"Do you think we just don't have the luck to be friends?"
Sera, arms crossed, slumped into the sofa with a resigned expression. "Now that you've taken over Stella Technology, we're rivals again. What about the pet duck project? Oscar has been working hard and is waiting for you to come back."
"I can't help it. Stella Technology is such a big company, someone needs to manage it." Estelle flipped through documents. "I wasn't a formal employee at Siren anyway. You can just have Calvin replace the chief engineer."
Replacing the chief engineer was indeed easy, especially since the pet duck project had just started, making any changes straightforward. But who else could match Estelle?
Sera pursed her lips. "Forget it… It's my own bad luck for not signing a formal contract with you back then."
Estelle smiled. "Okay. When the pet ducks hit the market, I'll buy you a whole brood as an apology."
Sera grinned, noticing how busy Estelle was, and didn't say more. She got up to leave soon after.
Walking out of Estelle's office, she bumped into Marry, Estelle's secretary. A pile of documents fell out of her arms. Sera squatted down to help pick them up and took the opportunity to ask, "Does General Manager Grey have any plans recently?"
Marry replied sternly, "This is our business secret. As the vice CEO of a competing company, I cannot tell you."
Sera pointed at Estelle. "She said I could ask you."
"Oh…" Marry pushed her glasses. "General Manage Grey plans to recall the male robots previously sold and restart the PWL research project."
Sera nodded understandingly, helped organize the documents, and delivered them to Estelle's desk. Estelle asked, "Why did you come back?"
"You have a rather cute secretary." Sera said. "Maybe you should make sure she keeps things confidential."
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and in February of the following year, the second generation of PWL male service robots was relaunched.
On the day of the new product exhibition, Estelle invited Sera and Oscar to attend. Taking advantage of Calvin's absence, Sera touched the abs of four male robots. Estelle couldn't bear to watch, while Oscar remained silent, smiling gently from the side.
"How are your ducks doing?" Estelle asked him.
"Almost done, we'll wrap up the project in a few months." Oscar answered, then asked, "How are your ducks?"
"They're doing well, quite plump. Sometimes when I touch their feathers, I can't help but want to cook them."
How peculiar these two people were, greeting each other not with pleasantries but by asking about each other's ducks.
Sera couldn't understand. Just then, Oscar excused himself to go to the restroom. She looked at what Estelle was holding. "What do you have there?"
"It's a cutting-edge paper about information layers, given to me by Gavriel." Estelle said. "These are paper documents that survived the great war. I've wanted to digitize them for a long time, but the PWL development was too busy. So I've only just found the time today."
"Huh? Information layers?" Sera frowned. "I've never heard of them."
"I haven't heard of it either. It must have been a theory proposed before the war. Not long after, the war broke out, halting technological progress. With the global loss of information, even the theorist might have been lost in the war…"
As she spoke, she suddenly stopped, staring at the page, unable to continue. Sera leaned forward, her gaze falling, and suddenly noticed the author's name at the end of the article—C.W.
Sera was struck as if by lightning. "What… This is Cyrus's paper?!"
Information layer technology was invented by Cyrus.
Estelle struggled to digest this fact. She remembered how Gavriel had immediately recognized the information layer in Crescent's chip. Now, she wondered whether it was because he was too familiar with Cyrus' techniques or if he was one of the insiders.
So the thing he wanted to give her before he died probably had something to do with information layers. Thinking about this, Estelle subconsciously looked down. The fingerprint sleeve Soren had given her, which she had carried with her every moment for the past half year, remained a mystery to her.
She had used it to enter Gavriel's home a few times, but entering the house itself was pointless. Apart from the fingerprint lock on the front door, there were no other places where fingerprints were required. She had also used it to check some of Gavriel's travel and spending records, but there was nothing unusual. Over time, she didn't wish to intrude too much on his privacy and eventually gave up.
In a momentary distraction, Oscar returned from the restroom. Siren Technology had a regular meeting coming up. After a bit more conversation, Sera and Oscar got up to leave.
Marry accompanied Estelle to see them off. During the early spring sunset in the city, the sun cast its light through the floor-to-ceiling windows. For some reason, Estelle suddenly recalled the day she met Crescent, when she sought Gavriel's help because of his organ issue. He waited obediently in the hall, and the sunset that day was just as beautiful.
"General Manager Grey?"
Estelle snapped back to reality. Marry said, "The PWL exhibition is almost over, and there are no other arrangements. You seem a bit tired. Let me drive you home to rest."
Estelle nodded. Marry ran back to the office to fetch the car keys. Estelle waited for her to return, watching as employees left work one by one. She was bored and watched them as they went to the locker area to unlock their lockers, put down their work badges, and retrieve their personal belongings.
Marry returned, and Estelle was still looking in that direction. She suddenly asked, "Do everyone have their own lockers?"
"Yes. The company strictly requires us to wear our work badges, so many colleagues keep theirs in their lockers. They put them on before work and take them off after work so they won't forget."
Marry answered, feeling somewhat puzzled. Estelle had been an employee of Stella Technology, so how could she not know? Then she realized—company-provided lockers for employees were introduced last summer, during the period when Estelle had left and Aiden was still the General Manager.
"Did Gavriel have such a locker?" Estelle asked again.
"Huh? You mean Manager Edward…" Marry was taken aback. "Everyone has one, so of course he had one. Normally, the storage privileges of departing employees are automatically revoked, but not long after he passed away, the company became chaotic, so it's unclear…"
She didn't finish, but Estelle had already headed toward the locker area.
"Contact logistics and check Gavriel's locker," Estelle said. "If it's still there, tell me the locker code."
Marry immediately did so. Half a minute later, she waved her phone. "Found it. Manager Edward's locker is still there. The code is G-6748."
Estelle found locker G-6748. The fingerprint sensor emitted a red light, seemingly awaiting the arrival of its user.
She took out the fingerprint sleeve and put it on, waiting for her body heat to penetrate the surface. Two seconds later, Estelle held her breath and pressed her hand against the sensor.
"Welcome, Mr. Gavriel."
The metal door popped open. The locker was empty except for a small black box in the center.
Estelle reached in and picked it up, seeing the light blue text—Interlayer Reader.
Layer Reader.
