The Elusive Truth

The sanatorium on Dusk Street is a stark contrast to the chaotic street itself.

When people mention Dusk Street, they usually think of three things: no government, no order, and no economy. It is a breeding ground for evil created by history and its residents, no less than Kosma's hometown.

But only those who have a clear understanding of themselves and Dusk Street know that Dusk Street actually possesses a warmth that exists like starlight in the night.

Pardo's impression of the sanatorium was only twofold: first, the people there were good people; second, the sanatorium was quite spacious, making it a good place to shelter from the rain...

"There are even more people than last time." Pardo silently slipped into the sanatorium. She strolled leisurely on the rafters like a cat, looking down like a real cat, counting on her fingers, "Why don't we just bring him here..."

Most of the patients were elderly people and children. Pardo saw many patients who were unable to take care of themselves. She thought that the elderly and children had weaker immune systems, so they were more susceptible to illness.

As she wandered around, Pardo arrived at a place she had never been before. Thinking she had thoroughly scouted the place, Pardo pushed open the half-closed door and slipped inside.

"..."

Upon entering, Pardo was immediately struck by the atmosphere of the room.

Under the stained-glass window, the setting sun at 5 PM embraces the tiny world with outstretched arms. Quiet dust drifts and settles in the light and shadow. Four wine-red sandalwood pillars stand solemnly at the four corners of the room. The semi-circular room structure is grand and majestic, as sacred as the whisper of a deity.

The neatly arranged seats were empty. A person knelt in the center of the room, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. The colorful light fell on the Nun's headdress, making her close her eyes in prayer even more devoutly.

Even just looking at their backs, one can feel their sanctity.

So this is a prayer room?

Pardo knew a little about this kind of thing; the person kneeling was probably Nun from this sanatorium.

Although she didn't understand why they had to kneel to pray, Pardo thought the scene was beautiful and uplifting.

Now that we've scouted the route, let's go.

"Click".

"Hey, Aponia, come here."

A man gripped the doorknob and shouted at the Nun in a gruff voice, showing absolutely no respect.

But the Nun quietly opened her eyes, showing no sign of anger or resentment. After getting up and dusting off her skirt, she spoke in a clear, ethereal voice, "Chrono, is there something you need?"

"Hmph, someone else..."

The Nun followed the man out of the room, and after the door closed, there was no one left in the room.

Pardo held her breath and carefully closed the window. Only after making sure no one had seen her did she turn and leave quickly.

Memory is fundamental to shaping a person; past experiences often determine one's future.

Even the deepest memories, which the person can no longer recall, still influence their decisions.

The reason this memory was hidden might be due to a shock, or perhaps... it was intentional.

Lin opened his eyes in this distorted space. He couldn't remember when he last came here, but he did leave his mark here so that he could find the right path later.

"Honey, look at our baby, he's not crying or fussing at all."

"Yes, we're so excited! His eyes are so bright and clear, and his appearance, even as a newborn, is so gentle and perfect!"

Let's give him a name.

Lin stood beside the couple. He couldn't remember what they looked like anymore. In the fragmented space, all he could see was the "father" picking up the silent baby and looking at his child with the kind of gaze one might give a work of art.

They were excited, but not for the birth of a tiny life. Not even for the birth of their own offspring.

"Your hometown is Shenzhou, so I'll give him a name with Shenzhou style... Okay, you'll be called..." Under Lin's gaze, the "father" smiled and said to the child who knew nothing, "'Zero,' how about it? A name full of symbolic meaning, a name that conforms to intuitive thinking."

"You are the beginning of a new era for mankind, and this name will surely be a great name that will be recorded in history."

At this moment, "Zero" did not understand the meaning of his father's words, but when he saw the person holding him smiling, he smiled along with him.

However, his innocent smile shocked the man.

Why... are you laughing?

After a brief moment of surprise, the man was followed by disappointment and anger.

"How can you laugh! You're [Zzz]! How can you laugh like me, like those ordinary people!"

"Honey!"

Lin coldly watched as the "mother" stopped the "father" from throwing the baby to the ground, but it wasn't out of maternal love. She earnestly told the man about their hardships and assured him that Zero would meet their expectations in the future.

But Lin couldn't understand what they were saying.

Lin understands the meaning of each word, but when they are put together, he can only hear the extremely rational terminology of researchers.

So Zero was born into this family. The first thing his "father" taught him was not to call out "mother" or "father," but to never show any expression from then on.

Any expression that resembles that of an ordinary person is a desecration of that perfect face.

An atheist treats his child as a god and is obsessed with him.

As Lingtian grew up, he displayed extraordinary learning abilities, which delighted the couple. Their gaze towards the child became increasingly tender, joyful, and respectful.

Until one day, the man woke up from his sleep and came to the sleeping Zero like a walking corpse, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

"What's wrong, darling?" the woman asked when she saw the man standing there blankly after waking up.

The man turned around and said in an indescribable tone—

"Will this child... love humans when he grows up?"

He muttered to himself, like a madman shouting, "What if he hates humans? What if he hurts the humans we love? Wouldn't we have created a monster?"

"He's not like ordinary people; he'll definitely look down on those common humans. Rather than let that happen, I should do it now..."

The woman screamed in terror, "No way!"

The scream woke Zero up. He sat on the bed, obediently following his father's instructions, without showing any expression.

Exquisite, indifferent, rational, like an inorganic substance.

The woman smiled tremblingly at the man, shielding the child from view. "No, darling, our child wouldn't do such a thing..."

"Because he can still change, even a tiny change."

She went out the door and soon returned with something.

One, a medical chainsaw.

"Children's memories and consciousness are easily altered, so let's use the methods we're best at to manipulate the brain..."

The "mother" smiled gently, her eyes filled with love for her child, and started the chainsaw.

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Mysterious Truth

"To alter consciousness through brain surgery?"

Upon hearing Klein's words, Mobius put down his work, turned his chair around, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Why are you interested in this?"

"Um, my recent paper..." Klein explained in her uniquely soft voice.

"Oh... that's what it is." Mobius searched his memory and remembered that a scholar had mentioned related research at an academic conference. "To be honest, not many people pay attention to this technology. There are many more stable and convenient methods now. Operating on the brain often leads to some accidents."

Modifying the human body itself is one of the most laborious and thankless techniques, usually accompanied by immeasurable side effects.

However, true technology often originates from the most dangerous places.

The technology that fuses humans and Honkai Beast, named the Flame-Chaser project, originated from human experimentation.

"The complexity of the human brain is far beyond what Artificial Intelligence can match. For example, Prometheus, created by May, seems to be no different from an ordinary person, but in fact, in many ways he is just imitating Lin's way of thinking."

"To modify the brain, the conditions are not only high-precision instruments and technology, but also the age of the patient. The older the patient is, the less impact there will be. Once the brain is mature, physical methods can at most remove some tissue to achieve a destructive effect."

Lobectomy is one of the representative brain surgeries, and it received many accolades before it was banned from widespread use as an inhumane neurosurgery.

"What, you really want to try it?" Mobius licked his lips. "Sure, in the following experiments, brain modification will also be an important topic."

Klein looked extremely flustered. "Um... I... can I?"

"...never mind."

The surgery was a success. At least when Lin saw Ling's eyes, which had lost all their luster, he closed his eyes and exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling that the surgery could be considered a success.

Given the couple's capabilities, it was easy for them to leave few post-operative scars on Zero's head. Zero recovered in less than a month and "returned" to his normal appearance.

At that moment, a sense of unease welled up inside me.

This sense of incongruity stems from Lin's conflicting memories. His hazy childhood memories begin a month after his birth. He remembers that his parents were supposed to die in a shopping mall fire, which, according to Prometheus, occurred six months after his birth.

In Ke Ling's memory, her parents had been by her side for the past six months. When the fire broke out, they went to rescue people, but they did not die.

Then, all the memories became out of place.

"Everyone now believes we died in that fire."

"What about our research data?"

"Give it to them. Even if they simply follow the instructions and conduct the experiment again, it won't work. This is something only our genes can do."

"What we need to do next is raise this child, and he will understand what he should do."

The "mother" stroked the post-operative scars on the penny and nodded firmly to the "father".

Next, the two, who were hiding in the Far East, watched Zero grow up day by day. Their identities changed to teacher and housewife. Everyone knew that they had a child, but no one had ever seen the child.

He grew up in a prison without bars on his back.

Lin stood behind Ling and saw him learning the knowledge his parents had arranged for him. Surprisingly, the knowledge was not some profound scientific theory, but just common sense that ordinary people learn in school.

They don't intend to let Zero follow their path, or rather, they are actually afraid.

He fears that once his learning ability reaches or surpasses theirs, he will understand what they did to him.

Zero's information integration and processing abilities were already beginning to emerge at that time. He could extract a complete outline and key information from a book in just ten minutes and reconstruct the story.

But Zero became increasingly silent, and he seemed less like a child and more like an adult with clear thinking and logic.

Of course, all stories come to an end, and this couple was no exception.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out, and "Father" fell into a pool of blood beside "Mother".

Ling stood silently in the burning house that had once been called "home," watching the fire rage.

Lin's face was illuminated in a half-orange-red hue.

He and Zero watched together as the fire that had consumed the past, the "fire of memory."

"Who are you?"

A person came up behind him and asked.

Zero turned around and saw a pistol.

Printed on it is a burning moth.

"...Zero," he said coldly in his childish voice.

"Elysia is gone too? Are you kidding me?"

Hen didn't know whether he should smash the table with his fist or show a strange expression. The current situation made it impossible to predict how things would develop next.

High Council of the Firemoth organization was assassinated. The bodies had just been cremated, and before the headquarters could even mourn, they had to turn the entire base upside down to search for the killer.

Before this, Lin, the captain of the Squad Seven, a cripple with no mobility, mysteriously disappeared from the headquarters ward, and now, even Elysia has vanished.

There are only records of Elysia leaving headquarters, but where she went remains a mystery.

Kevin shook his head at Hen and said, "She sometimes doesn't report her travels, but the situation at headquarters is special right now. Elysia disappears at this time, she will be suspected of being involved in this assassination."

"... I don't believe it."

"Me too." Kevin sent a file to Hen, containing encrypted images and text that only the captain could share. "I'd rather believe that Elysia went to find Lin, but the problem is... Lin is also suspected of being the assassin."

"What's this?"

Hen saw that the document contained a weapon design drawing, shaped like a pair of bizarre giant claws. Even just from the 3D model, Hen could feel a murderous aura emanating from it.

Besides the model, the document also contained related text descriptions. These were encrypted files from the archives of Delta, the former head of the Research and Development Department. This weapon was originally intended to be...