Chapter 77: Meeting the Protagonist Again [1]

"If my mother already knew these people existed, why didn’t she simply leave the academy?"

"Because leaving might not have helped."

Victor deliberately avoided presenting his speculation as certainty.

"A force capable of mobilizing imperial research grants and causing abnormalities in the academy’s high level authorization records probably wasn’t something an ordinary researcher could escape simply by moving somewhere else."

"And you were still young at the time. She might have believed that staying inside the academy would actually make it easier to monitor the project’s progress."

"I see."

Although that answer could not resolve every question, it was at least closer to reality than simply telling her that her mother had been plotted against.

At that moment, Cecilia finally put down the report in her hands.

"I found another problem."

Both of them looked at her.

"After Devin Hall disappeared, the academy did not immediately submit a death or missing person report to the Empire. Instead, it continued collecting project funding under his identity as a researcher for another three months."

Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Three months?"

"Mm."

Cecilia pushed an old financial statement toward him.

"The amount wasn’t particularly large. Just over a hundred thousand gold coins in total, and all of it was used to purchase magical engineering materials and life support equipment, so it didn’t attract the attention of the royal finance department at the time."

’Life support equipment... Zero.’

Victor suddenly thought of Zero’s body and the artificial Astral structure inside her.

What those devices had been purchased for wasn’t particularly difficult to guess anymore.

"Where were they delivered?"

"The Third Ecological Zone."

"Observation Station C again?"

"No." Cecilia pointed toward another entry. "Underground transport entrance."

Victor frowned slightly. If those materials really had been used for artificial life research, then Zero might have been created far earlier than they originally imagined.

But they still lacked direct evidence.

"Send this to Albert too."

"Already did." Cecilia smiled lightly. "Did you think you were the only one who could think of that?"

Victor glanced at her. "Looks like Your Highness has finally started being useful today."

"I wasn’t useful before?"

"You were."

"For example?"

"Providing the Inferno Prison Secret Realm token."

The smile on Cecilia’s face stiffened.

"..."

Even Leah’s previously solemn expression changed slightly as she lowered her head, struggling not to laugh aloud.

Cecilia simply picked up another document beside her and slapped it unceremoniously in front of Victor.

"Then you, the guy who took my token, had better look at what your subordinates are about to participate in next."

Victor lowered his eyes to the document.

[Final Implementation Draft: Freshman Practical Screening.]

This was no longer the previous internal plan containing only the basic rules. This version included the specific regional layout of the Third Ecological Zone, along with the planned placement areas for the three Mana Core Badges.

"This location..."

Victor’s eyes flashed.

Cecilia watched him. "Noticed it?"

Victor pulled up the old ecological zone map Albert had sent earlier and overlaid the two sets of information.

The first badge: Western Woodland.

The second badge: Central Rocky Valley.

The third: Northern Old Observation Area.

Although the proposal still described their placement as random, the three predetermined regions happened to correspond to the three large scale magical monitoring facilities left behind by the ecological experiments four years ago.

Victor lightly tapped the third marker.

[Old Observation Station C.]

The very place where Albert had just discovered the underground secret was actually included within the planned Mana Core Badge placement area for the freshman screening.

"Don’t you think that’s too much of a coincidence?" Cecilia asked.

"It is."

Victor checked the other two coordinates again.

"When they switched from the Seventh Trial Ground to the Third Ecological Zone, I originally thought they simply needed another location where they could arrange a trap. But now... they might not need to arrange anything at all."

If these facilities had already existed four years ago, and someone had retained partial authorization over the Third Ecological Zone all this time, then all they might need to do was reactivate certain pieces of equipment that had supposedly been sealed away.

As for the three Mana Core Badges, whether they were ordinary rewards or bait intended to draw students toward specific locations remained uncertain.

But Victor no longer intended to treat them as simple examination items.

"Can Albert cancel the badge competition directly?"

Cecilia shook her head.

"He already submitted a request, but it’s still under review."

"Reviewed by whom?"

"The Board Safety Committee."

Victor couldn’t help laughing.

Right back into the hands of those people.

It was like putting a thief who had already infiltrated the kitchen in charge of deciding whether anything had actually been stolen.

But amusement aside, Victor had no intention of storming into the board meeting with a group of people.

That would accomplish nothing except alert whoever was behind this.

"Submit the coordinate overlap as well."

Victor put away the map. "At the very least, that proves there’s something wrong with the current placement plan."

Cecilia nodded.

"I’ll handle it."

Leah suddenly spoke.

"Then after I enter the screening, does that mean I shouldn’t touch those badges?"

Victor looked at her.

"We can’t be certain yet."

"What if they’re contaminated?"

"Then don’t touch them."

"But the final reward..."

"The core cultivation qualification isn’t going to grow legs and run away." Victor interrupted her. "If there really is something wrong with the badges, we can figure out what to do with them afterward. There’s no reason to throw your life away for a qualification."

Leah was silent for a moment. Then she nodded gently.

But Victor’s thoughts were far more complicated than his expression suggested.

The System’s first Fate Confrontation mission had still not officially ended.

Ensure that at least one investment target obtains a Mana Core Badge.

...That had been the original mission objective.

But after the Seventh Trial Ground incident erupted ahead of schedule, the actual risks involved in that mission had already changed. If he continued with the original plan and sent Leah directly after the northern badge, it would be equivalent to knowingly sending her straight toward people who were waiting for her.

So what Victor needed to do now was not make Leah desperately fight for a badge.

He first needed to determine what role these three objects were actually supposed to play.

Once he found the real problem, there would naturally still be room to adjust how the mission objective was completed.

...

When Victor left the Third Training Ground, he happened to encounter a familiar face in the central passage.

The person was none other than Ryan Carter.