"Until we know more, we cannot rush into destructive testing of this mass - especially after confirming that it contains a living heart."
As Ted Leal spoke, he opened his heavy book and put the "stethoscope" back into the pages of the book. There was also a complicated expression on his face that always looked tired.
"Honestly, this is really the weirdest 'thing' I have ever seen in my life. I have seen a lot of indescribable things that invade the real world, but a ball of metal with a heartbeat is not that common, and it is so... quiet
."
"Quiet?" Lucretia heard this and frowned subconsciously.
"Yes, quiet, almost harmless to humans and animals," Ted Leal nodded, "As you can see, its 'shell' has almost solidified. According to the field team, when it first entered the real world
There was still intense activity for a short period of time, but it soon changed to this 'frozen' state. In addition, it did not show any 'active characteristics' such as trying to escape from containment, contaminating the caretakers, and resisting external prying eyes...
"
The secret keeper said, slowly shaking his head: "Among the 'living' 'foreign objects', this is very abnormal - trying to break through containment is the biggest characteristic of all 'living foreign objects'."
Lucretia didn't speak again for a while, but Nina beside her gradually showed a thoughtful expression, and she didn't know what she was thinking about. She suddenly said: "It gives people the feeling that there is no life."
Cute'?"
"This is an interesting... point of view, although I don't think this ball of living metal will have such a human reaction," Ted Leal raised his eyelids and glanced at Nina, but obviously did not take this whimsical idea seriously.
With that in mind, "I am more inclined to think that it cannot adapt to the living environment of our real world, but as time goes by, it may gradually adapt, and by then it may have a process of increasing activity."
"Tell me about the situation at the market." Duncan suddenly broke the silence. His eyes fell on Nina and Shirley, "Nina, when you contacted me, you said that you and Shirley were
I felt something was being spied on for no reason, and I was about to report it to the guard on the roadside, when this 'thing' suddenly appeared?"
"Yeah," Nina immediately nodded repeatedly and spoke while recalling the situation at that time, "Shirley and I felt eyes falling on us several times, and there was also a presence that kept approaching. I think it should
It was this thing—later, when Shirley and I were about to go find someone to report it, it couldn’t help but pounce out, and..."
Speaking of this, she suddenly stopped, with a very hesitant look on her face. After hesitating for several seconds, she frowned and spoke uncertainly: "And there is a very wrong detail. I don't know if it's me."
I saw it wrong. When this thing first appeared, the moment I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I felt... I thought it was a person."
Nina's tone was very hesitant, and what she said instantly silenced the room. Even Ted Leal, who had always been tired and lazy, immediately opened his eyes wide, but before he could speak,
Shirley, who was closest to Nina, was the first to shout: "Ah? What are you talking about? Did you see that this thing looked like a human being at first? You didn't tell me, either?"
"This matter was not mentioned in the field team's report," Ted Leal said with an extremely serious expression, "Miss Nina, are you sure?"
"So I said I don't know if I saw it wrong," Nina said a little nervously. "The market was in chaos at that time, and there were people running everywhere. Maybe I saw it wrong...or maybe
Did the guards at the scene miss it? After all, it was only the first moment..."
"It's unlikely. There are strict 'contact process recording standards' in the guardians' working principles. Because many 'foreign objects' do have the ability to quickly change themselves or evade cognition, we will require the implementation of 'first contact'
'The personnel should strictly describe the 'initiation time of contact' when reporting the situation, and whether everyone's sight shifted during the action, to confirm whether the entire team had an 'observation window' towards the target..."
Ted Leal briefly explained the working principles of the "Knowledge Guards" and then shook his head: "According to the field team's report, they made contact with the target the first moment it entered the real world. At least two
The defenders were visually watching the location of the target before it appeared, and at least one person was always watching it during the entire contact process, so there was no possibility of an 'empty window'."
As soon as he finished speaking, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "But I believe what Nina said."
Ted Leal was startled and seemed to react: "...What do you mean?"
"At least from Nina's perspective, this 'intruder' looked like a person in the first moment," Duncan said lightly, and then glanced at Shirley, "You have been with Nina, you have not
You saw that scene, right?"
"No," Shirley shook her head immediately, "I didn't see it look like a human being."
"Due to different observers, different 'forms' were observed on the same target?" Ted Leal's eyes obviously changed. He looked at Nina with surprise and thinking in his eyes, "And only Nina
Miss Na is different from what people around her see...why is this?"
He seemed to be extremely curious, and his eyes quickly fell on Duncan: "Is there anything special about Miss Nina?"
The "secret keeper" looked quite puzzled. He didn't know the details of Nina. After all, without actively triggering the "spiritual vision" for observation, Nina looked like an ordinary person to outsiders.
A seventeen-year-old girl - but there is no doubt that there is something special about this "ordinary girl".
If only she could stay on Duncan Abnomar's ship.
"Have you heard of the 'Black Sun Arrival' incident in Pland? If you have, then you should know that the Homeless took away some fragments of the ancient sun when it left that city," Duncan said, lifting the
He pointed at Nina and said, "She is."
Then he didn't pay attention to Ted Leal's excited expression for a moment, but focused on Nina again: "Do you still remember what the 'person' you saw at the beginning looked like?"
Nina immediately tried to remember, and after a while she finally said: "It looked like a person wearing strange ancient armor, the kind of armor that appeared in history books, like an iron can... Oh, there is also a
A tattered scarf, or a short cloak? Because I only saw it for a moment, and I’m not sure about too many details..."
She paused for a while before adding: "Because I'm wearing a helmet and the armor looks very thick, I don't know what the person in the armor looks like, or even whether it's a man or a woman, but I can feel it.
The armor is in tatters and looks like it has been through a lot of battles."
"A warrior wearing ancient armor..." Lucretia on the side muttered. She thought quickly and asked a question, "Then how did this 'person' turn into a ball of living metal? In this process, you
see it?"
"No," Nina shook her head, "In just an instant, it changed like this. It didn't seem to be a gradual change process... Maybe I blinked? I'm sorry, I can't remember clearly..."
"It's good to remember this. You provided very critical and important information." Duncan said, comforting Nina who seemed a little lost, then turned around and walked to the platform where the "samples" were placed.
.
He looked at the solidified "living metal" with a serious face and sorted out the information he had mastered so far.
At a certain first moment, "ta" seemed to be a warrior wearing heavy ancient armor, and the armor was worn and battle-scarred.
Nina felt eyes on her several times, and she felt like she was being followed, which meant that this thing was probably coming for her, or... maybe it was coming for the "Ancient Sun"
.
People were coming and going in the market, but when Nina first felt the sight and tracking, no one noticed anything strange. This shows that "ta" either has some kind of cognitive disruption ability, or is coming from something similar to a psychic.
The reality of "submerging" into a deep world like the World...
Duncan slowly stretched out his hand and pressed it on the surface of the "metal".
A cold and hard feeling came from the fingertips.
He seemed to be able to feel the heart buried deep in the metal, the slow beating and the low heartbeat.
It is alive, "alive" in a way that humans cannot understand.
It seemed to have a certain purpose, but something unexpected happened in the last step of the action - it emerged from hiding and pounced on Nina and Shirley, probably not to turn into such a ball of solidified metal in the last step.
Ted Leal looked at Duncan's actions nervously, and then he subconsciously turned his eyes to the "witch" aside.
Lucretia just shook her head and signaled not to interfere.
A little green spark appeared on Duncan's fingertips.
He carefully controlled this flame so as not to ignite the metal in front of him that seemed to be "extraordinary" at first glance. He controlled the flame to penetrate into the metal, sensing its life flow and its heartbeat.
, and possible... thoughts.
However, what responded to him was only a huge emptiness and a hazy and chaotic "touch".
There seems to be no information that can be "decoded" within this mass of metal.
But for some reason, Duncan always felt that there was something else in that empty, hazy and confusing depth of touch - it wasn't that he couldn't find it, he just couldn't "understand" it for the time being.
"...Who are you?" He couldn't help but ask softly in his heart, "Where are you from?"
After an unknown amount of time, the huge emptiness still existed, but in the weak message sent back by the flame, a ripple seemed to suddenly appear.
Duncan seemed to hear a voice, or an "idea" emerging in his mind——