Visitors from Beyond the Heavens / Wounds

"Did you just make this up again?"

Lin opened the door, turned on the light, and was quite satisfied with her home, which she had kept spotless and believed would earn her many points in the impression.

Prometheus, however, paid no attention to the room's layout. Instead, he took out his bag and rummaged through it for something.

"The indoor slippers are on the shelf." Lin changed into the indoor slippers and began to think about whether to cook a nice meal today.

Prometheus closed the door behind him, then subtly locked it, took off his shoes, and followed Lin into the living room, his black stockings treading on the floor.

"Huh? Why aren't you changing your shoes?"

"Because we won't need it in a little while," Prometheus explained calmly. "Balance Bomb will explode as long as the holder tilts. The principle is simple, but it has no practical use. So it's actually very easy to make, but no one does it."

"... So, has anyone made this bomb yet?"

"Have."

Prometheus said slowly to Lin, "Lin, can you close your eyes and then stretch out your hands? I have a gift for you."

Although Lin was still a little puzzled as to why Prometheus would suddenly give him a gift, he didn't think too much about it, closed his eyes and reached out his hand.

Soon, a heavy feeling came from his palm, and as Prometheus pressed something on that thing, a slight opening sound rang out.

"Alright, open your eyes."

Lin opened his eyes and looked at the thing in his hand with great interest...

Bomb.

It looks like a bomb no matter how you look at it.

"...Um, Miss Prometheus, may I ask...this...could it be..." Cold sweat began to break out on the back of Lin's head. He chuckled dryly as he looked at Prometheus standing in front of him.

Prometheus did not answer him, but instead began to unbutton his coat.

"... Why does this thing look like a bomb? Why are you taking your clothes off?"

"Hmm... It's complicated to explain, but basically it's like this: I like you and I want you to be mine."

Prometheus's usually expressionless face now showed a slight smile.

"But... but... this isn't a good idea." Lin swallowed hard, finally realizing that this girl seemed to have ulterior motives. "How about we just forget about it?"

The gray-haired girl, having removed her coat, tilted her head and smiled, "Only the strong have the right to refuse."

Lin's brain exploded with a buzz. Wasn't that the sentence he said to Kevin when they were chatting?

How did she find out?

"Be careful, Lin. If you're not careful and the balancing device in the bomb tilts, the whole house will be blown to bits." Prometheus approached Lin step by step, cornering him against the wall.

Lin dared not move, staring in horror at the bomb in his hand and the girl who had revealed her true face.

"Don't worry, as long as it lasts for three hours, the bomb will automatically deactivate. During this time..."

"Whoosh!"

Lin's clothes were torn.

His eyes were glistening with tears as he caught a glimpse of an open notebook that had fallen out of the girl's bag.

There were some words written on it.

"September 1st, Lin is very depressed today... thinking of Chao."

"On September 2nd, Lin was cracking down on school bullies again... I want to surpass him."

"On September 3rd, the students in the class were discussing again how scary Lin's smile was... and they wanted to surpass her."

"On September 4th, I spent the whole day looking at Lin... Xiangchao through binoculars."

"I want Lin to be unable to leave me, whether it's emotionally or... physically."

The notebook was filled with dense writing, and at that moment, Lin realized what the girl meant by "audience".

She had been observing him for a long time.

"No, no... please don't!"

"Hehehe... How adorable, Lin." Prometheus placed his hands on Lin's palms to help him steady the bomb, and then slowly... slowly... sat down.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment? From enduring loneliness to enduring desire, it's all because of you! So now, it's only natural for me to take back the loneliness that you took from me."

"I really can't contain myself."

Lin trembled and backed away, but there was nowhere left to retreat: "No—"

Seven hours later.

The wind gently blew open the door to Lin's house, and Lin lay in the hallway with dazed eyes and saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Then a slender hand grabbed his shoulder and slowly... dragged him back to the bedroom.

Chapter 41 Visitor from Beyond the Stars

"Hua, this investigation involves only the two of us, so be careful to conserve your energy." Immer handed Hua a bottle of mineral water, which Hua, who had been silent all along, shook his head and refused.

She looked preoccupied; this was the second time she had shown this expression since learning that Lin had left the Squad Seven.

"Don't worry too much, it's just a simple investigation." Immer opened a bottle of water and took a sip, licking his chapped lips from the long journey. "The mission says we don't need to fight anything we find."

After Lin left, the Squad Seven was temporarily without a leader and only carried out some simple investigation tasks. The valuable and excellent troops were so scarce that losing any one of them would be a major blow.

"No, I was just wondering if there have been too many unusual occurrences lately?"

Hua tightened her leather gloves as she walked through the desolate area, where there was no sign of life, not even a single plant.

This place is actually in the tropics, so this phenomenon is clearly abnormal.

"There have been two Emperor-class Honkai Beast this month alone. In the past, Emperor-class Honkai Beast were rarely born except in large-scale Honkai." Hua walked around cautiously, as the place was unusually quiet. "Moreover, the types of Honkai Beast and Honkai zombie have also increased dramatically."

"... The intensity of the Honkai has been constantly increasing, and it's likely that the arms race between humanity and the Honkai will continue until it truly ends." Immer nodded in agreement. "Moreover, this abnormal Honkai Energy phenomenon..."

"We're almost there, just ahead." Hua suddenly raised her hand to stop Immer. She cautiously stared ahead, and Immer followed her gaze, taking out his weapon and detector.

The abnormal Honkai Energy phenomenon has not yet been officially named. The first occurrence was in the southeast of Shenzhou. Honkai Energy detectors covering the entire Shenzhou showed that the Honkai Energy in a certain area increased by five percentage points. In the following two weeks, it occurred six more times in various parts of Shenzhou.

The overall increase in Honkai Energy is not significant, and it can only cause small-scale Honkai. However, the increase is constant each time, which is noteworthy.

Therefore, headquarters dispatched some teams to investigate, including the Squad Seven.

Their gazes converged on the same point: a small, recessed pit. It didn't seem very deep, but the Honkai Energy readings on the detector showed that the Honkai Energy near this pit was unusually high.

They exchanged a glance, silently gripped their weapons, and cautiously stepped towards the small pit.

After they reached a distance where they could see inside the pit, they stood on tiptoe and peered inside. What they saw was...

There was nothing there.

The small pit looked neat and tidy, and you could see right to the end, so you could tell at a glance that there was nothing inside.

There were no strange plants, nor did any Honkai Beast appear.

Even so, they did not let their guard down, but instead went to investigate the small pit.

"There's no mistake, the Honkai Energy beyond the normal level." Wearing protective gloves, Immer rubbed the edge of the small pit. He frowned, as if he had noticed something was wrong. "Hua, the ground below has been compacted... there was something in the pit before."

"Judging from its shape, it's about half a person's height. For something of that size to create a dent in the ground, its mass and height must be considerable." Hua looked up at the unobstructed sky.

There are no cliffs or steep slopes in this place, so where did it "fall" from?

"Hua... this pit is vertical."

Immer's expression was solemn. He stood up and looked up at the sky as well.

"In other words, it fell from the sky, and the thing that fell may have already left."

"Captains' meetings, huh? What a hassle."

Himiko lay listlessly on the conference table, waiting for the meeting to begin. Apart from her, all the other team leaders were present, but the number of attendees was rather dismal, barely filling the conference table.

The soldiers lost in the Sixth Honkai War weren't just ordinary lower-ranking soldiers; some were also captains.

"... Kevin, you're starting to look more and more like your best friend lately." Himiko, having nothing better to do, would probably drag someone else along to do the same. She stared at Kevin, who stood beside her with a dignified and cold expression. "I kind of miss the days when you were a sunny and cheerful young man."

Kevin, arms crossed, glanced at her and said, "... You're not the same person you used to be."

"Oh? I think I'm perfectly normal?"

Is that normal? Kevin doesn't think so. Himiko might have been unreliable at times, especially when she loved to drink, but she rarely lost her composure in public.

But now she seems overly "cheerful," even somewhat deliberately so.

However, Kevin didn't say anything more. He did become much quieter. Perhaps he would have talked to Himiko more in the past, but now, he didn't have the mood... nor the need.

"Speaking of which, where is Elysia?" Himiko around but couldn't find the pink figure. If Elysia were here, she definitely wouldn't be bored. It's a pity that the meeting is about to start and she still hasn't seen her.

She seems to be sick.

"... Are you sick?"

"I don't know either, that's how she asked for leave," Kevin said casually.

Himiko, "Great excuse. I'll use this as an excuse to ask for leave next time."

Before their casual conversation could continue, the long-haired girl in the white robe entered the conference room on time. She held a paper document in her hand, casually placed it on the table, then adjusted her glasses and looked around at the team leaders.

"Elysia is sick, so what about the mission... Let's start the meeting. I'll get straight to the point. This meeting is actually about reassigning existing personnel and new recruits."

Mei, a scientific researcher, possessed an aura no less powerful than that of battle-hardened soldiers present. In fact, her unique charisma was unmatched by those who had faced countless life-and-death situations.

Her role in carrying out the meetings was more about relaying messages; she was responsible for the communication between the High Council and the team leader, which indirectly gave Mei a certain degree of authority to coordinate.

"The number of new recruits recently is five thousand."

The calm voice uttered from his thin lips startled everyone present.

Five... thousand?

They all wondered if they had misheard.

The previous Moth of Fire headquarters soldiers and logistics personnel totaled less than half of this number.

"Four thousand of them will be stationed as permanent troops, and the remaining one thousand will be assigned to various squads, with an estimated fifty more men added to each squad." Mei quickly flipped through the documents in her hand, and after briefly explaining the recruitment and assignment, she looked at Himiko.

"The original Squad Seven will be merged into the Squad Five and will go to Australia with the soldiers who joined this time to carry out the stationing mission. The 14th and Squad Fifteen will also be carrying out the stationing mission at the same time."

"According to our investigation, the number of small-scale Honkai in Australia has increased by 200 percentage points in the past month. In addition, the fires have continued to interfere with the cleanup. It is difficult for the local branch to complete the Honkai alone. Therefore, we have sent more people to carry out the extermination and cleanup tasks."

"The Squad One and Squad Thirteen will go to Shenzhou to carry out an investigation mission."

"The target is... Visitor from Beyond the Stars."

Chapter Forty-Two: The Wound

"... What, are you experiencing mitosis? Or have you expanded your tactical doll roster?"

Mobius, who was still revising the plan on the blackboard, now stared coldly at Lin and the helmeted figure next to him that looked almost exactly like him. The woman's shapely figure and female uniform made it clear at a glance that she was a woman.

It's not hard to guess who he was cooking lunch for.

There are actually women who share this guy's awful tastes?

"She is Doctor Mobius, my..." Lin paused for a few seconds, thought for a moment, and then said, "A friend."

"Friend? You should be my master." Mobius retorted sarcastically, "When did we become so close? Shouldn't you be the one handing over 'everything' to me?"

"...Indeed." Lin couldn't refute it.

Mobius turned his gaze to the girl, scrutinizing her helmet for a few moments. "And who is she? Why introduce me to her?"

"She is..."

"Lin's wife."

"..."

The air circulation slowed down dramatically.

Mobius stared silently at the girl who had spoken, then glanced coldly at Lin, seeing that he did not refute him.