"So, Payneth isn't your real name?" That was what Daphne asked as she was sitting in the living room of Payneth's house.

Payneth took a sip of her coffee. "It's just an alias."

"Why do you have to use an alias, then?"

"Because I am on an important mission that nobody should know about - especially those vandals from Jupiter."

"You... are you a Neptunian?"

A sudden gust of wind blew in from the window as Payneth answered. "Yes."

"Why is a Neptunian in Jupiter to accomplish the mission?"

"You know the reason why Neptune attacks Pluto?"

"Because of the hatred towards Pluto government?..."

"No. But, to weaken the power of Jupiter and the Nature Continent."

"Weakening the power of Jupiter and Nature Continent just by attacking Pluto? How come?"

Payneth smiles. "That's the beauty of this devised strategy. Just wait for it to show its fangs. It will happen before long."

So, it is the main reason why Neptune attacks Pluto - to weaken Jupiter. But why don't they attack Jupiter directly? Why do they even have to sacrifice unrelated people, like us?... Daphne thinks grimly. Trying to push that useless gloom far away, Daphne asked, "First, I apologize for asking such kind of presumptuous question..." Clearing her throat, Daphne tried to get rid of her clumsiness. "Are you... Neptune's government officer?... Neptune's intelligence agent?"

Payneth didn't make an immediate answer; she gazed at Daphne so keenly and inquisitively that it made Daphne so agitated. But in the end, she gave that answer, "Yes. I'm an agent of Enigma."

"Ah, no wonder why you're so amazing."

"So now, you want to get rid of the data on you and your mother which Chrono has probably documented?"

Daphne nod her head. "Right."

Payneth took her laser pen, pointing it at the vacant air. The pen soon emitted a flash of golden-greenish rays which opened as a cyber monitor. While waiting for the transparent monitor to load, she prepared some strange, jet-black electronic devices, and arranged them on her desk. Then she started to work.

"Your name and your mother's?"

"I am Daphne Yalle. My mother, Mirinda Yalle."

Payneth focused her looks and then created text after text on the cyber monitor. Soon the monitor showed a table of name lists. Payneth had her eyes look up and down. It turned out that she was looking for their names on the list. It took a long time for Payneth to find it, very different from the situation when Payneth helped Mr. Finns before. Waiting for so long, Daphne soon understood what actually Payneth meant about the high level of difficulty she said in the previous time. Her clutched hands were starting to get wet with cold sweat.

Copyright ©️ by boundless_universe

Payneth turned around. Her face looked agitated. "You're right. Both of your names are listed on the Sapphire Genocide Project of Chrono."

A great surprise forced Daphne to stand up in a sudden. Actually she just planned to find a way to help Stairmount, as for herself, she only used it as an excuse to dodge since she had no way out to do that. The fact which really surprised her soon prompted her to gaze sharply at the transparent screen. It was now full of that detailed, full-of-small-text name list.

"Ah... so why they could find out the victims to be arrested was... because of this..." Daphne stared at the long name list, face was filled with horror. "So detailed... even photos, addresses, ages are also recorded neatly..."

"But you're in Jupiter right now? I think, they don't record that you have become a fugitive?"

"What do they record, then?"

"This is the only list I can find. It seems like this is the data they used on Pluto to find the targeted ethnic Neptunians people."

"Well... it was really crowded at that time..." Daphne suddenly shuddered as she remembered that horrible incident. "What a nightmare..."

Payneth looked at that dumbfounded girl with pity.

"I think you can be assured. They don't even know that you've managed to escape, the proof is, this is the only data I can get."

Starting to breathe in relief, Daphne's eyes automatically shifted to the other side of the page. But suddenly she saw that name. The name which made her heart almost jump to her throat. "Stairmount..."

Daphne's unconscious mutter immediately provoked Payneth's curiosity to return her gaze to the page. She immediately found Stairmount's name mentioned by Daphne. "You say, this Stairmount Rivers?"

Daphne immediately realized that she had slipped with her words. "No!..."

But now Payneth kept her eyes on Stairmount's name. "Isn't Stairmount Rivers the delegation team leader of Jupiter Health Department assigned to the Jupiter-Saturn cooperation program?" Daphne bit her lip, not expecting Stairmount to be so famous that even the Enigma agent can recognize him. "Why does his name appear in Sapphire Genocide Project of Chrono?" She pointed her index finger at the transparent monitor, precisely at Stairmount's name. The monitor changed its screen - now showing all data of Stairmount. Payneth looked at them one by one. "So strange. This page doesn't show that Stairmount Rivers has anything to do with Sapphire Genocide Project. The information on one page is completely different from another. Even more, a page shows very detailed data, but another page only shows this data, which is very few. How come Chrono can be such reckless... or..."

Payneth turned her head to the right, since she decided to observe the thing she considered as more interesting than the data. Daphne's shocked face, as if the young woman had just watched something horrifying. She looked back at the page containing the identity of Stairmount. Then asked, "You know Stairmount Rivers?"

Copyright ©️ by boundless_universe