A combat squad captain did indeed hold far more authority than an ordinary soldier, but it was hardly some lofty official position. The various captains were appointed simply because they were capable of commanding their own squads well.
"What about you? Which squad are you in?" Lin casually started chatting with Kevin. His body could not dance anyway, so no one would come invite him. Even if he had been fine, he would not have accepted. He might as well talk to Kevin more and learn about how things had been since he joined MOTH.
"Squad One. Right now, I'm basically doing odd jobs."
"Squad One..."
Lin's squad currently had only Hua as a member. Logically, Kevin had been rescued by Squad Five, so he should have been assigned either to Squad Five or Squad Seven. Yet he had gone to Squad One, which had suffered no losses.
Lin immediately guessed that the higher-ups had transferred Kevin to Squad One so he could stay near Mei and protect her. It was a form of protection, at least.
Lin himself should have been the most suitable candidate, but in the end, he had been transferred to reorganize Squad Seven. His task was comparatively arduous, and from this, it seemed someone might have deliberately kept him away from the two of them again.
Had there been a disagreement among the upper ranks, or even a split into factions...? They each had their own methods when it came to dealing with Mei and protecting Mei. The reason for this situation was probably what Kevin had said before—what Mei had recently been "busy" with.
Lin narrowed his eyes. Elysia smiled as well, but neither of them said anything to Kevin.
With almost no exceptions, once human organizations developed to a certain stage, differing views began to emerge. This was the spark that set most organizations on the path to collapse. The cause of destruction was often not external, but internal.
"Lin, what do you plan to do once you recover?"
"Do missions," Lin replied lightly.
"That's not what I meant. I mean..."
"Do more missions."
Elysia could not hold back her laughter. She gently pulled Lin back and said to Kevin, "He's a workaholic. No matter how much you ask, that's all you'll get from him."
Kevin folded his arms in confusion and looked at the utterly calm Lin. "Even though I know why Lin changed, the change is still so huge that I'm having trouble accepting it. He used to be the person least willing to work."
The moment Lin heard that, he inwardly cursed.
Elysia's eyes lit up as she rushed before Kevin. Her words burst out like a string of firecrackers. "Hm? What? What was Lin like before? What are his hobbies? Does he have a girl he likes? And most importantly, what does he actually look like?"
"Ah? Uh..." Kevin froze for a moment, then instinctively tried to answer.
"Kevin, shut up."
Lin instantly cut off the topic. He did not want Elysia to learn too much. This woman's overflowing curiosity, combined with her intelligence that was never used for anything proper, made her a human-shaped gossip machine. He would bet that if Kevin said anything today, the MOTH intranet headline that night would be: "Shocking! The faceless helmeted man has this side to him too! A look inside Squad Seven Captain Lin's inner world!"
"Lin didn't like showing his face before, either. He often wore a hood at school. His hobbies included arcade games, novels, and music. His favorite was probably Eden."
Another cool voice slipped into their conversation.
Mei, now dressed in an evening gown, adjusted the glasses she never seemed to take off and approached from behind Kevin. She smiled at Lin, whose expression had gone completely dark. The meaning was probably, You told Kevin to shut up, but you never told me to.
"So it's Eden? Hehe..."
Elysia's smile sent chills down Lin's spine. She had probably already begun plotting how to torment him.
And Lin likely could not have guessed that Elysia actually knew Eden.
"Mei, why did you come over?"
"I couldn't handle things over there anymore, and I should also see my friends."
"..."
Lin shook his head and was about to say something when the lights above suddenly dimmed.
"Click."
A spotlight lit up in the center of the dance floor.
The ball had begun.
Interludes Were Not Always Pleasant
Lin slowly chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth. His esophagus had not been injured, but he had been instructed not to eat too quickly. Elysia supervised him the entire time, and under the gaze of those smiling eyes, Lin had lost more than half his appetite.
It was truly strange. A few months ago, he had been annoyed by that pink-haired girl who seemed to be everywhere. Now, he could calmly call them friends and accept her care. Humans truly were creatures of habit.
Elysia seized the moment while Lin was eating and asked, "Come to think of it, quite a few people in the betting pool wagered that you're a robot. Have you never considered actually replacing yourself with mechanical limbs or something?"
Was this what MOTH soldiers usually talked about? Elysia was even a squad captain. She was practically the chief culprit behind the spread of gossip.
"Honkai Energy corrodes metal no slower than it corrodes the human body. Besides, the human body's coordination is something prosthetics cannot compare to. Even if I replaced them with mechanical limbs with greater output, they would not necessarily be stronger than a natural body." Lin's detailed answer showed that he had indeed considered this. Humanity's weaknesses against Honkai Energy were difficult to compensate for through external means.
Inhibitors could only slow the rate of corrosion. Even if Lin had only suffered preliminary corrosion, all they could do was prolong the time before he was fully corroded to death. Their effect also grew worse with repeated use. In the end, they merely turned a death sentence into a suspended one.
"I thought I'd get to see you install a hundred wheels and race through the city at top speed." Elysia shook her head regretfully.
"Looks like only a Cybertronian can satisfy your requirements," Lin replied expressionlessly.
He was seated somewhere relatively quiet, watching from afar as Kevin, drenched in sweat, clumsily followed the unusually composed Mei through a waltz on the dance floor. His movements were about as awkward as a fat duck that had just waddled out of a duck pen.
Many people were dancing on the floor, including some Lin knew. For example, a certain red-haired woman drew countless eyes with her sensual, elegant dancing, leaving Hua, who danced with her, red-faced.
"That child is... Hua, right?" Elysia had some impression of her. She was the survivor Lin had brought back from Canghai City, and was now his squad member—a rare recruit with an exceptionally steady temperament.
The city where Hua's father had been was also within the affected area of the Third Honkai War. It had suffered about as badly as Canghai City, so naturally, Hua's father had become another inconspicuous name on the list of victims.
"She recovered so quickly. She really is a strong child."
"Hua merely accepted a goal someone else gave her. She hasn't truly stepped out of the shadows."
Lin had told her that if she had no goal to live for, then she could live for him. Before he died, she should be able to find a new direction.
"Oh? Like someone else?"
Elysia looked at Lin meaningfully.
"...I don't understand what you mean."
"Lin, sometimes even subconscious actions are the things one desires most deeply. So it's fine if you don't understand."
Elysia brushed aside the topic in a single sentence. She picked up a plate of cake and carefully scraped off the cream with a fork before offering it to Lin. Under his stern gaze, she sheepishly pulled the fork back and ate the cream herself.
"Mm... Calories are every girl's greatest enemy." With a bitter expression, she swallowed the delicious cream, then began eating the exquisite cake.
"Didn't you claim that you could maintain a perfect figure no matter how much you ate?" Lin still remembered Elysia's shamelessness quite clearly. Back when he was still in the Second Gym and she often came to bother him for no reason, she had casually said that she could never gain weight no matter how much she ate, and that she could not even put on weight if she wanted to. It was so troubling.
He believed that if any other woman had heard that, one with a worse temper might have smashed the window and thrown her out.
She puffed out her chest righteously. "But it's not just the waist that gets bigger for girls."
"..." Lin had still underestimated her ability to humblebrag.
Still, Elysia's confidence in her beauty was not unfounded. Even in a maid outfit, quite a few people came to invite her to dance, and she turned each of them down with a smile.
"If a cute girl invited me, I wouldn't refuse~"
That was what she said with a smile, though whether it was true or not was another matter.
Thanks to Elysia, Lin avoided a great deal of trouble. Most people who came looking for him were drawn into conversation by Elysia instead. Many even forgot why they had come in the first place and chatted with her enthusiastically.
But some trouble came suddenly, impossible to stop.
"You're Lin?"
A tall, muscular brown-haired man ignored Elysia and walked straight up to Lin. He looked down at him, his scrutinizing gaze carrying an inexplicable disdain.
"..." Lin did not know him, much less where the other man's hostility came from. And Lin generally had only one attitude toward strangers—
He coldly swept them with his dark eyes.
"That's Sigma from the Tactical Department. He was the overall commander of the Third Honkai War operation." Elysia quietly introduced the big man beside Lin's ear. Upon hearing Sigma's identity, Lin's gaze softened considerably.
Lin gave him a slight nod and sincerely praised him. "The Third Honkai War operation was impressive."
But those words instantly ignited Sigma's anger. To his ears, they were no different from mockery.
The early operations of the Third Honkai War had achieved no results at all. But after Lin arrived on the battlefield and rescued Mei, the battle against the Herrscher ended half an hour later. Sigma's contribution had been negligible, perhaps even less than that of a monitor.
He bent down, pointed at Lin's bandage-wrapped face, and growled viciously, "Impressive? How could I compare to you? Didn't you have Delta's technical support? So why can't you even stand now that you no longer have all that advanced equipment? Why do you need someone to push you around? Or are you always like this—just 'sitting in a wheelchair'?"
"..."
The music concealed the faint sounds, and Sigma had deliberately kept his voice low, so no one noticed the disturbance here.
Elysia's expression turned serious. She stared at Sigma, who looked as though he wanted to yank Lin up by force. He was even more powerfully built than Lin, and the scene looked like a lion roaring at a soft little rabbit.
This was genuine anger.
Lin faced Sigma directly and could clearly feel the blazing fury in the man's slightly reddened eyes.
"So many companions died, and in the end you became the hero. You must be secretly pleased with yourself, thinking you're so remarkable. You even came to this so-called celebratory ball with broken legs. Isn't it just because you want everyone to admire the heroic bearing of a hero like you?"
"But let me tell you, you're nothing at all. If either you or Delta had been willing to share the technology behind that equipment with other soldiers, the casualty rate would never have been this terrible."
"You're the real culprit behind those comrades' deaths. Do you understand?"
Elysia's expression had completely darkened. She rarely made such a face. If it appeared, then either she was joking and acting, or she was truly angry.
But Lin turned to her and gently shook his head, signaling for her not to speak.
He turned back, just about to say something, when another listless voice shoved the words back down his throat. "Oh? Then why are you looking for Lin? By your logic, shouldn't I be the selfish one?"
Delta, wearing his ever-present oil-stained work uniform, walked over from the side while yawning and rubbing the dark circles under his eyes. He stepped in front of Lin and blocked the two men's view of each other.
He slightly raised his head and smiled at the stunned Sigma. "Yelling at an injured person—are you on your period, going through menopause, or pregnant?"
The sarcasm in Delta's words was extremely sharp. The implication was that only an effeminate man would pick on an injured person, and paired with Sigma's burly appearance, the damage was doubled.
"Delta, what are you doing here?" Sigma narrowed his eyes, danger flickering deep within them.
"If even you can come, why can't I?" Delta leisurely picked up a glass beside him and took a sip. He let out a crude burp, then sighed. "Right, of course. I'm the selfish bastard who caused soldiers to die by refusing to provide technology. Naturally, I can't compare to the overall commander directing operations on the front lines."
Faced with Delta's blatant mockery, Sigma's momentum weakened somewhat. Their positions might differ, but they were ultimately equals. He snorted coldly. "Hmph. What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is..."
Delta smiled at Sigma, but there was no amusement in his eyes. Raising his head toward the man who stood a full head taller than him, he said coldly, "Don't use dead soldiers as weapons to attack Lin. You're only desecrating their sacrifice. If you have something to say, say it to me. I guarantee you'll get to say your fill."
There was not a trace of emotion in his voice, only bone-deep coldness.
"Delta, very well..." Sigma laughed in extreme anger. He nodded, clenched his fists, but in the end said nothing more. After glaring fiercely at Delta and Lin, he turned and left the hall.
Only after Sigma's back vanished through the doors did Delta slowly set down his glass. He sighed at Lin, who showed little emotional reaction. "Sigh, Lin, you're too closed-off. You actually waited for him to finish all that bullshit. If it were me, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to say the first word."
Lin replied calmly, "Were you planning to stab a knife into his mouth so he couldn't speak?"
"Maybe with a gun?" Delta shrugged.
Standing behind them, Elysia could not help reaching out again to pinch Lin's cheek and pull it to the side. She said irritably, "Lin, even I was a little angry just now."
"...Sorry."
"That's so underhanded. You apologize so directly every time—how am I supposed to say anything?"
"Sorry." Lin shook his head.
He did not intend to let Elysia speak, because at least half of what Sigma had said was correct.
"Don't take what he said to heart. Nothing said by someone who's spent years commanding with rigid thinking until the wrinkles in his brain have been polished smooth is worth considering." Delta waved a hand, and the distinct mechanic's uniform stirred up the smell of engine oil.
"Those equipment designs were made based on the ideas you provided. They're basically custom weapons. Does our Research and Development Department forbid people from customizing weapons that suit them?" Delta curled his lip disdainfully. "Besides, ordinary soldiers couldn't use your set anyway. Everything was sitting in the warehouse for anyone to take. That helmet even had lower technical requirements than the others, because you asked for no information simplification function, so I just removed the simplification function from an ordinary system."
"If you're talking about exclusive technology, then only the weapons I gave you count. But are the other soldiers' weapons really that much worse? If I dared to hoard technology, MOTH would've raided my place long ago..."
"Enough, Delta." Lin stopped the Head of Research and Development's complaints.
If he kept going, there would be no end to it. Delta was the kind of chatterbox who could analyze the structure and operation of even an ordinary cannon and turn all of it into words. Lin did not want to spend the rest of the time listening to buzzing in his ears like mosquitoes.
"Uh, fine." Seeing that Lin did not want to hear more, Delta boredly shut his mouth. His gaze wandered over to Elysia, and his lips curled upward. "Have you two gotten used to being around each other now?"
Back then, Lin had always been quite unhappy whenever Elysia followed him to the Research and Development Department.
"...Some things can't be solved just by refusing," Lin said weakly to a question almost every acquaintance asked.
"Haha, true. After all, I've never seen anyone who could refuse Elysia."
"..." Lin truly had no way to respond to that.
Remembering the earlier topic, Elysia asked with great interest, "Dr. Delta, you often ask Lin to test new equipment. What's your reason?"
"What's your reason for always being around Lin?" Delta picked up a piece of roasted meat, swallowed it in a few bites, and wiped liquid from the corner of his mouth that might have been grease or engine oil. "My reason for looking for him is about the same."
Elysia covered her mouth in surprise. "You're interested in Lin's true face too?"
Before you continue