Chapter 529

“The memory decoding has just been thoroughly completed. The target has been confirmed without error.”

After informing Prince Andre, who was sitting opposite him, a woman whose appearance greatly resembled Phelia but looked much more mature took a sip of coffee and then smiled approvingly:

“Dear Andre, could you tell your aunt how you thought the target might be in contact with scholars from Zone 1?”

“That’s not important.”

After glancing at the woman’s face, Prince Andre frowned and said: “Hurry up with your work. It’s almost ten hours since we last made contact with the target; they should already be back in Administrative Zone 3. What you need to do now is capture them and bring Phelia back to me—not sit around sipping coffee so leisurely!”

“Really uncharming…”

Apheta 00 shook her head upon hearing this, somewhat helplessly saying: “It’s been almost thirty years since I’ve had coffee. Couldn’t you let your old aunt rest a little longer? Besides, speaking of this body creation technology, it’s truly remarkable. When I remodeled my soul, I thought I’d have to stay trapped in cold machines for the rest of my life, but who would’ve guessed I’d get another chance to possess flesh?

Hmm… Unfortunately, this body’s tongue isn’t very good—it’s overly sensitive to bitterness and sweetness, far less accustomed to coffee than my original tongue. But considering this body was modified from one of Phelia’s backup bodies, it makes sense that a child’s tongue would be slightly more sensitive. So, it’s not really a big issue.”

“You talk way too much!”

Prince Andre responded irritably:

“Hurry up with your work! I’m not interested in chatting with you!”

“Working, working.”

Pouting slightly, Apheta 00 put down her coffee cup, crossed her arms, and said with dissatisfaction: “Andre, aren’t you being a bit disrespectful towards me?

Even though you hold the Time Sharing Scepter, and I can’t disobey your orders, as the developer of the soul encoding system, I still have the ability to exploit some loopholes in the rules and cause you trouble.

If you keep treating me like this, what if I accidentally make some noise during the capture process, allowing the person who kidnapped your sister to escape? Don’t blame your old aunt for being careless~”

“…”

The damn woman is even more troublesome now than when she was alive! Knowing she indeed possessed such abilities, Prince Andre had no choice but to click his tongue impatiently and reluctantly replied:

“Alright, I’ll be mindful later.”

“Not later, right now.”

Seemingly in high spirits after gaining the upper hand in their first skirmish, Apheta 00 grinned and said after putting down her coffee cup: “Come on, chat with your old aunt first. Tell me how you figured out the target would contact the scholars in Zone 1?”

“You’d better not push it too far!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, your old aunt is really already working.”

She tapped her forehead lightly with her fingertips and smiled: “As soon as I received the message, your old aunt immediately mobilized the army using information fragments to surround the embassy in Administrative Zone 3. They should already be conducting searches over there.

Moreover, I’ve increased the spray of adrenaline antidote in Zone 3 ahead of time, activated field stones that disperse anomalous item powers, and dispatched scales that detect special human body magnetic fields, along with instruments for analyzing anomalous item fluctuations. Rest assured, I won’t delay your affairs.

Um… but only if you’re a good boy and chat with your poor old aunt who’s been locked up by you for many years. Otherwise, the outcome may not be so predictable~”

“…”

Feeling extremely annoyed by Apheta 00 but unwilling for her to mess things up, Andre had no choice but to explain through gritted teeth:

“I’ve had contact with Leon, the one who abducted Phelia. In my view, he’s a man with strong purpose, generally not doing meaningless things.

Given the situation where he couldn’t reach the Chief of the Scorpio Division, instead of fleeing or hiding quickly, he immediately attacked Administrative Zone 3 and kidnapped the Diplomatic Minister, proving that there must be something he wants in Zone 3, and this thing might solve the problems he encountered.

So, I checked the reception records of the Diplomatic Minister and found that during his meeting, he specifically asked about long-distance communication technologies and showed great interest in the scholars who invented those technologies.

By connecting all these clues, I judged that he might have targeted a certain scholar, intending to enter Zone 1 through that scholar to find the true self of Apheta 01, thereby dismantling my control over the kingdom.”

“Sounds reasonable~”

Upon hearing this, Apheta 00 nodded and blinked her eyes: “Since the royal palace has been sealed off by you, you deduced that his only possible target would be Zone 1, so you ordered me to halt the investigation and instead use soul encoding technology to rewrite the possible scholars who might have come into contact with him, ensuring we obtain his whereabouts, right? Tsk tsk, although your brain wasn’t developed well enough to become the core of Apheta, your mind works pretty well, and you’re quite accurate in judging people. Not bad, not bad.”

“Are you satisfied yet?”

Faced with Apheta 00’s praise, Prince Andre didn’t show even a hint of joy on his face, instead appearing particularly impatient, frowning and saying:

“One after another, content within lies!

“If you’re satisfied, focus on your work properly and quickly tell me the progress in Zone 3. Has the target’s location been identified?”

“No.”

Upon hearing this, Apheta 00 sighed deeply and shrugged helplessly: “The instruments I sent have already scanned the entire embassy area three times, but we haven’t discovered anyone suspected to be the target. It seems like you came up empty-handed~”

“???”

…

Looks like Zone 1 Research Area really can’t be visited.

Standing on the rooftop of a tall building, gazing at the embassy surrounded tightly, Leon couldn’t help but sigh, feeling fortunate that he had been cautious.

And behind him, Algernon, looking at soldiers in the distance wielding various strange instruments, breaking things quickly while searching everywhere, said nervously: “To mobilize so many people and resources, it would normally take seven to eight hours? Did Mr. Bell expose himself so quickly?”

Leon shook his head upon hearing this: “Feels more like a trap set for us.”

Algernon couldn’t help but hesitate: “But Mr. Bell seemed normal, and didn’t you say his soul showed no signs of lying?”

“He indeed didn’t lie, but that doesn’t mean his soul is problem-free.”

Leon sighed: “Mr. Bell’s soul actually resembles Phelia’s soul somewhat, with a peculiar precision. However, this sensation in his soul is very faint, less than one percent of Phelia’s, so I didn’t notice it at first.

But because of my curiosity, I asked an extra question about events thirty years ago, and he seemed unsure about what kind of expression he should display when narrating such ‘crazy’ behavior, causing his soul to ‘stutter’ slightly. Otherwise, I might have been deceived as well.”

(End of Chapter)