Chapter 189: Side Effects
The banquet hall of the royal palace is not extravagantly decorated, but it is also spacious and grand. It was just after noon, the guests had not yet arrived, and those who came gathered according to their familiarity. However, today's protagonist, Aeolia was sitting in the corner with an unhappy look, while Loran was laughing and talking with him at the side.
"I've told you many times, I don't like to be with too many people. It would be better if you, Diana, and Ikari accompany me to have a chitchat. You just don't listen, and have to make such a big noise." Aeolia said with a stern look on his face, "Look at all these people who are here, how many of them do I know? I might as well go back to the lab."
"You can get to know them over time." Loran smiled and said, "Doctor, you have suffered so much in your early years, now it is the right time to rest. Don't stay in the lab all the time, older people should go out more often and meet different people to expand the scope of their lives."
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, you want me to make up with Lingus, right? I have watched you grow up. You went from being a young teenager to being able to hold your own, and then …" Aeolia's voice trailed off as he spoke, "… finally became what you are now ."
Loran fell into silence.
"Back then, I saw kindness, bravery, righteousness, resilience, and all the good qualities of human beings in you and Diana. I looked at you and felt that there was a future for humanity, and felt that the time I consumed in the laboratory was worthwhile, and that's why I entrusted Diana with SEELE." Aeolia paused, "But what's going on with you and Lingus now?"
"Ade and I are just ordinary friends, at most they seem to be closer, your imagination is too rich." Laura squeezed out a forced smile, "If you're asking me, Doctor, I'm just trying to pin down my incestuous self. Both Diana and I have suffered for this for so many years, and now we are finally relieved, thanks to you, Doctor."
"Don't play dumb with me." Aeolia said in a deep voice, "Shouldn't you feel sorry for Diana?"
"I …" Loran subconsciously looked at his fingertips, "I didn't do anything wrong to Diana, well, I didn't. "
"It's not yet, is it?" Aeolia pushed the glasses, "I don't care about Lingus, he has so many women, but I watched Diana growing up, you have to be frank to her."
"I … will come clean with Diana." Loran whispered, "I'm thinking about it that way for a long time, really, I always wanted to say it, just … not now."
"I'm already one hundred and ten this year, I know my own body well. I can still live for at most another ten years, I hope I can see your promise before I die." Aeolia suddenly revealed a sly smile, "As compensation for the old man, you first do me a favor."
"Doctor, just say it. As long as I can do it, I will do my best." Loran answered, but looking at Aerlia's smile, he vaguely felt that something was wrong.
"Lingus has a monopoly on almost every ACE on the moon, it's really abominable." Aeolia smacked his lips, "Go to find me a trustworthy MS pilot, with Gundam driving experience. In addition, you're absolutely not allowed to tell him anything about this."
"Doctor!" Loran blushed and asked with an inaudible voice, "That thing… do you still want to complete it?"
"Of course, the moon, as the bridge of the future human race, needs absolute force deterrence." Aeolia said thoughtfully, "TurnA is back at the moment, but I can't trust it anymore. Don't worry, it's not that I can't trust Lingus, but I can't trust that so-called AI who calls herself Alice."
"Alice is quite lovely, why can't we trust—" Loran's eyes crossed the entrance to the hall, the corners of his mouth curved up a nice arc, "What a coincidence, Alice is here. "
At the entrance to the banquet hall, Ade was leading his large family into the entrance, and Alice was also among them.
After entering the door, C.C. looked randomly towards Mayu with no expression; Ange rushed to Cagalli with a face full of expectation, to say the least, to the child she was holding in her arms; only Lacus and Alice remained by Ade's side.
This was the first time that Alice saw so many people with her own eyes, and she was apparently slightly excited. The group in front of her was neither data nor images on the screen, but independent individuals like her.
"Ade, Ade!" Alice said excitedly, "There are so many people, all real people, and each one is different! I suddenly have a sense… well… Alice doesn't know how to say it, I just feel like I'm alive!"
Ade smiled gratefully and didn't say anything.
"Then it seems that we have to take you out more often in the future." Beside her, Lacus chuckled, "Not the same as when you were on the ELS planet, is it?"
"Yeah, yeah." Alice nodded her little head, "When I was on the planet, everyone was one, there was no distinction between you and me, there was no need to even call people by their names, it was completely different from here!"
"Isn't it?" Lacus softly echoed, "And although Earth has rich Chulip crystal mines, humans can't afford to extract them. ELS has advanced extraction technology, but lacks resources. We should have known that and have cooperated, so that we could all safely escape to the outside of the galaxy, right?"
"Right!" Alice said with regret, "If I had known it, I would have—"
"Alice!" Ade interrupted her sternly, "Think again?"
"Think what?" Alice looked at Ade with an innocent look and froze for a while before it dawned on her, "Ah, no, it's them, not me. I'm sorry, Ade, I sometimes … well, I'm sorry …"
In the dead center of Ade and Alice's vision, Lacus narrowed her eyes.
"It's okay, just get used to it, eveything will be okay." Ade stroked Alice's head and suddenly shouted out to a figure not far away, "Garrod, stop right there! What are you running for? Why don't you even say hello to me?"
"Oh, Dr. Lingus, you're here! I just saw you, really!" Garrod laughed awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head, "This little girl next to you is your new girlfriend, right? Is she out of junior high school? She looks even younger than Miss Ange… well… really getting younger and younger."
"You…" Ade felt both funny and annoying, "This is Alice, she is—"
"No need to explain, I understand, I understand. Dr. Yang has preached that with one there are two, with two there are three, with three there are countless, Dr. Lingus, you have reached the highest level." Garrod pretended as if nothing had happened and pulled the young girl beside him and turned around, "Tiffa, that fruit looks so delicious, let's go and try it!"
Tiffa hid her mouth and gave a light laugh, and bowed to Ade slightly. Ade waved a hand at her and noticed that Alice was gone when he turned around, "Lacus, where's Alice?"
"Over there." Lacus pointed casually, "Ran off to talk to Uraki."
"You're Kou Uraki, right! Hello, I'm Alice, Ade should have told you about me!" Alice stood in front of Uraki with her arms crossed, and exclaimed, "Please stop spreading strange mangas, Alice doesn't like the plots in them! If you don't agree, I'll tell Ade that they were all uploaded by you!"
Uraki panicked and glanced at his wife who was chatting with Cagalli and Ange in the distance, then darted a quick glance in the direction of Ade and Lacus and whispered something to Alice with his hands folded.
"I know you didn't draw them, but Alice has investigated carefully and found that you're the biggest purveyor on the internet!" Alice puffed out her cheeks and said with an unhappy look, "Ninety-eight percent of the resources on the Internet were from a group, and you are the owner of that group, if you don't woo-woo."
Ade, who walked quickly to Alice's side, covered her mouth, raised his head and looked at Uraki awkwardly, "Well, Kou, I didn't hear anything."
Uraki suddenly showed a lifeless look on his face, "Doctor, I will stop spreading them."
What should I say at a time like this? Don't read my r18 mangas anymore? Just read them in private? It's okay to let everyone read them? Well, none of the answers seems appropriate. When Ade was at a loss, Loran came over with Aeolia. Uraki let out a long breath of relief and hurried away.
"Why don't you come to greet me? Young people nowadays are really impolite, are you here to wish me a birthday or not?" Aeolia looked at Alice next to him, "You are Alice?"
"I am Alice." Alice tilted her head, "Grandpa… Aeolia?"
"Don't be too busy shouting grandpa, I still don't know who is older between us." Aeolia gave Ade a look, "Are you interested in lending it to me to study?"
"Not a chance in hell, what do you take her for?" Ade looked at Aeolia with reflexive anger, "Or are you addicted to human experimentation and think that the GN furnace isn't exciting enough?"
Loran's face was full of anxiety, and he gave Ade a strong wink. Seeing this, Ade helplessly put away his fierce eyes and tried to make his expression look milder.
"You are very talented, much better than even Ikari, but your talent is not being used properly." Aeolia sighed regretfully, "A scholar's judgment comes from facts and logic, and you're too blind in your feelings, causing your reason to be severely disturbed. But so be it, this is all a common problem of NTs."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I won't live long, the future of humanity still has to be left to young people like you, and all I can do is just help pave the way for the young." Aeolia shook his head, "Let's put this aside, I heard that the Federation has a lot of opinions about you now? And many people are clamoring to take away your power?"
"Yes." Ade cooperated with him to change the topic, "But there is no way that they will succeed, I still have Plan B."
"It's not a matter of success or not." Aeolia looked solemn, "Technology has been so advanced, but the human government has not yet substantially unified, how can we work together to face the future crisis? This will definitely not work, we need to artificially interfere with the course of history."
"Doctor, Ade is doing that." Loran interjected, "But everything takes time, we count foreign countries to the Federation after all, and it's impossible to completely unify humanity all at once."
"The means is too lukewarm, where is the momentum when arguing with me? Or did you think of it long ago but are waiting for others to come forward so you can alleviate your own guilt?" Aeolia's gaze was like a torch, "Now, we are the most advanced technological development, we are the most advanced cultural direction, we are the fundamental hope for human survival, just kill all the people that dare to against us!"
