"He?" Mobius frowned when she heard the name, then quickly relaxed. "I was wondering how that helmeted man made of alloy could possibly stay obediently in his room to rest. Your ability to act really is impressive."
Mei made her request. "We need your help, Doctor Mobius... no, Lin needs your help."
Journey to The Deepest Place
The massive doors slowly parted to either side, revealing a completely different scene within.
"Access granted. Welcome, Doctor Lin Qijiu."
"..."
Lin paused at the announcement, then silently looked toward the upper-right corner of the viewport.
After leaving the upper-right corner blank for a full ten seconds, Prometheus finally replied unhurriedly: Lin, don't you think the title "Doctor" carries a lot of weight?
"...I don't have a doctorate."
Doctor is merely an honorific. Doctor Mei doesn't have a doctorate either.
"Prometheus, I'm glad your personality is now very close to that of a human. That was a good joke." Beneath his helmet, Lin's expression was as blank as a February winter wind. "But don't make it again, especially at a time like this."
He had never expected that when Prometheus hacked into the facility, she would add "Doctor" to the temporary identity she registered for him. Was "Doctor" the highest honorific to her?
Another path lay before him, only this one was narrower and covered in metal patterns. It should have been a passage for internal personnel. It seemed Lin had made the right choice.
No life signs detected.
Lin did not allow himself even half a second of hesitation and stepped into the passage.
No matter what lay ahead, even if it was an ocean made up of Emperor-class Honkai Beasts, he had no way back now. He had to find the answers he needed here.
"You know, this place really doesn't seem to need guards. It's in such a godforsaken location. No one would possibly invade here, right?"
"Yeah, and we don't even need to watch over those containment facilities. What an easy job. If only we could connect to the intranet—I could browse the forums all day."
"Tsk... got any cigarettes? This place is so creepy, it feels like someone's watching me. A smoke would warm me up."
"Forget it. There's no way they'd let us bring cigarettes in. Sigh, having nothing to do is easy, but it's way too boring."
"Tch. This is a classified facility that hasn't even opened yet. We can't leave until one of the big shots upstairs decides to make it public~"
The two men yawned as they squatted at the corner, idly sharing tips on slacking off. To them, this was a pretty good assignment. They did not have to go to the front lines, nor did they have to take part in experiments with virtually no chance of survival. This godforsaken place had no drawbacks besides being godforsaken. They were even discussing whether to make a deck of cards themselves to play during their free time.
In their distracted state, they failed to notice a helmeted man openly emerging from the passage behind them. He stopped where he was and listened to their conversation for a while before moving away.
Lin's habitual all-black attire let him blend into this pitch-black environment. His footsteps grew lighter and lighter, giving him the strange illusion that he was taking a leisurely stroll through a garden.
There were no surveillance devices anywhere. Was that to prevent video recordings from leaking out?
Lin's fundamental goal was not to thoroughly research The Deepest Place, but there was no harm in learning more about these unknown things. Aside from the recording for Vill-V, he would keep a copy for his own research as well.
After he passed through that door, the route became increasingly intricate. Every now and then, Lin crouched down and picked up some dust to examine which paths were frequently used. Gradually, he approached what was likely the core area.
Another door. The core area was probably beyond this one.
"There is still plenty of room for further development of Armed Folding Technology. Research into the Second Herrscher is far from reaching its limit. The Research and Development Department at headquarters has even developed the Phase Transfer System, so why can't we stabilize a mere Armed Folding Technology completely?!"
Lin instantly pressed himself against the wall, held his breath, and watched two people in lab coats emerge from the brightly lit room. The person in front vented his frustration with an angry expression, while the one behind him listened miserably as he was berated.
The person behind seemed to want to comfort him, so he forced a smile. "But Delta hasn't developed Armed Folding Technology either."
"That's because he has no interest in it! It's not that he can't do it, understand?!" To his surprise, the man whirled around and roared. "If that lunatic hadn't gone off to develop those useless Titans and the Anti-gravity Flight System, do you think he wouldn't have been able to make Armed Folding Technology? Would this project ever have been assigned to us?!"
"I... I don't know..."
"Of course you don't! That's why he's the chief technical consultant at headquarters and the Head of Research and Development, while we're stuck in this sunless hell researching scraps he couldn't care less about! Not to mention that some Head of the Engineering Department popped up from who knows where. This whole prison we're in was made by that person!"
So did he want to praise Delta for being amazing, or call him insane?
"The Deepest Place has not yet activated its own functions. We're here because we're all prospective prisoners. If we fail, we won't even need to relocate. We can just move in with our luggage and become the first batch of guests at The Deepest Place." The man in front stopped walking, his gaze turning icy. "The higher-ups may already have split into factions. The fact that the Poisoned Cocoon member's corpse was sent to The Deepest Place has been disclosed to those at captain rank and above. Before long, The Deepest Place will be exposed to everyone in MOTH. If we still haven't finished what we were supposed to finish by then, we can spend the rest of our lives here."
"Sigh, if I'd known... ngh—"
A cold hand struck from behind and dragged the speaker into the darkness. His terrified eyes became the last sight imprinted upon the retina of the man in front.
"Wha—"
Before he could call for the guards, a powerful kick struck his head with precision, slamming him into the wall. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Lin lowered the man he had choked unconscious and coldly watched the two motionless researchers. He had controlled his strength well. Aside from some pain when they woke up, they would suffer no lasting effects.
The advantage of not wearing equipment showed itself now. Lin swiftly stripped the two men and changed into their clothes, then used the spare clothing to bind their hands and feet and gag their mouths. He turned around, found a path that did not see much traffic, and tossed them inside.
Finally, he removed his helmet and inserted one of their identity cards into its slot.
Bzzzt—
In a flash of electricity, Lin took out the identity card. Its contents had already been rewritten as the nonexistent "Doctor Lin Qijiu." Carrying his helmet, he returned to the door and used the forged identity to open it.
"Welcome back, Doctor Lin Qijiu."
Lin calmly put away the identity card and swaggered inside with his helmet in hand.
There were not many people. This was only one section, responsible for equipment research and development. Among the researchers carrying various creations that had yet to see the light of day, Lin did not stand out with a helmet in his hand.
Except for his face.
But in this atmosphere where everyone was occupied with their own work, no one looked up to see who had entered or left. Using the identity cards of the two people he had knocked out, Lin found their work area and pushed open the door.
Then his movements froze the instant the door opened.
Someone stood with his back to Lin before slowly turning around.
Lin could never forget that person's back.
"Doctor, I've already written down my impressions of using Armed Folding Technology, but honestly, I only used it once, so there wasn't really any substantial... Who are you?"
The assassin who had been confirmed "dead" stood beneath the lights, casually holding a report with a relaxed smile.
People Who Could Not Understand Each Other
"I'm Doctor Lin Qijiu, the new arrival."
After a brief pause, Lin reported his forged identity without changing expression.
Anyone else might have been unable to resist throwing a punch. The true culprit behind the destruction of the Fifth Branch, someone confirmed to be dead, was calmly living in this isolated underwater facility, while those once-vibrant lives had been buried in graves, their names hanging on the walls of headquarters, forever separated from their families and friends.
Lin had said that he could not judge humanity, yet the instant they met, he felt a long-forgotten impulse.
An impulse to draw his gun and shoot the assassin full of holes.
He could not put himself on too high a pedestal and judge humanity. That was his promise to Mei and to himself. Once he truly began doing that, it would be equivalent to opening Pandora's box. That mechanistic process directed at the Honkai would extend to humanity.
Because Lin knew he could do it, and that he would not hesitate in the slightest after doing it, he could not act.
"A new arrival?"
After his surprise, the assassin's gaze dropped to the helmet in Lin's hand.
During their brief clash, he had not seen Lin clearly. He only remembered that Lin wore a helmet. The night had been too dark, and Lin had moved too quickly for him to make out its specific appearance, so he had only glanced at the helmet a few times.
Compared with the helmet, the new doctor's face was more likely to draw attention.
"Doctor Coca has something to deal with for the time being, so I'm taking over his work." Lin's expressions were not especially varied, but he controlled his angle well. Turning sideways, he showed Ritter only his profile as he swiftly got into character and picked up several data reports from the desk to skim through.
"Oh... then take this report. Give it to Doctor Coca later."
After taking the report, Lin flipped straight to the end and saw the assassin's signature.
"Ritter."
"Hm? What is it?" the assassin asked upon hearing his name.
"Nothing. The research has hit a bottleneck, and I'm happy to take it easy. Why not chat a little before you leave?" Lin picked up a cup from the desk and walked over to the water dispenser. "Coffee or hot water?"
Ritter smacked his lips. "Hot water. I don't know why you technical people like coffee so much."
"Fine."
Lin carried the hot water over and sat beside Ritter. He casually set his helmet on the desk, handed him the water, and said, "Mr. Ritter, you're a member of Poisoned Cocoon, aren't you?"
"Hm? Yeah."
"..."
Was the existence of Poisoned Cocoon common knowledge in The Deepest Place?
That brief silence made Ritter study Lin again. He looked at Lin's face in confusion. "Come to think of it, Doctor Lin Qijiu, are you all right? Your left ear seems to be bleeding."
"No, it's nothing. I was just injured a little while collecting data on the roar of a Chariot-class Honkai Beast."
"You people really do work yourselves to the bone. No wonder you're humanity's elite. Someone like me can only enjoy the fruits of your research." Ritter shook his head with feeling, his face full of respect.
The bright lights overhead seemed to dim, like the stars on that night.
Every muscle in Lin's body woke up.
"Then you—"
Why did you do something like that?
Those scientists and researchers you killed—weren't they humanity's elite too? Hadn't they given their lives for humanity?
How could you smile and say something like that now?
You—
"Then you should work hard for humanity too." Lin's mind went blank as he said those words.
He wanted to vomit. A wave of nausea scratched at his throat.
He could not tell whether he was truly rational now or simply numb.
"Me? Work for humanity? Forget it..." The light in Ritter's eyes dimmed. "I... I'm nothing but scum."
Lin asked calmly, "Why do you say that?"
"Don't you already know, Doctor? I'm a member of Poisoned Cocoon. Someone like me... Oh, right, you're new, so you probably don't know." Ritter gave a self-mocking smile. "How was this data obtained?"
"The Fifth Branch."
"Huh? You know about it?"
"I've heard of it."
He had been there.
"So you understand, right?"
Ritter shrugged. Lin did not know whether it was an indifferent gesture or one of self-abandonment, but his words were clear and unbroken as he fluently spoke things that should not have been said.
"While they were all striving for humanity, I got them killed... No, I killed them, with these hands."
"Before this mission, I only received individual assassination assignments. Most of the people I killed had nothing to do with me. According to the reports, they were all heinous criminals, stumbling blocks hindering humanity's development."
"Even this time, the mission said the target was a bastard trying to turn humans into Honkai Beasts, but the objective was not simply to assassinate her... They actually told me to make as big a mess as possible and use my fellow humans to test new weapons."
"Doctor, can you understand? The moment I pressed the detonator, it felt like I saw the souls of the dead lunging at me. Those I had killed before, those I killed this time..."
As Ritter spoke, pain overtook his expression. He panted heavily, lifted the cup, drained it in one gulp, and slammed it down on the desk.
He did not notice that Lin's gaze had grown colder and colder throughout the process. At last, Lin took a small sip of water to wet his lips and said, "So now, do you regret it?"
"Regret it? I regret it every moment of every day."
"Will you continue carrying out missions after this?"
"I will."
Ritter's answer was so firm that Lin thought he had misheard.
He set down his cup as well and gripped his helmet instead.
"I... have to do it for my daughter... Her life can only be sustained by that person..." In that moment, Ritter's pain became fuel for his resolve. "I know what I'm doing is wrong, but when it comes to the lives of others and the lives of those close to me, I have no choice."
"Doctor, I may have said too much, but you can understand me, right...? I want to fight for the people important to me. Even if I need to take the lives of others, I..."
Lin absurdly thought of Kevin.
He knew very well that Kevin could never become like this. Even if Kevin could give everything for Mei, he would never take everything from others for her sake.
But what if Kevin were in the same situation as Ritter?
Before you continue