Preparations for the Ashes Project / The Doctor's Perspective

Thirty seconds had passed since the first group entered the bathroom. Apart from the sound of the door being kicked, there was no further movement from the first person. He had an uneasy feeling, so he immediately contacted them using the communicator after the scheduled contact time.

"..."

No one answered.

"Everyone, be on alert..."

"Bang!"

The gunshot, after being silenced, suddenly rang out.

Then, the lights above their heads went out.

A single, emerald-green eye silently appeared before him.

Chapter 44 Prerequisites for Ash Project

"Phyllis's shop is just ahead..."

After slaying the last Honkai Beast, Mei frowned and muttered to herself as she stared at the lit anchor point.

She hadn't been able to properly search for clues in the Imaginary Tree for quite some time, as she had been constantly constrained by Lin's questions. It was as if he had arranged every step she should take, and she could only continue to uncover the truth if he allowed it. If he didn't allow it, no one would reveal any information to her.

This gave Mei a huge headache. Her main reason for Imaginary Tree was to find the truth about Honkai and the Herrscher, but there seemed to be some rule here that visitors had to play the role of detectives and play a guessing game with them.

Fortunately, Pardo's presence offered Mei some comfort. This catgirl, who was clearly of the same generation as Hua but called herself Mei, was completely different from the other Flame-Chasers, except for her love of doing odd jobs. She could make Mei feel relaxed for a short time.

After entering the anchor point, Mei saw Pardo's shop in the distance, but the person standing next to the shop made her turn pale.

Lin, who had rarely had direct contact with her since the last time, stood as straight as a pine tree, looking as if he had been eagerly waiting.

Based on Mei's understanding of Lin, any seemingly normal behavior of his, just like Elysia's smile, meant that something extraordinary was about to happen.

But having already come in, Mei had no choice but to grit her Mei and walk past with a sour face.

"... You've arrived."

"What riddle do you want me to guess this time?" After so many times, Mei felt numb. Her countless attempts to guard against the Flame-Chasers had failed, and the answers she had sought so many times had been used as riddles to tease her. She no longer expected Lin to say anything useful to her this time.

"I'm here to answer your question."

"Oh... um?"

Mei initially didn't care, but was then shocked by Lin's words.

"One."

This means Lin will only answer one question.

But Mei thought it was pretty good. She only needed to think back on what she had done recently to figure out why Lin was here.

"Because I've already found part of the answer to the mystery?"

Lin remained noncommittal.

Lin was both encouraging her to continue exploring and affirming some of her achievements.

"I will only answer 'one' question, so think carefully about what you want to ask?"

Mei fell into deep thought after hearing this.

Without a doubt, Mei most wants to know is what "Honkai" really is. It is the most profound and greatest crisis for these two civilizations, and the reason why Mei entered the Imaginary Tree.

But Lin's usual wordplay was causing her some trouble. What if Lin didn't know what the Honkai was either? What if the answer only existed in the Thirteen Heroes or in the depths of the Imaginary Tree? Lin had emphasized that he was "answering," not "giving an answer," so saying "I don't know" would also count as an answer.

The Artificial Intelligence "Lin" is the best example. If you ask a question that Lin thinks is inappropriate for the current situation, it will definitely brush you off.

Therefore, this question must touch upon a part of the truth, but at the same time, it must not cross Lin's bottom line, and he must definitely know the answer to it.

The truth about the Imaginary Tree, the traitors, "Lin", the Ash Project... many options flashed through my mind.

After pondering for a few minutes, Mei tapped her arm armor and asked respectfully, "What is the significance of your existence to the Imaginary Tree?"

It is not the Imaginary Tree itself, nor the forest itself, but the relationship between the two.

She had asked this question to others, but they all gave ambiguous answers. It seemed that in their eyes, Lin was no different from them. However, Mei always believed that Lin was the most special being in the Imaginary Tree, even more mysterious than Elysia.

Because his mere existence is already quite incongruous.

Then there is only one possibility: Lin's memory exists and plays a crucial role in the Imaginary Tree.

However, even after Mei felt she had asked a nice question, Lin still didn't respond at all, which made it seem like he had guessed she would ask that question.

"If we consider the Imaginary Tree as a huge archive, then the most valuable information in it is the memory of the Thirteen Heroes." Lin's tone was calm and slow, and his voice came from behind the helmet as he explained, "The maintainer is Klein, and she is the only non-memory entity besides the visitors."

"Whether it's an imprint or Flame-Chasers's memory, its value is immeasurable to outsiders, but to the Flame-Chasers, the memory is just a projection that stores memories. As long as they exist, the memory has no further meaning."

"The Moth of Fire believes that creating thirteen of humanity's most powerful warriors out of thin air, who are not under its control, is a huge threat, even if they are just memory entities."

"The difference in their views on memory storage caused a debate between the Fire Moth and the Flame-Chasers at the time. Of course, the focus of the debate was not actually the Elysian Realm itself... However, after Elysia negotiated with the Fire Moth, the Flame-Chasers agreed to a 'compromise' by allowing a soldier who was not Flame-Chasers to store his memories in the Imaginary Tree."

Mei understood Lin's words, and she asked in surprise, "So your memory was planted in the Imaginary Tree by the Fire Moth to monitor the Thirteen Heroes?"

This truth truly shocked Mei.

All the Flame-Chasers she met, even the Chrono with the worst temper, Qian Jie, were exceptionally close to Lin. The others either respected or understood him, so she naturally assumed that Lin's bond with the Thirteen Heroes was the main reason for his existence in the Imaginary Tree.

But now, the reality is far from the rosy picture she imagined? Is Lin a monitor? And also a manager?

"But the Previous Civilization has disappeared, shouldn't you be freed from your surveillance mission by now?"

"Yes, but this task is only one of my missions. You've already seen that door, haven't you?"

"The door that holds your 'chaotic memories'?"

"That's right, it's a simulation of the Imaginary Tree. You could even think of it as an imperfect miniature Imaginary Tree, where all the people and things are created through memories," Lin said somberly. "At the same time, there is another 'Lin' that you call 'Artificial Intelligence'. Memories, body, and consciousness—that's the entire existence of 'Lin' in the Imaginary Tree."

"We will only reunite when necessary to complete Ash Project."

"... So, what is the moment when it is needed?" Mei asked impatiently.

Lin glanced at her indifferently. "You've already asked one question."

"..."

Chapter 45 The Doctor's Perspective

"Cough cough cough... cough!"

Lin spat out the blood from his mouth, a mouthful of bloody phlegm mixed with red, green and purple sputum hitting the tiles. He touched the bullet hole in his abdomen, the wound from when he couldn't dodge in time.

His mobility was greatly limited after losing a leg, but the main reason for his injury was that these people were too strong.

If we make a concrete numerical comparison of combat power, Lin in his armed state has ten combat power points, while in his normal state he has six. Kevin in his normal state has seven points, while most other non-captain-level soldiers hover around three or four.

These pursuers who wanted to capture him had a combat strength of at least five points, which was higher than that of ordinary Firemoth soldiers.

The battle ended quickly, but the commotion caused by the broken lights would likely attract attention soon. Lin searched the people and found all the bullets on them, then found their Firemoth badges.

Sure enough, these people are all like moths drawn to a flame.

He frowned and put the badge in his pocket. Recalling what the person who gave him the potion had said, "There are still many people waiting for you," he guessed that the Firemoth must be facing some kind of unexpected situation, and that it was related to him.

Since the Fire Moths are after him, his plan to return to headquarters from the airport in a transport plane is ruined, and he must first find out what happened to the Fire Moths.

However, his deteriorating health necessitates his visit to Mobius; otherwise, it's uncertain whether he can maintain his sanity.

But how do I get back...?

"Ding—Attention passengers of A2365, the flight to the Far East is about to take off..."

Lin looked up at the flight schedule on the LCD screen. Amidst the changing light, his bright green pupils gradually dimmed and turned back to pitch black.

Far East...

He remembered that the Fifth Branch of the Spasi had been rebuilt.

The consent form flashed before his eyes. Lin pondered for a while, and as the first raindrop fell before the heavy rain, he picked up the Flame Chaser badge and stumbled toward the Flame Chaser's secret hideout.

Lin is going to take a gamble.

"Dr. Su, I'm here to retrieve the remains of a Honkai Sickness patient. Please cooperate."

A burly man wearing sunglasses stood in front of the exhausted doctor. His sharply defined face had a cold, inhuman expression. He placed the papers in front of the doctor, who glanced at the contents and felt even more powerless.

Recovering the remains...

Only two months have passed since the last time, and another patient has died under the fangs of Honkai Sickness.

Su used every available treatment, but over the years, she still couldn't snatch a single life from the clutches of death.

The high walls of Changkong City were demolished, but Su could not feel the sunlight shining into Changkong City. He still remembered the night he met the people who chased the fire moths and the words they told him.

Having dealt with him a few times, Su and the man from the suspicious organization in front of her were somewhat familiar with each other. Without much small talk, Su signed the paper and handed it back to him, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, Bolong."

"No, it's nothing, it's just my duty."

Bolong uttered these words with a somewhat complicated expression.

When the Fifth Branch was destroyed, Bo Long left in advance and escaped the disaster, but he was filled with self-blame. If he had insisted on staying by SiZhi's side, could he have protected the Doctor and his family?

Bolong cannot accept that his own happiness has led to the misfortune of another family.

Even though the doctor told him afterwards that it wasn't his fault, Bolong knew it was just the doctor's tolerance and kindness.

He couldn't forgive himself.

Therefore, Bolong put the doctor's safety first after that, and treated his duty as something above life itself.

"Do you have a treatment plan?" Su had asked this many times, but each time he still hoped to hear a positive answer from them. This was the most important reason why they provided the remains to the Fire Moth.

Bolong said seriously, "I'm sorry, I can't disclose information to people outside the organization."

"So, the application I submitted last time..."

"Dr. Su, you don't yet meet the standards to join the Firemoth, so I'm really sorry." Bo Long slowly shook his head as Su frowned. "In your application, you mentioned that you had met a member of the Firemoth, but we cannot verify that with them."

"Is that so..." Su let out a heavy sigh and sat down in the chair with a gloomy expression.

"Then please submit it for me again..."

After having the body, which was wrapped and protected in layers, taken away, Bolong said goodbye to Su and went to a man with only one hand wearing a white coat outside the hospital.

"Doctor, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"It's nothing, it's nice to visit patients here."

Compared to a year ago, Spasi's hair and beard had grown quite a bit longer due to neglect, but his demeanor had become even more refined. He leaned against the red bricks next to the ivy, watching the diverse people coming and going on the lawn under the azure sky, and shook his head with a smile.

"It's been a long time since I've been to a hospital to see patients like an ordinary doctor. After seeing so many corpses, I've realized that even the seriously ill have vivid and warm expressions."

Bolong didn't respond to Spasi's words. He said, "... Doctor, Dr. Su still wants to join the Firemoth."

"Reject him next time."

"But...no, it's nothing." Bolong wanted to say something more, but he knew the Doctor had his own considerations, so he stopped asking the trivial question.

"Have you seen Ragna?" Spasi asked.

"I haven't seen Doctor Laguna; Dr. Su has been the one handing over the duties to me these past few times."

"..."

Spasi didn't speak, but his eye twitched involuntarily.

"Looks like I'll have to go see my old friend next time." Spasi pursed his lips, tightened his white coat as if he had caught a chill, and waved his hand. "Let's go, it's time to go back, Bolong."

"Yes, Doctor." Bo Long hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Doctor, what about the incident at headquarters..."

"Don't worry about it."

Spasi said coldly, "We just need to do our own thing."

"What are you talking about regarding the incident at headquarters?"

A cold, deep voice cut between the two. Bo Long's body stiffened, and he instinctively stepped in front of Spasi, watching warily as the masked, one-legged man with a cane emerged from around the corner.

"Who are you?"

"Wait a minute, Bolong, there's no need to be so wary. This is an old friend of ours."