An hour later, Professor Jinov, the expedition team's actual leader, had appeared in the control room of the Nine Chapters.
In fact, he had received a message from them more than fifty minutes earlier. But the versatile scientist had remained unruffled, staying at the banquet to chat and laugh with the officers of the Ninth Fleet. He had even polished off the better part of the remaining bottle of red wine with Brigadier General Bazan before leaving the gathering quite naturally and returning to the Nine Chapters alone.
"Sorry I'm a little late. I had to find a way to leave without attracting too much attention. There are nearly thirty thousand people in this star system. Wherever you come from, I imagine you wouldn't want everyone to know about you, would you?" Professor Jinov said to the "Gray Lady."
Yes, the mysterious woman who had appeared in a flash, as though she had descended from the heavens, had introduced herself as "Gray."
Of course, the three tech geeks and Thea, who had already suffered a major setback, didn't dare address her as casually as a certain someone had, calling her "Big Sister Gray" or even "Little Gray." For the time being, they had to make do with "the Gray Lady."
She looked Professor Jinov up and down, then smiled. "A friend of mine told me you might be one of the smartest humans of this era. Smart people are practical, so I'll speak plainly. The harsh astronomical conditions in this star system you call Tianshu weren't created naturally."
Professor Jinov nodded thoughtfully. "So this star system is like the Devil's Labyrinth on the New Continent—which has now been renamed the Dawn Starfield, I hear. Apparently, that starfield has become unusually prosperous, and people have been discovering Enlightener ruins there. Then