Archive, Wings of Seal

“What is that?” Wang Ning stared at the behemoth that had entered her view, momentarily speechless with shock.

She finally knew the source of the shadow—a massive airship, floating right above them.

The helicopter was like a small bird in comparison.

Boli An looked out the window without speaking, her brows slightly furrowed. Then, they relaxed and became calm. The earpiece once again connected to a communication line, this time giving her no chance to refuse.

[Communication connected. Communicator’s name: An Jiu Yorksonlos, belongs to the Ninth Family, defected from the family and concealed identity, current alias Boli An, and is wanted by her family. Founder of the Black Domain, “An.”]

[Hello, I am Archive. ‘Life Sequence’ designation 07. You may also refer to me directly as the “Archived Wing.”]

The flat, mechanical female voice entered her ear, exposing her entire background from the very start.

Boli An let out a breath and glanced at Wang Ning. The white-haired girl had her face pressed against the glass window, her nose and cheeks squashed flat. Her eyes were shining as she looked at the airship, completely distracted.

She almost couldn’t help but smile faintly. “You’ve really dug up everything on me, haven’t you?”

Wang Ning reluctantly tore her eyes away from the ostentatious and luxurious airship. “What are you talking about? What ‘dug up’?”

[No, I simply calculated the highest probability that you would continue to listen and chose the simplest and most efficient method—as it turns out, this method is indeed effective.]

Boli An: “There’s a ghost here. I’m talking to it.”

[Allow me to correct your linguistic error. My name is Archive, not “ghost.”]

Wang Ning paused, then snorted. “That kind of nonsense can only scare a few-year-old child.”

Boli An stared at the behemoth getting closer and closer outside the window and said casually, “Is that so? Then how old are you? Hmm, I remember you seemed to have put 8 years old in the forecast app?”

The moment she finished speaking, Wang Ning was already glaring at her. Those sky-blue eyes were no longer peaceful but were swirling with fiery clouds. Her emotions flowed freely and torrentially, like a fearless newborn green sprout.

“Now that you mention it, you’d better change that age for me!” The white-haired girl looked like she wanted to pounce on her and beat her up, but she was restrained by the tight seatbelt. In the end, she could only clench her reddening, fair fingers, trying to beat her up with her gaze.

[She is the “Angel”?]

[I like this name.]

Boli An: “…Where did you hear that?”

[On the Alice Girls’ Academy’s school forum, many people call her by this name. Even though her real name is “Wang Ning,” based on social name recognition, she should be called “Angel.”]

Boli An actually laughed, laughing so hard that tears came to her eyes, almost letting go of the controls.

Boli An wiped away the tears from her laughter, calmed the heaving of her chest, and said, “What kind of person could possibly train you to have this kind of reaction?”

Wang Ning said, exasperated, “Who are you talking to? Answer me seriously, hey.”

“Is it the rescue team!”

[I can turn on the onboard communication’s external speaker, but after analysis, it seems you are unwilling to let her have contact with me.]

[Why?]

Boli An’s smile slowly faded. That perpetually weary, world-hating face that always seemed to say “there’s always some stupid trash disturbing my sleep” now had a surprisingly different effect. “Speak. What is your purpose? You didn’t come all this way just to discuss this kind of thing with me, did you?”

[…]

Boli An: “Don’t play the silent game with me. What’s a string of data like you pretending to be profound for?”

[But under normal circumstances, I should be expressing the emotion of helplessness with silence at this moment.]

“Silence also means I don’t want to see you, and you can get lost,” Boli An said expressionlessly.

[You are changing the subject, starting from when I asked “why,” or perhaps, the sentence before that.]

Boli An hung up the communication without hesitation.

‘The person who trained this kind of AI has to be insane.’

Wang Ning heard Boli An talking to someone in the void, and the content of the conversation left her completely bewildered. She keenly caught a key phrase. “What data?”

Boli An: “Body measurement data.”

Wang Ning: “…”

A dead memory suddenly came back to assault her.

Inside the airship, in the control room.

Several large blue screens were divided into numerous sections, emitting a faint light in the dim room, vaguely illuminating the person standing in the center.

[“Archived Wing” initiating the first recording. Recorder—L012, codename Rin Yue.]

Rin Yue stood in the center, looking at the scrolling data and dialogue above, a perfect, fake smile on her lips. “Are there any other instructions from the Mastermind?”

[“Capture Wang Ning, in any form necessary.”]

“Understood. Rin Yue accepts the order.” She lifted the hem of her skirt with both hands and performed a comical and exaggerated curtsy. The pink candy decorations on her dress jingled, and a current of excitement shot through her limbs.

[May I ask you a few questions? L012.]

“It would be my greatest honor.”

[Why do you call yourself Rin Yue, and not L012?] Archive’s mechanical voice actually seemed to hold a hint of confusion. [According to the social recognition index, although “Rin Yue” is high, it is just a false codename and does not have the practicality of L012.]

“Because I like this name,” Rin Yue said with a smile.

[Like?]

Rin Yue’s words were light and airy. “Yes. It makes me feel like I’m not a tool.”

[…]

“But it doesn’t matter. It is our duty to offer our lives to the organization. It is indeed more convenient for tools to be named by numbers,” Rin Yue was still smiling, completely unconcerned. Then she turned around. “I’m going to carry out my mission now. Goodbye, Lord Archive.”

When the long ladder was extended, Wang Ning saw the airship stop right above their helicopter. A familiar person was holding onto the ladder, looking at them.

“Rin Dong?” Wang Ning looked in surprise at the cold-faced girl standing against the wind.

Just now, she had been speculating whether this whole incident was a deliberate plot by the “Life Sequence.” After all, the root of all this was the twins crushing that unknown drug, causing the situation to spiral out of control.

—And now, the main culprit was right in front of her.

Boli An looked at her, then said to Wang Ning with a look of disgust, as if she had just swallowed a fly, “See? You should have listened to me. We should have killed them long ago.”

Wang Ning: ‘?’

‘When did you ever say that?’

“Student Wang Ning, I’ve come to save you,” Rin Dong curled her lips into a faint smile, like a figure in a line drawing. “Open the cabin door. I’ll take you up.”

Wang Ning glared at her. “It was clearly you guys who deliberately—”

‘What’s the meaning of forcing them to lose control with drugs, and then pretending to be the good guy?!’

But before she could finish, she was interrupted by Rin Dong.

“—Or, do you want to see Student Boli An lose control again?”

She heard the light and airy words. In other words, a threat.

Boli An: “Don’t believe her.”

At such a close distance, the massive airship was even more oppressive. Wang Ning hesitated. If they really made Boli An lose control again, it would be a huge danger to both Boli An and herself.

But Rin Dong didn’t give her any more time to think. “Come up, or I’ll bring you up.”

“You’re not allowed to go,” Boli An said seriously. “They’ll dissect you like a fish, slice you up, then take out your brain and store it in a container. For the sake of observation and research, they will stop at nothing, leaving you in a state where you can’t live, but can’t die either…”

“Does Student Boli An have to slander us to our faces?” another voice came from above. Wang Ning looked up and saw a figure identical to Rin Dong.

Rin Yue looked at them with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She stood at the cabin exit, and the rising airflow blew her long hair into a mess, but it also fully exposed her exquisite face and violet eyes. She looked down at them and said, “Stop wasting time with her. Just take her away directly.”

“You don’t have to go to such lengths to stall for time either.”

She was pinching a piece of crystal between her fingertips, exactly the same as the one Wang Ning had seen in the classroom.

Rin Yue said with a smile, “Although the effect of the drug can’t be maximized in an open space, it’s still more than enough.”

The atmosphere froze. Finally, Wang Ning broke the silence.

“…I’ll go with you.”

‘At least one person can go back. The rescue team is also approaching. Even if I go with them, the time I buy will be enough for the rescue team to save me again.’

‘Besides, with such a big scene, everyone knows it was the Life Sequence that took her. Considering the public reaction, they won’t do anything to her—at least, on the surface, that’s enough.’

Boli An lowered her head, making it impossible to see her current expression.

Wang Ning opened the cabin door. Rin Dong, who had been waiting, looked down at her and extended a hand.

Wang Ning: “I can climb the ladder myself!”

Then, she looked at the abyss-like height, and the hand reaching for the ladder trembled. Her legs almost gave out.

“Need my help?” Rin Dong stared at her.

“No!” Wang Ning answered stubbornly, then quickly grabbed the ladder, desperately trying to calm herself. Her feet quickly found a rung. She hypnotized herself not to look down. A gust of wind blew, and her body seemed to sway, her heart pounding wildly.

“Ningning, my dear daughter, you’re so good~” Rin Yue said with a grin. “Don’t worry, we will definitely dote on, and, love, you.”

She enunciated the last few words with emphasis.

Wang Ning: “…”

‘There’s no need to emphasize your preferred mother-daughter literature every time, thank you. I have no interest in playing this perverse game of house!’

Wang Ning’s heart was filled with despair.