Who's the Coward? / On an Island Where No Detector Could Find Anything

[What's up?]

"Something wrong?" Chrono scoffed dismissively. "Of course I'm fine, but you might be in trouble."

I'm fine. I'm physically strong; a bump wouldn't have seriously injured me.

"..." Chrono stared at the words for a few seconds, then glared at Lin with a nasty tone. "You're still as eloquent as ever, Lin."

Since we're all alright, I'll be going now.

"You can't leave."

"..."

Chrono rudely blocked Lin's way. He felt like a bully extorting students when he was in school. Even Chrono's smug look was similar to that of a bully.

... Although Chrono certainly wasn't pleased that he was bullying others.

[I'm in a hurry. If you need something else, you can contact me later.]

"Is it urgent? What's the matter?" Chrono asked, switching places with her.

My wife is about to give birth.

"Puff--"

Chrono almost couldn't help but cough twice, looking suspiciously at the calm Lin and the communicator in his hand.

"You... wife? You have a wife?"

I never said I didn't have a wife.

"..."

It seems that this is indeed the case; Lin Cong never mentioned to him whether she has a family or not.

[What if you're blocking my way and I'm not there when my wife gives birth, and she can't deliver or something goes wrong?]

Chrono is really easy to understand. He wears his emotions on his face... He wears a mask so you can't see his expression, but you can still feel his emotional changes very directly.

For example, right now, Lin's few words silenced him, and he reluctantly stepped aside, his hands and feet trembling unconsciously.

"Hmm... Lin, when did you get another wife?"

"..."

Lin suddenly sensed something was wrong—a very bad feeling that came from instinct, intuition, and a sixth sense.

Elysia walked over with a smile, looked at the words on his communicator, and asked curiously, "And Zhan, your wife is about to give birth, which means you secretly married a girl without telling us, your good friends, did something bad, got her pregnant, and it's been at least a year, is that right?"

Upon hearing this, Chrono immediately sensed something was wrong. He stared at Lin with a puzzled look, but Lin suddenly stopped making any other movements.

"That's wonderful~ I'd also like to meet your wife and your adorable unborn child. I'm sure He/She will be just as 'adorable' as you, right?" Elysia smiled and placed her hands together beside her cheeks, making an extremely cute gesture.

"Hey, you're not... messing with me, are you?"

Chrono Jie's veins were already bulging, and after a brief moment of thought, Lin quickly typed.

Of course I wasn't playing a trick on you.

"Oh?"

Elysia's beautiful smile remained perfect at all times.

I will get married sooner or later. I never said I already have a wife. Besides, on a cosmic scale, decades are just a blink of an eye, so having children will only be a matter of time.

Let me introduce you. This is my soon-to-be wife.

He patted Elysia's shoulder casually.

Elysia's mischievous smile froze on her face instantly...

Chapter 138 Who's the Coward?

Lin pulled Elysia's hand and walked quickly down the corridor toward their room, while Elysia kept her head down, her elven ears turning bright red at the tips.

"Lin... what are we going to do..." she asked in a rare soft and gentle voice.

"Of course I'm going to have the baby, honey."

When Lin showed her the text he had already typed, she immediately shook her head frantically in a panic. "No, no way? So early? No, no, this... that..."

When someone who always plays pranks is pranked on, they become flustered and try to make amends.

Lin was already a master at dealing with situations where people would try to find excuses when things weren't going well.

Are you trying to deceive my feelings?

"Deceive... deceive?" Elysia was stunned when she saw this sentence, then her face flushed like a pressure cooker. "How could I deceive you..."

Let's go then.

Lin Xiao waved his hand, giving Elysia no chance to refute, and pulled her all the way to his room door. He quickly opened, entered, and closed the door, as if he were about to use the restroom.

After entering the room, Lin let go of Elysia's hand, and she jumped away as if she had been electrocuted, then fled into the bathroom in a flash. "I, I'm going to take a shower first!"

"Bang!"

The bathroom door slammed shut.

Lin stood in the unlit room, let out a soft breath, and walked to the table where he always kept the photos.

"..."

Photos have always recorded the past, freezing every important moment in the frame and becoming a concrete representation of memories.

He picked up one of the picture frames.

In the faded vision, the vibrant colors of the people in the photos are no longer visible; only their smiles in the group photo remain.

It's been almost eight years...

How many eight-year periods does humanity have left? How many eight-year periods does he have left?

"..."

Lin took a deep breath, picked up all the photos, and put them into the bottom drawer, among the relics he had collected.

The photo that represented his memories disappeared from his most prominent desktop.

Human history will continue for a long time; it will not end here, nor will it exist only in the past.

Absolute...

"Click".

As he was lost in thought, he didn't even notice how quickly time had passed. A soft sound of a door opening pulled him back to reality. Lin immediately turned his gaze to the bathroom and saw a pink-haired girl sneaking out and tiptoeing toward the door.

Lin took a big step and blocked the door, causing her to gasp in surprise. Then he grabbed her shoulders and threw her onto the bed.

"Call!"

A gust of wind blew by, and when the girl opened her eyes, she saw a helmet less than two centimeters away from her.

She hurriedly closed her eyes and held her breath.

"..."

It's really strange. Usually, Elysia is the most cheerful one, like a chattering little elf. She never feels shy when interacting with others, and her social skills are top-notch among everyone. But among the girls Lin knows, it seems that only she would show this kind of reaction after being actively "attacked".

She had taken a thorough shower, and her long, soft pink hair, which she cherished most, was still damp with water. Her face was still warm and flushed, and her skin felt softer and smoother than usual.

Having grown accustomed to seeing her teasing others, Lin felt somewhat uncomfortable with her current obedient and adorable demeanor.

"I... we really want to... have a baby, Lin? This... isn't this a bit inappropriate..." Elysia mumbled with her eyes closed. "And... and if we absolutely have to... could we take off our helmets...?"

... Wait a minute, did she really think she was going to do that kind of thing?

Elysia waited with her eyes closed for a long time but did not feel any further movement. She quietly opened her eyes a crack and found that Lin was still in the same position, so she closed them again.

"..."

"..."

About five minutes later, Elysia opened her eyes with a hint of suspicion and looked at Lin, who was motionless in front of her. He seemed to be... frozen.

"Lin, could it be... you don't dare?" She narrowed her eyes, and the familiar look that she only had when she was teasing people returned to her eyes.

Lin suddenly looked up, Elysia seemed to have seen through him, looking at him with a suspicious gaze.

This action made her realize the truth.

Lin rolled over and got up, but before she could get halfway up, her shoulder was grabbed and she was pushed back onto the bed.

"Lin, deceiving a girl's feelings is a really bad thing!"

Faced with Elysia's approaching, radiant smile, Lin chose to close his eyes.

"Lin, I hadn't noticed before, how come you smell like several girls?"

"..."

He really wanted to ask what her nose was made of, that it could not only smell a girl's scent, but also several different scents.

Is the smell really that strong?

Even if Lin wanted to smell it himself, he couldn't tell the difference, but seeing Elysia's serious expression, he wasn't sure either.

He sat on the edge of the bed, put on his helmet, and hesitated for a moment before glancing at the areas on his body where his body odor might linger.

Elysia stretched and put on her coat, then tied her hair back.

... What did those two just do? They didn't do anything... but it seems like they did everything they were supposed to do.

Of course, it was just a prank, and at least Lin wouldn't have noticed anything unusual about it when he thought about it later.

"And..." As she buttoned the last button, Elysia blushed slightly. She glanced at Lin out of the corner of her eye, "Lin, you seem to have a lot of weird quirks... Does anyone stare at another person's legs..."

Sure enough, when Lin was wearing a helmet, you couldn't see what he was looking at...

"..." Lin wanted to defend himself, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.

"The damage from this Honkai was minimal, so it feels like we can take a fairly long break."

Finally, Elysia left the room with a meaningful remark.

Lin finally had some free time to do his work. He walked out the door and headed towards the archives, slowing down as he passed Mobius's laboratory.

... Does he really have a lot of smells? Or is it just that only Elysia can smell them?

Lin hesitated for a few seconds before slowly walking into the laboratory.

After about ten seconds...

"Get out of here! You stink! Did you fall into a pile of women?!"

Mobius's furious roar echoed throughout the headquarters.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Flame-Chaser. Although I have many names, I would like you to call me Gray Serpent."

A person dressed in a formal dress and wearing a mask bowed slightly to Sakura, who was carrying a sword, and greeted her in an intellectual and polite voice.

Chapter 139 On a Small Island Where No Detector Could Find It

Delta's information has been almost entirely destroyed. Even the useful information that remains is mostly beyond his access rights. All Lin was able to find in the database were some brief biographical information about Delta.

Phase Transfer Device are even less likely; their side effects and dangers have made them prohibited from being manufactured, and they have most likely been removed from the database.

It seems that starting with the database is not an option...

Lin walked out of the database and leaned against the wall in thought.

... However, there is another way.

Mei is the current Head of Research and Development. She may still have Delta's R&D data, and her access should be sufficient to access the parts that Lin cannot see.

Lin was unsure of Mei's thoughts. Would she agree to his plan, which even he himself couldn't be sure of? And... did she represent herself, or the High Council of the Fire Moth?

"Although it hasn't been verified, the Eighth Herrscher might be the key to everything."

These words spoken by Yan Luo kept replaying in Lin's mind. What exactly did they mean? And why was he the Eighth Herrscher?

Consciousness... the Herrscher of consciousness... consciousness pollution...

As Lin thought of something, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly had an even more bizarre idea.