The Group Effect / The Operation Begins

Did I say something wrong?

"No." Elysia breathed a sigh of relief and shook her head with a faint smile. "You're absolutely right... It must be us... Not just us, but those whose lives were distorted by the Honkai, they should also be better suited to a peaceful life."

People often fantasize that if they could go to an extraordinary world or discover the hidden Dark Side of the world, they could create a tsunami-like upheaval in their peaceful lives.

But after truly experiencing the so-called extraordinary, one yearns for the ordinary.

It's like... yes, that classic line.

This is a besieged city; those outside want to get in, and those inside want to get out.

But Elysia and Lin sincerely hope that no one will ever set foot in this walled city again. They will become guardians, watching over those ordinary people who yearn for but cannot obtain.

Where is Lin?

"He went out on a mission and hasn't returned yet."

Sue and Kevin exchanged pleasantries as usual when they met; they hadn't expected to see each other again so soon.

No matter how many times Sue saw Kevin, he was always struck by Kevin's icy demeanor and expression. A few years was enough to transform a person into this.

Kevin didn't mention Lin's disappearance, and Sue didn't ask about it either.

Just as they were about to catch up again because Kevin had been stuck with her last time, the two men walked into the house.

When they saw the leader, they fell silent as if they had a fishbone stuck in their throats.

The two who entered were Chrono and Immer, whom they had met at the banquet.

But there were also some they didn't know.

The main issue was that when Chrono walked in wearing his abstract and comical mask, he was also swinging his long, slender lower body, a dazzling display that left them wondering if they could confirm that the person was Chrono.

"Huh? What? Why aren't you wearing any?" Chrono's voice, usually filled with irritation, now held a hint of confusion. He looked at the two men's normal trousers, then at his own elephant-print pants, and suddenly realized, "Lin is lying to me?"

"Impossible, Captain Lin wouldn't lie." Immer retorted expressionlessly.

"Who is lying to me?"

"Only you and Captain Lin have seen the gift and the note inside. Captain Lin is unlikely to lie, so you must have lied to yourself."

"So that's how it is." Chrono muttered, his brows furrowed and his chin twitching.

"..."

"..."

How should one describe this scene? Kevin and Sue, unaware of the background, only felt that this scene was a bit like fooling fools, but judging from Immer's confident tone and expression, he seemed to be answering seriously.

But how did these two end up together? Didn't Immer almost kill Chrono at the banquet?

"Kid, you've got guts. Lin saved you once last time, and you want to come back to die again?"

Chrono Jie smiled knowingly, completely ignoring Immer's murderous gaze. His hands hung naturally at his sides, showing no intention of resistance whatsoever.

"Do you... remember me?" Immer's fists were clenched like stones, his anger overflowing, and his whole body was trembling.

"Hahaha... didn't I just say that...?"

"It's not that!" Immer roared, glaring at Chrono as if he wanted nothing more than to rush up and chop him to pieces. "Do you need me to help you remember?"

"Oh?"

Chrono narrowed his eyes and slowly examined Immer, scrutinizing this complete stranger from head to toe.

He had no memory of it, but as he said before, Chrono only appeared to be irritable, not stupid.

Since I've never seen Immer at the sanatorium, there's only one place left.

"So you were one of those who slipped through the net back then..." Chrono had obviously already figured it out. He slowly pointed at Immer, "I didn't even notice that you joined this place after you escaped. Hehehe... How interesting."

A dangerous glint flashed in Immer's eyes. He could no longer contain himself and pulled out the pistol hidden behind his back. He aimed it at Chrono's forehead and pulled the trigger repeatedly without the slightest hesitation!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

But a strange thing happened: the bullets that left the barrel disintegrated in mid-air before they even hit Chrono.

Immer was not surprised by this. He already knew from the beginning that the person in front of him... no, Chrono could not possibly be human. Chrono was a humanoid monster!

He immediately drew his melee weapon and thrust it at Chrono, but before he could even see the movement clearly, Chrono grabbed the tip of the weapon and lifted him up, throwing him away.

"Hmm... you're much more interesting than Lin."

When Lin was mentioned, Chrono still couldn't suppress his anger, but after glancing at Immer, who was still lying on the ground, he revealed a sneer, "If you want to 'take revenge,' 'retaliate,' or 'assassinate' in the future, I welcome you anytime. I hope you won't bore me."

"By the way, when can I go out? I really can't wait... to see Lin again."

Chapter 106 Group Effect

"What should we do next?"

Erwin slumped onto the table with a sigh, while someone across from him, with the same energy and appetite, was feasting. He was somewhat envious of Pardo's ability to eat, as if she could solve any problem with food.

His investigation ultimately proved fruitless, as most of the intelligence regarding the incident came from other people's investigations, leaving them with nothing to do.

"Mmm mmm..." Pardo tore a piece of meat off the chicken leg with her small teeth and chewed it, saying indistinctly, "Isn't it good to have nothing to do? We don't have to run around and fight to the death."

"That's what I say, but I always feel... so useless."

Erwin whispered dejectedly.

No matter what, he can only wait for others to lead the way; he can only stay in the same place, like a neglected stone, waiting for someone to kick it away.

"So what? Aren't we even more useless?" Pardo smiled dismissively, as if she were proud of it.

"Didn't Lieutenant Lin ever ask anything of you?"

"Hmm... he only asked me to lose weight."

Erwin felt a little better after hearing this. His good friend Danzhu once said, "If one person is just giving up, that's just giving up. But if someone is giving up with you, that's called risking your life for a friend." So he's not doing too badly now... right?

"Huh? What's wrong with you guys?"

At this moment, Hua walked in from outside and asked Erwin, puzzled, when she saw his listless appearance.

Previously, in order to investigate the contaminated video incident, the command personnel kept sending more people out, and Hua was one of the reinforcements sent out.

To ensure stability in the survey area, they temporarily stayed there.

"Hua... don't you think we're having too much of a leisurely time right now?"

"Yeah?"

Hua didn't have many feelings about it. Even here, she trained and did her own thing every day. It was just a change of environment.

She still had things she wanted to do, and before that, she couldn't die; at the same time... she also had to become stronger.

"Speaking of which, there are very few people in the cafeteria today. Are they all cooking and eating in their rooms?"

"Huh? How did you figure that out? I feel like there's no difference from yesterday." Erwin looked around. There were few people around, but it wasn't mealtime, so it was normal that there were few people.

Pardo spat out a clean bone and patted her stomach contentedly. "There's a difference. Some people in this branch always eat in the canteen, but those people never come for breakfast or lunch."

Pardo has an unexpectedly strong ability to observe; she didn't pay special attention, but she still remembers these little details.

"I also feel that it's a bit too quiet today; the gym was only visited in the morning."

Hua bought a sports drink from the vending machine, unscrewed it, and looked around.

"Isn't this branch always been quite deserted...?"

"Wrong."

Hua is much more sensitive to crises than the other two. These seemingly normal but abnormal phenomena are often the beginning of a crisis. Before each Honkai, there are always some seemingly insignificant strange events.

"Erwin, Pardo, get your weapons ready."

Hua led the two men, and the three of them quietly arrived at the restaurant's food pick-up area. Looking inside, they couldn't find the person who had been standing there getting food earlier.

The door to the kitchen was still open. Hua nimbly slipped through the window and reached the kitchen doorway. Holding her weapon in one hand and opening the door with the other, she saw...

"Bang!"

Hua punched the outstretched hand with her weapon in her hand, and she released her weapon and deftly twisted the hand behind the attacker's back.

She looked closely and realized that the man was the cafeteria worker serving food.

The phone she knocked to the ground was face down. Hua glanced at it, then solemnly knocked the person unconscious.

Even without seeing what was on the phone screen, she already guessed what it was.

If this person has already been contaminated, then today's anomaly is...

"We must leave here immediately." Hua left the unconscious person behind and went outside. Her face was slightly grim as she said to the two of them, "The contamination may have already infiltrated this branch. Don't look at any screens."

"This..." Erwin didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. He thought for a few seconds and replaced the bullets in his pistol with soft bullets that were not very lethal.

These people did not attack them willingly, so he could not harm them.

At this point, Pardo realized the seriousness of the situation. Being adaptable and observant are essential skills for business and survival. Although she couldn't fight, she picked up the gauntlet-shaped weapon to protect herself.

Hua led the way, Erwin brought up the rear, and Pardo, with her excellent reconnaissance skills, observed the surrounding situation.

"Bass!"

A man rushed out wielding a weapon. A cold glint flashed in Hua's eyes, and he punched the man in the stomach, followed by an elbow strike that knocked him to the ground.

As if a signal had been sounded, one branch member after another rushed out, all wearing the same identical smile, some even holding recording devices.

Hua closed his eyes and used his martial arts-learned spatial awareness to sense the flow of qi, knocking all the people to the ground without even looking.

The branch has combat members, but as a member of headquarters, even Erwin is a level above the branch's combat members, so this cannot stop them from rushing out.

"We're almost at the exit!"

Hua rushed around the corner, and the instant she saw the screen used for broadcasting, she threw a dagger and pierced it.

The three finally rushed out of the branch's gate. Erwin slapped down the person who rushed at him, and then hid in the corner with the other two.

"Whew... So tired..."

Pardo seemed a little lacking in physical strength, but perhaps Lin's special training was effective, as she did not falter.

"Are you both alright?" Erwin asked the two of them, mainly asking about Pardo.

"Why did we suddenly fall into this trap..." Hua leaned against the wall, pondering the question, but thinking wasn't her forte. In such situations, the analysis would usually be left to the team's analysts, while she was just a henchman.

The fall came without any warning; it was as if it suddenly erupted at a specific point in time.

Erwin was also thinking about this problem. Everything seemed normal yesterday, but today was completely different.

He knew that the contaminated people would pretend to act as usual, but could this large-scale contamination have already infiltrated the branch, and then, once the number of contaminated people reached a threshold, it began to attack the uncontaminated people?

But how could a moth drawn to a flame be tainted by external things...?

External?

"..."

At a certain point in time, something flashed through Erwin's mind at lightning speed, and he suddenly looked up at someone who had their back to him.

"Bang!"

Blood spurted out.

Erwin stared wide-eyed in disbelief, slowly kneeling on the ground, looking blankly at Pardo was grinning maliciously with a pistol in hand.

If it wasn't external pollution, then it could only be that someone inside uploaded a video of the pollution, causing the pollution to spread from within.

When Pardo was attacked, her terminal fell to the ground. He initially thought it was an accident, but in fact, the attacker had already transmitted the "contamination" into Pardo's terminal at that moment.

The person responsible for the pollution must be someone within the Moth of Light organization. Only insiders know how to use the terminal. All that's needed is to detonate the pollution after everyone puts on the terminal today...

As for Erwin, he happened to be out today and didn't bring his terminal.

Hua coldly stared at Erwin as he fell to the ground, the terminal in her eyes flashing an incorrect red light.

Chapter 107 The Operation Begins

Kevin shielded May behind him, cleanly and forcefully throwing back the person who rushed out from the side door. He stood there expressionless, needing no further action; with just one step, a terrifying chill spread from his feet, freezing the feet of all the contaminated people in the corridor to the ground.

"Walk."

Kevin disregarded everything else; he tried to reduce the chill as much as possible, then grabbed Mei's clothes and went into Mei's office in the Research and Development Department.