I'm No MOTH Hero

Lin rolled to his feet and immediately began a series of rapid backward hops. The shadowy figure pursued relentlessly, this time unsheathing both its blades. They moved like two thin lines of ink, slashing towards Lin's face.

In that instant, Lin quickly assessed the enemy's height and weapon length. Average speed, melee-focused, and skilled movements.

He grabbed the hilt of his sword from his back, activated it, and a sky-blue electromagnetic field instantly sprang forth. This halted the long saber just before it reached his body. He immediately drew Raikiri and unleashed an unflinching, straight cut towards the shadowy figure before him!

"Screeeech—"

One blue and one black blade met first, the force locked in a stalemate. Then, Lin's blade erupted in a dazzling color, a torrent of electricity bursting forth and sending the shadowy figure flying back.

"Screee—"

The black figure adjusted its posture in mid-air, plunging its twin sabers into the ground to halt its backward momentum.

The two "figures" were now separated by a distance, allowing Lin to clearly see what had attacked him. However, upon seeing the two swords, he had already guessed.

"Ninja MOTH Soldier..." he uttered the awkward name.

This was a high-level Mortal, named as such for its appearance resembling a Far Eastern samurai and its two terrifying long swords. Unlike ordinary Mortals, which were slow and had predictable movements, this type could employ various combat techniques.

Seeing the Ninja MOTH Soldier, Lin felt neither surprise nor seriousness, but rather confusion.

Why this type of Mortal?

While he was contemplating, the Ninja MOTH Soldier charged again. Its speed wasn't exceptional; Lin could handle it with his own speed alone.

After all, the "high-level" status of a Ninja MOTH Soldier was only relative to ordinary Mortals. Regular soldiers would have no trouble dealing with a Mortal of this caliber.

Lin's sky-blue visual display suddenly lit up. He stomped his right foot on the ground and launched himself forward, parallel to the ground, at a speed a full twice as fast as the Ninja MOTH Soldier.

"Clang!"

A piercing friction sound erupted at the point where the blades met!

Holding Raikiri in a reverse grip, a flash of lightning appeared. The Ninja MOTH Soldier reacted instantly, stopping and crossing its blades in front of itself to block. But as the blades collided, Lin immediately withdrew his force and launched a kick directly into its abdomen.

The similar humanoid structure made it easier to deal with than a Honkai Beast. Lin knew precisely the weak points of every joint on a human body, as well as the defensive openings in various stances. Therefore, as long as the opponent attacked with a human-like posture, Lin held a significant advantage.

Kicked away once more, the Ninja MOTH Soldier resorted to its previous tactic, plunging its twin sabers into the ground. But this time, as it made the move, blue lightning surged towards it.

A life-or-death crisis forced it to instinctively retract its blades and parry the lightning. In mid-air, the sky-blue light revealed its true form: it was Lin's thrown Raikiri.

Now, it hadn't fully dissipated the force, meaning it had exposed its weakness.

A black shadow darted out. The helmeted figure caught Raikiri in mid-air, landed behind the Ninja MOTH Soldier, and then a perfect, round, sky-blue moon bloomed, centered on him.

"Crack..."

Black hair, pale skin, and a purple-white Core were split in two by this strike.

Like building blocks, the Ninja MOTH Soldier broke into two halves and fell to the ground.

"..." Lin didn't look back at the corpse. He slowly slid Raikiri back into its sheath in his backpack with a crisp "ding."

[Mission Complete]

Lin glanced at Prometheus's text in the upper right corner and said in a deep voice, "No, not yet."

Defeating the Mortal hadn't taken much effort, but the mission itself was riddled with too many questions. What he needed to do now wasn't to report, but to investigate this bizarre incident.

"Prometheus, sever communication with MOTH. Do not let anyone connect to this channel."

[Severed]

Lin strode over to the Ninja MOTH Soldier's corpse in three quick steps and began examining its body and the two swords.

They were all normal structures, with no issues. It was a standard Ninja MOTH Soldier.

But its appearance here was highly abnormal. It had no other climbing structures; how did it breach the height of the wall?

He walked to the wall near Changkong City and looked down. Through the night vision, he could see the machine guns below operating normally, and the wall itself was smooth and unmarked.

This meant it couldn't have climbed by stabbing its swords into the wall one by one.

Could a Mortal or Honkai Beast with spatial movement abilities have helped it ascend?

Other than the Second Herrscher and its accompanying Honkai Beasts, it was unlikely for other Mortals or Honkai Beasts to possess such an ability, but Lin had to consider it as a possibility for now.

Lin pondered coldly.

This mission itself was sudden, and the mission description only contained vague terms like "special Mortal." Upon arrival, Lin encountered a Ninja MOTH Soldier that could barely be called "special."

It felt like they were just throwing a random Mortal at him to placate him, to confirm that something had indeed happened.

This was very close to Lin's intuitive deduction, and it was the reason he severed communications.

Lin tossed the corpse back into Changkong City and said to Prometheus, "Prometheus, connect to the Fifth Branch's city network. Use surveillance to check if any helicopters flew over the city before and after the mission was issued."

[Yes, searching for images... No flying objects found]

"..."

Lin lowered his head, silent.

This result was as expected, so the answer was also obvious.

"Immediately connect to the Fifth Branch's communications."

[Beep—Connection failed]

Lin immediately flipped over, leaping from the high wall and sprinting back in the direction he came from at maximum speed.

His dark eyes, which had gradually warmed in recent days, once again sank into a bottomless abyss.

Inside the Fifth Branch, the Fifth Science Department.

"Mei, hurry and hide inside!"

Kevin smashed a clawed Mortal with his gunstock, put two more shots into its head, then grabbed Mei's hand and pushed her into a room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Bang!"

"Leave this to me. Don't come out until I've killed all the Mortals!"

Kevin immediately turned, dodging a scythe-wielding Mortal's vertical slash, and opened fire, turning it into a sieve.

Flesh and blood splattered.

The Fifth Science Department was coated in a layer of blood and fat.

Monsters roamed a place that should have been where humanity nurtured hope.

Death descended upon scientists, humanity's greatest intellects.

In less than an hour since Lin left the Fifth Branch, this place had become a hellscape. Chapter 43: If There Was a World Without Death

"Daddy!"

Doctor Spacy, walking and talking with Mei, frowned. He turned to look at the small figure running towards them, apologized to Mei in a low voice, "Excuse me," and then knelt down, embracing SiZhi who rushed into his arms.

"SiZhi, why are you here?" Doctor Spacy gently stroked SiZhi's head and asked kindly.

"I've been looking for Daddy all day!" SiZhi protested with dissatisfaction. "We promised to celebrate Mommy's birthday!"

"SiZhi, don't bother your father." A woman with long white hair walked gracefully from behind. She chided SiZhi verbally, her sapphire blue eyes fixed on Mei and Kevin. She smiled at the two with poised grace, "Hello, I'm Spacy's wife, Karen. And you must be Doctor Mei, and this is..."

"He's Kevin," Mei introduced casually.

Karen glanced at the distance between them and chuckled softly.

Karen looked around again, then asked in confusion, "By the way, where is that young man of yours wearing a helmet?"

"Lin?" Kevin took out his communicator and checked. There was a message Lin had left. "He told me he received a mission and went out. He's going near Changkong City. Do you need him for something?"

"SiZhi said she really likes that big brother wearing the helmet, so I came out with her to take a look."

Upon hearing their conversation, Doctor Spacy's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. He stood up and said to Karen, "Karen, take SiZhi to the office to wait for me. I still need to host Doctor Mei here..."

Mei quickly intervened, "No need, Doctor Spacy. Family is as important as work. You can take us to the Fifth Science Department and let me look around on my own."

"This... alright. Where's Boron?"

"I told him to go back. He has a family too, we can't always have him finish all the work," Karen shot Spacy an exasperated look, clearly criticizing his habit of overworking his subordinates.

"Haha, that's true. Then, Doctor Mei, this way please."

In the office, Doctor Spacy gently stroked SiZhi's head, sighing as he looked at her innocent face.

"Is there something wrong with that young man named Lin?"

As Spacy's wife, Karen was excellent at reading people. She had noticed Spacy's expression hadn't been good when Lin was mentioned.

"His resume has no issues; in fact, it's quite outstanding." Spacy's room had a hot milk machine. He took out a bottle, opened it, and handed it to SiZhi. He walked to the window, gazing at the distant high walls. "I only recently heard that someone in headquarters was promoted from Private to Captain in just six months and became a squad leader. His mission count and difficulty exceeded that of most veterans, and the Third Honkai War's conclusion owed a great deal to him. However..."

This "however" was Spacy's own insight, and Karen listened intently.

Spacy murmured, "But this person is extremely detached in his dealings with others, to the point of being utterly rational. This might be a good thing for MOTH, but not necessarily for humanity, because he often pursues absolute procedural justice. So-called emotions are insignificant in the face of his principles. Interacting with such a person is too dangerous."

From the moment he met Lin today, Spacy had seen a "MOTH" style in him – a programmatic approach where anyone who deviated from established justice would be ruthlessly purged.

"I don't think so."

Spacy blinked, looking at Karen, whose smile was gentle.

"That young man might not be as cold as others describe him. I think he must have many things and emotions buried deep in his heart, and he's just pretending to be that way so others won't see them."

"You haven't met him, so how do you know this?"

"Because..." Karen's eyes were filled with maternal affection as she looked at SiZhi and said softly, "Anyone SiZhi likes must not be a cold child. Besides, isn't he wearing a helmet?"

Karen continued, "Helmets, like masks, are tools used to hide one's face, to prevent others from seeing their true emotions."

"..."

"See, Spacy, what's the difference between SiZhi and that child? Aren't they both precious lives?"

Karen smiled charmingly, her face radiant like the day they first met, easing the solemn frown on Spacy's brow.

Spacy took a deep breath and smiled helplessly, "Yes... we are all human."

They all fought for humanity, and there wasn't much difference between them.

He shook off his gloom and put on a gentle smile for his family. "We've talked so much and I haven't even celebrated your birthday yet. Let's go, Karen. We'll go to that family restaurant today..."

"BOOM—"

Without any warning, scorching flames erupted from the wall behind Karen.

In Spacy's frozen line of sight, the terrifying heat instantly engulfed the smiling Karen and SiZhi, who was drinking milk, before turning everything before his eyes into a fiery orange-red.

Like shining starlight, dispersed by a ruthless, blazing sun.

"Little Soul, are you still thinking about that child?"

Soul, slumped dejectedly in a chair, heard her father's voice. She looked up and glanced at him listlessly.

Seeing his child so lost in thought, the man felt helpless. It was true that once they reached a certain age, they tended to overthink things. Even with her growth, she was still just an ordinary girl when it came to matters of the heart.

"Dad, I think team member Lin must hate me..."

Lin's past words had served as a wake-up call for Soul, but she hadn't taken them seriously, leading to her current predicament.

He was willing to be seen as an oddity by everyone rather than let personal feelings interfere with his judgment, while she, in comparison, was simply too immature.

"How could he? I think that kid is quite nice. Why would he hate you for no reason?" The man walked over and sat next to Soul, rolling up his lab coat and asking in confusion.

Soul was bewildered by the man's description. "Nice...?"

"Yeah, isn't he your mentor?"

"Ah, that..." Soul's cheeks flushed as soon as she heard this, and she became flustered. "But don't you guys think team member Lin's personality is a bit strange?"

"Hmm... he does seem like a quiet kid who doesn't talk much, but we've lived for so many years, we've seen all sorts of people." The man shrugged indifferently. "Your mom and I both feel that someone who could help you, Little Soul, improve your personality so much can't be a bad person. It's just that our behavior just now was a bit too emotional."

He stared at Soul, whose face had turned red all the way to her ears. "After all, you're our daughter. We have to see which brat is trying to pluck our cabbage."

"N-no, that's not it! Lin and I aren't like that," Soul explained incoherently.

"Of course not. If you were already dating, I'd like to see how I'd deal with him if he treated me with that attitude."