Chapter 55: The Bargain on the Cliff

While Shakya began to truly enjoy her vacation, the executives of Schwalge could not afford to rest.

The demands of the United Nations were glaringly obvious, and the Director had no grounds for refusal.

Nevertheless, certain matters still required deliberation among the high-ranking officials within the bureau.

"Director Qin, their attitude is far too aggressive. They are clearly attempting to usurp our technology."

Shion was the first to voice her concern.

Seated around Director Qin’s round table were several key personnel of Schwalge.

This was an internal meeting, so the United Nations liaison officers had neither been invited nor notified.

"I had anticipated this issue, which is why we are going to discuss countermeasures moving forward."

Director Qin signaled for the next person to speak.

Among those present, Bruce’s parents were notably in attendance.

"Director, I also have a question..."

Bruce’s father spoke up.

"Please go ahead, Mr. Chen."

"Years ago, the United Nations military rejected your proposal to establish a tactical unit of humanoid mobile weapons. Why have they suddenly become so proactive this time?"

"Well, I suspect they wish to seize the initiative of the project for themselves. This is a rather long story, so allow me to start from the beginning."

Director Qin removed his glasses and wiped them with a cloth.

"At that time, the United Nations—having just emerged from the World War and undergone reorganization—had not witnessed with their own eyes the attacks of the Dependents we had long prophesied. They placed very little trust in Schwalge."

With his glasses removed, the scar on the Director's face became even more prominent. Rather than a mere scar, it resembled some sort of peculiar patterned tattoo.

"Back then, in the eyes of the five major UN powers, I looked like nothing more than a charlatan—a wizard who believed in prophecies from an ancient tribe. Mere prophecies and ancient texts left by our forebears were simply insufficient to convince a human government intoxicated by rapid technological advancement."

The Director’s gaze remained fixed on the lenses he was wiping as he began to recount past events.

There were those present who had joined the Schwalge organization relatively late, and he hoped they too would come to understand this history.

"Until twenty years ago, when Master Jingci and I learned of the news concerning Traum according to the prophecy, we began preparations for the establishment of Schwalge with a heightened sense of urgency."

"And then you met the two of us."

Bruce’s father nodded with a smile.

"Ah, right. Regarding that Master Jingci..."

Shion raised her hand to ask a question.

Everyone present—including Shion—was learning of this figure for the first time. Although she had accompanied him to visit Shakya, she was still unfamiliar with his background.

"I believe many of you are seeing Master Jingci for the first time. Although he is not here today, I would like to introduce him."

The Director looked around at the executives present, offering an apologetic smile.

"He is my mentor, the one who revealed to me the reality of the Flashpoint Project and made me understand the truth of the ancient bloodlines. It is fair to say that he is the true founder of the Schwalge Bureau."

Shion was stunned. That quirky monk who never stopped talking once he started was actually such a formidable figure?!

The Director continued.

"At the same time, he is the first 'Executor' I ever encountered! He is just like Shakya. However, for certain reasons, he is unable to fight the way Shakya does..."

I see. No wonder that monk could appear effortlessly on Traum's shoulder, awaken Shakya's power, and use miraculous martial arts.

"More importantly, almost all the intelligence regarding the Dependents was provided by Master Jingci. This was his way of supporting us from behind the scenes."

So that was it. Hearing the Director put it this way, some of Shion’s doubts began to clear up.

No wonder the code names of the Dependents were all names of ghosts from Buddhism; it turned out they were named by a monk.

"Now that I've introduced Jingci, let's talk about Schwalge itself. Until the first Dependent attacked, we were considered a civilian organization. Our greatest advantage lay in holding Traum, a product of ultra-ancient civilization. Of course, we gave it that name later; we have no way of knowing Traum's original name for the time being."

The Director carried on with the topic.

"We worked tirelessly to analyze its technology, but we soon realized that attempting to control it with our current level of technology was sheer fantasy. An uncontrollable Traum is no different from scrap metal. I realized that not all details in the prophecy were explicitly spelled out, and we had to bridge the gaps ourselves."

Shion recalled the days years ago when she was selected as a test pilot.

"Exactly. Fearing that we could never fend off the attacks of the Dependents with Traum alone, we petitioned the United Nations for a project to build a simplified version of Traum—using our current human technology to create a mobile weapon that we could actually operate," Shion added.

The Director picked up the thread: "However, our cooperation proposals were rejected time and time again, even though we had already handed over all our analysis data to the UN's panel of experts. Looking back, that was quite a wishful approach."

"I can think of only one possibility..."

Mr. Chen, Bruce's father, frowned and spoke.

"In truth, the United Nations had already been developing it in private all along; they simply refused to let Schwalge hold that power. And now that they have encountered a bottleneck, while we have successfully utilized Traum..."

Everyone around the conference table nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. As a private organization, holding armed forces was already a sensitive matter. If we were also to manufacture a humanoid mobile weapon unit under our own banner, we would truly become an uncontrollable force in the eyes of the UN."

The Director sighed and put his glasses back on.

"Therefore, although we could have continued to grow our strength in secret, after much consideration, we dared not cross that line. I hope everyone can understand."

"..."

Everyone understood that the Schwalge Bureau was currently only in its nascent stage, regardless of how much advanced technology they wielded, how many talents they had secretly recruited worldwide, or how many covert channels and facilities they had established.

Without global recognition, they would eventually become a stumbling block for the United Nations one day.

With the onslaught of the first Dependent, the prophecies of the Schwalge Bureau were turning into reality one by one.

Especially with the return of Traum's original pilot—Shakya, one of the "Executors"—a week prior to the attack, the boulder weighing on everyone's hearts at Schwalge was finally lifted.

The initial crisis brought by the Dependents was successfully resolved thanks to the smooth activation of Traum.

Because of this incident, Schwalge's standing before the United Nations was vastly elevated.

During the second Dependent attack incident, Schwalge's combat forces were even permitted to cooperate with the allied fleets.

It seemed as though the Schwalge Bureau had overnight transformed into a trusted organization within the United Nations.

If it could transition this smoothly into an organization under the UN banner, it would save a lot of trouble. However, Master Jingci had repeatedly warned Director Qin to approach this decision with caution.

Humanity was still too immature; hastily granting them technology and weapons beyond their control might lead them to destroy this civilization before the Dependents ever could.

Master Jingci had always remained steadfast in this view.

Looking back at the history of the past few centuries, the Director had to admit that Master Jingci was right.

"This is a risky transaction. We must prepare foolproof insurance measures."

Bruce’s father pondered for a moment before voicing his proposal.

"Insurance measures..."

The Director let out a deep sigh.

"Let us—the technical team and ourselves—be the ones to receive the UN panel of experts."

Bruce’s mother chimed in as well.

"Besides, our next stop is the United States anyway. We will negotiate the terms so that we can remain by their side to supervise the development of the mobile tactical weapons."

This plan was by no means a bad compromise.

It all depended on whether it could be executed as smoothly as anticipated.