Zhou Tianming shook his head with a bitter smile and slowly approached. He tentatively tugged at the lace sleeve of Lacus's nightgown and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no reaction. He then pulled her into his arms and carried her back to her room.
He caught a White Rabbit from the corridor and placed it in the room. "Keep an eye on things for me. Report any abnormalities immediately."
"Understood!" The White Rabbit raised its hand in a military salute.
Zhou Tianming arrived at the Bridge, where Ray was sitting in the captain's seat, carefully scanning the surroundings.
"Ray," Zhou Tianming flew to his side. "Any abnormalities?"
"Nothing so far."
Zhou Tianming nodded. "Well done. Go rest. I'll take over from here."
Ray shook his head. "It's fine. I just woke up and I'm full of energy. You haven't slept all night, brother. You should rest."
Zhou Tianming indeed felt extremely tired, not just from staying up all night but also from the damage he had sustained in that earlier moment. He reached out and ruffled Ray's golden hair, no longer refusing. "Alright, I'll take a nap here. I'm counting on you."
Ray smiled. "Yeah!"
Zhou Tianming sat down in the operator's seat nearby and soon fell into a deep sleep, snoring softly.
Ray glanced sideways at him, narrowed his eyes slightly, then turned his gaze toward the cabin door for a moment before standing up.
In Lacus's bedroom, the cabin door opened, and the White Rabbit turned to look. Suddenly, a dagger stabbed down into its forehead. Sparks flew from the wound, the White Rabbit's red eyes dimmed, and its body went limp as it collapsed to the floor.
Ray pulled out the dagger and slowly approached Lacus on the bed. His expression was gloomy. "No one is allowed to hurt my brother..."
Without the slightest hesitation, he reversed his grip on the dagger and stabbed toward Lacus's face.
At that moment, a pair of hands reached out from behind him and grabbed the blade. The sharp edge cut into the fingers, and blood trickled out.
Ray shuddered, instantly releasing the dagger and nervously clutching the bleeding hand. "Brother, you're bleeding!"
"Ray," Zhou Tianming's low voice carried anger. "You've always been well-behaved, so I've never hit you, but this time you've gone too far!"
"But she hurt you, brother! She's an enemy!"
"I told you it has nothing to do with her!"
"But she's a threat to you! Even if she's my friend—"
Slap!
A backhanded strike landed on Ray's face, sending him flying sideways into a bedside cabinet. Half of his cheek immediately swelled and turned red.
"Go back to your room and stay there!"
Tears welled in Ray's eyes as he hung his head. "Brother, you need to bandage that wound properly... I'm sorry..."
"You shouldn't be apologizing to me."
"..." Ray remained silent, then tapped his toes and flew out of the room.
A group of White Rabbits, their palms splitting open to reveal an assortment of tools, escorted Ray away.
"Sigh... What a mess." Zhou Tianming released his grip on the dagger, blood droplets floating in the air.
While tidying up, he grumbled, "So in the Flaga family, is Mu the only normal one? What kind of cursed genes are these—the more exceptional they are, the more abnormal they become? A SEED version of the Uchiha clan?"
7:00 AM. All was quiet.
Zhou Tianming breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the captain's seat, sending a message to his mother, Zhou Hanxiang: "Something came up. I'll be back later."
"Master, Miss Lacus is awake."
"Have her stay in her room and not move around. I'll contact her shortly."
"Understood."
"Has the new Mental Storage Device arrived?"
"The emergency shipment from Mendel will take three more hours."
"Move the Black Tortoise closer. I need to replenish my Mental Power as soon as possible, just in case."
"Understood."
After a pause, he asked with a hint of concern, "How is Ray doing?"
"He's been curled up in the corner of his room without making a sound."
Sighing, Zhou Tianming activated the comms. "Ray, I need to have a serious talk with you later. Don't let me see you looking like a wreck, got it?"
"He says he understands," White Rabbit relayed.
"These two are nothing but trouble!"
Zhou Tianming patted his cheeks to perk up. The next issue was the real problem.
Playing it safe, Zhou Tianming opted for an audio-only call. "Lacus, are you feeling any abnormalities in your body?"
"Brother Tianming, are you alright?" Lacus's voice came through, tinged with anxiety. "Did something happen? I saw blood."
He facepalmed.
So he hadn't cleaned up the bloodstains thoroughly.
After a moment's thought, he decided hiding the truth from Lacus might do more harm than good. He might as well be direct. "I'm fine. The important thing is, do you feel any abnormalities?" In her room, Lacus immediately realized last night's incident was connected to her. Her expression darkened, and she pressed her lips together.
Still, she complied, checking and assessing her condition.
After a moment, she replied, "No physical injuries, but I feel unusually clear-headed, though my head feels a bit swollen."
Was it because too much Mental Power had been drained?
With so much mixed Mental Power flooding her mind, how had she not gone insane? Was it due to her adaptability or that cassette tape?
"That's good. Don't overthink it. Last night's incident was related to you, but the main issue was on my end. So we need to piece together what happened step by step."
"Okay."
"Did you go to the vault last night?"
"No, I don't know the password, and there's nothing in there that interests me."
"What time did you fall asleep last night?"
Lacus blushed, stammering slightly, "Well... I... I don't really remember."
"That's fine. Did you sing yesterday?"
"Sing?" Lacus nodded, her gaze drifting as she fiddled with her fingers. "I was having trouble sleeping last night, thinking about everyone parting ways, so I hummed the lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was little."
"Don't sing the whole thing. Just hum a part of the melody for me."
Lacus hesitated, then her pleasant voice emerged, humming softly.
Through the comms, the melody echoed across the Bridge.
Zhou Tianming's expression turned grim.
Without a doubt, this song was a different section of the same one from the cassette tape.
Moreover, the woman's voice in the recording was very similar to Lacus's, though it sounded more mature.
"That's enough."
The humming stopped. "Brother Tianming..."
"Rest in your room for now and don't move around. I'll come see you once I'm sure everything's safe."
"Okay, please be careful."
The call ended, and Zhou Tianming leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
Could the person on the tape be Lacus?
Impossible. That satellite wreckage appeared to have been abandoned for decades at least, and she wasn't completely identical to the descriptions in the records. But there was indeed a phenomenon of Mental Power extraction.
The voice was also very similar...
Could she be the same type of Coordinator?
Zhou Tianming suddenly thought of a question—who was the prototype of the Coordinator?
This ability to modify memories, hypnotize, and control Coordinators couldn't possibly have emerged out of nowhere.
Just like his research on the Mental Resistance Device—without that initial thread of inspiration, mere contemplation would never have made it achievable.
There must have been a prototype capable of such feats. Perhaps not as powerful, but certainly possessing the initial spark that gave Ogsha and others their direction. After much thought, this type of mental ability indeed resembled that of a Newtype.
Over thousands of years in this world, with billions of people coming and going, it was unimaginable that the Flaga family would be the only quasi-Newtypes.
His mother Zhou Hanxiang's existence confirmed this.
In other words, someone had discovered Newtypes and conducted research on them.
Zhou Tianming suddenly felt his thoughts falling into place, as if all the clues were connecting.
Did Ogsha come across documents related to the satellite wreckage, leading to the birth of the Coordinator?
And Lacus, sharing the same origin, reacted to that Newtype's mental energy.
It made sense!
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Zhou Tianming decided to confirm this with Ogsha after returning.
It was a pity the tape was destroyed; otherwise, he might have been able to directly read mental memories from it in the future.
But on second thought, its destruction might not be entirely bad.
That tape held many unknown secrets. Keeping it nearby risked problems, but not keeping it nearby was even more worrying—a constant state of anxiety. Now, it was settled once and for all.
One hour later, the Black Tortoise acquired a new Mental Storage Device. Seeing the mental energy reserve return to 100%, Zhou Tianming felt considerably more at ease. It was time to meet Lacus. He hoped last night's resonance hadn't left any hidden repercussions.
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