Starry Sky Railway: Twin Origins

Chapter 53 Exposure

Upon hearing the familiar voice, the Silvermane Iron Guard whom Hilva called Dunn immediately looked in the direction of the sound, his gaze falling on Hilva's location.

When he saw the owner of the voice, he froze, as if he had seen something incredible.

"Shi...Shiluwa? It's been so long!"

Coming to his senses, Dunn quickly responded to Hiluva's greeting, his tone filled with disbelief.

"It's been so many years, you still look so... cough, you look great."

Dunn coughed lightly, swallowed back what he was about to say, and changed his words.

"And...who are these people?"

Suddenly changing the subject, Dunn's gaze passed over Hiluva and landed on Lin Qiong and the others behind her.

He felt like he had seen these people somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen them.

"Uh... let me introduce you. These are the helpers I invited. They're here to check if there are any malfunctions in the energy pipelines here."

Upon hearing Dunn's question, Hilva's mind raced, and she quickly came up with a suitable answer.

"...My younger brother told me a while ago that the energy pipelines in the 'Forbidden Zone' seemed to be malfunctioning, and he wanted me to come and take a look."

Without batting an eye, Hilva fabricated the story as Jepard's request, hoping to gain Dunn's trust in the process.

"I've checked everything outside and found no major problems. Now, the only thing left to check is the piping inside the 'Institutional Energy Center'."

"So...would it be convenient for you to lend us the 'key' to open a door?"

"..."

After hearing Hilva's reply, Dunn suddenly fell silent.

The military clearly has dedicated maintenance personnel, so why would Jepard go and ask Silva to come and inspect the pipelines?

Moreover, if it were truly necessary to inspect the pipelines within the "Energy Hub," given Jepard's personality, he would have notified Jepard in advance to open the door using the "key."

Thinking of this, just as Dunn, looking puzzled, was about to ask Hiluva for more information,

Suddenly, a series of "patter-patter" footsteps came from not far away.

The sudden sound of footsteps drew everyone's attention.

Before they could even determine the source of the sound, a figure darted out from behind Lin Qiong and the others, quickly passing by them and heading rapidly towards Dunn's location.

Lin Qiong's group quickly focused their attention on the figure and discovered that the person running towards Dunn was actually a Silvermane Iron Guard.

After the Silvermane Iron Guard ran to Dunn's side, he immediately leaned close to his ear and conveyed some kind of message in a voice that only Dunn could hear.

While listening attentively to the Silvermane Iron Guard's report, Dunn kept glancing at Lin Qiong's group out of the corner of his eye.

Dunn's heavy helmet concealed all his emotions and expressions, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking at that moment.

But at this moment, Seele, who was at the very back of the crowd, suddenly narrowed her eyes. The scene in front of her made her frown involuntarily, and an ominous premonition quietly welled up in her heart.

To test her intuition, Seele decided to take action.

While observing Dunn's reaction, she quietly moved towards his blind spot.

Using the crowd as cover, Seele cleverly avoided Dunn's line of sight.

Then, her body shimmered with a faint blue light, gradually blending into the surrounding environment and disappearing into the crowd.

At the same time Seele disappeared, the Silvermane Iron Guard also completed the delivery of the message.

After listening, Dunn nodded slightly, then whispered something in the ear of the Silvermane Iron Guard.

Upon hearing this, the Silvermane Iron Guard immediately gave Dunn a standard military salute, then quickly turned and left.

"Has something happened?"

After the Silvermane Iron Guards left, Hilva asked Dunn with some concern.

"...It's nothing, just some routine news from the front lines."

Dunn's voice suddenly turned cold when he responded to Shiluwa, revealing a clear sense of distance and wariness, a stark contrast to the warm atmosphere of their first meeting.

At this moment, he was like a robot that strictly carried out its mission without any personal emotions.

"By the way, Silva, may I ask when Garrison Commander Jepard contacted you to ask you to come and inspect the energy pipelines?"

Dunn's sudden change in attitude made Hiluva feel somewhat uncomfortable, but their long-standing friendship prevented her from giving it much thought.

She also felt that the news coming from the front lines contained something unsettling, which caused Dunn's emotions to fluctuate.

So when Dunn asked her question, Hilva tilted her head back slightly, rested her chin on one hand, and pretended to be deep in thought.

"Uh...it should be this morning, right? Yes, this morning."

"This morning? Are you sure Garrison Commander Jepard contacted you this morning?"

Dunn's repeated questioning made Hilva feel uneasy, but since the matter had already been brought up, she could only put on a calm demeanor and continue speaking.

"Yes, he was on patrol in the city today, so he just stopped by and asked me to help him."

Hiluva nodded, her tone full of certainty, her gaze fixed on Dunn, trying to make her words sound more credible.

"...Ugh."

Seeing that Hilva answered so confidently, Dunn sighed softly, his face, hidden beneath his helmet, filled with disappointment.

“Commander Jepard has just returned to the front lines, or... I should confirm with him again.”

With that, Dunn lifted his leg and walked out of the rest area, pretending that he was really going to find Jepard.

"Hey? Dunn, wait...wait a minute! He's already back? That can't be, he was still in the city a while ago..."

Dunn's action startled Hilva, who quickly turned around to explain, trying to stop Dunn.

Because if he were to actually go to Jepard to confirm, everything he had said before would fall apart.

But before Hilva could finish speaking, Dunn suddenly stopped and interrupted her.

“Hiluva...you're still the same as before, not good at lying.”

Dunn, with his back to Hilva, gently shook his head and said.

Then, he turned around abruptly, pounding the shield in his left hand with the spear in his right, and then raised the spear above his head.

"Silvermane Iron Guards! Assemble once more!"

As soon as he finished speaking, six Silvermane Iron Guards wielding axe-spears appeared behind him. They stood in two rows, one in front of the other, completely blocking the way out of the rest area.

“Hiluva, you can leave now. I won’t tell anyone about this—”

As Dunn spoke, he pointed his spear at Lin Qiong and the others standing to the side.

"—But these 'outsiders' must stay!"