I'm No MOTH Hero

"……"

It seemed this news reminded her of the Fifth Branch, given that both were killers.

Soul's parents both died in the first wave of explosions. Her mother was at the epicenter, leaving no complete body. Her father was struck in the head by falling debris right before Soul's eyes and died instantly. Such a death would undoubtedly leave a lifelong scar on Soul. If her psychological resilience wasn't high enough, she might never be able to live normally again due to PTSD.

So, for Soul to recover within a few months was already quite an achievement.

"Team Member Lin, why do you think 'death' has to exist?" Soul turned to look at the diverse crowd, the bustling traffic outside the window blurring past, filled with human vitality and spirit. "'Death' separates people, turning once vibrant lives into motionless corpses. All emotions vanish at the moment of death. Isn't that too cruel?"

"How wonderful it would be if there was only 'birth' and no 'death.' People would constantly meet, never to part."

A topic about life?

Lin had often pondered the state of a person after death. He couldn't scientifically, theologically, or philosophically analyze whether a soul existed after death. But after much thought, he reached a conclusion based on pure intuition.

There was no soul, no afterlife. Death was simply death, the end of all life.

Thought ceased at the moment of death. The body stopped functioning when its biological characteristics vanished. It was fair, just, and cruel.

"…Soul, how do you think a person is considered alive? And how are they considered dead?"

A rather lavish meal was placed before Lin, but he hadn't touched a bite. He adjusted his glasses, looking at Soul, who was lost in thought.

Only with this disguise did his facial muscles move slightly. However, judging by his appearance, even without the helmet, he would still appear expressionless.

"How is one considered alive? And how is one considered dead…" This question was clearly not a simple physiological one. At this moment, Soul thought of the classic three deaths.

A person dies three times in their life. The first is brain death, meaning the body has died. The second is the funeral, meaning death in society. The third is being forgotten; when no one in the world remembers you anymore, that is complete death.

But the core idea of this saying couldn't comfort everyone, and Soul was no exception. She understood the intended meaning, but she couldn't truly believe that as long as she remembered the deceased, they were still alive.

Did Lin think that way too, which was why he remembered those who had passed?

"I believe a person is alive from the moment they realize they are a life form. And death is defined by others judging them as dead."

However, what Lin said was precisely the opposite of what she had imagined.

"In other words, a person's 'creation' is perceived by themselves, while death is perceived by others."

Chapter 70: Herrscher Consciousness Research

"A person cannot know they are dead after death, unless there's an identical person with the same memories. But even if you clone a person and implant all their memories from before death, it's hard to say the two are the same."

Lin's life, including his unknown past life as a "transmigrator," had experienced too many deaths.

In the beginning, Lin firmly believed in his transmigration, thinking his soul had crossed over to this world. But after experiencing certain events, Lin began to deny his so-called "transmigration."

There were no such wonderful things in this world, and the truth of his "transmigration"… was complex yet simple.

"Even at the brink of death, with one foot in the River Styx, one wouldn't know what death truly feels like."

Lin paused when he said this, thinking of Ritter. In his view, Ritter not realizing his own death might have been a special form of kindness.

But his daughter, however, was someone who could understand the meaning of death, just like Soul.

Lin hadn't forgotten Ritter's daughter. After the incident, he risked being discovered and found Ritter's daughter. She was on life support in the ICU of a hospital under MOTH.

Lin thought that after Ritter's death, his daughter would also be abandoned, and he had prepared to take her in. But unexpectedly, even after Ritter's death, his daughter was still meticulously cared for. This meant the high-ranking official who had promised Ritter treatment for his daughter had not broken his word.

Considering various factors, Lin eventually handed Ritter's daughter's case file to Mobius. The reply he received was, "I'll take a look if I'm interested."

"So, a person's death should indeed be considered cruel, but not to themselves, rather to those around them," Lin finished in one breath, looking at the stunned Soul.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Soul slowly formed a sweet smile, her expression considerably more at ease. "That… is certainly a statement in Team Member Lin's style."

Lin had never been good at comforting people. He only shared his own insights and views. Even if he knew what would make someone feel better, he would only articulate his perspective. He would only speak gentle lies to two types of people: the dying and children.

Admittedly, Lin's style wouldn't be accepted by everyone, but those who could listen to his views would generally be influenced by his rational thinking. By logically sorting through the roots of their emotions, they would feel much better.

After all, people who delved into the truth behind miracles tend to lose interest in miracles themselves.

"However, your perspective does have reference value. Early on, the determination of death was based on physiological characteristics, but in modern times, it shifted to consciousness. So, if there were a way to transfer consciousness to another object, perhaps immortality could be achieved."

Lin frowned slightly after saying this.

This form of existence felt familiar. He thought of someone, or rather, an artificial intelligence.

Prometheus…

If Prometheus was judged as "alive," then she had already achieved consciousness transfer and could completely transfer from data to a physical body, as long as the conversion between electronic and biological data could be accomplished.

Wait, could it be that Vill-V borrowed Prometheus to—

"Consciousness transfer… sounds like something out of science fiction. Oh, wait, we're already quite sci-fi now, aren't we?" Soul's mood improved significantly, and she started to joke with Lin.

"No, consciousness transfer has a basis," Lin's serious demeanor was not really suited for being alone with a girl. He lightly touched the dining plate, tracing its smooth edge. "Herrscher Cores."

"Huh? Herrscher Cores?" Soul was captivated by what Lin was saying.

During his time in Mobius's laboratory, besides being a cook, which made Mobius complain she'd gained a few pounds, Lin occasionally discussed Herrscher-related topics with her. After all, Lin was Mobius's "personally designated" first experimental subject for the fusion of Honkai Beasts and humans, so discussing similar principles of Herrschers was only natural.

"The birth of a Herrscher occurs when a large amount of Honkai Energy gathers within a human body, condensing into a Herrscher Core. During this process, the host's consciousness exhibits two states. One is the appearance of a second personality, possessing the host's memories and knowledge but adhering strictly to the goal of destroying humanity."

The Third Herrscher and the Second Herrscher were born with what were commonly called Honkai personalities, replacing the original ones. They possessed human memories and knowledge but displayed a detached, inhuman demeanor.

"The other state is when the original personality becomes corrupted. The original personality of the First Herrscher had anti-social tendencies. After becoming a Herrscher, this tendency was amplified. Therefore, in her outward behavior, she was more human-like than the subsequent two Herrschers, but equally inhuman."

"After recovering and researching Herrscher Cores, another discovery was made: the cores, initially considered mere energy and authority keys for Herrschers, likely contained the Herrscher's consciousness."

"It also contains consciousness? That's not..." Soul covered its mouth in surprise, utterly shocked by this outcome.

If that were true, then the human claim of "killing" Herrschers would have been invalid from the start.

Lin calmly negated, "No, we don't know if that kind of consciousness is still considered 'alive'."

"If the Herrscher Core were reinserted into a person with high Honkai Energy Adaptability, the Herrscher would be reborn. In that case, would the second personality that appears be the original Herrscher's consciousness, or the consciousness of the newly born Herrscher?"

"This... does that mean the Herrscher's second personality might be a copy of the host's consciousness, then modified?"

"Correct." Lin exhaled. He recalled the strange smile Mobius had on her face when discussing this topic. "Therefore, the principle behind this technology cannot be judged as helpful to humanity without experimental verification."

"Team Member Lin, this technology wouldn't happen to be..."

"No."

The quickest way to understand the principle and results would be human experimentation. What Soul worried about was whether MOTH would conduct human experiments on others to achieve human immortality.

This technology was far from being at a stage where experiments could be conducted. Even Mobius had only managed to deduce some superficial understanding by combining the Herrscher's corpse and core, so human experimentation was out of the question.

Moreover, after spending some time together, Lin had developed some other views on the rumors about Mobius. This type of human experimentation was unlikely to appear on her operating table in the short term.

But whether others in MOTH thought the same was unknown.

The outside suddenly became noisy.

"Hey, someone's dead. It's Forget-me-not."

Lin frowned, exchanged a glance with Soul, and stood up.

Chapter 71: Convergence of Fates

The murder happened nearby, precisely in the location mentioned in the documents. This overly coincidental occurrence made Lin's heart pound.

Forget-me-not... was that the name Soul had just mentioned?

Lin pushed through the crowd with difficulty to get to the very front. Upon seeing the corpse lying on the ground, his brow twitched, and he subconsciously scanned the people around him.

Someone was murdered in broad daylight, and the police responded so quickly their wheels must have been on fire. By the time the police arrived and wanted to cordon off the scene, two people, a man and a woman, had already begun investigating the body.

"Hey! Don't disturb the scene! You guys..."

"Apologies, please allow us to investigate."

Soul took out its MOTH identification and, in a professional manner, blocked the police officer. Upon seeing the insignia on the ID, the officer's stern attitude softened considerably. He turned to have others set up a cordon and disperse the crowd.

Lin, ignoring them, squatted beside the body, examining its wounds and pockets.

After finding a standard MOTH firearm and identification bearing the name I. Billy on the corpse, Lin fell silent.

This corpse was the Poisoned Cocoon assassin he had been looking for, I believe.

The MOTH identification was missing; had it been taken?

"Team Member Lin, any findings?" Soul walked over to Lin after communicating with the police. Lin had already put the gun and ID into his own bag to avoid arousing Soul's suspicion.

"Some." Lin gently lifted the corpse's head, exposing its neck. "The biggest issue is the fatal wound."

"This is..." Soul also froze upon seeing the sight.

There was a barely visible red line on the corpse's neck. Upon closer inspection, one could see a smooth cross-section where the subcutaneous muscle tissue had been severed. Just looking at the wound exuded a sharp, piercing intent.

"No other wounds on the entire body, only a fine, severed cut on the neck. This strike nearly decapitated the head, but a thin layer of skin was left connecting the head and body." Lin moved to the side to observe. "A fatal blow."

In the Far East, a skilled Kaishakunin would leave a layer of skin between the head and body when beheading someone to preserve the deceased's dignity. This situation was similar.

But that was for beheading, and this was against a moving target, a Poisoned Cocoon assassin at that. To achieve a one-hit kill and leave such a thin layer required incredible speed and swordsmanship, almost as if time had stopped.

Furthermore, it wasn't just that. Due to the Fifth Branch Incident, Lin hadn't told Soul that I比利's hands had been near the gun in his pocket. His posture suggested he was on high alert, ready to strike first, yet he was killed.

Soul picked up the small blue flower from the corpse, looking at the beautiful, blood-stained petals with complexity. "And this flower. How pitiful. Why would a killer leave behind such a small flower?"

"A form of identification, like 'I was here'."

Lin took the flower, named Forget-me-not. It looked no different from the flowers he had seen before, except this Forget-me-not was missing a petal, exuding a fragile beauty.

A police officer, who was organizing the scene, had his shoulder tapped. He turned around to see a man in sunglasses, a mask, and a hood standing behind him, holding a small flower and asking, "Were the Forget-me-nots next to the bodies before also missing a petal?"

"Huh? Forget-me-not... that's it, shh, keep it down."

The queried police officer made a shushing gesture and pulled Lin aside.

"Forget-me-not hasn't been officially announced yet. Don't talk about it in public."

"...The news has already reported it."

"That was just treated as a rumor. Tsk, this killer used to act in secret, so why did they act so openly this time..."

"So, before, were the flower petals missing?"

"No, why would they leave a flower with missing petals?"

"..."

Lin glanced back at the corpse lying on the ground, then at the flower in his hand.

A sense of incongruity quietly crept into his heart.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo..."

The pink-haired girl ran through the narrow alley. Her steps were so light that they couldn't be heard at all, as if she were a phantom gliding through the streets and alleys.

While running at high speed, her breathing was even, only slightly heavier than usual.

Both her speed and her breathing technique were beyond what ordinary people could achieve.

After confirming that no one was chasing or had discovered her, she tucked her katana back into her tennis bag and slung it over her shoulder. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, she turned out of the alley and merged into the crowd.

She carefully opened her palm and looked at what was inside.

A silver badge, its emblem not belonging to any organization she knew.

Was it an assassin from another organization?

She'd investigate it later. For now, she should head home... Rin must have been waiting for a long time.

The last lead on the Poisoned Cocoon had gone cold, and it might have been due to coincidence. This unexpected turn of events had caught Lin completely off guard.

This meant the full picture of the Fifth Branch Incident and the mastermind behind it were all buried within data that Lin couldn't access.

To think it would end so anticlimactically...

After a cursory investigation of the bodies, Lin and Soul left. Their official statement was that they would contact MOTH for handling if any issues arose. Of course, Lin wouldn't tell Soul that he had notified MOTH; the scope of the Poisoned Cocoon was too vast, and it was better for fewer people to know.

"Another person is dead..."

Soul lowered her head, looking at her toes as she walked forward, her voice filled with dejection.

Even though she knew death was inevitable, seeing a person, not a Mortal, die tragically before her eyes once again pierced her already wounded heart.

Lin heard her words and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.