What Exactly Are You Satisfied With? / Nothing~

It was as if she had returned to when Hun had just joined the squad—fragile, breakable, as though those were labels pasted onto the girl.

"Team Member Lin, you always manage to accept these things so calmly." Hun gave a self-mocking smile. "Even though you specifically came to check on me today, I still can't pull myself together."

"...Humans don't heal their wounds the moment they understand the reasoning behind them."

"..."

Hun turned her head, her hair brushing across her face.

"Some people only look like they've accepted it. They hide everything beneath the surface, like the head of the Research and Development Department." Lin stopped at the entrance to the amusement park and rummaged through the cash on him.

"What about you, Team Member Lin? Have you gone through something like that too?"

"I have," Lin replied. "But..."

He said calmly to Hun, "If you don't want the same tragedy to repeat itself like a Mobius Ring, then fight."

"Fight..." A flash passed through Hun's eyes as she clenched her fists. "I understand."

"And if you can't let go of the past, then look at the people around you. Don't keep losing them."

"Is that so..."

Lin walked up to the ticket booth and handed over the cash. "Two tickets."

"Huh? Team Member Lin?" Hun reached out, about to say something. She watched as Lin returned with two tickets and handed one to her.

"I'm off today, aren't I?"

Lin calmly adjusted his sunglasses.

What Exactly Are You Satisfied With

"Yo, Mei."

The red-eyed woman in a hood waved at Mei with a bright smile.

"Raven? Why are you here?" Mei strolled over to her. "Don't tell me you finally died in the line of duty. Is this your memory?"

"Please, how could I possibly die for World Serpent? And what do you mean by 'finally'? Have you always thought I was going to die?" Raven turned to face her sideways. "Besides, why don't you try it yourself and see whether I'm real?"

"Fine, at least that comeback is... Why are you talking to him too?"

Mei's gaze lowered onto the helmeted man standing with his fingers interlaced before him. When he remained motionless in one place for too long, people often overlooked him. If not for his gaze, which carried a presence far stronger than his own and occasionally swept over others, it would have been difficult to notice that someone was sitting here in the first place.

And it was Lin again. Always Lin. Why were the people and events she encountered lately either connected to Lin or talking to him? He was appearing more and more often, to the point that Mei almost felt as though this was foreshadowing something that would happen next.

"Hm? Lin? What's wrong?" Raven looked at Mei, who was struggling to keep it together, her tone full of matter-of-fact confusion.

Mei patted her horned forehead. "No, it's nothing..."

"Meow~"

A cat's cry sounded at Lin's feet. Lin bent down, took a note from Canned Food's mouth, glanced at it, then rose and headed toward the entrance to Elysian Realm.

"Oh? You're leaving already?" Raven asked.

"I have something to do."

"Fine, then we'll talk next time, Lin."

Lin nodded, then walked into the entrance.

"Whew... Sometimes his silence and tendency to keep to himself make people wonder whether he dislikes them, don't they?" Raven stretched her legs after sitting for so long and stood up. "Well then, Miss Mei, you look like you want to say something. Ask whatever you want."

Mei withdrew her gaze from the entrance to Elysian Realm. With nowhere to put it, she simply closed her eyes, then opened them steadily again.

Her first question was, "Why does it feel like you can actually talk to that helmeted guy?"

"Hm? Isn't Lin easy enough to talk to?" The question left Raven puzzled for a moment. "He was the first person I met after entering Elysian Realm, and he gave me quite a bit of help. Besides, don't you think he's reliable? He doesn't talk much, but he has plenty of experience."

"We're talking about the same person..." Mei stopped halfway through. Raven did not seem to be wrong. Lin had indeed helped her before, and he did have that ruthless, quiet air about him. Yet something still felt off.

Mei folded her arms and supported her chin with one hand. "He was the first person I met too. Apparently, he's always the first to appear before visitors. But I feel like his attitude toward you and me is rather different."

Could it be because of looks, like Elysia?

Mei glanced at Raven's face, then compared it to the face Elysia had called that of a cute girl.

...Probably not.

That man was not the type to treat people differently based on looks.

"Is it because I'm a Herrscher after all?"

"What are you talking about? Lin treats you and me differently? Hahaha..." Raven laughed. "Probably not. I think that even if you're a Herrscher, as long as you don't show him too much hostility, he'll be fairly tolerant."

"Nope~ Lin really does like you~"

The ever-elusive Elysia appeared behind Raven today.

"You are...?" Raven looked at her in confusion.

Under normal circumstances, visitors could not meet every MOTH. This was one of Elysian Realm's protective mechanisms. Of course, the MOTHs themselves also had the right to decide whether to appear before visitors, which meant they had their own so-called "preferences." Thus, Raven had never met this pink-haired girl.

Mei narrowed her eyes at her. "Elysia..."

"Elysia?" Upon hearing the name, Raven suddenly understood. She had heard of her from the other MOTHs, but this was their first meeting. "Hello, I'm Raven."

"Hehe, another cute girl." Elysia studied Raven's face with great interest. "Hello, I'm Elysia, second in the sequence."

Startled enough by being called a cute girl to get goosebumps, Raven turned and silently asked Mei for confirmation. Mei spread her hands, indicating that Elysia was just like that.

"You just said Lin likes... Raven?" Mei was slightly better than Raven at catching the important point, and she was very interested in those words.

Raven took a step back. "...What does that mean? Why are you looking at me?"

"Not that kind of like." Elysia quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. "How should I put it? It's more like a senior looking over a junior, and liking that the junior's performance meets the senior's expectations."

Mei pondered it. "I see. They really are somewhat alike in certain ways."

Raven asked, "What ways?"

"Their fighting styles are strange, their angles are tricky, and they're insidious and ruthless."

"...Are you complimenting me or complimenting Lin?"

"And you both like finding something to cover your faces with. At least you haven't developed his air allergy syndrome."

Elysia cheerfully inserted herself into their increasingly off-topic conversation. "Whenever a visitor leaves, Lin gives an evaluation of them. Most of them are quite interesting, so I wrote them down."

You forced him to evaluate them, didn't you?

Mei silently complained to herself.

"Among them, Raven received the highest evaluation." Elysia counted the number of visitors on her fingers and continued, "I only found out after Raven left last time, so this time, I waited even more~ attentively for Raven to come~"

"So you didn't show up last time because..."

"It was an accident~"

Obviously, Raven had been wearing a hat and Elysia could not see her face, so she assumed Raven was not a cute girl and did not appear.

Mei realized that her ability to complain internally was getting stronger and stronger. It could be considered training from spending time around Elysia and Lin.

Raven, however, believed the explanation. Compared to saying that Elysia had not appeared because she could not see Raven's face, an accident sounded much more convincing. All that could be said was that Elysia's habit of judging by appearances was simply too... straightforward.

Raven was also curious about what kind of evaluation that quiet helmeted man would give. "Then what exactly is he so satisfied with about me?"

Her combat? Her personality? Or how she handled things in the end?

"If I said it was your level of cuteness, would you believe me?"

"..."

"I'm joking. Of course, Lin didn't deny that either~" Elysia said with a smile. "What Lin is satisfied with is that you don't have overly deep obsessions."

"What does that mean?"

"Many people around Lin have gone down a path of no return because of obsession."

Elysia lowered her head and spoke softly, her smile looking particularly helpless.

No, There Isn't~

Twenty-three point six kilometers per hour.

"Whew..."

Lin maintained his footing on the treadmill as the speed gradually climbed. The needle on the speed dial raced toward an exaggerated number. From the average human speed to the limit of human speed, then slowly beyond it, he still kept himself at a relatively even pace.

Early in the morning, he was basically the only one who would go all out in the gym. Not everyone treated every day as though it were their last.

And the reason he said "basically"... was because there was someone else who came too.

"Lin."

At his usual time, the white-haired youth pushed open the door, entered, and slumped onto a bench with both hands covering his face.

"..."

Forty-six point seven kilometers per hour.

Lin's breathing grew heavier. The simple warm-up was over. He put in real effort and continued maintaining a relatively balanced speed.

The gym was quiet, filled only with the sound of Lin running. Kevin had not moved since entering, and Prometheus inside Lin's helmet had not made a sound either.

...I forgot Prometheus was still with Vill-V. I'll go get her later.

After reaching the treadmill's limit of fifty kilometers per hour, Lin only held on for a few seconds before gradually slowing to a stop. As he picked up a towel to wipe away his sweat, he glanced at Kevin, then walked to the main door and locked it.

Leaning against the wall opposite Kevin, he asked, "What happened?"

"Lin..." Kevin lowered his hands, his face full of exhaustion.

"Squad One's captain died in the line of duty?"

In the combat conference room, Hua and Immer were each handling their own affairs as they waited for Lin. When Immer informed Hua of this, she looked up blankly, a strand of unbitten noodles still hanging from her mouth.

The death of a combat squad captain had been spoken from Immer's mouth so casually, with so little weight.

Immer sighed regretfully. "They encountered an Upper-class Honkai Beast during a mission. He sacrificed himself to protect his team members."

"How could this..."

Even though Hua had already come to understand Honkai's cruel indifference, when tragedy after tragedy was placed before her, she could not help but feel her heart tighten.

"Then what happens next?" Hua quickly calmed herself. If she wanted to become a qualified warrior, she first had to stabilize her mental state. That was what Lin had told her when she joined the squad.

"The Third Honkai War, the Fifth Branch, and now Squad One—the MOTH's manpower is already severely lacking. Combat personnel cannot simply be replenished at will, especially captain-level personnel." Immer often handled work through his communicator. He swiped across the screen twice and said seriously, "The captain's situation was an exception among exceptions. It's truly difficult to promote someone from those remaining and rebuild Squad One."

In just a few months, Lin had risen from private to captain, taken over Squad Seven, and after nearly another half-year, stabilized the squad. Judging by his performance, Lin was no worse than the captain of any combat squad. This was also thanks to his outrageous record of achievements. Now, however, it was impossible to find another person like him to serve as Squad One's captain.

"Wait... Squad One's captain..." After habitually refreshing the announcement screen, Immer froze for several seconds. "Someone has already taken the position."

"Isn't this the captain's friend?"

"I had another mission, so I didn't go on the mission with the captain." Kevin gave a bitter smile. "If I'd been there, maybe things would have been different."

"..."

Lin listened as Kevin finished explaining everything. MOTH soldiers dying in the line of duty was not unusual. Lin had seen it many times. But this was Kevin's first time experiencing the death of a comrade close to him. They had not even found the body. It did not sit well with him.

"Do you blame yourself?" Lin asked.

"Yeah."

The events at the Fifth Branch, along with this incident, had both left Kevin feeling powerless.

It was not the powerlessness he felt in battle, but the powerlessness of being unable to stop what had already happened.

"And I'm going to become Squad One's... captain." When Kevin said this, he let out a heavy sigh.

Kevin had been in the MOTH for only around four months at most. He was Squad One's youngest member, yet what he was about to face was the position of Squad One captain, one of the longest-serving captains in the MOTH.

No matter how one looked at it, this was unreasonable. It was even more unreasonable than Lin becoming Squad Seven's captain.

"Immediately?"

"Yesterday."