Bakerlon Main Story: Family Secrets
Overview
- Stage Cost: None
- First Clear Rewards:
Commemorative Etiquette Ticket x350
Guide
- Hover to view spoiler content.
Script
Corridor of the Luxury Suites
Discuss the next step with the NXX members.
You: That could've gone better. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves.
You: We didn't take into account that they wouldn't want others involved in the investigation, so they can deliberately conceal the matter.
Marius: Well, not entirely. Didn't we change our strategy when we entered?
You: Yeah...
Remembering how well the four of them worked together in the room, you wonder if you missed a detail or something.
You: Eh!? When did you guys...
Artem: When we entered.
Vyn: From their discussion, it was clear that they wanted to delay the matter until the train ride was over.
Luke: William Lewis gave us an opening, and we took it. So it wasn't a wasted trip.
You: (So, the NXX members do have a tacit understanding of each other!)
Luke: Let's get back on topic.
Luke: From our conversation just now, it feels like there's something wrong with Yang's attitude.
You: Yes, he must be hiding something, which explains why he seems so eager to distance himself from us.
You: And, Dr. Ronson also mentioned "Hill" at the end...
Luke: That means the people of Kahn Corporation know about Hill's existence.
Luke: Mark also muttered the name Hill... So...
You: So, we can infer that Hill had some influence on Mark, and perhaps even the Kahn Corporation.
Marius: Things are getting more complicated now.
Marius: Now we need to investigate Mark's death, as well as what the people of Kahn Corporation are hiding...
Marius: Too bad I can't use the Big Data Lab, or else I'd be able to find something.
You: Hey, wait!
You: Isn't there a living embodiment of the "Big Data Lab" on this train?
Artem: You mean...
You: Miss Schneider!
Artem: Yes...
You: As a competitor to the Kahn Corporation, she should know the most about the family.
You: Perhaps we can learn more about the Kahn Corporation from her, from which we can extract clues.
Marius: That makes sense. Know the enemy and yourself.
Marius: As a competitor, the woman would be happy to tell us something.
Artem: Let's find Miss Schneider.
Passenger Suite
Talk with Sarah Schneider and try to find out more about the Kahn family.
Miss Schneider is sitting on the couch.
Upon entering the room, she looks at everyone calmly, as she knew of your pending visit.
Sarah Schneider: Hey, look who it is...
Sarah Schneider: I thought I'd have to wait until the night before you guys thought of me.
You: Miss Schneider, were you... waiting for us?
Miss Schneider stands up slowly.
Sarah Schneider: For a while now.
Sarah Schneider: Judging by your heavy expressions, did you guys hit a snag with the Kahn Corporation?
Vyn: Miss Schneider, it seems you anticipated our arrival.
Sarah Schneider: After all, I'm the only one on this train who's had years of experience dealing with the Kahn Corporation...
Sarah Schneider: Isn't it normal for you guys to come to me?
Sarah Schneider: Besides, Mr. Wing and Miss [Player], I paid a considerable sum for legal counsel.
Sarah Schneider: If you guys are able to solve this conundrum on the train... well that'd be fine and dandy for me.
Artem: It would be greatly appreciated if you would like to help, Miss Schneider.
Sarah Schneider: No problem, but make it quick. A reporter scheduled afternoon tea with me.
Sarah Schneider: Ask away.
Artem: ...Did Mr. Kahn have major conflicts with anyone in the past?
Sarah Schneider: He... always struck me as a careful businessman and a smooth-talker.
Sarah Schneider: He would seldom offend others.
Marius: Oh? But he didn't seem like a "smooth-talker" with his outburst in the dining carriage.
Sarah Schneider: Yes, I found that quite strange... Mr. Kahn had a reputation for having a good temper. I wonder what changed him.
Sarah Schneider: You should know, back in the day, he would even greet his enemies with a smile.
You: Mr. Kahn had a beef with someone before?
Sarah Schneider: Yes, of course.
A meaningful smile appears on Sarah Schneider's face.
Sarah Schneider: I suffered a lot at his hands.
You: (She was referring to herself when she mentioned his enemies.)
You: Miss Schneider, you may find this question strange...
You: Mr. Kahn mentioned the name "Hill" before he passed away. Does that name ring a bell?
Sarah Schneider: Hill? Yes... If I'm not mistaken...
Sarah Schneider: That was the name of a young female scientist in the research lab at Kahn Corporation a few years ago.
Sarah Schneider: Unfortunately, I think she's... missing.
Luke: Missing!? Can you elaborate?
Miss Schneider frowns as if recalling some unpleasant memories.
Sarah Schneider: A few years ago, she published an article, "Improving the Success Rate of Element T Extraction."
Sarah Schneider: Kahn Corporation respected her work and sent many academics to work with her on that project.
Sarah Schneider: At that time, I was offering her a large sum of money to work at my company...
Sarah Schneider: But... one day, for some reason, Kahn Corporation suddenly blocked all information related to the project.
Sarah Schneider: They claimed that Hill had absconded with important information and her whereabouts were unknown...
You: Absconded!?
Sarah Schneider: Yes, the Kahn Corporation notified the police, and they investigated for several months...
Sarah Schneider: However, nothing came of the investigation, and they concluded that the suspect must have escaped overseas.
Vyn: Even if she left Bakerlon, it wouldn't be hard to track her, given today's technology.
Sarah Schneider: Who knows? In any case, people... gradually forgot about this case.
You: But... what about Ms. Hill's family? Did they not search for her?
Sarah Schneider: As far as I know, she devoted her life to research and didn't have much of a social life.
Sarah Schneider: Moreover, she grew up in a single-parent household. I heard her father passed away long ago, and she was living with her mother.
Sarah Schneider: Her mother was in poor health and required her care.
Sarah Schneider: However, after Hill went missing, some good samaritans tried to get her to a nursing home... It's a pity what happened.
You: ...
Sarah Schneider: I really hoped that there would be a breakthrough in the extraction technology of Element T.
Artem: Miss Schneider, what is this Element T that you keep mentioning?
Sarah Schneider: It is a very important industrial ingredient in Bakerlon.
Sarah Schneider: At the very least, it plays an important role in the fields of medical research and artificial micro-intelligent machines.
Marius: Sounds like it's a rare synthetic material?
Sarah Schneider: Something like that. It's not used commonly overseas, but here in Bakerlon, many advanced technologies rely on it.
You: Why is it called Element T? Does the letter T have a special meaning?
Sarah Schneider: That... I'm not sure.
Sarah Schneider: This substance was discovered decades ago, maybe even earlier... by a researcher at Kahn Corporation.
Sarah Schneider: Ever since then, it has been called Element T.
Sarah Schneider: I personally think it just might be a code name with no special meaning.
You: (I haven't heard much about Element T in Stellis, but...)
You: (Similar code names have come up in other places...)
Sarah Schneider: You know that Kahn Corporation and my company started out in the mining industry, right?
Sarah Schneider: The difference is, their family has exclusive rights to the largest Bakerlon ore field in the Myerson Mountains starting one hundred years ago.
Sarah Schneider: The Bakerlon ores with high purity undergo quenching, refining, and processing...
Sarah Schneider: To produce the synthetic substance known as Element T.
Sarah Schneider: The higher the purity, the higher the success rate of extracting Element T.
Sarah Schneider: Our family has access to ores as well, but our extraction success rate is nowhere near Kahn Corporation's.
Sarah Schneider: There are other small competitors in the mining industry, but they all lack stable extraction technology.
You: That means the only company that can reliably extract Element T... is the Kahn Corporation?
Sarah Schneider: Yes, Kahn Corporation has been making a fortune on this near-monopolized technology for years.
Sarah Schneider: It makes me jealous...
Vyn: Miss Schneider, pardon me for asking, if Element T is critical to Bakerlon...
Vyn: Then surely Kahn Corporation isn't the only company trying to develop better extraction technology?
Sarah Schneider: Hmph, of course not.
Sarah Schneider: However, the best technology and ideas cannot be implemented without raw materials.
You: (So Kahn Corporation has a monopoly on the entire supply chain of Element T.)
You: (But Hill's research topic was "Improving the Success Rate of Element T Extraction"... That seems contradictory?)
You: ...Miss Schneider, I have one more question.
You: You said Kahn Corporation has maintained a monopoly on the Element T synthetic technology, so...
You: Wouldn't Hill's research project jeopardize that monopoly?
You: But based on what you said, it seems Kahn Corporation was in support of Hill?
Sarah Schneider: Of course, they were. Kahn Corporation does have a monopoly on the synthetic technology, but that doesn't mean their extraction technology is developed.
Sarah Schneider: Even their company has a high loss coefficient when it comes to extracting Element T.
Sarah Schneider: There's a limited supply of ore. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Sarah Schneider: They would've been ecstatic if Hill figured out a way to improve production.
Marius: Then why wouldn't they expend their resources to find Hill? Or, at the very least, try to convince her to come back?
Sarah Schneider: The whole incident feels peculiar.
Sarah Schneider: Nothing much happened after news of Hill's disappearance.
Sarah Schneider: In recent years, Kahn Corporation has become much more unpredictable.
Sarah pauses for a moment, a scornful expression on her face.
Sarah Schneider: I'm still confused about why they're shifting their business to tourism.
Sarah Schneider: That's why I needed to get on this train and hire a legal team...
Sarah Schneider: To figure out what kind of stunt they're trying to pull with this train ride.
You: ...
You: (No wonder Miss Schneider invited us to experience this train ride...)
You: (She presumably hoping we can exploit some legal loophole in Kahn Corporation's practices.)
Sarah Schneider: What else do you want to know?
You: Yes...
You are about to ask her about Sheila Hill and Kahn Corporation, when suddenly...
"Stop fighting!"
"Calm down, let's be civilized about this!"
"Ahh! Mr. Dennis, what are you doing!? Calm down!"
You: (What's going on? Is someone fighting?)
Sarah Schneider: What's going on? All that noise. People are so ill-mannered nowadays.
You: Miss Schneider, why don't we go check it out?
Sarah does not object, waving her hand to indicate her understanding.
