Chapter 70: Zero’s Dismiss [1]

The smile on Elena’s face gradually faded as a much more serious look appeared on her face.

"Experimental Zone Twelve isn’t inside the academy. At least, not anymore."

Victor frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The experimental zone itself can move."

A mobile experimental zone? This was the first thought that came to mind.

"Where is it?"

"I don’t know." Elena shook her head. "Zero only possesses fragments of external information from after she was awakened. The memories of the manufacturing process were deleted."

"But I do know..."

She looked toward the cracked remnant of the Abyss Induction Crystal in Victor’s hand. "They’ve been searching for a way to stably open an Astral passage. The artificial Astral Core failed. So they need a truly awakened Astral Spirit Envoy."

"They want to use Leah to open the Astral Realm. But not merely open it." Obvious fear appeared in the woman’s eyes. "They want something... to come through from the other side."

Those words... Victor’s eyes narrowed. They overlapped with the contents of Elena’s incomplete letter from three years ago.

[The Astral Realm never truly disappeared.]

[Someone closed it.]

If the Astral Realm hadn’t been destroyed but had instead been deliberately sealed, then this so called opening of a passage was definitely no ordinary research project.

"What thing?"

"I don’t know."

Elena’s body suddenly swayed. It was the signal that time was running out , and Victor didn’t want to waste it, so he asked.

"One last question. Who?"

He didn’t even need to finish the sentence.

Elena knew exactly what he was asking.

Who had taken her research?

Who had created Zero?

Who was pushing all of this from behind the scenes?

The woman remained silent for two seconds.

"I don’t have a name. But I’ve seen a symbol."

She raised her right hand, which had already begun turning transparent.

Her fingertip slowly traced through the air.

Silver light condensed and a circle appeared mid air.

And in the center of that circle was a star pierced by six black lines.

Albert’s expression changed instantly.

Victor immediately looked at him.

"You recognize it?"

The vice dean didn’t answer.

Elena continued.

"Find that symbol... But don’t pursue them directly. They’ve been inside the academy... Far longer than you currently imagine, far longer than you were even born."

The moment her words ended, the silver light in her eyes finally began to fade as her body rapidly lost its strength.

Victor reached out and caught her. But the woman suddenly grabbed his wrist. Her grip was weak, but she refused to let go.

"One more thing..." Victor spoke, looking into her eyes. "Leah. What should I tell her?"

"No." Elena shook her head. "Don’t tell her I suffered at the end."

Victor looked at her.

"She’ll ask."

"Then lie to her." The woman smiled. "You look like you’re probably pretty good at lying."

"..."

That certainly didn’t sound like a compliment.

"I’ll try."

"Thank you."

Elena slowly closed her eyes. But just before her consciousness completely disappeared, her eyes suddenly opened again as though she had remembered the most important thing of all.

"Wait."

"What?"

"When she was little..." Her voice grew softer and softer. "She was terrified of thunder. Every time there was a storm, she’d secretly run into my room. She’d obviously be scared... but she’d insist she just couldn’t sleep."

She smiled.

"If she doesn’t believe you really met me... tell her that."

The hand gripping Victor’s wrist completely loosened.

[Zero Astral Vessel mental activity has ceased.]

[Residual consciousness of Elena Vane has dissipated.]

The forest fell completely silent.

And at the moment her consciousness disappeared, the body that had already been sustained by countless artificial Astral structures began dissolving from the fingertips into silver gray motes of light.

Like ashes after a flame had burned itself out, they were slowly carried away by the wind passing through the forest.

In less than ten seconds, only a damaged researcher’s robe remained on the ground and a thumb sized silver metal tag.

Victor bent down and picked it up.

There was no writing on the front. On the back... there was only a number.

[0]

Zero.

She hadn’t even possessed a name that truly belonged to her.

From beginning to end, Zero had only been an experimental vessel, created for a purpose she had never chosen and identified by a number instead of a name. Now even that vessel was gone.

Victor closed his fingers around the metal tag before slipping it away.

At the very least, this was proof that she had existed.

Whether that existence belonged to Zero, the fragments of Elena inside her, or something caught somewhere between the two, Victor couldn’t say.

But reducing everything that had just happened to a discarded experiment labeled zero suddenly felt strangely inadequate.

Albert stood nearby without speaking for a long time, his gaze simply fixed on the researcher’s robe.

Victor had already put the silver tag away and turned to him.

"That symbol just now."

The vice dean was silent.

"You recognized it, didn’t you?"

Albert finally looked at him, then nodded.

"I’ve seen it once."

"Where?"

"Three years ago. The day Elena’s accident happened."

A chilling light flashed through Victor’s eyes. "Why didn’t you say anything before?"

"Because I didn’t know what it was at the time." Albert didn’t avoid his gaze. "And I saw it for only a few seconds. The memory of it was already beginning to fade."

"Where did you see it?"

"At the accident site."

The vice dean’s voice gradually deepened.

"On a destroyed wall at the very back of the laboratory."

"Three years ago, the academy investigation team concluded it was nothing more than a burn mark left by the mana explosion. Now... I don’t know."

Looking at his slightly lost expression, Victor didn’t think he was lying.

He opened his mouth to ask one more question, but suddenly, at that moment, a deep growl came from behind them.

The Star Devouring Shadow Beast...

It wasn’t dead yet!

...

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