Chapter 55: Roundtable Meeting

Early Morning Hours.

Inside the virtual conference room of the Cradle’s Round Table Knights. This was an endless space made of data, with twelve pure white marble pillars forming a circle.

At the center of the circle was a giant round table large enough to seat thirteen people. Holographic projections lit up one by one.

The first to light up was the Fifth Seat, Zeus, who had arrived earliest. His virtual image was a handsome man seated atop Mount Olympus, his body wreathed in golden lightning. He was also the moderator for today’s meeting.

“Is everyone here?”

Next to light up was the Eighth Seat, Siren. Her image was a pink-feathered siren crouching on a reef.

The third to light up was the Fourth Seat, Tiamat. Her image was an evil dragon with five heads, each a different color. Her enormous body coiled on one side of the round table, and all five heads spoke at once:

“It’s been a long time, everyone.”

“It has been a long time.”

The Ninth Seat, Ullr, lit up next. Her virtual image was a white-haired huntress carrying a longbow.

Her face was mostly hidden by a hood, revealing only a pair of sharp blue eyes. The projection had noticeable noise, as if she were attending the meeting from somewhere in a frozen wasteland.

The Twelfth Seat, Surtr, lit up right after. Her virtual image was the flame giant from Norse mythology, her body made of molten lava and flames, holding a flaming greatsword that seemed capable of burning the entire world to ashes.

The projections of the Sixth and Tenth Seats lit up at the same time.

The Sixth Seat was Yanwujing. His virtual image was a black panther-like humanoid with long golden hair. The Tenth Seat was Shiva, a four-armed deity seated on a lotus of fire.

Zeus’s gaze swept across the holographic projections before him.

Aside from the big shots among the top three seats and those who couldn’t make it due to ongoing missions, pretty much everyone who could come had arrived. A temporary meeting of this scale was uncommon in the Round Table Knights Council.

“Since everyone who could come is here, let’s get straight to the point. I know all of your time is valuable.”

“I’m gathering everyone tonight to inform you of some matters.”

“I recently learned through my own intelligence channels that the Ye Family possesses an encrypted database from a prehistoric civilization.”

“That database is currently held by the Ye Family Main House and stored in the underground vault beneath the Ye Family Mansion.”

“And a branch of the Ye Family is willing to seize the position of family head with our help.”

“My plan is that on the day of the Ye Family Clan Meeting, the Phantom Night Company’s superhuman squad will cause a diversion on the front lines, while our people sneak in and directly retrieve the database. The whole process will take no more than half an hour.”

“Hold on.”

Yanwujing suddenly spoke. His voice wasn’t the hoarse beastly tone one might expect, but a clear male voice tinged with a hint of lazy amusement.

“When you say ‘retrieve,’ you mean go get it yourself, right? Since you’ve already thought up the plan, what’s the purpose of specially coming to inform us?”

Zeus’s virtual image tilted his head slightly, not answering the question, seeming to hesitate.

Although the Tenth Seat, Yanwujing, was usually a rambling fellow, whenever he got serious, he could cut straight to the heart of the matter with a single sentence.

Moreover, the Round Table Knights were never a monolithic group—each had their own agenda.

“Does Phantom Night Company know we’re using them?”

Ullr spoke as if trying to help Zeus out.

Zeus ignored Yanwujing’s question and began to answer along with Ullr’s line.

“No. To them, it’s just an ordinary cooperation. We give them a few pieces of the Cradle’s obsolete technology, and all they have to do is feed us data after using it.”

“But they’d never imagine that we’re tossing them those defective items just to serve as our—”

Just as Zeus was about to continue,

Suddenly, light shone from the Second Seat.

She didn’t use any virtual image but showed her true face.

She was a girl with platinum-blonde hair who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old.

Her soft platinum-blonde hair fell to the floor, the ends slightly curled, as if she had just woken up and hadn’t had time to comb it.

She wore a white lab coat that was clearly several sizes too big, the long sleeves covering her hands. She curled up in a high-backed chair, her knees drawn to her chest, bare feet on the seat.

But what was most captivating were her unusual eyes: one gold, one blue.

She was the Second Seat of the Round Table, Uranus.

The moment she arrived, the entire virtual space fell silent.

They all knew that Lady Uranus never attended temporary meetings of this level. Not only that, but she often skipped even the decision meetings that required the top three seats, citing boredom. She had been absent for years.

Most of her authority was delegated to the Third Seat.

But tonight, not only had she come, she hadn’t used a virtual image. This was extremely rare in the history of the Round Table.

“Lady Uranus.”

Zeus was the first to regain his composure. He stood up from his throne and bowed toward the Second Seat.

“Can’t sleep. Thought I’d drop by.”

Uranus’s voice sounded lazy, as if she had just woken up.

She gave a small yawn, rubbed her golden left eye with her sleeve, and then curled deeper into her chair.

“Zeus, that’s my property. Don’t touch it.”

Even after hearing that, Zeus remained bowed, but his tone was calm.

“My lady, the Ye Family is merely a manufacturer of supernatural ability equipment. They are completely incapable of researching prehistoric civilization relics.”

“I believe that database should fall into the right hands.”

“And we, the Cradle, are the right ones.”

“After all, no organization in the world today understands prehistoric civilization relics better than we do. The Ye Family is nothing but an ordinary merchant. To let them keep such a treasure would be like letting pearls gather dust.”

“The right ones?”

Uranus tilted her head, stared at Zeus for a moment, then continued in that same lazy, soft voice:

“Zeus, you can’t even open the database’s encryption protocol. How can you claim to be the right one?”

“But—”

“No buts.”

Hua Jianxi couldn’t help but gloat as she watched Zeus being choked by Uranus. That guy was always full of mischief, scheming all sorts of crooked ideas.

Even more infuriating was that he had tried several times to drag her into it. She only came to the Round Table to have fun, not to be some villain.

Zeus straightened up and addressed Uranus with grandiose rhetoric.

“My lady, this is for the greater good of the Cradle.”

“Have you forgotten the Cradle’s long-cherished wish?”

“That’s why we need to concentrate more resources to accomplish it.”