Life Is Bitter as a Song

The cold-blooded assassin closed the book in his hand. Delta struggled to turn his rusty neck and saw Sakura sigh with a sense of helplessness.

What's wrong with me?

"It's nothing, just a brief shock, nothing to Flame-Chaser."

"Oh..."

...shock?

Why did she go into shock?

Delta couldn't remember what happened before she lost consciousness; it was as if her brain was preventing her from recalling the terrible events.

"It seems my training methods are too early for you. From now on, you should use Lin's methods." Sakura's face showed a hint of apology. "He is gentler."

And "He's gentler? No way, he's ruthless at all..."

Delta still has a deep impression of that battle, which also formed Delta's first impression of Lin.

Sakura glanced at Delta's indignant face, wondering whether she should tell her that if Lin seriously engaged in "real combat" with her, her condition would probably be more than just shock.

"Let's skip training today. I'll rest here with you." Sakura felt it was her responsibility. Lin had entrusted the newcomer to her, but she had been too rough with him. She felt really ashamed.

Delta was a little confused, but she didn't ask any more questions. She was more curious about the relationship between Sakura and Hayashi: "Sakura, were you and Lieutenant Hayashi teammates before? You weren't in Squad Thirteen, were you?"

"Um."

"Oh... so what kind of person do you think he is?"

Disgusting, lacking in gentlemanly manners, terrible taste, sadistic... Delta felt she couldn't have a single positive impression of Lin, but she couldn't help but think of him after training, sitting together in a quiet room, eating the food Lin had cooked, his calm profile bathed in the serene moonlight...

After being asked this question, Sakura thought for a moment and gave a faint smile, "A gentle person, I suppose."

Delta saw the smile on her face, fell silent, and didn't know what to say.

The communicator rang, and Sakura took out her communicator with great confusion. She knew very few people, and apart from Rin, almost no one would send her a message.

"Sakura, can you cosplay a ninja? The kind with exposed armpits." — Rin

"..."

After sending the message, Lin put the communicator away. He needed to send Ying messages from time to time to prove that he hadn't lost contact, since Ying's current identity was somewhat special. As for the content, it wasn't very important... He really wasn't trying to see her armpits.

After entering the city, he randomly went into a shop and greeted the kind-looking owner, "Hello, boss."

"Hello, young man."

The boss found the man, who was completely covered up, strange, but he still spoke to Lin in a friendly manner.

"Excuse me, do you know...?"

Lin suddenly stopped.

He suddenly realized that he had no clue where to start. He didn't even know what the characteristics of the person who was suspected to be the first Herrscher were. Should he ask where those children from decades ago were?

The problem is that, among the materials left by Qian Zhuhuo, he has not yet found the list of eight-year-old children who investigated Svatogor 51 back then.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"... Boss, do you know that nearly twenty years ago, a meteor fell into this city?"

"Shooting star? I don't know. I've only worked here for ten years. How would I know about something that happened more than twenty years ago?"

"..."

Sure enough, the time span also became an obstacle to the investigation.

After casually buying a drink, Lin walked out of the store and looked up at the white snow.

Snow...

He thought of many things, such as a girl's smile, which brought back those whispers to his ears. He could only shake his head and shake those sounds out of his mind.

Where should we begin our investigation next?

Breathing in the clean air, free of the smell of medicine, Erwin was moved to tears, relieved that he no longer needed to go to the Medical Department for a check-up.

For a year, he came to the Medical Department almost every week. Even the doctors complained that his physique was among the worst of all the soldiers of the Fire Moth. An injury that would heal in two months for other soldiers was feared to leave lasting effects on him.

Fortunately, during my year in the Branch 10, there weren't many missions, not even a single combat mission. It was so peaceful that it made me wonder if the Honkai had disappeared.

However, he did hope that the Honkai Energy never come again... Of course, he knew in his heart that that was impossible.

"Sigh, I've survived time and time again thanks to luck." Erwin chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Lucky Erwin? Well, it's all good. I've survived so many large-scale Honkai. I guess I really do have the luck to protect me from dying in Honkai."

He walked listlessly towards his room, wondering what to have for supper that night, and whether he should play games with Danzhu...

"Hmm?"

As Erwin was passing a corner, someone suddenly covered his mouth from behind and dragged him into a room next door. He struggled in panic, but the strength of the grip was so great that he couldn't move and could only be dragged in completely.

"Shhh."

After being locked out of the room, he continued to struggle, but the person turned around and made a shushing gesture towards him. Erwin recognized who it was, and he immediately became much more obedient.

Einstein was very satisfied with Erwin's attitude. She ordered the three Armed Puppet holding Erwin to release him. The vividly portrayed Armed Puppet released Erwin, allowing him to breathe freely.

"Einstein..."

"Shhh."

Einstein made a shushing gesture again, which made Erwin immediately cover his mouth and lower his voice. "Doctor Einstein, why did you arrest me?"

"Keep your voice down. There are no listening devices in this room, but there are in the hallway. We need to keep our voices down and avoid drawing attention to ourselves," Einstein instructed before speaking seriously. "I need you to do something for me."

"Me? What can I do?"

"You're not easily noticed, and you're someone close to Lin and Elysia, which is why I asked you to do something for me."

It sounds like you're just cannon fodder.

"Then... what do you need me to do?" Erwin scratched the back of his head.

"Help me steal something."

Chapter 186 Life, Ah, Bitter as a Song

"Shooting star? There have been countless shooting stars in the past twenty years, who knows which one you're talking about, little kid?"

"It's the one that fell into the city..."

"Huh? What? I can't hear you, speak louder!"

"Fell—into—the—city—"

"Ouch! Are you trying to yell me to death?!"

"..."

Lin stood under the eaves with his arms crossed, pondering where to go next. Should he continue visiting elderly residents in the city? But that seemed too inefficient, and he didn't have much time.

This is where it all began, yet he can't find any trace of it.

"Hey! Little kid, come inside and get out of the snow. It's snowing so heavily and you're wearing so little. Be careful not to get frostbite."

The old man in the bungalow greeted Lin warmly, and the stove in the house was blowing hot air, making his wrinkled face turn red.

Lin stopped thinking and calmly shook his head, "No need, I'm not cold."

"Oh dear, you little kids just love to look cool without clothes on! If you get sick from the cold, your parents will be heartbroken!" Without saying a word, the old man grabbed Lin's shoulder and dragged him into the house. He wasn't very strong, but Lin was afraid of pulling him and making him fall, so he let him do as he pleased.

"Wait until the snow stops before you leave. You can warm yourself by the fire here with me for a while."

Now that he was inside, there was no need to keep refusing. Lin walked to the stove and said, "Okay."

The old man lived a simple life. Apart from some daily necessities, there was only an old pipe in his room, and he lived alone.

"Little boy, why don't you take off the black veil on your face? Don't you know the saying that it's cold inside?" The old man went into the inner room for a moment and took out a big cotton-padded coat. It looked warm. He walked behind Lin and put it on him so that he could warm himself by the fire without the cold wind blowing from behind.

Lin silently looked at the cotton-padded coat on his shoulders.

"This is my son's cotton-padded jacket, but he didn't need it later."

Son? Judging from this old man's age, he must be at least seventy years old. If he had a son, he would be at least thirty or nearly forty. Did his son move out?

"He died in a car accident four years ago on a snowy day." The old man calmly tapped his unlit pipe and looked out the window at the swirling snow. "I heard from others that it's the coldest winter ever experienced by humankind. My wife didn't make it through either."

Four years ago... the Fifth Honkai War...

The old man used fire tongs to stir the coals in the stove, his tone calm. "I used to have a grandson, but my daughter-in-law took him and left after my son died. I don't know where he is now."

Lin listened quietly as he said that sometimes the old man just wanted someone to listen to him, and he was quite good at being that person.

"Little child, what is the purpose of living for so long? I have lived for seventy-six years, but I don't have a single relative by my side. I came into this world in a whirlwind and left all alone. I didn't leave anything behind while I was alive, and I can't take anything with me when I die."

"Is the purpose of living to die?"

Perhaps feeling that his topic was too profound and that it was pointless to discuss it with a young man, the old man smiled, shook his head, and asked himself, "If not for death, then what is it for..."

Lin had a different idea from the old man, but he did not refute him.

They have different experiences and different views on life and the world, so it's normal for them to have different opinions. There's no need to get hung up on who's right and who's wrong.

The old man lit a cigarette, took a puff, and glanced at the silent Lin: "Little kid, why haven't you taken off your black veil yet?"

Black veil? You mean the face mask, right?

Lin stared at the old man for a while, then he took off all the things from his face.

"Oh? You're such a handsome boy!" The old man was quite surprised when he saw Lin's Ruoshui face. "You don't have any injuries on your face, so why are you covering it up?"

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

"...Because of some things," Lin replied casually, "And also because I'm already twenty-eight years old, not a little kid anymore."

"Twenty-eight? I can't tell from your eyes or ears." The old man looked at Lin with a strange expression. "How odd."

"..."

If the old man were to meet Mobius, who is several years older than him, he would probably be so surprised that his eyes would pop out.

Then there was a period of silence as they sat around the fire in silence, until the old man took a few deep breaths and said, "Shooting star... I'm not very clear on that, but more than twenty years ago there was a group of people who seemed to be talking about shooting stars and came to the city looking for dolls."

"Please explain in detail."

"How could I remember clearly after so long? It's just that I seem to recall someone mentioning a rather pretty doll back then..."

Most of the information is useless, but one thing is certain: the debris that broke off from the lunar remnant did indeed end up on Svatogor 51 and grew up in human form.

"The snow has almost stopped, I should go." Lin stood up, took off his thick cotton-padded coat, folded it, and placed it on the chair.

"Won't you sit for a while longer?"

Lin stepped outside, sighed, and covered his face again. Before he had taken two steps, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"Wait a minute, young man."

Did you start calling me "young man" after you found out my age?

"Why are you stuffing this thing into your coat!" The old man ran up to Lin with surprising speed; despite his age, he was still quite strong. He angrily shoved a few pieces of paper money into Lin's hand. "Do I have no hands or feet and need someone to take care of my excrement?"

"..." Lin didn't expect the old man to discover it so quickly, and to react so strongly.

"I know you're a kind-hearted guy, but can you help everyone? Can you help everyone you meet? Hmph, I don't think many people would want your help."

After finishing his rambling conversation, the old man revealed a proud smile, just like when he was young, and went back into the house.

Lin stood in the snow, gazing at the bungalow for a long time. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally turned and left.

Erwin crouched silently and opened a door with the access card Einstein had given him. He was a little nervous, but that was normal. After all, how could he not be nervous when stealing from High Council?

At first, Erwin refused. He had no reason to steal from his own people; it was already a betrayal. But a remark from Einstein changed his mind.

"Who will betray humanity? Do you want to know?"

Another traitor?

Erwin had experienced the Cleansing Incident, and the horrors of that time were still vivid in his mind. Einstein also told him that it didn't matter if he didn't want to, because she couldn't prove herself either; she would just stop him from reporting it.

He went into the office, rummaging through the files in the drawer, and just then...

"Clatter".