Chapter 479 Reunion with an Old Friend, Clues and Traces

Chapter 479 Reunion with an Old Friend, Clues and Traces

Emerald City, western suburbs.

An old-style building stood in the dusk, radiating a lonely sense of isolation from the world.

This was the home of retired professor Nathan.

According to Gordon's diary, this Nathan was one of the few people Gordon had considered a "close friend" while he was alive.

The door swung open, and a white-haired but sharp-eyed old man appeared. When he saw Sophia and Nicholas at the door, every part of him screamed wariness.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Nathan." Sophia kept her posture humble, but her voice was steady. "We'd like to ask you about someone. Gordon."

The name hit like a thunderbolt.

Nathan's face collapsed instantly—an expression mixing regret, fear, and intense disgust. His hand gripped the doorknob so hard his knuckles turned white, and he almost reflexively started to close the door.

"I have nothing to say! You've got the wrong person!"

"Nathan."

Sophia didn't move, just pressed one hand against the door. Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a nail, firmly wedged in the doorway.

"Someone should remember what happened twenty years ago. You're the only person Gordon called a 'close friend' in his diary."

Nathan's movement to close the door froze.

Sophia seized the moment to pull out the half jade pendant from her pocket, holding it in her palm. The intricate totem pattern glowed dimly in the sunset.

"You must recognize this, right?"

Nathan's breathing stopped.

He stared at the jade pendant, enormous waves rising in his cloudy eyes. His cracked lips trembled for a long time, but he couldn't get a word out.

Finally, as if all the strength drained from his body, he wearily pulled the door open.

"...Come in."

His voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.

The living room smelled of old books mixed with medicinal herbs.

Nathan poured them two glasses of water, then sat down in the rattan chair across from them, hands clasped together, falling into a long silence.

Sophia didn't rush him, just pushed the jade pendant and Gordon's diary side by side to the center of the table.

After a long while, Nathan finally spoke, his voice rough as if scraped by sandpaper.

"He... still won't let you go, after all."

He looked up at Sophia, his eyes filled with unspeakable pity.

"Child, you shouldn't have come back. You shouldn't have touched these things."

"I didn't have a choice." Sophia's voice was calm. "Someone wants to restart his 'Phoenix Project,' using me and my daughter."

"What?"

Nathan jumped up from his chair, knocking the water glass so it wobbled and spilled water all over the table. His face showed complete disbelief.

"He's insane! Those people are all insane!"

The huge shock made him drop his guard completely.

"Gordon... he was a genius, but also a complete madman." Nathan slumped back down and began telling the story that had been deliberately buried. "His 'memory revival' theory was taboo even back then! He believed a person's talents, skills, even personality could be digitized, extracted, transplanted!"

"It was... defying heaven itself!"

"His research naturally met with opposition and warnings from everyone. But he wouldn't listen. He was too obsessed. He thought he was playing God!" Nathan's eyes were full of pain. "Later, his research caught the attention of a huge, secretive organization. That organization... had unimaginable power. They wanted Gordon's technology, wanted to turn people into tools that could be customized at will! The Anderson family's decline was caused by them!"

"What's the organization called?" Nicholas asked in a low voice.

Nathan shook his head, deep fear on his face.

"I don't know. Gordon never told me. He only said they were 'a group of thieves trying to touch God's domain.'"

This matched Sophia's suspicions exactly.

She changed the question: "Nathan, do you know someone called 'Dylan'?"

This name appeared most frequently in the diary, aside from Nathan.

At the mention of "Dylan," Nathan's body visibly shrank, showing an emotion even more complex than when Gordon was mentioned, even tinged with fear.

"...Yes." He hesitated for a long time before slowly speaking. "Dylan was Gordon's most brilliant student, and the one with the most talent in researching 'Moonflower.' He... was once as close to Gordon as father and son."

"And then?"

"Then they had a falling out." Nathan sighed. "Dylan discovered that Gordon's research had completely spiraled out of control. He was no longer satisfied with theory. He started... experimenting on living people. Dylan got on his knees and begged him, urged him to stop, said what he was creating wasn't a god but a monster. But Gordon at that time... he said, when God created the world, did he ask for the ants' opinions?"

The air in the living room turned cold enough to freeze.

"Dylan couldn't persuade him. They had a huge fight and parted on bad terms. Shortly after, Dylan disappeared. No one ever saw him again."

Nathan shakily got up and brought out a thick photo album from the study.

He flipped to a page and pointed it out to them.

It was a group photo taken in a lab. The photo had yellowed, but the faces were still clear.

In the center was a high-spirited Gordon.

On his left stood a gentle, smiling young woman—Candice from over twenty years ago.

On his right stood a young man in a lab coat wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with scholarly features and lingering melancholy in his expression.

"This is Dylan." Nathan pointed at the young man.

Sophia's gaze locked on that face.

This face... why did it feel strangely familiar? Like she'd seen it somewhere before.

After saying goodbye to Nathan and getting back in the car, both Sophia and Nicholas fell into silence.

"Dylan." Nicholas spoke first. "He's a key figure. Deeply involved in the 'Phoenix Project,' then had a change of heart. He must know a lot of secrets."

"Nathan didn't tell the whole truth." Sophia suddenly spoke.

Nicholas turned to look at her.

"No, not lying—just didn't tell everything." Sophia's fingertips unconsciously traced patterns on the car window. "When he mentioned Dylan, it wasn't regret, it was fear. He's afraid of Dylan, or rather, afraid that mentioning Dylan will bring something down on him."

"He might know where Dylan is, or... know what he turned into later." Nicholas immediately caught up with her thinking.

"My dear father really left a mess everywhere he went." Sophia pulled at the corner of her mouth without any real smile. "Just how many of these 'brilliant students' and 'close friends' did he have?"

Nicholas looked at her but didn't answer this unanswerable question.

He pulled out his phone, fingers tapping rapidly on the screen, starting to plan a new investigation direction.

"Whatever he's hiding, finding Dylan is our next key step."

Dylan.

This suddenly surfaced name hung like a key before all the mysteries.

A person who disappeared twenty years ago, Gordon's most brilliant student, a traitor who broke away because of his conscience.

Where was he now?

And what had he become that would make an old professor like Nathan so afraid just from mentioning his name?

Find him, and they might find the only key that could open all the locks.