Chapter 57: Friends from Afar

The woman in the white hooded cloak quickly vanished into the night.

"Let's go, Shakuya. What are you looking at?"

Lung Sheng noticed Shakuya standing blankly behind them, staring back at the departing woman.

"That woman... her hair was rather pretty. Is something the matter?"

Bruce vaguely remembered that the woman's hair had been exposed for a moment just then, revealing a rare shade of silver.

Shakuya patted her cheeks. Perhaps she had stayed in the karaoke parlor too long tonight and was feeling a bit dazed; she must have been seeing things.

"N-no, nothing... Let's go flag down a taxi."

Feeling rather sleepy, Shakuya didn't want to overthink it. It was a rare holiday, and she needed to rest and recuperate properly.

At the intersection leading from the residential complex to the main road, the three of them quickly found a taxi. Shakuya said goodbye to Bruce and Lung Sheng, got into the car, and set off on her return journey.

None of the three realized that behind them, in a dim corner of the alley along the road they had just walked, a pair of red pupils were watching their parting figures.

Those red eyes belonged to the silver-haired, hooded woman!

"Target observed at close range..."

The hooded woman raised her wrist, seemingly communicating with someone via a device on it.

"Yes, I know. She looks completely carefree now; it seems she hasn't remembered anything at all."

Hiding beneath the dim streetlamp in the alley, the hooded woman kept her voice very low, even though there was no one else around.

"Understood. I will rendezvous with the researcher named Dr. Clark in this city and act as his assistant."

The communication device on her wrist flickered on and off.

The old, dim streetlamp at the entrance of the alley also flickered occasionally.

"Worried about me? Thanks. Rest assured, I know what I'm doing, and I know what we are doing."

Tonight's New Chunqiu City still seemed peaceful, its lights gradually extinguishing one by one as the night grew deeper.

After returning home, Shakuya took a long, relaxing bath and then threw herself onto her bed.

With the weather turning colder, she no longer had the energy to stay up late watching anything.

The remaining three days of her vacation passed quickly, and the time for Shakuya to return to the SCHWARZ headquarters arrived.

A phone call from Shion summoned Shakuya to the SCHWARZ base.

"Long time no see, Shion."

The automatic doors slid open, and Shakuya stepped into the lobby of the SCHWARZ headquarters.

Having familiarized herself with SCHWARZ's secret passages, Shakuya could travel to the base from her home at any time.

"It looks like you didn't waste your vacation; your complexion is much better."

Shion was already waiting in the lobby.

She looked exceptionally energetic today and had carefully applied makeup.

"You look a bit different today. Is it some kind of special day?"

"Ah... rather than a good day... I'd say it's more of a troublesome day."

Shion briefly explained the situation to her.

Shakuya didn't have anything terribly urgent to deal with this time; as the pilot of the Traum, she simply needed to join the others at the airport to welcome the United Nations expert delegation.

"A United Nations expert delegation? When did this happen?"

Shakuya had spent the past few days completely relaxing and resting, and Shion hadn't burdened her with work matters.

Shion told Shakuya to change into her SCHWARZ operative uniform first, promising to explain the details along the way.

This time, Shion, Shakuya, the Director, and several other senior executives set off together in a dedicated vehicle.

Their destination was the military airfield they had visited before, where large transport planes capable of flying to the outer seas were stationed. It was practically used exclusively by SCHWARZ.

"So, we're forced to hand those technologies over to them?"

Shakuya also felt that this move by the United Nations was quite unusual.

Along the way, the driver kept a moderate speed, giving Shion and the Director plenty of time to brief Shakuya on recent events.

"I... don't really understand politics... If they can actually piece together a mecha army, it would make things a lot easier for me..."

Shakuya could also see that relying on herself alone was not always effective in certain situations. Having a few teammates would actually be a good thing.

"The question is... whether they can truly become our teammates..."

The Director also explained SCHWARZ's current approach to handling the matter.

"They will undoubtedly ask you to pilot the Traum in person to gather first-hand testing data. You can feel free to follow their instructions on that..."

"Mm..."

Faced with the Director's instructions, Shakuya nodded in acknowledgment.

"However, the Soul Arts must not be demonstrated in front of them. This is also Master Shingyouji's opinion."

"Understood."

Over a decade ago, the United Nations had already acquired preliminary analysis reports on the Traum. Although they didn't talk about it openly, conducting secret development behind closed doors was practically a certainty.

However, just as when Shion served as a test pilot, the control systems built by modern humans could never quite match the ancient hyper-civilization technology. No doubt the other side was encountering the exact same problem.

The Traum had always been SCHWARZ's greatest asset. It was not merely a humanoid mobile weapon, but an amplifier capable of fully unleashing the pilot's personal potential.

This secret must currently be kept from the United Nations side.

The SCHWARZ technical department had not included the Traum's potential burst from their last mission in the official report.

As for its operational principles, even the current SCHWARZ organization remained clueless.

Perhaps it was related to the materials used to build the Traum, or perhaps to its drive mechanism.

However, many of the "black technologies" on this machine—even if one understood what effects they produced—were impossible for current human technology to reverse-engineer.

That being said, if SCHWARZ and the UN experts could work together to decode the legacy of the ancient civilization, it would inherently be a good thing for the development of human civilization.

It was simply that human civilization had not yet earned the full trust of the "Enforcers," which was why they held back.

It was much like handing a loaded real firearm to a reckless child; there was no telling what kind of trouble they might cause.

As one of the "Enforcers," Master Shingyouji theoretically knew the principles behind it, but like Shakuya, his memory had been compromised, and he couldn't explain the crucial points. That made things rather awkward.

"If only we 'Enforcers' hadn't lost our minds... right?"

Shakuya felt that this matter should have been quite simple to resolve, but unfortunately, such complications had arisen.

"That's why we're hoping to find more 'Enforcers.' If we can find someone with intact memories, that would be ideal."

The Director and the others shared the same opinion. At least for now, the degree of memory loss differed between Shakuya and Shingyouji.

That meant Enforcers with complete memories must certainly exist.

"The road is long and arduous..." Shakuya sighed.

Very well, since she was going along this time, she could just go and see what those experts were really planning.

"All in all, I just need to play along with everyone, right?"

"All you need to do is keep the power of the Soul Arts hidden; leave the rest to us."

Shion smiled. As long as Shakuya kept her mouth shut, everything would be fine.

When it came to dealing with these experts and foreign military figures, they were seasoned veterans.

The dedicated vehicle sped down the highway, drawing closer and closer to the airport.

In the distance, an E-4B command aircraft bearing markings of the United States military was slowly descending.