Neos's words loosened the tense air in the workshop somewhat, but the heavy feeling did not disappear. It was merely temporarily suppressed, like undercurrents surging beneath a sheet of ice.
For now, "find Sandora" had become the new objective that everyone—at least on the surface—could grudgingly accept.
After all, it was at least a legitimate reason.
Yet a new problem immediately surfaced.
Who was Sandora?
Where was she?
What were her distinguishing traits?
They knew nothing about any of it.
Even her name had only appeared for the first time in the directive.
Mio, who had been fiddling with her terminal, stepped forward at that moment.
Her voice was not loud, but it clearly cut through the brief silence. "Since she is a 'traitor' specifically marked for pursuit by the Imperium's upper ranks, there is a high probability that she was once an important member of the Imperium. Even if such an individual defected or went into hiding, her lifeform, energy signature, equipment, and technology would all bear Imperium traces that would be difficult to erase completely—especially disturbances at the information level."
She raised her hand and summoned a faintly glowing interface. It was the Judgment Mechanism's internal system.
"My Judgment Mechanism terminal is equipped with an Imperium internal member detection and information-processing array, originally used to investigate violations and anomalies within the Imperium. Although it is currently disconnected from the mainframe, its basic functions and database can still operate offline."
Her fingers rapidly tapped across the light screen. "I can use my terminal as the central node of a temporary local network and establish an internal communications and detection network. Its range will be limited, and it will not have mainframe support. However, if we split up, once anyone detects abnormal information disturbances, energy signatures, or equipment responses highly