"Brother, you... might just be too tired."
Natasha tried hard to keep her voice steady, even adding a bit of concern for her brother's health, revealing a shallow, gentle smile at 'Vakh'.
"The world has always been like this... as for me... I'm just doing my duty, trying some new cooperation models.
"Brother, you also know that Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical needs to develop." While speaking, she moved half a step towards the control center imperceptibly, her brain frantically calculating how to send out the highest level alarm without alerting anyone, and...
If a conflict erupted in this narrow corridor, how much chance did she have to protect Rin? Or rather... how much time could she delay?
Probably couldn't even last a second...
The greatest possibility Natasha could think of to make the other party stay was that perhaps he would stop for a moment to examine her corpse.
She didn't have a Divine Key, wasn't a MANTIS, let alone a monster like Shu. At this moment, the distance between the two was less than five meters. This distance... could she really react in time?
"Is that so..."
'Vakh' was noncommittal, but his gaze remained locked on her, the inquisitive meaning growing stronger.
"Perhaps."
After staring for a long time, 'Vakh' let out a light hum that sounded like a scoff.
"But since I'm here, why not take me to see your 'key case'? I'm very interested in this 'hope' that has attracted so much attention."
The next moment, he abruptly took a step forward.
In this instant, it felt like a towering mountain collapsed towards her, the sky seemed to crumble before her eyes, the earth shattered. Even a speck of dust, in Natasha's eyes, came straight at her like a vast meteor...
Natasha subconsciously retreated half a step.
The pressure of world destruction suddenly disappeared. Natasha suddenly came back to her senses. Before her eyes was still just that somewhat narrow corridor, and only that seemingly unremarkable, extremely familiar figure.
The invisible pressure and hallucination-like suffocation brought by that step receded like a tide, leaving only cold sweat on Natasha's forehead and her heart still beating wildly.
The Herrscher of Evolution—or rather, It wearing Vakh's shell—still had the concerned smile on its face, but Natasha knew that was by no means an ordinary approach just now.
It was a probe, applying pressure, and even some kind of "scan" or "resonance" beyond conventional perception.
It had already detected anomalies, and the target pointed clearly to the center triggering all these vortexes—herself.
"Brother..."
Natasha, steady your breathing, keep your voice as steady as possible...
She tried to admonish herself in her heart, maintain her disguise, maintain the calm she should have.
In the past twenty-plus years of her life, she had never felt such powerful pressure... It was the fragility of following every step when facing an enemy she absolutely couldn't resist.
She took a deep breath. When she spoke, there was a trace of blame for being suddenly "scared" by her brother, trying hard to maintain her identity as a "sister."
"The case display is an activity in the front hall, with strict security and procedures.
"Moreover, Rin needs quiet. Too many people watching will make her nervous and affect her condition."
She tried to brush it off with routine workflow and concern for the patient, while her body maintained a posture slightly turned towards the control center, muscles tense, ready to deal with emergencies at any time.
"Strict procedures? Security?" 'Vakh' gently pushed his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses sharp for a moment. "My sister, aren't you a bit too nervous?
"This doesn't look like how a person in charge of an ordinary medical display should behave.
"Your performance is actually more like..."
He paused quite deliberately, seemingly searching for appropriate words, and finally chose a slightly teasing but core-pointing expression that Vakh might use, "...like guarding some secret that cannot see the light."
He took another step forward, closing the distance between the two further, but this time without releasing that terrifying oppressive feeling, only examining Natasha's face carefully with inquisitive eyes.
"And... we clearly met last night. Why did you unreasonably appear in Sapphire City this morning? Do you think this is logical?
"So... my sister... can you tell me what exactly happened?
"And what makes you so... confronting a formidable enemy? Even towards me, your brother... full of guard?"
Every sentence was like a scalpel, precisely cutting into the disguise Natasha tried her best to maintain.
It was collecting information, piecing together the picture of "world anomalies" it perceived through every trace of Natasha's reaction.
Deny? The other party had obviously confirmed the anomaly. All her cover-ups were just "lies" and trying to hide only made it more conspicuous in the other party's eyes.
Be honest? Exposing the entire plan to an unpredictable Herrscher? That was tantamount to suicide!
She could only walk on this crumbling suspension bridge, giving answers that were partially true, filtered, and consistent with "Natasha Cioara's" persona.
"Brother, you worry too much." She sighed, revealing some fatigue and helplessness. This was a real emotion, just right to use.
"This project... involves interests far more complex than expected.
"Local forces in Sapphire City, external ones, and even some with vague backgrounds are eyeing it... And Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical is not monolithic internally. I'm just... under great pressure and don't want any mistakes at this juncture.
"After all, Rin's situation is indeed special. Any accident could trigger uncontrollable consequences."
She attributed the nervousness to commercial competition and internal strife.
This was a reasonable explanation, and deliberately raised the importance of Yae Rin, wanting the other party to take this as an explanation for the "focus" phenomenon he observed.
'Vakh' listened quietly, his gray-blue eyes unblinking.
It seemed the other party was listening seriously, respecting her as a "sister."
But Natasha could feel that the other party was analyzing every syllable, every subtle pause and tone fluctuation in her words, and trying to analyze from it whether she produced physiological reactions unique to lying...
And bio-electricity!
"Interest entanglements... internal pressure..." He repeated, his tone flat. "This indeed explains part of it.
"But, Natasha, the resources you mobilized, especially those... traces of equipment with obvious non-civilian, even 'City of the Future' technical characteristics, are just to guard against commercial spies and internal competition?"
Natasha was shocked.
This was her brother's field after all... Everything she said could touch upon extremely obvious flaws in the other party's eyes.
And... did the other party indeed read the signal of her lying?