Chapter Seven: The Twins

It has been several weeks since the attack by the mysterious monster known as the "Hungry Ghost."

The cleanup and reconstruction of New Spring and Autumn City have been remarkably swift. Even the high school has resumed classes.

"Qin Yun, want to grab lunch together?" a classmate invited her.

"Oh—oh, sure." Qin Yun seemed distracted, responding with a stutter as if jolted awake.

"You seem to have a lot on your mind lately... but then again, we all do."

Her classmate was not wrong. The attack from several weeks ago had changed the entire world. For starters, social media had exploded. Theories about extraterrestrial organisms or mysterious creatures from Earth were swirling rampant online. In this day and age, news travels fast. World leaders held emergency meetings, and for a while, the entire globe was in chaos.

Many in the class, including the student speaking to her, had lost family or friends in the attack. Consequently, the atmosphere in the classroom upon returning was incredibly heavy.

"Qin Yun, are your parents doing alright?"

At the lunch table, facing her classmate’s concern, Qin Yun forced a smile and nodded in response.

"That’s good... I... I will never see my mother again..."

The girl’s words left everyone in silence.

Qin Yun simply stuffed noodles into her mouth in silence. It was only natural that a monster of such cataclysmic scale would lead to such a situation. The real question was how to defend against the next attack.

"The military's strikes didn't seem to do any damage to that monster. How was it finally killed, anyway?" a boy sitting nearby asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"You don't know? A video leaked online saying the military used a secret weapon!" another boy wearing glasses sitting across from Qin Yun picked up the thread.

"It seems like someone who didn't manage to evacuate from the mountain filmed it with their phone. A giant robot appeared and took the monster down in a few moves!"

Qin Yun looked up at them.

"For real? So that monster wasn't actually that terrifying?" the girl next to Qin Yun said, her face brightening.

Qin Yun bit through a few noodles and said, "That’s only if we run fast enough."

"You need to be more optimistic, Qin Yun."

The bespectacled boy laughed, "The last time was just too sudden. I believe the government will improve early warnings! Besides, it’s hard to say if there will even be a next time."

That much was true.

Qin Yun’s "father," the Bureau Chief, had told her that from now on, the government would entrust the work of preventing and repelling monsters entirely to the Svarg Bureau. Naturally, the job of repelling them fell to Qin Yun, the pilot of the Traum.

As for whether there would be a next time, it was not a matter of optimism; it was a matter of whether they were sufficiently prepared.

Qin Yun's thoughts drifted back to a few weeks ago.

After defeating the "Hungry Ghost," Shion had taken her to the Bureau Chief's office. The office was very spacious, with a massive floor-to-ceiling window behind the desk. The Chief was waiting there.

"Old man, are you ready to explain things to me?" Qin Yun didn't mince words, asking straight to the point.

"Yes. Explaining it now is the responsible thing to do."

The Chief gestured for Qin Yun and Shion to sit.

"Listen, Qin Yun. Actually... I am not your father..."

"..." Qin Yun stared at the Chief without a word, the scene becoming incredibly awkward.

"Cough... I thought you would be more surprised."

"I'm listening... and then?"

It wasn't that Qin Yun wasn't surprised, but everything that had happened today was so earth-shattering that she no longer felt anything was strange. She felt she didn't have the energy left to be surprised. Moreover... when piloting the Traum, a series of incredible phenomena had occurred, and she was curious about what was going on. Especially the strange memories flooding into her mind.

The Chief took some time to explain everything. To avoid overwhelming her, he decided to tell her only what she needed to know for now.

"Your real name is Shakya. I believe you must have heard that name when you boarded the Traum."

The Chief handed a cup of tea to Qin Yun—or perhaps we should call her Shakya now.

"I heard it many times. I thought it was the name of the machine's owner."

"You are correct. You are the owner of that machine. It requires your DNA to fully initialize." The Chief patted Shakya on the shoulder.

"Then how did you get your hands on it? And why did I become an ordinary high school student?"

"It was to protect you, and to prepare for the attack that happened today." The Chief sighed. "You lost your memories for some reason, and we placed you in the identity of a high school student to keep you safe."

"The story of this machine is a long one." Shion looked at the Chief. "Let's show Shakya that thing."

"Oh, right." The Chief made a gesture, and a holographic display rose from the desk.

On it was a translucent cube, with a glowing energy source encased in the center.

"This is the Origin Cube. It was the catalyst for the founding of the Svarg Bureau, and it is the target we must protect." The Chief began his explanation.

Shakya slowly set down her teacup, realizing this was the crux of the matter.

"Your machine, the Traum, uses its energy as a power source. That is why the Traum’s weapons system can utilize the Power of Origin to inflict substantial damage on that monster."

So that was it.

The Chief also mentioned that the monster that descended upon New Spring and Autumn City, codenamed "Hungry Ghost," had come precisely to seize the power of the Origin Cube. This meant that as long as this object existed, subsequent attacks would come one after another. New Spring and Autumn City had been specifically built as a battlefield city on top of the Svarg base with government approval. This was why the citizens of the city were required to conduct regular evacuation drills from the moment they moved in. This place was designed from the start as a battlefield to intercept monsters coming to steal the Cube.

"What a terrible idea... aren't the people here pitiful?" Shakya frowned. It didn't sound like a good plan.

The Chief explained that this was the first attack. For decades, governments around the world had not fully trusted the Svarg Bureau, and there was no evidence that it would invite monster attacks. However, because of the magical energy of the Origin Cube, they provided help with some skepticism. As a result, the defense forces and equipment were not actually fully prepared. This attack would allow governments to fully understand the legitimacy and necessity of the Svarg Bureau, and from here on, nations would hopefully become more united.

"Tell me about me and my machine." Shakya felt she understood a bit about the Origin Cube now.

"That also has to do with the Power of Origin." The Chief walked behind his desk and pressed a few keys on a laser keyboard. The screen changed again.

According to the Chief, Shakya and the Traum were thrown from the distant past into the present due to some incident involving the Origin Cube. In the turbulence of space-time, the Traum and Shakya were cast into different eras and locations.

The damaged Traum was detected and recovered in the primeval forests by the newly formed Svarg Bureau, which attempted to repair and test it using modern technology. That was twenty years ago.

As for Shakya, she suffered a blow to her brain during the transit, and a group from the Svarg Bureau secretly recovered her after she lost her memories. That was only one week ago.

Many of the combat maneuvers she performed after boarding the Traum were skills Shakya already possessed. Perhaps her mind had lost its memories, but her body still remembered.

"One week ago? Then what about all my memories of family and friends?" Shakya felt irritable; thinking about it this way, what even was she?

"Those were fabricated by the Svarg Bureau." The Chief could see the anger in Shakya's eyes. "We reshaped your memories and personality to protect you. You needed to survive in this era and integrate into it. Fabricating memories and sending you to school was the safest method we could agree upon."

"You didn't even know how old I was, yet you threw me into high school?" Shakya sighed. "Though now, even I don't know how old I am..."

"Looking like a high school student is good enough," the Chief said with a smile.

"You..."

"We couldn't just keep you in a cryogenic pod forever, could we?" Shion added. "Don't worry, you should gradually remember more things from before."

"Damn... I really am a magnet for misfortune." Shakya frustratedly drained her tea in one gulp.

She had always thought of herself as a polite, dignified, and well-educated young lady. She never expected that all of it was fake. After piloting the Traum—or rather, since transforming from Qin Yun into Shakya—she hadn't expected herself to swear. Perhaps the personality of the former Shakya was completely different from the current Qin Yun?

Her mind was in chaos. Even though she suddenly knew she was someone else, the memories of Shakya remained blurry. Perhaps that dream was a clue.

Whether to live on as Shakya or as Qin Yun was a difficult choice.