Chapter 63: Saori

“That’s why I’m suspicious.”

“Why did the organization at that time choose ‘Ephnel’ instead of ‘Fifina,’ which had the highest compatibility?”

“Don’t you find it strange?”

“Of course, there might be some error in this, after all, I haven’t had the chance to access that file, and now that the only file has been stolen, it’s even more impossible.”

“Are we supposed to wait until that ‘Apostle’ you mentioned exposes it online?”

Nishizaki Yuki gave a helpless smile, a cigarette dangling from her lips, then her expression turned serious.

“But logically speaking, Yukina’s body is currently fine, and this is the key point I want to make—Ephnel, what we think, what we detect, what we can see and touch, is not the entirety of ‘what exists here.'”

“In this broken era, the mysteries we humans can uncover are just the tip of the iceberg of this vast fog.”

“Yukina’s situation astonishes me.”

“She possesses an incredible power.”

“She may hold some unknown potential.”

“She was targeted by our enemies, became ‘Fifina.'”

“I don’t think you’d consider that a coincidence either.”

Ding-dong—

A crisp sound echoed as Yukina’s figure appeared around the corner.

“Onee-chan, the elevator is here…”

Ephnel and Nishizaki Yuki turned their gazes towards Yukina.

“I’ll be right there.”

“O-okay…”

For some reason, Yukina seemed to be avoiding Ephnel’s gaze and quickly retreated.

“Well then, I’ve said what I needed to say.”

“Ephnel, if you don’t mind, please bring Yukina back for a check-up every day.”

“And that file, if you can get any related information, I’d like to use it as a reference as well.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll still need to trouble you with Yukina’s matter.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Although I wasn’t much help this time, I will do my best.”

“By the way, I have something else to tell you next time.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you next time.”

Ephnel smiled, leaving her in suspense, then turned and left.

…

After Ephnel left, Nishizaki Yuki returned to her office alone.

She remembered the words Ephnel had left her with as she left, and her brow relaxed.

“What is it… being all mysterious…”

In Nishizaki Yuki’s impression, Ephnel was a straightforward, even staid person who rarely left people hanging, and rarely showed that kind of smile.

This was the first time she had seen this side of Ephnel, and it was quite refreshing.

Was it because of Yukina?

Nishizaki Yuki shook her head and smiled, extinguishing the cigarette in her hand and dropping it in the ashtray.

An ashtray on an office desk—in the entire Seikyo City United Hospital, Nishizaki Yuki was probably the only one.

She collapsed onto the sofa and took a deep breath.

The office was quiet.

After her mind had wandered, Nishizaki Yuki’s thoughts returned to Yukina’s examination report.

The report was now with Ephnel, but Nishizaki Yuki had a strong memory, and she still remembered most of its contents.

Recalling the examination report, Nishizaki Yuki pondered for a moment, took out her phone, and started composing a text message to Ephnel.

But after typing a few words, she deleted the message.

She sighed.

In fact, she did have some guesses about Yukina’s condition.

But they were just guesses.

She couldn’t provide conclusive evidence yet.

Under such circumstances, it was not appropriate to make a rash conclusion.

She still needed more data, more complete equipment, and a more comprehensive experimental design to support it.

Yukina’s situation was undoubtedly special.

At this stage, there were still too many uncertainties.

Although she wanted to help Ephnel, to be honest, even she didn’t know where to start.

The abnormal phenomena for which humanity could currently provide clear answers accounted for less than one ten-thousandth of the reality they faced.

Relying solely on the established theories of their predecessors to study Yukina’s situation had unsurprisingly hit a bottleneck.

Simply put, it was absolutely difficult to determine Yukina’s uniqueness and provide a targeted solution with the existing equipment.

This was a proposition that touched upon humanity’s current research into the very essence of the Power of Order and the White Hole Erosion.

If they didn’t use instruments a thousand times more numerous and complete than what was here to conduct detailed observations, and base their research on that, then everything they claimed to be a phenomenon now could very well be incorrect.

As Nishizaki Yuki had said, at this stage, humanity could only be described as “knowing nothing” about the White Hole Erosion and the Power of Order.

Humanity’s research on the Power of Order and the White Hole Erosion had never stopped, but they had never reached a reliable conclusion that could convince the masses.

In fact, from the very beginning, humanity had been thoroughly defeated by the Erosion.

The civilization of human society fell apart.

Countless scientific detection methods were useless in the face of the power of the White Hole Erosion.

The great cannons and rockets that humanity prided themselves on could only inflict negligible damage on the Erosion Organisms.

Humanity’s last straw was the mysterious ruins, not themselves.

If it weren’t for the extended use of ruin technology and the discovery of the Power of Order based on it, humanity would have been completely devoured long ago.

Even all the instruments currently in this hospital were, in essence, just a way of utilizing ruin technology.

But the judgments that could be made by relying on things learned through imitation were limited.

Borrowed knowledge, in the end, could not be thoroughly understood.

Knock, knock—

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted Nishizaki Yuki’s thoughts.

“Come in.”

Nishizaki Yuki sat up from the sofa, and then the door was pushed open.

She saw the figure standing outside the door.

It was Uzuki Saori (Lily).

She had been coming to the hospital frequently recently to visit Shiina Rin (Furan).

Ephnel came to the hospital almost every day to visit Shion and Rin.

But according to Nishizaki Yuki, it seemed that Ephnel and Saori had a rift between them due to friction over Rin’s matter.

Saori wanted Ephnel to help her, to revoke Shiina Rin’s qualification as an Agent.

But this was something Ephnel was unwilling to do unilaterally in a personal capacity.

Simply put, Shiina Rin herself did not agree.

Since then, Saori had intentionally avoided contact with Ephnel, even staggering her visit times with Shiina Rin’s.

Of course, that incident was just the trigger for everything.

In the end, as long as Shiina Rin did not stop fighting, danger would one day come again.

This was very difficult for Saori, who valued Rin more than her own life, to accept.

Ephnel just happened to be standing at the outlet for Saori’s accumulated negative emotions.

In Nishizaki Yuki’s view, Saori’s mental state was already somewhat unstable, which was why she had suggested to the organization to cancel Saori’s sortie mission arrangements for the recent period.

And Nishizaki Yuki, as Shiina Rin’s attending physician, had more time to spend with Saori, which she could use to soothe Saori’s emotions.

Unlike Ephnel, Saori was just a middle school girl.

As Ephnel had said, these children, who were in the most beautiful years of their lives, should not have to bear this.

But humanity now had no other choice.

Agents were the only light, and this glimmer was built on the sacrifice of countless young girls.

All Nishizaki Yuki could do was to protect these girls to the best of her ability, even if it was just insignificant help.

This sentiment came from a sense of guilt.

“Saori?… It’s you.”

“What can I do for you?”

Nishizaki Yuki stood up, welcomed Saori into the office, and smiled.

“Have a seat.”

Uzuki Saori shook her head and did not sit down.

Instead, she took out a piece of paper.

“I want Rin to be discharged from the hospital.”

“I need your help, Doctor.”

“Please sign here.”

“Discharged?”

Nishizaki Yuki looked surprised, glancing at the paper in Saori’s hand.

It was a discharge consent form.

Signing it would mean approving Saori’s request for Rin’s discharge.

“You know that Rin’s body hasn’t recovered yet.”

“She’s not fit to be discharged…”

Seeing Saori’s somber expression, Nishizaki Yuki asked in a measured tone.

“Is she the one requesting to be discharged?”

Shiina Rin had been infected during a siege after her “Exile Form” was dispelled due to exhaustion in battle, causing her internal Erosion rate to even exceed sixty percent at one point.

After several days of recuperation and treatment, Rin’s internal Erosion rate had dropped to a slightly safer level, but it was still not optimistic.

So, Rin was still in an isolation ward to this day, guarded by special soldiers and nurses.

“No, it’s me.”

“May I ask why?”

Nishizaki Yuki asked softly, but just as her voice fell, a hard object was pressed against her waist.

It was a pitch-black pistol.

Nishizaki Yuki froze for a moment, her gaze meeting the girl’s cold eyes.

Saori spoke faintly.

“I don’t want to answer.”

“I just need you to sign.”

…

TL Note:

Bottleneck — A limitation or obstacle that slows progress, like lacking proper tech or data.