The Spy Whose Identity Was Exposed

A silver-white hourglass floated in the vastness of space.

Its massive structure rotated slowly around its narrowest point.

It consisted of two opposing cones and three mirrors that collected sunlight.

Organic materials made up most of it. The bases of the rotating cones were residential areas, and the gaps between the high-tension cables covering the outer walls were almost entirely filled with self-repairing glass.

Light reflected off these silicon particles, forming a dazzling silver halo. Nearly a hundred satellites like this one were arranged in the darkness, creating a particularly magnificent sight.

This was the new-generation type of space colony known as a barrel-shaped colony, belonging to the nation of Coordinators: P.L.A.N.T.

Splash...

Lin Qingyu scooped up some water and splashed it over his face.

A moment later.

Lin Qingyu lifted his dripping-wet face and looked at the mirror before him.

Reflected in it was an unfamiliar, youthful, handsome face.

It had been three days.

Every time he woke up, he hoped it was all just a dream. But the face in the mirror and his memories kept reminding him that this wasn't a dream. It was reality.

He was no longer Lin Qingyu, the man from Earth.

He was now a Coordinator named Ino Kamal, born on Earth in another world. Because of the persecution of Blue Cosmos, he had been forced to immigrate with his grandparents to Junius Seven, a P.L.A.N.T. agricultural colony.

Five months ago, on February 14.

The Earth Alliance had launched nuclear missiles at Junius Seven, the agricultural colony where his elders lived, killing 243,721 people.

His family had died in that nuclear blast, too.

Then, on February 18.

He had survived because he was away at school. Driven by hatred for the Earth Alliance, he had joined ZAFT and enrolled in the command program at a P.L.A.N.T. military academy, where he had been studying ever since—

Unfortunately, everything above was a lie.

His true identity was that of an information thief trained from childhood by the Eurasian Federation and belonging to the Earth Alliance's Eighth Special Operations Team. In plain terms, he was a spy—a special operative targeting ZAFT.

His parents, meanwhile, had been loyal members of Blue Cosmos.

So he was probably a spy trained by the Eurasian Federation but loyal to Blue Cosmos.

Bang!

Remembering his identity and the state of the world, Lin Qingyu—now Ino Kamal—raised his hand and punched the mirror.

Regret!

If he'd had a choice, he never would have stayed up all night. Then he wouldn't have ended up here for no reason.

The information and images in his memories convinced Ino what world he was in.

Gundam SEED, a war-torn world where conflict between Naturals and Coordinators had erupted.

Here, P.L.A.N.T. represented the Coordinators, while the Earth Alliance represented the Naturals.

The Earth Alliance included the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the United Earth, Orb, the South African Union, and more... It encompassed almost the entire planet, with a population of at least ten billion.

P.L.A.N.T., on the other hand, was a group of artificial space colonies located at the L5 Lagrange point, with a total population of about sixty million.

The conflict between Coordinators and Naturals was actually quite simple and straightforward.

Coordinators were "humans whose genes had been artificially adjusted, improved, and optimized."

Compared with ordinary Naturals, Coordinators performed better on average in intelligence and physical ability.

They learned quickly, had fast reflexes, were immune to many diseases, and usually had attractive looks.

You could even think of Coordinators as the geniuses among Naturals: artificially engineered, consistently cultivated geniuses.

As a result, for a time, most people with money and power chose to have their offspring genetically adjusted.

Rich, powerful, highly capable, quick-witted... With countless buffs stacked in their favor, Coordinators soon blocked ordinary Naturals from finding a place in society or advancing in life.

Apart from a few naturally gifted people with genetic mutations, ordinary Naturals were comprehensively outclassed by Coordinators.

The strong grew stronger, and the weak grew weaker. The situation was on full display.

It was in this environment that Naturals' discrimination and resentment toward Coordinators reached a breaking point, eventually erupting into a massive war between the two races that swept across the world—

And then nuclear warheads filled the skies, with every kind of weapon of mass destruction dragged out and fired at the other side, as if they were afraid they wouldn't wipe them out completely.

And now, with this war fully underway—

He had transmigrated.

The real kicker was that he'd been saddled with the identity of an Earth Alliance spy.

Even worse, all three of his handlers had been arrested or killed last month.

And three days ago, his predecessor had been poisoned and assassinated in his dorm room.

Now that was a hopeless hand!

He'd gone from an ordinary person on Earth to a spy—and not just any spy, but one whose identity had been exposed.

"Fuck!"

Bang!

Furious, Ino punched the bathroom mirror.

"What happened?"

His roommate, Thatch Lant, heard the commotion in the dorm and put down his book before hurrying over.

Seeing the shattered mirror, Thatch hurriedly asked, "Ino... what happened?"

"Nothing. There was a mosquito."

Hearing his roommate's question, Ino collected his thoughts, pulled back his bloodied fist, and forced a smile.

"A mosquito? In here?"

Thatch looked astonished. Did P.L.A.N.T. even have mosquitoes?

"Maybe I was seeing things."

Ino came up with an excuse on the spot.

"All right, but should we do something about your hand?"

Thatch didn't ask any more questions. Everyone had days when they were in a bad mood.

"Then sorry for the trouble—could you bring me the first-aid kit?"

Ino looked at his right hand, which was bleeding profusely. After a moment's thought, he gave up on the idea of bleeding to death.

"...I'll get the first-aid kit."

Thatch's lips twitched slightly as he turned and left the dorm.

Actually, he'd wanted Ino to go to the infirmary...

Watching Thatch leave, Ino dropped onto his bed.

There was no way he could go back.

After all, he didn't have the guts to kill himself.

So the only thing he could do was keep living in this body.

But that would be incredibly difficult.

For the past three days, he'd been worried about his life every waking moment.

He even only dared to eat convenience food from the mall, afraid he'd meet the same fate as his predecessor if he let his guard down.

But he'd spent three days thinking and still hadn't found a solution.

He was deep in P.L.A.N.T. territory, his handler had been shot dead by ZAFT, and now he was completely isolated and without help.

As for the other spies, to protect their secrecy and prevent anyone from being implicated, Earth Alliance spies operated alone.

Often, even if two spies came face-to-face, they wouldn't know the other was one of their own.

So relying on a fellow spy had never been an option.

Rely on the Earth Alliance...

To prevent his identity from being exposed, he had no way to contact the Earth Alliance. Even the intelligence he provided had been passed along by his handler.

So he had no way to contact his handler directly.

Surrender and defect.

With his identity exposed, he couldn't even defect and beg for his life.

No one would trust a spy whose identity had already been exposed. Besides, the other side had gone straight for the kill. Their attitude was obvious.

Defection was out. Asking for help was out. Escape was even more impossible...

There was no solution!

Ino had reached this conclusion more than once. He smiled bitterly and collapsed onto the bed.

He knew there was no way out.

After all, a spy whose identity was exposed deep in enemy territory was as good as sentenced to death.

His predecessor had lost his life for that very reason.

He had once pinned his hopes on a system or some other cheat.

But three days had passed, and he still hadn't received anything.

His only cheat was his general memory of the anime and the broad outline of the war.

The problem was, none of that was any help to him right now.