A Hand Beyond Reach / Winter Snow

Lin paused as he was about to put on his hat. He noticed Elysia's gaze and, after a moment of silence, said, "No."

"Then I won't go." Elysia smiled brightly.

Assuming that the root cause of the Honkai outbreak was not the lunar debris, but merely a trigger, what is the most likely cause?

Lin came to this world to investigate any clues that could help him uncover the truth about the Honkai. This is a world without Honkai outbreak, but that doesn't mean Honkai Energy doesn't exist.

The moon has a large amount of Honkai Energy, which means that in terms of Honkai, Lin's world and this world are not much different. This world is not a world that will not experience Honkai, just as Yan Luo said.

So Lin began searching the world for places where Honkai Energy might exist.

He found it today.

In an archaeological site on the Mu Continent, archaeologists discovered an ancient civilization with a technological level far surpassing that of the Previous Civilization, and also discovered a synthetic metal whose superiority surpasses that of all current metals.

Through various means, Lin approached the leader of the archaeological team. He pretended to be a professional archaeologist and spoke with him. After some "exchanges," the leader agreed to let him join the team and participate in the archaeological excavation.

The world-shaking archaeological discovery has not yet been made public. Lin's actions are neither in accordance with the rules nor with morality... But it is clear that his irresistible conditions will make the other party re-examine their own rules and morality.

Lin's flight departed at noon and arrived at his destination in the evening. Someone picked him up as soon as he got off the plane.

"Mr. Lin, is that right?"

"It's me."

After a simple identity check, Lin got into the other party's car. They changed cars four times along the way, the route was very complicated, and it took a full four hours until late at night before they finally arrived at the archaeological site.

"Mr. Lin, hello. It is my honor to have you join my archaeological team."

A bearded man had been waiting for a long time. He greeted Lin with a warm smile and was about to open his arms to give him a hug.

Lin dodged the other man's embrace with a single step. He glanced at the man indifferently and said, "No need. I don't even have a forged professional certificate. You don't need to say such insincere things."

The bearded man's face twitched, as if the muscles on his face had gone out of control.

Lin walked around the bearded man and into the cordon. He took the gas mask and protective gear from the person who came to greet him and put them on quickly, showing no signs of being a novice. After doing all this, he gestured to the person who was going to lead the way for him to leave, and then waved to the bearded man.

The bearded man's face nearly contorted into a rag, but under Lin's icy gaze, he had no choice but to reluctantly take steps to his side.

Lin nodded and said in a low, cold voice that only the two of them could hear, "I'll leave after I've confirmed what I want to confirm. I'll give you an explanation after this is over regarding your extramarital affair with four women and your embezzlement of the archaeological team's assets."

"Give me an explanation? Mr. Lin, that's not what you said back then!"

However, Lin merely glanced at him, his gaze as sharp as a blade forged from ice, lightly slicing across the bearded man's neck, sending chills down his spine.

You can refuse.

But what the price would be, the bearded man dared not think. He had no idea where this person, who had absolutely no connection with him, had gotten his information or what channels he had used to find out about the absurd things the bearded man had done. All he knew was that the other party's motives and execution were terrifying. The bearded man had only shown a slight reluctance to cooperate at the beginning when photos of him and his mistress in bed had already been sent to his home.

Not to mention, the bearded man has many more unspeakable secrets, how many of which Lin knows?

"I... I'm not refusing, but Mr. Lin, isn't what you're doing incredibly immoral..."

"Lead the way." Lin simply uttered two words coldly.

"..."

Chapter Twelve: The Untouchable Hand

The colossal creature pushed through the clouds with a roar, then landed steadily on the ground and began to glide and decelerate. Lin rested his face on his hand, looking out at the bright sunshine.

After turning on his phone, Lin received many messages, some from Elysia and some from the bearded man.

He first read Elysia's messages. As expected, they were either from someone who was too bored and wanted Lin to go home quickly, or they were talking about some strange gossip. After reading them one by one, Lin opened the message sent by the bearded man.

To be honest, Lin already knew what the other person would say before he even opened it.

"Mr. Lin, I beg you, I've done everything you asked me to do, please let me go."

"Leave a way out for others, so you can meet again in the future."

"You little brat who hasn't even grown his first hair, do you really have to be so ruthless?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, let me go, I promise I'll change."

"I will make it up to those people, to make up for what I did, so please, Mr. Lin..."

A huge, densely packed pleas for mercy, interspersed with some obscene words, with more and more typos towards the end, as if the other party was so excited that their hands were shaking and they couldn't even type clearly.

Lin's approach to this was—

After reading it, I just tossed it aside.

To avoid being caught red-handed, one must refrain from doing anything that could give others leverage. From the very beginning, Lin decided to hand over the evidence of Big Beard's illegal activities to the judicial authorities after the matter was over.

He stood up indifferently and got off the plane after it came to a complete stop.

At this time of day, Elysia is usually still sleeping; staying up late and waking up late is probably a habit of all streamers.

Lin guessed that Elysia would get up early to wait for him to come back today, but he was wrong.

Elysia didn't sleep.

She sat on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, watching TV alone in the quiet living room. The room, without the lights on, was shrouded in a cold ambiance. The TV volume was low, or rather, very low; it was hard to tell if the person watching could even hear it.

The girl's head rested against the back of the chair, her long hair cascading down behind the sofa, sunlight streaming in through the gap in the loosely drawn curtains and falling on the pink waterfall.

"... Sizzle."

Elysia squeezed yet another carton of milk into her mouth. Why "yet another"? Because there were more than a dozen empty milk cartons on the coffee table in front of her...

To be fair, naturally beautiful girls are good-looking no matter how you look at them. Even though she stayed up all night, Elysia didn't have dark circles under her eyes. Lin could only tell from her mental state and the packaging of the snacks on the table that she hadn't slept all night.

Hearing the door open, she turned her head and met Lin's gaze as he took off his sunglasses.

Time is like a freshwater lake in winter; no one knows when it will freeze or thaw.

"..."

"..."

Elysia's gaze became very... complex.

Lin thought for a moment. His phone was off the whole day yesterday, and he didn't tell Elysia that he went directly to the Mu Continent before he left, nor did he say when he would be back. From her perspective, he probably left in a vague way. She waited all night for him to come home, and his phone was off. She had no way to contact him at all.

... It sounds like a husband abandoning his wife and running away.

After the two stared at each other silently for a full half minute, Elysia finally turned her gaze away.

"... I'm hungry."

"... I'll do it."

What kind of existence is Elysia in this world to Lin?

He hadn't figured out this problem in two years. Back then, she said he treated her as a substitute, which made Lin re-examine herself and the world.

He doesn't belong here, but he can belong here.

The two Elysia have very similar personalities, so much so that Lin sometimes mistakenly believes that Elysia also came to this world with him. However, through some small details, Lin can still feel their differences.

The most immediate feeling is... that Elysia will get angry.

Even if she's smiling, her emotions will still be revealed through her words and actions.

For example, when Lin brought breakfast to her today, she didn't happily eat her breakfast and make harmless jokes with Lin as usual. Instead, she lowered her head and silently picked up her chopsticks to eat her own portion.

She didn't ask Lin where he went last night, what he did, or who he met...

Just like a wife who can only silently endure her cheating husband not coming home all night.

Lin, unusually, found the silence somewhat agonizing, and understood why those who had felt extremely uncomfortable in his silence before now understood.

"I went to the Mu Continent last night."

"Oh."

"..."

One word left Lin speechless.

She didn't even lift her eyelids, swaying as if she might fall asleep at any moment.

Fortunately, Elysia still managed to say something, "Who did you go to see?"

"..."

Lin didn't know how to continue the conversation.

He couldn't explain to Elysia what he was doing; the Parallel World, the Honkai, and himself were all beyond his ability to explain to her.

Naturally, he could only remain silent.

And the result is...

"I'm full." She put down her chopsticks.

Lin did finish her food, but she felt very uncomfortable that she finished quickly and was about to leave the table today, compared to how she usually lingered over her food for half a day.

Before returning to her bedroom, she stood at the door with her back to Lin and asked, "Are you going to see someone who looks a lot like me?"

"No."

"So you went to the Mu Continent to see her?"

Both Elysia are very perceptive, but this one expresses it more directly.

"..."

Lin couldn't refute it either; his investigation into the Honkai was indeed partly motivated by a desire to return to his own world.

"Is there anything else you want to say? If not, I'm going to sleep."

"There is none left."

"Good."

"Bang!"

The door closed.

Elysia buried her head in the blanket, her once-proud pink hair now a tangled mess. She closed her eyes and breathed calmly through the mess.

Has it been two years already?

She didn't tell Lin one thing: before she met him, she had actually been traveling all over the world.

It's not that I'm homeless; I simply want to travel the world, see different scenery, and meet different people.

As for game streamers... they just do it casually in their spare time, it's not even a hobby.

However, after meeting Lin, she never traveled again, and even went out less often because of live streaming.

Even she herself couldn't have predicted the changes she underwent; how could it have suddenly stopped?

When she couldn't get through on the phone, Elysia felt a strange sense of panic; she felt as if Lin would never come back.

He would go to a place where he could never be found again, and then he would never contact her again.

So she was actually very happy when Lin came back today.

Only...

"Clatter."

The door was opened.

Chapter Thirteen Winter Snow

"Clatter."

The door opened crisply without the slightest hesitation, but the person who entered subconsciously softened their movements when they saw the girl sleeping with her head covered by the blanket.

Elysia quietly pulled the blanket open a tiny gap, and through the gap she saw Lin carefully closing the door and then walking to her bedside.

Lin sat on the edge of the bed, the soft mattress sinking in, and Elysia could feel the presence of the person beside her.

What did he suddenly do?

Lin seemed unaware that the girl on the bed was not actually asleep. She felt the temperature around her had risen considerably, whether due to the stuffiness under the covers or the illusion of her rising body temperature.