Reinforcements

... Wait, could the Emperor-class Honkai Beast that appeared at this point in time be the Companion Honkai Beast of the Eighth Herrscher?

Without time to think, Hen shouted, "Prometheus, go and bring Lin back!"

Then he gritted his teeth, leaped up, and aimed his weapon at the proud and magnificent peacock!

"Aaaaaahhhhhh—"

The icy coldness poured into his mouth could not cool his body; it felt as if he had been thrown into lava and was being roasted in hell. Lin screamed in agony, but he didn't know if the screams came from his own throat or from his own soul.

What... is going on...?

His body, which should have been devoid of pain, was now enduring pain a hundred times more intense than before! Every pore on his body felt as if countless tiny insects were crawling out and tearing at his skin! Inside his body, there was simultaneously a burning sun and a lonely Death Star, with extreme heat and cold dominating both sides of his body!

Can he withstand it with his resilience?

Absolutely not.

This was not real pain; it was a neurotoxin that triggered a suicidal response in his brain. Such inhuman pain could not be endured by anyone with just resilience!

Most people have probably heard the saying that when the brain thinks it is dead, then it actually dies.

When a person reaches the limit of their pain tolerance, they will experience neurogenic shock, leading to death due to lack of blood to the heart and brain.

He struggled, paddling with his hands and feet in the seawater, like every drowning person on the verge of death, trying to grasp at a straw for salvation.

But if things continue like this, even if he doesn't die from neurotic shock, he will drown first.

"Lin! Calm down!"

Prometheus's voice echoed in Lin's ears; the Artificial Intelligence, which should have been mechanical and cold, now sounded like it was about to cry.

"Aaaaaaahh..."

But her words failed to reach Lin's ears.

"Please... calm down..."

"I know you've never paid any attention to me, and my words can't convey anything to you, so I've always remained silent..."

The first person a person sees at the beginning of their life is the first bridge that connects them to the world.

Prometheus is an Artificial Intelligence, and she still believes so today.

She was Artificial Intelligence created by May to assist the warriors of the Firemoth. Before she fully matured, May entrusted her to Lin to train Prometheus.

Therefore, Lin was the first bridge that Prometheus used to connect with the world.

To this day, she has forgotten how she gradually learned those emotions that should only exist in humans, and she doesn't know how she told Mei that she wanted to stay by Lin's side.

She simply wanted to stand beside the person who had built a bridge between her and the world, nothing more.

So every time Lin says, "You are just Artificial Intelligence and must obey orders," she obeys.

Whatever Lin needs her to be, that's what she will become.

Silently following behind Lin and witnessing his story was her greatest wish.

Kelin repeatedly gained and lost, as if he could not exist stably in this world, so illusory that he could disappear at any moment.

After that person took over Lin's body last time, Prometheus could no longer tolerate it.

She was afraid that Lin would one day disappear completely, just like the people in the cemetery he often visited, the members of the Squad Five in his photos, and the original owners of the relics he had collected.

So--

"Forest..."

"Um... Pro... Messi..."

The voice of Prometheus appeared in Lin's mind, which was about to be torn apart, and he entered a state that was both strange and familiar.

What's unfamiliar is that he hasn't been in this state for nearly two years, while what's familiar is... he'll never forget it.

"Prometheus..." Lin's pain instantly lessened, but he still managed to say haltingly, "Disconnect... the Neural Connection ..."

At that moment, a series of error messages suddenly appeared in Prometheus's system. Her gray pupils flashed with glaring red data, and she collapsed to the floor as if her system had suddenly crashed.

Finally, her pupils flickered twice before dimming.

"Don't be nervous. I don't want to find an extra scalpel inside Griseo's body when I examine her after the surgery."

Sue shuddered when the bright light from the operating lights shone on Griseo's pale face.

He had changed into the same white coat as Mobius, and was also wearing professional surgical protective gear on his hands and face.

"Time is tight. Do you remember the surgical procedure I told you?" Mobius placed the necessary items one by one beside her. Usually, her assistants would do these things, but right now, Danzhu, Cangxuan, and Klein were still indulging in their beautiful dreams within their corrupted consciousness.

"Um..."

"I know Spasi. He won't invest resources in people who aren't valuable, and he's also very selective about who he hires." Mobius wasn't particularly nervous; she was used to all sorts of situations, including life and death. "So I believe you're a hands-on person, not some office worker typing on a keyboard. Now, let's begin."

With his lips pursed beneath his mask, Su took the Honkai Beast flesh and blood from the storage room, which was contained in a sealed container.

He looked at the writhing, pinkish-purple flesh in his hands, which looked as if it had just been cut from Honkai Beast, and then at the blue-haired girl who was bound to the operating table with restraints and was in great pain.

Are they going to integrate this thing into the girl's body next?

Turn monsters into power, or... turn humans into monsters?

All of this was to save her.

Su comforted herself in this way.

"I can see that you're different from those guys who seem like gentlemen on the surface but are actually similar to me. But unfortunately, I don't have time for you to vent your compassion right now. If you're interested in us later, we can talk."

As Mobius finished speaking, the surgery began amidst Sue's somber expression.

Chapter 115 Rescue

"Seventeenth Branch, Branch 19, please carry out the mission immediately."

"The Sixth Branch requests support from the Ninth Branch in the suppression."

"No..."

Mei was busy directing the various branches that had regained their mobility with the help of psychotropic drugs. With the command center paralyzed and contact with the High Council lost, only she could plan the next steps in an orderly manner.

"Plum."

By this time, the cold wind had already reached behind her.

"..." Mei entered the final command, then sighed, "No, you can't go."

If Kevin goes to support Lin and the others, the already weak headquarters will become even more like a leaky sieve. Although there are still three Flame-Chaser, Kosma, Mobius, and Elysia, Kevin is the only force that can obey her orders without hesitation.

It's still unknown which body the Eighth Herrscher has entered, but there's a high possibility it's in someone's body at headquarters.

"I know you're worried about them, but not now."

Mei does it on their behalf because others are unable to think rationally.

It doesn't matter whether they judge her as a demon or a hero; she will only do what is "right."

Personal feelings are obviously more important than the survival of humanity, so this is a simple choice.

"No... I want to say..." Kevin looked at an empty space, "Elysia is gone."

"..."

Drowning.

Lin's bloodshot eyes were submerged in seawater. He had stopped struggling, and the pain had lessened considerably, but he no longer had the strength to return to the surface.

His consciousness was calm as he watched the battle between Hen and the Emperor-class Honkai Beast, which created turbulent waves on the sea.

The seawater enveloped him; he couldn't feel the temperature, but it chilled him to the bone.

Will he really drown here? It's a ridiculous way to die, considering he just made a bet with Aponia, and said those words to Yan Luo...

It is said that when a person dies, they will look back on the first half of their life, and a slideshow will flash through their mind.

... But Lin did not.

Because he wasn't dead yet, and he absolutely wouldn't allow himself to die here.

Lin heard the sound of his blood vessels bursting and the sound of countless waves rushing into his ears. He struggled to raise his arm and reach out towards the unreachable sea.

Stirring his soul and tearing at his body, he reached out his hand—

"Smack!"

A slender hand grabbed him!

"Forest!"

This familiar scene, and the sight of that dazzling yet gentle head of pink hair he saw as he was being dragged out of the sea, left him strangely calm.

It was as if he already knew she would come, and even though he couldn't see the color, he would subconsciously think of pink when he saw her long hair.

... Yes, they know each other better than they know themselves.

"Everyone else is a hero saving a damsel in distress, how come it's my turn to save you?" Seawater streamed down Elysia's face, her soft bangs lying on her forehead. She smiled in this dark place, radiating the only light.

"Cough cough..." Lin hugged Elysia's slender waist tightly to prevent himself from falling into the sea again. He replied weakly, "Then I'm lucky. None of the heroes had a beautiful girl to save them."

In addition to the neurotoxin, Lin's abdomen was also cut open with a gruesome gash, and his condition was hardly better.

"Go help Hen." But after Lin had slightly relieved the pain in his body, he pushed Elysia away and activated the anti-gravity flight device. "I need to check on Prometheus's condition."

"Learn."

The two turned around simultaneously and ran in different directions.

"So they've already begun to effectively combat pollution... As expected, this is all the power that can be distributed can achieve."

Inside a corrupted body, the Eighth Herrscher awoke. She moved around in this unfamiliar body for a moment, then sat down in front of the computer.

Because she was born inside Qianqi's body, she possesses Qianqi's memories, including her hacking skills. After hacking into the now-defunct internal network of the Fire Chaser, she found the various instructions Mei sent to the branch.

As she expected, these humans she had originally intended to kill had already begun to fight back in such a short time.

However... she also has a way to deal with it.

The Eighth Herrscher quickly altered Mei's orders. She couldn't make it too obvious, as the people in the Moth of Flames branch weren't fools. There were definitely clever people among them who could deduce the reason from the slightest clues. So the Eighth Herrscher simply changed the orders to look similar to the originals, but in reality, they deviated from the original path.

"And then..."

The Eighth Herrscher can attach his powers to non-living objects to Meme Contamination.

This was her trump card that enabled her to defeat the Fire Moth so effectively that it could not put up a fight. Even the Fire Moth had never encountered such a bizarre ability before.

Now, the Eighth Herrscher will utilize Qianqi's hacking skills and her own powers...

It will completely shatter human society.

"The surgery is complete. Both the Honkai Energy reaction and the rejection reaction are within the normal range. The surgery was successful."

Su wiped the sweat from his brow, finally letting out a long sigh as he leaned against the wall and slowly sat down on the floor.

"Griseo's surgery was successful, and Hen's surgery was successful... Could it be that the success rate of Hypervariable Surgery is related to a person's genetic makeup?" Mobius muttered softly as he looked at Griseo, who had stabilized after the surgery.

Are the descendants of other Flame-Chaser also able to undergo Hypervariable Surgery?

No, let's think about it another way: modifying the offspring of Flame-Chaser while they are still in the embryonic stage...

Mobius, who was in high spirits, suddenly froze. She thought of something and instantly dispelled her thoughts.

...never mind.

"You're not bad," Mobius said casually to Sue, then walked out of the operating room. Sue quickly stood up and followed him.

Where is that child?

"Leave her there for now. Once the surgery is successful, there's no need to worry. The physical abilities of Flame-Chaser are unmatched by ordinary Honkai Beast."

At this point, Mobius suddenly stopped and looked at Sue with interest. "Speaking of which, are you interested in becoming Flame-Chaser?"

"...I?"