Research on Herrscher Consciousness / The Convergence of Fate

"..."

It seemed this news had reminded her of the Fifth Branch. After all, both involved killers.

Hun's parents had both died in the first wave of explosions. Her mother had been at the center of the blast, leaving no intact body behind. Her father had been struck in the head by flying debris right in front of Hun and died on the spot. Such a death would undoubtedly leave Hun scarred for life. If her mental resilience had not been strong enough, she might even have been unable to live normally afterward because of PTSD.

So the fact that Hun had managed to move on within a few months was already no easy feat.

"Team Member Lin, why does there have to be 'death'?" Hun turned to look at the endless variety of people. The bustling traffic outside the window streamed past before her eyes, brimming with human vitality and vigor. "'Death' separates people from one another, turning lives that were once full of life into motionless corpses. All feelings disappear at the moment of death. Isn't that far too cruel?"

"How wonderful would it be if there were only 'birth' and no 'death.' People would keep meeting each other and never have to part."

The subject of life?

Lin had often wondered what state a person was in after death. He could not analyze whether souls existed after death through professional science, theology, or philosophy, but after thinking about it for a long time, he had reached a conclusion based purely on intuition.

There was no soul, nor was there an afterlife. Death was death—the endpoint of all life.

Thought stopped in the second one died. The body ceased functioning in the second its physiological signs vanished. Fair, just, and cruel.

"...Hun, what do you think qualifies as being alive? And what qualifies as being dead?"

There was a fairly lavish spread of food before Lin, but he had not touched a bite. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked at Hun, who had fallen into confusion.

Only when dressed like this did his facial muscles move even slightly. Still, judging from his expression, even if he took off his helmet, he would remain completely blank-faced.

"What qualifies as being alive? And what qualifies as being dead..." This was obviously not a simple physiological question. At that moment, Hun thought of that classic saying about the three deaths.

A person died three times in their life. The first was brain death, meaning the body had died. The second was the funeral, meaning they had died in society. The third was being forgotten. When no one in this world remembered you anymore, then you had truly died completely.

But the core idea behind those words could not comfort everyone, and Hun was the same. She understood what it was trying to say, but she could not truly believe that as long as she remembered the dead, those people were still alive.

Was that what Lin thought? Was that why he remembered those who had died?

"I believe a person becomes alive when they become aware that they are a living being. And death is defined when others determine that person to be dead."

Yet what Lin said was precisely not what she had expected.

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

Herrscher Consciousness Research

"A person cannot know they are dead after dying, unless there is an identical person with the same memories. But even if you cloned the same person and filled him with all the memories from before death, it would still be difficult to say the two were the same."

Including the unknown previous life he had lived as a "transmigrator," Lin had experienced far too much death.

At first, Lin had firmly believed in his own transmigration, believing his soul had traveled to this world. But after experiencing certain things, Lin had come to deny his so-called "transmigration."

There was no such wonderful thing in this world, and the truth behind his "transmigration"... was both complicated and simple.

"Even in the moment before death, with one foot already in the River Styx, a person still would not know what death truly felt like."

Lin paused when he said this, thinking of Ritter. By his standards, perhaps Ritter not realizing he had died was a kind of special gentleness.

But Ritter's daughter was someone who could understand the meaning of death, exactly like Hun.

Lin had not forgotten Ritter's daughter. Afterward, he had taken the risk of being discovered and found her. She was barely clinging to life in the intensive care unit of a hospital under Fire Moth.

Lin had thought that after Ritter died, his daughter would be abandoned as well, and he had prepared to take her in. Yet unexpectedly, even after Ritter's death, his daughter was still being carefully cared for. In other words, the High Council member who had promised Ritter treatment for his daughter had not broken their word.

After considering many factors, Lin had ultimately handed Ritter's daughter's medical records to Mobius. Her response had been, "If I'm interested, I'll take a look."

"So death truly should count as something cruel, but not to the person themselves—to the people around them." Lin finished in one breath and looked at Hun, who had already gone still.

After being stunned for a few seconds, Hun slowly formed a sweet smile. Her expression had relaxed considerably. "This... really is the kind of thing Team Member Lin would say."

Lin had never been good at comforting people. He only expressed his own understanding and views. Even if he knew what to say to make someone feel better, he would only lay out his perspective. He would only gently tell lies to two kinds of people: those about to die and children.

Granted, not everyone could accept Lin's style. But those who could take in his views were generally influenced by his rational way of thinking. Once they sorted through the roots of their emotions logically, they would feel much better.

After all, Lin was the type who lost interest in miracles once he uncovered their truth.

"Still, your view does have some reference value. Early judgments of death were based on physiological signs, but in modern times they shifted to consciousness. So if there were a method of transferring consciousness into another vessel, perhaps immortality could be achieved."

Lin frowned slightly after saying that.

This mode of existence felt strangely familiar. He thought of someone—or rather, an Artificial Intelligence.

Prometheus...

If Prometheus was considered "alive," then she had already achieved consciousness transfer. She could completely transfer from data into a body, as long as electronic data and biological data could be converted into each other.

Wait, could Vill-V have borrowed Prometheus in order to—

"Consciousness transfer... It sounds like something out of a science fiction story. Oh, no, actually, we're already science fiction enough as it is." Hun's mood had improved considerably, and she began joking with Lin.

"No, consciousness transfer has a basis." Lin's seriousness truly made him unsuitable for being alone with a girl. His fingers lightly touched the plate, rubbing against its smooth edge. "Herrscher Cores."

"Huh? Herrscher Cores?" Hun was drawn in by the topic Lin had brought up.

During his time in Mobius's laboratory, aside from acting as a cook and making Mobius complain that she had gained a few pounds, Lin occasionally discussed topics related to Herrschers with her. After all, Lin was Mobius's "personally designated" first fusion experiment subject combining a Honkai Beast and a human. It was only natural to discuss Herrschers, which operated on similar principles.

"A Herrscher is born when a large amount of Honkai Energy gathers within a human body and condenses into a Herrscher Core. During this process, the host's consciousness can display two conditions. One is the emergence of a second personality that possesses the host's memories and knowledge, but remains committed to carrying out the goal of destroying humanity."

The Third Herrscher and the Second Herrscher had both developed what was commonly called a Honkai personality, replacing the original personality. They possessed human memories and knowledge, but displayed an attitude indifferent to human nature.

"The other is that the original personality becomes contaminated. The First Herrscher's original personality had antisocial tendencies, and those tendencies were amplified after becoming a Herrscher. So she appeared somewhat more human than the two Herrschers who came after her, but she still lacked humanity."

"After recovering Herrscher Cores for research, another discovery was made. The cores, which were initially regarded as nothing more than a Herrscher's energy source and the key to their Authority, likely also contained the Herrscher's consciousness."

"They contain consciousness too? Then wouldn't that..." Hun covered her mouth in shock, utterly stunned by the conclusion.

If that were true, then humanity's claim of having "killed" Herrschers had never been valid to begin with.

Lin calmly denied it. "No. We do not know whether that form of consciousness still counts as 'alive.'"

"If a Herrscher Core were placed into the body of someone with high Honkai Energy Adaptability, then a Herrscher would be born again. When a second personality emerged then, would it be the original Herrscher's consciousness, or the consciousness of a newly born Herrscher?"

"So... you mean it's possible that a Herrscher's second personality copies the host's consciousness and then alters it?"

"Yes." Lin let out a breath. He thought of the eerie smile Mobius had shown when discussing this topic. "Therefore, before this technology has been tested, we cannot determine whether it can help humanity."

"Team Member Lin, could this technology possibly..."

"No."

The fastest way to understand the principles and results would be human experimentation. What Hun worried about was whether Fire Moth would conduct human experiments on others in order to achieve immortality for humanity.

This technology was still nowhere near ready to be tested. Even Mobius had only inferred a few superficial possibilities from combining conjecture with Herrscher corpses and cores, so human experimentation was out of the question.

Besides, after spending some time with Mobius, Lin had developed some different views regarding the rumors about her. This type of human experiment probably would not appear on her operating table anytime soon.

But whether the others in Fire Moth thought the same way was unknown.

The outside suddenly grew noisy.

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

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

The Convergence of Fate

A murder had occurred nearby, and it happened to be at the location mentioned in the documents. This coincidence was so strange that Lin's heart began pounding.

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

Lin pushed through the crowd with difficulty and squeezed into the innermost area. When he saw the corpse lying on the ground, his brow twitched, and he instinctively swept his gaze over the surrounding crowd.

Someone had been murdered in public, and the police response had been so fast their wheels were practically on fire. By the time the officers arrived and tried to seal off the scene, two people—a man and a woman—had already begun examining the body.

"Hey! Don't contaminate the scene! You two..."

"Sorry, please let us investigate."

Hun took out her Fire Moth identification and put on an official manner as she blocked the police. Once the officers saw the insignia on the ID, their originally forceful attitude eased considerably. They turned and instructed the others to put up cordons and disperse the crowd.

Lin ignored them and crouched beside the corpse, examining its wounds and pockets.

After finding a standard-issue Fire Moth pistol and identification bearing Iberia's name on the body, Lin fell silent.

This corpse was the Poisoned Cocoon assassin he had been looking for—Iberia.

The Fire Moth identification was missing. Had it been taken away?

"Team Member Lin, did you find anything?" After finishing her conversation with the police, Hun walked over to Lin's side. Lin had long since put the gun and identification into his bag to keep Hun from becoming suspicious.

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

"This is..." Hun froze as well when she saw the sight.

There was a red line on the corpse's neck so thin it was nearly invisible. Looking closely, one could see the smooth cross-section of the muscle tissue beneath the skin, severed cleanly. Just seeing the wound brought an icy sharpness rushing toward them.

"There are no other wounds anywhere on the body. There is only a fine cut across the neck. This strike nearly severed the entire head, yet it left a thin layer of skin connecting the head and body." Lin moved to the side to inspect it. "A single fatal strike."

When Kaishakunin in the Far East beheaded someone, a masterful Kaishakunin would leave a thin layer of skin between the corpse's head and body to preserve the deceased's dignity. It was similar to this situation.

But that was an execution. This had been a moving target, and a Poisoned Cocoon assassin at that. To kill him in one strike while leaving behind such a thin layer—just how fast would that blade and swordsmanship have to be? It was practically as though time had stopped.

And that was not all. Because of the Fifth Branch Incident, Lin had not told Hun that Iberia's hand had originally been gripping the gun in his pocket. Judging from his posture, he had been facing a formidable enemy. He had been killed while prepared, perhaps even about to strike first.

Hun picked up a small blue flower from the corpse and looked complicatedly at its bloodstained, beautiful petals. "And this flower too... How pitiful. Why would a killer leave behind such a little flower?"

"A mark of identity. Like saying, 'I was here.'"

Lin accepted the flower called Forget-me-not. It was no different from the flowers he had seen before, except this Forget-me-not was missing one petal, filled with an incomplete sort of beauty.

The police officer organizing the scene was tapped on the shoulder. When he turned around, he saw the man in sunglasses, a mask, and a hood standing behind him, pinching a small flower between his fingers as he asked, "Were the Forget-me-nots beside the previous corpses also missing one petal?"

"Huh? Forget-me-not... Oh, that. Shh, keep it down."

The questioned officer made a shushing gesture and pulled Lin aside.

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

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

"That was only treated like a rumor. Tch, this killer used to operate in secret. Why did they strike in front of so many people this time..."

"So before this, were the flowers missing petals?"

"No. Why would anyone leave a flower missing a petal?"

"..."

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

A feeling of discord quietly crept into his heart.

"Pant, pant, pant..."

The pink-haired girl ran through a narrow alley. Her steps were so light that they made no sound at all, and she passed through streets and alleys like a ghost.

Even while running at high speed, her breaths were steady, only slightly heavier than normal.

Neither her speed nor her breathing technique was something an ordinary person could achieve.

After confirming that no one was following her or had noticed her, she stuffed the katana back into a tennis bag, slung it over her back, then casually turned out of the alley and blended into the crowd.

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

A silver badge, marked with an emblem that did not belong to any organization she knew.

Was that the assassin from another organization?

She would investigate it later. For now, she needed to go home... Rin had probably been waiting for a long time.

The final lead regarding Poisoned Cocoon had been cut off, and it might even have been due to coincidence. This was an accident that had caught Lin completely off guard.

It meant that the full picture of the Fifth Branch Incident and whoever had orchestrated it behind the scenes had all been buried within a vast sea of files beyond Lin's reach.

It was actually going to end so abruptly...

After briefly examining the corpse, Lin and Hun left. Their official statement was that they would contact Fire Moth if there were any issues. Of course, even if Lin notified Fire Moth, he would not tell Hun. Poisoned Cocoon involved too much. The fewer people who knew, the better.

"Another person died..."

Hun walked forward with her head lowered, looking at the tips of her shoes. Her voice was dejected.

Even knowing that death was unavoidable, seeing another person—not a zombie—die miserably before her once again stabbed at her wounded heart.

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