Chapter 203: The Hidden Former Leader of the Galactic Aurora Collective!
Oscar left without hesitation, and before leaving, he grabbed Sophia, who was still eating cake, and they left The Windsor Mansion together.
Charles took off his glasses and said excitedly, "With today's stone gambling event, our family's business in the stone gambling market is secured. I've already got my eye on several locations."
Richard asked in confusion, "Charles, haven't you made enough money already? Why are you still interested in stone gambling markets? Compared to your oil business, it's nothing!"
"What do you know? This way, Mom, Catherine, and Juniper will have their jewelry taken care of!"
He wanted the stone gambling market - making money from cutting stones was one thing, but more importantly, he wanted to establish a high-quality jade import channel for the Windsor family!
Once the Windsor family had their own quarry and monopolized part of the jade business, Aurora, Catherine, and Juniper would have all the jewelry they needed!
Charles's passion in life was making money, but he loved it even more when the money he made had somewhere to be spent!
Catherine returned to her room, where Oscar's gift sat on the desk.
The box was carved from jade, appearing to be one solid piece with no visible way to open it.
Galactic Aurora Collective had its own way of opening such boxes - besides the fixed mortise and tenon structure, it required a combination of password and fingerprint. Getting even one wrong would prevent it from opening.
The box opened smoothly in Catherine's hands. Inside was a photograph.
The photo looked somewhat old, showing three young people. Catherine's pupils dilated slightly!
It was Elodie, Timothy, and a man Catherine didn't recognize!
There was also a note in the box.
[Catherine, I know you're investigating Elodie's past. This is for you. Also, the maple tree sculpture you carved has two USB drives hidden in it. Ask Timothy. Oscar.]
The maple tree sculpture she carved?
The maple tree sculpture did have two spots reserved for USB drives. Catherine had originally worried that one might not be enough or could get damaged, so she left an extra space. But she had never told Elodie about that USB drive location!
Catherine got up and walked to the shelf in her room, taking down the maple tree sculpture.
Marcus hadn't taken this item - he left it for Catherine.
After all, in Marcus's view, Catherine was the one who had been with Elodie through her past, so she needed Elodie's belongings more than he did!
Catherine gently rotated the base of the sculpture and found the other USB drive storage spot. It should have contained another maple branch, but now it was completely empty!
When did Elodie discover there was another USB drive in this sculpture?
Catherine called Timothy on video.
Timothy opened Catherine's video call and smiled as he leaned in.
"Catherine! All the Thunderstrike Mercenaries have been fed to the sharks! Mission accomplished!"
With Timothy's commanding presence in Ironclad Jail, taking down a second-rate mercenary group that survived by smuggling weapons on the border was just a matter of lifting a finger.
Catherine held up the photo and waved it in front of Timothy.
"Who is this person?"
"How do you have this photo?"
Timothy's expression became serious in an instant. He quickly removed the sunglasses he'd been wearing for style and stared carefully at the photo in Catherine's hand.
"Just tell me who this person is."
Timothy didn't hesitate and denied it directly: "Don't know him!"
"You guys are practically holding hands, and you say you don't know him?"
"Don't make things up! I don't like men! This guy, how should I put it, he's from Galactic Aurora Collective. If it weren't for Marcus, this guy might have been your grandfather."
In Timothy's view, what mattered most was that Elodie was Catherine's grandmother. As for who her grandfather was, it didn't matter - Marcus wasn't a good person anyway!
"You're saying he's from Galactic Aurora Collective? How come I don't know him?"
Timothy smiled mysteriously.
"Galactic Aurora Collective isn't just two groups of people! Even if you have a few people under you now, you can't think there are no old-generation Galactic Aurora Collective members left in the world. This guy is from the old generation of Galactic Aurora Collective."
"As for which wave he's from, I don't know! But when your grandmother joined Galactic Aurora Collective, he was already the leader!"
Catherine's eyes widened. "Elodie joined Galactic Aurora Collective?"
Timothy quickly slapped his own mouth.
"That's ancient history! Gotta go, I still have chicken stewing in my pot!"
Catherine frowned. "One last question - where is this person now?"
"He left Galactic Aurora Collective with your grandmother. Now I think he's a university president somewhere? If you want to find anything related to your grandmother, he'd be more useful than Marcus."
"Why didn't you look for him?"
Timothy also wanted to get what Elodie left behind. Why hadn't he gone to find this person?
Timothy said matter-of-factly: "Can't I leave Ironclad Jail? I'm still in prison! How can a criminal leave jail?"
Catherine fell silent for a moment.
Given Timothy's setup at Ironclad Jail where he was basically a kingpin, she really didn't see any sign that Timothy was serving time.
"As for sending people to find him, forget it! I can't beat him!"
Timothy shook his head, afraid Catherine would ask more questions he couldn't answer, and quickly cut off the video.
Catherine calmed down and quickly assembled her small computer, accessing the Galactic Aurora Collective internal network.
[Investigate someone, former Galactic Aurora Collective Sirius. Use big data system to match facial features and compare with photo.]
Catherine sent the photo of the man to the group and soon received a message from Alkaid.
[Franklin Morales, PhD from Evergreen University, current president of Imperial University and professor at the School of Design.]
[This is actually someone from Galactic Aurora Collective? How did we not know!]
As for Franklin's profession, Galactic Aurora Collective internally didn't comment much. Now that Galactic Aurora Collective could have a movie queen, being a university president was nothing special.
Dubhe's dream was still to set up a stall at an elementary school entrance!
The current Sirius sent a question mark.
[?]
[How did I not know there was another Sirius? I checked his resume, and he does have a large blank period. His published papers also have Galactic Aurora Collective traces. After comparing others who look somewhat similar to the person in the photo, it's definitely him!]
[Boss, aren't you going to study at Imperial University?]
This Sirius sparked common interest within Galactic Aurora Collective, with everyone wishing they could leave right now to see what kind of person he was!
Catherine thought for a moment. She had countless questions, and it seemed she would have to find this Franklin to ask!
If Elodie was originally from Galactic Aurora Collective, why did she go to a small mountain village? And did Elodie know that she had also joined Galactic Aurora Collective?
But she would always believe that Elodie would never harm her!
Catherine let out a soft sigh and quickly replied: "Make arrangements. I'll report when school starts next month!"
[Great! Going to school with Catherine!]
These geniuses in Galactic Aurora Collective had never attended a day of school, which made them full of anticipation for university life!
Catherine put away her computer and casually placed it back on the shelf, then turned to look toward the balcony.
"Alexander, are you addicted to climbing through windows?"