August 4th: The Grand Hyperspace Expedition set sail right on schedule. Adam didn’t bother telling Sophia about any of this. It wasn’t until the launch, when the expedition’s absurdly massive equipment started messing with the local space currents, that Sophia finally realized something big was going down.
She stood at the Beacon of the Unknown, staring blankly as the Grand Hyperspace Expedition ship took off—a ship so huge it made the biggest nuclear submarine look like a toy, ten times over. As it drifted out of her sensory range, a nagging sense of dread crept up on her for no good reason.
Sophia was a scientist—she didn’t believe in gut feelings. But this one felt bad enough that she immediately went to grill Parker Peterson about the expedition.
"Why didn’t anyone tell me about this beforehand?"
"Ms. Sophia, this is just the forty-sixth hyperspace exploration—nothing particularly worth mentioning." Parker Peterson’s face was all business, totally stone-cold: "And, technically speaking, you’re the Chief Researcher, while Mr. Adam is the Expedition Captain. Logically, there’s no need to give you any special heads-up about this."
No need, huh?
Well, technically, he’s got a point.
Sure, Sophia was basically the big boss of the whole Tiberius operation, but she never cared about titles. She’d always just stuck with the Chief Researcher gig. When you break it down, she didn’t really have any official authority, so Parker Peterson’s logic kind of checked out.
But hasn’t Adam always run everything by me? Wasn’t it always my call in the end? Why’s it different this time? Or am I just being paranoid, and this really is just another routine exploration?
Caught in a loop of her own logic, Sophia spaced out for a full ten seconds, wondering if she actually had any right to ask about this. By the time she snapped out of it, the expedition ship had vanished from her senses, diving deep into the hyperspace ocean—so deep that even Sophia couldn’t reach it.
With no other choice, Sophia just headed back to Infinity Promontory and kept plugging away at her research.
Parker could call it 'just another routine trip' all he wanted, but this Grand Hyperspace Expedition was the biggest operation in Tiberius Laboratory history. They rolled out the fanciest tech, burned through more resources than ever, and aimed to pull a Columbus—no turning back, no matter what, just pure, reckless exploration of the unknown.
Before launch, everyone was riding high. The smooth sailing from previous missions had people so hyped about the future, they figured they were bound to hit the jackpot this time.
But then a day went by, then two, then ten, then twenty, then three or four weeks—by September 26th, the expedition team still hadn’t come back. Not a peep.
Sophia started to freak out and cranked the Beacon of the Unknown up to max power. Its heart was a mirror pulled straight from the depths of hyperspace, and she pumped infinite energy into it, scanning at full blast. But even then, the Beacon couldn’t pin down the expedition ship’s location in any dimension.
Gritting her teeth, Sophia threw out her arms, and the whole Beacon of the Unknown started shaking like crazy.
"Stop! You can’t just mess with the family’s foundation like this!" "You’re being paranoid—the expedition team is perfectly safe, and you’ve got zero proof they’re in danger!" "Quit acting like the lab’s budget is your personal piggy bank!" "Your ideas need unanimous Joint Council approval, and what you’re doing now is totally illegal!" "We’ve already voted—your actions are officially banned!" The eleven members of the Joint Council popped up all at once, shouting and trying to shut Sophia down.
But right then, Sophia couldn’t care less about any of that.
"Illegal?" Logic and reason kept yammering in her head, but emotion just steamrolled right over them. Sophia glanced back at the eleven council members and, for the first time ever, actually let out a snort of laughter.
For the first time in her life, Sophia ditched all the rules, regulations, principles, and logic, running on pure willpower and her own ideas—and unleashed her hyperspace powers at full force.
She’d had her memories erased, her mind wiped clean, force-fed logic until she barely recognized herself. The first fourteen years of her life—gone. She was turned from Susan Soo into Sophia, her whole personality shattered way worse than even what happened to Mr. Yang back in the day.
But when the tide goes out, the real gold’s still there.
Looking at those eleven self-righteous, frantic clowns—no, even though she still couldn’t remember her original name, from this moment on, she could call herself Susan Soo again—she suddenly thought, these guys were just like the witch-hunting zealots from the old Inquisition.
Total losers, acting like they’re all high and mighty. Living off other people’s work, but somehow thinking they get to call the shots.
Absolutely ridiculous!
Right then, her true nature finally broke through, something deep in her soul waking up at last. She could feel a glimmer from the other end of the Twin Link—even if her memories weren’t back yet, Susan Soo was a natural. Her presence was off the charts: "A bunch of freeloaders living large off my hard work, and you dare boss me around? Who do you think you are?"
"You—!" "Arrogant, too arrogant!" "This is outrageous!"
Susan Soo ignored them and just swept her arms out, no hesitation.
Boom—Beacon of the Unknown went wild, shaking the whole place. The eleven council members scattered, cursing and scrambling for the exits.
A massive psychic shock pressed down on her chest as the Beacon of the Unknown shuddered again and again—then suddenly blasted off. The Six-Dimensional Spiral carried the witch through the layers of reality, straight into the endless hyperspace ocean.
Another month slipped by.
Eastern US time, October 31st, 1985, 10:26 AM—Beacon of the Unknown reappeared at its old spot. The return kicked up such a wild spatial current that Theory Lane got tossed around like a pool noodle, impossible to stabilize.
The eleven Joint Council members wanted to rush in again, but with no spatial channel rebuilt, they were just regular folks—totally stuck on the wrong side of the dimensional divide.
Twelve minutes later, the battered Grand Hyperspace Expedition ship popped up out of nowhere at Port of Tomorrow. That once-mighty vessel was now just a pile of scrap.
At the same time, Adam Zade—the current head of the Zade family—showed up in the Gate of Science medical ward for emergency treatment.
"Lock it all down. Full security lockdown."
That was the only order Parker Peterson got before Adam Zade slipped into a deep coma—left in Susan Soo’s hands for treatment.
12:16 PM, Adam Zade woke up again, and the Joint Council finally streamed into the hospital room, one after another.