Nora sighed quietly. “I’ve had my doubts all along. I already had my suspicions when I first tried to capture Trueman.”
Caleb was stunned. Nora lowered her eyes. “When we were trying to capture Trueman that time, I found the hotel where he was staying, but you were the one who walked out of it instead… Later, when we tried to capture Trueman a second time, he escaped and you were caught by the special department, instead. Now that I think about it, you must have allowed them to catch you on purpose, right?” Caleb nodded. “Yes, I wanted to work with the special department so that I would be able to destroy the mysterious organization.”
Nora fell silent for a moment. Then, she said, “I was very puzzled at that time. All our arrangements were appropriate and in place, so how on earth had Trueman escaped? During that time, I had even monitored all inbound and outbound activity at immigration, but there wasn’t any news of Trueman leaving the country at all. He seemed so mysterious and powerful that he could come and go as he pleased, but I have never believed that anyone in this world can completely avoid leaving traces of their existence as if they have never existed.”
Caleb sighed. “I didn’t expect you to have become suspicious of me so early.”
“At that time, I was just distrustful and a little wary of you, but it didn’t occur to me that you may be Trueman. After all, when you were detained in the special department, I was conversing with Trueman the whole time. This dispelled my suspicions. What really made me suspicious of you was when you were unwell and hospitalized some time back… I came to visit you and the nurse taking care of you said that you were scalded by hot water… But if your gene modification was of heat resistance, how could you be scalded? In that case, there could only be one reason you were lying. Your heat resistance abilities haven’t been modified at all… But five children had survived in the laboratory back then, and this was something that all five of you knew… It only occurred to me later that even though all five of you know about one another’s existence, it may be possible that apart from you, the rest were completely unaware of the others’ identities.”
Caleb nodded. “You have guessed everything correctly.”
He lowered his eyes and explained, “When I went to the special department back then, I did allow myself to be caught on purpose. To avoid anyone from recognizing me as Trueman, people kept impersonating me the entire time. My subordinates were also trying to protect me at that time. After all, even though it’s the gene serum that makes it seem like I have lung cancer, the coughing is real. Taking medicine eases my discomfort and relieves the pain… Cough, cough…”
At this point, Caleb covered his mouth again and started coughing.
Nora waited for a long while before Caleb finally stopped coughing. He said, “After escaping from the mysterious organization back then, the person whose heat-resistant genes were improved only wanted to be an ordinary person, even if it meant that he could only live until he was thirty years old. He begged me to help him hide his identity. I happened to be in need of a public persona, so I agreed to it. He lives a very peaceful life now, and he doesn’t want to be disturbed by the outside world. He also leads a very innocent life… so I don’t want to tell you who he is…”
Nora pressed her lips together. “He’s Professor Epson, right?”
As soon as she said that, Caleb looked at her in astonishment and subconsciously asked, “How did you know?”
Nora replied, “When Barbarian was holding him hostage and asked him about the gene serum, he had answered immediately. But during all that time when I was at Staav University, I hadn’t heard about the gene serum from any of the other professors at all. It was obvious that the matter was not widely publicized; only people who held great interest in it would know about it. Moreover, Barbarian didn’t know who he was at the time. After pushing him into the laboratory and setting it on fire, everyone who went in to rescue him, including my classmates, was injured, yet he wasn’t. That’s when I first became suspicious of Professor Epson…”
Caleb: “…”
Nora nodded. “Yup, he leads a very innocent life indeed.”
Professor Epson certainly led an innocent life, didn’t he? He devoted his life to gene serum research, and his only goal was to surpass Anti! When she thought about that man who regarded her as his imaginary enemy, Nora shook her head wryly. “I won’t do anything to him.”
“… Okay.”
Caleb replied again before he let out a quiet sigh and remarked, “You really are very smart.”
“No, I’m not smart enough. If I were really that smart… Back then, you told me not to trust anyone so easily, and I never once suspected you… Even if I had doubts about everyone, the fact that you and Trueman had indeed appeared at the same time was already enough to dispel my suspicions. It was only when I connected the dots about Aunt Queenie that the fake Trueman gave me a new perspective…”
After Nora explained all this clearly, she looked at Caleb again. “But none of this is important anymore. What matters now is… I want to know what you’re planning. Also, does Trueman know what you’re thinking?”
Caleb looked at her and lowered his eyes. “He doesn’t.”
Caleb rubbed his temples, seemingly having a headache. “We only switch back and forth frequently when I want to talk to him or vice versa. We both have control over this body, but he is getting stronger and stronger, so he is already gradually replacing me… Nora, I will tell you my plans now. I hope you can go with him. Don’t worry about where exactly he is taking you for now. As far as I know, he doesn’t hold much ill will toward you; he just sees you as a toy. He likes taming people and your stubbornness challenges his authority. Spend some time with him while I take the opportunity to find out where he has hidden the V16…”
Nora was astonished. “Trueman didn’t inject the V16 into himself right away when he obtained it?”
Caleb looked at her. “I stopped him from doing SO.”
Nora was taken aback.
Caleb sighed. “For this body to take any action, both he and I must come to a consensus first. Although, if I take a forceful approach toward something, he won’t be able to go against my will. After all, I am the primary persona now. But… if he really overpowers me eventually, then I won’t be able to come out anymore… When that happens, he will be able to inject himself with the V16. Nora, time is running out. Listen to me carefully, I have already lived long enough, so the V16 must be left for Xander! I want all the sins to end with me. Do you understand? Do as I say!”