As everyone's attention focused on the newly arrived Justine Hammer and Heinrich...
A clear, refreshing voice characteristic of a young man came from the other side.
"Apologies, I should have come out to welcome you two personally upon your arrival. I was adjusting the equipment and was just about to head out when you two arrived."
Luca, dressed in a sharp suit, strode towards them, his face brimming with a bright and friendly smile.
However, seeing Luca approach, Justine's expression remained unchanged.
She merely scrutinized Luca with an unreadable gaze, then nodded coolly.
Without a word, she assumed an air of aloofness.
This attitude puzzled Luca. He didn't know what she was thinking, coming all this way personally to attend this internal test only to act like this.
On the other hand, Heinrich beside Justine was quite enthusiastic towards Luca.
He stepped forward with a warm smile, patted Luca's shoulder gently, and said with some emotion.
"No need to be so polite."
"I've always had a good personal relationship with your parents. I couldn't make it to Hermann's funeral earlier... I really should be the one apologizing to you."
Heinrich spoke very gently, adopting the posture of an elder who felt guilty and cared about Luca.
It matched Luca's enthusiastic demeanor perfectly.
However, at this moment, Luca looked at Heinrich's eyes with a peculiar expression, causing him to stumble slightly over his next words.
Although he quickly covered it up smoothly, Heinrich, standing close to him, naturally noticed.
He touched his slightly wrinkled cheek with a strange expression and asked Luca somewhat awkwardly.
"Is there something on my face?"
Saying this, he deliberately glanced at Justine Hammer beside him and joked.
"Ms. Hammer, you didn't remind me all the way here~"
Justine's attitude towards Heinrich was noticeably better. Knowing he was just teasing, she responded cooperatively.
"Nothing on your face. I think Mr. Aurantius was just a bit distracted seeing an elder he hasn't seen in a long time."
Luca, having recovered quickly, decisively took the out offered by Justine Hammer.
"Haha, indeed, it's been a while since I saw Uncle Heinrich. I remember the last time was at the Aurantius family dinner a year ago."
Hearing Luca call him "Uncle," the smile on Heinrich's face deepened, and he even joked about himself.
"Hahaha, I didn't expect an old man like me to be more eye-catching than a beauty like Ms. Hammer. The last time this happened was probably at my college graduation prom."
"Getting old, getting old. Back in the day, I was quite the figure in my fraternity."
Hearing this, the people nearby smiled and offered compliments cooperatively.
Justine Hammer just covered her mouth and chuckled lightly.
Luca then timely ushered these people to their seats.
"Uncle Heinrich and Ms. Hammer, you can take a rest here first. Let me go make some preparations."
"The setup over there is almost done. The demonstration session should start very soon."
Saying this, Luca left first with an apologetic look. Naturally, the others didn't say anything about it.
However, after Luca left, Justine Hammer took two steps back, creating a little distance from the others, and whispered to Heinrich beside her.
"What do you think? Didn't you guys have high hopes for him? Why not communicate more?"
At this moment, Heinrich still wore his gentle smile, even taking a wine glass and waving to other acquaintances in the distance.
Yet the tone of his voice was far from enthusiastic, surprisingly calm to the point of being eerie.
"Can't tell much from a few words. Ultimately, it depends on the product test later."
"Besides, it's not that I have high hopes for him. It's just that the people who do need me to observe and judge his qualifications."
As they spoke, several acquaintances approached from afar with wine glasses to greet them. The two decisively shut up, as if the previous conversation never happened.
In fact, Luca, who had walked away, also dropped the polite facade from his face.
Not that Luca noticed their pretense... well, okay, he did notice.
But in business, wearing a mask during interactions was all too normal.
So Luca wasn't concerned about that.
Instead, it was what happened just now.
Only after getting close to the two did Luca notice that Heinrich, the investor representative and old acquaintance of his parents...
His left eye was emitting a faint white fluorescent glow!!
Yes, Luca wasn't looking at his face just now; his gaze was completely drawn to that glowing left eye.
And judging by others' reactions, this white light clearly didn't exist in their eyes.
Luca was all too familiar with this situation.
What's going on? Can a human eyeball be judged as a Core Component?
What can be synthesized from this? Surely not some flesh-and-blood item like the Eye of Vecna?
Walking towards the equipment room at the edge of the venue, various wild thoughts flashed through Luca's mind, but he quickly realized.
Could that guy's left eye be a prosthetic?
Luca recalled the scene carefully. It seemed indeed that only the eyeball of the left eye emitted white light, and even the parts covered by the eyelids appeared normal.
This was why Luca only noticed the white light in his eye after getting close.
Just like when he discovered the Core Component of the [Tracking Glasses]; as long as the glasses were in the case, Luca couldn't detect them at all.
When the man smiled and squinted, the white light from the eyeball naturally became even less noticeable.
But I haven't heard of Heinrich injuring his left eye?
Heinrich wasn't lying about knowing Luca's parents well.
As old friends for over a decade, if such a thing had happened, Gina and Hermann would have known something about it.
And that level of realism? Is it really a fake eye?
Unfortunately, Baymax was still at the villa accompanying Gina and wasn't brought along by Luca today.
He couldn't exactly go up and ask, "Can I touch your eye?" to trigger the Gold Finger panel.
Figuring out why the Gold Finger judged his left eye as a Core Component would be impossible for now.
Luca could only make a mental note of it.
After all, the most important thing today was demonstrating the weapon.