Night Sky Base.
The last one.
Night Sky Base was like Deep Core Base and Piercing Heaven Base.
It was deep underground and couldn't be found by anyone who didn't know where it was.
Night Sky Base was below the Southern Continent.
Almost no human lived on the Southern Continent since it was quite inhospitable.
While it wasn't covered in snow, it was still extremely cold, and creating cities there would be too much of a hassle.
Nick traveled to the Southern Continent and went deep into the Earth.
First, it was cold.
Then, it became extremely hot.
And finally, it became cold again.
'This means the Zephyx generator is still running,' Nick thought.
"Assistant, can you find Star Sky Base?" Nick asked.
"No signal detected," Assistant answered.
'It's probably isolated like Piercing Heaven Base,' Nick thought.
Nick searched for Night Sky Base for a while.
It took a couple of minutes, but he eventually found it.
Yet, when Nick saw Night Sky Base, he furrowed his brows.
'Something isn't right,' he thought.
The first thing Nick noticed was that one of the walls was quite… crude.
It was like it was split and then put together again.
Nick already had a suspicion, but he hoped he was wrong.
He approached the door, and he saw an active terminal.
He presented his Seed and ordered the base to activate.
As always, he ordered all the lights to remain off.
The door opened, and Nick entered.
'This one is quite a lot smaller than the other bases,' Nick thought.
Deep Core Base was filled with machines that took up a lot of space.
Piercing Heaven Base was filled with Zephyx.
Rising Star Base was disguised as a big research facility.
Meanwhile, Night Sky Base was quite small.
It was probably only about a hundred meters across.
There also were not a lot of rooms.
As Nick walked to the generator, he noticed something.
He narrowed his eyes again when he saw a destroyed machine.
'A Prime Drone,' Nick thought. 'Somebody destroyed the Prime Drone that was stationed here.'
'Even more, the system does not have any records of an incident.'
'According to the system, the Prime Drone is still operational.'
Nick walked to the Zephyx generator and inspected it.
'Nothing wrong here,' he thought.
Nick's knowledge of engineering was unsurpassed, and he would have noticed if someone had sabotaged the generator.
After that, Nick checked the Pure Energy and Star Energy generators.
'Also nothing wrong here.'
'Whoever messed with Night Sky Base did not want anyone to notice.'
'That means it wasn't the aliens.'
'If the aliens had found this base, they would have immediately destroyed the entire thing.'
'Someone didn't want Night Sky Base to be destroyed, but they also wanted to do something here.'
'My suspicion seems to be more valid the more I learn.'
"Assistant, search for top secret files," Nick said.
"One file has been found. Do you wish to incorporate it?" Assistant asked.
"Incorporate it."
The next moment, Nick saw the location of a big Containment Unit.
Nick entered one of the rooms, and when he saw it, he took a deep breath.
He didn't need to make a hole in the floor.
After all, there was already a hole there.
Nick jumped through the hole and looked at the Containment Unit in front of him.
On the side of the Containment Unit, he saw a warped wall.
'The energy manipulation knowledge repository…' Nick thought.
Nick approached the console of the Containment Unit and checked if it was operational.
It was fully operational.
No anomalies detected.
The next moment, Nick opened an entrance to the Containment Unit.
The walls parted, and Nick entered.
'Just as expected,' Nick thought.
Inside the Containment Unit, Nick saw a couple of machines.
A couple of small Star Energy generators.
A Pure Energy generator.
'Seems like the Specter went rogue,' Nick thought. 'It crafted a couple of generators and used their own Zephyx to create Pure Energy.'
'Then, they used their knowledge of Pure Energy and morphed the wall.'
'Since they didn't know a lot about engineering, their manipulation was crude.'
'Most likely, the base took note and sent the Prime Drone to deal with it.'
'The Specter destroyed the Prime Drone, but instead of leaving immediately, the Specter repaired everything.'
'Then, they probably learned about the machines and used their generated Pure Energy to manipulate the records.'
Nick deactivated the Containment Unit and told it to enter inspection mode.
The walls morphed, revealing several complicated wires.
On one spot, Nick saw a Pure Energy generator, a Star Energy generator, and a storage for Zephyx.
About 50% of the Zephyx was left in the storage.
'This is imitating the signal of the Containment Unit,' Nick thought. 'The Pure Energy says that there are no faults in the walls.'
'It must have taken a long time to find out how the Containment Unit works.'
'Most likely, the Specter remained here for several years, trying to fix everything without making it seem like it had escaped.'
'It seems like the Specter is not against humanity.'
'If it were, the aliens would have already destroyed all knowledge repositories. After all, the Specter here had to know where the others were.'
'What was their goal? They don't want to go against humanity, but they were also not willing to just wait inside a Containment Unit.'
'I'm not sure.'
'They can't unveil themselves to the aliens since they would just kill them. Having a Specter with so much knowledge was dangerous.'
'That means the Specter needed to remain secretive of their true identity.'
'However, if that were the only thing, they would have just destroyed the other knowledge repositories.'
'That would make it impossible for anyone to find them.'
'Since they already knew how to manipulate the machines, they could have just gone to the reactor and deactivate it.'
'Without the reactor, the spatial fixture wouldn't work anymore, and the base would fall towards the Earth's core, destroying it.'
'That wouldn't even alert the Specters inside, and even if it did, what would they do? The Containment Units are without power. Not even the Pure One could escape without me reactivating the Containment Unit.'
'It seems like this Specter intends to ingratiate themselves with both sides.'
'They are fine with working for the aliens, but if humanity ever manages to escape, they also don't want to ruin their relationship with them.'
'A neutral party.'
'Kind of like how Aegis perceives me right now.'
Nick went to the console again and looked at the information of the Specter that was supposed to be inside.
When he saw the information, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
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