Veronica’s explanation left Gawain a bit puzzled.
"An individual?" He frowned, "What does that an?"
Veronica’s eyes held a touch of reminiscence, as if she was subrged in those ancient mories from centuries ago. After a few seconds of pondering, she spoke in a gentle and soothing tone: "I suppose you already know that a thousand years ago, during the defied Plan, the Bai Shuang Sisters served as consulting scholars and were employed by the Gondor Empire... This employnt lasted for several centuries, up until seven hundred years ago when the chaotic wave erupted, Fyrna Whiteshade and Reyna Whiteshade were secretly working for the Gondor Empire.
"The first ti I saw them was at the Grand Palace of the imperial capital... a Druid facility researching natural environnts and species evolution. They were a very cheerful pair of sisters; what impressed most was that they were always smiling, curious about everything in the human world, and had many bold ideas, quite different from the usual relatively conservative and rigid elf scholars...
"Sorry, I digressed, delving into mories always brings up too many irrelevant details."
Veronica gave a faintly apologetic smile, while Gawain shook his head to signal her to continue.
"They were indeed a pair of sisters, as I just ntioned, at the start, they truly were two individuals, until that accident...
"It was when the defied Plan had just advanced to the stage of preliminary analysis and contact with divine power, known as the first stage. In one experint, we aid to test an observational thod never tried before. The general process was to open a fissure in a highly sealed room that would transcend the shadow realm and the shadow realm to a critical point where it almost reached the kingdom of gods. We hoped to achieve a certain degree of monitoring through this fissure...
"In hindsight, it was a bold and reckless attempt. However, at that ti, our understanding of the powers of the goddess was far less clear than it is today.
"This dangerous experint required two operators: one to maintain the fissure, and one to conduct the actual observation. Yes, you’ve guessed it... it was the Bai Shuang Sisters.
"They volunteered, offering an irrefutable reason: as twins, they had an exceptional rapport, which could greatly enhance the experint’s success rate. If anything went wrong, they could respond promptly without communication, acting much faster than ordinary researchers.
"I personally escorted them to the laboratory... I watched them walk in, then the entire lab was sealed off under the control of the automatic systems.
"Not even the most powerful Master Mage could perceive what was happening inside through that tight defense system.
"After the countdown ended, the lab opened, filled with thick smoke and rampaging Mana currents. I rushed in with my team, finding the lab in ruins, and amidst the wreckage... only one badly injured elf lay on the ground, the other was nowhere to be found."
Veronica recounted all this with a calm expression, and Gawain couldn’t help but frown slightly: "Who disappeared? Who was left?"
"We don’t know."
Gawain raised an eyebrow: "You don’t know?"
"The sisters’ appearances were nearly identical, outsiders could hardly distinguish them, and the lab was a ss at the ti. The identification card on the injured party was severely burned, so no one knew who survived."
Gawain couldn’t help but adjust his posture: "So how did they eventually..."
"The survivor sneaked out of the sanatorium one day, returned to the Druid Laboratory they built, and three days later, the ’Bai Shuang Sisters’ returned to the Grand Palace. Subsequent reports indicated a considerable amount of biomass from their laboratory was missing... but really, everyone could guess its purpose."
"She created a..." Gawain finally understood, "And then? Did you just accept it?"
"The Bai Shuang Sisters were back, at least that’s what they claid. They seed completely normal; of course, everyone tacitly understood, but we welcod their return."
Gawain did not hide his surprise: "They... no, her ntal state was obviously problematic, didn’t you notice?"
"It was quite apparent, but among the Defiers, especially those at the forefront, such a degree of ntal issue counted for nothing," Veronica smiled faintly, her tone calm, yet her words were utterly shocking, "We opposed the goddess, standing before those ineffable and vast depths of knowledge. We were like standing at the edge of an abyss, always skirting past countless deadly and intangible truths. Sotis, rely glancing at a wrong sample or ntioning the wrong word at the wrong ti could drive soone mad, cause sudden disappearances, or even mutated deaths...
"Even before grasping any patterns, we had already sacrificed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Many died silently, their causes of death never disclosed, unable to receive any posthumous honors, while others fell into perpetual madness. Since they possessed the knowledge of the gods, they could only be confined in ntal managent facilities.
"This includes myself... As a forr Gondor, have you ever heard the na Ophelia Norton ntioned in any royal history book?
"In such dire circumstances, every mber capable of maintaining functionality was invaluable to the Defiers.
"Compared with those in the worst conditions, the Bai Shuang Sisters rely showed signs of delusion... which was mild, at least back then."
For a mont, Gawain didn’t know how to respond. From a normal person’s logic, it was hard to imagine allowing soone with apparent ntal issues to continue a project when the project was already mad enough. Such madness surely required stronger sanity in opposition, yet...
Mortals were so fragile that sotis they had to use madness to counter madness. It was not their choice, but rather a necessity.
Gawain believed that Veronica and her team must have seriously considered it back then, perhaps confirming that the Bai Shuang Sisters’ ntal issues wouldn’t affect daily work, or maybe they believed the Sisters’ role as consulting scholars was far greater than their ntal risks. Regardless, those were considerations and choices made a thousand years ago; neither he nor Veronica/Ophelia today could judge the decisions of the past.
Now he could only express a post-event sentint: "...She might have had so delusions back then, but now, she... or rather they, have beco the ghost of the defied Plan."
"...Everyone who participated in the first stage of the defied Plan is walking a countdown to madness. We usually discuss this matter candidly because we all know that most mbers won’t live to see the day the results co out, or they’ll go mad, or die, or vanish amid all kinds of bizarre supernatural phenona... Even if all goes well and they survive safely, human lifespan still dictates that most mbers of the first stage won’t live beyond two stages... However, the elves, they live too long."
Veronica spoke, then sighed softly.
"Perhaps it’s the excessively long survival ti, perhaps it’s the constant lack of hope; the Bai Shuang sisters ultimately lost control, and it’s a pity... I don’t even know whether ’they’ are Fyrna or Lelena."
"I have a hunch that sooner or later, we’ll be dealing with that pair of ’sisters’ again," Gawain shook his head, "Such persistent ghosts won’t truly fall silent."
"Perhaps," Veronica pursed her lips, "Other than that, did you gain anything else?"
"Technology, the Oblivion Association’s technology," Gawain said, "We recovered a massive amount of technical data from the underground ruins, along with complete laboratory equipnt and various samples, semi-finished products, and specins. These items will be transported in batches to Pittman’s research facilities in the near future, but we all know, there’s more than just Druid knowledge in there..."
"I understand," Veronica lowered her eyelids, "I will assist in identifying and analyzing the defied technology within. If dangerous factors are discovered, I will notify imdiately."
Gawain nodded with satisfaction, and after a mont of silence, Veronica suddenly looked Gawain in the eyes and asked, "Then, after eliminating dangerous factors, how do you intend to handle the ’achievents’ of the Oblivion Association?"
Gawain glanced at the other person, showing a slight smile: "Of course, we’ll put them to use."
"Even if they were created by the Oblivion Association?"
"Technology is just technology; if it’s useful, of course, we’ll use it. It is always humans committing cris; there’s no point in judging tools," Gawain said, "Those blood magic used to create monsters are indeed chilling, but if used to treat the wounded, it must be very beneficial."
"But so might hold grudges, even secretly criticize you for using black magic. Ignorant people will always have unnecessary fears about things they do not understand. Over the past millennium, no matter how much people change, they never change in prejudice and conservatism."
Gawain and Veronica exchanged looks and then suddenly laughed.
"Of course, these people will always appear and would rather bla their failures on dead things than admit their incompetence and ignorance, but it’s okay—those who are ignorant, we teach them, let them see the reason. Those we can’t teach, or who deliberately cause trouble, well, we’ll set rules and write contracts. I grant that they don’t need to touch those technologies and their derivatives excavated from the Sorinburg Ruins because... In the application stage of new technology, our social resources are barely enough. If so people voluntarily want to separate themselves from new technology, why not satisfy their sincere devotion to saving social resources?"
"...I admire your style."
Veronica left, and the study fell silent for a while. Gawain took a breath, stretched his muscles a bit, and was about to return to work.
He just picked up a docunt from the desk, hadn’t had a chance to look at it carefully when he heard a slight sound of wind from outside the window.
The next second, there was a solid "bang" as soone crashed into the window fra.
Since this was already a regular occurrence, Gawain had no feelings or thoughts to vent. He just naturally got up, opened the window, and let the dazed Amber inside.
As soon as Amber landed, she started shouting, "What’s with keeping the window shut and locked in broad daylight..."
Gawain remained expressionless: "It’s getting cooler; old people fear the cold."
Amber: "..."
"What’s the hurry coming here?" After successfully gagging this disgrace to all things, Gawain felt a little better and seriously asked.
Though Amber climbing through windows was a standard operation, there were different styles and situations:
Standing outside the window, carefully studying the anti-Amber clamps and locks for half a day, cautiously eliminating all traps before climbing in through the window is routine operation, usually when there’s nothing major to report for daily work updates; hastily jumping in and accidentally stepping on a clamp is a normal ergency situation, usually when there’s a report requiring Gawain to read imdiately; and like now, crashing head-on into a locked window fra is rare for Gawain, only having encountered this twice—
The first ti was to report the assassination and death of Francis II, the second was to report the malfunction of Rebecca’s experintal aircraft that fell from the sky and killed Tiel.
Upon hearing Gawain’s question, Amber didn’t mind the details of being gagged; she indeed ca to report important matters and after catching her breath, she quickly said, "Rebecca’s aircraft over there..."
Gawain frowned before she finished speaking: "Did the unfortunate sea demon Tiel get killed again? It’s okay; you know she can revive..."
"No!" Amber almost jumped up, her expression particularly excited, "It flew! It successfully flew this ti!"
Then she took a deep breath and continued: "And it landed successfully—right side up!!"
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