Fire Moth was hardly a united organization devoted to saving the world. Humanity's self-destructive behavior had always served as a warning throughout history, not to mention that this organization harbored people more terrifying than Honkai itself.
"Staring so directly at a cute girl isn't very gentlemanly, you know~" Lin did not hide his hostility as the girl smiled and pushed the file folder a little closer.
Lin studied her poised posture again. Only after confirming that she was unarmed did he ask, "Who are you?"
The girl's eyes curved into crescents. "Oh my, I thought I was rather famous. Or have you youngsters stopped putting this senior in your eyes? That would be so heartbreaking."
A senior? Pink hair, female, warrior...
The solitary Lin recalled someone the soldiers had discussed when he passed through the corridor. The descriptions seemed to match the person before him. If he was right, then she was probably...
"Elysia..."
"Oh? You remembered? Looks like I haven't faded into obscurity yet."
Lin recalled the rumors and files about Elysia, gradually matching them with the smiling girl before him.
A female warrior who had shone brightly on the front lines of the Second Honkai War and during the campaign against the Second Herrscher. Beautiful, intelligent, and powerful, she had joined Fire Moth not much earlier than Lin, yet already carried herself with considerable distinction.
He had heard that middle part from someone else. Supposedly, it was how she described herself.
Compared to Elysia's delight, Lin's reaction was far more indifferent. "What do you want with me?"
"I'm delivering your physical examination report. The lab is so busy with the Herrscher of the Void that they're running in circles, so I helped out a little. After all, I'm such a kind and helpful girl."
"..." Not believable at all.
The girl smiled, quite satisfied with Lin's reaction. "All right, no more joking. I heard there was a newly joined soldier whose strength was astonishing. During his first operation in the Second Honkai War, he killed an Emperor-class Honkai Beast alone. He even contributed some equipment concepts when he first joined, and some of them have already been put into use."
"And rumor has it that he's a shy, reserved boy, so I got curious and came to see for myself."
The rain outside grew heavier, battering the window with irritating noise.
Lin turned from the rain-smeared window, through which nothing could be seen clearly. His voice was calm behind his helmet. "First, I'm not a warrior. I'm a soldier. Second, what are these rumors?"
The girl tapped her smooth chin. "Uh, things like... a strange creature with nothing above its neck except a helmet? A simulated robot that trains for twenty-five hours and goes on missions for ten out of every twenty-four? The product of one of Doctor Mobius's experiments?"
"..."
Elysia bent forward slightly and curiously peered beneath his helmet. "Really?"
"Fake." Lin snatched the file folder, stepped back, and blocked her view. "Have you seen enough? If you have, leave."
"Oh, don't be shy. We're comrades, don't you want to build a good rela—"
"Bang!"
Before Elysia could finish, Lin slammed the door shut and locked it. Ignoring the rapid knocking outside that clearly conveyed her anger, he sat down, opened the file folder, took out his report, and gave it a cursory read.
Outside, Elysia stared at the closed door with a headache. After learning of Lin's existence from someone, she had wanted to see what kind of person he really was.
She had not expected Lin to be even colder toward people than she had imagined. No wonder all she had heard about him from others were bad rumors.
"Elysia, have you delivered the report to him?" A familiar female voice came from around the corner, making Elysia, who was still considering how to make Lin open the door, look up and smile with narrowed eyes.
A tall, green-haired woman in a white lab coat was standing there at some point.
"Doctor Mobius, I thought you'd only ever hide in your laboratory~ You must be interested in him too, aren't you?"
The woman called Doctor Mobius replied with her usual sneer, "I merely heard from my assistant that someone took a report she was supposed to deliver. I thought that someone might not deliver it to the person who should receive it, or perhaps she intended to peek at something that did not belong to her."
"Hm? Aren't you planning to do something to that boy?"
"...I'm certain you haven't read that report." Mobius looked at Elysia's gossipy smile, then turned away in boredom. "That soldier's physical indicators are unimaginably high, but that's all. He's a glass man who could die at any time. I'm not interested in him."
Elysia mulled over Mobius's final words in confusion.
"That's all? A glass man?"
Lin's gaze stopped on the final two sections: "Honkai Energy Adaptability" and "Summary."
The Honkai Energy Adaptability section had "extremely low" marked in red. Among all his unbelievable physical attributes, it was the only one that was not rated "extremely high."
The summary had been written by the person who had personally examined him.
"Physical indicators exceed those of ordinary soldiers by more than two to three times. Neural reaction speed surpasses all records on file. However, 079 possesses the severe defect of resistance and adaptability to Honkai Energy far below those of ordinary individuals. Direct exposure to excessive Honkai Energy will result in death, with an extremely high likelihood of conversion into a Zombie."
Lin read the report over and over several times, then took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and crushed the entire report into a ball.
The gloom beneath his helmet seemed almost tangible.
"Beep, beep."
An order came through the communicator. Having calmed down, Lin tossed the report into the wastebasket, picked up the communicator, pushed open the door, and headed toward the Equipment Department.
"..."
After he left, a slender hand picked the report out of the wastebasket.
Cabin pressure reached standard. Beginning component verification. Neural Connection complete.
Lines of azure data streamed across the display inside Lin's helmet. After the operating protocols flashed before his eyes, they shrank into the upper-left corner. He pressed a button on the metal keyboard at his left. A red line swept over his irises within the helmet, and two indicator lights changed from red to blue.
Driver's organs stable. All systems released for operation.
As machinery came to life, the cramped cockpit shifted from darkness into light. Segmented panoramic screens replaced the original blackness, revealing ruins in muted colors, where pale monsters roamed before Lin.
"Creak."
Lin gripped the control sticks. He controlled the massive machine as it extended its cold, mechanical right hand, clenched it, then opened it again, as naturally as moving his own arm.
From the outside, what he piloted was a "robot" no less imposing than the Honkai Beasts roaming nearby, some of which stood several stories tall.
This was the first anti-Honkai weapon built by Fire Moth based on the concepts he had provided: the Titan, designation TT-079, matching his own number. As expected, its first pilot was also him.
"079, the simulated scenario for this run is the central point of the Second Honkai War. Pilot the Titan and collect as much operational data as possible," personnel from the Equipment Department instructed outside the cockpit.
Lin's eyes sharpened. "Understood."
Then he had the Titan draw the massive machine gun from its back. In an instant, his vision was flooded with dense information: remaining ammunition, machine status, thermal analysis, Honkai Energy detection...
While expressionlessly adapting to the torrent of information that could overwhelm an ordinary person, Lin aimed at the nearest Chariot-class Honkai Beast and pulled the trigger.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat..."
Enormous bullets tore through the malformed monster's pale skin and pink flesh with terrifying kinetic force. Disgusting purple blood burst from its shrieking, twisting body, splashing onto the ground alongside hot, heavy shell casings with a sizzling sound.
"Temple-class Honkai Beast approaching from ten o'clock."
A Honkai Beast half again as tall as the Titan slowly approached. Its arms resembled a knight's lance and shield, while its dark pink eye glowed with an eerie light. It leveled its lance, preparing to pierce the Titan's cockpit.
Lin swiftly turned. The Titan's three-fingered left hand seized the lance and wrenched it viciously aside. The terrifying force dragged the Temple-class Honkai Beast down and smashed it to the ground. Lin aimed the machine gun at its defenseless head and fired cleanly.
One, two, three... Honkai Beasts of increasing types and numbers were slaughtered. Those troublesome monsters were terrifying threats to ordinary soldiers, but beneath the Titan piloted by Lin, they were like tiny insects, swiftly eliminated at a rate of roughly one every three seconds.
In truth, the Titan alone might not have been capable of such performance. The Equipment Department had encountered countless problems during its development. An ordinary pilot's physical capabilities were nowhere near enough to meet the Titan's operating requirements. Furthermore, the humanlike movements Lin performed while piloting it were extraordinarily difficult, as dangerous as dancing among blades. One careless mistake would result in destruction.
"A genius. He really is a combat genius. His combat power on the battlefield was already astonishing, yet on his first time piloting the Titan—a machine no human had ever had experience operating—he can achieve this level. Terrifying." The Equipment Department personnel collected data they had never even dared imagine while marveling at Lin's combat instincts and talent.
The last Honkai Beast was stomped beneath the Titan's foot, its body torn apart.
"079, the simulation is over. There is no corresponding data for the Emperor-class Honkai Beast you killed, so it cannot be simulated. That concludes today's driving simulation."
"Phew..." Lin let out a long breath, but his eyes did not relax. He checked the remaining ammunition and damage, then remained silent for a moment instead of ending the simulation. "What about Herrscher data?"
"Uh? A Herrscher?"
"The Second Herrscher. You can simulate her, right?"
"Are you sure? We've gathered enough data, and the Titan's purpose isn't to fight a Herrs—"
"Simulate it," Lin interrupted without room for argument.
"..."
After the corpses beneath his feet turned into streams of data and gathered again not far away, a humanoid figure far smaller than any Honkai Beast gradually took shape...
Lin stared at that figure.
An apostle born from the Second Honkai War, humanity's strongest enemy and the symbol of the Honkai disaster.
The Herrscher of the Void.
"Simulation over."
Lin stumbled out of the cockpit, which was already belching black smoke. The logistics personnel waiting nearby quickly carried him aside to cool down, while the others swarmed over to salvage the cockpit.
The excessive data had burned out the simulation circuits, causing the temperature control system to fail. Lin had nearly become human barbecue inside a steel coffin; he could even smell the scent of cooked meat on himself.
But that was not what concerned Lin.
"I lost." Lin slapped away the hand trying to remove his helmet and muttered under his breath, with little surprise on his face.
This Titan was merely a prototype. Even if he pushed its performance to the limit, the gap between it and a Herrscher was an abyss without end. He had only held out for one minute before imaginary matter crushed it into a heap of sparking scrap.
Lin silently recalled the battle just now, wondering whether he would have a chance of defeating a Herrscher if he personally entered the fight.
The answer was obvious. Before he could even begin fighting, the high concentration of Honkai Energy around a Herrscher would likely erode him to death.
As a human, even if his individual combat ability was several times greater than others'—or dozens of times greater with specially developed equipment—he was still only human. There were limits to what he could do.
The Head of Research and Development walked over to Lin while calculating data. Smiling, he shifted his gaze from the green streams of light on the screen to Lin's lowered helmet. "The data from the initial operation far exceeded our expectations. Lin, what sort of brain do you have to come up with a design like the Titan?"
"...Why didn't you build it according to the concepts I provided?"
"..."
Lin's quiet words abruptly cooled the heated atmosphere.
The Head of Research and Development's expression turned cold. His eyes flickered behind his glasses as he exhaled. "Lin, according to your concepts, the machine we could build would be much weaker than this one..."
Lin interrupted him.
"But more people could pilot it, rather than only certain... exceptions."
The Head of Research and Development stared coldly at the young man who kept his head lowered, saying nothing.
What Lin had initially provided was a more universal mech design. Its purpose was to let ordinary soldiers pilot Titans. Even if it did not improve combat efficiency by much, it could greatly improve survival rates.
Yet the completed first Titan could clearly only be piloted by an elite soldier like Lin.
After a long silence, the Head of Research and Development replied, "For the machine to resist Honkai Energy erosion, an enormous amount of resources must be invested. Using those resources to make some 'toy cars' does not align with Fire Moth's philosophy of fighting Honkai."
Lin raised his head as well. The display within his helmet automatically brought up the Head of Research and Development's information. After glancing at it, he asked, "Then what is the point of making these Titans?"
"Give them all to Artificial Intelligence to pilot."
The answer was obvious. The moment Lin climbed into the Titan, he should have guessed this outcome.
He should have said something, but Fire Moth would not react to it. Even though he had proposed the Titan concept, he had only provided ideas and concepts from beginning to end, rather than actual designs or participating in its development.
After all, he had no talent in that field.
"I'm leaving." Lin stood up. His body temperature was still high, but he did not care.
Perhaps wanting to comfort Lin, the Head of Research and Development spoke during the brief pause. "By the way, when you joined, the Second Honkai War was still being dealt with, so you applied for solo operations. Have you been assigned to a team now? Who's the captain?"
Lin paused, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Which squad?"
"Squad Five. The captain is Himiko."
A Polite Little Trick for Asking Someone to Leave
Ruins.
After Honkai ravaged a place, no matter how prosperous or distinctive it had once been, only this shared noun remained afterward.
The once-crowded streets no longer held lively human voices. There were only pale-skinned walking corpses and malformed gigantic monsters, wandering day after day through the territory they had seized from humanity.
The helmeted figure sheltered himself from the raging wind. After the skyscrapers that had once blocked out the sun collapsed, his view had opened up. From a rooftop, he could take in the ruins at a glance. His display scanned and analyzed the terrain and Honkai Beast distribution across the area, then uploaded it to the squad's shared channel.
After completing its scan, the azure window on Lin's helmet dimmed. He connected to the squad communications. "Terrain reconnaissance complete. No Upper-class Honkai Beasts are present in the target area. Captain, please issue your orders."
After hearing the report, a mature female voice spoke over the squad channel. "No Upper-class Honkai Beasts... All right. Lin, clear the eastern area alone. Hun and I will clear the west. Report when the sweep is complete."
Before you continue