I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 164: 164:Serena.

He hurried across the room.

”Ravenna?”

She slowly lifted the document toward him. Her face had become deathly pale, with her hands trembling slightly.

”...You need to see this.”

Silver lowered his eyes to the faded paper. The ink had blurred with age, but the printed names remained surprisingly legible.

It appeared to be an administrative memorandum listing personnel assigned to various classified research divisions.

His eyes slowly scanned the page.

Project 002...

Project 004...

Project 005...

Then they stopped. His expression stiffened.

Dr. Adrian Silgard

Professor Helena Redmin.

Dr. Victor Sherlok

Dr. Selena Serenity.

Silver looked up; he immediately recognised the last name. His grandfather had mentioned it in passing once to the former Silver when he was talking about the engagement, but the doctor part had not been there.

His gaze met Ravenna’s pale face.

”...Your mother.”

Ravenna slowly nodded.

”I...” Her voice faltered. ”I thought maybe... Maybe I was imagining it, and it was just a fluke. Some with a similar name or something.”

Silver looked back at the paper. There was no mistake; the name was written clearly.

Selena Serenity.

Her dead mother, whom she knew almost nothing about except what a child should know about their mother.

The archive had just confirmed one thing. Her mother hadn’t simply been an ordinary Contractor with a lot of money. She had been one of the lead scientists involved in a classified government project.

Ravenna lowered herself onto a nearby chair without taking her eyes off the page.

”I never knew... My father always said she sometimes worked in research at the base, but... He never mentioned anything like this. I’m not even sure if he also knew.”

Silver quietly read through the remainder of the document. Unfortunately... There wasn’t much information.

Project Number: 006.

Security Classification: Alpha.

Lead Researchers.

Administrative approvals.

There was nothing else; no description, location, or objective. The actual contents had either been removed... Or stored elsewhere.

Silver frowned thoughtfully.

”This isn’t from this station.”

Ravenna looked at him.

”What?”

Silver pointed toward one of the reference numbers near the bottom.

”See this facility code?”

She leaned closer.

”It doesn’t match this station.”

He compared it against another document lying on the floor nearby.

”This archive belongs to Research Station Seventeen.”

”But Project 006...” He shook his head. ”...Was conducted somewhere else.”

Ravenna’s eyes widened slightly.

”So... My mother never worked here?”

”It doesn’t seem like it.”

Silver continued examining the paperwork.

”If anything... This station only kept copies of inter-facility communications.”

Ravenna took a slow breath.

”Meaning there were multiple research stations.”

”Exactly.”

Silver’s expression became increasingly serious.

”The reports mentioned cooperation. I assumed they meant cooperation between departments.”

He looked back at the document.

”I was wrong. There were multiple hidden facilities. They simply disguised them as ordinary government installations.”

Ravenna slowly folded her arms.

”So each location researched something different.”

Silver nodded.

”Most likely.”

He looked around the enormous archive.

”This place probably wasn’t just a transportation research center. It was hiding another facility.”

The realization settled heavily between them. Everything suddenly made more sense; the secrecy, the classified files, the outbreak, and the abandoned buildings.

Research Station Seventeen had merely worn the appearance of an ordinary transit laboratory, but its true purpose had been something entirely different.

Ravenna carefully took the document back. Her fingers brushed gently over her mother’s name.

”...Selena Serenity.”

She hadn’t spoken those words aloud in years. For a brief moment, Silver saw the little girl she had once been. A daughter who was still mourning the death of her mother, no matter how small.

Silver gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

”We’ll figure this out.”

She looked toward him.

”You really think so?”

”I do. We’ve already found more today than anyone else probably has in years. If there are answers... They’re somewhere in this station or another. We’ll just keep looking.”

Ravenna nodded slowly, and the determination gradually returned to her eyes. Silver glanced at the document again.

”One thing.”

”What?”

”We shouldn’t remove anything.”

She blinked.

”...Why?”

Silver looked around the archive.

”If this place has stayed untouched for years... Taking documents could alert someone.”

”Someone?”

Silver nodded.

”We still don’t know who sealed this station or whether anyone occasionally checks on it. If important files suddenly disappear... Someone might notice.”

Ravenna understood immediately.

”So we memorize what we can and leave everything exactly where we found it.”

”Exactly.”

She carefully returned the document to the folder before placing it back onto the shelf exactly as it had been. It felt wrong, almost painful, but she knew Silver was right.

If her mother’s research truly involved something this secret, removing evidence might create far bigger problems. Instead, she silently memorized every name listed beneath Project 006.

Silver continued searching nearby cabinets. Most contained ordinary administrative paperwork. Several minutes passed of this.

Dust floated lazily through the beams of sunlight filtering from cracked windows. The archive remained silent except for the occasional rustle of turning pages.

Then... Silver noticed something different. Hidden beneath a collapsed shelf rested a small leather-bound notebook. Unlike the surrounding files, it wasn’t stamped with any official classification, nor was it catalogued. It almost looked personal.

He crouched down and carefully pulled it free. Years of dust covered the worn brown leather. The corners had begun peeling with age.

Across the front, faded handwriting remained barely visible.

Silver frowned.

”This wasn’t filed.”

Ravenna walked over.

”What did you find?”

”I’m not sure.”

He gently brushed away the remaining dust. The notebook looked more like a personal journal than an official report. Several loose pages protruded from between the covers, and the edges had yellowed with time.

Unlike government documents, personal journals often contained things their authors would never write in official records.

Silver slowly looked toward Ravenna.

”If we’re lucky... This may tell us what actually happened here.”

Ravenna’s heartbeat quickened. She nodded.

”Open it.”

Silver carefully lifted the weathered cover. The brittle pages creaked softly beneath his fingers. At the very top of the first page, written in neat handwriting, were the words:

Below that, the first dated entry began.