Chapter 302 — Meeting Again

Unless the Sleepers' games were too sophisticated for him, or they had staged a scene expressly for his benefit—then judging by the interaction between Patty and Selina and by what he had seen last time... could that "little girl" really be a little girl?

A child? An eleven- or twelve-year-old Sleeper able to connect to the mind-network—a child? Even for a magical prodigy, that was hardly plausible!

Or else... a "family member" brought into the network by other Sleepers?

In this Phantom Pivot City he had seen other children too—very, very few, but they did exist. Were those children in the same situation?

The Sleepers had technology that let people without any magical ability connect to the network?!

This last conjecture set Gao Yang's heart pounding. If it were true... then the technological value of the Sleepers' mind-network would far exceed anything he had imagined before!

His thoughts raced, but he betrayed nothing. Instead, he feigned carelessness and tossed out an idle remark: "One seems to see very few children around here."

"After all, cases that meet the criteria are rare," Selina said with a faint smile. "We still cannot afford to be exposed."

The implication being that some screening criteria were needed... Cannot be exposed—so this was an experimental project carrying the risk of exposure?

Gao Yang chatted idly with her on the subject a little longer, but drew no intelligence of any value. Realizing that pressing further might make him look suspicious, he shifted the topic without betraying a thing: "I saw the notice calling for computing power for Project Zero..."

"The time-iteration experiment has run into a shortfall in computing power," Selina said with a nod. Anyone who could reach this district was among the upper and middle ranks of the Eternals, and those able to linger here for long stretches had reached at least the level of a mid-tier Nightmare Bishop, so a few casual words on Project Zero were hardly out of place. "Adjusting the flow of time at the deepest layer through thought acceleration is extremely difficult. The Number One Sandbox, which ran the longest before, sustained only a few hundred years. We need more computing power."

"Sandbox." Gao Yang's heart stirred—he had just heard a term that greatly concerned him.

It was not a word belonging to the contemporary common tongue, but a compound of two words from Old Gondorian, and because its meaning was rather plain and direct, Gao Yang could understand it at once. Yet understanding the word only bred a greater confusion in his mind.

He could not, however, ask about it directly, for judging by Selina's attitude, any Eternal standing in this district ought to know a great deal of the truth about Project Zero.

Besides, he had already asked quite enough questions.

Plying a single person with questions was an easy way to arouse suspicion, so Gao Yang promptly cut the subject short. He had already gathered no small amount of intelligence and vocabulary; next time he could find other Eternals in this district to pump for information, or think of some way to cultivate that newly found "pawn."

After easing the transition with some idle chatter, he nodded to Selina. "I have taken up a great deal of your time. I should be going."

Selina smiled faintly. "It has been a pleasure talking with you."

With that, the veiled lady bade Gao Yang farewell and turned to walk toward the other side of the road.

In the instant she turned, Gao Song's gaze suddenly froze:

In that instant, the woman looked exactly like Selina Guelfen of seven hundred years ago!