Chapter 475

Jane could feel with eerie clarity that she was being carried onto another ship, her eyes tightly shut. The men didn’t seem to have brought Frederick or her sister along with her. Soon, she heard Aubree’s voice again. "Doctor, we’ve brought Jane to you." A hoarse yet eager voice responded immediately. "Good. Prepare the lie detector and hypnosis equipment. We’ll begin right away." "Doctor… is it really true that she traveled back in time to her four-year-old self?" Aubree couldn’t help asking, curiosity lacing her tone. "Of course. Black Phantom’s intelligence is never wrong." A scoff. "Tch. She’s lived over twenty years and still acts this stupid. Guess time travel didn’t do anything for her IQ." The disdain in Aubree’s voice was palpable. "Aubree, you’re still young. You wouldn’t understand. At my age, intelligence hardly matters anymore." The man she called "Doctor" sighed wearily. "But I must find a way to live longer to complete my research." "Aubree, strap her into the lie detector chair, then you may leave." "Doctor… are you sure you’ll be alright alone?" Aubree sounded hesitant. "I’ll be more than enough." Jane felt her body being lifted up, then cold metal cuffs clamped around her wrists and ankles, followed by metallic patches pressed against her temples. The sound of a door slamming shut reached her ears just as an intense pain shot through the philtrum beneath her nose. Acting on instinct, she gasped and blinked her eyes open in confusion. Right before her, an oversized pocket watch swung rhythmically before her eyes. Trying to hypnotize her? Perfect! Tilting her head slightly, Jane flashed a sweet smile, her crystal-clear eyes locking onto the doctor before her. The doctor had yellowed skin, his once-white hair now reduced to a few sparse strands. Deep wrinkles carved across his face, dotted with age spots, making him appear frail and ancient. Jane quickly sifted through her mental database and pinpointed his identity. He was one of the shadowy scientists from Country D working behind Black Phantom, Peter. Though not ethnically from Country D, he was of Asian descent. According to records, he was already ninety-two years old, likely nearing the end of his life. No wonder he’d taken such a reckless risk, daring to capture her even within Chinese waters. But… Her clear, penetrating gaze suddenly fixed onto Peter, her soft pink lips parting like jelly as she murmured, "Peter, empty your mind… You’re so very tired… You need to rest…" Almost instantly, his already-cloudy eyes dulled completely, glazing over with vacancy. "Number One, come out now!" As Jane's voice trailed off, a metallic sphere the size of an egg bounced out from her small handbag, swiftly transforming into a humanoid figure. Number One bowed respectfully to Jane. "At your service, young mistress." "Help me unlock these metal cuffs from the lie detector," she commanded. Once freed, Jane immediately directed the hypnotized Peter to sit in the interrogation chair and secured him in place. Picking up the pocket watch he had used to hypnotize her, she spoke in a deceptively gentle, coaxing tone. "Now, I have some questions for you. You must answer me truthfully." "Understood." "Is Black Phantom still alive?" This had been the burning question ever since the explosion. If Brother Frederick could teleport away and return in an instant, perhaps Black Phantom could too—after all, no traces of a body had ever been found at the blast site. "I don't know," Peter replied in a slow, emotionless rasp. Jane pressed further. "How do you usually communicate with Black Phantom?" Peter's voice remained flat. "I don't reach out to him. He contacts me. My role is confined to researching what he needs in the lab. Once the work is done, he comes to collect it himself." Jane furrowed her delicate brows. "You were state-protected scientists in Country D too. Why would you obey Darknight? What exactly were you researching in that lab?" Peter's voice grew mechanical. "Darknight was our sole director. He initiated the projects, obtained government approvals, and handpicked every researcher. Our institute specialized in... all possible means of human control." "All possible means?" Jane's fingers unconsciously tightened around her sleeve. "Parasitic viruses, Zhongguo gu sorcery, neural implants..." Peter listed emotionlessly. A shiver ran down Jane's spine. If such technologies became operational on a global scale, humanity would become unwitting slaves overnight. What kind of world would that create? Her voice sharpened. "Did the research continue after Darknight disappeared?" Peter shook his head blankly. "Funding dried up. Everything stopped." The pieces clicked. Of course—had the lab remained active, this old fool wouldn't have had leisure to orchestrate her capture. But using such amateurish tactics after accessing Darknight's intelligence? This was nothing short of insulting to Jane! From the moment that so-called Aubree first hugged her, she had already known it wasn't the real Aubree. The real Aubree was a five-year-old girl, her bones still soft and undeveloped. But this impostor, though identical in size to a child, had fully formed bones clearly no ordinary little girl. If her instincts were right, the real Aubree had likely been captured by Peter and his gang. So, after signaling to Frederick, she decided to play along. If she could uncover something about those shadowy scientists, great. If not, at least she might find out whether the real Aubree was still alive—and if so, where she was being held. Maybe they could even rescue her. "Do you have any research materials from your institute?" "No, my clearance isn't high enough. I only handle miscellaneous tasks—no access to core data." Jane was about to press further when suddenly, Peter, frail and elderly, jolted awake in the lie-detector chair. His dazed eyes sharpened with awareness, and he instinctively struggled against the restraints clamping his wrists. Blinking her big, innocent eyes, Jane said sweetly, "Grandpa, don't waste your energy. This is your own chair surely you know how sturdy it is?" Peter's face darkened. "How did you..?" Jane shrugged. "Reverse-hypnosis isn't that hard. Besides, at your age, losing focus is pretty normal, isn't it?" Peter's expression turned stormier. He was indeed nearing the end of his life, and he despised being reminded of it. But this infuriating Jane kept hammering on his age—absolutely insufferable. "Grandpa, glaring at me won't help one bit!" With a sweet, milky voice, Jane said softly, "As a scientist who's acquired so much knowledge, you should be using it to benefit humanity, not to wreak havoc. What a pity... you've lived all these years without ever understanding that." She shook her little head and sighed, the contrast between her childish appearance and her solemn words making her even more endearing. But the moment Peter heard the phrase "all these years," his eyes bulged in outrage. He looked ready to cough up blood on the spot out of sheer fury. Seeing him huffing and puffing in anger, Jane decided not to push her luck. After all, she still needed to hand him over to the National Security Bureau for punishment—she couldn’t let him drop dead from rage just yet. "Number One, go open the door," she said. "Let's clean up the people on this ship and go meet Brother Frede—" Before she could even finish her sentence, and before Number One could move, the door swung open from the outside. Standing in the doorway was the fake Aubree. She took in the scene inside for only a split second before launching an attack straight at Jane.