Theory and Practice / Warning: Data Anomaly

"Let's go for a walk."

"I want to make a model..."

Klein signed the report and listened blankly as the two sisters discussed how to spend their vacation. She simply counted the work that was still unfinished and felt that vacation was something that was far away from her.

Many people felt that Klein's workload was too heavy, and that she was not just working from dawn till dusk, but spending most of her time in the laboratory, often falling asleep while working at night. They believed that Mobius was exploiting his assistant too much.

In fact, Klein took on all of this work himself. Mobius's workload was no less than hers. After Klein arrived at Mobius's laboratory, he found that Mobius spent almost all day in the office, never leaving the room and never taking a break. Even though Mobius had some ways to relieve fatigue, the workload was terrifyingly heavy, even if she worked day and night.

As for why he didn't assign the task to Danzhu and Cangxuan... it wasn't that he really thought they would be a burden. They were capable of handling some basic but demanding tasks. However, seeing how cheerful and carefree they were all day, Klein didn't want to put too much pressure on them.

However, there hasn't been much work lately, perhaps because the Sixth Herrscher took away most of the Honkai creature in the city before her death, resulting in a lack of materials for Mobius's research.

Picking up the report, Klein toward Mobius's office, thinking that he might try the new lobster-flavored milk tea in the cafeteria today.

As she approached the door, she noticed it was ajar. Thinking that Lin might have forgotten to close it when he came out to deliver the sashimi, she was about to knock when she heard Mobius's panting breath.

"You... come closer, or I'll smell it..."

Klein the spot, then burst out laughing at herself a second later.

It's probably just a misunderstanding from a comic book; only overly sensitive people would misinterpret it.

So, interrupted by this, she forgot to knock and simply pushed open the half-closed door.

"Doctor, report..."

The composed expression froze on his face.

In the dim light, a strange smell lingered in the air. The green-haired woman's white coat slipped off her rounded shoulders as she sat on the office desk, raising her beautiful, muscular legs, encased in semi-transparent, alluring black stockings, and staring nervously at the serious-looking helmeted man.

Meanwhile, the helmeted man held the long, artistic leg in his hands and solemnly brought his nose, which was not covered by the helmet, close to the woman's thigh.

As Klein entered, both pairs of eyes fell on her.

"..."

"..."

Lin turned around and continued to approach.

"Wait a minute!" Klein grabbed Lin's shoulder.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Theory and Practice

"..."

"Don't you have anything to explain?"

Klein stood in the middle, separating the two people. Lin stood on the right, arms crossed, looking indifferent. Mobius sat on the left, expressionless, with his head turned to the side.

"..." Lin looked at her with a completely clueless expression.

"What were you doing just now? Well, I must have misunderstood, right?" Klein was still trying to think positively. Putting aside Mobius, Lin was an emotionally detached person who acted uprightly and prioritized official business.

Lin casually said, "There's no misunderstanding."

"... Smell the stockings?"

"Um."

"No coercion? No accidents? No experimental nature?"

"No."

"..."

Lin shook his head solemnly and said, "To be precise, I also intend to smell their body odor."

The two argued about whether Mobius was wearing clothes that hadn't been washed for a long time, and then they debated her overall cleanliness. Since she hadn't changed her clothes, it was possible that she hadn't even taken a shower, so smelling her body odor was also a way to confirm whether she had showered.

"Doctor?" Klein reluctantly turned his head toward Mobius.

Mobius nodded coldly. "Yes."

Sometimes Klein felt that the world was changing too fast, so fast that before she could react, the image of two people she respected had collapsed in her mind.

What on earth happened to cause these two people, who were fine this morning, to end up like this?

Wait a minute, Mr. Lin has been coming to the lab frequently lately, and he's always carrying something. Judging from the sashimi he brought out today, it means that what he's carrying is actually food prepared for the PhD student. In other words, the two of them have been secretly eating together in the private office for some time now.

Just to be on the safe side, it's best to ask.

"Mr. Lin, when did you two start..." She managed a weak, unattractive smile.

"Thirteen minutes and twenty-one seconds ago," Lin stated the exact time their argument began.

"Huh? You've only just started doing that kind of thing today! And, in the office no less?"

Lin raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet and said coldly, "Is there a problem with that?"

When both parties agree, using the most direct method to demonstrate a point is convenient and effective. Shouldn't this be an excellent method of argumentation that researchers would consider excellent?

"Klein, your thinking is too conservative. This is a fatal flaw for scientific research, and even for the Fire-Chasing Moth research project." Lin stepped forward, looking down at Klein's bewildered eyes, and slowly read aloud.

Mobius nodded in agreement. "That's right, Klein. Although I think you're already better than most idiots whose brains are sealed in cement, you still need to improve your mental agility."

Klein stared at the two of them, bewildered. What did this have to do with mental agility? And this wasn't even a question of whether to be conservative or not, was it?

"But... aren't you smelling stockings?"

"It's about smelling stockings and body odor," Lin corrected. "Only through practice can you gain true knowledge. If everything is just speculation in the depths of your mind, then it will deviate greatly from the actual situation. Even something as simple as smelling stockings is very particular."

Klein's face suddenly flushed red. "What's so special about this! Isn't this just perverted!"

"Let me ask you, what do you think would be the difference in smell between the stockings of a vibrant high school girl who has run five kilometers on the track and the stockings of a middle-aged woman who is too plump to fit on a sofa?"

"This..." Klein waved her hands, at a loss for words.

"Most people would think that the former's stockings would smell better, but in reality, the former would only have a sour and pungent sweaty smell, while the latter might have a pleasant perfume scent. That's the difference between imagination and reality." Lin Shu pointed his finger and said sternly and impartially, "Only by actually smelling both and comparing them will you know that the so-called girlish body fragrance and sweat fragrance are all fake. Stockings are just a carrier, and they won't smell better just because they are worn by good-looking people."

"Hmph, it's normal for a newbie who doesn't know anything to say such things."

At this moment, Mobius, who had been observing coldly, suddenly spoke up to refute Lin. She smiled disdainfully, "The so-called body odor does exist. It is a personal physiological scent related to sex hormones, that is, hormones. When it is excreted with sweat, it stimulates the nerve center of the opposite sex, speeds up the breathing process, and provides the brain with sufficient oxygen supply, ultimately causing excitement. The content of these secretions under the armpits is particularly high. After removing the sweat, what is left is basically hormones."

"I see. I've learned something new. Now I understand why so many people are attracted to those sweaty sports stockings." Lin nodded thoughtfully. "See, Klein, this is the price I pay for speaking out without actually putting it into practice. I'm being ridiculed by those who hold the truth."

Klein was completely numb. Her eyes were vacant, and she forced a smile, her expression blank. "Is... is that so?"

"Yes, there are many groups on the outside of the internet who are obsessed with women's feet, but sadly most of them cannot have contact with women, so they turn their attention to stockings and have developed various ways to smell stockings. This is what I mean by 'being particular'."

"They have gone through all sorts of practices, even those that are considered perverted, to relentlessly study women's stockings. They know exactly which age group's stockings are the cleanest, which material's stockings are the most transparent and feel the best, and what position allows them to smell the largest area. They have even spent money and their future in human society to complete these practices."

"This is precisely the spirit of exploration that is unconventional, forward-thinking, and great."

Lin couldn't help but sigh, paying tribute to those perverts who were willing to give up their place in human society.

"You may be a complete novice, but you're quite good at thinking." Mobius's lips curled into a beautiful smile. "Klein, your respect for him doesn't seem to be without reason."

But now Klein wants to take back his respect for Lin, along with her.

"But those people are just satisfying their desires." However, Mobius's tone shifted, his sharp eyes questioning Lin's words. "Their actions can cause psychological harm to those who conduct research. Even my experiments usually involve the consent of the subjects. What they are doing is not true 'practice'."

"Is that so? But who should pay for the harm they suffer? They are aware of social death."

"Don't joke around. Humans are just creatures that can forget the wisdom they evolved to satisfy their instincts. If they really had a spirit of practice, they should have conducted experiments with various quantitative variables after consulting and compromising with the test subjects, instead of stealing stockings and secretly following women."

Lin's deep voice, delivered through the helmet with an imposing intensity, said, "But the way you described would cause even greater harm. Perhaps what they're pursuing isn't just stockings, but a pursuit of stockings that goes against morality, or even evolving into a mere pursuit of stockings, not women's stockings! Isn't that a form of harm to men as well?"

Mobius's voice grew louder. "How could that be! After stockings broke free from the singular concept of men's clothing, their high degree of association with women meant that such desires stemmed from a longing for women! Therefore, consent should be sought openly and honestly!"

"Sneaking around might prevent the other party from noticing, and they might not get hurt!"

"That's only one-sided! Openly smelling stockings might hurt both sides, but it's definitely less harmful than one-sided harm!"

"Smell it secretly!"

"Smell it openly and honestly!"

Klein had forgotten how he got back to his room.

The usually enigmatic and smiling Mobius and the mostly silent Lin were arguing heatedly about "how to smell stockings," their faces flushed and breathless. This even attracted onlookers outside the lab, with all sorts of professional and vulgar words popping out of their mouths, accompanied by sneers and sharp, piercing shouts.

That was truly the most spectacular "academic debate" since the headquarters... no, since the establishment of Moth Chaser, unprecedented and probably never to be repeated.

Klein felt he really needed a rest.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Warning of Data Anomalies

[Simulation Preparation]

[Cabin air pressure meets standards]

[User neural connections complete.]

[Organ scan stable]

[Pupil pattern confirmed]

[Simulation Start]

Lin stood amidst the desolate, deserted ruins, taking slow, deep breaths. Having not undergone simulated training for a long time, he needed some time to readjust.

In a simulation device, all bodily sensations, including those related to the body, are merely products of the device's simulation based on real-world data. It cannot achieve 100% accuracy in its simulation, which can lead to a sense of unease among users, such as a feeling that "this is not my body." In severe cases, this can result in rejection reactions that can affect the normal functioning of real organs.

However, this time the adaptation speed was faster than expected. In just a few breaths, Lin felt that he could use his body perfectly.

"..." He held his palm in front of his eyes, his fair skin, unarmored, gleaming in the setting sun. He clenched his fist, feeling the strength within.

It's been at least a year and a half since the last simulation, yet I've adapted much faster than ever before.

Even if you try to rule out that possibility, once it flashes through your mind, you can no longer ignore it.

After entering the Herrscher Core, he underwent a certain change, a "change" that has not yet been fully manifested.

"Lin, where are you?"

As Lin pondered, he heard a sound from a pop-up box in the air ahead. He casually made a few gestures in the air, and the Powered Armor and helmet slowly assembled onto his body from feet to head in a data stream fashion.

"You can see my coordinates." Lin said as he took out the simulated weapon to check it. Even things simulated by data can be wrong, even if the probability is so small as to be negligible.

To prevent data from being mixed up due to errors, multiple simulations are usually conducted with a certain distance between participants, depending on the complexity of the data.

When the woman with long cherry-colored hair appeared behind Lin fully armed, his helmet data had just finished loading. Sakura could only see that his eyebrows and black hair were covered by the plain outer edge of the helmet.

Even though she had witnessed it once before, when Sakura saw Lin's gentle, delicate eyebrows covered by the cold outer armor and his entire demeanor changed from gentle to frigid, she still found it incredible. Just how outstanding must a person's appearance be for a small part of it to affect their overall temperament?

"Can you adapt?" Lin asked.

Sakura's attire was identical to the light armor she wore in reality. These items and weapons could be replicated through individual scanning. However, Lin was not worried about these things, but rather about Sakura's condition.

For martial artists like Sakura and Hana, their mastery of their bodies is far beyond what ordinary people can match. The adaptation time required for them to undergo simulated training and the possibility of adverse reactions are also beyond what ordinary people can compare to.

"Hmm... I haven't experienced the abnormal organ reactions you mentioned, but it's just that..." Sakura's face looked much more somber than it did outside. She clutched her chest, her eyebrows furrowed in disarray. "It's very uncomfortable, and it hasn't completely subsided since I came in."

"... Then a simple simulation will suffice."

The reason Lin and Ying are conducting simulation training is so that they won't need too much adjustment when carrying out missions later. They are currently unable to perform some simple tasks, so they can only strengthen their cooperation through this training mode for new recruits.

The simulation location was set in Changkong City during the Third Honkai War. Among all the Honkai battlefields affected by the environment, the Third Honkai War is particularly typical and is the simulation location that most new recruits choose.

After confirming the types of Honkai zombie and Honkai Beast, they began the operation, which was directed by Lin, who pointed out Sakura's mistakes, as she had never cooperated with humans before.

From noon to late at night, they trained without interruption for about seven hours. Because the bodies projected in the simulation device were only affected by mental fatigue, the two people with good mental resilience only felt slightly tired after the high-intensity training.

"That's enough training for today." Lin Kanying hadn't fully adapted after all this time, so she decided to end the training. "Let's rest for a bit and then go get something to eat."

"Um... I made sushi..." Sakura hesitated and spoke softly as she put the knife back at her waist.

"... Then let's eat together."

Lin didn't say anything more. He opened the system's backend and clicked "End Simulation".

"..."

"..."

After a while, Lin's hand, which had been hovering in mid-air, trembled. He uttered a puzzled "Hmm?" and pressed the end simulation button again.

However, the system seemed to have crashed and was unresponsive. Just as Lin was about to access the system's database to check what had happened, a sudden change occurred.

"Call--"

The surrounding scenery of Changkong City suddenly changed drastically. A large number of buildings and the corpses of the slain Honkai creature were transformed into data and reassembled into another form. The massive data stream within it was like the world changing, the sun and moon changing, and the wind blowing and the sea tsunami blowing. In an instant, it was presented to the two of them in an abstract way.