"Pretty much accurate, right?" Thiago’s voice carried a bitter note. "Is that mole causing you trouble again?"

Grayson shook his head, and the gesture felt more knowing than dismissive. "It hasn’t been as active as it was before."

Something in his tone made Thiago pause mid-reach for his scanner. The doctor’s eyes narrowed, almost glaring at Grayson. "What do you mean, ’not as active’? When was the last episode?"

"Three weeks ago. Minor one." Grayson turned back to the data chip.

But Thiago was already making notes on his light brain, muttering calculations under his breath. Julius, who had been waiting with the patience of a predator, suddenly spoke up.

"Why is Thiago here?"

Grayson glanced up from the files. "I have some things to ask."

"Things to ask," Thiago repeated, rolling his eyes so hard at Grayson. "He couldn’t remember the past few days. He didn’t know for how long, but it surely started around the full moon."

"Full moon?" Julius’s voice sharpened, and his entire demeanor changed as if realizing something.

Thiago caught the change immediately. "Is there something wrong?"

Julius’s usual stoic mask cracked slightly, revealing genuine hesitation. He glanced at Grayson, then at the apartment around them, as if calculating risks and probabilities.

Finally, he said carefully. "As I was searching for traces of who sent this information, I came across something interesting."

Grayson looked up from the holographic display, giving Julius his full attention. The man rarely acted like this—if he was being cautious, it meant the information was either highly classified or personally sensitive.

Julius continued, his gaze fixed on Grayson. "I wanted to confirm something, so I handed this information to you personally."

Thiago threw his hands up in exasperation. "Just say it. There’s no surveillance here."

This permission seemed to be what Julius needed. He let it all out at once, words tumbling over each other.

"After tracking the sender of this information, I found an unknown IP address using an unknown device. While collecting traces, I discovered that the same device had been sending finished work to Maxwell Corporation’s internal servers."

"Maxwell Corporation?" Grayson’s voice was dangerously quiet.

Julius nodded, and his next words fell like stones into still water. "It was working on the CEO’s pending workload. For seven days."

The room went silent.

Thiago’s medical scanner slipped from his fingers, clattering against the couch cushion.

Grayson’s face darkened. He pulled up his company logs with sharp, precise movements, accessing Bryan’s exchanges, the completed reports, and the meeting notes. He began to compare the work style, the word choices, and the decision-making patterns to his usual work. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It was identical to his own.

Not similar. Not close. It’s Identical.

Someone had been doing his work—no, someone had been acting like him for seven days. And they had done it perfectly.

"I saw how similar the work was to yours," Julius continued, his expression cracking to reveal genuine concern.

"At first, I assumed it was you who sent the information about the research lab. You’ve been investigating the Second Prince’s operations for months. But then I became skeptical." He paused. "I came here to check if you were really you."

"And?" Grayson’s voice was barely above a whisper.

"You’re you." Julius’s shoulders relaxed slightly. "But who was accessing your accounts those seven days? If I hadn’t been specifically looking for you, I never would have noticed."

Thiago looked around the penthouse again.

"You really need to install surveillance bots here soon. You can’t go on like this." His voice carried an edge of genuine fear.

Grayson stared at his hands, flexing his fingers. "I know."

"Do you?" Thiago leaned forward. "Because I’m not sure you really understood the severity of the situation here.

Grayson clenched his jaw and looked at Julius. "Can you track the device?"

"I tried. The signal is untraceable using conventional methods." One could see the frustration in Julius’s expression. "I can tell you when they accessed the systems, what they did, but not where they were or how they connected."

Thiago pursed his lips, unsatisfied with the current findings. But before he could press further, his light brain chimed with an incoming message. He glanced at it, and his expression changed.

"Have you seen the latest news?" Thiago asked, apparently dropping the subject for now. "Krenn, that dumbass, is losing his brains!"

Julius blinked at the sudden topic change.

"Why?" Julius asked, genuinely curious. Professor Krenn was famous in the military academy for being strict and traditional.

"There’s this casual player, who goes by the handle [Gravy]." Thiago pulled up an article, projecting it for them to see.

"This [Gravy] had been defeating mecha after mecha and doing routines that contradict some of Krenn’s published theories. Even worse was that [Gravy]’s mecha was just the basic model." He laughed, genuinely delighted at the turn of events. "They’re looking for this [Gravy] person, but whoever it is couldn’t be bothered with the attention. The academy was searching across galaxies, but the guy just kept playing, totally unconcerned."

"Is he that good?" Julius’s interest was piqued, his strategic mind clearly calculating possibilities. "Maybe we could recruit him?"

Grayson leaned back against the couch, processing this new information. "What did Professor Iona say about this?"

"She’s baffled too." Thiago scoffed. "Just because someone isn’t in the academy doesn’t mean they should dismiss a person’s abilities. If that logic really works, why would Star Pirates even exist? They’re too high on their noses."

"Typical," Grayson commented.

Julius was already pulling up his own light brain, fingers flying across the interface. "Can we get a hold of him?"

Grayson looked at Julius and noted his unusual eagerness. Julius rarely got excited about recruiting someone, but something about this [Gravy] caught his attention.

"Sure," Grayson said, waving his hand dismissively. "But don’t forget your tasks. The research lab takes priority."

"I’ll get you our security robots by the end of the day," Julius said, already moving toward the door.

He left without waiting for a response, the door closing behind him with a soft hiss.

Thiago also stood up, gathering his medical equipment.

"I’ll get going, or your sister will turn the house upside down." He paused, meeting Grayson’s eyes. "She’s been asking about you. Worried you’ve been avoiding family dinners."