Supernova Technology Corporation Headquarters.
Giotto arrived via ship, disembarking and heading straight for Luna's office.
"Sss!"
The mechanical door slid open.
Luna was inside, still processing data. Giotto walked straight up to her desk. "Where is Toma K?" he asked.
He had returned for the sole purpose of settling matters with Toma K. Long-range communication was, of course, a given in this era, but Toma K had shown no intention of speaking with anyone since his return. He had completely isolated himself, refusing all attempts at contact. This was the reason Luna had summoned him back.
Acknowledging Giotto's arrival without any sense of urgency, Luna methodically organized the documents in her hand before gesturing to a chair. "Sit," she said. "We'll get to that matter in a moment. First, how is the virus containment proceeding?"
As much as Giotto wanted to see Toma K, he knew the man wasn't going anywhere. The virus, on the other hand, was an ever-present and escalating threat.
However...
He questioned, "Haven't all my reports been sent to headquarters? There are records of every action I've taken."
He knew Luna wouldn't make such a rudimentary error, which left him genuinely confused about the purpose of her question.
"The reports lack sufficient detail. I need to hear the specifics from you directly," she stated. "You personally oversaw the containment on the front lines. Did anything seem out of place?"
After collating a vast amount of data, Luna had identified several inconsistencies. For instance, while the virus was widespread and primarily targeted critical systems—a significant blow in itself—it was peculiar that basic infrastructure remained completely untouched.
Hearing her lay it out, Giotto recognized the anomaly as well. Luna often called him a fool, but he wasn't truly unintelligent—he just seemed conventional when measured against her.
"You're not going to tell me what you suspect, are you? Afraid of biasing my judgment, I suppose."
"Let me think... As for problems, I encountered several, but I suspect they aren't the kind you're referring to."
Giotto fell silent, pondering for what amounted to over two hours. In this age, ten minutes of thought was the limit for organic recall; anything longer was not mere contemplation but a deep data search, a meticulous review of his own historical logs.
Eventually, Giotto isolated a suspicion he had once logged.
"You must be referring to the infrastructure. It has the weakest protection, so logically, the Flaorse Corporation should have infiltrated it by now. Yet, we've never had a single confirmed case of an infrastructure system being compromised by the virus."
"My own theory was that the Flaorse Corporation knows it would be a futile effort. Infrastructure is simple by design, not complex. If it were compromised, restoring it would be a relatively trivial matter."
"We've sent numerous inspection teams over the years, and they've always come back with nothing. If that's what's worrying you, it's a dead end."
Luna, having remained at headquarters, naturally had a less granular understanding of field-level information. She wasn't omniscient; it was impossible to process every single byte of data and personally resolve every issue.
When Giotto confirmed there were no apparent issues, Luna visibly relaxed. It was a concern that had weighed on her for decades.
"Toma K is in room Jc82193. Whatever happened, it has to be related to his wife. You'd better talk some sense into him."
"From his current state, there's no telling what drastic measures he might take."
Luna had been keeping Toma K under observation. The room's physiological monitors indicated no major physical issues.
Giotto gave a low hum of acknowledgement.
"I know."
"He has been too reckless these years, having long forgotten his original intentions. This is not a good sign."
To a casual observer, his words might have seemed like a simple remark. But Luna recognized the subtext. Giotto had likely already sensed that something was fundamentally wrong with the situation.
Giotto turned to leave the office. He reached the door and the metal panel slid open, but he froze in the threshold.
"Perhaps I overlooked one thing."
Luna looked up, her gaze questioning.
Giotto replied, "Running a deep-check on my memory logs... I just realized something. Every team sent to inspect the infrastructure... it was always the same group of people. The inspections were years apart, so I never thought much of it at the time." He paused. "But comparing the personnel files now... they've barely changed at all."
Standard protocol would never assign the same group to such a recurring inspection. You can't rule out the possibility of compromise. Even if they were clean on the first inspection, who's to say they weren't compromised on a subsequent one?
"So the concern was valid after all." Luna's hand, which had been moving to resume her work, froze mid-air.
"In truth, we've known since the rebellion of the Rusty King that traitors were likely still embedded within Supernova Technology Corporation. We've caught some over the years, but we never managed a complete purge."
"The head of personnel is N-lan. He's been part of my direct staff for over 17,000 years. I've always wondered who the mole could be, but I never once suspected him."
Many of the inquiries Luna wanted to pursue required multiple layers of clearance. If these traitors were active, they would undoubtedly go to great lengths to deceive the main servers. Once the network was fed false data, Luna would be locked out from obtaining more detailed information through conventional channels. She had used her own authority to probe this before but found no traces. Now, Giotto's single sentence had just exposed the very core of the problem.
"You want my help?" Giotto asked.
Luna shook her head.
"No. Go see Toma K. I will handle this."
She added, "I've suspected this for a long time. I already have a contingency in place."
Seeing the confidence in her expression, Giotto offered a knowing smile.
"You're still as reliable as ever!"
Luna glanced back at him.
"To think you'd say something so sentimental. It seems working in the trenches has changed you."
The familiar teasing remark made Giotto feel as if he had stepped back into a distant past, sparking a brief sense of nostalgia. The thought lingered for only a few seconds before he stepped out of the office to find the room.
He didn't bother searching for it himself; he simply flagged down a passerby to guide him.
Jc82193 was in an exceptionally secluded location. The area wasn't originally designed for residency but rather for storing high-value items. Toma K, seeking absolute peace and quiet, had retreated there, and Luna had personally overseen its renovation for him.
The journey took a full eight hours, a labyrinth of winding paths and sections entirely devoid of elevators.
"What a hellhole. I'm blasting a direct corridor through here later, I swear it."
Giotto grumbled as he walked down a brightly lit corridor toward room Jc82193. He had never been here before. Standing outside the door, he called out, "Toma. You're not going to leave me standing in the hall, are you?"
"It's painful, but this is a reality we should have accepted long ago."
"Ever since that day, our lives have not been our own!"
Previously, it had always been Toma K playing this role; he was the one who had always been more capable of acceptance. Now, their positions were reversed.
Sss—
The door slid open.
Giotto entered. The room was minuscule, barely over 20 square meters, its entirety visible in a single glance. Toma K sat in the center, his back to the door. He looked gaunt, the posture revealing the sturdy skeletal frame of the Kate race.
Giotto walked over and stood directly behind him.
"What are you brooding over?" he asked. "One woman leaves and she takes your entire soul with her?"
"The Toma K I remember wasn't that kind of man."
Toma K didn't answer, and Giotto didn't press him. The two remained in that silent standoff for sixteen days, completely motionless.
Finally, Toma K spoke first.
"You're right, I wasn't. But that was in the past, wasn't it?"
"Before love finds you, everyone scoffs at it, declaring themselves a noble bachelor. Then it arrives, and you realize you wanted it more than anything."
"Being with another person... it changes you. At least, it did for me."
"Maybe it filled a void I never knew I had, and I cherished it too much."
"So much that I forgot everything else. Forgot the horror. Ignored it all."
Toma K had truly fallen in love. Who could ever predict such things? Even a cold-blooded killer might eventually feel the warmth of life.
"That's only part of it," Giotto cut in. "I'm standing right here. What else is there to hide?" He had no desire to dissect the melodramatic, soul-crushing saga of Toma K's heart. He was here for one reason only.
"You just don't get it. You've probably never truly been in love, have you?"
Giotto gave a cold laugh.
"I've been with enough women to form a line that would take you hours to walk past."
"Let's get back to the point."
But Toma K still wanted to linger on the subject.
"Being with someone isn't the same as love."
"Without it, you can't understand this feeling."
He seemed lost in his affections, completely immersed in his own regret. His daze was pitiable, yet it was also infuriating.
Giotto's anger flared. "Stop acting like you're the only one who's ever gone through this. It just makes you look like a fool."
"Everyone feels the same way when it comes to this, unless they're completely insane."
"Everyone's love has a first time..."
"Damn it, why am I even discussing this with you? I want to know what you encountered. Stop wasting my time!"
This self-pity, this belief that your pain is unique—it wasn't a cry for help. It was a form of arrogance, a way of showing off. Why should anyone else be expected to enter your emotional state? That was the root of Giotto's anger.
Toma K actually laughed at Giotto's outburst. "So you had one too. She must have died during the surrender of the old Federation, right? I've never heard you mention her."
"It must be incredibly painful. If it weren't, you wouldn't be able to hide it so well."
"Don't get angry. I'm not mocking you."
"Emotion is the key to attacking any living thing. You know it, others know it, and the alien civilizations know it too."
"That is why... she had to die!"
Hearing this, Giotto finally understood what Toma K had been circling around to say all this time.
His voice was tight with concern. "You made contact again?"
"They came?"
"What did they say to you?"
A string of three questions, each more urgent than the last. Giotto desperately needed an answer. For all these years, he had been operating in a state of chaotic uncertainty. The silence from their alien patrons left him completely adrift, unsure of his true purpose.
The ultimate goal was clear, but the path towards it was shrouded in absolute darkness, making him feel that one wrong step would send him plunging into an abyss.
Toma K was the same. He had been wandering in a daze.
"We are the people who understand each other best."
"My thoughts are your thoughts; my experiences are your experiences."
"It wasn't a contact; it was just a small warning. It wanted to tell me that it is always there."
"It also wanted to urge me: faster, faster, even faster."
Toma K spoke like a man possessed.
These words left Giotto beyond frustrated.
"Since when did you become a riddler?"
"Give me more precise information!"
He was fraught with anxiety, but Toma K stopped at that moment. His body didn't move an inch. He seemed to have fallen into some kind of deep contemplation.
After several hours, he suddenly spoke again: "It was only at that moment that I understood what I truly am."
"Their urging felt deafening. It wasn't a sound, but their actions; they transmitted it directly to my consciousness."
"But you know, don't you? We never felt their urgency before. Why was it only then?"
"It was intentional!"
Toma K understood.
Giotto also understood through those words.
"What they truly want is... our existence?" Giotto said, unsure.
They didn't need to actually do anything; the mere fact that they existed here held meaning.
"At that moment, I knew that no matter what we do, the outcome will not change."
"From the moment we returned, everything was predestined."
"Meaningless!"
"Everything is meaningless!"
"We just need to stay here."
Toma K paused, then mentioned one more thing.
"Do you know? When we left, we first encountered a group of pirates."
"Our ship was magnificent, but it had no weapons."
"We were coerced; the pirates wanted to kill me."
"But at that time, I didn't die."
"I, who had no power to resist, did not die."
"Because that is our only value!"
Staying alive was their value.
Giotto was dazed after hearing this.
"How long have you been hungry?" He looked at Toma K's current state and, combining it with those words, thought of something.
"From the moment I returned until now."
Toma K hadn't eaten anything.
Many people in this era don't need to eat, but they need to intake energy, whether through mecha photosynthesis or using energy storage devices to continuously supply power to their biological bodies.
But Giotto knew that Toma K's fasting meant cutting off all of these sources.
He wanted to die.
He didn't die!
Giotto took a deep breath.
"So, we don't need to do anything, and death won't descend? As long as we stay here, those alien civilizations will achieve their goal?"
"How can you be so naive?"
Shaking his head, Giotto set aside some of his thoughts and leaned against the wall.
"This is the age of science. No matter how powerful those alien civilizations are, they cannot possibly achieve such things."
"They are not a Type 3 Civilization; they are merely several thousand times stronger than us."
"Do not deify them in your heart."
"They are not that terrifying!"
"Though I do not know their purpose, what they choose to manifest is certainly not their ultimate objective."
"Your suspicion is possible, but isn't this state you're in a form of surrender?"
"Our lives are held in their hands, but as long as our Civilization grows stronger, it doesn't mean there won't be a sliver of resistance."
"Perhaps everything is being calculated, but so what?"
"I don't need such conjectures. What I need is to truly see their true face."
Toma K was anxious, but had Giotto not harbored worries himself? He was bewildered, yet he always sought a direction for himself. If it couldn't be changed, then he would adapt.
Toma K, however, shook his head. "You don't understand. I'm not just being stubborn with myself."
"Their goal has already been achieved. I can feel it!"
He couldn't describe what he had encountered because he didn't know it himself, but he remembered that sensation. He trusted his intuition.
Everything done would ultimately be in vain.
...
On the other side.
After receiving Giotto's information, Luna monitored N-lan's communications over the years.
Sure enough, she made a discovery.
It wasn't an obvious one; N-lan worked very discreetly—excessively so. Luna saw many informational gaps, which meant there was data tampering occurring at the headquarters.
The virus had already spread to the headquarters.
And the fact that these viruses hadn't been detected only proved that Supernova Technology Corporation's anti-virus firewall was too weak.
Luna went directly to N-lan's office and pushed the door open.
When he saw Luna arrive, N-lan sat calmly at his desk and smiled. Then, his entire body suddenly exploded, splattering minced meat and blood all over the room.
Luna activated a protective shield to block the flesh and blood, then immediately retreated.
N-lan had committed suicide. This was definitely not the real N-lan, but merely a clone.
Clones could be traced; even if the genes were 100% identical, certain postnatal mutations served as the best unique markers that couldn't be replicated.
But N-lan's rank was too high. As the person in charge of all personnel at Supernova Technology Corporation, almost no one would ever investigate him.
If it hadn't been for Giotto's words, Luna wouldn't have suspected such a high-level executive. After all, the corporation's executives were the original pioneers who had built it from the ground up; they had no reason to do such a thing.
Stepping out of the room, Luna called out to the people in the corridor: "Cease all operations. Take all hard-copy documents and evacuate the headquarters."
"The headquarters has been compromised by a virus."
All employees mobilized instantly. While there was a hint of panic, the overall process remained relatively orderly.
Luna had no intention of searching for N-lan. The universe was too vast; who knew where he was hiding? She also didn't conduct a further search for other moles. It would be a waste of time; the virus had already erased their traces, and even with her authority, she was powerless. Authority is sometimes omnipotent, but at other times, it is not. Virology itself stood in opposition to her; the very existence of a virus was to evade her, so how could it allow her to find it easily?
Luna hurried back to her office. She threw down a [Seed].
The [Seed] shattered, and the cells inside divided rapidly, growing into a white Backpack Beast.
"Devour everything here."
She commanded. The Backpack Beast's intelligence had developed over generations and was now equivalent to that of an ordinary child. This wasn't a comparison like that of a dog or a chimpanzee to a human; the Backpack Beast possessed true intelligence, including the ability to engage in simple communication.
The white body of the Backpack Beast rapidly filled the room, absorbing everything inside. Then, using its fluid-like body, it squeezed out of the room and followed the crowd down the corridor.
Luna didn't worry about it further but contacted Giotto.
Giotto had just finished his conversation with Toma K. His emotions hadn't quite settled, but seeing it was a call from Luna, he chose to answer.
"Are you finished talking?" Luna asked, her tone not particularly urgent.
Giotto hummed in affirmation.
"I suspect he won't be snapping out of it anytime soon."
Toma K remained stubborn. His thoughts had diverged subtly from Giotto's. Fundamentally, Giotto had already accepted his reality; though he had experienced bewilderment, it wasn't as profound as Toma K's. Thus, Giotto could adapt quickly, whereas Toma K was buried deeper in his thoughts and had developed other issues, making him doubt his own sense of meaning.
"He won't snap out of it?"
"Whether he does or not, he has to come with us. Take Toma K and go; we have to leave the headquarters."
"When I found N-lan, he self-destructed. I didn't get any answers, but according to my judgment, he must have activated the virus at the headquarters. No one knows what the main server will turn into."
"I can restrict it a bit, but not for too long; this place will be destroyed."
Giotto was shocked to hear this. The situation had actually become this serious.
"What about the infrastructure...?"
"It's probably about the same; it's just been deceiving our eyes. Afterwards, I will issue a proclamation to the entire star nation. Everyone evacuates Star City and moves towards the M36 Star Cluster."
Luna judged the star nation to be "critically ill." She was an expert in research by nature; she naturally wouldn't make the mistake of relying on luck. So her decision was to assume the worst-case scenario.
"You mean to abandon the star nation?"
Luna's decision struck Giotto as overly bold. The consequence of doing so would be having no retreat route. If anything went wrong on the front lines, all Rusty Star Nation citizens aboard the warships would be lost.
"I think this is still too risky. Such a decision shouldn't be made by you."
Giotto thought Luna had lost some of her rationality. Although the infrastructure was infected with a virus, the situation was not yet irreversible. Making this decision now was both hasty and insane.
"This is a calm and decisive judgment."
"After we defeat the Ynun Star Nation, we will plan a large-scale migration, integrating Rusty citizens with Ynun Star Nation citizens."
"This is merely an acceleration of that process. We'll simply change direction, and then some people can move back later."
"Once we destroy the Flaorse Corporation."
Luna was overly confident. She had calculated everything in advance.
This was Luna's consistent style, but Giotto always felt that Luna would eventually fall flat on her face at some point in the future.
Previous decisions Luna had made, though grand, were not as significant as this one. This concerned the fate of the entire Rusty Star Nation.
"I think we still need to wait a bit."
Giotto, uncharacteristically, argued with Luna twice.
But Luna remained unmoved.
"There is no reason to wait. We will win. If the front lines don't win, our rear might hold out for a few more centuries, but ultimately, we will still be defeated. So, waiting is meaningless."
"This will only waste our energy on virus control. To be honest, these past few years, I've become a bit annoyed."
Not many things could annoy Luna, but the troublesome virus was difficult to resolve and held no necessity for further study.
Modern network viruses are unlike computer viruses of the past.
Modern viruses can evolve; they increase their complexity, making mere learning useless. Viruses are ever-changing, and you cannot memorize all virus types and their mutation patterns.
The method for eliminating viruses is actually computational: calculating faster than the virus, and accurately predicting its developmental trends. This is the thinking behind eradicating modern viruses.
Therefore, virology is not a field that can be "learned" in the traditional sense.
Luna found no joy in it.
Before, she might have persevered, seeing the potential for suppression or eradication. But upon discovering that the Flaorse Corporation was preparing a major move, she unhesitatingly abandoned her original path.
Giotto was not a person daring enough to try new things. He didn't want to break out of his comfort zone. His inner resistance made him contradict Luna.
But it wasn't correct.
Sensing Luna's resolve, Giotto had nothing more to say, because he wasn't sure if what he was doing was right.
This stemmed from his lack of confidence.
Money and power do not necessarily make one confident. Only by consistently doing things, and each time being correct, with positive feedback from the outside world, can one become confident.
Luna's confidence was fully formed because she single-handedly created the current human civilization. Most of her past decisions were correct.
After saying all this.
Luna urged Giotto to hurry.
And after she hung up the communication, a message arrived from the M36 Star Cluster.