Volume 3, Chapter 42 – She Is a Very Special Student

“Director, the weekly meeting is at five this afternoon. The location is the Security Department Review Division building,” the young man said in an even voice.

Like Colin, the young man, Morton, was also an outstanding graduate from a proper university.

His abilities were so impressive that most of the people at the institute thought highly of his future, Gray included.

But from another angle, Gray also felt a subtle sense of rejection toward Morton.

In many ways, Morton resembled the freshly graduated Colin of years past. Both of them were responsible for developing new weapons.

Colin, however, was a peace-loving person by nature. Although he had worked in weapons research, what he really wanted was to put his skills to civilian use.

So after the great upheaval, Colin resigned immediately.

Morton, on the other hand, possessed an unusual enthusiasm for the development of new weapons.

At every moment, he looked forward to seeing the weapons he designed shine on the battlefield.

But how could a mature, practical weapon possibly be so easy to create?

It was very difficult with his strength alone.

Gray handed Morton the blueprint Anran had given him. “Familiarize yourself with this first. This will be the result we present at the weekly meeting.”

“This is…” Morton accepted the blueprint.

“Take a look first.” Gray lowered his head and stared at the desktop.

The Research Center had fewer and fewer achievements it could present, so naturally it had fallen further and further out of favor with the higher-ups.

The result was that its yearly funding kept shrinking, to the point that some people had even proposed eliminating the Research Center at meetings.

It was useless anyway, so they might as well shut it down.

Although that proposal had ultimately been voted down, the worry in Gray’s heart had not lessened in the slightest.

The Research Center was the labor of his life.

He had worked conscientiously in the position of director for nearly thirty years. How could he possibly watch the Research Center collapse in his own hands so easily?

That was also why he had gone looking for Colin earlier.

The situation was already urgent.

Gray still remembered how decisively Colin had shaken his head and refused.

Rеαԁ оո КatRеadіոɡCafе

“I’m just a one-legged electromechanical repairman now. There’s really nothing I can do to help with what you’re asking.”

Colin had sat in his wheelchair with both hands resting in front of him.

As Gray carefully looked him over in the room,

he realized that Colin no longer possessed the sharp edge he once had.

But Colin still had plenty of spirit. His body seemed a little weak, yet his calm eyes were soaked with happiness.

Was it because he had reconciled with the wife standing behind him?

Or because of the two children outside?

Gray suddenly felt that coming here to disturb Colin’s life had been a mistake.

In many ways, he had already failed this disciple in name.

And yet he had still come shamelessly to ask for help.

I really am getting worse with age.

Colin’s firm attitude had left Gray uncertain. After a rush of memories, he was about to leave when Colin suddenly tossed out a new piece of information.

“I’ve already handed all my blueprints over to that girl who was in the workshop just now.”

“Huh?” Gray turned back in surprise.

Colin was not a talkative man. If he said something like that, there had to be a reason for it.

And Gray quickly understood what he meant.

Even if he could not get a result here, he could still go find that girl instead.

But would Colin really be kind enough to remind him of that?

Of course not.

“Is she the new student you’ve taken in?” Gray asked.

A wave of guilt suddenly rose in him. As time had passed, he had truly come to understand nothing about Colin anymore.

In truth, all that remained of their connection were a few empty titles. He had forced himself to come here, only to end up owing Colin a favor in the end.

Reаԁ oո ΚαtReаdіոɡCаfе

“Not really,” Colin said. But then Gray suddenly saw a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, as if he had remembered something. “Although she calls me Boss, strictly speaking, I ought to count as her teacher. But judging by her personality, she probably wouldn’t admit it.”

Their relationship was oddly good.

Good enough to make Gray a little jealous.

Hey, hey, hey. Eudora, as the wife, are you really not angry at all that your husband cares so much about a female student?

Gray looked at the gently smiling Eudora.

He indulged in that little bit of mischief.

Then Gray continued, “What kind of girl is she?”

“She’s very special, I suppose.” Colin was no longer speaking to Gray in that stiff tone. “From the first time I met her, I felt she was a very special girl.”

“Maybe it was fate. After taking her in, everything started going smoothly. Before that, I had already failed sixteen times.”

His tone was full of wistful emotion.

Colin had never believed in fate before that tragedy happened.

Before he successfully created “Aila,” he had failed a full sixteen times.

But no depth of despair could compare to his hope of seeing Aila again.

“Failed sixteen times? What do you mean?” Gray asked, confused.

“It’s nothing important.” Colin shook his head. “All right, if there’s nothing else, go.”

Colin directly “drove” Gray out.

“…”

Gray was completely baffled by Colin’s words, but he also knew Colin did not want to say more.

He could only fool around a little and try to squeeze out a few extra lines at best.

After that came the matter of Gray going to trade with Anran.

Only after Gray and Anran had each walked out of the house separately,

Eudora, who had brought Colin back into the room, suddenly spoke. “Is this really okay? Don’t you value Anran quite a lot? The Research Center isn’t a good place to be now.”

Rеаd oո КatReaԁіոɡСafе

“There’s no helping it.” Colin’s smile vanished, and he let out a long sigh.

“Compared to staying by the side of a dying man like me, the Research Center may be chaotic, but at least it’s a safe place. Her talent for mechanics is exceptionally rare. I don’t want to see her spend her energy on fighting. That’s too dangerous.”

At the mention of this, Eudora’s expression also darkened.

Colin’s body was no longer in good condition. It was precisely because of that that he had impatiently tried again and again to realize the piece of technology he had “picked up.”

If not for that, Eudora would never have gradually forgiven this middle-aged man, who was getting on in years yet still a little handsome.

After all, before that, she had always regarded Colin as one of the people responsible for her daughter’s death.

“If I could, I’d want to keep guiding Anran until she became a master mechanic far beyond me. I’d also like to watch Aila slowly grow used to this world. Until then, I’ll do my best to stay alive,” Colin said.

Eudora suddenly wrapped her arms around him from behind.

“I’m sorry,” she said. She seemed to have been too willful.

As a doctor, she had always seemed so powerless.

“No matter what, if it weren’t for the bionic tissues you developed, Aila would never have been revived so smoothly,” Colin said with a sigh.

…

On a cart being wheeled somewhere, a charred corpse suddenly twitched. The man in the white coat pushing it suddenly had his eyelid jump. “W-wait, th-that corpse just moved!”

“Damn it, why are you telling ghost stories in the middle of the night?” the person beside him said irritably.

“It’s not a ghost story. Y-you look for yourself.”

The white coat’s voice was full of fear. He let go of the cart and pressed himself against the wall of the corridor.

His companion in the blue cap refused to believe it and glanced over himself.

He was so frightened that he dropped to the floor.

The corpse

really had moved.

“Gh-ghost, gh-ghost…” he mumbled indistinctly, and all strength left his legs at once.

Plop.

Rеaⅾ οn КatRеαԁіnɡСαfе

Something fell down.

Blue Cap reflexively picked it up.

It was a chunk of charred flesh.

“Ah! There’s a ghost!” he screamed immediately.

“Wait!” But at that moment, his companion in the white coat suddenly stopped him.

“Wh-what is it?” Blue Cap asked in panic.

“This person… seems like they’re not dead?” White Coat said.

“Not dead? Isn’t that even more terrifying? Burned like that and still not dead?”

“No, look closely. This charred flesh on the outside seems to be just a layer pasted on.” White Coat reached out and snapped off another piece of flesh.

“Urgh…” Blue Cap dry-heaved.

Smack!

White Coat slapped him on the head at once. “Quit gagging and help me. Get all these chunks off first.”

Blue Cap was yanked back to his feet.

He cast a fearful glance over and, sure enough, beneath the places where the chunks had fallen away was a layer of “plastic,” along with the clothes and skin underneath.

“I knew it. I was wondering why this female corpse was so fat. People can actually do that?”

The two of them hurriedly pulled off the charred chunks from the outside. The person underneath had a clear wound across the abdomen. Though it had been wrapped in bandages, a large patch was already soaked red with blood.

She was in critical condition.

“Get her upstairs to emergency treatment, now.”

“Right, then what about the other corpse?”

“That one’s already been confirmed dead. That’s why the higher-ups told us to send this one to the morgue.”

“Anyway, stop wasting time.”

The two men shoved the cart forward at breakneck speed.