"Until we know more, we can't rush to do a destructive examination of this mass - especially after confirming that it contains a living heart."

As Ted Lear spoke, he opened his thick book and put the "stethoscope" back into the pages. A complicated expression appeared on his face, which always looked tired.

"Honestly, this is the strangest 'thing' I have ever seen in my life. I have seen many indescribable things invading the real world, but a ball of metal with a heartbeat is not so common, and it is so... quiet."

"Quiet?" Lucrecia frowned subconsciously when she heard it.

"Yes, quiet, almost harmless to humans and animals," Ted Riel nodded. "As you can see, its 'shell' has almost solidified. According to the field team, it was active for a short period of time when it first entered the real world, but it quickly changed to this 'solidified' state. In addition, it did not show any 'active characteristics' such as trying to escape containment, contaminating the guards, or resisting external prying eyes..."

The keeper said, slowly shaking his head: "This is very abnormal among 'living' 'foreign objects' - trying to break containment is the biggest characteristic of all 'living foreign objects'."

Lucrecia didn't say anything for a while, but Nina beside her gradually showed a thoughtful expression. No one knew what she was thinking about. She suddenly said, "Does it give you the feeling that 'there is no hope in life'?"

"That's an interesting... point of view. Although I don't think this ball of living metal would have such a human reaction," Ted Lill raised his eyelids and glanced at Nina, but he obviously didn't take this whimsical idea seriously. "I am more inclined to believe that it cannot adapt to the living environment of our real world, but as time goes by, it may gradually adapt, and then it may have another process of increasing activity."

"Tell me about what happened at the market," Duncan suddenly broke the silence, his eyes fell on Nina and Shirley, "Nina, when you contacted me, you said that you and Shirley felt someone was spying on you, and you were about to report it to the roadside guards, when this 'thing' suddenly appeared?"

"Yeah," Nina nodded repeatedly, recalling the situation at that time and spoke, "Shirley and I felt several times that there was a sight falling on us from time to time, and there was also a breath that was always approaching. I thought it should be this thing - later when Shirley and I were about to go find someone to report it, it couldn't help but pounce, and..."

At this point she suddenly stopped, a look of hesitation on her face. After hesitating for several seconds, she frowned and spoke uncertainly, "And there is a very strange detail. I don't know if I saw it wrongly. When this thing just appeared, the moment I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I felt... I felt that it was a person."

Nina's tone was very hesitant, but what she said instantly made the room quiet. Even Ted Lear, who had been acting tired and lazy, immediately opened his eyes wide. But before he could speak, Shirley, who was closest to Nina, was the first to shout, "Ah? What did you say? You saw that this thing looked like a person at first? You didn't tell me?"

"The field team's report didn't mention this," Ted Riel said, his expression unusually serious. "Ms. Nina, are you sure?"

"So I wonder if I saw it wrong," Nina said nervously. "The market was in chaos, with people running everywhere. Maybe I saw it wrong... or maybe the guards at the scene missed it? After all, it was only the beginning..."

"Unlikely. In the work rules of the Guardians, there are strict 'contact process recording standards'. Because many 'foreign objects' do have the ability to quickly change themselves or evade cognition, we will require the personnel who carry out the 'first contact' to strictly describe the 'start time of contact' when reporting the situation, as well as whether everyone's line of sight has shifted during the action, in order to confirm whether the entire team has had an 'observation window' on the target..."

Ted Riel briefly explained the working principles of the "Knowledge Guards" and then shook his head. "According to the field team's report, they made contact with the target the moment it entered the real world. At least two of the guards were looking at the location where the target appeared before it appeared. During the entire contact process, at least one person was always looking at it. There was no possibility of a 'window'."

As soon as he finished speaking, Duncan beside him suddenly broke the silence: "But I believe what Nina said."

Ted Riel was startled, then seemed to react: "...What do you mean?"

"At least from Nina's perspective, this 'intruder' looked like a person at the first moment," Duncan said calmly, and then looked at Shirley again, "You have been with Nina the whole time, you didn't see that scene, right?"

"No," Shirley immediately shook her head, "I didn't see anything that looked like a human."

"Because different observers observe different 'forms' on the same target?" Ted Lill's eyes changed obviously. He looked at Nina with surprise and thought. "And only Miss Nina saw something different from the people around her... Why is that?"

He seemed to be extremely curious, and his eyes soon fell on Duncan: "Is there anything special about Miss Nina?"

The "secret keeper" seemed quite puzzled. He did not know Nina's background. After all, without actively using her "clairvoyance" to observe her, Nina looked like an ordinary seventeen-year-old girl to outsiders - but there was no doubt that this "ordinary girl" must be special.

Just because she could stay on Duncan Abnomer's ship.

"Have you heard of Pland's 'Black Sun Descent' incident? If so, you should know that the Lost Homeland took away a fragment of the ancient sun when it left that city," Duncan said, pointing at Nina. "She is."

Then he ignored Ted Riel's expression that suddenly became interesting, and instead focused his attention on Nina again: "Do you remember what the 'person' you saw at the beginning looked like?"

Nina immediately tried to recall, and after a while she finally spoke: "It looked like a man wearing strange ancient armor, the kind that appears in history books, like a tin can... Oh, and a tattered scarf, or a short cape? Because I only saw it for a moment, I'm not sure of too many details..."

She paused for a moment and added, "Because he was wearing a helmet and the armor looked very thick, I didn't know what the person in the armor looked like, or even if he was a man or a woman, but I could feel that the armor was tattered, as if it had been through many battles."

"A warrior wearing ancient armor..." Lucrecia muttered. She thought quickly and asked a question, "Then how did this 'person' turn into a ball of living metal? Did you see the process?"

"No," Nina shook her head. "It just became like this in an instant. It doesn't seem like there was a gradual change process... Or maybe I blinked? Sorry, I can't remember clearly..."

"It's good enough that you can remember these. You provided very critical and important information." Duncan said, comforting Nina who seemed a little lost, then turned around and walked to the platform where the "sample" was placed.

He looked at the solidified "living metal" with a serious expression and sorted out the information he had obtained so far.

In the first few moments, "Ta" seems to be a warrior wearing heavy ancient armor, and the armor is worn and battle-worn.

Nina felt the gaze falling on her several times and had the feeling that she was being followed, which meant that this thing was most likely coming for her, or... it might be coming for the "Ancient Sun".

People were coming and going in the market, but when Nina first felt the sight and tracking, no one noticed anything unusual, which meant that "Ta" either had some kind of cognitive disruption ability, or "dive" into reality from a deep world like the spirit world...

Duncan slowly reached out his hand and pressed on the surface of the "metal".

A cold and hard touch came from the fingertips.

He seemed to be able to feel the heart buried deep within this ball of metal, feel its slow beating and the low heartbeat.

It is alive in a way that humans cannot understand.

It seemed to have had some purpose, but something unexpected happened in the last step of its action - it emerged from hiding and pounced on Nina and Shirley. It should not have been intended to turn into a ball of solidified metal in the last step.

Ted Riel looked at Duncan's actions nervously, and then he subconsciously turned his gaze to the "witch" beside him.

Lucrecia just shook her head, indicating that she should not interfere.

A little green spark appeared at Duncan's fingertips.

He carefully controlled the flame, not letting it ignite the piece of metal in front of him that was obviously "supernatural". He controlled the flame to penetrate into the metal, sensing its life flow, its heartbeat, and possible... thoughts.

However, all he got in response was a huge emptiness and a hazy and chaotic "touch".

There seems to be no information that can be "deciphered" within this ball of metal.

But for some reason, Duncan always felt that there was something hidden deep in that empty, hazy and chaotic feeling - it's not that he couldn't find it, he just couldn't "understand" it for the time being.

"...Who are you?" He couldn't help but ask softly in his heart, "Where are you from?"

After an unknown amount of time, the vast emptiness still existed, but in the faint information transmitted back by the flame, a ripple seemed to suddenly appear.

Duncan seemed to hear a voice, or a "thought", floating in his mind -

We are marching towards doomsday