At the Azure Huaxia No. 2 Research Institute, beside the entrance to the office area, a fireplace burned day and night with roaring flames.
Passing by, Xin Yaoqiao tossed the white-covered document she had obtained barely fifteen minutes ago into the hearth, along with the photograph.
She stood watching it burn away completely before turning to leave.
Azure's regulation stipulating that "scientific research files and documents shall never leave the office area" had been instituted very early on, likely back when the research institute's defenses were far less tight and formidable. It had continued ever since, becoming a widely known convention and standard.
At first glance, this rule seemed primarily designed to protect the documents. Yet after long practice, statistics proved that it was, in truth, far more about protecting people.
Keep the home as far from classified secrets as possible... or something along those lines.
A plain five-story residential building for dependents. Security checkpoints—one, two, three. Tap, tap, tap went Xin Yaoqiao's footsteps as she bounded up the stairs toward the third floor: home.
In truth, within the No. 2 Research Institute, those who knew Xin Yaoqiao was the granddaughter of Qu Zhongshi, Council Speaker of the Azure Huaxia Advisory Council, were not particularly numerous, nor were they exceedingly few—perhaps a dozen or two.
Furthermore, those who knew she belonged to Azure's Sub-Sequence were fewer still, no more than ten.
Lastly, those who knew she also belonged to the Second Combat Sequence and possessed the sole Grade A degree of fusion across both of Azure's great scientific research families were even fewer—fewer than five in total.
All the counts above included her father, her mother, and her uncle.
"Hello, Grandpa?" Back home, with her parents both away at work, Xin Yaoqiao dialed a secure line and called out while sprawling across one end of the sofa.
"During office hours, please address me as Council Speaker." It wasn't his secretary answering; the voice on the other end carried a faint trace of laughter, though he feigned a stern, official tone.
"Council Speaker Grandpa."
"...Yes, what is it?"
"I miss you," Xin Yaoqiao said affectionately. "I want to come see you... And on that note, I feel like we in Sub-Sequence ought to hold a meeting and get to know one another."
The Council Speaker grandfather, still brimming with warmth a second ago, paused. "Is there really any need for that? For now, none of you have any need to collaborate."
"There is! Regardless of collaboration, it's better to know each other beforehand," Xin Yaoqiao argued. "That way, if Azure ever falls in the future, us unloved misfits can contact and track each other down while on the run, hide together, and plan a counteroffensive!"
"Ptui, ptui, ptui... What's this talk of falling? Spit and take it back, right now!" Qu Zhongshi grew anxious at once.
"I said *if*, and I already put it mildly," Xin Yaoqiao retorted, thoroughly unconvinced. "Besides, Grandpa, you're a scientist! How can you be so superstitious? You're not Grandpa Goat, chopping off a rooster's head and tying red cloth before sending a death squad to hack down Red Shoulders."
"Those things, they're... Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you," Qu Zhongshi sighed. "It's all our fault... Aside from science, your entire thought process has gone completely skewed."
Grandfather and granddaughter rambled on aimlessly like this for five or six minutes. When her repeated suggestions for a Sub-Sequence gathering went nowhere, Xin Yaoqiao came right out with it:
"Actually, I just want to go check out that new combat guy who joined the sequence."
"This..." Qu Zhongshi froze for a moment, then called out with deep earnestness, "Yaoyao."
"Yes?"
"You're a girl."
"Mm-hmm."
"So, you have to be reserved. You understand?"
"But I'm already nineteen... You've been teaching me to view and understand male-female relations scientifically since I was thirteen," Xin Yaoqiao said. "What's more, you raised me to stay curious about everything... So how could I possibly not be curious about men?"
Qu Zhongshi: "..."
The Council Speaker grandfather found himself at a temporary loss for words. His granddaughter on the other end of the line had displayed staggering genius at an early age. Although she had later attended Azure elementary and middle schools for a time, her primary education and development had been carried out within the family according to a specialized curriculum.
And Xin Yaoqiao's family—both maternal and paternal branches—consisted entirely of elites in Azure's scientific research establishment.
This thoroughly scientific, rational environment and upbringing had allowed her genius to be developed and realized much faster and earlier. Yet at the same time, it made her unlike ordinary people.
To some extent, Xin Yaoqiao was detached from the times. She possessed little grasp of worldly ways, little emotional reserve, little... These "ill fruits" were finally, gradually revealing themselves.
"Grandpa?" Xin Yaoqiao called when no answer came.
Waiting a few seconds more and still receiving no response, she continued her exposition: "Right now, after all this time, an age-appropriate male I'm interested in across every dimension has finally appeared. He's good-looking, he belongs to the combat track I've always looked forward to, and he has such an extraordinary, mysterious combination of talents... So I feel it's entirely appropriate for me to go try and learn more about him. Grandpa, you ought to be happy for me, really."
She wasn't throwing a tantrum; she was conducting a rational analysis... Qu Zhongshi knew this, so: "..." What could he even say?
"Furthermore, considering how superior my genetics are, for the sake of Azure, it would be optimal for me to reproduce," Xin Yaoqiao added, completely earnest and serious.
"Nonsense!" Qu Zhongshi finally exploded.
Adopting an overbearing stance, he flatly rejected his granddaughter's notions and slammed down the phone. Leaning back in his chair, the Council Speaker grandfather thought mournfully: *Sigh, nineteen. How is she already nineteen?... Seems it's time to remind my daughter to give Yaoqiao some non-scientific, non-rational education... even if it's just mending the fold after the sheep are lost.*
Qu Zhongshi thought he would call his daughter once she finished work to thoroughly analyze this problem and formulate a plan.
Yet before he could call, his daughter's call came in first.
"Dad, Qiaoqiao left us a note saying she just finished a major project, that she's exhausted, and that since she hasn't had a vacation in two years anyway, she's gone off on holiday. Did you—"
Father and daughter exchanged a few words and quickly confirmed the truth: his granddaughter had run away from home. She had taken a three-dimensional apparatus and set out on her own.
"Can we catch up to her?" Qu Zhongshi asked.
"Probably... very difficult," his daughter replied. "Dad, you hired so many top experts to teach her since childhood, and her degree of fusion is so high—she's the only one across generations in both our families who can actually fight. Plus, her counter-tracking techniques..."
Qu Zhongshi flared with anger. "Then doesn't she worry about the consequences? Doesn't she know her responsibilities? She has no sense of gravity!"
"Ah... Dad, wait a second," his daughter said, rummaging around on her end. She pulled out a draft sheet, read it over, and said, "I didn't know what this was before, but now I understand... Qiaoqiao calculated the probability of her dying on this trip... Her conclusion: it's about the same as an ordinary person taking a bus through winding mountain roads, or an elderly person taking a bath alone in the bathroom."
"...Then under no circumstances should we make a scene, nor should we act rashly."
"Right. Yaoqiao has the ability to protect herself, and no one knows she slipped away on her own, let alone where she's going..." Qu Zhongshi had already calmed down, analyzing the situation as he spoke. Finally, he said, "I know where she's headed. I'll find a way to make arrangements."
The call ended.
Qu Zhongshi was now in a state of hesitating to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase—worried and anxious out of his mind, yet precisely because of that, daring not utter a single peep.
The news could not be leaked under any circumstances.
He posited a hypothetical: if the news were made public and the Cleansing Faction were allowed to pick one person from Azure's scientific research establishment to kidnap right now... Qu Zhongshi believed the likelihood of them choosing his granddaughter might even exceed that of the core figures researching the three-dimensional apparatus.
Because Xin Yaoqiao... was likely the single person who had mastered the greatest number of phonetic syllables of the Great Spike civilization's language.
And the Cleansing Faction... had yearned to make contact with their Lord of Advent, their God of Destruction, for decades.
Chapter 54