Lin Raises Her Gun / Life Stagnates

The Phase Transfer Device had probably been taken away for further adjustments. Lin had survived this time purely by luck. If the severed spot had been above his waist, there would have been no need to replace any parts—he could have just started picking out which patch of ground would be most convenient to sleep in.

"I'm going to train." Lin could not stay here another moment. Forcing his numb arms to move, he fell out of bed, then laboriously pulled himself upright against its edge.

Elysia hurried around to the other side and supported his arm. "How are you supposed to train like this? You're injured. You should rest properly."

According to Doctor Mobius, although the manufactured leg was identical to Lin's original one, his body would still experience rejection during the initial adaptation period. Especially for someone like Lin, whose awareness of his own body was exceptionally acute—it might feel even worse than before he had the leg attached.

"Wow, those two really have chemistry."

"That supposedly antisocial, headless monster guy couldn't withstand Elysia's charm either? Well, even the Doctor couldn't resist..."

Lin turned his head. His vicious gaze pierced through the helmet's visor and nailed itself firmly onto the faces of the two girls who had been whispering from the very beginning.

"Eek—h-he looked over here!"

"D-don't be scared. We've seen the Honkai Beasts the Doctor brought back."

"But he's killed more Honkai Beasts than we've even seen..."

After warning the two of them with a look not to talk nonsense, Lin pulled his hand away from Elysia's support while adapting to his still-uncoordinated body. His left leg was exposed below the knee, and he staggered about in a daze, looking especially miserable.

Elysia felt that something was off with Lin and reached out again to support him. "I should help you back..."

"Beep—" The communicator at her waist rang.

Elysia froze for a moment, then realized she had been assigned a mission.

Lin glanced at her. Seeing that she had not picked up the communicator, he casually said, "Go on. I'll contact one of my team members to help me."

Thinking that Elysia's personality would probably make it impossible to persuade her otherwise, Lin reluctantly added, "You don't need to worry about me."

Hearing those rare words, Elysia's smile returned. She nodded. "Lin is unexpectedly sensible today."

When Lin saw her smile, so genuine and free of even a trace of pretense, he instinctively asked the question.

"...Elysia, why do you care so much about me?"

Was it because he was strong? No. Even if the rumors about him had spread, there were plenty of warriors in MOTH who stood shoulder to shoulder with Lin, or were even stronger—Himiko, Kevin, and Elysia herself.

Was it because of the mystery created by his helmet? Lin had never believed that explanation.

He had expected Elysia to brush it off with jokes as usual, but this time she turned away. A thin stream of white mist escaped her lips as she softly said, "Because you're a kind, adorable, strong child."

"..."

With that, Elysia's back vanished through the doorway, leaving Lin completely baffled.

Lin quickly cleared those useless thoughts from his mind. He slowly turned his head and looked once more at the two trembling girls nearby.

"Cangxuan, hurry and check that One Hundred Questions About the Silent Helmet! What are we supposed to do now?" One of the girls was shaking especially badly. She grabbed her twin sister's hand and shouted frantically.

"...?"

What was One Hundred Questions About the Silent Helmet?

The girl called Cangxuan pulled out a book and began flipping through it in a panic, sweat covering her forehead. "Don't panic, let me look... Found it! When the visor on his helmet is blue, he's in a normal state. If the lights are off or blinking slowly, his emotions are stable. It's fine."

"We just need to talk normally..."

"You two."

"Ah! Don't possess me through your helmet!"

"..."

Speechless, Lin watched the two living treasures begin chanting Shenzhou exorcism spells. He started wondering what kind of creature MOTH had turned him into through its rumors.

Some kind of urban legend?

He had no choice but to ask directly, "I just want to know whether Doctor Mobius had any precautions she wanted to tell me."

"Precautions? N-no."

"Fine... Who wrote that book?"

"I don't know, but it suddenly became popular a few days ago. It was probably written by someone inside... It wasn't me! Stop looking at me!"

"..."

Lin had already guessed who had been bored enough to do something like that.

Lin Raised His Gun

"Canghai City is approaching. Passengers getting off at the next stop..."

Hua unconsciously slowed her steps. The announcement for the train's arrival echoed overhead as she stared blankly at the train slowly pulling into the station.

"What's wrong, Hua?" The white-haired, brown-skinned girl beside her waved a hand in front of her face, puzzled by her distraction.

Hua came back to herself, sighed wistfully, and shook her head. "I want to go back and see my father."

The white-haired girl suddenly understood. Grinning, she patted Hua on the shoulder in an attempt to cheer her up. "So you're homesick. Do all Shenzhou people have such strong attachments to home? I feel like every Shenzhou person I know is always thinking about home, just like you. Isn't vacation coming up soon? You can just go home and see your father then."

Go home? The martial arts school had already closed. Had the house changed completely too? Suddenly, she did not really want to go back...

Hua was startled by her own thoughts. She vigorously shook her head, tossing the unnecessary thoughts out of her mind.

"You're right. Forget it, I won't think about it. Let's go eat noodles." Changing the subject, she forced a reserved smile and spoke to the white-haired girl, the only person who could be called her close friend.

When she went back, she would tell her father that she had made a friend. He would definitely be happy.

The white-haired girl immediately clutched her stomach and dragged out her complaint. "Huh? Noodles again? Hua, you eat noodles every time we go out. Don't you ever get tired of them?"

"Huh? Then, then maybe we should have something else."

"Hehe, I'm teasing you. Are we going to the same noodle shop as last time?"

"Mm... Huh?"

Two people walked past Hua, causing her to freeze in place just as she was about to speak.

When the white-haired girl received no response, she asked, "Hua? What's wrong?"

Following Hua's gaze, she happened to see a hooded person and a girl with inner streaks in her hair round the corner, apparently talking about something.

"Someone you know?"

"No." Hua denied it. "That person wearing the hood is a little strange."

"Strange? What's strange about him? Is he handsome?" At the mention of a handsome guy, the white-haired girl immediately rose onto her toes, excitedly trying to get another look. They rarely saw handsome men, though if she had to say it, Hua was actually more handsome than most men. It was just a pity that she was a girl.

"Handsome? Probably not. He's wearing a mask and sunglasses under that hood. You can't see what he looks like at all."

"Huh? That is pretty strange. Dressed like that in broad daylight... he isn't some criminal, is he?"

"Probably not. His demeanor doesn't feel like it."

Most martial artists possessed an indescribable "sense." When that person had passed by, Hua had detected a trace of something discordant about him. His stride, posture, and speed had all been precise to a certain degree. He had clearly undergone strict training, but his left foot was somewhat uncoordinated, like someone recovering from a serious illness.

Moreover, even through the sunglasses, Hua could sense that person paying particular attention to her. He had probably noticed the habits she had developed through martial arts training, the ones that differed from ordinary people.

"What a strange person..."

She murmured as she looked at the empty corner.

"Team Member Lin, is your body really all right now?"

Soul watched Lin move almost no differently from an ordinary person, though concern still lingered in her voice.

He had no visible external injuries, but at first Lin had looked like a vegetative patient who had spent over a decade in bed and had just awakened, struggling to adapt to his body again. The medicine he had knocked over in the laboratory had left Danzhu and Cangxuan pale-faced as they discussed how to deal with Mobius.

Even in that condition, he had still wanted to go on a mission. Although no task had been assigned to Squad Five, he had gone and applied for an external mission anyway.

MOTH's missions came in both squad and solo varieties. Most solo missions involved investigating areas with abnormal Honkai Energy concentrations. To keep MOTH, which followed an elite-oriented approach, from losing personnel too frequently and to improve efficiency, individual soldiers were rarely sent into direct combat zones.

And because Soul was worried about Lin, who had only just gotten out of bed, she had come along as well.

Lin loosened his overly tight mask and replied coldly, "I'm fine."

His body was still uncoordinated. Sometimes he even moved his arms and legs on the same side together, but it was enough to deal with minor missions.

"This mission is to investigate the abnormal Honkai concentration in Canghai City. Deadwalkers have appeared frequently in Canghai City these past few months, and there have been many civilian sightings. Our mission is to search for Deadwalkers at the site of the most recent sighting."

Lin briefly repeated the mission details.

A Honkai outbreak did not occur in an instant. It built up gradually. Just as certain illnesses had external symptoms, a Honkai outbreak also had signs, though they manifested in many different ways.

The troublesome part was that even if signs appeared, it did not mean a large-scale Honkai outbreak would occur. Most of the time, it was merely a minor Honkai Energy corrosion incident, not something that warranted spending manpower and resources as if it were a disaster warning.

"Deadwalkers... Team Member Lin, do Deadwalkers hide? Why do we need to search for them?" Soul was deeply confused.

Would those mindless monsters actually avoid crowds?

Some high-level Deadwalkers might possess basic intelligence, but they could not possibly hide like humans to avoid danger, then emerge to wander only when no one was around.

Lin glanced at her. "...Time."

"Time?"

"The time it takes for corrosion."

"The time it takes for corrosion... Could it be—" Soul covered her mouth. She understood what Lin meant.

Humans exposed to an environment with excessively high Honkai Energy would gradually transform into Deadwalkers, and the time required depended on their resistance to Honkai Energy and the duration of exposure. During large-scale Honkai events like the First Honkai War and the Second Honkai War, humans at the center were basically corroded into Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts instantly. Those with poor adaptability did not even have the chance to be transformed.

The bustling downtown area was still peaceful, so there could not possibly be Honkai Energy at that concentration. If people were corroded into Deadwalkers, they must retain their sanity for a period of time. It was therefore possible that they would be frightened by their own condition and hide somewhere deserted.

Soul murmured, "Then... if that person hasn't been completely corroded yet, could they still be saved..."

Lin frowned and looked at Soul, who had not realized what she was saying.

Wasn't she the daughter of a researcher? How could she not know that Honkai Energy corrosion was currently irreversible?

Lin said only one sentence. "There's only one inhibitor."

And an inhibitor was not a cure.

Soul did not realize what Lin's words meant at that moment, but she understood soon enough.

She understood just how fragile her wishful thinking was before reality.

By the time Lin and Soul found the small, old apartment, it was already night.

The moment they saw the person in question, neither of them spoke. The scene inside the room had exceeded both their expectations.

The apartment was old and cramped, but clean. There were no signs of deliberate damage. The number and nature of the furniture and household items showed that two people, one adult and one child, had lived there.

Lin silently picked up a photograph from the desk. It showed a young mother and her son. It looked like it might have been taken at an elementary school graduation. The photo had yellowed, and when he turned it over, he saw that it had been taken three years ago.

A small line of writing sat in the lower-right corner of the photograph: "I love you. I hope I can give you the love your father would have given you too."

Even through the photograph, the smiles of the adult and child could give someone warmth.

Soul stared blankly at the people in the photograph.

Lin set the photograph down. His expression did not change in the slightest, like an iron man without warmth.

He drew the standard-issue handgun he had never used before. After checking the magazine, he disengaged the safety and chambered a round.

Click.

The crisp sound made Soul jolt awake from her daze.

She swallowed, glanced at Lin, then looked at...

The woman.

The woman from the photograph, tied to the bed, her throat emitting inhuman growls, her skin deathly pale...

And in the corner of the room, a young boy was shaking uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face. Hugging himself, he stared through tear-filled eyes at the woman who had once given him warm embraces.

Lin expressionlessly raised his gun and aimed it at the woman whose mouth had split open to her ears.

Stagnant Life

Lin's finger rested on the trigger, but he did not pull it for a long time. Before the pitch-black muzzle was a snarling Deadwalker. It was not a special individual. One bullet was all it would take to kill it and return it to complete stillness.

He had no sympathy whatsoever for monsters created by Honkai corrosion. In his eyes, humans were humans, and Deadwalkers were Deadwalkers. Other than their appearances, the two had nothing in common.

The moment a human became a Deadwalker, that human had already been killed by the Honkai. No matter how the skin-wearing monster howled, it could not stop his bullet from leaving the chamber.