The First Bad News / Talk Over Drinks

"Yes, I... am teaching him some things."

"It is indeed your old profession, but I think he prefers to observe with his own eyes rather than have someone teach him."

"His birth determined the underlying foundation of his initial values. I can only guide him, not decide what kind of person he will become."

Mobius was taken aback by Lin's earnest words and couldn't find anything new to say. Her impatience deepened, and Lin's apparent indifference only exacerbated this build-up of frustration, ultimately leading to...

"Get lost, I don't want to see you for the time being."

Lin Wuyu stared, speechless, at Mobius's angry figure as he walked away with his hands in his pockets.

Lin, who was actually observing from the sidelines, was frowning deeply, unable to understand where this scene came from.

If I had to describe it, it doesn't feel like a memory from the past; it's more like...

"Who?"

Two overlapping, unanimous questions rang out, and Lin was shocked to see the "Lin" standing in place suddenly turn around and look at him.

What's going on? Where am I?

Another "Who?" came from behind him.

A cold "greeting" that carries a hint of malice.

The scene before my eyes vanished instantly.

Lin gazed at the empty corridor behind him, silently observing every detail carefully. In such extraordinary times, no abnormality could be ignored.

But the sight he had just seen disappeared in an instant, to the point that even he himself doubted whether it was an illusion.

After undergoing the Hypervariable Surgery, similar situations occasionally occur, but neither he nor Mobius, who performed the surgery, could figure out what these situations were, and could only attribute them to the aftereffects of the surgery.

This time, naturally, nothing came of it, and he turned his gaze to the operating room door.

Ultimately, they just arrived at the same destination by different paths.

He thought to himself silently.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The First Bitter News

After the eerie scene disappeared, Lin felt like he was being watched, as if someone was observing him through something.

The source of the gaze is not some place in this space, but rather being "overlooked," looking down from a higher position, from another dimension!

It's coming! Something is getting closer!

He is about to break through the barrier and come to me!

A terrible feeling, stemming solely from his sixth sense, reminded Lin that he had to leave immediately, or something irreversible would happen!

The problem is that he no longer knows what state he is in.

If he was unconscious, then why did the people from his "memories" discover him before...?

There was no time to think about the situation. The unease stemming from the tremors in his consciousness led him to focus his thoughts on a breakthrough that would awaken him. He could only assume that his consciousness had become disordered after being in a deep coma, and that waking up in reality should solve the problem.

As He drew nearer, His breakthrough accelerated, as if He would appear before him in the next second.

Lin's consciousness became increasingly clear, and his connection with this space gradually disappeared, which should be a sign that he was about to awaken in reality.

"Bang!"

Something broke.

At this moment, Lin's consciousness also left this space.

In the last second, what he saw was a hand piercing into the space from the "outside," and a merciless eye silently watching him.

Then, everything is withdrawn.

"You..."

What did He say?

"Drip... drip..."

The rhythmic beeping of the heart rate monitor rang in Lin's ears as he opened his eyes.

He had never felt so calm, as if he had just escaped the jaws of a bloodthirsty beast, sitting in the warm sunshine with a gentle breeze, his pounding heart and rapid breathing proof that he was alive.

As soon as the anesthesia wore off, the phantom limb pain in his left shoulder began to flare up, which put his mind at ease, as he was back in reality.

But this incident served as a wake-up call for him. His consciousness entering the Herrscher Core was not truly without any impact, as he had observed over the past few months. Whether it was Lin's belief that he was Herrscher in the simulated Previous Civilization last time, or the terrifying experience of being unconscious this time, both reminded him that he had to find a way to figure out what had happened.

"Hey~ isn't this Lin~ finally awake~"

The strange female voice came from a person sitting in a chair not far from the hospital bed. She put down the communicator in her hand and walked up to Lin.

A head of beautiful gray hair danced gently in the breeze blowing in from the wide-open window.

"..."

Her sneer was similar to Mobius's unsparing smile, "Hmm? Shocked to see me? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"...Who are you?"

"..."

Lin was still somewhat dazed from the fantastical experience he had just had. After a while, he suddenly remembered that this person was the main reason he and Ying had come to Australia.

Qianqi, the hacker who was forcibly imprisoned to learn about the Fire Moth and AI.

However, Qianqi's face turned red. She originally wanted to mock Lin, but his words broke through her defenses.

"Your name is Qianqi, right?"

"You bastard..." Qianqi wanted to say something, but she was afraid that the situation would repeat itself, so she could only awkwardly change the subject, "You're in such a bad state, you've lost an arm and a shoulder, you can just retire now."

"It's nothing, just a normal injury. It will heal when I get back to headquarters."

"... Is your headquarters some kind of resurrection fountain in a game?"

Lin was referring to Mobius's laboratory, where, given the right conditions, Mobius could create identical limbs. Even she herself complained that she was a researcher, not a clinic owner, making her feel like she was assembling building blocks, always adding new parts whenever there was a problem.

The mention of Mobius reminded Lin of the scene from earlier. He and Mobius were discussing a surgery, and judging from their conversation, he had also undergone the surgery that had side effects.

Ask Mobius when you get back.

Qianqi also realized that the technology of the Fire-Chasing Moth should be able to easily heal this level of injury, so she didn't question it any further. Instead, Lin began to ask her, "Have you finished learning?"

"Hehe..." Qianqi's face darkened at the mention of this matter. She glared at Lin with eyes that seemed to want to tear a piece of flesh off him. "Thanks to you guys, if I hadn't finished learning, I would have already gone to the Deepest Place."

For the past three days, Qianqi felt like she was having a nightmare. Unfamiliar terms and a massive amount of knowledge were poured into her brain all at once, as if trying to overturn and fill all her knowledge from the past ten years. The AI was completely inhuman and kept feeding her information 24 hours a day, without giving her any time to rest.

Oh no, it's not that you can't rest. Prometheus Unit 2 said that you can choose to rest for a while, or even take a nap. You'll have to stop studying, but there's a risk of being thrown into prison. How could Qianqi dare to stop?

Whether she was naturally gifted or her potential was unleashed under pressure, she actually mastered the knowledge through rote memorization, passed the final test of Prometheus Unit 2, and is now a qualified programmer specializing in Artificial Intelligence research.

"By the way, your former captain and teammates came to see you before, but you weren't awake at the time."

Qianqi's words reminded Lin, and he glanced out the window and asked, "How many days have I been unconscious?"

"Three and a half days." Qianqi shrugged. "You were brought here right after I came out of that room. I slept for a whole day and you were still unconscious. Even the pink-haired girl who was brought back with you has woken up."

Three and a half days...

Lin Cong couldn't sense how much time had passed; it's just that the precise perception of time would be blurred in that state, so it's perfectly normal.

But that was just the normal situation; Lin still felt there was something "strange" about it that he didn't know about.

"I do know you don't like showing your true face, but is it really necessary to hide it like this? And with bandages wrapped around your neck?"

Lin touched his face with his right hand and confirmed that it was indeed wrapped in bandages.

Someone must have been holding him while he was unconscious. Was it Himiko? Or Sakura?

"Drop--"

Just then, the communicator rang, and Lin reached for it on the bedside table.

"Lin, the people in the monitoring room reminded me that you're awake." Himiko's voice came from beside me. "It was my misjudgment... I'm sorry, this mission has put you in danger again."

"It's nothing, I just have some information I want to report..."

"Let's talk about that later. I have something to tell you first."

At that moment, Lin noticed the weariness in Himiko's voice.

"During the time you were unconscious, a total of seventy-three Emperor-class Honkai Beast appeared worldwide."

Seventy-Nine: Conversation at the Dinner Table

"Eden, are you really going to continue holding concerts?"

Mu Luo, dressed simply, was unlike the usual style of the red-haired woman. She flipped through some simple documents given to her by the helmeted man. When her agent asked her a question, her fingers, which were stroking the paper, paused.

It's hard to imagine that anyone would preserve paper documents from the "ancient" era in this age of technological explosion. This reminds Eden of the fans she saw on the internet who specifically bought three sets of her merchandise: one for themselves, one for their collection, and one for spreading their faith.

Could that gentleman also prepare a paper document for preaching?

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but chuckle, a graceful smile curving her lips.

"You... you can still laugh? According to that person, something big is about to happen in Australia, we need to leave quickly." The manager saw that Eden was still laughing and immediately grabbed Eden's shoulders nervously. After witnessing the destructive power of that Honkai Beast, she wanted to retreat and find a place to hide.

Moreover, judging from what those two people said, that Honkai Beast was just a very common type.

"Go? Where can we hide? Do we have to hide on the moon?" Eden put down the data. Although the information on it was simple, it was very comprehensive. "Honkai is a global disaster. Even if you can hide underwater, you will still be attacked by Honkai Beast that are transformed from mutated marine creatures."

"What should I do... Do I have to buy a grave in advance?" The agent stood behind Eden, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't think of any way to guarantee her future life.

Why was it that people of their generation were the ones who encountered the Honkai?

But Eden didn't seem too anxious. Instead, after tapping the book cover with her delicate fingers, she said softly, "I think I should still hold this concert."

"Oh my goodness..."

"This time it's not just about the Australian bushfires." Eden's smile lacked its usual sigh; instead, she seemed incredibly relaxed. "It's just that we have things we can do, don't we?"

The timeframe is before setting off to subdue the two Emperor-class Honkai Beasts.

"Oh, thank you. Actually, you didn't need to go to all that trouble to buy the wine."

Eden said that, but she didn't stand on ceremony at all when she accepted the wine, and Lin also handed her the wine glass he had bought.

"Aren't you going to drink?" Eden looked up at the man who seemed to have stepped out of a science fiction movie, noticing that he only had one cup in his hand.

"I have another mission to complete." Lin shook his head. He didn't like drinking to begin with, and he guessed that only Himiko would drink alcohol before going into battle to make her brain sluggish.

"Hehe, my friend, I can tell you're quite averse to wine. Actually, I'm not particularly fond of it either." Eden poured the red wine into a decanter. She now had plenty of time to talk to this gentleman who lived in a different world from her. "But savoring the sediment within is more important than the pleasure of the taste."

Is this what they call style?

Lin neither drinks nor understands alcohol, only knowing that Himiko loves beer; she seems to be the type who only knows how to indulge in pleasure.

"However... Mr. Lin, if there is a next time, please do not buy this kind of wine again."

"Is it too cheap?"

Lin had already bought the most expensive bottle of red wine at the nearest hotel. He had no idea which wine was good, but a star of Eden's caliber would probably drink high-class wine, and high-class... is often equated with expensive.

"Hmm? My friend, are you misunderstanding something? Although good wines are often more expensive, expensive wines are not necessarily good."

"..."

Eden gazed at the silent Lin: "Heh... How interesting, Mr. Lin."

"... I don't find it interesting at all."

"I have a friend who, when she encounters something she doesn't know, always asks questions with great enthusiasm. And when we chat, she can always share her experience in her area of expertise, which makes me feel quite proud." Eden's eyes were like a clear pool of water, bright and clear. "But you are the complete opposite of her. You only listen. At that time, I would reflect on whether I was doing something wrong while I was talking."

Lin didn't think there was anything praiseworthy about his silent listening; it was just a habit he had always had, a "result" of his past inability to speak well.

"So, have you made up your mind? Do you want to join the Firemoth?" Lin crossed his arms. He couldn't figure out Eden's personality; he felt that Eden was different from anyone else he had ever met.

Elysia's quirky charm, Mobius's aloofness, Mei's deep thoughts... Eden felt like a long-lost friend to him, somewhat familiar, yet completely different.

"... Mr. Lin, what kind of impact do you think my joining the Fire Moth will have?"