The Union orbital elevator was located in South America. Since time wasn't pressing, the Granshaow maintained stealth mode and spent ten hours slowly flying there to ensure concealment.
Naturally, the third combat configuration remained active. If the Black Tri-Stars reported any unusual phenomena from the Mollaria Republic, Reid and Ange would immediately pilot the Hermes Zero and Immortal Aegis to breach the atmosphere, returning from space to the Mollaria Republic within half an hour, while other Mobile Suits would arrive on scene within four hours.
However, even as the Granshaow reached the airspace near the Union orbital elevator, no anomalies had occurred in the Mollaria Republic. The government had only officially announced during daytime its military exercises with the AEU.
During these ten hours of travel, aside from resting, Reid spent most of his time intensely browsing the web.
Currently, the most discussed topic on the AD cosmic network remained Celestial Being. Just like in the original timeline, Aeolia Schenberg's recording from over a century ago had sparked widespread public debate.
Moreover, Aeolia Schenberg's former identity and achievements were quickly uncovered by the "resourceful" netizens.
However, all netizens could dig up was that Aeolia was a renowned physicist who established the fundamental theory of solar power generation systems in the late 21st century, promoting the construction of orbital elevators, along with other previously publicized information. Nothing beyond that was available.
As for the alien invasion-like phenomenon at the AEU orbital elevator, there wasn't a single image or discussion about it on civilian networks. Clearly, information control had been implemented, likely jointly enforced by Earth's three major powers.
After arriving at the Union orbital elevator, Hoshino Ruri infiltrated the local Union military base and confirmed that the Union had issued orders to all forces to watch for supernatural phenomena, even granting emergency deployment authorization for such occurrences.
Seeing the small to infer the large, Reid could basically confirm that compared to the already revealed Celestial Being, those phenomena of opening spacetime portals to deploy Mobile Suits were what Earth's three major powers truly wanted to understand.
Therefore, Reid planned to use this opportunity to thoroughly confuse Regene and decide whether to reveal more spoilers based on the World Change Fluctuation Value.
As for locating Regene's position, that was quite simple.
Now operating with deliberate intent against unprepared targets, they only needed Hoshino Ruri to search the passenger registry of descending flights from the Union orbital elevator. Regene Regetta or Leesa Kujo - she could only have registered under one of these two names.
Soon enough, Hoshino Ruri found Regene Regetta's registration information and learned they wouldn't be descending until afternoon. She quickly followed the trail to locate the hotel where Regene's trio was staying.
What followed became straightforward. Reid directly announced it was showtime. Reid, Ange, Noin, the Xia sisters, Salia, and Hilda all created fake identities using pseudonyms. Hoshino Ruri then hacked into the database to add these entries, instantly transforming everyone into tourists visiting the Union orbital elevator.
Of course, everyone had reserved the hotel where Sumeragi was staying by altering data. Seven unlucky genuine tourists had their reservation information completely tampered with by Hoshino Ruri through internet traces—they would discover they had selected the wrong dates when making online hotel reservations.
Thus, in the afternoon, the seven individuals who had infiltrated the Union orbital elevator's ground area split up and acted like real tourists, entering the city built around the orbital space station through various channels.
As for money, Hoshino Ruri transferred some funds from dormant bank accounts worldwide, which was more than enough for everyone to splurge.
Moreover, Hoshino Ruri purchased new mobile phones for everyone online.
Union's public security hadn't fundamentally improved by the 23rd century—tourists having their phones or computers stolen was still a common occurrence. As long as a person's information checked out, mobile phone stores would provide a phone first and collect payment later. Soon, local mobile phone sales clerks eagerly delivered new phones to Reid and the others.
Of course, while they were having fun, it was time to work when Sumeragi, Feldt, and Christina stepped out of the orbital elevator.
Reid didn't rush to approach Sumeragi immediately. Instead, he had Hoshino Ruri monitor the movements of the three women through surveillance cameras along the streets and in nearby shops.
Throughout the entire process, none of Reid's seven-member team showed their faces to Sumeragi, Feldt, or Christina, so the three remained unaware that they were being watched.
This surveillance continued until evening. When Sumeragi left the hotel alone to go to a bar, and Feldt and Christina went out shopping, Reid gave the order to act.
Sumeragi had proactively arranged to meet Billy Katagiri at the bar. He was her university classmate, and while they weren't a couple, there was a somewhat ambiguous relationship between them. (During the four years between the first and second seasons, Sumeragi lived at Billy Katagiri's house—only a fool would believe nothing happened between them while they were living under the same roof.)
Reid didn't know whether Sumeragi had arranged this meeting with Billy Katagiri to extract information or simply to catch up with an old friend during her rare return to Earth.
But their reunion was destined to be ruined.
Reid knew Billy Katagiri's name, so Hoshino Ruri could easily find his photo and track his location.
Thus, the Xia sisters, along with Salia and Hilda, staged a scene.
Salia and Hilda acted as shopping besties passing by Billy Katagiri as he hurried toward the bar.
The Xia sisters pretended to be biological sisters having a quarrel a short distance away.
Then, during their argument, Xia Yulan seized the moment when Billy Katagiri passed by Salia and Hilda and threw a consumed preserved plum pit from behind, striking Billy Katagiri directly in the knee joint.
At that moment, Billy Katagiri only felt a numbness in his leg and lost control, stumbling forward.
When people are about to fall, they instinctively grab at something to steady themselves.
So Hilda, who had originally planned to stage a collision with Billy Katagiri, ended up genuinely offended.
In his blind flailing, Billy Katagiri grabbed Hilda's sleeve, and with a tearing sound, her sleeve was ripped. It's worth noting that Hilda was wearing a sleeved camisole at the time—the torn sleeve caused the side of her top to split open, nearly exposing her breast.
Thus, Hilda didn't need to act anymore. She screamed, "Pervert!!" slapped Billy Katagiri to the ground, and proceeded to kick him violently.
By now, Billy Katagiri's numb foot had long recovered, but seeing Hilda whose clothes he had torn, the "frail" man could only endure the beating honestly while frantically explaining that it wasn't intentional.
However, not to mention Hilda, even the ordinary onlookers were accusing Billy Katagiri of being a wolf in sheep's clothing—looking like an intellectual but deliberately tripping and tearing a pretty girl's clothes when encountering one on the street.
Soon, though, police arrived to rescue Billy Katagiri—of course, rescuing him meant sparing him from further beatings by Hilda.
Although Hilda hadn't used excessive force, in her fury, Billy Katagiri's face was still swollen. Though he was immediately taken away by the police on charges of sexual harassment, at least he avoided being beaten to a pulp.
As for Hilda, as the victim, she was only briefly questioned by a female officer on the scene. After a quick check confirmed her identity was normal, she was directly released.
Leaving aside Billy Katagiri, who was now stuck having to wait in jail for his good friend Graham Aker to bail him out.
As in the original story, Sumeragi was alone in the agreed-upon bar, watching the news about the Mollaria Republic announcing military exercises with the AEU.
Meanwhile, Reid, Ange, and Noin had reserved a booth inside the bar and were observing her from a distance.
Seeing that Sumeragi had already drunk half a glass alone and sensing her growing impatience, Reid knew the timing was right.
So Reid slowly walked over to the counter where Sumeragi was seated, sat down beside her, and said to the bartender:
"Sir, please give me and this lady a 'Lost Midnight' each."
At this point, Sumeragi clearly mistook Reid for someone trying to hit on her. She knew well that sitting alone in a bar would attract many such approaches.
With one glance, Sumeragi could tell Reid carried the dual aura of a soldier and a person of authority, so she judged him to be a high-ranking officer from the Union's local military base. Since he was so young yet held such a position, his family must have considerable influence.
To avoid trouble, Sumeragi politely declined:
"Sorry, I'm actually waiting for a friend. Besides, I'm not much of a drinker and can't handle another glass."
In such situations, any rational, well-mannered person trying to hit on her would usually back off upon hearing this.
But Reid wasn't there to hit on her, so he directly typed a line on his phone and showed it to Sumeragi.
Seeing Reid operating his phone, Sumeragi thought she had encountered a brainless rich second generation. She was even preparing to take out the pepper spray from her bag, but when Reid showed her his phone, there was only one line:
"I think I'm the friend you're waiting for, Leesa Kujo, Tactical Forecaster of Celestial Being's Ptolemaios. Miss Feldt and Miss Christina also have new friends watching over them, so please don't let your alarm device send any signals recklessly."
While showing Sumeragi the words on his phone, Reid said:
"Miss, I think I'm your friend. Don't you agree?"
Sumeragi realized she seemingly had no option to refuse now. Regardless of which side this man was from, she had to communicate with him.
So she immediately suppressed her inner panic, smiled, and said:
"Of course, friend. Where do you suggest we talk?"
Reid turned and pointed to the booth where Ange and Noin were seated, saying:
"Let's go, we can talk over there. My two female companions are there as well."
Sumeragi truly hadn't expected this person to choose a bar as the place to discuss matters, but she had no right to refuse. She could only follow Reid, who was carrying two glasses, and take a seat.
After Sumeragi took her seat, Reid placed the Lost Midnight in front of her and said with a smile,
"Miss Sumeragi, to show my sincerity, I'll introduce myself with my real name. I'm Reid Isaac. I had a brief encounter with your Exia at the AEU's orbital elevator before."
"Oh, and the two ladies beside me can't disclose their real names. Just know they're my wives, so you don't have to worry about me actually doing anything to you. Otherwise, I'd have to kneel on a washboard when I get home."
Hearing Reid's words, Sumeragi's pupils widened slightly in surprise.
She recognized who Reid was—he was actually one of the Mobile Suit pilots who had eliminated the suddenly appearing MS from the portal during the AEU orbital elevator incident!
At the same time, upon hearing the phrase "kneel on a washboard," Sumeragi was certain that this Mr. Reid had spent a long time in the Chinese cultural sphere of the Human Reform League, as only people from there would understand what "kneeling on a washboard" meant.
So, Sumeragi immediately switched to Chinese and said,
"Mr. Reid, were you one of the pilots of that mysterious MS that appeared back then? The pilot of ET?"
Reid glanced at the World Change Fluctuation Value, which had only increased by 0.5% (4.801%). It seemed that merely interacting with the original protagonist group had little impact. He replied in Chinese,
"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't know about you. But what is this 'ET' codename? I'm a purebred Earthling."
Hearing this, Sumeragi immediately switched to French and said,
"You're very mysterious. We've been searching for you for over half a month and found nothing. Plus, you immediately engaged in combat with the cross-dimensional Mobile Suits without a word, and the performance of your Mobile Suits far exceeds current technology. So, many people suspect that you're also aliens. It's just that another group of aliens came to seize territory, so you started fighting without hesitation."
Reid actually understood French, so he replied in French,
"I gave a hint to that kid named Setsuna F. Seiei. We exist within history. It seems Aeolia Schenberg still has some conscience and didn't leak our organization's information."
Hearing this, Sumeragi was stunned. She switched back to English and asked in disbelief,
"Aeolia Schenberg is connected to you?"
Seeing that Sumeragi had asked the question he wanted, Reid casually fabricated,
"Of course, there's a connection. He was once one of us. Before fully understanding the prophecy, he stole our most advanced quantum computer and high-energy particle research data and defected. He created your Celestial Being, hoping to communicate with external invaders through dialogue."
What Reid said was so bizarre that no ordinary person would believe it. However, since Aeolia Schenberg's prophecy itself had no evidence, Sumeragi couldn't be sure whether Reid was lying or not.
Sensing Sumeragi's doubt rather than firm disbelief, Reid quickly added fuel to the fire,
"If it weren't for the internal conflict between the interventionist and seclusionist factions within our organization, your Celestial Being would never have been established. Unfortunately, our seclusionist faction eventually compromised with the interventionists, allowing them to use Aeolia Schenberg's actions as an example to prove that humanity develops better with guidance. Rather than simply protecting the human race from extinction behind the scenes."
"Unfortunately, given Celestial Being's current state, the experimental faction's efforts have completely failed. After all, those Visitors who would bring about the world's destruction have already appeared, yet you still cling to Aeolia Schenberg's misguided idea of communicating with them. Little do you realize, the longer they remain in this world, the more fragile it becomes. When the world collapses, everyone will die."
Upon hearing this, Sumeragi found Reid's words increasingly fantastical, yet the underlying logic seemed coherent. The evidence lay in Reid's organization having prior knowledge of the Spacetime Visitors' locations and immediately eliminating them upon their appearance.
Thus, Sumeragi voiced her inner thoughts:
"This story is too far-fetched. I'm sorry, but I cannot believe it."
Reid nodded upon hearing this. Noticing the World Change Fluctuation Value had risen by another 0.5% (5.301%), he knew Sumeragi was being disingenuous—his words had already influenced her subsequent judgment.
One could only say that even in a statement full of holes, if the most bizarre part is true, people tend to suspect the rest might be true as well. So Reid spoke again:
"I can prove some of what I've said. Next time, the Visitors will appear in the Mollaria Republic. The tasks assigned by Veda, created by Aeolia Schenberg, all have purposes. Even without this exercise, you would still receive missions under the pretext of eliminating PMCs.
My main purpose in speaking with you today is singular: I don't care about Celestial Being's surface-world affairs. In the future, you can even unify the entire globe if you wish.
However, I will not tolerate any obstacles in eliminating the Visitors. Tell Wang Liu Mei to warn Alejandro Corner and Ribbons Almark—if they dare interfere, I'll cut their heads off."
With that, Reid left with Ange and Noin. His final words caused the World Change Fluctuation Value to instantly spike by 2% (7.301%), making Reid reluctant to say more. He would let Sumeragi reflect on the rest herself.
Sumeragi's mind was in turmoil. Who was Ribbons Almark? She knew of Alejandro Corner but never imagined the Union's ambassador was also part of Celestial Being. And this Reid even knew Wang Liu Mei—could everything he said actually be true?
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