Meanwhile, Elsewhere... / Lin: Adolescent Syndrome ...

"I don't know if you've heard Lin talk about his childhood. Of course, he didn't have a childhood in the conventional sense. In fact, before his memories were sorted out, he was very vague about what happened when he was a child. It was thanks to his parents and the person who later operated on his brain that he was able to have his brain operated on."

The girl came out carrying a cup of latte art. She carefully rotated the rim of the cup, then took a small sip of the mixture of milky white and black coffee, let out a comfortable breath, and smiled at Mei.

"Actually, he didn't initially intend to show his past. He thought it was meaningless. In his opinion, the lives of any of the Thirteen Heroes were more suitable than his. But in the end, he still put his experiences here. Do you know why?"

"As a warning."

Before Mei could answer, she answered her own question.

"Because his short life was full of loss, failure and pain, if there is any meaning to it, it is only to warn those who come after him not to make the same mistakes and to point out the way for them." The girl read this passage as if reciting a line from a script. She chuckled, "Of course, the only part that did not fail was the people around him, and that is what he wanted to tell those who came after him."

"How do you know so much?" Mei frowned again. The person in front of her was talking eloquently, clearly possessing an unparalleled understanding.

But neither Lin nor Flame-Chasers ever mentioned her, and her mysterious identity was what Mei feared most.

Even now, with this collaboration, Mei has to be wary of her turning against him at some point, or rather, it's entirely foreseeable, just a matter of time.

"As for why..."

The girl sighed, using Elysia's face. "I was born from his memories, I was born from his emotions, I am the embodiment of his incompleteness, I am the future he lost, I am his beginning, and I am also his end."

"What... are you talking about?"

"Don't understand? That's okay~ Just think of him as someone who will be mine sooner or later, which is why I know so much about him."

"..."

"Alright, enough of that nonsense. Let's get back to Lin's life story. Next up is one of the turning points in Lin's life."

They stood amidst the flames. Mei turned her head in bewilderment and saw the building before her burning fiercely, taking away evil and life.

A man holding a pistol stands in front of a child.

"That man is Lin's adoptive father. He is High Council of the Fire Moth organization and also the murderer of Lin's biological parents."

Mei stared blankly as the man looked down at the child with cold disgust at his indifferent face.

"A life full of misfortunes" is probably not even enough to describe Lin's fate.

"Unlike many clichéd stories, this man did not treat Lin as his own son. His feelings for Lin were far more complicated than familial affection. On the one hand, he took great care of Lin, gave him his name, and taught him to live like a normal person. On the other hand, he allowed others to conduct all sorts of inhumane biological experiments on him."

"He is both cold and warm, both cruel and compassionate. These contradictory qualities also influenced Lin. If Lin were an ordinary child, he might not have felt guilty or loved Lin. But it was precisely Lin's extraordinary nature that made him disgusted by Lin's inhuman qualities, including his face."

Mei saw everything that happened in the laboratory. The things that happened to such a young child, and his completely indifferent, icy coldness, sent chills down her spine.

In the laboratory, which was almost a condensation of all human malice, Mei saw the warmth between the man and the young Lin. Whenever his loving gaze fell on Lin, Mei wanted to question him: if he loved Lin so much, why did he do such a thing to him?

Mei couldn't ask him questions, nor could she stop what was happening before her eyes.

All of this has become dust in history, and while people can stir up the dust, they cannot stop it from falling.

"In the end, he did the same thing as Lin's parents, performing surgery on Lin's brain to modify his memories, but this time, he wanted Lin to live as an ordinary person."

After the surgery, Lin was taken to a private residence in Changkong City. He woke up alone in the darkness, his eyes flashing with an odd light.

"During the years he lived alone, he witnessed the darkness of humanity, which conflicted with the 'absolute love for humanity' that his parents had implanted in his brain. But in the end, he accepted humanity's imperfections and chose to continue loving humanity."

"At this time, he also reached the age to go to high school, and his high school life was the happiest part of his life."

Mei followed behind Lin and saw him playing around with another familiar white-haired boy. They were like two ordinary high school best friends, experiencing an ordinary high school life.

She could hardly imagine seeing those expressions on Lin and Kevin's faces.

"The good times didn't last long. The loosening of Lin's chaotic memories and the outbreak of the Second Honkai War caused him to completely break away from the life of a normal person. He said goodbye to Kevin and May and joined the Moth of Fire."

"However, perhaps this is fate."

"Lin's life is filled with countless tragedies: serious injury, collapse, death, loss, alienation... It can be said that after he joined the Fire Moth, these tragedies impacted him time and time again, but he will never regret his decision to join the Fire Moth."

"Because here... he met the person who changed his life."

"Ta-da! It's me, Elysia!"

The girl smiled sweetly, tapping her cheek as she tilted her head at the expressionless Mei.

Unfortunately, all she received in return was a disdainful sneer.

"Oh dear, Mei, you really don't understand humor." The girl shook her head in disappointment, but quickly cheered up. "Lin, who just joined the Firemoth, can be said to have shone brightly, single-handedly defeating the Second Herrscher's Companion Honkai Beast, but she was overshadowed by another person who also joined not long ago."

"She was a lovely and powerful girl who stole Doctor Mobius's badge, joined the Firemoth in an improper way, and then... she defeated the Second Herrscher."

"So the entire Moth of Flames knew that a lively and cheerful beautiful girl had solved the Second Herrscher, but she became interested in someone else whose fame had overshadowed her."

"She used the same trick again to get the man's medical report from Mobius's assistant, pretending to deliver the report to see what kind of person he was."

"Hmm... what's next..."

The girl smiled with amusement and said to Mei—

Have you ever heard the saying, "Meeting someone once can ruin your life"?

"I think it would be quite appropriate to use it on these two people who are meeting for the first time as well."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Lin: Adolescent Syndrome

"So Elysia and Rin were like that...?"

Mei the girl's straightforward lines. She recalled the interaction between Lin and Elysia and realized that there was indeed an indescribable sense of ambiguity. She had no experience with this, so she could only cough and pretend to be calm.

"You've thought of..." The girl tilted her head, looking at Mei with amusement, "Love at first sight?"

Mei's body stiffened. "Didn't you say that?"

"Sigh, if only everyone in the world were as innocent as Mei."

"What... what is that?"

"So, it's not that simple. If feelings could be summed up in a single sentence, then it would basically only be explained by lust at first sight." The girl shrugged and laughed. "Alright, instead of saying so much, it's better for you to see it for yourself. Are you ready? It's time for the second wave."

"Diary, April 13, 20XX, Sunny."

"Perhaps some people cannot understand what I have written, but I still want to record everything. Yesterday, I... met my future self."

Today is...

The black-haired boy got out of bed, still sleepy. He yawned listlessly with droopy eyelids, glanced at the alarm clock, and started to get up and wash.

Who knows what day it is today? Few people would pay special attention to the date, especially since he doesn't even have parents and doesn't celebrate his birthday, so he doesn't need to care about the date.

Oh right, it's time for the long-awaited self-introduction segment again. My name is Lin, an ordinary male high school student, an orphan, living alone, attending Chienyu Academy... and that's it.

After all, most people's lives don't even fill a single page. The dynastic changes in history textbooks are sometimes only a few lines long, let alone for an ordinary person. In the end, I'm just a young man who often stays up late, but not because I like staying up late, but because I'm too anxious to sleep.

"I feel like I've forgotten something lately." Lin said, staring at her panda-like reflection in the mirror as she vigorously cleaned her teeth. "Sure enough, staying up late really does damage your memory."

Every morning when I wake up, I have a Déjà vu and a strong sense of incongruity.

... But that's normal, nothing major has happened. After all, I'm at that age where I like to fantasize. The extraordinary feeling in my fantasies can detach me from my daily life, which is something that's very high school level.

Indeed, youth is wonderful.

After brushing her teeth, Lin washed her face with cold water, made herself a cup of coffee, drank it, and then went to school.

"Forest!"

A cheerful, sunny-looking white-haired boy ran over.

It's that kind of setting often seen in anime: a gloomy person often has a sunny and cheerful friend. Lin considers himself a rather withdrawn person, so having a friend like Kevin, who is good at basketball and popular with girls, is really not easy.

"Hey Kevin, did you stay up all night playing games last night too? Haha..." Lin couldn't help but yawn again, thinking that he shouldn't stay up so late playing games in the future, as it's not good for his health and the experience isn't great either.

"What game?" Kevin looked at Lin, who hadn't slept well, with surprise. "Didn't we go to find the other you together last night?"

"Another... me?"

Lin covered her head, and memories began to surface from the depths of her memory.

"Lin, did you ruin your brain by trying these new dishes?"

As dusk fell, Kevin looked helplessly at Lin, who stood on the edge of the wire fence, clutching an empty hole and gazing at the sun sinking below the ground. He wondered why his friend's eyes had suddenly become so deep lately.

"Or did you break up with your boyfriend? I remember you weren't..."

"Kevin, I've met another version of myself."

The orange-red fireball was swallowed up by the last ray of light at the edge of the horizon. Lin lowered his head, looking at his hands, his eyes covered by his dark bangs, and sank into darkness along with the world.

Kevin, with his bag slung over his shoulder, raised an eyebrow and said, "Looking in the mirror? You've told that joke before."

"It's true, I also saw another version of you."

"You..."

Kevin was somewhat surprised. Lin's emotions were very stable at the moment. Although he usually didn't have many ups and downs in his conversations, he would basically not make such boring jokes.

Moreover, there are many things Kevin can't understand in Lin's expression right now.

"I saw that we had joined an organization called the Fire Moth, fighting in a city full of monsters, and you were holding a burning greatsword and asking me if I needed to rest."

"This is... a dream?" Kevin asked hesitantly after hearing Lin's description. After all, such a detailed and bizarre scene could only be described as a dream.

"A dream... yes, I think I had a dream. I only remember parts of it after I woke up, but the dream was so... real." Lin thought about it carefully and it really did seem like a dream. He covered his neck, looking somewhat anxious. This elusive and uncontrollable feeling was terrible.

Moreover, whether it was his imagination or not, the cold-hearted self in his dream seemed to sense that he was watching all of this.

"Well..."

Kevin scratched his head of white hair helplessly and sighed, "Then let's go."

Where to?

"Of course I'm going to find another you! Going crazy with my buddies is part of youth, right?" Kevin slung his bag over his shoulder, put his arm around Lin's neck, and said with a grin, "Do you remember where you were in your dream? Well, if it was in another city, forget it, I'd have to wait until vacation."

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Lin closed his eyes and let out a relieved breath, feeling much more at ease.

Having a close friend is definitely much better than going it alone.

"It was in Changkong City. I remember the location; it seemed to be near a hospital."

"A hospital? If we're talking about the biggest hospital in Changkong City, it's probably just the city hospital," Kevin said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Should we take a taxi? Taxis are a bit expensive in the Far East..."

"No need." Lin shook his head and took a key out of his pocket. "Let's drive."

"Where did you get the car? You're still a month away from turning 18, how did you get your driver's license?"

"Ah, this..." Lin said calmly, holding the car keys. "It's not my car. I just hooked up with a pedophile online and then used the chat history to blackmail him into lending me his car."

Kevin remained silent for a few seconds.

"And what about the driver's license?"

"There are counterfeit ones, don't worry."

"No, that's what worries me."

In short, as night fell, the two got into the car behind the Chienyu Academy, and Lin drove the sedan steadily toward the place in his dream.

What the two did on a whim was usually just a middle school student's excuse to go out and have fun. But even Lin himself didn't expect that his unfounded actions would lead them to...

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Elysia: First Encounter

"Ugh... I have to go to work again..."

With slightly wavy long hair and neat side-swept bangs, the charming and lovely girl, her pink hair tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, leaned on the railing. Her stomach was rumbling, and as she looked at the brightly lit night scene of Changkong City, she touched her empty wallet and couldn't help but sigh.

But this is something that inevitably happens when you travel. I'll just hang in there for tonight and find a short-term job tomorrow. I don't think anyone would refuse a beautiful young woman working in a shop, hey~

"Let's just sleep in the hospital tonight," said the girl Elysia, turning around to look at the brightly lit hospital with a carefree smile.

Anyway, it's not the peak season for infectious diseases yet, and there's no shortage of hospital beds. I can just find a secluded bed, sleep for a while, and then leave.

"Hey little sister, are you having some trouble? Do you need big brother to help you?"

... Of course, this situation is not uncommon.

Elysia gave a genuine smile. After all, she was a beautiful, charming, gentle, and kind girl that everyone loved, so it was normal for people to approach her. Some people were just admiring her, while others harbored malice, like the group in front of her. But overall, she found it all quite interesting.

The expression of human connection is like candy in a pocket; you never know what flavor the next one will taste like.

These people in front of me, dressed in black school uniforms and with strange hairstyles, are probably... Far East specialty?