I'm Not a Flame-Chaser

"..."

"..."

Black, silent pupils met blood-red, smiling pupils.

"Seele ..."

Lin said the girl's name with a bitter expression, but she tilted her head, squinted at him, and chuckled, "Seele? No, I'm Hun, Team Member Lin ~"

She breathed a sweet, warm breath into Lin's ear. "Have you forgotten me? You're the one who killed me..."

A single, casual remark extinguished any remaining resistance Lin felt, leaving only a wave of shame crashing over him.

The girl's face, close to his, seemed to be both smiling and angry. Lin closed his eyes, and as another fragrance and softness took hold of his lips, and as he was taken from Kiana with a plunder unlike Kiana's, shame over Kiana, over Seele, and over Soul filled his heart.

After a long while, they separated, a thin thread seemingly still connecting them reluctantly. "Seele" stuck out her pink tongue to lick it off and then walked outside.

"Seele, want to go eat together?" Bronya asked the girl who was walking out of the training room as she happened to be passing by.

"Okay, Sister Bronya."

Lin, who was lost in thought, looked up and saw Seele, who was next to Bronya, put her finger to her lips to shush him, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared.

Lin sat alone on the floor of the training room. In the empty room, he listened to people talking and laughing as they passed by outside the door. He covered his head, and the warmth lingered in his mouth.

But it's unclear whether it belongs to Kiana or Seele.

Or perhaps there was no warmth at all, and it was just his illusion.

"Night Owl just betrayed the organization and left, and you came in to fill the gap. Our first mission went quite well together."

After a mission, Raven and Mei, who had just joined World Serpent, returned to Raven's hideout, which was disguised as a tavern. Sitting inside and outside the counter, drinking Raven's specially made cola, Mei was solemn.

"I can handle this task on my own." Mei toyed with the small spoon in her glass, gazing at the water droplets rolling down the rim and onto her fingers. She said in a low voice, "Why would he betray me?"

"Although I was the one who introduced him to World Serpent, sometimes I don't know what he's thinking... Aren't you the same? You leave whenever you get the chance, right? Are all the people I introduce like this?"

Raven took off the hood she always wore, revealing a pretty face that was too young and delicate, not at all like a cold-blooded mercenary.

She deftly twirled several bottles between her hands, pouring the liquor into a cocktail glass. Her dazzling flair slightly diverted Mei's attention, and Raven smiled at the sight.

"Not bad, right?"

"You taught yourself?"

"Of course." Raven closed the cocktail glass and shook the liquid with just the right amount of force. At this moment, she was completely devoid of her usual cold and murderous aura, and instead exuded a more feminine charm. "I've dealt with all sorts of people and often go to bars all over the world..."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "A bar?"

"Intelligence exchanges often take place in inconspicuous places, and a less formal bar is a good place, with loud music, dazzling lights, and plenty of idiots."

"Smack."

Open the cocktail shaker, take out a rectangular glass, fill it with chopped ice, gently stir the ice with a spoon, pour in the liquid, and finally add a slice of lemon.

"Beautiful." Mei couldn't help but praise the perfect proportions of the drink. She casually asked, "So, are you planning to open a bar someday?"

"I've had that idea before, but then... well, some people said I'm not suited for noisy places, that I should open a quiet little bar, or... maybe become a music teacher."

"Who?" Mei asked curiously.

Raven silently shook his head. "People you don't know... maybe you will in the future."

The atmosphere became slightly tense, Raven picked up his glass and took a sip.

She then changed the subject, saying, "Are you worried about the Herrscher of the Void?"

Mei neither affirmed nor denied it.

Raven thought of the man who had been secretly helping Kiana all along and scoffed, "Don't worry."

"Beep beep—"

The two men's communication devices rang. They exchanged a glance. This meant either that cadres were being assembled or that a new mission was underway.

They each picked up their communicators, frowning as they read the messages.

Coral Island...

The "Rebirth" of the Sky: Chapter Sixty-Seven - An Exchange Between Two Men on Multi-faceted Emotional Issues

"So, Mr. Lin, what brings you here?"

Welt smiled politely at the man standing in front of the desk, got up, made a cup of coffee, and handed it to him.

"... I'd like to ask you some questions."

Lin Mo silently stared at the small white bubbles in the instant coffee. He picked up the coffee cup and placed his fingers on the inside, feeling the faint warmth.

"What is it?" Welt asked, puzzled. His age was indeed considered quite respectable among ordinary humans, but it was nothing compared to Lin's. This person was fifty thousand years old, and logically, he should be the one asking Lin for guidance.

He was right. Lin did indeed see things very clearly in other aspects. His experience as the prime minister of the Huang Empire for a thousand years gave him good insights into governance. However, there was one aspect in which he had not made any progress in his fifty thousand years. Perhaps he needed an "elder" to teach him in this area.

Lin silently took a sip of coffee, exhaled a breath of hot air, and then casually said, "You and Dr. Tesla are a couple, aren't you?"

"Pfft!" Welt Yang, the most respected, most influential, and most outstanding leader and former First Herrscher in Anti-Entropy, spat out a mouthful of hot coffee all over Lin's face.

"Cough cough..." Welt coughed as he hurriedly grabbed a tissue and handed it to Lin. "I-sorry, what did you just say?"

Lin took the tissue and silently wiped the coffee off his face. He calmly repeated, "You and Dr. Tesla are a couple, aren't you?"

"Why do you think that?" Welt asked in surprise.

"... Although you often discuss problems with Einstein, Tesla will always be present when it comes to private matters. You have the shortest 'social distance' with her, and she is the only one who calls you Joachim in private."

Lin had nothing better to do these past few days. Besides his daily training, he would wander around. However, just as Fu Hua had said, his thoughts were in disarray. He had no intention of turning the Anti-Entropy base upside down. But during his walk, he noticed some noteworthy actions by Tesla and Welt.

"Hehe, that's just your imagination." Welt was somewhat ambiguous about this, and he brushed it off. "Does whether the Doctor and I are a couple have anything to do with the question you want to ask me?"

"Yes, a friend of a friend of mine. He's having some relationship problems."

"A friend of a friend... Mr. Lin, if I may ask, is he still alive?"

"It's still there."

Still there?

Welt quieted down and listened to Lin continue, "He once caused a girl to go astray due to his own negligence, and in the end he had no choice but to kill her. But later he learned that although she was dead, her consciousness continued in another form and eventually became another person. She had her past memories, but she did not think of herself as the person she used to be."

"Wait, Mr. Lin, do you mean this girl is someone who was reincarnated with memories of her past life?"

When Welt said those words, Lin gave him a strange look.

To be able to think of something like this in an instant, this Anti-Entropy Leader probably has a lot of exposure to entertainment works.

"More or less."

Lin Ye didn't know whether it counted as reincarnation or not. Logically speaking, the inner personality Seele was the Herrscher of Death Seele, but the Herrscher of Death was not a soul, and the inner personality Seele didn't consider herself to be the Herrscher of Death. In other words, Seele, the Herrscher of Death, the inner personality Seele, and the soul were four different people.

This perplexing relationship, and Seele's ambiguous statements about whether she was a soul or not, left Lin completely at a loss.

Moreover, Seele is clearly using Lin's guilt towards Soul and his relationship with Kiana to torment him.

Welt adjusted his glasses. "Hmm... In this situation, what does your friend's friend think of this girl who has already been reincarnated?"

He believes that the two people are related, but cannot be considered the same person.

"I think so too. Actually, the answer is quite simple," Welt smiled. "Since the other party also believes that they are not entirely the same person they used to be, then both sides have already reached a consensus. But what does this have to do with the question you asked at the beginning?"

Welt still couldn't stop thinking about what Lin had initially said about him and Tesla being a couple.

"Because a friend of my friend is currently in an intimate relationship with a woman, and there is another woman he used to have an intimate relationship with but whose relationship with him is now ambiguous. Then he suddenly discovered the connection between that girl and the girl from his past relationship. Now, in order to make amends to the girl he used as a substitute for that girl from his past relationship, he has no choice but to accept her revenge."

Welt was momentarily at a loss for words after hearing such a long string of words. After a moment of stunned silence as he pieced together the information, he stared into Lin's eyes and hesitantly asked, "So, your friend's friend, while currently having ambiguous relationships with two girls, is secretly having an affair with the girl who's angry about being used as a substitute..."

"It wasn't an affair."

"But this looks like theft no matter how you look at it..."

"It wasn't an affair," Lin said calmly after a moment's thought. "It was just that some overzealous actions occurred in the process of improving bilateral relations."

"... Okay, so that means the girl is really angry right now, and she wants to get revenge on your friend's friend by doing this, to make him feel guilty?"

"Yes."

"Excuse my bluntness, Mr. Lin," Welt coldly declared, "Your friend's friend is utter scum."

"... I think so too."

"Anyway, he just wants to end this weird relationship, right?" Welt took a sip of his almost cold coffee, his brow furrowed. "Since that girl isn't sincere, why doesn't he just reject her?"

"The problem is that he can't refuse."

"Hmm... Guilt towards her? That's really a headache. On one hand, your friend's friend feels guilty towards the girl from the past, and on the other hand, the girl now is not the girl from the past, but she is being treated as the girl from the past. This is what she is angry about, and it is also what she uses to take revenge."

At this point, Welt shook his head with a wry smile, "I'm also unfamiliar with this kind of complicated emotional relationship... or rather, I've never heard of it before. Mr. Lin, you overestimate me."

"Is that so... I'm sorry for the trouble."

"However, I think that since that girl would use her past life identity as a weapon to attack you, she must have affirmed her past life identity to some extent."

"Phew... I understand." Lin nodded, put down his coffee, walked to the door, then remembered something, turned back, and said seriously, "It wasn't me, it was a friend of a friend."

Coral's "Twist": Chapter One - The Little Man and the Big Man

"Sand..."

The man in the helmet brushed his ankles against the grass roots and fallen leaves, glanced at the data in the display window, drew a technologically advanced blade from behind his back, and slowly walked forward, keeping his footsteps quiet.

Under the shade of a tree not far away, two small Honkai Beast were moving around leisurely. They seemed so relaxed in this natural environment that a careless person might mistake them for two cute little animals resting there.

A pair of calm eyes blended into the shadows, watching their every move as they drew near...

"Bass!"

A cold glint of light sliced the falling leaves in two in mid-air.

"Clatter".

"Clatter".

The corpses of the two monsters were simultaneously split in two and fell to the ground.

Lin flicked the blood off his knife, sheathed it in the charged scabbard on his back, and then began searching the vicinity for any other Honkai Beast.

Anti-Entropy provided him with a helmet that was more functional than before and a weapon to replace the Jizo Mitama they were researching. He had also promised Anti-Entropy that he would help deal with Honkai -related incidents. The Honkai Energy index in the nearby area was high, suggesting that Honkai Beast were appearing, so he came to deal with it.

His joints are fitted with exoskeletons, unlike the full-body armor of the Firemoth. These exoskeletons have poor protective performance and are far less powerful than full-body armor, but they greatly improve concealment and convenience. Furthermore, Anti-Entropy's Equipment Department has equipped him with a full six knives of the same specifications, so he can just throw them around without any problem.

Recently, there have been more small-scale Honkai. He doesn't go on missions as frequently as he did when he was still with the Firemoth, but it's still quite frequent. He can find something to do and also escape temporarily.

The word "escape" doesn't quite fit Lin, but now he doesn't know how to face Seele, and the guilt makes him feel intensely disgusted with himself.

Lin can understand Seele's feelings. She didn't want to get hurt, but she was still forced to get hurt, so she chose to drag others down with her.

At least his brutal personality and eyes do indeed give off a bit of the Herrscher of Death vibe.

"Drop--"

The incoming letter was displayed in the window, and Lin glanced at it.

It's time to go back.

Coral Island.

Jiu, wearing a hood, moved among the crowd, occasionally glancing around to see if anyone was following him.

These past few days he's been hiding and running, and he often sees the Schicksal searching for him. The organization's power is greater than he thought. Although they can't pinpoint his exact location along the way, they can still roam around him.

His escape to Coral Island was not accidental, but rather due to a special event.

Midway through the journey, Jiu tried to gather recent information using a computer in an internet cafe. He received a message from a member of Schicksal, who told him that other Schicksal members were searching for his location and that he should escape to Coral Island to meet them and receive help.

This made Jiu ponder for a long time. He first confirmed that there were indeed Schicksal members around looking for him and that they were not lying to him. Then, following the route given in the message, he safely arrived at Coral Island.

He initially thought it might be a trap, but since they could pinpoint his exact location and send him a message, the trap seemed pointless.

Offering help... The other party definitely knows his identity Herrscher, so why is he still willing to offer help under such circumstances?

Following the coordinates provided, Jiu arrived at the designated location, a coffee shop. However, he did not rush in. Instead, he observed for a while and, after finding nothing unusual, pushed open the door and entered, eventually reaching the corner.

There, a person had been waiting for a long time.