It was like a hallucination.
Huai Shi had actually glimpsed a trace of the Grey Robes' weariness in 008's retreating figure.
"Don't think too much about it. They're not the same person, though that guy isn't much better," Tongji said as she emerged from the air, looking displeased. "After all, he is 'the Director.'"
"What the hell?"
Huai Shi's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He looked back and forth between Tongji and the direction that figure had left in disbelief. "Him? The Director?"
"Ah, should I call him the Director, or the Director's remnant? It's hard to explain."
Tongji pulled out a washed apple from her pocket and took two loud bites. "The Continuance Institute has always been this mysterious, and even its Director is much the same.
Its internal changes are never announced to the outside world, its internal achievements are never published, and likewise, outsiders never learn of its internal deaths—after taking mysticism to such extremes, even the Continuance Institute itself is nearly losing track of how many secrets it has.
Including 'who exactly the Director is.'"
"They don't even know who their Director is?" Huai Shi was baffled. This was getting more and more absurd!
"If you were the boss and were always hidden beneath a hazmat suit and gas mask, how many subordinates do you think would recognize you? In any case, whoever is acknowledged by the 'Continuance Institute' is the Director himself."
"Does the Continuance Institute actually call someone Director?"
"It can't speak." Tongji shook her head and answered calmly. "But other than speaking, it can probably do everything else, right? No, perhaps it really can speak too. After all, the artificial intelligence handling external communications has never said where it came from...
"The Continuance Institute is alive, Huai Shi.