At the same time, deep inside The Nexus.
The unfilled declaration form remained frozen on the main monitor.
The atmosphere between The Raven and The Commodore was suffocating. Neither
man spoke.
Finally, Toby Adler turned around from his station, his expression grim.
"Commodore, there's a new situation on the auction floor."
The Raven's gaze sank, a vicious twitch pulling at his eye.
From the shadows, Lucius Vael's voice was a soft, dangerous drawl. "Speak."
Toby brought the live verification results onto the central screen. "A medic attempted to alter Specimen Fourteen's monitoring data and requested to initiate the Red Medical Evacuation Protocol. Furthermore, The Sabotage Interface Module he used attempted to execute a wipe command to erase the original logs and terminate the public appraisal."
Toby spoke rapidly. "However, The Panacea saw through the entire operation. The suspect is currently in custody."
The Raven's hands clenched into white-knuckled fists at his sides.
His mole inside the medical team had actually failed. Not only did Caleb Thorne fail to secure Specimen Fourteen, but he had fallen right into The Panacea's hands!
Would Project Zero-Transit trace this back to Obsidian Sun?
No. Impossible.
Every mole planted by Obsidian Sun was a hand-picked fanatic. The moment they were compromised, they were trained to bite down on a cyanide capsule. They would never leave a single trail for the ship's crew to follow.
But just then, Toby shot a quick, nervous glance at The Raven before turning back to the screen. "Also... we've completed the identity trace."
"The Transit Department ran a cross-check. When Specimen Fourteen initially entered the emergency medical transit process, this exact person's internal clearance was used to verify the medical safety protocols."
"Additionally, we ran a foundational protocol comparison on The Sabotage Interface Module he used. It perfectly matches the registry data of the Obsidian Sun medical terminal assigned to Specimen Seven."
"All original logs and handover files have been fully verified."
The moment Toby finished, a deathly silence consumed The Nexus.
The massive screen displayed Caleb Thorne's personnel file right next to his entire operational history. Right below it, Specimen Seven's official consignment records were laid bare.
The cold, glaring light from the monitors washed over The Raven's face, making his already sinister features look utterly ghastly.
Moments ago, he could have brushed off the biological similarities between Specimen Seven and Fourteen as a mere
technological leate ceremet
have
blamed Fourteen's unauthorized
entry into the system on some rogue third party.
But now?
An Obsidian Sun medical terminal. An Obsidian Sun operative deep inside the medical team.
The very man who personally authorized Fourteen's initial entry into the transit system.
The evidence formed a flawless, unbreakable chain. There was no room left for lies.
From the darkness, the blurred figure slowly lifted his head. "Before you arrived, I was prepared to sit here and listen to how Obsidian Sun planned to explain all of this."
Lucius's voice was modulated, stripped of any inflection. "Now, it seems there's no need."
The second the words hung in the air, a heavy black folder flew out of the shadows.
Smack.
It slammed brutally into The Raven's face. The sheer force of the seemingly weightless pages whipped across his skin, leaving a stark, stinging red welt.
The Raven stood frozen. The burning pain across his cheek darkened his expression into something murderous, but he didn't Jash out. He simply raised aband and caught the scattering pages.
They were damning. The mole's identity file, the clearance logs showing Fourteen's entry into the emergency transit system, the matched data between the illegal module and Obsidian Sun's terminal, and the final pail in the coffin the complète digital signature Caleb Thorne had automatically left behind when he submitted the Red Medical Evacuation Protocol.