"Let us reanalyze this period of the Cole family a bit." Felix Tate suddenly spoke up. At this moment, Felix Tate was no longer looking at Julian Sterling , but instead fixed his gaze on the phone screen that Ethan Caldwell had just set down.

In truth, the content on Julian Sterling’s phone did not display an overwhelming amount of information. Primarily, the screen was currently showing the details Julian Sterling had just discussed.

"Where do you want to start?" Julian Sterling tilted his head: "If you want to start from why Seraphina Cole was kicked out of the Cole family, then I do not know. Previously, I also did not have much information regarding this matter."

There are indeed things that can be found on the internet, but they can only be traced if the data had once appeared and was archived by the web. However, the situation between Seraphina Cole and the Cole family was entirely different. It had been completely scrubbed clean by the Cole family. The moment Seraphina Cole left the Cole family, not a single online newspaper, not a single individual dared to audaciously speak up about this issue.

Conrad Cole had practically exhausted his highest authority to blockade this information, almost forbidding anyone from mentioning it. Even the fact that Conrad Cole once had a daughter was thoroughly concealed.

But what in the world had happened to cause Conrad Cole to handle things so ruthlessly? It could be said that previously, Seraphina Cole was the beloved daughter whom Conrad Cole pampered absolutely, and Seraphina Cole was also incredibly capable. This was vastly different from those wealthy heirs and heiresses who, if spoiled excessively, would become useless incompetents and dissipated playboys.

Seraphina Cole demonstrated corporate management abilities that far surpassed even her own father’s. Back then, despite being very young, Seraphina Cole was entrusted with managing a key division of the conglomerate.

Then, all of a sudden, she just vanished from the Cole family like that, as if the Cole family had never had this person in existence.

Yet regarding the specific details and what the exact reason was, Julian Sterling could not investigate it, so he could only cast his gaze toward Ethan Caldwell. It seemed that individuals within the upper-class circle might grasp more information about this matter.

"I do not know the specific reason either." Ethan Caldwell shook his head. The hand resting on Julian Sterling’s waist gently caressed through the thin layer of clothing, bringing a sense of steady composure to soothe the nascent tension in the air: "That affair of the Cole family was handled with extreme caution, practically an absolute cover-up. Even the generation of our fathers back then, the people who possessed the most extensive and profound intelligence networks, only caught wind of a few vague rumors."

Ethan Caldwell’s deep voice echoed steadily in the quiet, luxurious presidential suite: "However, there is one thing we must look at correctly. The media and the outsiders always love to weave a stereotypical narrative, Seraphina Cole was a peerless genius, while Gabriel Cole was a useless incompetent, a mere puppet who only knew how to rely on the family’s influence. They claimed that Gabriel Cole won because Conrad Cole favored males over females. That is a fatally flawed assumption."

Louis York slightly raised an eyebrow, his slender fingers ceasing their tapping on the armrest of the chair: "Are you implying that the guy surnamed Cole is not actually a piece of trash like what he portrays on the outside?"

"In recent years, the Cole family has been entirely managed by Gabriel Cole. He is currently one of the individuals evaluated as a young talent on par with Ethan Caldwell." Kieran Talbot cast a sidelong glance at Louis York: "And yet you call the man a piece of trash."

"Oh." Louis York let out a short word: "My memories are still stuck from a few years ago. Alright, I admit that at that time Gabriel Cole was not too bad either, it was just that Gabriel Cole’s aunt was too brilliant. To be honest, if Seraphina Cole had not left, it would have been a very long time before Gabriel Cole ever had the opportunity to prove himself."

"I have clashed with Gabriel Cole a few times on the business battlefield before he withdrew into himself. If Seraphina Cole was a dazzling, radiant sun that righteously overwhelmed opponents with absolute prowess, then Gabriel Cole was a venomous snake patiently coiling itself in the shadows. In terms of innate talent, Gabriel Cole might only be slightly inferior to Seraphina Cole, a very minuscule gap. But in return, he possesses a ruthlessness, a coldness, and an enduring forbearance that Seraphina Cole could never attain."

Kieran Talbot grimaced, rubbing his chin: "In that case... would someone so talented and full of ambition like that willingly lower himself to be a hunting dog for CORE? This is not logical. Unless what he receives in return is vastly greater than the vain honor of a clan."

"That is exactly right." Julian Sterling snapped his fingers, his clear eyes now glinting with a cunning sharpness and a penetrating insight into the human heart: "This is the crucial point. Why would an outstanding, highly ambitious person accept submission? Because he is not a puppet, he is a perfect accomplice."

Julian Sterling looked down again, his long, slender fingers swiftly typing a few complex encoded command lines on the phone. Very quickly, a completely decrypted file appeared, and Julian Sterling pushed the phone toward the center of the table. Discussing matters covertly like this was indeed a bit inconvenient, always having to stare at a tiny screen.

It looked like a medical record, containing quite a lot of medical terminology, and intersecting charts appeared all over. The group of people in the room did not understand what they were looking at, but since Kieran Talbot was a doctor, he furrowed his brows: "Whose... is this?"

"Conrad Cole." Julian Sterling answered concisely.

"This period happens to be the exact phase when Conrad Cole was gradually letting go of all the power in his hands to give to Gabriel Cole , and furthermore, the Cole family also announced to the public that the old man’s health was not too good. However, what I am paying attention to are these things."

Julian Sterling’s finger pointed to the brain wave chart section: "I do not specialize in medicine, but no matter how you look at this, there is a problem."

How could a human’s brain waves fluctuate so violently? There were periods where the index almost hit rock bottom, touching zero. There were periods where the representative lines spiked steeply, yet the period with the most interference perfectly coincided with the timeframe when Conrad Cole handed over all his power to Gabriel Cole.

"Earlier, Ethan Caldwell told me about CORE researching human brain waves..." Julian Sterling hesitated, seemingly afraid of touching upon Ethan Caldwell’s emotional wounds again. But Ethan Caldwell simply shook his head slightly, wrapping his arm around to squeeze Julian Sterling’s waist, indicating that he was fine.

Thus, Julian Sterling continued speaking: "...Could it be that, during the period before Seraphina Cole was chased away, Gabriel Cole had already sold himself out to CORE?"

The several men in the room all narrowed their eyes slightly, beginning to calculate. If it were this kind of method, then it was not an impossibility. It would serve as a flawless explanation for why Seraphina Cole was driven out of the Cole family.

"Let me explain this." Kieran Talbot spoke up.

Kieran Talbot enlarged a chart, his hand pointing at the data on it: "According to the markings, this period is exactly as Julian Sterling stated. It is the phase when Conrad Cole relinquished his power. First, his brain waves suffered severe interference, and after that, the body’s vital signs all plummeted."

Kieran Talbot pointed at a few statistics and then elaborated: "These figures prove that Conrad Cole’s body went through a phase of hitting the absolute bottom. It means that his bodily functions had severely declined, which could be termed as multiple organ failure, and certain cells showed signs of necrosis, with a high probability of remaining inactive for an extended period of time."

"However..." Kieran Talbot’s voice deepened, intentionally adding more emphasis: "Everyone, take a look at this chart. From the fourth month onward, his vital signs not only did not decrease, but the brain waves operated vigorously in an abnormal manner. Yet, the brain wave chart displays... a mechanical line."

Louis York narrowed his eyes, his spine instantly straightening up as his usual lazy demeanor vanished completely: "A mechanical line? Are you saying that his brain waves are being entirely sustained by machinery? Is that old man truly clinically dead already? But how is that possible?"

Are human brain waves something that machinery can possibly generate?

"The physical body remains fully alive, maintaining all of its normal biological rhythms and functions, but the consciousness simply does not exist. It is quite similar to a patient being in a vegetative state, yet it is not exactly the same thing. The brain waves of a person in a vegetative state would still naturally fluctuate." Felix Tate, who had remained completely silent for all this time, suddenly spoke up. He recalled certain classified military reports regarding advanced biological research that had been unanimously and strictly banned by the international council: "This is the precise inverse mechanism of the memory preservation and synchronization technology."