you don't look distressed at all. 2
37 37 204 1 7
38 38 301 Collins Ouch. How can you say that about me? 1
39 39 301 Collins I'm one of those shepherds that care about their herd, after all. 1
40 40 301 Rebecca One of those that carry a butcher knife, I suppose. 2
41 41 204 1
42 42 301 Collins Haha! Regardless, charging into a herd of sheep to snatch one is just going to cause us trouble. 1
43 43 301 Collins One day, our dear 【kuroname】 will find a way back into our sack. 1
44 44 301 Collins One day. 1
45 45 301 Collins chews over his words, his gaze traveling past Rebecca into the distance.
46 46 301 Rebecca How about waiting for that day with a little class? 2
47 47 301 Collins Hahaha, of course. 1
48 48 301 AniZhuanchangBegin Collins takes his time to jump off the table, taking a bow in a way he thinks elegant, before heading to a compartment to the side.
49 49 401 2 753
50 50 301 AniZhuanchangEnd A few moments later, he steps out with a new suit that looks identical to his old one.
51 51 301 Rebecca Do you only have one style of suit? 2
52 52 301 Collins Clothes are just cages of morality that humanity locks themselves in. 1
53 53 301 Collins All it does is distinguish us from the monkeys in the zoos, making us look more civilized. 1
54 54 301 Collins Would you care about what your cage looks like? 1
55 55 301 Rebecca I can't agree with that. 2
56 56 301 Collins That's alright. I was just expressing my opinions, not looking for approval. 1
57 57 301 Collins Everyone expresses themselves with their eyes, their actions, and their posture as long as they live. I simply choose to express myself with words. 1
58 58 301 Collins How about you? What do you think? 1
59 59 301 Rebecca What do I think about what? 2
60 60 301 Collins This "floating treasure" the Parliament is hiding. 1
61 61 301 Rebecca I'm still not sure what it is, but thanks to what you did, the Parliament has retrieved quite a number of things. 2
62 62 301 Collins Oooh, loots! 1
63 63 301 Collins closes his eyes, his figure gently tapping on his temple.
64 64 204 1 7
65 65 301 1 Collins How dare you, Nicky... 1
66 66 301 Collins Now I'm even more eager to see what you will reap. Oh, the anticipation! 1
67 67 204 1
68 68 301 Collins I'll leave it up to you, our dear socialite, the time we collect the fruit of their labor. 1
69 69 301 Collins Everything is at your disposal; nothing is off the table. I'll wait for your good news. 1
70 70 301 Rebecca ... 2
71 71 203 1 0.25 800
72 72 202 1 1
73 73 203 2 0.25
74 74 301 Collins laughs as he pushes open the door and walks away, leaving Rebecca alone in the study.
75 75 301 She takes a look at the terminal Collins has left on the desk. The monitor keeps flickering as it refreshes the different confidential journals the Science Council has submitted to the Parliament.
76 76 301 Rebecca Seriously? He's still the same after all these years. 2
77 78 301 AniZhuanchangBegin Shaking her head, Rebecca grabs the terminal from the desk and departs this opulent room.
86 86 301 Hassen and Nikola have been silent like this for the last ten minutes as they read through the content in the terminal.
87 87 301 They read it over and over, making sure that they had not skipped even a single footnote nor misinterpreted the meaning of any single line.
88 88 202 1 2 1
89 89 201 1 500352
90 90 301 1 Hilda Due to the clearance level required, we have monitored the entire process of researching the Omega File. 1
91 91 301 Hilda During the process, the Science Council followed the experiment approaches recorded in the Omega File. 1
92 92 301 Hilda Combining the research data Lustrous and the rest left behind, they were making attempts non-stop day and night. 1
93 93 301 Hilda Eventually, they reproduced the phenomenon the Atlantis researchers observed. 1
94 94 201 1 500011
95 95 301 1 Hassen That means... the Punishing Virus can indeed be "absorbed"... 1
96 96 202 1 1
97 97 301 Hassen can feel his voice shaking as he says it out loud.
98 98 301 Everyone in the room understands what that represents.
99 99 301 The Punishing Virus, the bane of humanity's exile from Earth, is now something that can be eliminated.
100 100 301 This long, drawn-out war has finally seen a hopeful glimpse of victory. Humans finally have a chance to reclaim Earth.
101 101 301 And the prices paid in the past have not been in vain. All those sacrifices can finally see redemptions.
102 102 201 1 500352
103 103 301 1 Hilda Atlantis has passed us a torch of hope, and its flame will light the fire that burns away the Punishing Virus on our planet. 1
104 104 201 1 500012
105 105 301 1 Nikola (Exhales) ... 1
106 106 301 Nikola also expresses a hint of being moved. He closes his eyes slowly, remembering all the little things from the past.
107 107 301 Exhaling a deep breath, he breaks the shock and silence in the Parliament room with his resounding voice.
108 108 301 Nikola We know the how, and we can see the finish line. 1
109 109 301 Nikola We don't have any reason to waste time here, then. 1
110 110 201 1 500011
111 111 301 1 Hassen Exactly. The Omega File is humanity's treasure. Move the Science Council's resource distribution to the highest level, and prioritize all their needs. 1
112 112 301 Hassen The moment we develop the devices that can absorb the Punishing Virus, humanity will have their strongest weapons to end this war. 1
113 113 301 After Hassen issues his command, Nikola's expression returns to his usual coldness.
114 114 201 1 500352
115 115 301 1 Hilda Mr. President, don't forget that making a move this big will draw the bloodthirsty sharks lurking underneath. 1
116 116 201 1 500012
117 117 301 1 Nikola Kurono wants our research, but we also want their data. 1
118 118 204 1 13
119 119 301 Nikola As long as we put on the proper defenses and take the right steps, we can use this opportunity to figure out what Kurono has discovered behind our backs. 1
120 120 301 Nikola So for our upcoming operation, we just have to... 1
121 121 201 1 500352
122 122 301 AniZhuanchangBegin 1 Hilda Play along. 1
129 129 301 AniZhuanchangEnd 1 Hassen That's about it. The details have been sent to your terminal. 1
130 130 301 Hassen I'm sorry to get you involved in our conflict with the extra requests. 1
131 131 301 Asimov That's fine. I just have to make some adjustments to the encryption protocol, and you will have what you need. 2
132 132 301 Asimov The coordinates of the Omega File will now change every millisecond, and the data recorded inside is encrypted every minute. 2
133 133 301 Asimov With all these encryptions overlapping each other, Kurono would have to decrypt tens of thousands of times after just a day if they want to learn anything from it. 2
134 134 301 Asimov If they do decrypt it, the virus I planted inside will trigger, and data from the Kurono network will be sent to a set of data chips on my end. 2
135 135 401 2 1515
136 136 301 Asimov speaks fast, but he codes even faster. A series of coding commands appears on the monitor soon before he eventually presses the "enter" key with force.
137 137 301 Asimov You've got what you need. 2
138 138 301 Asimov has not stopped typing even when he speaks. To him, nothing can interrupt his research on the Omega File now.
139 139 301 Asimov But in order to progress on the actual application of the Omega File, we need more Punishing Virus samples to study. 2
140 140 301 Hassen I see. Knowing the enemy is the only way to make sure we don't miss anything. 1
141 141 301 Asimov Apart from known Corrupted and Ascendants, we also need data from the Hetero-Creatures and the Hetero-Hive Mother. Given the Polyphage is beyond salvaging, the Hetero-Hive Mother remains we got from the sewage are far from enough. 2
142 142 301 Hassen Those remains have all been transferred to the Science Council. I'm afraid we can't give you more. 1
143 143 201 1 500352 -500
144 144 301 1 Hilda If we don't have it, we'll just find it. 1
145 145 301 Hilda waves the miniature terminal in her hand.
146 146 301 Hilda This is a terminal Asimov sent to the Control Court. Allow me to explain the rest. 1
147 147 301 Hilda It records the abnormal data captured by the Inver-Device from the Glory frame. 1
148 148 301 Hilda During the investigation, the Science Council determined that this abnormal Punishing Virus overload stemmed from the fight between Chrome and the Hive Mother. 1
149 149 301 Hilda During the fight, the Hive Mother maintained a faint connection with an entity beyond the sewage system. That connection was the reason Chrome's Inver-Device overloaded when it shouldn't have. 1
150 150 301 Hilda A similar connection has existed before between the Polyphage and the Pterygota Queen. 1
151 151 301 Hilda Damaging one affects the other, and the wounded side will send out an alert to the surviving side in a way to accumulate experience. Like a defensive mechanism a tribe develops to make sure of its survival. 1
152 152 301 Hilda To know to do that means the Hetero-Creatures have evolved to a fairly high level of intelligence. 1
153 153 301 Hilda The abnormal behavior of Chrome's Inver-Device gave us the data to support that idea. There may be more than one Hetero-Hive Mother... or, frankly put, having multiple bodies is a shared characteristic of all Hetero-Creatures. 1
154 154 301 Hilda The Punishing Virus emulates Earth's ecosystem to establish its own tree of life. 1
155 155 301 Hilda Every branch, every leaf on that tree represents the same Hetero-Creature species at different levels of evolution. 1
156 156 201 1 500011 -500
157 157 301 1 Hassen The Task Force has indeed mentioned in their record that Vonnegut said that Hetero-Hive Mother was just a "test subject." 1
158 158 301 Asimov Then we can deduce that there is a "completed" or "most evolved" Hetero-Hive Mother out there, and it's hidden somewhere on the surface. 2
159 159 301 Hassen ... 1
160 160 301 Hassen I see. We'll send our forces to search for data on that advanced subject. 1
168 168 301 Hassen waves his hand, and the image of the Babylonia hangar appears in the middle of the Parliament.
169 169 301 A massive number of Task Forces have already gathered before the hangar, all prepared to march for Earth before the conversation in the Parliament even started, ready to send their blades across the enemies' throats.
170 170 301 Right now, all they are waiting for is an order to turn the safety off. That order is in the hands of the Parliament, locked and loaded.
171 171 301 Asimov understands that this is the Parliament showing how much they value the Omega File.
177 177 301 He turns his gaze away from the projection, only to notice a pink-haired Construct in the scene.
178 178 301 She stands on a stage, observing the Constructs gathered before the hangar, and compare them with the names on the list in her hand.
179 179 301 The icon of the Control Court on her body establishes her identity and the role she has there.
180 180 301 As the scene of the hangar is recorded and projected to the Parliament Hall, this smiling, pink-haired Construct looks directly at the camera.
191 191 301 Asimov feels that she is not looking at the camera. Instead, her gaze crosses the countless cables and reaches the Parliament, or maybe somewhere even further.
192 192 301 The thought bemuses Asimov. By the time he tries to confirm his feelings, the pink-haired Construct has already finished her inspection and left the hangar.
