Had they abandoned you?
Lin pursed his lips. "They gave up their lives to save others."
Searching database... Based on Lin's age, a major shopping mall fire occurred in Changkong City, Far East, eighteen years ago. The number of victims was seventy-nine.
A massive fire had reduced the enormous mall to a blackened skeleton and claimed seventy-nine lives, including the parents of a six-month-old child.
That child had eventually grown up in an orphanage and followed the path his parents had once walked—saving lives.
Rather than talk about the past, Lin preferred to speak of the resolve they had given him. It was not that the story was unimportant, but that what had been passed down into him was the past he had always wished to remember.
So, Lin, did you develop extra feelings toward Soul's family because they reminded you of yourself?
Prometheus asked another bloody question. Her blunt way of speaking was already starting to resemble Lin's.
"No," Lin denied.
"Prometheus, family is where humans belong. I hope you can record that sentence. In the future, you will fight alongside other soldiers. Perhaps someone will regard you as family."
"When that time comes, you must fulfill Doctor Mei's expectations. Become a qualified Artificial Intelligence, answer their wishes, and become where they belong."
Yes. Recorded.
Lin, then where do you belong?
"..."
A long silence followed.
"I don't need a place to belong."
Why?
"At times like this, don't ask why. You only need to answer: I will become where you belong. You will hear more words like that in the future. Just do as I said."
Yes. Recorded.
Another silence fell.
Lin walked to the end of the corridor and looked out through the window. In the farthest reaches of the city, he could still see the sealed-off Changkong City. No one knew what had happened there.
Prometheus fell completely silent. Lin closed his eyes and let out a breath.
He hoped that what he had taught Prometheus today would allow her to become a warm spark for the soldiers.
Those soldiers, robbed of where they belonged and driven by hatred, needed an illusory voice far more than he did.
Even if it was only an Artificial Intelligence.
Suddenly, static crackled in Lin's earpiece.
Then, an emotionless young girl's voice entered his ears.
"Lin, I will become where you belong."
It was merely a feelingless repetition of that sentence.
But one day...
Thoughts on Going Premium
null
Moon Cutter Blade
"Honkai Sickness... the disaster in Changkong City... what connection could there be between the two?"
The unlit path was dim and shadowy. The bushes on either side rustled in the night wind, mixed with the scents of the city—smoke and alcohol. Su walked alone down this neglected road toward the border of Changkong City.
The shock Director Fal had given him today by showing him the Honkai Sickness patients had yet to fade. Those spreading patterns resembled the script of demons, and Su had resolved to find a way to cure Honkai Sickness.
Then, a suspicion arose.
Why was the disaster in Changkong City, whose truth had been concealed by the government, so close in time to the appearance of Honkai Sickness? Was there some connection between them?
What lay behind that hastily erected high wall?
Su could not suppress his doubts. His instincts told him there was something beyond that wall that could help him understand the current situation, so after work, he immediately took a more secluded route toward it.
He was close.
As the wall drew nearer, Su looked up at it and only then realized how absurdly tall it was. A wall that high would also need an unimaginable thickness to support it.
Su hid behind the wall and poked his head out to observe it. "Why was a structure of this scale built in such a short time?"
Residents within roughly five kilometers of the wall had been evacuated. According to the government, radiation was leaking from behind it. The area was terrifyingly quiet as Su crept closer to the wall.
No one was guarding it? Because of the so-called "radiation"?
Su crouched before the wall and carefully inspected his surroundings. As far as he could see, there was only near-desolate emptiness. There was not even a single guard on watch.
He soon learned why no one was guarding it.
"No entrance?" The unpainted wall stood before him like a mountain. The densely layered materials formed a surface so tightly packed that not even a mosquito could stick its mouth through it. Forget an entrance—even finding a place to climb was impossible.
Su pinched his chin in thought. "Do they rely entirely on helicopters to enter and leave?"
Shaking his head, Su decided to circle around first and see whether there was a hidden entrance.
Several hours passed. Su's legs were trembling from walking, yet he still had not found a single gap in the wall. In the end, as he stared blearily at the exact same wall he had seen hours earlier, he even wondered whether he had run into a ghost wall.
"Ha... ha... ha..." Su sat on the ground, drenched in sweat, supporting himself with his knees as he gazed despairingly at the towering wall before him.
Was there really no way?
Su thought of the Honkai Sickness patients lying in their beds, gritted his teeth, and stood up once more.
"Stop."
"Click."
A chill shot from Su's tailbone to the back of his head, freezing his limbs in place. He did not dare move, nor did he dare turn around.
He could feel the coldness of a gun aimed at his forehead.
An almost tangible icy gaze swept over him from head to toe, as though inspecting a lifeless slab of meat. Then, a voice cold enough to freeze ordered, "Raise your hands and turn around."
Only then did Su realize that he had been so terrified he had not even raised his hands. If the other person had considered that noncompliance and fired directly...
He swallowed and raised both hands over his shoulders, slowly turning around.
A person who revealed only one hand holding a gun had appeared in the shadows at some point.
The gaze became sharper.
"Name, occupation, age."
"Su, doctor, nineteen."
"...Correct." The gun was still aimed at him, but the muzzle lowered slightly. A flash of azure light flickered.
Su's heart tightened. This was not an interrogation. The person was cross-checking information to see whether he was lying.
Did that mean this person worked for the government?
"What are you doing here?"
He could not lie.
For some reason, Su reminded himself of that. If he lied, this person would see through it.
"I want to enter Changkong City."
"Why?"
"I want to find a way to treat Honkai Sickness."
"..."
"You work for the government, don't you? You must know about Honkai Sickness!" Su bit his lip and shouted at the person. "Please, can you tell me the truth about Changkong City?"
His eyes were sincere and pure, filled with compassion for the patients.
"We will not disclose any information to unrelated personnel." The person in the shadows lowered the gun and silently watched Su. "I am not a government employee either."
"Then who are you?"
"The hospital you work at cooperates with us. If you want to know, ask your superiors."
The figure turned and vanished into the darkness, their words still lingering in the air. "You have thirty seconds to leave."
Lin stood on a rooftop, watching Su leave through the infrared scan provided by his viewport. Then he turned and jumped to another rooftop.
Su...
Lin remembered that name. Kevin often mentioned that he had a close friend, a medical genius. The two of them often arranged to go out together on holidays.
He had not expected Su to investigate this place. Was it because Kevin had gone missing?
Lin, should the record of that conversation be uploaded to the database?
"No."
Since Kevin had cut off contact with Su even more completely than Lin had, it meant Kevin did not want Su to be drawn into the Honkai either. So Lin would also try not to let Su come into contact with the truth.
The hospital Su worked for had a cooperative relationship with MOTH. Some Honkai Sickness patients were sent to the Fifth Branch for serum research, while the Fifth Branch provided some technical support. But the hospital did not know MOTH's true identity; it only knew that it was a pharmaceutical company.
Putting himself in danger for the patients...
Lin recalled Su's steadfast and compassionate gaze and let out a long breath.
Jump device activated. Lin, your output is only 30% of normal. Please take care not to use Burst Mode.
"Understood. Mission start."
Mission start.
Lin transformed into a black meteor, leaping from the rooftop and running upward along the high wall. He reached its summit in only a few seconds.
The first thing he saw was Changkong City, which had changed little compared to over a month ago. After MOTH's sweep, the Dead Ones and Honkai Beasts within the city had been exterminated. But Honkai Energy concentration could not be eliminated overnight, and the remaining Honkai Energy in Changkong City was still giving birth to Honkai creatures.
Lin should have been at the Fifth Branch, but a mission had reported a special Dead One crossing the high wall in Changkong City. The Fifth Branch's combat squad had also been dispatched on an urgent mission, so he had been sent to eliminate the Dead One.
A special Dead One that could cross the high wall?
At the base of the wall on the Changkong City side were automatic machine guns. If flying Honkai Beasts such as Charge-type Honkai Beasts approached, they would automatically open fire. Yet now, a Dead One had somehow crossed the defenses and climbed a wall this high?
Lin's infrared scan was functioning normally as he scanned the target location mentioned in the mission.
Everything in the viewport looked normal. There was nothing moving.
Had it already left?
Moonlight shone coldly from behind the clouds, casting Lin's shadow onto the ground and stretching it long, like a slender ghost.
What Lin, with his infrared scan active, did not see was a taller, thinner shadow silently approaching behind his own.
A pair of scarlet eyes quietly lit up in the darkness, staring at Lin's back.
Then...
"Shing—"
A curved blade split the moon as it slashed toward Lin's back.
Purgatory
"Shing—"
"Lin, evade behind you."
Prometheus's warning jolted Lin. The instinct carved into his flesh drove him to roll forward on reflex. An ink-black blade slashed over his head, and the figure wielding it performed a reverse-jointed movement no normal human could make, changing the horizontal slash into a vertical strike that chased directly after Lin's neck.
This time, Lin heard the sound of air tearing. Bracing himself with one hand, he drew his gun with lightning speed and fired at the ground.
The fired round was live ammunition. After striking the ground at an angle, it ricocheted, changed direction, and struck the blade.
Bang!