Though it seemed strange, in this era, the Human Federation truly had no allies.
Or rather, the vast majority of interstellar civilizations had no allies.
After all, the Milky Way was currently in a state of "message-in-a-bottle" connectivity. In an age without the Star Net to assist with positioning and long-range communication, even friendly civilizations dared not attempt to restart star-gates for information exchange.
The current state of the galaxy was intensely volatile; every civilization lived as an isolated haven, unaware of the passage of time in the outside world.
Following the briefing, the various legions returned to their duties, while Lei Ting returned to the capital system. He inspected various research institutes covering biology, medicine, energy weaponry, and more.
The major institutes had produced numerous results, large and small. Though most of them carried a faint air of "we didn't know what to do with this project, so we just made something up to apply for funding"—and Lei Ting likely wouldn't have even known they existed if he hadn't personally checked the record sheets—some truly possessed immense strategic value. These included new thermal insulation materials, lower-cost terraforming and automatic safe-zone deployment technologies, and human modification techniques for elite troops.
After his review, Lei Ting moved the truly useful projects to the priority list for the next phase of research. He also personally observed several experimental subjects of the human modification program.
These subjects included men and women of all ages. They were divided into those who had "severely violated Federal law" and those who were "true volunteers." Some of the more destructive experimental modifications were restricted to the former group during the initial stages, or even throughout the entire process.
Lei Ting set down the data pad in his hand and glanced at the life-support pod in front of him.
The person inside made him raise an eyebrow slightly. The man was dark-skinned and heavily built; the mental resonance told Lei Ting that this was "Bunker," the man who had nearly killed him on the transport ship all those years ago.
Originally serving under Onge, Bunker had attacked Lucas to test the man then known as "Valen"—Evanheiler. In the end, Lei Ting, out of a sentiment that might be called "justice," had stepped forward to take the blade for them.
Later, a heavily injured Lei Ting was sent to the medical department of the *Solaris*, while Bunker, whose bones had been shattered, was sent to Onge’s secret research facility after being fitted with an artificial skeleton and recovering.
Now, a biological weapon so heavily modified it no longer looked human lay within the life-support pod.
"This is an experimental subject submitted by Vice Speaker Onge’s side. He will not lose control," the person in charge said. "The controller system installed in high-risk espers across the Federation nearly twenty years ago was first tested on him."
To hear such words was, in truth, somewhat inhumane. But the current Lei Ting didn't even twitch an eyebrow. He merely nodded slightly and walked away calmly.
Lucas, who had been following him, also glanced at the life-support pod and then at Lei Ting’s back. His expression was slightly complex, but it soon returned to normal.
"What is it?" Lei Ting asked casually.
"...It’s nothing," Lucas said softly. "It’s just... human experimentation, dangerous research, modifications that border on desecrating life... if it were you twenty years ago, you probably wouldn't have let this pass so dispassionately."
"Perhaps," Lei Ting said tonelessly. He didn't seem to want to discuss the matter. He simply asked, "How have you been lately?"
"If you mean my physical and mental state, you probably know that better than I do. To be honest, every time your mental scan passes over me, I feel like I’m about to be crushed," Lucas said. "But if you mean my life..."
He fell silent for a moment, glancing at the accompanying personnel trailing far behind them through the mirror-polished walls of the corridor.
"...My father’s health is very poor," he said. "But my husband... he’s doing alright."
"If he were truly doing alright, you wouldn't have specifically mentioned him," Lei Ting said.
He paused briefly and turned to look at Lucas. The latter was momentarily stunned, yet he still subconsciously avoided a gaze powerful enough to turn a single "Psionic Thought" into ash.
"Don't be afraid," Lei Ting said. "If there is a problem, you can come to me."
*He speaks like a statue,* Lucas thought.
The handsome young man did not look at the statue. He merely pursed his lips and, driven by some inexplicable impulse, asked, "All these years... why have you been doing this?"
Lei Ting tilted his head slightly.
As they spoke, the people behind them perceptively slowed their pace, falling back a few more steps. He knew they couldn't hear.
As for the question Lucas asked, he also knew what it referred to.
"Hmm?" Lei Ting prompted with a single syllable.
He decided to let the other man voice the question himself.
"Over these years, you have gradually become..." Lucas weighed his words. *Feared?* No, that had long been common knowledge. "...Someone who is impossible to understand, yet someone everyone is forced to try and decipher."
"You mean I am incomprehensible, yet I carry weight," Lei Ting said.
He resumed his walk through the space-bound laboratory. Beneath his feet were glass-like layers of aerospace materials, each layer filled with the previous generation's finest thermal insulation, paired with climate control and air purification systems that made the corridor as warm as spring.
Distant sunlight illuminated half the star system, as well as the lining of his cape and the facets beneath his armor.
"You may interpret me however you wish. In your own way," he said. "And you may react to it in your own way as well..."
"As long as I don't mess things up?" Lucas countered. He had rarely appeared on the front lines in recent years, staying instead in the capital system to manipulate public opinion and monitor the movements of the entire capital sector for Lei Ting.
Therefore, he knew better than anyone how obsessed this man was with "official business."
If a report was filed, less than three minutes later, someone proven to be obstructing a plan would suddenly drop dead.
Most people had likely never witnessed such terrifyingly efficient executions.
But Lucas had seen them, many times.
Lei Ting did not answer. He walked slowly forward, approaching a clock-shaped security door secured by twenty-four heavy locks. This was a standard architectural feature for the Federation’s highest-level classified laboratories.
"What exactly do you want to do?" Lucas asked the question, just as Evanheiler had once done.
*Are all you Kangs like this?*
Lei Ting still didn't answer. He merely diverted a tiny sliver of his mental energy for a moment and quickly realized that Ethengar was clearly not like this.
But thinking about it... in a sense, of the three members of that family, only his friend remained somewhat normal now.
"...You wouldn't do these things without a plan," Lucas said. "You are sober, you are perfectly rational. You know what you are doing and what the consequences of such actions will be. But, Brother Lei, is pure rationality truly a good thing?"
"Of course not," Lei Ting said.
"Then why have you turned yourself into this?" Lucas asked softly. "Would Sandro know that the soul he once trusted has become a fellow without a shred of humanity?"
"I am different," Lei Ting said.
Yes, "I am different"—he said it so arrogantly, so coldly, and yet... so naturally.
Lucas clenched his fist slightly, then let it drop dejectedly.
"...Are you saying," he retorted, "that there are too many mediocre people in this world, and they are troubled by both reason and emotion... but you are different?"
"No," Lei Ting said. "I, too, am merely a mediocre man."
Just as he was always misunderstood by others through their own perspectives, when he said this, a sense of absurdity washed over Lucas.
A machine—a cold machine, massive, orderly, spanning heaven and earth, so powerful its limits were impossible to observe, and currently carrying out terrifying plans that almost no one else could understand...
...And he called himself a "mediocre man."
From Lucas’s perspective—or rather, from the perspective of any outsider—this was an undeniable form of arrogance.
For a moment, Lucas recalled a conversation he’d had with someone recently.
—"In recent years, the name 'Solar Star' has been appearing less and less in propaganda..."—
—"He is busy for the sake of the entire Federation, after all."—
—"Is he really?"—
—"...What do you mean?"—
—"You know what I mean, darling. Tell me... is 'Solar Star' truly considering the Federation's interests?"—
—"Stop! I don't want to continue this topic."—
—"Oh, no, my dear Lucas," the other person’s voice was incredibly affected, filled with dramatic emphasis. "I’m just discussing a question with you... a question many people hold in their hearts."—
—"But I don't want to discuss it."—
—"Relax, I know you’re loyal to him. Honestly, it makes me quite jealous—but, darling, refusing to think, refusing to discuss... doesn't that just prove you aren't sure of the answer yourself? You’ve doubted it too, haven't you? Whether that man is acting for the good of the Federation, or for a lust for power. After all, who in this world wouldn't want to be the sole authority..."—
—"...You should move your gun away from my forehead, darling. I am your spouse."—
—"But you don't have to be."—
Lucas had said. For the first time, his voice had been ice-cold when facing this person.
—"I love you, Cathy, but your arrogance and disrespect have begun to touch upon a dangerous territory.
"According to the Federal Secrecy Act and relevant law enforcement regulations, as of today, your right to personal freedom is revoked. Say goodbye to your friends in your heart, darling. I will investigate every single one of them. And I will execute those who are problematic."—
—"Wait?! Get those drones away! Lucas, you can't—"—
—"I certainly can."—
Lucas had held the gun in one hand, pointed it downward, and pulled the trigger.
His legal husband—the man he had once been so deeply in love with that he was willing to defy his father—had his left leg suddenly shattered.
And Lucas, having entered a state of high alert, remained cold-faced, his heart untroubled.
—"You are the spouse of a sensitive figure. Therefore, compared to your group of friends, you need to pay a higher price for your words and actions, Cathy."—
He had said.
In the hall of the Kang family home, that echoing voice was as cold as a block of ice—it was the voice of a veteran tempered in the fires of war, the voice an esper warrior who maintained a high state of vigilance year-round should have.
No fanaticism, no softness, and certainly no weakness. Executing every necessary operation for the sake of the one he served...
Compared to the soft, lighthearted manner he usually maintained, which seemed no different from his youth, this was the true face of the forty-something Lucas Kang.
And he had maintained this face for nearly twenty years.
But even though a month had passed since that incident, and Cathy was in custody, and all those who had exchanged and fermented information with him had been dealt with—and truth be told, they really had found several foreign spies who had racked their brains to contact the man from the social sphere—
—A question still remained stuck in Lucas’s heart.
*What exactly does "Solar Star" want to do?*
For what kind of future had this man, who could now be described as cold and ruthless, spent so many years preparing?
Just thinking about it caused a sliver of fear to rise spontaneously in his heart.
And beyond that, what terrified him even more was...
He was one of "Solar Star’s" inner circle, yet such a thing could happen right beside him.
Then, in the social spheres of the Federation and the circles of bureaucratic families, how many dangerous infiltrators remained hidden and undiscovered?
