The First Meeting / Someone Once Said

"Really! Why would I buy a bear hair clip just for that? I want to be a hero like Captain Kevin!"

"Hehe... you really haven't changed, Kosma." Dessidobia chuckled softly. "But... that's good... Kosma, you just need to be yourself..."

"Despair."

The sound of a button being pressed silenced the two of them, and they turned to look to the side.

Elysia was covering her mouth, laughing so hard she was practically rolling on the ground, while Lin, standing next to her, was so laughing he was too exhausted to move and leaned against the wall.

Noticing that the two had spotted them, Lin stopped smiling, straightened his clothes, and then pressed the horn in his hand.

"Why would I buy a bear hair clip just for the sake of it! I'm going to be a hero like Captain Kevin!"

"How could I possibly do that on purpose..."

After seeing that Kosma's face had turned completely pale, Lin pressed the next button.

"But... this is good... Kosma, you just need to be yourself..."

Immediately afterwards, Dessidobia's face turned bright red.

The red and white outfits changed like a face-changing act, making Elysia laugh so hard she almost choked.

Then, that night, the entire Moth of Fire heard the terrifyingly powerful loudspeakers broadcasting Kosma declaration without interruption.

As for Dessidobia? Let's leave that girl's shy confession to them.

Chapter Fifty-Eight: The First Meeting

Are you alone?

Sakura saw that Lin was finally free and was standing alone in the corner rubbing his eyes, so she seized the opportunity and went up to him.

"Huh? Could it be that I'll turn into a ghost?" Lin asked, putting his hand down.

"..."

Realizing that Sakura didn't seem to accept this kind of joke, Lin coughed and said seriously, "I was just looking for someone to chat with for a while. You've come at the perfect time, Sakura."

Sakura hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Will Lin have these memories after he comes back?"

"You have something you want to say to him, but you don't want to say it in person?" Lin easily sensed Ying's thoughts. He opened his arms wide in an exaggeratedly accommodating manner. "It's okay, just say it. Your words will definitely reach him!"

"All right..."

Lin's nonsensical antics dispelled Ying's embarrassment. She hypnotized herself into thinking that the person in front of her was the real Lin, and took a deep breath.

"Lin... I'm so sorry, perhaps you've been disappointed that I'm only telling you this now after so long..."

"No."

Lin suddenly interrupted her, looking at Ying with amusement. "I'm not disappointed in you, I can guarantee that."

"...Phew." Regardless of whether it was true or not, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "We haven't known each other for long. Compared to the other partners who fought alongside you in Moth of Fire from the very beginning, we might not even be considered friends."

"You're saving lives, I'm killing. No matter what excuse I make, I'm a killer, and that won't change. And you probably despise people like me the most."

Whether it was when she first joined the yet-to-be-reorganized Poisoned Cocoon or during her first mission as a Flame-Chaser, she stood on the opposite side of Lin. Even if Lin didn't say anything, she could sense that Lin was gradually growing to dislike her.

She could understand Lin, just as she could understand those who pointed at the Flame-Chaser behind their backs and called them monsters.

She could stay away from others, but when Lin brushed past her without saying a word as if he didn't see her, she felt very sad.

"I'll probably continue doing the things you hate in the future, so at least let me give you back what you originally had."

Sakura wanted to return the ice blade to Rin, as it was rightfully his, and he didn't want to see his friend's keepsake used to kill humans.

"Someone once told me that just touching lips doesn't count as a first kiss."

"..."

Lin's serious words made Ying's expression freeze on the spot, and the emotions she had prepared instantly dissipated.

What is he saying?

However, Sakura had a deep impression of it. Right here, in the Spiral Workshop, she and Lin accidentally...

"So you don't need to give him back his first kiss, it's no big deal."

Lin stared at her and chuckled lewdly, startling Ying so much that she covered her mouth and backed away repeatedly.

Instead of dwelling on those things, let's think about what to do next.

"What to do?"

Sakura did not understand Lin's statement.

"It's Ling. She's coming later. Have you thought about what to do?"

"What?" Upon hearing the name Rin, Sakura panicked and nervously asked the smiling person in front of her, "Why is Rin here?"

"She's on my banquet guest list, of course she'll come," Lin said matter-of-factly.

How so...

Sakura's animal ears trembled; she couldn't imagine what kind of expression Rin would have when she saw those monstrous ears.

"I can tell you weren't prepared. Luckily, I expected this. Come with me."

Lin Yima walked ahead first, and Ying hesitated for a moment, but after seeing him turn around and wait for her, she followed him.

"Oh? And who are you? If you're here to 'play games' with me, don't keep me too bored!"

The man leaned against the inner corner of the wall, his beastly eyes fixed on Kevin the moment he stepped into the Deepest Place.

"Chrono, is that right?"

As Kevin walked to the door, he could feel the overwhelming aura pressing down on him from the depths, a feeling no less intense than that of the Herrscher he had faced before.

"Roar? You already know, so why ask me again?" Chrono couldn't help but laugh. He seemed to have completely abandoned his appearance in the sanatorium. Now he was more like a wild beast, a wounded and ferocious wolf that had not yet been taken in by Aponia.

He licked his teeth and lips, revealing a bloodthirsty smile.

"Not bad... not bad! Finally, something interesting has arrived!" Chrono could already feel his body stirring. Kevin was definitely different from the others; his warlike genes made him unable to resist raising his voice, "You have Lin's aura on you! Who are you to Lin? A friend? A brother? What kind of expression will he have when I twist your head off and throw it in front of him!"

"... I see, no wonder he told me to be careful."

Kevin placed his hand on the railing, frowning as he met those eyes. He thought of Lin's expression before he left, and Lin must have already guessed the outcome of the meeting.

"Heh... Even that guy is afraid of me?" Chrono chuckled.

But soon, Kevin's calm voice came. "Don't get me wrong, he just told me to 'be careful'."

Chrono's wild laughter stopped abruptly in his throat, as if it had been forcibly cut off.

"Be careful," even if it's just a little bit careful, in other words, Lin felt that Chrono was no match for Kevin at all, like trying to catch a kitten that might scratch you, only worrying about whether you would get scratched.

"Hmph... He really is..." Chrono said, enunciating each word with utmost urgency, "He likes to provoke me!"

"..."

Just when things seemed about to escalate to the point where a fight was inevitable, Kevin's momentum suddenly faltered.

This doesn't mean he gave in; rather, his purpose in coming here wasn't to fight Chrono.

Qian Jie was stunned for Chrono after Kevin withdrew his sharp gaze, then became even angrier. "You... don't take me seriously?"

"Lin said he'll keep you in his heart," Kevin said, repeating Lin's seemingly joking words of advice.

"..."

"You can gain a certain degree of freedom, but you will be under the supervision of the Moths of Fire."

"Freedom? You think... this little cage can hold me?"

"You can't break through. This room is made of a special heat-resistant insulation layer. This material is used to fight against the Herrscher of Flames."

"You..."

"Let me... talk to him..."

Suddenly, another voice made Chrono's eyes widen. He looked incredulously behind Kevin as a figure gracefully walked out.

"Apo... Nia?"

The newcomer was Aponia, who had changed into a completely different Nun's habit. The cross on her chest was gone, and a longer headscarf, like an extension of her long hair, draped over her back.

Aponia walked up to him, just a step away from the cage.

Chapter Fifty-Nine Someone once said

"How long have we been here?"

Lin's question made Yan Luo raise his eyelids slightly, but he didn't respond, focusing intently on investigating the tower in front of him.

Lin was still pondering his question, "The time in the World Bubble is different from the time flow in the Intrinsic World. In this World Bubble, we have spent the equivalent of ten years. So how much time is that in the world we are originally in?"

According to Yan Luo, what they arrived here was only their consciousness. His body was currently in a state of unconsciousness. Even if the time flow rate was one to ten, a year had already passed in the Intrinsic World. If the Honkai were to erupt again...

"The material is ordinary cement, red bricks, steel bars..." At this point, Yan Luo's analysis had reached a conclusion. She ran her fingers along the wall, "But there's no way to cause any damage."

As soon as she finished speaking, she punched the wall, but her fist, which should have punched a big hole in the fragile wall, didn't even make a sound.

"This is not a product originally from the World Bubble."

She withdrew her fist.

In other words, the clock tower used to record 24 hours is an alien creation, and the rule that it shifts forward by 10 years every 24 hours may not be the original World Bubble law.

"If they were using us for something, they would definitely try to manipulate us." Yan Luo glanced at Lin beside him, his thin lips pressed tightly together. "Then one of the people who contacted us could be the ones who imprisoned us, but so far no one has tried to manipulate us into doing anything, only..."

Only monkey paws.

The clear direction was written on the clock tower at the time, meaning that the person believed that this non-coercive thing could help the two of them achieve his goal.

"The fulfillment of a wish is indeed triggered unconsciously, but if what you were thinking at the time was wanting a piece of cake, or a wish that is impossible to fulfill like mine, then the monkey's paw will not work."

This will lead to a problem.

If Lin and Yan Luo don't have any conflict and don't use the monkey claw, and just wait until Yan Luo has the ability to leave the World Bubble, then what are the people who imprisoned them for?

The most troublesome thing is not knowing the purpose, because it means they have no idea where to start.

"...Then let's wait." Lin leaned against the wall of the clock tower and sat down. His fatigue hadn't subsided, so it was a good time to rest. "If we can't find the target, we'll let the target come to us."

What will happen in the next 24 hours?

Yan Luo silently sat down, hugging her knees, gazing at the disappearing stars, lost in thought.

Lin couldn't stop his eyelids from closing and gradually lost consciousness.

"Ding-dong."

The dull tolling of the bell rang in my ears.

They thought they would go to Lin and Yan Luo ten years in the future, but this time, they had no idea what would happen after the bell rang.

The intense dizziness made Lin unsteady on his feet once again. This time, he squatted down, supporting himself with one hand, waiting for the dizziness to subside.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin finally managed to suppress the nauseating discomfort and stood up, his vision blurry. He immediately saw Yan Luo with his back to him.

"Where is this..." Lin hadn't finished speaking when he realized something was wrong.

The quality of the air has changed dramatically.

"... It seems our prediction was wrong."

Yan Luo quietly observed the world before him.

In a desolate world, they stood alone beneath this tower.

"It can be basically determined that it has been nearly a hundred years since the last one."

Lin Cong found a newspaper under a mixture of a badly weathered car hood and rocks; the date on it was the same as when they were in high school.

Yan Luo, however, was more mobile. She wandered around and observed for a while, discovering things that could be used to confirm their point in time, and determined the time span by surveying the environment.

"But I didn't die of old age, and humanity can't possibly perish within a hundred years." Lin confirmed that his body was still the same as before, except that all the external and internal injuries had disappeared.

"... No, you forgot something." Yan Luo picked up a piece of dry soil from the ground and blew it into powder. "Even without the Honkai, those two people were still killed by the Speaker, and we were still attending classes at the Chienyu Academy."

Even without the Honkai, the course of events would still be the same as in the Intrinsic World, just like... the ending would be the same, only the conditions and process would have changed.