Chapter 788 — The Evidence Beside Patty

"It's not that," Amber waved a hand. "I just think a woman over seven hundred years old pretending to be a girl of ten-something, calling you Uncle Gao Yang the moment you meet, and calling a young woman in her twenties 'Mama' for several years running—now that's truly horrifying. As expected of the Sleepers…"

Gao Yang: "……"

Having realized that continuing the discussion with this disgrace of an elf was a sure path to destruction, he decisively cut the topic short and returned to the main track: "We cannot yet confirm the connection between Patty and Selena. To avoid tipping our hand, and to keep the situation on the Sleeper side under control, we must not take any overt action here in Grann—only maintain the most peripheral surveillance."

Amber thumped her chest. "I understand. This sort of thing is my specialty."

Then she noticed that Gao Yang's face still wore a thoughtful expression, and could not help asking, "What is it? Is there something else?"

"I'm thinking... how much of our hand has already been exposed to Selena Gale's eyes, and what has kept her silent all this time," Gao Yang said with a soft sigh, shaking his head in resignation. "Patty is currently using immersion pods manufactured by Cecil to sleep, and our magic-net communication technology is no secret either—it has long since spread throughout the Grann region, and any seasoned Sleeper could easily glimpse the shadow of mind-network technology in magic-net communications... If Selena Gale truly is hidden deep within Patty's consciousness, then through her 'host's' eyes she can see all of it... Even if this evidence is not yet enough to directly prove that the 'Vagrants from Beyond' can invade the mind network, it should be more than enough to put the Sleepers on their guard and draw their attention... Yet Selena Gale has done nothing, and the many contingencies Daniel and I prepared still have no use to this day."

"Hiss... the more eerily silent a person is, the more they put you on edge," Amber said, baring her teeth. "Any sabotage can be countered and remedied; what I dread is the kind that says nothing at all."

Then she paused, and shook her head again. "But then again, as long as we keep developing magic-net communication technology, the Sleepers cannot possibly fail to notice. When a thing develops to a certain point, it is bound to surface—that is the inevitable consequence of expanding scale. In a confrontation like this, 'we hide everything, they see nothing' can only be considered the lower stage; 'we make everything public, they see it all yet are powerless to do anything'—that is the higher stage. Now, it is time to prepare for the end of the first stage."

Gao Yang watched Amber as she spoke at length, until she grew uncomfortable under his gaze and twisted her neck. "Hey, what are you staring at me for?"

"Nothing. I just think what you said makes a good deal of sense," Gao Yang said with a laugh, speaking casually. "True enough—our own mind-network technology is gradually maturing, and the Sleepers... will certainly take notice. And thinking back carefully, when I first made contact with Patty, I already took into account that Selena was often at her side in Phantom Pivot City, so I never revealed anything concerning the 'Vagrants from Beyond' in Patty's presence. At most, Selena Gale can use Patty's eyes to see our technological progress in magic-net communications."

"What I'm curious about now is just one thing: when Patty uses the immersion pod, she merely uses it to sleep—she no longer connects to the Sleepers' mind network, precisely to avoid exposing our 'network intrusion' activities. And since Patty no longer enters the mind network, then Selena, hidden 'beside' Patty... how does she maintain her connection to the mind network?"

Amber scratched her hair.

This question Gao Yang had raised, she could not figure out either.

...

At the foot of the snow-clad mountains of the Eastern Border, a faintly shimmering wind barrier kept out the wind and snow of the wilderness; beneath its shelter, charged rails stretched across the land, gradually vanishing into the depths of the distant storm.

Wheels turned, and machinery struck up a melody of steel. A magic-powered train bearing the emblem of the Cecil Empire roared past along the charged rails wrapped in the barrier, racing across the land like a great serpent of iron.

Unnamed mountains receded along one side of the train, and the plants and railings near the tracks blurred into a hazy smear as they swept rapidly backward.

Outside was a winter of howling cold wind, yet within the train all was warm and comfortable. To travel across the wilderness inside the belly of a steel beast—this was truly a wondrous experience.

Matilda Augustus sat upright in a spacious, comfortable train seat, gazing through the crystal glass set into the carriage wall beside her at the foreign scenery outside, the corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.

A strange land indeed...