Estelle watched him cry, amidst the chaos, Charlie rushed over to apologize to her: "I'm sorry, Miss Grey. His hearing is too good, I really couldn't stop him..."
"It's alright." She said, "His emotional module is a bit out of control, Secretary Mullen, I'll take him back first."
Charlie had already prepared a room for them. Estelle led Crescent inside. The lights were off in the room, and the changing lights from the streets of the city reflected in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Crescent stood in the dead silence and darkness. Estelle closed the door and said to him, "Restart your program, calm down."
"Am I malfunctioning?" asked Crescent.
"Almost," said Estelle, "Your emotional module is too chaotic. If you keep going like this, you'll shut down soon."
Crescent's Adam's apple moved slightly as he finally obeyed and closed his eyes, restarting himself on the spot. The restart process took one minute, and when he opened his eyes again, Estelle was no longer in front of him.
She sat on the floor, looking out the window at the night scenery, which flickered between light and dark, splendid yet silent.
Hearing his footsteps approach, she said, "I don't have the energy to talk to you tonight. Go into sleep mode. Whatever it is, we'll discuss it tomorrow."
His footsteps stopped, and there was no more sound after that.
Later, when Estelle turned her head, Crescent had curled up and was sitting on the ground, quietly in sleep mode.
She got up and walked out, passing by Crescent. His eyelashes fluttered as he sensed her, but he did not open his eyes.
Estelle left the room and returned to Soren's bedroom, where he was drinking by the window. She went over and sat down, asking, "Do you have another glass?"
Soren poured her some wine, filling the clear glass only halfway. "This wine is very strong, drink less."
Estelle took the cup, and he asked, "How is he feeling?"
"He's sleeping," she said.
Soren laughed.
"A robot doesn't really sleep," he said, "You're treating him like a human, aren't you?"
Estelle took a sip of the wine, avoiding the question. "Let's get down to business."
Soren raised his eyes at her words, and Estelle said calmly, "Mr. Hoffman is a businessman. There must be a reason why you saved me for no apparent reason. Tell me, what do you need me to do?"
Soren raised an eyebrow.
"You are indeed very smart. Then I'll get straight to the point. The Stella Technology Corporation's Eagla storage system, I want you to help me crack it. I need to obtain detailed data on Aiden's overseas transactions over the past decade."
"Are you crazy? Stealing technological secrets is illegal." She couldn't believe her ears. "Even if we step back ten thousand paces, Eagla is the core security system of Stella Technology, with defenses so complex and sophisticated that they rank among the best globally. You want me to hack into Eagla, do you think that's possible? I'm just a robotics engineer. Asking me to do this is like hiring any amateur hacker off the street..."
"Stop pretending, I know you've studied hacking techniques." Soren interrupted her mercilessly, ignoring her refusal. "With your intellectual abilities, even if you just dabbled, you'd be far better than ordinary hackers—let alone the fact that no one understands Cyrus' programming logic better than you in this world."
Estelle was taken aback, her surprised expression caught by Soren, who paused. "You didn't know? The Eagla system was a program written by Cyrus during his university days."
She really hadn't known, but hearing him say it made her suddenly realize that she did.
Estelle's gaze wandered, and she recalled a certain past dusk. After a long moment, she softly asked, "What do you want Aiden's transaction data for?"
"Those overseas drug and sex trafficking transactions are solid evidence of Aiden's crimes." Soren said, "Now that PWL has run into trouble, that person has already sent someone to kill Gavriel to take the blame for Aiden. Once the 24-hour summons period is up, without evidence, Aiden will be released without charges. This time, having tipped him off, Aiden will certainly rush to delete those data once he returns to the company."
"The city is not what it used to be. I've arranged everything. As soon as I get the data, I can bring Aiden down immediately. Before he is released, this is my only chance. If he manages to turn things around, you and I will face consequences that I don't need to spell out. I'm just trying to protect myself."
Estelle returned to the room, and Crescent was still sitting on the floor in the same position.
The pale blue PWL-000 near his collarbone flickered in the darkness. She didn't make a sound as she gently approached him to fetch her coat. Just as she was about to leave, Crescent suddenly came out of sleep mode, reaching out to grab her fingertips.
"Where are you going?"
She didn't answer, saying only, "I'll be back soon."
"Don't go," Crescent said softly. "Estelle, don't go, please."
