Old Habits Die Hard / A Deeper Test

Humans and Honkai Beast lived together peacefully, creating a harmonious scene.

Lin seemed to understand why his parents were able to survive in this World Bubble and become friends with the Speaker.

Because there is no "Honkai" disaster in this World Bubble, Honkai Beast are more like special animals. Since there is no disaster that threatens humanity, there is naturally no need to create experimental subjects to fight against Honkai.

The moth that chases the flame would then no longer need to exist.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised?"

The speaker had somehow walked up to him, squatted down beside him, and was smoking a cigarette. He took a greedy drag, enjoyed the smoke, flicked the cigarette butt, and asked Lin.

"...surprise."

"Because our world is different?"

"..."

This sudden turn of events made Lin quietly clench her fists.

"I know my nephew, who shares the same name as me, quite well." The speaker smiled casually, a hint of something ambiguous in his smile. "After all, he's still a child. What kind of expression and look would a child have? Certainly not the cold indifference you have."

Even the speaker of this World Bubble, with just a few casual words from him, still sent chills down Lin's spine.

Moreover, the speaker has a habit of reading novels, so he must be familiar with novel settings such as "soul transmigration," which is why his thinking is so quick.

"Don't worry about it. I just want to know if my nephew is still alive? Will you leave?" The speaker's tone carried a dangerous undertone. Even if he wasn't High Council of the Fire Moth, he was certainly not an ordinary middle-aged man.

"... I'm trying to figure something out."

"Interesting."

The speaker chuckled as if nothing had happened. He was wary of this unknown person and worried that his nephew's life might be in the hands of this "time traveler".

What's your name?

"Forest."

"... I meant your own name."

"My own name is Lin."

Clearly, the speaker's surprise was evident in his eyes.

"Isn't that quite a coincidence?"

Lin didn't explain anything to him; he wasn't the person she knew, and Lin didn't want to treat him as that person.

Suddenly, Lin spotted something strange standing in the center of the city.

A clock tower that soars into the clouds, clearly visible even from this distance.

A giant second hand swings on it, announcing the passage of time.

What is that?

"What?" The speaker, who was deep in thought, looked up and followed Lin's gaze with a puzzled expression.

"That clock."

What clock?

The speaker looked somewhat bewildered, and Lin noticed that the huge clock tower was not reflected in the scenery in his pupils.

Only he... can see it?

Wrong.

If what Yan Luo says is true, the resurrection of the dead and the change of relationships are not strange phenomena, and the fact that Honkai Beast are kept as pets everywhere does not mean anything. Perhaps it is just common sense in this World Bubble.

So, is that "phenomenon" that doesn't fit the residents of the World Bubble the most abstract and strange thing?

He turned and walked into the house; he was going to inform Yan Luo.

The speaker frowned as he pondered, recalling Lin's strange behavior earlier, a strange feeling welling up inside him.

He ignored Lin and Yan Luo, and instead avoided Lin's parents inside the house, quietly heading towards Lin's father's study...

"Is the clock... reminding us that it's related to time?"

Yan Luo gazed calmly at the towering clock tower, a landmark that the local residents knew nothing about and could not even see, which spoke of its special nature.

Who did it?

"Who knows? There are quite a few strange people and things in the Quantum Sea. Since I am an observer, there must be other observers." Yan Luo told him in a calm tone, "But apart from me, all other observers who possess the Second Divine Key are Su."

"Su?"

Perhaps she had said too much, for Yan Luo did not continue the topic. A light flashed in her eyes, but it quickly died down.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Old Habits Are Hard to Change

"The clock does not show the actual time."

After checking, Lin and Yan Luo discovered that the time displayed on the clock was different from the time in the World Bubble.

Lin suddenly asked, "How long have we been here?"

"I'm not sure, but it feels like about forty minutes."

Forty minutes...

Both pairs of eyes looked at the three hands of the clock that marked the passage of time and found that the time displayed was 12:43 a. m.

In other words, the clock actually shows the amount of time that has passed since they arrived here?

"Xiao Lin, Little Yan Luo, come in and eat."

The mother's call made the two exchange a glance, and then, in unison, they turned around, closed the door, and went back into their room.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was very harmonious. The two men chatted idly while the woman watched them with a smile. Lin and Yan Luo ate their food in silence.

"Yan Luo is really cute." The speaker had somehow changed the subject to Yan Luo, and he patted Yan Luo's head affectionately. "But neither of you has white hair, so why does Yan Luo have silver-white hair?"

"It's probably the dominant expression of a recessive gene." The woman was also a scholar, and she was quite proficient in biological research, which was basic knowledge that everyone knew.

"That's really great, little Yan Luo. You must grow up to be a beautiful woman, just like your mother, with a great figure and beautiful looks."

Yan Luo grunted expressionlessly, buried his head in the bowl, and quickly ate his food.

Lin was somewhat surprised. Yan Luo's eating manner was as if she hadn't eaten anything good for many years. This woman, who was even more icy than him, actually had a foodie side.

Even more surprisingly, after finishing the ginseng fruit like Pigsy eating ginseng fruit, seemingly oblivious to whether she had tasted it or not, she calmly turned her head and said, "When I grow up, I should have a good figure, a C cup, the perfect size to hold in one hand, and perfect in appearance."

"..."

"..."

This sudden remark, which was comparable to a dirty joke, left everyone speechless.

"I'm stuffed."

She pushed her bowl away and left the table, leaving the three adults looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Aren't you going to talk to your parents and that person a little more?" Yan Luo heard footsteps behind her. She turned around from the window and said coldly to Lin as he walked in, "This is a very precious opportunity for you, after all, you don't talk to them very often."

"... Were you joking just now?"

"A joke? Why would I joke?"

Yan Luo responded matter-of-factly, "I am indeed as he said, a person with an impeccable appearance. I just told them in advance that I would grow up as he described."

Lin couldn't understand this person anymore.

Her ruthlessness when she was chasing him wasn't feigned, but otherwise she seemed different from the cold and ruthless personality he had imagined.

"When you see someone you'll never see again, it's better to be more honest."

Yan Luo was speaking in a low voice, but Lin couldn't hear him clearly.

"..."

The two people in the study did not speak. One of them leisurely smoked a cigarette, puffing away at the butt in his mouth, the smoke swirling around him. The other looked at the smoking man with a colder gaze, as if the amiable atmosphere they had just maintained was all an act.

"Old Ma, do you know what? I was very happy when I found out that you and she got married. Most of the people around me are just political partners, and there are very few who can be called friends. So I hope that my heartfelt conversation with you is pure and without any impurities."

"And after you gave birth to Lin, I was even more delighted, and you were willing to let me give him my name."

"But now that I think about it, perhaps it was Lin's original name, 'Zero,' that exposed the thoughts of your 'scientists' that I can't understand."

The speaker's eyes had turned cold, and he pointed with his still-burning cigarette at the opened document on the table.

"What's the deal with that 'Experimental Record of Modification'? Why do I see my nephew and niece's names on it? What did you do to your son and daughter?"

The man's indifferent gaze remained unchanged. He didn't even look at the evidence the speaker had found on the table; he simply stared coldly at the speaker.

"Old Ma, I need an explanation."

"..."

The speaker stubbed out his cigarette, and he could tell from his longtime friend's eyes that he was conveying one thing: no explanation.

In fact, the speaker was well aware of the couple's personality traits. They had shown a passion for biological research since their student days, and he had met them in a private laboratory. He knew all too well that men would do such a thing.

But when it actually happened, the speaker found himself believing that no matter what, the two men would never harm his own child.

In retrospect, it was precisely because they were his own children that it was easy for him to do it.

"Is there a problem with making my child more perfect?" The man finally spoke, but his chilling words caused the temperature in the room to drop even further.

The speaker suddenly chuckled, brushed his bangs aside, and smiled slightly at his good friend, "Old Ma, you know what? In many novels, there is a typical image of a mad scientist. They have no humanity, no morality, and no bottom line. They will give up everything for the so-called evolution and perfection, whether it is the people around them or themselves."

"I thought it was impossible for such a stupid person to exist in reality, but I seem to have forgotten that virtual works are also based on reality, and I never expected that there would be two living examples around me."

His smile grew even brighter, "Your experiments even continued until last week, and you've almost finished studying all the tolerance levels of Lin and Yan Luo. Next, it's time to study their ability indicators. My God, even the lab Lab Rat in my own lab have never been studied like this."

"And what's the thing that makes me want to punch you in the face the most?"

The speaker's pupils contracted, and he gritted his teeth, almost shouting as he forced the words out of his throat, "You actually think of having them reproduce through inbreeding?"

There is no doubt about the harmfulness of inbreeding; these two men, who reached the pinnacle of biology, could not possibly be unaware of it. However, they also understood that inbreeding would increase the probability of producing geniuses, and that this probability would become 100% in their countless experiments.

Using two near-perfect siblings to create even more perfect offspring.

Only two words came to the speaker's mind.

And he didn't need to endure it at all.

"Brute."

Angry eyes and indifferent eyes stared at each other.

Chapter Forty: The Deepest Test

"Your mental state... is very unstable..."

"... Hmph, you really have the leisure to care about others."

Mobius retorted coldly to Aponia, who was still in Aponia's room the Deepest Place.

More than a day has passed since Lin fell into a coma. Since Aponia has the deepest understanding of consciousness, Mei and the others have decided that Aponia will take care of Lin for the time being, so that they can notify them in time if there is any emergency.

Mobius, however, did not trust Aponia. This woman was far more dangerous than she had imagined. She even doubted whether Kevin's consciousness could withstand Aponia's attacks if Aponia wanted to.

Of course, there are other reasons as well, but that's not important.

"Can you predict when he'll be back?"

Aponia's head-shaking left Mobius with a slight sense of regret.

She is finding the issue of consciousness increasingly thorny, to the point that it has led her to a terrifying suspicion.

If enemies that specifically target consciousness, or even Herrscher, emerge in the future, wouldn't they be helpless without any countermeasures?

"Mobius ... Doctor, are you and Lin very close..."

"..." Mobius's fingers stroked the earring on his earlobe to calm himself down. "At best, it's just a researcher and Lab Rat ... no, it's a creditor and a deadbeat... no, it's a master and a pet relationship."

That's right, that's the kind of relationship it should be. Everything he owns belongs to him, so isn't that like a master and a pet?

"I see... Lin Cong never told me... about you..." Aponia's fingers gently brushed against Lin's fingertips, a small, unintentional gesture that made the sharp-eyed Mobius a little annoyed.

Why is this Nun always sneaking around touching Lin's body? And she does it all with such a calm expression, making Lin feel guilty even if she tries to criticize her.