Several days later, Bulo arrived in Berlin within the Eurasian territory.
In an expansive, luxurious villa nestled in the suburbs of Berlin, Bulo handed over an intact briefcase to an elderly butler with snow-white hair and deeply wrinkled features.
Hours later, the old butler gently knocked twice on the wooden door of the villa's study.
"Come in."
A low, elegant woman's voice responded from within.
The butler entered and placed a file on the desk. "Mrs. Liddes, the retrieved data has been analyzed."
Her long blue hair was elegantly coiled at the back of her head, and behind gold-rimmed glasses, sharp eyes gleamed. She set down the book she was reading and picked up the file, flipping through its contents.
The document was only a few pages thick. While the first page contained complete information, the subsequent pages were heavily annotated in red ink with words like "missing," "unknown," and "unconfirmed."
After a moment, she spoke calmly, "Vitt failed?"
"Yes. The returned Storage Device was missing its most crucial component, making data recovery difficult. A significant portion of the information was irreparably damaged due to missing context."
"What exactly happened? Why did he fail this time?"
"We've contacted Vitt. After repeated verification, he confirmed that a Storage Device was missing from the Data Center. It seems his objective was exposed."
A faint smile curled at the corner of Mrs. Liddes' lips as her slender fingers danced across the keyboard. A translucent screen displayed an array of detailed data.
"Tell Vitt not to be disheartened. This was an unexpected gain to begin with. The complete 'Artificial Womb' data alone makes it worthwhile."
Her sharp eyes swiftly scanned the fragmented, incoherent data on the screen when suddenly, her fingers froze.
Several keywords caught her attention—Ultimate, Coordinator, three, death, escape.
Mrs. Liddes straightened in her seat, her hands flying across the keyboard as she rapidly searched and reviewed the fragmented data. Gradually, her smile widened.
From GARMR&D's official list of researchers, she noticed a recurring signature in the fragmented data—Ulen Hibiki.
Upon retrieving Ulen Hibiki's profile from her own database, the first thing that stood out was the marked "Ultimate Coordinator Project."
"It seems Ulen Hibiki's research was a success."
Mrs. Liddes sighed as she observed the image of a confident Ulen Hibiki standing at a podium in the data. She then turned to the butler and instructed, "The Ultimate Coordinator Project yielded three successful test subjects. Have our people prioritize investigating them. If we can capture even one, it would be a trump card for our Clan."
"One of the three is listed as deceased—likely due to tampered records. Given Ulen Hibiki's personality, a dead subject wouldn't be counted as a success. Have them look into it, but don't push too hard."
"Scattered records mention an escape incident at the research institute. Focus the investigation on this—first verify its authenticity. If it proves unrelated to the Ultimate Coordinator, don't waste further effort."
"Assign someone to monitor Zhou Hanxiang. The last Ultimate Coordinator must be connected to her. People don't act without reason—since she destroyed the records, it means there was something in them she wanted to keep hidden."
"Zhou Hanxiang, Zhou Hanxiang... East Asian..." she murmured softly, sifting through streams of information in her mind.
Suddenly, a long-forgotten detail surfaced. Lydis pulled up the database on East Asian officials, searching for those with the surname Zhou, then cross-referencing their appearances.
Soon, she pinpointed Zhou Junguo. Not long after, she uncovered Zhou Hanxiang's records.
Among the investigators' notes, Lydis found the key detail—at 16, she suffered a major accident that left her infertile.
Combining this with artificial womb technology, it struck her: a high-ranking official's daughter, choosing to work at a research institute instead of living comfortably at home... "The Ultimate Coordinator is Zhou Hanxiang's child..."
Lydis paused, then sighed. "She is Zhou Junguo's daughter after all. Just observe her—no unnecessary actions. Prioritize the other two cases first."
Tap tap tap.
A faint knock interrupted her. Lydis fell silent, signaling the elderly butler with a glance.
The old man's wrinkled face softened into a kindly smile as he tiptoed to the door and suddenly swung it open.
Outside, a blue-haired girl under ten, dressed in a white dress, froze mid-knock.
Behind her, an identical blue-haired girl darted forward, scampering on tiny feet before clinging to Lydis's leg.
"Mommy~"
Lydis's sharp gaze softened. She stroked the girl's hair. "Be good, Maltis. Mommy's busy. Go play with your sister Mattias."
Maltis's eyes dimmed. Her arms drooped limply as she slumped against Lydis's leg, unmoving. Mattias quickly stepped in, scooping her up from behind.
"Come on, I'll play with you."
"No! I want Mommy to play!"
"Be good. I'll teach you a new game."
The butler suddenly spoke up. "Madam, I'll handle the arrangements."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and strode away.
Maltis immediately wriggled free from Mattias's grasp and clung to Lydis again, gazing up with wide, pleading eyes. "Mommy~"
Lydis removed her glasses with a gentle smile. "Just for a little while."
Beside them, Mattias's lips curled faintly.
...
Days earlier, Zhou Tianming's shuttle approached the Junk Guild's satellite—Junk Star.
Through the window, his first impression lived up to the name.
It was a dilapidated, outdated satellite, roughly spherical, its surface patched haphazardly with mismatched metal scraps.
The sight shook his confidence. "Surely the Junk Dealers from '55 aren't this desperate..." he muttered.
The shuttle drew closer, entering through an opening on the satellite's surface. Inside the passageway, exposed metal frameworks jutted chaotically in all directions.
After a while, the space suddenly opened up, revealing a circular area with numerous small spacecraft docked in their designated positions.
The clean and orderly environment restored Zhou Tianming's somewhat improved opinion of the Junk Dealers.
The shuttle docked in an empty slot, secured by surrounding mechanical arms. A passage extended from the wall and connected to the shuttle's side door.
After disembarking, Zhou Tianming passed through a rugged corridor and entered the interior of the satellite. At first glance, he thought he had stepped into a steampunk world—cold metallic structures with exposed mechanical components.
Just as he stood there bewildered, his gaze caught a figure standing quietly in the distance.
Instantly relaxing, he broke into a smile and jogged over, waving his arm.
As he approached, Zhou Tianming embraced Zhou Hanxiang warmly, but before he could speak, he noticed her smile carried an unsettling edge.
Hanxiang crouched down to meet his eye level, staring intently into his eyes. "What did you do?"
Feeling slightly guilty, he averted his gaze. "Nothing."
"Ogsha informed me of your estimated arrival time. You're several hours late. I called the hospital to confirm, and the front desk told me you went to the shopping center for fun."
Zhou Tianming immediately thought this excuse wasn't bad and silently thanked the hospital receptionist. Just as he turned back to speak, he met Hanxiang's piercing black-and-white eyes.
Her gaze was filled with worry, concern, and trust.
He opened his mouth, but the lie wouldn't come out. Turning his head away, he muttered, "Ran into some minor trouble."
Hanxiang leaned forward and sniffed. "You smell strongly of medicine."
Silence.
She stood up and walked away without another word.
Watching her retreating figure, Zhou Tianming sighed and followed.
The two remained in a cold silence, neither speaking, and Tianming had no idea how to break it.
After more than ten minutes, he surrendered. "I was being followed. Got into a fight while escaping and took some minor injuries. I just didn't want you to worry."
"And you think hiding it makes Mom worry less?" Hanxiang stopped abruptly and turned around. "Who was it?"
"Blue Cosmos—those lunatics among the Coordinators."
Hearing this, Hanxiang sighed. "Don't hide things like this from me in the future."
Meeting her resolute gaze, Tianming nodded in reluctant agreement.
Though the air between them had cleared somewhat, the tension lingered. They walked the rest of the way in silence, soon arriving at the temporary residence Hanxiang had rented within the Junk Guild.