Chapter 99: Disappearance?
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Are you talking about Ms. Perser’s Zero Vault?”
“Yeah.” Lin Xu wasn’t certain of the vault’s name but answered following Mandan’s lead.
“The Zero Vault is thirty floors below ground in the Twin Towers. I’ll take you there right now.” Mandan smiled, relieved inwardly. The board of directors, holding the shares, could fire him and his team at any time. Marianna had been hands-off before, but who could guarantee the new heir wouldn’t suddenly try to shake up Perseus Group’s business empire?
Compared to financial reports and project proposals, Mandan much preferred spending time showing Lin Xu around Marianna’s vault, sincerely hoping Lin Xu had no interest in business.
Lin Xu put the photo frame back in place and followed Mandan to the Zero Vault. Along the way, a few sharply dressed staff rushed over to pull Mandan aside for urgent matters, but Mandan waved them off.
—
Thirty floors underground in the Twin Towers.
The group took three separate private elevators. During the journey, Marianna’s designated estate lawyer, Patterson, arrived in a hurry, bringing the basic vault key.
Only Mandan, Patterson, and Lin Xu descended to the deepest level. When the elevator doors opened, a rush of cold air swept in, causing Mandan—unprepared—to shiver. Smart sensors detected their presence and gradually lit up the dark corridor, chasing away the shadows. At the corridor’s end stood the vault’s alloy door.
Estate lawyer Patterson gestured for Lin Xu to go first, following close behind. He explained, “The underground vault maintains stable low temperatures and dryness, ensuring stored items remain intact. Most valuables with authentication and ownership certificates are kept in Ms. Perser’s Imperial Bank safety deposit boxes for easy viewing. What remains here are her personal belongings and some special collections.”
At the vault door, Patterson used the key to open the biometric verification interface. Mechanical prompts sounded: “Please, verify iris scan, voiceprint, and DNA.”
Lin Xu followed the instructions and completed the verification. The interface flashed blue: “Verification successful. Welcome, Mr. Lin Xu.”
Mandan, standing behind Lin Xu, tried to follow but was stopped by Patterson’s raised hand, who reminded him to wait outside. Mandan rubbed his nose and stayed put.
Inside, the vault was designed like a gallery. Wooden floors supported rows of glass display cases. Soft lights flickered on as Lin Xu stepped inside, illuminating paintings, antique prints, and manuscripts inside the cases.
Among the exhibits, Lin Xu saw a painting of Water Lilies. If it was authentic, he didn’t know whether to be amazed that the piece had survived so long or impressed that the Ark Fleet had remembered to bring along a few relics of the old civilization during their chaotic departure from Earth.
Besides the Water Lilies, Marianna had collected two rare Chinese calligraphy scrolls. The yellowed paper lay silently beneath the light after three thousand years.
Against the wall, a glass case held a collection of Marianna’s printed photos—from her youth, to the time she met Chen Jinshan, to when she took in Lin Xu as a student. Her smile was always gentle, like a powdered rose, with almost no trace of time on her face.
Outside the vault door, Mandan rubbed his arms, goosebumps rising in the chill. He watched Lin Xu slowly stroll before the displays. Lin Xu took a three-person photo from the case and slipped it into his pocket, then headed toward the large sealed safe at the room’s center.
Behind the building’s many layers of security, Marianna had added one last layer of protection for the safe’s contents. What had she stored here?
Lin Xu went through triple authentication again. After confirming his identity, the thick bulletproof metal door swung open. The large safe yawned like a black hole, but inside sat only a paper notebook and an electronic data chip. Lin Xu disconnected his terminal from the network and first checked the chip’s contents.
It was an immutable trace-recording chip, typically used to store important documents to prevent tampering. The data loaded. Inside was Marianna’s original will. Lin Xu skimmed it and then put it back before picking up the notebook. The notebook’s corners were slightly yellowed but not old enough to be an artifact. On the cover’s inside page, in elegant script, it read: “Property of Marianna Perser.”
Flipping further, Lin Xu found it was a log of the vault’s inventory. Few items passed through the vault, allowing the record to span thirteen years. His fingers paused and jumped directly to a year prior, around the time Marianna had returned from planet G398.
Only one entry appeared during that period: “I found a red leather book in Abatis Galaxy. It seems to be a diary written in Russian; I could only understand part of it… never mind. The back cover has a poem, but I tore off the other half and left it with Cabrichosa, hoping Xiao Xu could translate it.”
Lin Xu glanced up at the empty, dark safe. No sign of the red book remained. He flipped on, seeing Marianna recorded every item going in or out, but the red book never appeared again.
The Cabrichosa mentioned was likely Cabrichosa Neumann, commander of Imperial’s First Legion. According to Marianna, Cabrichosa only received half a page of the red book. But where was the rest of the book? Lin Xu surveyed the vault, confirming there was no other storage spot.
“Mr. Lin, is there something you’re looking for?” Patterson called from the doorway, raising his voice.
The book wasn’t here, but neither had Marianna taken it out. When she made the record, she hadn’t considered that the red book might bring danger—she showed almost no effort to hide the information. Who had taken the red book? More dangerously, who had read Marianna’s notes?
“Nothing.”
Lin Xu answered softly, keeping his expression neutral. He returned Marianna’s notebook to the vault and locked it again. Before leaving, he instructed the AI assistant to carefully retrieve the Water Lilies painting and a piece of calligraphy, securely transporting them to the Ancient Earth Natural Science Museum. He wanted to maintain the appearance that he was merely visiting to view the collection.
After confirming that Lin Xu had no further requests, the estate lawyer Patterson excused himself. Seeing that the Perseus Group’s executive Mandan’s personal craft had already departed, Mandan offered to personally drive Lin Xu.
Once aboard Mandan’s high-end civilian flyer, the autopilot engaged, and Mandan asked, “Where to, Mr. Lin?”
Leaning back in the rear seat, Lin Xu replied, “Hold on a moment,” then sent a quick message to Heinrich, asking where to meet. Heinrich responded swiftly: Third Avenue, White Star Restaurant.
Mandan chuckled, “That place has good food. Meeting a friend, Mr. Lin?”
“Yeah.” Lin Xu answered briefly, then turned his gaze to the rushing traffic outside. Between towering skyscrapers, holographic billboards flickered and reflected kaleidoscopic colors on the window glass. Mandan realized Lin Xu truly regarded him only as a driver. He sighed deeply and accepted his role as nothing more than a highly paid chauffeur. The flyer took off, merging into the stream of airborne traffic.
Lin Xu withdrew his eyes from the window and sent a message to Ika, inquiring if they could hack into Perseus Group’s network to check the underground vault’s surveillance records.
He couldn’t ask Patterson directly. Something had gone missing inside the vault — either he was completely unaware or he was involved.
Ika replied, “I can try, but I’ll need some time.”
Third Avenue was a high-end commercial street in Capital Star, not far from the Twin Towers. Rows of shops displayed luxury goods through their windows, flaunting wealth to passersby. Anyone could walk this street regardless of status, but very few had the capital to shop inside.
White Star Restaurant stood quietly within a three-story standalone building deep in the district. Compared to the bustling street, its secluded atmosphere came at a steep price in this prime location.
When the server spotted Mandan’s flyer descending, he immediately recognized it as the Perseus Group CEO’s vehicle and quickly prepared a parking spot. As the flyer landed, the server was about to greet Mandan when a young beta man stepped down from the back seat.
The beta looked thin and pale, his eyes cold and expressionless. His long hair was loosely tied behind him, and his suit was made of ordinary fabric, ill-fitting even. A single meal at White Star could cost an average family in Capital Star a month’s income. To avoid unnecessary disputes over payment, servers often turned away “unsuitable” guests.
This beta clearly fit the profile of an unwelcome “intruder,” yet he walked straight past Mandan’s flyer and confidently entered the restaurant, showing no sign of hesitation. The server hesitated, unsure whether to stop him.
Just then, Mandan emerged from the pilot’s seat and calmly told the greeter at the door, “This is Mr. Lin. Treat him well and charge the bill to me.”
Mandan watched through the door as another server escorted Lin Xu to a table, then left. The greeter relayed Mandan’s instructions to the front desk, silently wondering if this was some big boss courting a lover.
Fifteen minutes later, a military flyer bearing the Abyss Fleet insignia landed outside White Star. The cold, stern Marshal he had only seen in news and posters strode up to him and said, “Hello, I’m here to find Mr. Lin.”
Lin Xu was the only guest named Lin inside. The server’s thoughts scattered — one bigwig wasn’t enough, now there was a second? What kind of plot was this? Despite his confusion, the server maintained perfect professional composure, smiling politely as he led Marshal Chu to Lin Xu’s table. Lin Xu was browsing the menu. Hearing Heinrich’s approach, he glanced up.
Heinrich still wore his black Abyss Fleet dress uniform — identical to what he had on during the Imperial Assembly speech. The meeting had just adjourned, and Heinrich rushed over without time to change. “Sorry, I’m a bit late.”
“No problem.” Lin Xu shifted the menu screen toward Heinrich. “I can’t tell what any of this is. What do you recommend?”
“I’ve never been here either. Honda Agana suggested this place.” Heinrich selected several dishes recommended by Honda Agana, occasionally asking Lin Xu for his taste preferences.
Marshal Chu had spent most of his life drifting through space. When he was on Capital Star, it was usually just for work, rarely exploring the commercial district. When Lin Xu messaged him, he took advantage of the Assembly’s loud debates to ask Honda Agana for restaurant recommendations.
Honda Agana had given him a strange look — almost as if Marshal Chu was possessed — but then remembered that he and Lin Xu were involved romantically and recommended White Star for its atmosphere and food.
“This restaurant uses only lab-grown ingredients,” Heinrich said. “I think the old Earth dishes here aren’t really authentic for you. Why not try something new?”
Synthetic food wasn’t necessarily dull. It all depended on how much money was spent hiring chefs to craft it. Lin Xu soon saw the bizarre culinary imagination of interstellar humanity — spaceship-shaped synthetic proteins coated in crispy starch, galaxy-colored soups dyed with vitamin-rich pigments, and digestive-aiding plant-fiber nets.
After their strange but fascinating meal at White Star, Heinrich suggested they head to Gorlin’s custom tailoring on Second Avenue.
“Arnold said the attire you wore to the banquet was from Gorlin’s.”
Heinrich’s wardrobe consisted almost entirely of uniforms. He relied on his capable aide Arnold to know everything about regular clothing, even down to the brand of Dr. Lin’s suits.
“So?”
“We should get you some more clothes.”
“Why must it be Gorlin’s?” Lin Xu was past caring about fancy clothes. Apart from gifts from Marianna, he mostly ordered clothes casually off StarNet.
“They’re good.”
Heinrich’s expression didn’t change — still cold and sharp, as if he were ordering a new batch of particle cannons for Abyss Fleet, insisting on the highest firepower version.
Lin Xu: ?
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