After finishing her conversation with the Firebearer, Yvette walked to the window and saw the golden glow of sunset cutting through the alleys of Old Town like sharp blades. Only after ten minutes, when dark clouds rolled across the sky, were the last rays finally blocked.
She found the situation increasingly intriguing. Before, she had thought the eight corporations all controlled things similar to the Divine Shedding. But now it turned out that only the three super-corporations on the Blacktide Continent possessed that kind of thing. On the Silvermirror Continent—at least at Skyvault Technology—the artifact was something else entirely.
So that was why Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, Lin-trans Biotech, and Blacktide Corporation all leaned toward biotechnology, while Skyvault Technology, and indeed all of Silvermirror, leaned toward mechanical and intelligent technologies?
Because in essence, none of them were “developing”—they were… acquiring? Or inheriting?
No wonder the Firestealer Program could grant mechanical golems self-awareness, giving rise to Spirit Entities.
Just as inexplicable aberration powers stemmed from the Divine Shedding, if the mechanical race’s mysterious Spirits originated from that enigmatic Core, then at least there was finally a thread to follow.
After digesting the intelligence from the Firebearer, some time later Yvette heard a knock at the door. Judging from the sound, Firefly had gone to fetch Lianna back.
This Old Town rental was an aged reinforced-concrete apartment. The staircases were nothing but rusted iron, and of course there was no smart lock—only a classic mechanical one.
Yvette opened the door to find Lianna in a blue sailor-style middle school uniform, standing smartly at the entrance. On her chest gleamed a cross-shaped blue brooch. Once inside, Lianna changed shoes and at once pulled another identical brooch from her pocket, handing it to Yvette.
Firefly shook its screen “head” innocently.
“Louisa gave it to me,” Lianna said. “She said it’s called the Star of Hope. I told her I had an older sister and asked if I could have one more. She gave me another.”
“That little girl you saved?” Yvette asked.
After enrolling Lianna in Lingman Academy’s middle school as a transfer student, Yvette had worried whether the girl could blend in. Unlike those classmates, mostly children of wealthy families, Lianna was an orphan—and a wanted fugitive. Her mindset would surely differ from her peers.
And indeed, for days she made no friends. Though her looks attracted some boys, Lianna found them childish and annoying. Follow current novels on novel fire.net
But yesterday things changed. In the middle school, Lianna saw a group of girls bullying a classmate named Louisa. Though not in her class, she immediately stepped in and rescued the girl.
So today the girl brought Lianna a gift. If nothing went wrong, the two would likely become friends in time.
Beaming, Lianna asked, “Sis, do you know what the Star of Hope is?”
Yvette shook her head, guessing it must be some anime or idol IP.
“It’s the Southern Cross, hehe!” Seeing Yvette didn’t understand, Lianna perked up, proudly beginning to explain.
After listening to her, Yvette realized Louisa was an amateur astronomy enthusiast.
In the last century of the Origin Civilization, after discovering how barren the Origin Star System was, a wave of despair swept the space industry. With nothing in the system to serve as stepping stones, what reason did they have to explore space?
It was like Earth in her past life: to leave the atmosphere, there had to be a reason—colonizing Mars, harvesting Europa’s water, Titan’s methane and ethane lakes. Without such “rewards,” what incentive was there?
But the Origin Star System truly had nothing.
Thus, even today, Origin Civilization’s space exploration remained shallow—basically limited to things like lunar tourism.
Still, a century ago, the aerospace community hadn’t given up.
Working with astronomers, they watched the skies day after day, seeking a springboard out of the Origin Star System. They noticed a particular planet in the Southern Cross Star System. At first just a string of alphanumeric codes, it was later named “Southern Cross” for convenience.
Observations showed the blue planet bore no sign of life, yet had a very high chance of being habitable, rich in water. If the Origin Civilization were to leave its system, Southern Cross would be the closest first colony point.
They hyped Southern Cross as the Hope Star—the hope of the future.
Over the following century, Southern Cross became part of science fiction culture. Many mainstream novels told stories of landing there, much like Earthlings writing of Mars.
Unfortunately, it all stayed on paper. Even the nearest star system was still unimaginably far. With current technology, reaching it would take millennia—utterly unrealistic.
Only probes had some chance. In the mid-20th century, the New Eden Union and the Future Coalition ran a space race, launching many payloads toward Southern Cross. If nothing went wrong, then in a few more decades perhaps a probe would land, maybe even beam back images.
By then, that little Louisa girl would be in her forties or fifties. Times would change. Would she still love astronomy? Would she be excited to see those pictures?
I hope the apocalypse hasn’t come by then, Yvette thought silently. She pinned the blue brooch on her chest and said, “Thank your friend for me.”
“Can I invite her over to our place?” Lianna asked.
“No—this place isn’t safe. But you can go to her house, if she invites you,” Yvette said.
Lianna nodded obediently.
For the next week, Lianna went to school each day escorted by Firefly.
As a transfer student, she made no friends in her class. Only Louisa from another class would eat lunch with her, chatting about the usual things girls their age liked—anime, games, and so on.
She also drew cold shoulders from some girl cliques, likely because she had defended Louisa.
But to Lianna, who had wandered for years, such petty hostility was toothless. Deep down, she never felt she belonged with her classmates. If anything, she subconsciously saw herself as a monster wearing human skin. Studying, attending classes, doing homework—all just camouflage to blend into human society.
The only one she truly saw as her own kind was the Yvette of the past—now her sister.
Meanwhile, Yvette not only spent her days auditing classes at Jarde University and Lingman University, both ranked among the global top 30, she also began investigating the task entrusted to her by the Firebearer.
She discovered that information on Project Codename: Life was a simple online search away. Even more surprising—it was a massive online co-op game, nearly ready for open beta, with countless testers and communities already active.
This was hardly surprising. Besides military industry, Gravity Group monopolized global entertainment—anime, films, games, music, all bore its mark.
But why was Lingman Corporation collaborating with Gravity Group on this project? What was the deeper meaning behind it?
Yvette looked further into the project’s location and found it was in Jarde City itself, inside the Lingman Industrial Park, housed in its own building right next to Lingman’s headquarters.
That meant if her infiltration was discovered, she might face Lingman’s strongest armed forces—or even the company’s chief mage.
It wouldn’t kill her, but even a small mistake could expose her identity. Then Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, Lin-trans Biotech, the Holy Spirit Sect, the New Eden Union, and other Blacktide forces would surely catch her scent.