Recovery / How a Single-Minded Young Girl Was Toyed With by a Creepy Old Man

She can't fight, and she doesn't have any other outstanding talents. She can only steal petty things, and she will likely die on the battlefield.

"To Pardo,"

If you are seeing this letter, it means I am already dead. Given your situation, I believe you are no longer fit to remain with the Firemoth, so I suggest you apply to leave. The Firemoth will approve your request.

However, if you decide to stay with the Firemoth, I suggest you undergo the Hypervariable Surgery, which will greatly increase your chances of survival. Afterward, you can continue to stay in Elysia's team.

Lin, stay.

There were no mundane family matters or sentimental words in the letter, Pardo could almost picture Lin's indifferent expression as he wrote it.

But this was one of his rare selfish desires.

Pardo looked at the letter, scratched her head, and pondered some things in a daze.

Well... she has a habit of collecting treasures she considers valuable and putting them in a box, then placing the box in what she considers the safest place.

Others might not care, but she loves those treasures the most.

When Brother Lin had the letter delivered to her, he probably had the same thought in mind.

The next day, someone found the girl asleep in the cemetery, leaning against a name, the letter she was clutching tightly soaked with tears.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Rehabilitation

He stood on the open ground, holding a long spear, motionless and without wind.

Transformation into a Sword - Swift.

Lin tried to imitate the cloaked man and the moth-chasing sword from his memory, thrusting out a spear. He thought his posture was very standard, but the momentum was completely different from that lightning-fast sword strike.

What's missing? Strength... speed...

Think about it carefully. Men are not fast in terms of strength and speed. So what are they lacking?

Unknown.

Lin casually tossed the spear behind him, and it landed precisely in the Oath of Judas. He picked up the coffee Rita had made and took a sip.

He told Rita that he didn't need to prepare fancy food and coffee for him, because no matter how well it was made, he wouldn't be able to taste it, but Rita just chuckled and didn't respond.

It must be said that Lin's inability to taste the flavors didn't stop him from finding Rita's food and drinks exquisitely beautiful; they looked delicious, even just a cup of latte art...

Um?

Lin smacked his lips in confusion, then licked his lips uncertainly with his tongue.

"..."

After a brief pause, he picked up his coffee again, this time dipping his tongue in it and then pulling it back into his mouth.

He blinked.

It has a smell.

It wasn't the wasabi that you had to concentrate a hundred times to taste, but rather the normal, smooth and rich flavor of coffee that Lin had almost forgotten.

But why?

My sense of taste returned without any warning.

"Miss Rita, don't you have anyone you care about?"

Einstein tinkered with the internal structure of the Stargate, and even though it was a product from decades ago, it is still relevant today. Moreover, due to the different technological fields, it is very troublesome to repair.

As luck would have it, Rita actually has some professional knowledge in this area. Is there anything this all-around maid can't do?

"Why would you ask that?" Wearing white gloves, she gently replaced the parts without getting a speck of oil on them. Every move Rita made was an interpretation of the word "maid."

Her long, elegant hair was pulled up and tied into a bun, her fingers brushing the strands of hair beside her ears.

"Because you don't seem to be in any hurry to leave." Einstein paused, then added, "Although you don't seem to be in any hurry to do anything."

"... In the past, there were, or rather... there were many."

"Family?"

"No, I was homeless when I was a child."

When Rita talks about the past, her eyes are filled with nostalgia, without a trace of sadness. For her, those are the most beautiful memories.

How can a person feel sad about the past they have created for themselves?

"Later, someone took me away. He said it was because my eyes looked like the people he couldn't save."

"Later, he saved even more people... people like me. We are... companions, family, drifting in the Quantum Sea, saving lives in the Quantum Sea."

Rather than a clear relationship, Rita didn't really know how to describe their connection—family, companions, admirers... That person would smile at everyone, yet there was always an invisible barrier between them.

No matter who tries to get close to him, he will back away, not allowing anyone to peek into his true feelings, and no one can get close to his heart, like a dead root buried deep in the ground.

It is both a dead profundity and a false vitality.

"Later on... he saved more and more people, but he started having nightmares. He would often wake up in terror from his dreams shouting the names of people. I wanted to ask him what happened, but he just shook his head at me."

"I saw the panic in his eyes. I knew that the more people he saved, the more he would think of the people he couldn't save before. And even if we could save one person, ten people would die."

"Neither the Imaginary Tree nor the Quantum Sea can be saved by one person alone."

"We can't save everyone. His smile became more and more natural, but his heart became more and more extreme. Gradually, people left. People who gathered together for warmth at some point left because of the cold inside the stove."

"In the end, it was just him and me left. After handing the boat over to me, he left without looking back, and I never saw him again."

Einstein listened to this short story, she couldn't imagine how those people had gathered together and then left one after another.

"I may never have truly understood what kind of person he was, and he didn't care." Rita's smile was tinged with bitterness. "He said the same thing as everyone else when they left—he was just saving himself."

With his sense of taste restored, Lin tried his other senses, and they all remained the same.

Why did it suddenly recover?

Lin's gaze shifted to the now-cold coffee, and he picked it up and took a sip.

Could it be the problem with this cup of coffee? But he'd had it before; it must be the coffee Rita brewed.

He picked up his coffee and left the room. He grabbed a shivering Armed Puppet and asked it where Rita was. Then he headed toward the ruins of Atra.

He wanted to return to the Intrinsic World as soon as possible. He had countless things he wanted to do, and whether it was his imagination or not, Lin had an ominous premonition after the Pseudo-Herrscher Core was sealed.

Based on Honkai past performance, Honkai seems to be able to adapt to human development, selectively choosing the time and manner of its arrival and enabling Herrscher to gain intelligence.

Assuming Lin was also part of the Honkai's "plan," what changes would occur to the Honkai if he left his original world?

"——"

Lin suddenly stopped, his muscles tensing. He then turned his gaze, slowly setting down his coffee cup as he looked around.

It wasn't my imagination; there were people around.

Besides Lin, Einstein, and Rita, there might be another human in this World Bubble.

The cloaked man.

But Lin felt something was off. The cloaked man had made a high-profile appearance both times, so he wouldn't hide himself. Besides, he had said last time that he would not see Lin again.

Let's assume the cloaked man is telling the truth. Then who could be the person nearby?

The grassland stretches as far as the eye can see, with haystacks half a person's height providing ample cover. However, precisely because there are no obstructions, any movement can be detected immediately by the forest.

Oath of Judas was not with him, he had no weapons, and he was in the open while his enemy was in the shadows; the situation was unfavorable to him.

"This body is the weapon, this body is the sword."

... It sounds better than it sounds. With the Pseudo-Herrscher Core sealed, Lin had no idea how to manipulate Honkai Energy, let alone use his body as a weapon to use sword techniques.

He could certainly engage in close combat, but he didn't know what kind of weapon his opponent had or even if they were human.

"Swish..."

Lin heard a strange noise coming from behind him, but instead of turning around, he looked in the opposite direction.

There is a big difference between the sound of a person walking and the sound of something deliberately made.

He clenched his fists, lowered his body, and slowly disappeared into the bushes.

In an instant, the entire grassland was left with only the soft sound of the wind blowing.

Chapter 40: How a simple-minded little girl was manipulated by a strange uncle.

How to be a good hunter?

Stealth, patience, flexibility, wisdom... and always maintaining the mindset of a hunter, not a prey.

When one side loses its composure, it will reveal a weakness, and that weakness is what makes them the prey.

"Boom--"

However, that's normal. When you're planning to hunt Godzilla and King Kong, hiding in a haystack with a pitchfork won't do you any good.

As the wind pressure swept in, Lin lowered his body and pressed himself to the ground to avoid being blown away. He stared intently at the "Godzilla" that might just reveal itself out of impatience.

Damn it, why am I meeting so many girls lately?

Lin had seen soft ones, big ones, small ones, firm ones... he was referring to the types of girls.

It's rare to see someone so... sassy.

Lin has no color vision, but he felt that the tall girl in front of him must have extremely dazzling blonde hair.

She wore a tight-fitting bodysuit with exposed shoulders and back, earrings, and a long train at the bottom of her skirt. Black stockings and armor covered her explosive thighs.

In her right hand was a huge and ornate lance, its tip gleaming coldly. It was taller than her, making her look like Valkyrie from Norse mythology.

"Hello." The other person greeted him first, waving his armored hand at Lin.

Out of politeness, Lin should reply, but her spying behavior and the weapon in her hand forced him to proceed with caution.

He actually thought the cloaked man was right. If the purpose of the fight was to start, it would be more convenient to just start fighting directly, rather than pretending to be polite and civilized and exchanging information first.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Where did you come from?"

Lin asked all the questions at once. He could tell that the other person had been greeting him enthusiastically, but had become a little stiff after Lin asked them all.

"You should introduce yourself before asking someone to give their name," the girl said, brandishing a lance that weighed at least a hundred kilograms, its tip pointing at Lin.

Lin frowned and immediately replied, "But you're asking me to give my name now, so you should introduce yourself first."

The girl was taken aback. "No, you asked first, so you should go first."

Lin calmly and rationally argued, "According to your theory, anyone who makes a request should state their name. Although I made the request first, you made yours after me, which should override my request, so your request should be carried out first."

The girl got a little stubborn. She was a bit inflexible to begin with, and she wouldn't back down if others were right, but she couldn't back down from this kind of pure sophistry. "But you're asking me for it now, so it's your turn to go first."

"You're right, so now it's your turn."

"It's your turn..."

"It's your turn..."

"It's your turn..."

The two of them pointed at each other, neither willing to give in, until the girl's throat was dry from talking, while Lin still didn't seem tired at all.

The girl had no choice but to stop first. "Stop, wait a minute, we won't get anywhere arguing like this."

So she knew? She's been repeating the same sentence to Lin for half an hour.

So, have they finally compromised?

"So please introduce yourself first."

"..."

"Or," the girl said earnestly, raising her arm clad in gauntlets, "We can decide with rock-paper-scissors."

"..."

"How was it?" the girl asked with utmost seriousness.

"...bring it on."

Lin also silently raised his hand, just like the girl, above his head.

The girl counted down. "Three, two..."