I'm No MOTH Hero

Even then, Lin thought about what would happen if he and Ritter had swapped places. If Kevin, Mei, Soul, Himiko, and... Elysia were the ones being threatened, what would he do?

He had his answer from the depths of his heart in less than half a second.

So, he said:

"No, I don't understand."

Chapter 59: Imaginary Tree - Regarding One of Two

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Ritter looked at Lin, confused. He couldn't understand why Lin had suddenly abandoned his previous amiable attitude. Lin's eyes were sharp, as if a bullet could shoot out of them at any moment. He didn't look like a researcher at all, more like a...

Warrior.

"I am not the Doctor," Lin said, standing up abruptly, a completely different person from moments before. He looked down at Ritter from above. "The ones you killed, the ones whose families you took, they are the Doctor."

Hearing this, Ritter's expression changed drastically. Lin's silhouette, backlit, overlapped with the shadow he had briefly clashed with that day. "You... you are—"

"Bang!"

In the not-so-large space, after a muffled sound, tranquility returned.

Ritter was utterly terrified. Those frozen black eyes stared intently into his, and the arm pinning his mouth against the wall exerted a more terrifying force than last time. The other hand held two fingers poised just above his eyelids. If he dared to move, Lin would immediately stab his fingers into his eyes.

The lights flickered, and he couldn't see any expression on Lin's face, illuminated from behind, except for those terrifying black pupils.

"Mmph—"

Lin extended his fingers a little further, and Ritter gave up struggling.

"Where is the data on the Poisoned Cocoon?" Lin grabbed a tissue from the table, wiped the blood flowing from his left ear, and put on his helmet. The visor lit up. "Either give me a copy, or tell me everything."

He slightly loosened the hand pressing on his mouth, but the hand ready to poke his eyes moved even closer. This forced Ritter, who had intended to resist, to grit his teeth and give up.

"I don't have anything like that."

"Then tell me where to find it."

"I..."

"Think carefully," Lin warned coldly at this point.

After a moment of silence, Ritter said hoarsely, "The data on the Poisoned Cocoon is in the main computer in Sector A-3, but my authorization is insufficient."

"Come with me."

Lin's hand moved down a short distance before suddenly grabbing Ritter's hand, which was stealthily reaching for his gun holster. He then raised his foot and stepped on Ritter's other hand, drew his pistol, and pulled Ritter in front of him, pressing the gun to his waist.

The disarming process was blindingly fast.

"Let's go."

Lin's low voice was like a sound from hell.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Ritter walked ahead, with Lin behind him, his gun hidden by his clothes, both maintaining a similar pace towards Sector A-3.

"Although it sounds like an excuse, I was truly just carrying out orders," Ritter said slowly as he walked forward, explaining to Lin behind him. "I understand why you're after me, but you and I are both members of MOTH. Are you going to disobey orders?"

Attacking the Fifth Branch, also a member of MOTH, was an order. Being forbidden to attack and engaging in infighting were also orders. These two contradictory orders came from the same organization.

There was no more absurd reality than this.

"That's not something you need to worry about."

The pressure from behind increased, coercing him into silence.

"Then what are you going to do with me after you get what you want?" Ritter asked, a self-deprecating smile on his face. "You must understand, this matter cannot be kept secret."

The fact that Lin could find him here already indicated that his logic was sound. He must have already thought about how to deal with Ritter, so Ritter had a rough idea of his own fate.

Lin responded enigmatically, "I never kill people."

"Alright, that's enough for today, Mei."

The girl with fox ears and pink hair stood up, the two swords at her waist clashing with a crisp sound.

"Yes, see you next time, Sakura," Mei nodded to Sakura as well. Although Sakura's words were often difficult to understand, she didn't usually mean for them to be that way. She was genuinely gentle and intelligent, making it hard to imagine she had once been on the same team as Chrono and had been quite close.

Even if it wasn't for solving mysteries, Mei could talk with Sakura about many things. They had quite a few common topics, like swordsmanship and cooking.

"Hm?" Mei then saw an incredible sight that made her freeze.

A man in a helmet silently walked out of the Imaginary Tree. After a brief scan, he headed directly towards the resting area.

Lin and Sakura appeared at the same time.

Strange, didn't Sakura have the ability to sense Lin? Why hadn't she left before him this time?

And Lin's direction... was he coming this way?

Mei wanted to warn her: "Sakura..."

"Sakura."

Sakura's hand, resting on her sword, trembled. Like a truly startled fox, she perked up her ears and turned to look at Lin, who had already walked up behind her.

"Lin?" Sakura took a step back, creating distance between them. "Why are you..."

"I have something to discuss with you today."

Lin stated his purpose simply and directly. He took out the document with the secret message that Mei had seen. "You..."

At that moment, he noticed Mei sitting there. He paused for a second and put the document back. "Do you have something else going on? I'll come back to find you later."

Huh?

Lin's words only made Mei more confused.

Why is this helmet guy being so considerate today? Didn't he and Sakura have a bad relationship?

"No, it's fine..." To Mei's surprise, Sakura shot her a pleading look, full of a desperate plea for help. "What did you want to see me about?"

Mei, who had been about to leave, had no choice but to remain seated.

Who asked her to accept Sakura's care so often?

"...Why are you still here." Lin turned his head to look at Mei, who was glaring at him.

Mei tilted her smooth chin up. "Don't you think you're scary?"

Lin turned back to Sakura. "Am I scary? Sakura?"

"..." This left Sakura unsure how to answer.

Does he really think he's not scary in Sakura's eyes?

It was strange, really. Sakura wasn't the timid type, so why did she have such a timid feeling towards Lin?

Lin, noticing Sakura's helplessness, seemed to realize something. He looked at Sakura, then said to Mei, "Raiden Mei, come with me for a moment."

"Huh?"

"... 'Please' come with me for a moment."

Mei's eyelids twitched. She followed Lin to the side, a little distance away from Sakura. She stared at Lin strangely. "What is it? Is it about Sakura?"

"Mm." Lin took out the document again, this time handing it to Mei. "I'd like to ask you to give this to Sakura and have her translate the general meaning."

"Why don't you give it to her directly?"

"She probably doesn't want to see me."

"Uh..."

Mei's mind was getting more and more confused.

"If she's unwilling, that's fine. Just give it back to me next time. I'm leaving." Lin said this and turned to leave.

Mei asked him as he turned his back, "Do you two have some kind of grudge?"

"It's nothing, she just probably hates people like me."

Mei rubbed her nose.

Sakura said Lin hated her, and Lin said Sakura hated him...

What in the world was going on?

Chapter 60: Similar Predicaments

"Ssss—"

"Welcome back, Doctor Lin Qijiu."

The moment Lin stepped into Area A-3, the Honkai Energy erosion zone behind him began to ache.

He frowned, and Prometheus spoke at the opportune moment, [Lin, the Honkai Energy concentration in Area A-3 is too high. Do not act rashly.]

Why would a place for storing data have such a high concentration of Honkai Energy?

Lin poked Ritter's side with his gun.

"This is also where special Honkai Beasts are kept. After all, it's safer to keep unspeakable data and dangerous things together," Ritter replied expressionlessly, his hands raised.

"...Let's go."

Lin hadn't brought any inhibitors, so he had to get what he needed quickly and couldn't delay.

There was only one main computer in Area A-3. Due to the high Honkai Energy concentration here, no one was inside. Lin followed Ritter all the way to the main computer and plugged his helmet's data transmission cable into it.

[Initiating data search]

Thanks to Prometheus, Lin didn't have to worry about searching for the data himself. He focused all his attention on keeping Ritter in check, not giving him any chance to escape.

"Heh heh... There's no need to hold me so tightly. The gun is with you; you can shoot me dead if I try to escape," Ritter snorted from his nostrils.

"...You're completely different now from before."

Earlier, Lin could still feel a sense of guilt towards the departed souls from Ritter. Now, there was no trace of remorse, as if it had just been a normal mission.

"Aren't you too? Doctor Lin Qijiu... No, I should say, Lin, right?"

The mission had specifically mentioned that the assassination mission was to be carried out after Lin departed for his own mission. Furthermore, Lin's "appearance" – the helmet – was too distinctive. Therefore, Ritter had quickly sorted out his thoughts and naturally figured out Lin's true identity.

"Everyone says you're a monster without feelings, but it seems that's not entirely true," Ritter sneered. "Aren't you still just a young man breaking the rules out of your own frustration? It's no big deal."

"You must want to kill me right now, but don't mind it. Your thoughts are easy to guess. After all, you're just a brat about the same age as my daughter."

Lin's sapphire-blue visual display was exceptionally dark and eerie even under the lights. He stared motionlessly at Ritter, whose lips curved into a mocking smile, and after a moment, asked, "You're provoking me. Why?"

"Does telling the truth count as provocation? Don't think too highly of yourself. Even if you expose the Poisoned Cocoon, it won't do any good. It won't shake anyone in MOTH."

"Why do you think The Deepest Place exists? To imprison criminals? Haha... The so-called crimes are also things humans impose on themselves. So, who knows what kind of people will be imprisoned here?"

The implication was that even if Lin did these things, exposing the actions of some of the higher-ups, he would be branded with fabricated charges and imprisoned in The Deepest Place.

[Lin, no information about the Poisoned Cocoon was found.]

"...You lied to me."

"I didn't lie. The Poisoned Cocoon's information is in paper files, D5, but you didn't ask me, did you?"

"..."

Lin gave the mocking Ritter a deep look, his eyes glancing towards a pile of file bags placed in the corner. He slowly pressed Ritter towards those files.

Closer.

Lin stopped about a meter away from the files. He realized something.

If he reached out to grab them, he would have to let go of Ritter.

Would Ritter run away without fear of death?

Or was this actually Ritter's trap?

While Lin was contemplating, he saw a bag on top of a few file bags with "D5" clearly written on it.

Ritter quietly revealed a smile.