Picking Someone Up Takes More Than Technique-It Takes Hardware / You'll Play a Helmet-Wearing Guy in the MOTH

"Of course..." Mobius realized her mistake as soon as she said it, then said with a gloomy face, "It's just an innate advantage, and even if I don't admit it, it still exists."

"You see, everyone actually knows that they are special, I just said it out loud."

Mobius was ultimately unable to refute Elysia's smile, which could melt even the hardest ice.

However, she still insisted on saying, "Lin Ke never thought that way. He even thought he was just average-looking."

"Him..."

Just as Elysia was about to say something, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on her face, and then she looked at Lin lying down.

The other two also sensed something and looked at Lin.

Lin, who had been completely still and breathing evenly in his sleep, suddenly trembled, then his eyelids twitched, and finally his eyes slowly opened.

He's awake? He woke up so suddenly?

"Lin? You're awake?"

Lin woke up, Elysia should have been overjoyed to welcome her friend back, but she looked at Lin with some uncertainty, as if... she was testing him.

"Hmm..."

Lin looked around blankly, his pupils, composed of two colors, quietly surveying the environment in the darkness. Then he looked at the three people beside him.

Then something incredible happened.

Most people's impression of Lin is his helmet, which perfectly represents his expression—it looks the same all year round, without any change.

In fact, he himself doesn't show any expression on his face, so calling him an iceberg might not be accurate—even icebergs melt.

But now, a look of surprise flashed across Lin's face, which he quickly concealed. After thinking for a moment, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

He... smiled?

"Yes, I'm awake, Eri."

Meanwhile, Lin, inside the World Bubble, was rushing home with Yan Luo. Images flashed before his eyes, and he felt a strange familiarity with the scene, as if he had witnessed similar sights somewhere before...

I remember now.

That was the event that changed Spasi, Soul, and him—the attack on the Fifth Branch. He had gone out to investigate and carry out a mission just like that, and then received news of the branch's attack, and ran back.

At that time, he was very calm. Even though the fate of Hun and the others was uncertain, Lin was able to handle the situation with absolute rationality.

But now, he felt a little flustered.

My steps became slightly unsteady at some point.

Yan Luo, who was beside him, merely glanced at him before following him home.

Chapter 47: Picking up girls isn't about skills, it's about natural attributes.

It was as if flames of punishment descended from the heavens, threatening to burn the sinner to ashes.

Even a torrential downpour could not stop the flames of hatred from burning in the darkness.

Lin stood before the towering fireworks, listening to the deafening crash of the pillar that had been burned to a crisp and could no longer bear the weight as it fell to the ground. He lowered his head, letting his wet hair stick to his face and obscure his features.

The man in the suit held a pistol in his hand, standing in front of the ruins that once called home. He turned around and looked at the two children with a hint of surprise.

The heavy rain continues, never ceasing.

"Hey? Who's that? There's such a pretty... girl? boy at headquarters?"

"I don't know, this is the first time I've met her, is she a newcomer?"

"He's smiling at me! Hey! Did you see that? His smile is like a radiant light. The Mona Lisa's smile is nothing compared to this. I'm going to secretly take a picture..."

"Pfft, you're exaggerating... but remember to send me a copy of the photo."

Elysia and Mobius peeked out from around the corner, their four eyes staring intently at Lin, who was walking down the corridor with a bright smile. Everyone who passed by him felt a gentle spring breeze and the budding of new life, and they couldn't help but discuss this stranger who had appeared in the headquarters.

I doubt anyone would associate him with that helmeted man who always covered his face and exuded a gloomy aura of someone who had just killed someone.

"Has he finally come to his senses?" Mobius frowned, staring at the people who kept turning back as they walked past him. "Has he finally realized his advantage and is ready to abandon all moral principles and act recklessly?"

"... That's not Lin." Elysia rarely smiled; her expression was somewhat unpleasant as she stared intently at Lin's retreating figure.

Mobius scoffed dismissively. "You don't think a drastic change in temperament means he's a completely different person, do you? Given his experiences and accumulated pressure, it's possible he's developed a second personality or unleashed his true nature."

"No, that can't be Lin."

"... How did you know?"

"I made a promise with Lin, and Lin is a person who will absolutely keep his promises. He would never break his promise unless it is absolutely necessary."

Elysia had once stipulated that Lin was not allowed to show his true face to anyone except her, and this agreement meant that Lin had only shown his face a handful of times when he had considered it and needed to show it to others.

It would be absolutely impossible for someone to walk around the headquarters so openly and without any disguise.

This Lin... Elysia had a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on. She was certain that he wasn't the contradictory man she knew, who was both ruthless and affectionate, rational and emotional, but she didn't directly call him out on it.

Perhaps it was because Lin didn't seem to have any ill intentions.

He simply smiled from the bottom of his heart after waking up.

"We'll find out soon enough by continuing to observe." Mobius remained skeptical, and she also vaguely felt that there were certain aspects of Lin that didn't evoke any dislike in her.

"The professor still hasn't come back today."

"Even the projects assigned to her have been delayed."

Danzhu and Cangxuan, who had just finished lunch, walked from the cafeteria to the laboratory chatting and laughing. For them, who were always thinking about how to slack off under Mobius's supervision, the fact that Mobius had gone to the Deepest Place for several days without returning made their lives blissful. They almost treated the laboratory as an amusement park where they could play all day long after checking off a task.

"I'm starting to miss my PhD."

Do you miss the murderous tone in her voice when she called you by your full name?

"I miss the look on her face when she forgot to add the seasoning packet to her instant noodles."

The two of them, one acting as the straight man and the other as the comedian, entertained themselves with their back-and-forth banter, laughing so hard they were doubled over on the way.

Just then, a person walked towards them. Danzhu glanced at him casually and froze on the spot.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Danzhu..." Cangxuan looked in the direction Danzhu stop...

A man, beaming with joy, walked up to them. Just as he was about to walk past them, he paused, looked at them thoughtfully for a moment, and after deep thought, suddenly realized what was going on.

"Danzhu? Cangxuan?" He called out their names with a smile. "Are you ready to go back to work after dinner?"

"..."

"..."

Danzhu's face flushed red instantly, the redness spreading from her neck all the way to her ears, making her translucent ears look like they were stained with apple red.

She leaned close to Cangxuan's ear, flustered, and said, "Cang, Cang, Cangxuan... I think I saw the person from my dream."

Cangxuan took a deep breath, then reached out and pinched Danzhu's waist hard, making the other girl let out a cute "Ouch" in pain.

"What are you doing!" Danzhu glared at Cangxuan, both shocked and furious.

"Looks like it wasn't a dream." Cangxuan said expressionlessly, resting his chin on his hand. "Congratulations, your dream girl has appeared in reality."

Lin stared at the two of them with a puzzled expression. They were whispering to each other and glancing at him every now and then.

"Um... excuse me, who are you...?" After discussing it, Danzhu asked tentatively.

This person's appearance was so memorable that you could never forget him after just one glance. She had no memory of him, but he seemed to know both of them. She wondered if he was someone she had met by chance before.

No, no, no, even if it was a chance encounter, she couldn't possibly have no memory of it at all. Could it be that her brain was modified by the doctor?

Oh right, the Doctor often says that her brain isn't even one percent as good as Klein's, her memory is like a goldfish's, and her capacity is less than a single-celled organism's. If the Doctor wants an assistant as capable as Klein's, he'll probably go after her...

The more Danzhu thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and his expression became increasingly serious.

"I am..." Lin smiled and was about to say something, but he stopped when he was about to speak. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I am someone you are very familiar with."

"Very familiar?" The two sisters were shocked by this statement.

Cangxuan's first thought was whether it was a financial dispute?

Danzhu's first thought was, what exactly did Doctor Mobius do to her brain?

"Let's play with models together next time if we have the chance."

Lin didn't explain anything further. He simply smiled and walked past the two sisters before leaving.

"Cangxuan, do you really not remember where we met before?"

"Are you the one who can't remember? No wonder the doctor said you have the memory of a goldfish..."

Meanwhile, Mobius, who was being hotly discussed, stood expressionless at the corner. She turned to Elysia and said, "I'm sure that's Lin. The way he flirted with my assistant is exactly the same as his."

"..."

Chapter 48 You will play a helmeted man in Firemoth

The pink-haired girl, who was leaning against the cabin wall with her eyes closed and resting, twitched her fox-like animal ears, and glanced at the cockpit out of the corner of her eye.

"Why can't we just let the transport plane fly on autopilot? Why do we have to go and meet that monster?"

"Shh, we're here to keep an eye on her..."

"Surveillance? How are we supposed to monitor that kind of monster? I think it's more like sending us to our deaths. Look at those ears, they don't look human at all..."

"Alright, stop talking. Nothing bad happened, didn't it? They were doing it for humanity..."

"For humanity?! Didn't you hear that her squad's mission wasn't to defeat the Honkai, but rather—"

Suddenly, the suppressed conversation in the cockpit stopped, but it wasn't because they discovered Sakura was eavesdropping and stopped the conversation. Rather, Sakura put the headphones around her neck on the beast ears on her head and started listening to some music with ups and downs, thus suppressing the noise.

The excellent hearing that this provides to the ears is not always a good thing.

But Sakura didn't hear the music; she stared blankly at her hands, exhausted.

"The existence of the Poisoned Cocoon is necessary for humanity, at least for most humans."

Mei's casual words resonated in her heart, causing her to unconsciously clench her fists.

She killed for her sister, she killed for herself, she killed for humanity... What will she kill for in the future?

What appeared to others as long, beautiful hands with slender, well-proportioned fingers were, in her eyes, deformed beast claws stained with blood.

Lately, she has been dreaming of many bizarre and fantastical scenes, in which she transforms into a giant beast with elytra, and countless feathers fall before her vertical pupils like raindrops of varying colors, sometimes red, sometimes yellow.

She soared freely through the sky, only to plunge into a swamp in an instant, unable to escape... unable to struggle...

Until his consciousness blurred, until he regained it, he saw himself gnawing on... the bodies of some people.

The dreams became more and more frequent, and she began to lose sight of the difference between virtual and reality. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw herself in the mirror transformed into a scarred monster.

Those people weren't wrong; she was a monster, after that surgery... no, she was already a monster long before that surgery.

Sakura covered her head; the light around her had somehow become viscous, like a swamp, like a quagmire, like a cage...

Back at headquarters, Sakura numbly stepped off the transport plane, with veiled gazes lingering on her body and the ears above her head from time to time.

They thought they hadn't been discovered by Sakura, little did they know that Sakura's sensitivity to sight made her feel as if she had fallen into a dungeon full of steel needles.

The sunlight at sea was also dazzling. She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and walked into the headquarters, heading towards her room as if she were trying to escape.

Who exactly are you?

Just then, a questioning voice made Sakura stop in her tracks; she remembered it was Elysia's voice.

Elysia rarely interrogates others in a harsh tone, and her position has nothing to do with interrogation. She is better at using gentle persuasion to get what she wants from others.

But why does her voice sound a little angry today?

Sakura hesitated for a moment, but still walked towards the direction from which the sound came.

As Sakura rounded the corner, she saw Elysia and Mobius cornering someone, their expressions quite serious, while the other person wore an indifferent smile, seemingly not intending to answer.

That person... um?

Sakura was immediately struck by the other person's face upon first glance, and then felt a sense of familiarity.

She had actually seen the upper and lower halves of Lin's face separately. At this moment, her memory returned, and after observing for a while with a frown, she dug out the fragments from the depths of her memory and pieced them together.