Beyond the Zenith

At Research Institute No. 2 of the Azure Coalition in the Oriental Republic, there was a fireplace that blazed day and night by the entrance to the office area.

Xin Yaoqiao approached the fireplace and tossed the white-covered document she had received fifteen minutes ago into the flames, photos and all. She stood there for a time and watched it burn to nothing. Then she left.

The Azure Coalition had established a rule early on that research documents were never to leave the office area. This probably originated from a time when the research institute’s defenses were not yet as formidable, but the rule had persisted ever since and had become a well-known standard.

At first glance, the rule seemed to be mainly about protecting the documents, but long-term statistics actually proved that it was more about protecting the people.

The idea was to keep classified material as far from families as possible.

Xin Yaoqiao entered a plain-looking, five-story residential building. After passing through security checkpoints one, two, and three, she pattered up the stairs toward her home on the third floor.

The number of people in Research Institute No. 2 who knew that Xin Yaoqiao was the granddaughter of Qu Zhongshi—the Chairman of the Oriental Republic Coalition Council—was not terribly large, though not exactly small either, roughly fifteen to twenty people.

Fewer still knew she belonged to the prospective tier, totaling no more than ten.

The fact that she simultaneously belonged to the second tier and had the only A-rank integration level in the past several generations of both major research families was further limited to no more than five people.

All the above counts included her grandfathers, father, mother, and uncle.

Arriving home to find both parents still at work, Xin Yaoqiao flopped over the arm of the sofa and dialed a special line. “Hello? Grandpa?”

It wasn’t a secretary who answered.

“During office hours, please address me as Chairman.” The voice on the other end feigned sternness, but carried an underlying tone of amusement.

“Chairman Grandpa.”

“So, what is it?”

“I miss you,” Xin Yaoqiao said with deep sincerity. “I want to come see you, and while I’m at it, I think all of us in the prospective tier should have a meeting. Get to know each other.”

The grandfatherly chairman paused, the earlier warmth dissipating from his voice. “Is that really necessary? There’s no need for any collaborative work between you all at this stage.”

“There is. Even if we don’t need to collaborate, it’s better to get acquainted first,” Xin Yaoqiao argued. “That way, if the Coalition ever falls, we neglected folks can still contact each other while on the run. We could find one another, hide together, and plan a counterattack.”

Qu Zhongshi made a series of spitting sounds, as if trying to get a foul taste out of his mouth. “What’s this about falling? Quick, take that back.”

“I said ‘if.’ I already put it as mildly as I could,” Xin Yaoqiao protested. “Also, Grandpa, you’re a scientist! How can you be superstitious? You’re not Grandpa Mountain Goat, who made the death squad chop a chicken’s head off and wrap it in red cloth before sending them to fight the Red Shoulders.”

Qu Zhongshi sighed. “These things, they’re—Oh, never mind, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained. It’s all our fault. Outside the sciences, your entire way of thinking has become skewed.”

The pair chatted aimlessly for a few minutes, meandering from one topic to another. When Xin Yaoqiao’s repeated suggestions for a secondary tier gathering went nowhere, she said outright, “Actually, I want to go see the new combat guy who just joined the tier.”

“This...” Qu Zhongshi trailed off, pausing briefly. Then, with a certain gravity to his tone, said, “Yaoyao.”

“Hm?”

“You’re a girl.”

“Mm.”

“So you should have some restraint. You know that, right?”

“I’m already nineteen, though, and you’ve been teaching me to view male-female matters scientifically since I was thirteen!” Xin Yaoqiao said. “Also, you’ve encouraged me to stay curious about everything since I was little. How could I possibly not be curious about men?”

Qu Zhongshi fell silent.

Chairman Grandpa had no counter to her words. While she had received some schooling through the Coalition’s elementary and middle schools, his granddaughter’s extraordinary genius had manifested early, and the bulk of her education and training had been carried out within the family according to a specialized plan.

Xin Yaoqiao’s family, on both her mother’s and father’s side, consisted entirely of elites within the Coalition’s research division. This completely scientific and rational upbringing had helped her develop and realize her genius early, but it had also set her apart from everyone else.

In a way, Xin Yaoqiao was rather out of touch. She wasn’t great at reading social cues and lacked emotional restraint. These unfortunate consequences of her upbringing were starting to show as she aged.

“Grandpa?” Xin Yaoqiao called out when she got no response.

A few more seconds of silence passed. When there was still no reply, she continued on her own, “Right now, for the first time, there’s finally a male my age who ticks every box for me. He’s good-looking, a combat personnel—like I’ve always hoped for—and has a high yet mysterious combination of aptitudes. I should try to get to know him. Grandpa, you should be happy about this!”

This wasn’t her throwing a tantrum, but her rationally analyzing the situation. Qu Zhongshi was well aware of that and thus found himself at a loss for words.

“Also, with my excellent genes, I really should be reproducing for the sake of the Coalition,” Xin Yaoqiao added with earnest sincerity.

Qu Zhongshi finally exploded. “Nonsense!”

With that firm word, he hung up the phone. Leaning back in his chair, the Chairman Grandpa thought mournfully, She’s already nineteen. How is she already nineteen? I should remind my daughter to give Yaoyao some education of the non-scientific, non-rational variety... Better late than never.

Qu Zhongshi planned to call his daughter after she got off work, analyze the issue thoroughly, and come up with a plan. However, before he could get around to making the call, his daughter phoned first.

“Dad, Qiaoqiao left us a note. She says she just finished a major project and that she’s tired. Since she hasn’t taken a vacation in two years, she’s gone on one. Did you...”

After a brief exchange, father and daughter quickly confirmed the situation. Xin Yaoqiao had taken her maneuvering device and run away from home.

“Can we catch up to her?” Qu Zhongshi asked.

“Probably... not easily. Dad, you hired all those experts to train her from a young age. Her integration level is very high. She’s the only one in our two families across several generations who can actually fight. Then there’s her counter-tracking skills...”

“Doesn’t she ever worry about the consequences? Doesn’t she understand her responsibilities? She’s being reckless!” Qu Zhongshi fumed.

“Ah... Dad, hold on.” His daughter rummaged around for a moment and found a piece of scratch paper. “I didn’t know what this was before, but now I get it. Qiaoqiao calculated the probability of her own death on this trip... She concluded that it’s about the same as an ordinary person riding a bus over a mountain road, or an elderly person taking a bath alone. In that case, we can’t raise a fuss or make any rash moves.”

“Right. Yaoyao can take care of herself. Nobody knows she’s gone, or where she’s headed,” Qu Zhongshi said, regaining his composure and analyzing the situation. “I know where she’s going. I’ll figure something out.”

With that, they hung up.

Qu Zhongshi was caught between a rock and a hard place. Ironically, it was precisely because he was worried out of his mind that he couldn’t do anything or breathe a word of it.

This news absolutely could not leak.

If this information were made public and the Wipers were looking to kidnap someone from the Coalition’s research division, the odds of them choosing his granddaughter could exceed even those of the core researchers working on the maneuvering devices.

This was because Xin Yaoqiao was the person most likely to achieve a breakthrough in the study of the Sharpie civilization’s language.

The Wipers had been yearning to contact their Adventist Lord, their God of Annihilation, for decades.