CAT Chapter 44: Endless Cycle (6)

The Marshal received the report, quickly understood the situation, and rushed to Zone 6.

When he saw the two tilted ultrasonic tubes, illuminated by the flashlight in Lin Si’s hand, his face immediately darkened. “Investigate this thoroughly!”

If Seth hadn’t requested this reagent, or if Lin Si had been a bit slower in noticing, those ultrasonic tubes might have gone undetected. High-frequency sound waves could’ve been triggered at any moment, converging in front of the test tube and shattering it.

At that point, the Berlin virus would have reemerged, sparking another disaster.

The Marshal was torn between questioning how someone could move such high-level laboratory equipment unnoticed or blaming Lin Si for still having the Berlin virus sample in storage.

“Up until now, the Berlin virus has been a gene mutation with high scientific value, which is why I kept it,” Lin Si replied flatly, “Just like HeLa cells were preserved in Earth’s old labs.”

“HeLa cells?” The Marshal’s irritation was palpable.

“They are cancer cells from a woman named HeLa, which can reproduce infinitely,” Lin Si explained. “They helped establish modern genetics and virology. Some believe we might even find the key to immortality from them.”

“Are you trying to use the Berlin virus to make humans live forever?” The Marshal scoffed, as if hearing a ridiculous joke.

Lin Si didn’t bother with the Marshal’s ridicule. He turned his attention back to the two ultrasonic tubes. “Since the ultrasonic feedback detection system was installed here, only I can open this storage room.”

The Marshal thought for a moment and then said, “Pull up all the surveillance footage since the equipment was upgraded!”

A full investigation began. Footage from the past five years was retrieved—everything from inside the room to the hallways.

However, all the cameras were mounted from above, creating a blind spot where the ultrasonic tubes were installed on the ceiling.

The room was dimly lit, and only moving shadows were visible in the footage, but that was enough.

The intelligent system processed the footage, extracting clips with movement for further analysis.

After reviewing everything, it was clear that no one had come close to the ultrasonic tubes. In fact, no one had even approached that area.

“Has the surveillance been tampered with?” The Marshal’s first reaction was to ask.

“No one has the authority to do that,” Lin Si replied.

“A hacker?” The Marshal frowned. He wasn’t very familiar with this kind of thing, but he knew that a skilled hacker could pull off unimaginable feats.

“I’ll have Tang Ning check if the ship’s system was hacked,” Lin Si said.

“There’s another possibility,” Lin Si added, his brow furrowing. “There was a period of silence in the monitoring.”

The word “silence” hung in the air, suddenly ominous.

The Marshal frowned deeply. “When?”

“During the black hole incident,” Lin Si said slowly. “When Zone 6 was detached from the main body and the system malfunctioned, up until Lucia took control of the ship, that was one period of silence. Afterward, to save energy, only the life-support system in the first laboratory was kept running. All other surveillance and security systems were turned off. This period of silence lasted longer than expected.”

Lin Si paused for a moment before adding, “But back then, besides me, there were only a few recently thawed children on the ship, and they had no motive.”

The Marshal nodded. “What about other possibilities?”

Lin Si shook his head.

The Marshal thought for a moment. “Let’s check the system first.”

If, after the investigation, no third-party intrusion was found in the ship’s system and the footage hadn’t been tampered with, it was almost certain that the incident had occurred during the black hole incident, during that period of system silence.

To rule out even the smallest chance, the Marshal sent a message to Tang Ning, asking him to check the entire system for signs of intrusion over the past few years, and sent the same message to two other programming experts.

This way, unless the entire Zone 5 would turn against them, the three would arrive at the correct conclusion.

Tang Ning’s reply came almost immediately, “Impossible.”

Lin Si smiled, though it was a helpless one.

Tang Ning had complete confidence in his system. For someone to claim that it had been compromised without anyone noticing was essentially questioning his abilities.

Seeing Lin Si still smiling, the Marshal shot him a sharp look. “Right now, you’re the prime suspect!”

Lin Si found a place to sit down, crossing his arms, his eyes scanning the rows of dangerous reagents in the dim light.

No one spoke. They all just kept thinking.

The Marshal was right. Almost every clue pointed toward Lin Si.

If the surveillance hadn’t been tampered with, it seemed nearly certain that the event had occurred during the black hole incident, during the period of system silence, and that the storage room door could only have been opened by Lin Si.

If Lin Si hadn’t noticed the situation today, when the virus resurfaced, he would have had no way to argue his case.

The Marshal clearly understood this as well. He asked, “What’s special about you?”

Lin Si replied expressionlessly, “I’m good at taking the fall.”

The Marshal was momentarily silent.

Lin Si then asked, “What’s the deal with those previous incidents?”

The Marshal and Madam Chen had both mentioned that the ship had gone through several life-threatening accidents in the past, all fortunately resolved in time.

Lin Si didn’t know the details, since he had been one of the main suspects. Any investigations had been kept under wraps, preventing him from knowing anything.

Now, for some reason, the Marshal seemed to have let go of some of his biases and started conversing with him calmly.

The absurdity of the situation was that, without evidence, clues, motives, or reasons, it was impossible to know if the person standing in front of you had already betrayed the ship. You could only rely on subjective judgment or intuition to believe—or not believe—someone.

“Like this time, there’s no clue to follow,” the Marshal sat down beside him. “There was once an engine malfunction in Zone 6, and once in Zone 2. A batch of nutrient solution was contaminated with a slow-acting chemical toxin. You had visited the engine area just before the malfunction, and that batch of nutrient solution used the gene-modified plants from Zone 6. To avoid wasting the crops, they even added your sample to the mixture.”

“The engine area had surveillance,” Lin Si replied. “And I don’t believe Zone 2 would make such a mistake with their cleaning procedures.”

“There’s no direct evidence, so you weren’t arrested,” the Marshal said coldly. “But you are the only one we can find with any suspicion.”

No clues, no evidence—the entire situation carried a strange, unsettling air.

“I don’t know what his goal is,” Lin Si mused. “He wants to point the finger at me but doesn’t want to harm me directly… Even if the virus breaks out, as long as I’m not infected, I can make a vaccine again.” He glanced in the direction of the two ultrasonic tubes. “The ship’s self-protection system is very tight. It’s hard to destroy everything in one strike. Poisoning the nutrient solution, causing engine failures, and spreading the virus—it’s possible he’s trying to create a sense of panic on the ship, causing gradual chaos, and then waiting for the right moment to strike… He might have an antisocial personality. I think we should get Adelaide to analyze this.”

“There’s another thing.”

“Hm?”

“Adelaide could indeed participate in the investigation, but everyone knows how close you two were during your student years. Tang Ning claims the system hasn’t been hacked, but he’s also very close to you. If we investigate the previous engine failure, Zheng Shu couldn’t find the cause either, and you two have been friends for years. If you did betray us, you could easily form a faction with him. You’d cover each other, erasing any traces. You may not interact much with others, but with your few friends, you can influence a lot of things. Right now, you’re the only one who can do that on the ship.”

The Marshal had laid it all out like this. At this point, Lin Si wasn’t just a suspect—he was practically the head of a terrorist faction.

“So?” Lin Si furrowed his brows and looked at the Marshal. “You still don’t believe me?”

“The issue isn’t about belief,” the Marshal replied. “It’s about if you’re not the mastermind, then someone is targeting you… and what could they gain from targeting you?”

A long-term scapegoat to shift attention?

“He probably doesn’t want me to go with the Expeditioner,” Lin Si said.

“I also don’t agree with you going,” the Marshal said. “If the mastermind is really you, then you could take the Expeditioner and our precious resources into the universe, never to return.”

Lin Si pressed his fingers to his brow. “…Alright.”

They discussed a few more clues, but there was no breakthrough. The entire situation remained open-ended, only leading to one conclusion.

“Regardless, you shouldn’t go,” the Marshal said seriously.

“If he’s using me as a decoy, staying here might actually help his plans,” Lin Si countered.

“Exactly, so you can’t continue to operate on the ship.”

Lin Si sat in the dim light, waiting for the Marshal to speak further.

Finally, the Marshal said, “Sleep.”

By “sleep,” of course, he didn’t mean ordinary sleep, but the deep slumber in the cryostasis chamber in Zone 9.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of breathing.

After a long time, Lin Si’s wristband lit up.

It was a message from Ling Yi: “Lin Si, when are you coming back?”

The light from the screen illuminated Lin Si’s face. His finger hovered over the screen for a moment, but he didn’t tap it, as if unsure of what to say in reply.