"Found Bolong!"
A childish voice suddenly rang out from the end of the corridor. After a pattering burst of footsteps, a tiny figure grabbed hold of Bolong's pant leg.
Pale, shoulder-length short hair, a black-and-white dress, and a chubby little face still plump with baby fat.
She was a young girl, only a little taller than Bolong's hip. Her innocent, youthful face was filled with a delighted smile.
"Bolong! Where did Daddy go? I can't find either of you no matter how hard I look!" SiZhi tugged at Bolong's trouser leg, making his face twist in distress. "He promised we'd celebrate Mom's birthday today, but then he said he had work again. That's so unfair!"
"Oh, Miss SiZhi, the doctor really has something important to do today. Can't he spend time with you and Miss Kalte after work?" Bolong's bodyguard-like face showed a hint of bitterness. He was clearly helpless against this little girl, and he could hardly spend extra time coaxing her with Lin and the others watching.
"I don't want to! Daddy always lies! He must be lying today too!"
"This..." Bolong was not good with words and truly had no idea how to answer her.
SiZhi's adorable eyes darted around, and when she spotted the helmeted man standing nearby, she immediately raised her head and curiously studied the stranger.
"Why are you wearing a helmet?"
"..."
Bolong gave Lin an apologetic look and tried to pull SiZhi back, but the little girl darted straight to Lin's feet. She peered through the gap around his neck, trying to see what was inside.
Even with her eyes wide open, SiZhi could not see inside. That was only natural. If Elysia could not do it, no one else possibly could. After frowning at it for a while, she suddenly shouted, "I can't see... I know! You're Daddy, right? You must be wearing a helmet to pretend to be someone else, then surprise Mommy!"
"..." Lin responded with silence. Soul was amused by the child's innocent reasoning and had just been about to crouch down to explain when Lin shook his head.
"Ah? You're not?" SiZhi lowered her head in disappointment.
"Your father has something to do right now. He'll come spend time with you later." Lin calmly repeated what Bolong had said earlier. Yet somehow, when those previously useless words came from Lin in that calm, utterly unkind tone, SiZhi obediently nodded.
Soul looked at Lin in surprise. He seemed to understand how to comfort children, including last time...
Thinking of what had happened last time, Soul's expression stiffened.
"Then what are you here for, Big Brother?"
"I don't have anything to do for the moment. Can you take us to where the uncles and aunties in white coats are?"
"Mm, okay! Follow me!"
Lin nodded at the stunned Bolong and followed SiZhi's skipping steps.
Taking a Step
"Dad, Mom!"
"Little Soul? Why are you here?"
Soul's restraint as a girl and her usual manners toward others showed that she had received a good upbringing. By extension, it also told Lin what kind of people her parents were.
A woman who resembled Soul by sixty percent and a gentle-looking short-haired man stood at the entrance of the laboratory talking. At Soul's call, both turned around and watched in surprise as she jogged over to them.
The Fifth Branch had only been informed that Doctor Mei would be coming for this visit. No one paid attention to the accompanying personnel list, and Soul had not notified them in advance.
Thus, when the family met, her parents were extremely surprised by their daughter's sudden appearance.
"Hehe... I actually came to carry out a mission." Soul awkwardly curled the fine strands of hair beside her ear as she explained to them.
How could parents who had watched their child grow up not understand what she was thinking? The short-haired man immediately grasped the hidden meaning. Linking it to the news that Doctor Mei had come to the Fifth Branch, he glared at Soul and sternly said, "You child, you're already a proper soldier, yet you're still pulling these little tricks. Do you know how much trouble you could bring to your squad and Doctor Mei?"
"I didn't expect to be assigned this mission either." Soul looked at her mother pitifully.
As expected of mother and daughter, Soul's mother received her daughter's silent plea for help and smiled as she stopped the man, who was preparing to continue. "All right, all right. She's already here, so what's the point of saying so much?"
"You... sigh, forget it. Since you're here, carry out your mission properly, understand?" The man had intended to scold Soul a little more, but when he saw her eyes welling with tears, his words softened. Helplessly, he tapped her forehead. "Where are your teammates? Did you come here alone for this mission?"
Forget it. She had already fought a Judgment-class Honkai Beast. She should understand the most basic responsibility of being accountable for her own actions.
Originally, the couple had not approved of Soul going to the front lines. They believed her personality was too soft and unsuited for battle. But in just over two months, they had sensed their daughter's growth through their communications with her.
The responsibility and resilience of a soldier had already begun to show in Soul. Being intelligent, they could guess that someone had taught her these things. But whenever they asked Soul about it, she would stammer and muddle through with evasive answers.
It was definitely a boy. The couple arrived at the same conclusion without even needing to speak.
"Um, well..." At the mention of this, Soul's eyes wandered as she began considering how to introduce Lin.
Her former teammate, then he had defeated Sessha and the Third Herrscher during the Third Honkai War and received a promotion and a raise, and this time they had happened to be on a mission together...
No, no. Normally, she just needed to say Lin was the captain of Squad Seven. If she explained too much, they would definitely misunderstand!
"Big Brother, this is the place! I'm going to keep looking for Daddy now. Bye!"
"..."
After leading Lin there, SiZhi waved at him and ran off with a patter of footsteps. Lin saw Bolong reach out as if to call her back. He was probably worried that it would be dangerous for a child to run around the base.
Lin looked up at the sign reading "Fifth Science Department" and said calmly, "Go look after her. I'll take a look around the Fifth Science Department."
"Can I?" Bolong's eyes lit up. "Sigh, Miss SiZhi often comes to play in the base. It's fine when the doctor is around, but when he isn't, she can slip into anywhere. I'm afraid she'll accidentally release living zombies or Honkai Beasts."
"... Are they that easy to release here?" Lin's pressure settled squarely on Bolong. Even through the helmet, Bolong could sense the gaze that seemed capable of freezing the air.
"Ahem, I misspoke. Actually, those test subjects require rather high clearance and biometric verification to open their containment facilities." Bolong realized that his joke had gone too far, so he coughed and explained, "But Honkai Energy is difficult to isolate. The test subjects are periodically disposed of to control the concentration of Honkai Energy, so the base does not always have test subjects. It's just that we recently captured some relatively valuable zombies from Changkong City."
The Fifth Branch was very close to Changkong City, practically giving them a convenient source of materials. Every major Honkai outbreak produced new varieties of zombies and Honkai Beasts, all of which were valuable research materials.
Lin frowned at Bolong's explanation. "Other than normal unlocking methods, are there any other ways?"
"No."
"... Go on, then."
"Okay. Thank you, Mister Lin."
Having been delayed for a while, Bolong anxiously ran in the direction SiZhi had gone, calling her name as he ran.
Lin remained where he was and had Prometheus record everything he had seen and every conversation he had heard since entering the Fifth Branch.
Programs rapidly flashed across his display. After making some simple modifications, he turned around and walked toward the Fifth Science Department with his head lowered, thinking about something.
"Is that him?"
A voice with an odd tone reached Lin's ears.
His train of thought interrupted, he raised his head and saw a man and a woman blocking his path, examining him with a... difficult-to-understand look.
Behind them, Soul pressed her hands together and gave Lin an apologetic expression.
After observing their expressions, Lin's eyes behind the display window suddenly turned cold.
"Director Fal, hello. I'm Su."
"Hello. I've been waiting for you."
The young man with medium-length light gray hair awkwardly tried to bow to the man who would become his superior starting today. Before he could bend down, the man caught him by the shoulder, then laughed heartily and patted it. "Why be so shy? We're both doctors. We're here to save patients. Where is this talk of rank and status coming from?"
"Mm... mm!" Su realized his voice was still too subdued, so he forced himself to respond with some energy.
"Very good!" Director Fal gave him a thumbs-up, then lowered his hand and beckoned Su into the hospital. "I'll just call you Su. Your abilities are outstanding, and you could achieve even more if you continued your studies. Why did you want to start working now?"
Su's gaze darkened as he secretly clenched his fists. "I... saw a kind of... terrifying illness. I don't want to stand by and do nothing."
Moreover, an undisclosed disaster had occurred in Changkong City. Almost no one had survived, and no one knew what kind of accident it had been. But his friend Kevin, who had been studying in Changkong City, and Kevin's girlfriend Mei had both lost contact. The worst—and most likely—possibility was... death.
This place was very close to Changkong City, and it was also where "that illness" had first appeared. No matter how he looked at it, Su believed he should work here.
"A terrifying illness?" Director Fal chuckled. "Su, can you describe it?"
"... Purple patterns, and unprecedented pain."
"Looks like you've already done some research. Then I'll be frank."
Director Fal stopped in front of an intensive care ward. Facing the door, he tilted his head and looked steadily at Su.
Deep colors filled his eyes.
"Humanity may be facing an unimaginable disaster."
"In ancient times, people would describe terrifying phenomena as monsters and ghosts running rampant. In modern times, we call it..."
"Honkai Sickness."
He reached out and pushed open the door, revealing the darkness before Su.
Su's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
I Will Become Your Home
If the atmosphere could become a tangible environment, then a blizzard would have fallen and a hurricane would have risen at the same time.
"May I ask your name?" The man's gaze washed over Lin from head to toe before finally stopping on his helmet.
Lin stared coldly at him. After a long while, he squeezed out a single word. "...Lin."
He was certain that the two had misunderstood something, and what they had misunderstood was exactly what Lin least wanted to encounter.
"Lin? That name..."
"If there's nothing else, I'll head inside first." Lin's emotionally detached gaze turned toward Soul. Seeing that look again after so long, Soul's heart tightened, and she did not know what to do with herself.
But Lin had not become taciturn and distant only yesterday. He did not say another word. He simply passed by the three of them and entered the Fifth Science Department.
Soul stared blankly at his departing back. After a while, she could no longer suppress the disappointment on her face.
Sure enough, what Lin had said back then was merely an offhand compliment. Just as he had said himself, he did not have any other thoughts at all.
The woman and the man exchanged a look, both seeing helplessness in the other's eyes.
Lin, why did you leave just like that?
When Lin entered the Fifth Science Department, he did not cause any disturbance. Everyone was conducting their own research. Laboratories were arranged in orderly rows, and people in lab coats and protective gear moved in and out of them. Some bore red warnings telling people to keep away.
From the moment he took his first step inside, he had memorized the rough layout of the entire area, then refined the route through careful observation.
At that moment, Prometheus asked a question on the screen visible only to him, one that an Artificial Intelligence should not have asked.
Why did you do that?
"Why would you ask that?" Lin slowly walked along the wall, avoiding disturbing anyone's normal work.
Correcting and assisting Prometheus's system so that she could improve her intelligent functions was also one of Lin's duties. Her question had clearly exceeded the intelligence of an ordinary AI, so Lin felt it was necessary to gain a deeper understanding of her logical structure.
According to standard etiquette and ordinary social etiquette, your actions did not conform to ordinary standards.
"People have no fixed standards. They react differently to different people and different matters, and their own conditions as variables influence them at the same time." Lin did not sound impatient. He was as patient as if he were speaking to a newborn child.
...Understood. Recorded in database. Lin, according to the database, you are an orphan. Was your earlier behavior caused by this condition?
"No." Lin's little finger twitched. "I don't have a habit of envying other people's happy families."
Lin, no information about your family was found in the database, nor could your biological father and mother be matched in the database. Do you know who your parents are?
Perhaps it was the low emotional intelligence unique to Artificial Intelligence that made Prometheus ask such a blunt question, one that practically drove a knife into someone's heart. Even Lin fell silent for several seconds.
"Prometheus, haven't you noticed that your question no longer conforms to the standards of ordinary interaction you just mentioned?"
'People react differently to different people and different matters.' — Lin
Seeing that line, Lin gained an initial understanding of the AI's learning ability.
Quite a few people had asked Lin this question before, but most had been tactful, afraid of hurting him. Lin would similarly pretend not to understand and avoid the subject. As a result, even Kevin believed that Lin actually had a complete family.
Yet today, he was actually considering telling an AI. It was rather ironic.
Lin thought for a while, and Prometheus quietly waited for him to speak.
Only after the longest hand of the clock completed another full revolution did Lin finally lower his voice and speak. "I know."
Please explain.
"My father was a teacher, while my mother was an ordinary housewife."
"My memories began earlier than those of ordinary children. I remember everything from about one month after my birth until now, so I still remember what they looked like."
There was neither sorrow nor joy in Lin's voice. It was as though he were not recounting his own memories, but merely a simple plot.
"They gave me half a year of love."
"Then they abandoned me half a year later."