"By the way, did a newcomer arrive in the data processing room?"
A little girl with a petite figure and a youthful face, looking like someone's child wearing the same uniform as the researchers, sat in her seat, swinging her short legs as she asked the female staff member beside her.
"It seems like there is such a person, right?"
The female staff member moved her gaze away from the screen, pushed up her glasses, and answered somewhat uncertainly.
"What do you mean, 'it seems'? Don't you go there often? If there is a strange face, shouldn't you know about it right away?"
"That is true, but when I went there, I did not have any particular impression. I did not notice that newcomer at all."
"Did you not ask around?"
"I did not ask. A newcomer, after all. If he has ability, he will come out of there soon. If he does not, he will probably leave the space station before long. Why bother so much? Why are you suddenly so concerned about a newcomer?"
"The main thing is that the newcomer seems to have been here for half a month, but there has not been a single topic about him, not even a bit of news in the gossip group I specifically set up. It is almost as if a ghost has entered."
Just as the two were talking, a young man dressed in black walked over, placed a stack of papers in his hand on the table, and said softly, "The data calculations are finished. It is all here."
"Thanks." The female staff member did not even look, and after thanking him, continued speaking to the colleague who looked like a little girl. "Maybe that newcomer is just socially anxious, so he does not want to communicate much with people, which is why there is no information. Do not think too much about it. Look, the data has already been calculated, hurry up and get back to your own work."
"Hmm."
The two of them did not notice at all that the newcomer they had been talking about for so long was Caelus, who had just submitted the data to them and walked past them.
"Partner, they did not notice us at all."
Mem flew around Caelus. During this time, they had run into several people on the road, but those people did not even look at Caelus, who was dressed in black, with a certain pink unknown creature floating beside him.
"Although I have not managed to combine the two Paths of Nihility and Remembrance into my own power during the long time I spent in the training room, I have indeed established a preliminary connection. The bridge between Nihility and Remembrance has already laid its foundation."
As Caelus said this, he passed by a researcher who was looking down at the tablet in his hand, patted the other person's shoulder, and said, "Long time no see, old classmate."
The researcher looked up, somewhat puzzled. He looked at Caelus in front of him, frowned, and thought for quite a while before revealing an expression of sudden realization. He slapped his thigh and said, "I remember now. You are my high school deskmate, Caelus. It really has been a long time. I did not expect you to come to the space station!"
"Yeah, yeah, it really has been a long time."
"Ah, when did you come to the space station? I have not heard any news about newcomers recently. Where are you working now?"
"I am in the data processing room. You know, newcomers always start there."
"That is true. But I remember your grades were quite good back then. I believe you will soon be able to get through the newcomer phase and officially join our project. Hey, are you interested in coming to our Biological Research Department? There are many magical creatures collected from all over the universe here. Trust me, as long as we make enough achievements, we will definitely be able to attract Ms. Herta's attention!"
"Uh-huh. By the way, old classmate, do you remember that time in high school when you lost your meal card in the cafeteria, and I was the one who swiped mine for you?"
"Hiss... uh, it seems like there was something like that."
"Hmm, then how about you treat me to a meal?"
"You just want me to treat you to a meal, right? There is no need to be so roundabout. We were deskmates through all of high school, so there is no need to be so polite over such a small matter. Let us go, let us go, I will treat you right now!"
After a satisfying meal, the researcher was on his way back to the office, but halfway there, he scratched his head, feeling as though he had forgotten something.
"Why was my appetite so big at lunch today? I ate so much stuff?"
Muttering to himself, he walked farther and farther away.
Caelus leaned to the side, watched the man leave, and said, "Implanting false memories, fabricating a past that does not exist, creating a certain sense of déjà vu in an inadvertent way. When I withdraw and leave, those false memories shatter like bubbles under the sun, and the unreasonable and blank parts will fill themselves in with reasonable and logical memories."
"And if I do not want to attract their attention, then in their eyes, I am the flowers and grass in their memory, the scattered papers piled together, a passerby who happened to walk by, or a string of data flickering across the computer screen."
"I am the existence they see and hear every day in their memories, I am the past in their memories that is hard to distinguish between true and false, I am a corner they glance at inadvertently in their memories, I am an important person they once forgot in their memories."
"That sounds amazing, Partner!"
Mem clapped quite appropriately, giving Caelus a proper audience response.
"It only sounds amazing. I think most Memokeepers of the Garden of Recollection should be able to do this."
Caelus shook his head. He did not think his methods were outrageous or especially powerful. The Memokeepers of the Garden of Recollection were definitely better at manipulating memories than he was. Compared to those seniors who had stepped onto this Path earlier than him, he was just a newcomer who had only recently begun.
"Let us go, Mem. I heard that the Trailblazers of the Astral Express have arrived. Let us go take a look."
Caelus had heard from the system that if it were not for his abandoned fate, he would have boarded the Astral Express, become one of the Trailblazers, traveled to different planets on adventures, solved the troubles of local people, and even saved disasters that could endanger the universe.
That would have been a magnificent story, one with tears and laughter, sorrow and joy, and a group of the best Partners to whom he could entrust his life.
["If you want to, you can still board the Astral Express now, become one of the Trailblazers, and once again have those Partners worth entrusting your life to."]
"No need."
Caelus shook his head and had no intention of boarding the Astral Express.
"I am me, and she is her. I have no interest in taking away everything that belongs to her. Moreover, I am not someone who has nothing, so why should I crave what others have?"
"And perhaps it is precisely because I was not chosen that I had the possibility of being chosen by you. Compared to those future Partners I might have had, do I not already have the best Partner now, System?"
[..."That is a really great statement. I am moved by it, Caelus."]
"Mem! Partner! I am also a Partner!"
"Yes, Mem is also my important Partner."
He looked at the coquettish Mem, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, as if he were smiling.
Only those who have nothing would crave to seize everything others possess, and he had never been alone.
(To be continued.)