The darkness remained dead silent.
The Raven knew a simple denial wasn't going to be enough.
He needed to radically deflect the heat to completely wash Obsidian Sun's hands of the crisis.
He turned his gaze toward the glowing monitor, locking his eyes on The Panacea on the auction stage. “Instead of relentlessly interrogating Obsidian Sun, I'd say the ship ought to be running a massive background check on this so-called Panacea.”
“From the whispers of a mysterious asset circulating the floor, to the buyers blockading the cargo hold, and now the total catastrophic failure of tonight's auction systems...”
“Just how many of these strings is she quietly pulling?” The Raven shifted his gaze back toward The Commodore's shadowy throne. “Commodore, don't you think she's the one who warrants a lethal interrogation?”
Finally, the silhouette draped in darkness seemed to tilt its head slightly.
The Raven chuckled. “Hasn't it crossed your mind, from the very beginning, that this Panacea is... incredibly suspicious?”
“Why would a mere pharmacist possess such profound, classified knowledge regarding these highly specialized human specimens?”
“Even the technicians Obsidian Sun assigned to you, along with your own onboard medical personnel, were completely paralyzed by Specimen Seven, yet she neutralized it effortlessly.”
“The exact second your auction matrix was hijacked from the ship's control, Specimen Fourteen was mysteriously hoisted onto the bidding block without warning.”
“Do you genuinely believe any of this is a coincidence?”
The monitor conveniently framed Serena standing elegantly beside Specimen Fourteen.
Draped in a stunning black gown, her expression was laced with a careless indifference.
Her lethargic posture made it seem as though she was completely detached from the apocalyptic stakes surrounding her.
The Raven narrowed his eyes, his voice dripping with venom. “And the most fascinating coincidence of all? The final authority dragged onto that stage to appraise Specimen Fourteen... was her.”
“Commodore, has it ever occurred to you that Specimen Fourteen might be the exact cargo she smuggled onboard?”
“Or perhaps... this entire catastrophic chain of events is a trap meticulously engineered by her?”
Having reached the climax of his accusation, The Raven's tone grew unshakably confident. “Every single time she makes a move, the timing is a little too perfect. She expertly shepherds the chaos exactly where she wants it to go.”
The Commodore didn't sound angry at all.
In fact, it was utterly devoid of any emotional fluctuation whatsoever.
Yet, it was precisely that eerie, hollow tranquility that sent a visceral spike of dread straight into The Raven's gut.
Without warning, a secondary screen directly in front of him flared to life.
It displayed two isolated data logs.
The first was The Panacea's biometric boarding timestamp.
The second was the primordial log detailing the exact second Specimen Fourteen was routed into the ship's emergency medical transit queue.
Both timestamps were violently enlarged in the dead center of the screen.
The Commodore's synthesized voice was frighteningly flat. “By the time Specimen Fourteen entered my internal transit protocols, The Panacea hadn't even boarded my ship.”

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