The Stolen Raw Stone
Having figured out the situation in Japan, Jilan is now considering a bunch of random, unrelated things.
First, there's the matter of Alain. According to the information Jilan saw in the storage room of the students' inventions on I-Island, there was an outstanding student in I-Island Academy who studied under Dr. Vogelbaum in previous years. In the photo, he can be seen to be a Werewolf. His research project was "Research on the artificiality of Quirk and androids." The information mentioned that he had already sacrificed himself in an experiment several years ago.
Alleyne is a Latin word, belonging to the Italian language family, and translates to "Alain." In the information provided, this outstanding student was Italian.
At this moment, Jilan had already equated Alain with him in her heart.
However, even knowing this seems to be of little use. This secret can only be used as leverage when encountering Alain again, but that opportunity is unlikely to come.
Speaking of which, the name "Dr. Vogelbaum" has been mentioned a lot these past few days, but Jilan knows nothing about him.
Judging from his role as Alain's mentor, this doctor should have some involvement with androids. At the same time, he is also the proposer of the "Quirk Factor Theory." Dr. David's longtime friend, Jilan, thought about it for a while but couldn't think of any connection between them, so he put the question aside for the time being.
Next, there's Fran Green's matter. Thinking about this gave Jilan a headache. To be honest, he still didn't know how to handle Fran and Erina's situation. Was he really going to treat Fran as his daughter and Erina as his lover? That seemed unlikely.
Even if he were willing, Erina would never agree. Unlike him, a lone individual, Erina owned a vast family business, and her every move was under scrutiny. On the Voyager, it was alright; the other passengers were all self-important and didn't care about others. But in Japan, she had a huge following. If they knew that a girl called her "Mom," it would definitely cause a commotion.
However, summer vacation has just begun, and there is still more than a month before school starts, so there is plenty of time to think about this. Jilan looked at Alice's sleeping profile beside her and nodded silently. Perhaps, when she wakes up, she can ask her for Erina's address.
The last thing to consider is the "Stock Solution." The thing Dr. David referred to as the "Raw Stone" actually reminded Jilan of something very familiar. That is—
Jilan looked at the watch on her wrist; the rust-gold skull teeth were tightly closed, not even allowing air to pass through.
According to Dr. David, the Raw Stone he obtained was only the size of a thumb, but the Ambergris that Jilan obtained from Isana was twice the size of what Dr. David obtained, even without counting the fragments. Moreover, this was only a small part of Isana's body!
If these two things are indeed the same, then I might be able to create the Stock Solution and obtain a trump card that I wouldn't be afraid to face Allforone head-on!
Jilan suppressed her excitement, tapped the skull with the knuckle of her other middle finger, then ran her hand over the skull. "Killer Queen, Second Bomb."
The skull, though it had no eyes, now seemed to have eyes that were vivid and lifelike, as if it were alive. As if it had been holding back for a long time, the skull immediately opened its tightly closed mouth and began to shout loudly.
"Master, I knew you wouldn't forget me! Who am I supposed to blow up this time? I can't wait!"
Although Alice, who was sleeping next to Jilan, couldn't hear the skull's voice, it was still audible. To avoid waking Alice, Jilan pressed down on the skull's clenching teeth and whispered, "Be quiet."
The skull seemed to realize that Jilan wasn't in the mood for jokes, so it nodded hurriedly in response, afraid that Jilan would undo the transformation of him.
Jilan nodded in satisfaction, and like a dentist, pried open the skull's closed teeth to examine the contents of his mouth.
When Jilan saw the shimmering blue crystal, he smiled slightly. There was no mistake; the color was the same as the Stock Solution he had consumed, even more so. Jilan was now certain that it was the same substance, so he simply adopted Dr. David's terminology and called it the "Raw Stone."
But Jilan's smile immediately froze.
Why is this Raw Stone smaller than when he first put it in? Jilan clearly remembers that when he first put the Raw Stone in, it should have been stuck exactly in the middle of the skull. But now, he sees the Raw Stone rolling along with the skull as he moves it up and down. What's even more astonishing to Jilan is that there should have been many more fragments inside the skull, but he can't see anything as far as he can see. He can only see a blue bead, which has changed from an oval shape to a round shape, rolling around like a luminous pearl!
Jilan's face darkened. Why did the Raw Stone suddenly shrink? He was quite certain that once the skull closed its teeth, the inside would be as if it were sealed in plastic, preventing even air from entering, and there would be absolutely no possibility of anything being missed.
Could it be that the Raw Stone dissolves over time? Jilan quickly dismissed this hypothesis. The Ambergris had been in Isana's body for quite some time, and if it were to dissolve over time, it wouldn't have disappeared so much in just a few days. Moreover, since Dr. David was going to study the Raw Stone, he would definitely place it in various environments to study its properties. If the Raw Stone were to dissolve, he would definitely have mentioned it.
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for his Raw Stone to disappear naturally.
So, there's only one possibility left. Although this hypothesis is utterly absurd, since other possibilities have been ruled out, this ridiculous assumption is very likely the truth.
Jilan placed the now spherical Raw Stone in her hand and put it in her pocket. She then looked at the still bewildered skull with a scrutinizing gaze. Just as the skull sensed unease, Jilan slowly spoke, "I say, did you keep a portion of the Raw Stone for yourself?"
This is Jilan's answer. Since no external method can harm the Raw Stone locked in the safe, is it possible that the safe itself has embezzled its contents? Even if the safe itself didn't intend to, what if the contents triggered some hidden mechanism that the safe itself was unaware of?
The skull finally realized the gravity of the situation. His master suspected him of embezzlement, and he immediately stammered, "Eh? Master, what do you mean? I've never done such a thing! I swear to God, if I've pocketed the Raw Stone, I'll gouge out my own eyes so I can never blow anyone up again!"