Shirley’s unconsciousness proved to be fleeting.
After only a few minutes, she stirred from the absolute darkness, her mind drifting into a hazy, semi-conscious state.
What roused her was the lingering heat on the surface of the ‘Huntress’ armor plating.
While not as terrifying as the initial scorching temperatures, the steel-titanium alloy of the outermost layer, being an excellent conductor of heat, still retained a significant amount of warmth.
Though the insulating inner lining was sufficient to prevent this heat from affecting the internal environment, the problem lay in the armor plate’s surface sensors, which faithfully registered the temperature fluctuations and translated them into neural impulses, sending them directly into Shirley’s brain!
This dull ache briefly brought Shirley back to awareness, only for her to immediately succumb to drowsiness once more.
She could sense the mech being transported into the cabin of an aircraft, and felt a foreign substance being injected into her body, plunging her limbless torso into complete paralysis.
In this state, she became utterly a prisoner trapped within her own mind: conscious, yet unable to even lick her lips, capable only of a strained blink.
“Assault team has confirmed two targets, Great Lord Helios,” a tall soldier in black armor reported through their communicator from a corner of the cabin.
“One is confirmed to be Gene Template 02, code-named ‘Salome.’ The other… uh… we are not yet certain, but it might be… Dr. Irmindada!”
“Oh? Puh-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!” A burst of laughter erupted from the other end of the communicator.
The voice was distinctly neutral, impossible to discern as male or female, but certainly belonged to a rather young individual.
“Are you sure it’s her? Hmm, she’s certainly making quite a grand entrance for her return home, isn’t she?”
“We still need to conduct genetic matching, Lord Helios,” the soldier replied, a hint of trepidation in their voice, as if terrified of contradicting their superior.
“As you know, unlike GM02, whose physical characteristics are quite distinct, Dr. Irmindada’s identity cannot be confirmed by appearance alone.
Especially since she vanished three years ago; while her body doesn’t age, her outward appearance must have changed.”
“No, no, no, this great genius, the eternal sun of science, the beacon of human reason, has already confirmed through divine intuition that it is my Irmindada!” the voice declared.
“Is she not currently clad in a wedding gown, clutching my favorite roses, adorned with the platinum engagement ring I bestowed upon her, and blushing with anticipation for our reunion?
Of course, for the happiness of humanity, for justice and fairness, she truly has no other option but to return to my side!”
“Uh…” Though the black-armored soldier’s expression was entirely obscured by their enclosed helmet, a groggy Shirley was ninety, if not one hundred, percent certain that the individual was currently trembling with fear, sweat pouring from them like a torrent.
“Great Lord Helios, Dr. Irmindada’s current condition… is not quite as you anticipated.”
“This genius knows already! She’s holding lilies, right?
Though this genius prefers roses, Irmindada does indeed favor lilies, that much is true…”
“No, no, no, Lord Helios, Dr. Irmindada is not holding any flowers, nor is she wearing an engagement ring,” the black-armored soldier finally ventured, after a brief silence.
“In fact, as much as I dread to inform you, Dr. Irmindada currently… uh… has no hands or feet.
We believe this may be due to the atrocities committed by GM02; please accept our deepest condolences, my lord.
Furthermore, she is not wearing a wedding gown; she is currently dressed in what appears to be a JK uniform…”
“Bang!”
Immediately after that statement, the black-armored soldier’s helmet suddenly exploded from within.
A gruesome mixture of red and white matter, along with helmet fragments, splattered across the cabin’s interior, startling the nearby logistics personnel clad in light armor.
It was a good while before someone cautiously approached to drag away the unfortunate soul, after which they quietly began to play rock-paper-scissors in turns.
Then, the one who had lost every round of rock-paper-scissors tremblingly opened the communicator.
“Damn it, no flowers, no wedding gown, no engagement ring—this utterly fails to meet my magnificent vision for our reunion, hmph!” the individual known as “Lord Helios” bellowed once the communication reconnected.
“However, no hands or feet? That’s… quite excellent.
It seems this genius can lavish her with affection in entirely different ways!
Given this, this genius is in a good mood, so I won’t punish you today… Eh, did I just press the detonation button earlier? Hmm…”
“Forgive my impertinence, Lord Helios, but Dr. Irmindada is currently connected to a ‘Huntress’ mech, and her mental state appears somewhat unstable,” the poor wretch who had lost the rock-paper-scissors game stammered nervously.
“So… what should we do?”
“What to do? This is precisely the perfect opportunity destiny has bestowed upon this genius!
Seize this chance to directly intervene with her consciousness using the ‘Huntress’ bio-connection system!
This genius shall melt the terrifying iceberg within her heart with true love!
First, inject her with sedatives, then transport her to New Ravenna with the utmost speed!
The laboratories in Honorius Palace should possess the appropriate equipment!”
“Y-yes, my lord!” the man exclaimed loudly, a look of desperate relief on his face.
Following this, Shirley watched as Salome, secured to a stretcher, was wheeled away from her sight.
Then, a different type of medicine was injected into Shirley’s own body…
The world dissolved into an endless expanse of blankness.
Despite knowing it was a dream, Shirley meticulously observed her surroundings.
Unlike the dense fog she had previously inhabited, this blankness resembled a colossal, circular white wall, upon which various scenes began to project as time flowed onward.
Some were scenes from her own memory: waking in the Viscount Collins family castle, her life at St. Lian Girls’ Academy, joining one club after another, only for them to be disbanded due to inexplicable disputes.
Ultimately, by a stroke of serendipity, she was introduced to ‘Pink FM,’ becoming a member and meeting her bandmates…
Yet, other scenes were entirely unfamiliar to her—in one, she sat shoulder-to-shoulder with a cheerful boy with light brown hair, whose features suggested a Mediterranean origin, as they watched birds on a grassy field.
Another depicted the two of them rowing a boat together on a winding river, and yet another showed them flying a kite.
Though Shirley possessed no memories from before three years ago, she inexplicably felt that these memories were not her own.
“Oh, you guessed correctly,” a voice tinged with amusement remarked.
Shirley then discovered, to her astonishment, that another ‘herself’ suddenly emerged from the blank expanse!
This ‘Shirley,’ however, was not clad in the St. Lian Girls’ Academy uniform; instead, she wore a standard lab coat, with an ID card bearing the name “Irmindada” clipped to her chest.
The moment her eyes fell upon Shirley, she displayed a rather… complex expression.
“Who are you?” Shirley asked.
“Ah, shouldn’t that question be mine to ask you?” the other replied, countering her.
“After all, I am the true owner of this body, and you, conversely, are merely an ‘outsider.’”
“What do you mean by that?” Even within the dream, Shirley remained without hands or feet.
Thus, as the other ‘herself’ approached, she could only strain to lift her head, gazing up at the figure.
“What else could it mean? I am Irmindada, Chief Life Engineering Research Expert of the Human Revival Council, Head of the Ya’wen Gene Laboratory, and a director of the High-Dimensional Space Research Council.
I am also the first to successfully utilize lifeforms in this world to carry power from the Realm of Parting Sorrows.”
The ‘Shirley’ in the lab coat stated, “However, judging by the current situation, my final experiment appears to have failed.”
“Your final experiment?”
“Precisely: cross-world teleportation through the Realm of Parting Sorrows without traversing the ‘Threshold Gate,’” Dr. Irmindada said, taking a few steps and clasping her hands behind her back, a displeased expression on her face.
“No, since my consciousness was merely suppressed and not erased, this experiment can be considered at least half-successful… and that’s only because I lacked the time for multiple experiments and refinements.
Had time not been so pressing, I surely would have…”
Shirley remained silent, quietly listening to the other woman’s soliloquy.
Evidently, if this individual before her was not merely a figment of her dreaming mind, then she must be the ‘Irmindada’ whom Salome so utterly despised and longed to avenge.
At this realization, Shirley instantly grew wary.
“Heh heh, are you afraid of me? No, you truly have no need to be.
After all, you are currently the dominant consciousness of this body, while I am merely a suppressed phantom deep within the subconscious.
If that rogue hadn’t attempted to modify your… or rather, strictly speaking, my memories, I wouldn’t even have had the chance to ‘surface.’”
Irmindada offered a slightly helpless, bitter smile.
“That rogue? You mean the one who was just communicating with those soldiers…”
“Precisely, Helios VI, heir to the Sol Invictus Tech Conglomerate, a ‘genius’ just like me… though, strictly speaking, his understanding of science lacks daring imagination and originality; he is, in fact, inferior to me,” Irmindada explained.
“However, unlike me, who secured a seat on the Human Revival Council purely through technical prowess, this boy owned eleven percent of the Human Revival Council’s shares from birth.
Half of Apennine, Dalmatia, and Gallia Cisalpina are his private fiefdoms—and if I’m not mistaken, we are currently in this little rascal’s lair, New Ravenna.
More precisely, we should be in the laboratories of Honorius Palace.”
“You sound… as if you truly dislike him?”
“Of course! Who would want to marry such an utterly insufferable brat?!”