Five minutes later.
"Reporting, Lady Secretary, the three top-secret files have been received in full." The department head looked to Secretary Lilith.
Lilith paid no heed at all to these three technologies, which outside would have been reckoned treasures.
She said at once, "Contact them!"
The department head at once had the communications petty officers try to contact them.
But the several communications petty officers all looked somewhat odd just then.
One of them raised her head and said, "We… have lost contact with this T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship… No. 1…"
Lilith swayed.
Something occurred to the department head; without a word she pulled the communications petty officer aside and worked the controls herself,
muttering all the while.
"How could we lose contact! We were in contact just now! You must have made a mistake at the controls."
The department head worked at it without pause, but call after call brought no contact at all.
Several minutes later, the department head looked at Secretary Lilith with a tangled expression.
She opened her mouth several times, but could not get the words out.
They had all learned by now that His Majesty the Emperor was aboard this T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1.
Then now…
"Wait, we've received a communication here. From Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1. It came through along with those three data files just now. Because the three data files were so huge, and we just now… overlooked it." A petty officer had suddenly found a communication file.
Lilith at once looked at the communication file.
She held back the urge to open it.
"Everyone out, at once!" Lilith said in a low voice.
The department head looked at Secretary Lilith, whose face was dark, then gathered her three subordinates to leave.
"Remember: what you have heard and seen here, not half a word of it gets out. Or you answer to military law!" Lilith said suddenly, sharply.
"Yes," the four said together.
Then the four walked out of the room and closed the door.
Lilith at once clicked the communication file.
Beside it, the three stored technology data files mattered not at all in her eyes.
"Hello, hello, hello."
A familiar, easy voice came from the other end.
The moment the voice came, Lilith's eyes reddened.
Until now she had been able to stay strong.
But now her heart truly could not bear the weight.
"I expect the first to hear this message will be Lilith. You aren't crying right now, are you?"
Lilith sank to the floor, holding back the sound of her sobs.
"Lilith, I've run into some trouble here. It may be… a little longer before I get back. But don't be sad. I'll surely come back alive to see you all." Zhao Chen's voice was very firm, as though he truly believed he would live.
There was no knowing whether he truly believed it,
or only meant to leave Lilith and the others a firm belief to hold on to.
"Until I come back, look after the Owl Dragon legions we built, and the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. Of course… what matters most is all of you. All those things up there, I built to protect you. If… you don't want them, or they get in your way. Then you can give them up too."
Hearing these words, Lilith clenched her fists until her nails dug deep into her palms and the blood ran.
"I've left you three T6 technologies; they should be of help to you."
"Lilith, you're the one I can rest easiest about. Leaving everything to you, I needn't worry at all. Charlotte is older than you, but she's too hot-headed sometimes. She's a mother now. But she'll still need your help. Please, help me look after Charlotte and the two children. And best wait until Charlotte's body has recovered before… telling her this news."
Lilith suddenly broke down and screamed, "Why should I! Why should I! I'm only your subordinate; why should I look after your wife and children? If they need looking after, come back and look after them yourself. Waaah…"
Lilith, her arms wrapped around her belly, was already awash in tears.
"Charlotte, you may be a mother now. But you still need to mend that temper of yours; don't be forever flying off the handle. I expect that if you learn I've gone, you'll go into a hysterical rage. But please think carefully about our children. The two of them still need you to look after them. These two children, I can't see them come into the world with my own eyes. But I've already chosen their names. The boy will be Zhao Hu, and the girl Zhao Baier. Heh-heh-heh, see how much these two names are like you."
Lilith wept, her whole body trembling.
After that came some words for others.
Zhao Chen's voice was very calm, as calm as if it were just an ordinary moment, idle chat with a friend.
"All right. I've said about everything I need to say. Until I come back. All of you take good care of yourselves. Trust me. I will come back!" Zhao Chen's last words were steadfast.
At last the message ended.
Lilith kept muttering, "Liar! Great big liar! You great big liar!"
As she spoke, Lilith suddenly sprang up.
She snatched up a chair beside her, about to smash the device holding the three top-secret files Zhao Chen had sent.
"I don't want any damned files. I want you back safe and sound!"
But in the end her blow stopped short all the same.
……
Outside the door.
The department head was waiting here anxiously, turning that possibility over in her mind.
It couldn't be!
It surely couldn't be so.
Just then the door opened.
The people outside all looked without thinking at Lilith in the doorway.
Lilith's face was very cold, showing no feeling whatever.
"From now on this room is sealed off. No one is to collect the data in here without my permission," Lilith said coldly.
"Y… yes," the department head answered.
With that, Lilith walked coldly out.
Paying no heed at all to the surprised looks around her.
She had a great many things to deal with now.
Before the effects of this broke out, everything had to be arranged.
For until that irresponsible man came back, she would take good care of these things he had left behind.
She believed it firmly.
That man would surely come back.
He had perhaps only gone somewhere very far away, for some reason he could not help.
In the end, he would surely come back!
Because he had said so!
Every time he said something, it had come true.
So this time, too, it would surely come true.
Until then, no one was to touch what that man had left behind!