Chapter 51: Missed Again

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Missed Again

That evening, the three of them drank nutrient fluid, then went up to the roof terrace together to look at the stars, talking until half past eight.

Benjamin said he had taken one seed of each kind to plant in glass jars, setting up a smart camera to record the germination process.

Isabella had begun setting up her vlog channel, having shot several videos on basic crochet instructions, waiting only for the channel to be approved to upload them. Liam quietly took Isabella’s channel ID to send to the manager, who immediately scooped it under his own management.

[Ting! Congratulations to Passing Shower! The channel "Isabella Handmade" has passed the review process! Please begin creating your content to share with everyone!]

The notification sounded, prompting Isabella to open the network in surprise. She finished reading it, then said joyfully to her two brothers:

"The channel I created this afternoon has already been approved, the platform’s work efficiency really is high!"

Benjamin nodded: "Yours took half a day to be approved, mine was approved the moment I submitted it the other day."

Liam smiled without speaking. The manager on the other end had certainly seen the potential in the vlog channels Liam recommended, so even without understanding what Handmade was, the man still approved it instantly without hesitation.

Isabella could not wait any longer. She uploaded a video to her main page immediately. Shooting a tutorial video for crafts mainly involved filming the manual operations, but Isabella truly benefited from Benjamin’s support.

Her video opened on an extremely peaceful scene outside the window, the camera zooming slowly in on the decorative piece she wanted to teach today. It was a pot of white lilies of the valley quivering in the wind.

The video had not been up long before the platform immediately pushed it to the front page. A few people browsing the entertainment network clicked in out of curiosity. The video was shot beautifully, featuring a few intriguing words, prompting everyone to watch to the very end to find out more.

With only one video, Isabella’s channel exploded instantly. Liam had not even sent the channel ID to Daniel yet.

Isabella felt a little intoxicated. She watched the channel figures jumping up without pause, smiling as foolishly as a girl in love for the first time.

Benjamin and Liam smiled at Isabella, the scene in the Martinez house at that moment utterly peaceful, overflowing with happiness.

Elsewhere, Theodore Vance took off his protective suit, stepping out of the alloy isolation room. In his hand was a medical toolkit twisted grotesquely by an external force.

Theodore sighed, setting the tools down on the alloy table outside, taking the protective gear completely off. His body now bore a great many wounds large and small, the protective suit torn full of holes as well.

A few people wearing similar suits stepped forward immediately, their expressions turning deeply unpleasant upon seeing his condition. Theodore rubbed his head, his chestnut-brown hair instantly showing a few threads of silver.

"A 2S-grade mental power truly cannot be underestimated. I suffered this before even getting close to him, let alone injecting him with mental power stabilizers."

A female Beta in a white blouse hurried over, opening a medical kit, beginning to treat the wounds on Theodore’s hands.

"Mr. Vance, this is the fourth time this week." She applied a skin-regeneration patch to the tear on Theodore’s forearm, her tone failing to hide her worry: "At this rate, we will be beaten to a pulp before he even wakes up."

Theodore cast his eyes through the hand-span thick meteorite glass separating the two rooms.

Inside, the man lay motionless on the treatment bed, his face pale, both hands locked tight in reinforced alloy restraints. Around the bed, the floor, the four walls were all laced with spiral-shaped cracks, as though someone had bent the entire room with bare hands.

In only three minutes. A mental power riot from a 2S-grade Alpha needed only three minutes to turn an alloy isolation room into scrap metal.

Theodore sighed: "The closer he gets to falling into a deep sleep, the more his mental power loses control. He is trying to fight it with the last shreds of awareness he has left."

The female Beta followed Theodore’s gaze in silence. Despite being bound tight and having lost consciousness, the secret smart watch he held tight in his hand suffered no damage whatsoever. She felt a little jealous of the person he cared for.

She pressed: "I only heard he has someone in his heart. What kind of person are they?"

Theodore shot her a glance, his voice carrying a warning: "Do not ask questions you should not ask."

The female Beta lowered her head in fright, not daring to utter another word.

Theodore waited for her to finish bandaging, standing up to stretch his arms. The joints in his body cracked, the sound alone conveying his exhaustion.

"Give me the smart watch."

A male Alpha wearing glasses walked over carrying a metal tray. On the tray sat a smart watch. Or more accurately, the thing that used to be a smart watch.

The outer casing was crushed into a lump, the glass face shattered to powder, the broken strap lying draped across the tray. In the middle of that mangled metal lay a blue chip broken in three.

Theodore looked at the tray, falling silent for a few seconds.

"Is it broken?"

"Yes." The secretary pushed his glasses up, his voice full of guilt: "This afternoon when he suddenly lost control, you were thrown dozens of meters away by his mental wave. The smart watch was shattered by the mental wave then, subsequently crushed completely by external force. I had someone take it for inspection."

"Can it be salvaged?"

"The hardware is a loss. But there is still hope for the data." The secretary picked up the broken chip, turning it under the light: "The storage chip broke in three, yet all three pieces remain intact, not pulverized. The technical department said they can recover about eighty to ninety percent. It merely takes time."

"How long?"

"Three months at least."

Theodore frowned: "That long?"

"Because the chip in your watch is specially encrypted military hardware, we have no specialized equipment here, it must be sent to the inner lines." The secretary sighed: "You know perfectly well that every package entering or leaving this sector must pass three layers of Legion inspection. That step alone takes nearly a month. Add in the recovery time along with the return shipping, three months is already the fastest estimate."

Theodore rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was too tired to even be angry.

"Very well. Go ahead with it."

The secretary pulled another smart watch from his pocket, handing it to Theodore: "This is your backup device. I have resynced the entire medical record file along with official contacts. However..."

"However what?"

"The backup device only syncs data stored on the station’s main server. Personal messages, private contacts, external communication logs were all in the old device’s internal memory. They will only be available once the recovery is complete."

Theodore fastened the new watch to his wrist, turning it on to take a look.

The screen lit up with a bare interface. The contact list held barely a dozen names, all station doctors and technicians. The inbox was empty, clean to the point of being desolate.

He looked at that white screen, a strange feeling suddenly rising in his chest, a vague sense of having just let something slip away.

Theodore stood dazed for a few seconds, trying to search his mind...

It seemed that right before the other man’s mental power rioted, the smart watch on Theodore’s wrist had flashed briefly. He remembered glancing over, seeing a new message displayed, but before he could read it his entire body was thrown dozens of meters away.

"Mr. Vance?"

"Ah, it is nothing." Theodore shook his head, telling himself the message was likely unimportant, since anyone with urgent business would have simply called directly.

He settled the new watch on his wrist, turning to walk toward the rest area.

...

On planet Cygnus, Benjamin sat on the bed, opening the smart screen to check for the seventh time tonight.

The message sat there in silence, a line of grey text: [Eldest Uncle, can we meet?]

No read receipt. No reply either.

Benjamin sighed, turning off the screen.

The uproar back then was so severe that their maternal grandfather along with their uncles publicly disowned the three siblings. After losing the Vance family’s backing, the meager remaining assets were seized by their paternal eldest and second uncles. Over so many years their eldest maternal uncle could not possibly be ignorant of this, yet the Vance family did not care. It proved this relationship could no longer be salvaged.

The screen displayed a new message, prompting Benjamin to open it in surprise. It turned out to be a message from White Narcissus. Benjamin felt a little disappointed, quickly regaining his spirits.

[Hey, you are twenty minutes late!] White Narcissus sent the message, attaching a pouting Jade greens emoji. Benjamin could picture the other Omega’s sulking expression, unable to stop himself letting out a laugh.

He grabbed the book at the head of the bed immediately, then placed a voice call to White Narcissus. The call connected very quickly, prompting Benjamin to say with a smile:

"I apologize, I was caught up with some business today, losing track of time. Shall we begin now?"

The other side only returned the two syllables "hmph" then "mm" in succession. Benjamin smiled unconsciously, full of indulgence. If Daniel could have seen it, he would have realized this was the exact smile Benjamin gave Isabella and Liam.

"Today we will learn about Crystal Coral greens..."

Benjamin pushed his worries to the back of his mind, concentrating on reading the book to White Narcissus. Reading halfway through, hearing the steady breathing on the other end of the line, Benjamin suddenly felt a strange peace.

He set the book away on the bedside cabinet, turning off the energy lamp, leaving only a small nightlight.

Benjamin lay in silence listening to the steady breathing on the other end, his eyes closing gradually.

The smart watch sitting beside the pillow still gave off a faint light, the gentle steady breathing inside it travelling into Benjamin’s ear, accompanying him into sleep.