The Hidden Origin / The Man-Made Collapse

"Snort..."

"Like Brother Lin?"

"Who's like him? I was wearing a mask before I met him, so why are you saying I'm imitating him!" Chrono was like a powder keg ready to explode at the mention of Lin. He roared angrily, "Don't mention him in front of me!"

Immer finally had a chance to make a sarcastic remark. "Hmph, it seems Captain Lin has left a deep impression on you."

"Truly profound, deception, concealment... No wonder this place produced such scoundrels."

"Chrono Brother, do you dislike Brother Lin?"

"Nonsense." Chrono scoffed.

"Oh..."

No one knew what Griseo was thinking. She muttered a low hum and continued wielding her paintbrush.

"Hen, how's things going on your end?"

"No problem, the Stargate is in a stable condition with no major fluctuations."

Hen stood in a room filled with cables, solemnly surveying his surroundings. It had been eight years since he first came here, and upon returning recently, he found that the place hadn't changed much.

"Doctor Einstein, could you tell me the reason for this expedition to the Stargate?"

Einstein sat at the conductor's end, blowing on the steam rising from his cup, and asked listlessly, "Are you curious?"

"I was here before the Firemoth was formed, so I can be considered an elder who witnessed the birth of the Stargate, so naturally I have some curiosity."

After all, the role of Stargate, while not insignificant, is of great importance to humanity.

"Hmm... Mei and I want to try using Stargate to connect to the Quantum Sea."

Einstein casually uttered a statement that left Hen stunned.

"All the intelligence so far indicates the existence of the Quantum Sea, and Lin's experience in the Sixth Honkai War makes us very interested in its role. It should be a crucial juncture for both humanity and the Honkai."

"The best-case scenario is... that we can find a way to defeat the Honkai from the Quantum Sea."

Of course, this is the "best-case scenario." The worst-case scenario is that they find a new enemy in the Quantum Sea.

Einstein had this premonition that the Quantum Sea was a realm yet to be explored by humankind, and that within it, there must be unimaginable creatures... or some kind of "thing".

Something even stranger than Honkai.

"Perhaps the enemy is not just the Honkai, but might even be..."

"Huh? What did you say?" Hen didn't hear Mobius's mutterings clearly.

"It's nothing. We can head back once the inspection is complete. I'll have the Armed Puppet take over some of the work. Thank you for your help."

"No, it's nothing. This mission was much easier than the previous ones."

However, Armed Puppet...

Hen still remembered these little guys. Since their birth, they have taken over more and more of the work from humans. They are intelligent, efficient, durable, and cute. They are a very convenient kind of "tool"?

Hen didn't want to use such words to describe the Armed Puppet, but he couldn't find a more fitting one. After all, they looked too much like humans, as if they were just miniaturized chibi versions of humans. It would be too strange for him to use them as mere tools.

Forget it, let's not think about this anymore, I should go back...

"Who?!"

Hen drew his weapon and looked warily in a certain direction. The Hyper-Evolution Factor in his body began to stir at this moment, entering a battle state.

Just now, a very faint, almost imperceptible gaze swept over him.

This is a "forbidden zone" for the Fire Moths. Except for investigators like him, no one else is allowed to enter. Even maintenance personnel can only perform maintenance on the perimeter.

"What's wrong? Hen?"

"Doctor Einstein, someone may have infiltrated the Stargate. Immediately seal off the surrounding area and search for suspicious persons." Hen slowly moved to the place where the gaze had just passed. He couldn't see anything wrong here; there wasn't even a trace left. But he couldn't let his guard down. "Also, check the identities of the maintenance personnel. If someone has infiltrated, it should be an insider."

"Why did it have to be at a time like this..."

Einstein was also wondering why they encountered this situation just as they were about to do something about the Stargate, or whether someone had been eyeing the Stargate for a long time but had only recently begun to take action.

After checking his surroundings, Hen slowly stood up, intending to continue his search elsewhere...

"Bang!"

A deafening explosion echoed throughout the city.

"My vacation is over."

Mei stood on the deck, looking seriously at the people in front of her.

"The Squad Thirteen, including Captain Elysia and Lieutenant Lin, will immediately proceed to the Mu Continent, Atra, for a mission. The Poisoned Cocoon Squad, Sakura, and new member Chrono will also be going."

Chapter 163 The Hidden Origin

The Tenth Division of the Fire-Chasing Moths is stationed in Atra, a city on the edge of the Mu Continent.

What's rather puzzling is why the Firemoth would set up a branch in such a small city. Generally, Firemoth branches are located in large cities with significant economic, transportation, and political development to control various regions. However, the Tenth Branch was uniquely established in Atra, and it is one of the few branches with considerable armed forces.

This situation usually indicates that...

There are things here that need to be guarded.

"What happened?"

As Lin Cong the transport plane, Hen walked towards him. Facing Lin's question, Hen shook his head with a wry smile, "It's a long story."

"Let me tell you about the 'background story' first."

"The story... background?" Elysia's pupils flickered behind Lin.

"Where should I begin..."

Hen leaned against the pinkish-white wall of the lounge, his expression solemn, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

Lin and Elysia sat on either side, gazing at Hen with his head down, patiently waiting for him to speak.

After a moment, Hen seemed to have finally sorted out his thoughts and slowly opened his mouth to say, "Perhaps you already know that the Fire-Chasing Moth has a 'predecessor,' meaning that it already had a prototype before it became a Fire-Chasing Moth."

Lin did know that, for example, the Speaker had already begun his activities before the birth of the Moth of Fire, which was composed of political entities and organizations from multiple countries.

"To make it easier for me to refer to the nascent organization as 'Former Fire Chaser,' Doctor Mobius and I were members of the 'Former Fire Chaser.'"

Mobius?

I didn't expect to hear this name. It's not that I didn't expect her to be a former member of the Fire Chaser, since Mobius said he was an elder of the Fire Chaser, so it's normal for her to be a former member. But the fact that she said it at this time means that what Hen is about to talk about is also related to Mobius.

"You might be wondering why the Fire Moths reacted so quickly when the 'Starshine' invaded, and why they weren't surprised by the existence of an alien civilization. Actually, the 'Former Fire Moths' had conducted an investigation into outer space, specifically into Earth's natural satellites, and they found some results."

Is that the moon?

Hen's eyes darkened, and his fingers gradually clenched. "I was a member of the lunar exploration team, and I discovered... 'remains' there."

"Wait a moment."

Lin gave Elysia a look, and then they disconnected their communicators and turned off the surveillance cameras in the lounge.

That's not quite right.

Lin had a premonition that he was about to come across the "truth." Hen had never told them these things, nor had Mobius, and now that Hen was revealing them, it was highly likely that this was information that could not be made public.

Information that could shake the foundations of the Fire-Chasing Moth.

"Remains? What kind of remains?"

"... Lin, you're really cautious. But don't worry, this information should be released to the Firemoth's internal staff soon." Hen's smile lasted less than half a second before he solemnly stared at Lin's helmet. "That's the remains of a 'humanoid,' judging from its appearance, it's a woman. It was there that we first detected the Honkai Energy reaction."

This is different from the internal version circulating about the Fire Moth. The previous version stated that the Fire Moth first detected a small Honkai Energy reaction that predated the First Honkai Eruption Honkai. However, the current statement by Hen directly overturns the existing information.

"After that, the mission was divided into two groups: [Earth-based garrison] and [Lunar exploration]. Mobius and I were responsible for building the portal connecting Earth and the Moon, namely the [Stargate]."

"No, how could a space technology with teleportation capabilities have been built before the Second Herrscher was born?" Lin immediately retorted. "There wasn't enough technology at that time."

"That's right, so right now the only portal in the world is the [Stargate]."

"..."

Lin paused for a moment, then understood the meaning behind Hen's words.

"Through our surveys, we discovered a spatial connection between the lunar ruins and the Earth city of Atra. By amplifying this connection, Doctor Mobius created the Stargate, and the lunar ruins were then named 'Atra of the Moon.' Qian Zhu Huo began his research on the remains of Atra of the Moon."

"However, due to improper handling, a portion of the remains separated and fell to Earth."

Lin Teng stood up abruptly. He understood why this intelligence had remained classified until now. If he wasn't mistaken, once this incident was exposed, the Moth Chaser wouldn't be a savior organization rescuing humanity from crisis, but rather...

Hen sighed as he faced Lin's almost unprecedented glare, "Lin, I know you're very angry right now, but please let me finish. And... the cause of that accident has not been determined to this day, and there is no accurate answer as to whether it was even an 'accident'."

Lin took a deep breath and sat back down. He glanced at Elysia and found her unusually silent, her head down, seemingly lost in thought.

"From that time on, Honkai Energy began to appear on Earth, Mobius speculated that the accident caused the Honkai Energy to begin to leak."

Therefore, the crisis facing humanity was caused by Qian Zhu Huo himself.

But is it really that simple?

Lin frowned, thinking that long before the birth of the current civilization, the previous generation of civilization had already begun to Honkai.

If the previous fire-chasing caused the Honkai Energy leak, then how did the Honkai of the Previous Civilization occur? Or are the remains on the moon actually the Honkai sealed away by the Previous Civilization?

"Eight years after part of the remains fell to Earth, Former Fire Chaser determined the trajectory of the fall. Eventually, part of the remains landed in a city called Vostok 51. Former Fire Chaser then searched Svatogor 51 and examined all the 'eight-year-olds' in the city, but found nothing."

"Child?"

"Yes, because when the remains fell, part of them were in the shape of an infant."

The baby... could it be...?

"The original... Herrscher?" At this moment, Lin finally understood the ins and outs, and some of his previous doubts were finally answered.

That day, it fell from the sky. People on the ground looked up and saw the starry sky.

This phrase was created by Aponia and circulated in Dusk Street. This phrase actually conceals the Svatogor 51 incident that the Fire Moths wanted to cover up.

Why would the Firemoth High Council be so afraid of the possible surviving followers of the traitorous Chancellor? It's probably not just a fear of another rebellion, but also a fear that the Chancellor, a former Firemoth member, would leak the Svatogor 51 incident.

Before Lin Chichi could clean up the sanatorium, Sakura was sent to forcibly clean it up and interrogate Aponia, who created the song. In the end, she even tried to silence her through Hypervariable Surgery.

Even the Speaker's defection may be related to the Svatogor 51 incident.

All of this, everything, the beginning, the origin, began from that moment, with its fall...

Chapter 164 Artificial Collapse

"After the Svatogor 51 incident, I temporarily left the Stargate. After that, I joined the Firemoth as a soldier of the reorganized Firemoth and gradually moved away from the Stargate."

Hen told Lin and Elysia about all the information he knew, and the secret of the Fire Moth was something that neither Lin nor Elysia had expected.

"The Fire Moth is still secretly studying the lunar remains, but there shouldn't be much progress. Recently, there have been new developments, which is why I said this information might have to be made public internally."

I see.

Lin roughly guessed the purpose of doing so. Because the research was previously conducted in secret, it was impossible to invest too many resources, so there was basically no progress. Now that it has been made public, regardless of the impact, investment can be increased, and top talents such as May, Mobius, and Einstein can be sent to conduct research.

"Now, let's get to the mission."

Now that we've covered the "background story," let's get back to the main topic.

"The incident started when I was dispatched to investigate. The area near the Stargate was invaded by unknown individuals, and some facilities were damaged."

Unknown individuals... This is the reason for the deployment of Poisoned Cocoon.

"How damaged is it?"

"It wasn't a big deal, but the other party was deliberately targeting the Stargate, and their actions were extremely swift. Afterwards, no matter what method was used, it was impossible to find out who it was."

"..."

"In short, it seems you will need to stay here for quite some time."

At this point, they had not yet realized just how long a "considerable period of time" could actually be.

Do you have anything to say?

As Elysia was deep in thought, she was startled by the cold voice and looked up to see Lin's helmet pressed against her.