Achilles' Paradox / The Reason

The headquarters' order in response was to "monitor".

It wasn't even an assassination attempt.

"Hey! Why is it always you who goes on missions? I've been here so long I'm practically rusting and I still haven't gotten a single mission!"

The masked man shouted angrily again from the side, but Sakura ignored him and quietly tended to her sword.

"That Lin guy too, I don't know what he does all day! A leisurely retired life, huh!"

"...He has a lot on his mind," Sakura said without looking up.

"Yes, yes, every time I say something to him, you stand up for him. You care about him so much, but why is it Elysia who's always by his side instead of you?" Chrono looked at Ying with sarcasm and said with malicious words.

Sakura had gotten used to Chrono's way of speaking. He deliberately spoke in the way that was most likely to make people angry. It was best not to pay attention to him, because the more you paid attention to him, the more he would act up.

Conversely, when Chrono is in a bad mood, he becomes less talkative and dislikes others talking to him.

"I saw that person from the party yesterday... what was her name... right, Vill-V? She came here too, and went straight to find Lin."

"And I saw Lin bring a pink-haired girl into his room in the middle of the night. They both have pink hair, so why is there such a big difference?"

... Okay, Sakura admits that Chikage is Chrono master at making people angry; at least she's in a very bad mood right now.

She stood up, picked up her knife, and walked out.

"I'm telling you, if you care so much, why don't you come closer to take a look?" Chrono's voice came from behind. "You're capable of killing people, but you're afraid of something like this?"

"..."

"Brother Lin ~"

Pardo's little head peeked out from under the door, her eyes shining as she looked at Lin in the training room and Delta sitting in front of the arcade machine. "Do you want to buy our newest gadget?"

"..." Lin looked up at Pardo. After arriving at the Branch 10, she went back to her old ways, acquiring some strange and unusual items from who-knows-where and doing business in the Branch 10. Surprisingly, her business was doing quite well.

But... where did she get this "newly acquired" treasure?

"Hehe, take a look at the treasure we got our hands on, it'll definitely surprise you!"

Pardo glanced at Delta, who was playing the game with gritted teeth, and pulled a camera out of his ridiculously large pocket.

This camera isn't the most advanced type; rather, it's a hand-cranked camera with a retro feel.

... This design style reminded Lin of someone.

"Don't let this old and worn-out camera fool you, it can actually take amazing photos!"

Lin pondered for a moment, glanced at Pardo, and then picked up his camera and aimed it at Delta, who was sitting over there.

Lin had never used a hand-cranked camera before, but he knew how to use it. After focusing, Lin took a picture. Surprisingly, although the camera looked retro, the photos it produced were clearer than those from the most advanced cameras.

However, he fell silent after seeing the contents of the photo.

"Hmm?" Delta had just finished the game, and her low score left her feeling extremely depressed. After noticing the camera and photos in Lin's hand, she walked over in confusion and glanced at the contents of the photos.

"You, you, you, you..."

Her pretty face flushed crimson with an astonishing speed. She pointed at Lin, both anxious and ashamed, unable to utter a single word.

"Oh? How come my camera is here?" At that moment, Vill-V walked in from outside. She took the camera from Lin's hand, looked at the photos, and said with a grin, "I originally brought these to take pictures, and you found them. Oh dear... But why did you take pictures of other people? If you wanted to see them, you could have just asked me."

Delta finally couldn't hold back any longer and slapped Lin's helmet. "Pervert!"

Chapter 178 The Achilles Paradox

Lin searched through a pile of tedious data. Unlike those unmanaged databases, the database of the Fire Moth was not chaotic. Generally, one could find the information within their own access scope by using just a few keywords.

But that's the "normal" case.

The inherent complexity of the Fire Moth means that some data has either been lost or deliberately deleted. The remnants left behind are in a place similar to a garbage dump, and the only way to find them is to search for them bit by bit there.

What Lin wanted was information about Svatogor 51...

"Lin, you come here every day without fail."

Hen leaned against the doorway, watching Lin search for the information he wanted among the dense, vast amount of documents, and shrugged helplessly. "It's been a year, are you still going to keep looking?"

"I've been searching for a year already, so of course I have to keep going." Lin glanced at the 23.7% progress in the upper right corner. This was the total amount of information he had reviewed from the junk site over the past year. Moreover, because more and more information was being thrown in, his progress had slowed down considerably.

"Are you really that eager to know the truth about what happened back then?"

"... But why don't you want to know?"

Lin stopped what he was doing. In the dark room, where only the low hum of mechanical machinery could be heard, he turned around and looked at Hen standing in the doorway.

Light shone in from behind Hen, casting a shadow on Lin's face.

"Lin, isn't life good now? The technology of the Fire Moth is developing faster and faster, and there are more and more Flame-Chaser who can fight against the Honkai. Even if another large-scale Honkai breaks out again, humanity will definitely win. Didn't we win a great victory last time?" There was an indescribable meaning on Hen's mature face. "We will fight when the Honkai comes, just like before. Why should we come into contact with something you absolutely don't want to see?"

"..."

Lin and Hen were separated by a distance, as if they were facing each other across a chasm.

"You can meet with your friends and joke around every day, sit with the girls who like you, go shopping when you have nothing to do, or mentor the younger generation." His Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke, "Lin, the year you lived in the Branch 10 was the happiest and most relaxed year I've ever seen you. I used to wish you could have such a life, to live peacefully, get married and have children, and then take off the helmet that bound you."

"I once imagined that one day I could sit with Bianca and Griseo on a sun-drenched street corner, order afternoon tea, listen to the children's laughter, and catch a glimpse of you walking past with a girl by your arm."

"The warm light rested on your shoulder, we looked at each other, smiled and nodded."

Then, they each returned to their own lives, living peacefully and happily in the world, just like everyone else.

Lin opened his mouth. "That kind of life will come, after the Honkai ends..."

"No." Hen Numu smiled bitterly. "As long as you continue your investigation, that kind of future will never come."

The man turned around, seemingly looking up at the outside, or perhaps just looking down at his toes.

"Lin, when will you finally be able to take your helmet off completely?"

"Oh, who is it? It's our beloved and popular Lieutenant Lin! What brings you here today?"

The pink-haired girl placed two cups of hot cocoa on the table, then curled up in the cozy beanbag chair, tilting her head to look out at the snow-white sky, revealing Lin Jiebai's flawless profile.

Has it snowed...?

The cold snowflakes fell one by one onto the windowsill, only to be gently blown away by the wind.

"Time flies! In the blink of an eye, we've been in the Branch 10 for a year."

Lin exhaled the breath he had been holding in his chest and echoed, "Yes, even we're almost thirty years old."

From an eighteen-year-old boy, he has gradually come to be almost thirty, which is quite a dramatic turn of events for Lin.

"Um—Lin, do you know that sometimes when you talk..."

"I did it on purpose."

"..."

Perhaps it was Elysia's puffed-up face that made Lin feel a little better, because he relaxed his clenched hands.

"So, what does Lieutenant Lin want with me, a captain who has almost no presence?"

"No... maybe I just wanted to see you." Lin and she looked up at the same sky. "Maybe I've just gotten used to some things."

Elysia turned her head, her magnificent jewels sparkling in their sockets. "Did you have a fight with someone?"

"..."

Is it a mark?

Lin did not answer.

He felt that his sense of taste had returned, and a bitter taste filled his mouth.

"Have you heard of Zeno's Achilles Paradox?" Lin's voice sounded as if it were muffled echoing inside his helmet. "Let the tortoise start 1000 meters ahead of Achilles and race him, assuming Achilles' speed is 10 times that of the tortoise. As Achilles runs forward, the tortoise also runs forward at the same time, and every time Achilles runs a certain distance forward, the tortoise also runs a certain distance forward."

Elysia listened quietly as Lin murmured in his flat, monotone voice.

"Achilles ran ten meters, and the tortoise ran one meter. No matter how long he ran, he would always be an infinitesimally small distance behind the tortoise, so he could never catch up with the tortoise."

"This is a paradox. Time and space cannot be infinitely divided, so there is always a tiny point in time when Achilles and the tortoise move forward together by one unit of space. Sooner or later, Achilles will surpass the tortoise."

"The past is like Achilles in the Achilles Paradox. No matter how far you go, how close you are to the tortoise, within reach, you can never reach it."

Elysia asked softly, "But didn't you say that Achilles would surpass the tortoise?"

"But in Zeno's theory, Achilles was destined to be unable to surpass the tortoise; that was decided from the very beginning."

That tortoise represents them now.

Always getting closer to them, but... never being able to catch up with them.

The hot cocoa on the table had gone cold.

Elysia sat alone in the empty room. After a while, she reached out her hand, her fingers touching the cold rim of the cup, and then she flinched.

Then she picked up the cups, silently finished both drinks, and placed them on the table.

"Lin... should I lie to you...?"

"Do I have to lie to myself to convince myself that what I told you was the truth...?"

Chapter 179 Reasons

"Fifty thousand! Fifty thousand!"

Delta looked at her highest score with great excitement. After so many days of hard work, she had finally surpassed the second place!

She turned around with a smile, "Vice Chairman Lin..."

"Hehe! Lin, you lost!"

"..."

With her hands empty, Vill-V swaggered over Lin, who still had only one Joker card left in his hand. Then, she pinched the Joker card between her index and middle fingers and snatched it from his hand.

In the game of drawing jokers, if a player is left with a joker that cannot be paired with another joker at the end of the game, then that player loses the game.

Clearly, Lin lost, and he could tell that Vill-V had cheated. However, his magic skills were no match for Vill-V's, so he couldn't figure out how she cheated.

If it cannot be proven that someone cheated, then the conclusion can only be that no one cheated.

"Let me think about what I need you for..." Vill-V's malicious gaze made Lin turn his attention directly to Delta.

Lin asked Delta, who had suddenly fallen silent, "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Delta paused for a moment, then sat back down in front of the arcade machine, staring at the screen she was getting tired of, without saying a word.

"Then take the cards from me..."

It was late at night, Delta leaned back in her chair, lost in thought in front of the projected image.

After so many days, she had actually developed a high tolerance for thirst, but what bothered her today was something else entirely.

There were some things she couldn't explain, and she herself didn't understand them.

After the video finished playing, Lin stood up. "That's enough for today, let's go eat..."

"I'm not hungry."

Delta stood up as well. After saying something casually, she pushed open the door and left.

Delta stood in her room, and as she passed her specially made greatsword, she grabbed the hilt with her tail and lifted it up, while her own hands gripped another greatsword of opposite color.

She closed her eyes, assumed a hand-holding-knife posture, took a deep breath, and calmed her mind.

"Bass!"

The next second.

Like dancing, the heavy greatswords moved gracefully like ribbons in a dancer's hand, the two swords stirring up a violent storm in the narrow room, yet without damaging the room in the slightest.

With a swift stride, he slashed at his two swords in front of him, the fierce wind stinging his face.

"Call..."

Delta lowered the greatsword, opened his eyes, and pondered his hands.