Himeko's Wrath

"Captain, nothing unusual has been found in the residential building."

Soon, after Elysia's results came out, the hearts of all the combat personnel were successfully calmed down.

Either the detection equipment is malfunctioning, or they are malfunctioning, or... it's a problem with the city, and it seems most likely to be the last one.

"Immer, is the Honkai Energy reaction still ongoing?" Lin asked Immer, who was closely monitoring the situation.

"Nothing has changed... Wait a minute!"

Immer's exclamation caught Lin's attention.

"The Honkai Energy of the entire Tran suddenly doubled! It has reached the standard for a small-scale Honkai!"

"Clatter".

Something hit Lin's helmet.

He looked up and saw a hailstone fall right in front of him.

"..."

Lin watched silently as the hailstorm intensified.

"Captain," Immer said with difficulty, "Tran's Honkai Energy is currently maintained at the level of a small-scale Honkai, but the temperature has risen."

"... issue an alert to prevent residents from going out during hailstorms."

Lin crouched down, picked up a piece of hail that hadn't completely melted, and shone the detector on it.

After a brief flash, an extraordinary amount of Honkai Energy appeared.

Centered on the location of the three squads, the hail spread like a plague until it covered the entire city.

"Hailstorm again?"

Anna, standing next to Hua, reached out and caught a hailstone with delight. Although it hurt her hand, she was still overjoyed to look at the crystal-clear ice crystal in her palm.

"Miss Anna, please do not touch the hail."

Upon receiving the notification, Hua slapped the hailstones out of Anna's hand and said to her seriously, "The Honkai Energy content in these hailstones exceeds the normal level and will be harmful to your health."

"Eek—" Upon hearing Hua's words, Anna shook her hand as if she had touched something dirty, then tightened her beret and pulled her hand back into her sleeve.

"Will Honkai Energy turn people into monsters? I heard from the old man that if you are corrupted by Honkai Energy, you might become a monster without humanity." Anna looked at the hailstones shattering in front of her with fear and asked Hua in an attempt to calm her nerves.

When Hua heard this question, the first person he thought of was Lin.

Will the captain also become Honkai zombie?

"Not necessarily. If someone's adaptability is too low after being corrupted by Honkai Energy, they won't be transformed into Honkai zombie or Honkai Beast. They will die after their brain or heart is corrupted." Hua didn't know why Anna allowed Anna to act with him, but since Anna was someone Lin approved of, Hua told her the truth.

"What if it has high adaptability? Will it turn into a zombie-like creature?"

The thought of the Honkai zombie who had been shot in the head, his deathly pale skin and pinkish-purple blood sent chills down Anna's spine.

Hua recalled the information he saw when he joined the team, "Those were just the lowest-level Honkai zombie. If they had enough adaptability, they could be transformed into high-level Honkai zombie, or even low-level Honkai Beast, which are incomparable to ordinary Honkai zombie."

Anna asked like a curious child, "Lower-rank Honkai Beast? Does that mean there are also Upper-class Honkai Beast?"

"Yes, Upper-class Honkai Beast are all independent individuals, and they are creatures composed of pure Honkai Energy. Their destructive power is much greater than that of low-ranking Honkai Beast. If left unchecked, they can destroy a city in just half a day."

"Huh? Then, isn't that uncle facing the Honkai Beast all alone? You should go help him."

"...I don't need to worry. No Honkai Beast have appeared yet, and the captain has experience in defeating Upper-class Honkai Beast." Hua shook his head and said, "Besides, the captain hasn't given any orders, so I have to obey orders and stay behind."

"Okay..." Anna was still worried, but after hearing what Hua said, she realized that he had much more experience than her, so she stopped worrying and continued the previous topic, "Is Uncle very powerful? He has experience in defeating Upper-class Honkai Beast."

"Yes, the captain has already single-handedly defeated two Upper-class Honkai Beasts and two Herrscher. He can handle ordinary Honkai Beast quite easily."

"...Another term I don't recognize." This was Anna's first reaction upon hearing the word "Herrscher." "Herrscher? This term seems out of place with Honkai zombie and Honkai Beast. Could it be a species similar to a BOSS?"

"Yes."

"As expected of me."

"Herrscher are also products of Honkai, born only in large-scale Honkai. They are the most tangible manifestation of Honkai, capable of controlling Honkai Beast and Honkai zombie. Their birth is a devastating blow to human society."

Hua only used the most common and easy-to-understand terms to explain what Herrscher is. In reality, Herrscher is far more complex than this superficial Honkai messenger.

But Anna did indeed possess considerable talent, and she immediately noticed the problem after hearing the description.

"'They'... Does that mean all Herrscher are women... No, are they all human women?" Anna asked, rubbing her chin and frowning.

Hua stared at her in shock. "You..."

"Magnificent."

Just then, Lin returned, interrupting their conversation.

Then, to the astonishment of the two men, he fell straight forward to the ground.

Not moving at all.

"Captain!" "Uncle!"

When Lin woke up again, he was already in the ward of the Third Branch.

The dizziness in his head and the soreness all over his body made him feel as if he had been stabbed in the forehead the moment he woke up.

The helmet was still on his head, but the armor on his body had been removed.

"You're finally awake."

Standing beside the hospital bed, Elysia was no longer as playful as before; her voice was somewhat heavy.

Alongside her, waiting for Lin to wake up was Hen, who was currently gazing at Lin with a furrowed brow.

"What's wrong with me?" Lin tried to sit up in bed, but he found that his strength had been drained away, and a feeling of powerlessness filled his limbs.

Elysia sighed, "You fainted on the way back."

"..."

"Lin," Hen asked Lin sternly at this moment, "What's wrong with your physical condition? How come your Honkai Energy erosion rate is 15%?"

It seems that after the examination, Hen has also learned about Lin's condition.

15%? Then it seems the culprit behind this coma is Honkai Energy corruption.

Once the Honkai Energy erosion rate reaches 15%, the eroded body will experience physiological discomfort. Obviously, after the hailstorm just now, Lin's Honkai Energy erosion rate has exceeded 15%.

"Why are you still on the front lines even though your erosion rate has reached a dangerous level?!"

Hen's tone had reached the level of accusation.

Lin, however, simply stared at him without saying a word.

Chapter Seventy: The Wrath of the Scar

"I remember you left headquarters once, which means the Moth Chaser forced you to go to the front lines, and you were able to declare your physical condition." Having been keeping a close eye on Lin and keeping track of his movements, this man, generally considered mature and self-disciplined, now appeared utterly furious. "Why did you conceal your physical condition and go to the battlefield!"

"And you, Elysia." Hen's eyes burned with rage as he looked at Elysia beside him.

Suddenly called upon Elysia blinked and pointed at herself, just like when the teacher calls her name in class. "Me?"

He questioned, "You know about Lin's health problems, don't you?"

"How could that be? Lin and I are such good friends. If I had known he had health problems, I definitely wouldn't have let him go to the front lines." Elysia tilted her head and smiled. "Right, Lin?"

Hen glared at her. "You'd better really be."

But what's done is done, and no amount of saying anything can change it. Hen could only coldly say, "You're not allowed to go out again," before slamming the door and leaving.

"What happened to Hen?" Lin asked Elysia.

Lin's impression of Hen was still that of a top soldier of the Fire Moth, mentioned by Himiko when he first joined the Fire Moth. Later, he only knew that Hen had married Bianca and had a daughter Griseo.

Overall, Hen should look a lot like him.

Looking at the weak Lin Youyou, Elysia sighed and said, "Perhaps some of her thoughts have changed after having a child."

"Hey! Wait for me, Hen!"

"..."

Hen, who had been walking straight ahead, stopped and turned back to look indifferently at Elysia, who was running after him.

"Phew... Are you walking so fast because you want to participate in a race walk? Even if you're angry, don't just leave Lin like that. He must be so heartbroken." After running to Hen's side, Elysia sighed and gave him a reproachful glare.

"Sad?" Hen said coldly. "Does he look sad or reflecting on his actions?"

"Lin just doesn't show it; he's Mental Sea."

"If he were slender, he wouldn't have done something like this!"

Hen's angry shout made the entire building tremble.

"..." Elysia's unreliable smile remained on her face, but there was no smile in her eyes at all. "Hen... what happened between you and Lin?"

"No." After his outburst, Hen seemed to have calmed down. He sighed and shook his head.

"You seem to have a lot to say. Shall we go somewhere else?"

"Let's do it here. We can see outside from here."

Elysia found an empty office, closed the door, walked to the window, and looked at the increasingly heavy hail with uncertain emotions in her eyes.

"Hen, since you and Lin aren't actually that close, why are you so angry?" Elysia turned to look at Hen, who was leaning against the wall. "This isn't like you."

Since Hen has no relation to Lin Su, why would Hen, who is usually quite self-controlled, calm, and mature, get so angry about Lin's matter?

"A few years ago, someone told me that a newcomer who had just joined the team did not have time to join the team, so he fought against the Emperor-class Honkai Beast alone during the Second Honkai War."

However, Hen did not directly explain the reason for his abnormal behavior. Instead, he changed the subject and started talking about Lin Gang joining the Moth Chaser a few years ago.

The Second Honkai War was also the time when Elysia tricked Mobius out of his badge and joined the Firemoth. At that time, she disguised herself as a soldier of the Firemoth and forged a complete joining process afterward. According to the records, her enlistment time was as long as three years. Lin joined the Firemoth shortly after that.

"Actually, I wanted to place Lin in my team at that time, but he always followed orders from his superiors, so I didn't see him many times after that."

"Then came the Third Honkai War. After hearing that he had once again single-handedly defeated Judgment-class Honkai Beast and assisted in the fight against the Herrscher, I felt that this person must be a very powerful young man."

After Hen recounted his story, his emotions calmed down considerably. He suddenly smiled and said, "Then Bianca and I got married, and a month after the wedding, she confirmed that she was pregnant."

"Lin's news never stopped during that time. He was a very popular figure during that period, and he even became the captain of the Squad Seven. Before Kevin came, he was the youngest captain among us."

Do you know what I was thinking at that time?

"I'm relieved."

Upon hearing this, Elysia understood the reason for Hen's anger.

"I saw hope in Lin. His appearance made me believe that the mission of fighting against the Honkai can be passed on to the next generation."

"..."

"But he, who should have been a symbol of hope, is now..." Anger flashed in Hen's eyes again, but this time Elysia saw it clearly. It wasn't just anger at Lin for not cherishing his own life, but also emotions such as regret and pity. "I realized then that I had just imposed my hopes on him. He was just an ordinary human being."

"But it is precisely these imposed hopes that have led Lin to become like this."

"Why was he the younger one who was corrupted by Honkai Energy? Why is he still fighting even in this state?"

Elysia listened silently to Hen's words, which were filled with resentment and helplessness. After a long while, she said leisurely, "But Hen, you would have done the same thing if you were in his shoes, wouldn't you?"

"..."

"Even if it's an order to die, you will carry it out strictly, because you and Lin both see yourselves as soldiers rather than warriors. This is your shared belief, and it's also one of the things you admire about Lin."

Elysia left Hen speechless with just two sentences.

"Hen, I do know about Lin's physical condition, but I didn't stop him." Elysia said with a sense of helplessness, but not sadness, "Because this is the path Lin chose, and he has followed it to the end."

In this tyrannical and unreasonable world, people cannot choose their own destiny.

But at least, on that dark road, one can choose to resolutely walk forward and face one's destiny.

"Uncle..."