The elevator arrived.
Estelle recognized the person—it was Charlie, Soren's secretary.
She should have greeted him, but she couldn't steady herself, feeling dizzy and her vision blurring as her legs gave way. Crescent quickly caught her.
"Estelle," he called out her name, "How are you?"
Estelle couldn't offer a word. Soren glanced at her and told Charlie, "Go get some supplements."
Charlie immediately went to carry out the instruction. Soren reached out and held Estelle's forearm. "You're tired. Go rest."
She stubbornly shook her head. "No."
The elevator traveled from the first floor to the 67th in just a few minutes, with a few brief exchanges. The life of that genius engineer ended so simply and quietly in the few words Soren spoke.
But those few words lingered with her for a long time. Estelle sat in Soren's room. Soon, Charlie brought warm water and supplements, which she drank. Her vision gradually brightened, and when she spoke hoarsely, she still couldn't accept it: "Why... Aiden..."
Soren gave Charlie a look, and Charlie said to Crescent, "There's tea and a magnetic charging station next door, Mr. Grey. I'll take you there to rest."
Crescent looked at Estelle, who nodded in agreement, and he had no choice but to follow Charlie away. The door closed, and Charlie and Crescent's voices grew distant as they conversed. Soren took Estelle's cup and refilled it with warm water.
"Because he needed Stella Technology," he said.
"Eight years ago, after the international war ended, Electronic City was full of ruins. The economy needed development, and the government faced reorganization. At that time, whoever could control the leading technology would be able to secure their position in the government. So one of the candidates came to see Cyrus privately, hoping to establish a cooperative relationship and use Stella Technology's capital to help him gain power."
"He was a politician notorious for sexual abuse scandals. Cyrus refused his request. However, Stella Technology was the only world-class tech company in the city back then. To win the election with an absolute advantage, Stella Technology was the ace he had to hold. So the next day, he met Aiden again."
"It wasn't until today that Aiden continued working for him. PWL was eager to go public; you thought it was what Aiden wanted? No, it wasn't. In his early years, to please his overseas friend, he promised to provide video content for that AR website. In previous years, his subordinates kidnapped and sexually assaulted many women to film AR content. If anything happened, he would pay large sums of hush money. The police would also have that person intervene to handle missing persons reports. But with the increasing number of cases in Electronic City and the emergence of new drugs and Red Water, the upper echelons of power issued a red line order: Electronic City must not allow any more missing persons cases. Aiden had no choice but to consider using PWL to secretly record users."
"That's why, despite Gavriel's warnings, he insisted on going public with PWL even before its development was complete."
Estelle listened, slowly closing her eyes.
"I didn't know," she murmured. "I really didn't know about this…"
"Of course. Aiden wouldn't let you know these things," Soren said. "If even you could easily find out, he wouldn't have been taken away by the police only today after all these years."
"So what about you?" Estelle looked at him steadily. "You knew everything... Why didn't you tell me?"
"What good would it do to tell you?" Soren said. "Eight years ago, Aiden had already become one of his allies, while I was just an ordinary doctor who could be imprisoned with a single article. Even if I told you, once exposed, we would only be silently killed like Gavriel—let alone, it was all Cyrus's decision. Everything I did was to honor a dying patient's request, nothing more."
"What did Cyrus say?"
"He said that you are the most outstanding engineer he has ever met. Your life should be dedicated to human technological progress in a way that aligns with your likes and strengths, not wasted on meaningless hatred."
For a long time, Estelle sat there holding the water cup, as if all her strength had been drained from her.
After a while, Soren added, "Oh, right... In the last few years of his life, he made a gift for you. Unfortunately, due to excessive radiation, his life was cut short. By the day of his death, the gift hadn't met his expectations and ended up being a defective product."
Her mind mechanically processed the information. Estelle slowly came back to reality and asked, "What gift?"
Soren paused for a moment.
"It was an intelligent robot."
