Heart to Heart / Origin

Qianqi stared in horror at the Grim Reaper so close at hand, the blue particles emanating from the helmet's visor mingling with his indifferent gaze.

He was really going to strangle her!

Lin watched as Qianqi gradually stopped struggling. Her consciousness began to fade, her limbs weakened, and she would go into shock at any moment.

"Thump."

The constriction on her throat suddenly disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground, seeing stars. She gasped for breath, coughing incessantly, tears and snot streaming down her face.

She didn't understand what was happening, but little did she know that this was just the beginning of her nightmare.

Lin suddenly raised her right arm, and the internal mechanical device silently activated, popping out a special chain from the forearm armor hidden in her clothes to bind her hands and feet.

Then, before she could scream, they tore off a piece of her clothing and stuffed it into her mouth.

Then, Lin hoisted the struggling little insect onto his shoulder and strode toward Mobius's laboratory.

"Bang!"

Lin kicked open the door to the Mobius's Laboratory —no, the door hadn't been closed to begin with.

Mobius, who was taking off his clothes to prepare for bed and was only wearing his underwear, stared blankly as Lin carried Qianqi in. He glanced at her, locked the door behind him, threw Qianqi on the sofa, and then took out a grenade and hung it on the doorknob. Anyone opening the door from inside might accidentally pull the pin on the grenade.

"What are you doing?!"

Mobius screamed in despair, "Why did Lin suddenly rush in like a madman in less than an hour, doing things that make no sense... and bringing people with him that also make no sense!"

Kelin ignored Qianqi, who was writhing like an earthworm on the sofa, and her angry shouts. Instead, he grabbed Mobius's shoulder and solemnly asked, "Mobius, is time travel possible?"

"I'll wear your head!"

After Lin's concise explanation, Mobius roughly understood what Lin had said.

In the coming days, a series of murders will occur within the Fire Moth organization. The killer is none other than Qianqi, who is lying there. Her consciousness may have been corrupted by something, and on September 18th, she slaughtered everyone at the Fire Moth headquarters. Lin was also killed by her in a state of confusion, but he was transported back to September 11th, a time before everything had even begun.

"... Are you kidding me? You better be kidding me, so at least I won't treat you like an idiot." Mobius sneered, looking at Lin with his chin. "If you're not kidding me, then the one who needs a consciousness test isn't that little hacker lying on the sofa whose clothes you tore, but you, this delusional patient."

"What I said is true."

Lin spread his hands to show that everything he said came from the bottom of his heart.

"First of all, let's not even mention how that weak hacker, who looks like he's about to be slapped by you, managed to wipe out everyone at headquarters. The fact that he could travel through time is absolutely impossible."

Although Mobius seemed impatient with Lin's sudden illness, he still draped his white coat over her thin frame and began to explain, "Do you think reality is a pseudo-scientific game that can ignore scientific theories like the Grandfather Paradox? Time travel alone involves more than a dozen theories and hypotheses. The negative energy matter of the 'Wormhole Theory' and the speed of moving wormholes close to the speed of light are things that humans, still bound by gravity, cannot do. Other hypotheses are also limited by the current level of human technology and cannot be tested."

"Hmph, do you understand now? Time travel is nonsense. The Parallel World at different points in time observed by the Quantum Sea are probably more likely to achieve the 'time travel' you mentioned, but those are just worlds that are similar to our world but completely different from ours. They don't count as time travel at all."

"Finally, you're telling me that someone you can easily tie up could kill everyone, including Kevin?"

Mobius's disdainful gaze fell on Qianqi's trembling body, which made the latter tremble even more violently.

Lin, after listening to Mobius's words, fell into deep thought.

Chapter 134 Heart-to-Heart Talk

Trust science, or trust yourself?

This really does sound like the self-righteousness of a religious believer.

Others might choose to believe themselves, after all, having witnessed those scenes and had those memories, it would be hard to believe they were illusions.

However, Lin... he didn't believe either of them.

Because those memories and images are real, but there are strange things about them.

"Looks like you've finally figured it out, then I don't need to say anything more." Mobius stretched, but when she raised her hands, she forgot that she was only wearing a bra underneath, which showed off her curvaceous figure. The friction of the fabric made her realize something was wrong.

Of course, most people would blush, but Mobius was no ordinary person; she would choose to glare at Lin with a fierce look.

However, Lin did not notice her situation, but was staring at Qianqi looked completely bewildered, and pondered.

"Hey, you..."

"I misunderstood."

Lin Tang abruptly interrupted Mobius. Under Mobius's suspicious gaze, he stepped forward, untied the ropes binding Qianqi, and then pulled the cloth out of her mouth.

As soon as the restraints were lifted, Qianqi huddled in a corner, looking at Lin as if she were watching a horror movie.

Under the horrified gazes of Qianqi and Mobius, Lin casually took the grenade and put it back on his belt. Only then did Mobius realize that Lin's seemingly unarmed everyday attire was actually full of weapons underneath.

Lin didn't say much. He pushed open the door and left.

So, where do we begin?

Lin closed his eyes, turned off the helmet's microphone, and completely lost his last two senses, immersing himself entirely in thought without any perception.

First, the incident was triggered by the deck murder that occurred at 5:00 AM on September 12th, the victim being Erwin.

But the real anomaly was the theft of the database, and the end came at 6:30 p. m. on September 18. He could not recall his last memories completely, but he had a very accurate grasp of the timing.

In addition, he occasionally felt a kind of "strange sensation", like a whisper, or a heart palpitation... and Déjà vu.

These strange sensations were reminding him of something, which is why he believed in these memories yet also questioned them.

Among all the clues, Lin believes the key point is still the consciousness pollution that Vill-V mentioned.

In the end, was Qianqi's behavior a manifestation of consciousness pollution? Was her abnormal fighting power and spirit its result?

So what is the true nature of consciousness pollution?

At that moment, Lin remembered a word.

The Herrscherification.

The Herrscherification and consciousness contamination match up in every aspect, but this also makes Lin wonder: if it really is Herrscherification, then why didn't Vill-V convey a more direct message about Herrscher back then?

No, he's shrouded in mystery and can't see the whole picture.

He must conduct a thorough investigation this time.

Lin opened his eyes, the radio system was on, he rushed around the corner, grabbed the door that was about to close, and then forcefully squeezed in.

"You, you, you..."

Qianqi stared in disbelief Lin Cong squeezed through the crack in the door. Her surprise turned to fear, and she immediately pulled out the scalpel she had just stolen from Mobius's Laboratory and pointed it at Lin.

"Don't come any closer! What... what do you want to do?!"

"I won't be in any danger," Lin said calmly, but then took a step forward and slapped the scalpel away.

But there's nothing you can do about it.

"As expected, you self-proclaimed saviors are all disgusting bastards!"

Qianqi gritted her teeth and retreated while searching for something she could use as a weapon.

She looked disheveled; her vest had been torn to shreds by Lin, leaving her only in a white and black crop top that barely covered her face, and the fear that had been stirred up overwhelmed her entire expression.

In her eyes, Lin, who had suddenly gone mad, was probably the representative of the entire Moth Chaser.

At this point, if it were the usual Lin, he might patiently sit down and reason with her.

However, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

"... You have two choices."

Lin pointed to the table next to him.

"Sit down and talk to me, or..."

He pointed to her nearly empty shirt.

"I want you to sit down and talk to me."

Upon hearing this, perhaps because Lin's previous intimidation was too great, or perhaps because Lin's murderous tone was unreserved at this moment, Qianqi could only glare at him hatefully while sobbing, and then sit down at the table.

Lin didn't say a word about this. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and then got straight to the point:

I want to get to know you.

"...ha?"

"I know you're lonely in the Moth of Fire, unable to talk to anyone, and you not only think that the people of the Moth of Fire are aliens to the whole world, but also that you are an alien in the Moth of Fire."

"..."

Her complicated expression seemed to say, "How did you know?"

Of course he knew, because this was what she had wanted to express last time, but Lin had ignored it.

"I want to understand you as a person, including your past, everything about you."

"Wait!" Qianqi suddenly stopped Lin, staring at him incredulously. "You did what you just did because of this?"

"...Yes."

Lin told a flippant lie.

"... You moths drawn to flame are really hard to understand." Qianqi seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but quickly stared at him warily again. "Let me make this clear first, I won't be like those blind women who are interested in you. It's just that you 'want' to know, and I 'want' to have someone to talk to, understand?"

Lin nodded silently.

It seems she's going to tell him. From here on, things will be different from last time. What Lin wants to know is about Qianqi's "past," which she hasn't mentioned.

It wasn't through searching, but through her own words, that boring past.

"Cough... what would you like to drink?"

Perhaps because she was planning to talk for a while, Qianqi wanted to have a drink first.

"Cola."

"Only... uh? You know?"

Qianqi gave Lin a strange look, took out two bottles of chilled cola, and placed one in front of Lin.

"Before I tell you what I'm about to say, I need to confirm one thing: what you just said, 'I will keep killing people over the next few days and eventually slaughter the entire Moth of Fire headquarters,' was it a joke, or... something else?"

Hackers often have a better sense of smell than ordinary people, which is why they are often able to find vulnerabilities in seemingly impenetrable firewalls.

"Would you rather hear the truth or a lie?"

"Of course it's true!"

"If that's your wish."

Qianqi paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked away and scratched her gray hair. "Ah... um... my wish and stuff..."

Lin, on the other hand, was quietly observing her reaction.

Chapter 135 Origin

Since time travel is impossible, let's rule out its possibility first before considering anything else.

What if we saw a vision of the future through some means? No, we shouldn't be fixated on whether it is the future or not.

One point worth noting is how Qianqi killed Kevin back then... He captured her so easily just now and almost killed her. Even if he was hiding his strength, he should have retaliated just now.

The sluggishness in his thinking manifested in his body. Lin didn't hear what Qianqi had been saying since earlier, and it wasn't until the long silence reminded him that he slowly raised his head and saw Qianqi's angry gaze.

It seems she realized he wasn't listening.

"I didn't force you to listen if you didn't want to." Qianqi's tone was somewhat indignant, but she didn't reveal her emotions too much, after all, what Lin had just done was really impressive.

"... I'm sorry." Lin frankly admitted his mistake.

However, his mental state is indeed not very good. Just processing that memory, whether he personally experienced it or not, has left him mentally exhausted. Now he still needs to find out the truth about the massacre at headquarters.

So Lin suggested, "Can you get to the point?"

"... You want me to talk about my past, and then you want me to get straight to the point?"

Qianqi's face clearly said, "Are you kidding me?"

"Phew..." Realizing that his condition was unstable, Lin also let out a long breath and shook his head. "I'll come again tomorrow."

Qianqi watched in bewilderment as Lin got up and walked outside.