Long Time No See / "Predetermined"

Anna walked into the ward hesitantly, seemingly devoid of her usual vigor, and looked at Lin on the hospital bed with a hesitant expression.

He leaned weakly against the headboard like a dog with broken bones.

"Are you... alright?"

Anna felt she had asked a stupid question; Lin didn't seem to be alright at all.

"It's nothing." However, Lin's usual reply made the atmosphere extremely awkward.

"..."

"..."

"Uncle, you said before what you would do if someone was about to die, that person... was it you?"

Chapter 71 Long Time No See

"Immer, how is the situation?"

After entering the conference room, Hua asked Immer, who was deep in thought in front of the computer screen.

"It's terrible." Immer's face was ashen. "The Honkai Energy contained in a single hailstone is not high, and even if a person comes into contact with it, the Honkai Energy will be quickly expelled. But the problem is that this is a 'Honkai rain' that has spread throughout the entire city. It may be fine in itself, but it has turned Tran into a place suitable for Honkai creature to be born."

The hailstorm increased the overall Honkai Energy concentration in Tran, making the environment resemble an area where a minor Honkai had occurred. People with slightly lower Honkai Energy resistance might develop symptoms of Honkai Energy erosion in this environment within a few hours.

"We need to evacuate immediately. I have already reported to headquarters, but the results have not yet been released."

"I see..."

"..."

"..."

After discussing "official business," it was time to move on to personal matters.

Neither Immer nor Hua spoke; they seemed unsure where to begin.

That person's situation is terrible, worse than ever before.

Every time he was injured before, every time he was sent to the ward, he never gave them this feeling.

Because by then, his injury would eventually heal, and he would be able to stand up again.

Lin, who had been defeated by even the strongest enemies, was now like an old man on his deathbed, gradually weakening until he died completely.

Life is like a candle flickering in the rain.

"..."

The man walked slowly down the alley, his body hidden by only a tattered black cloth, his entire face covered by fabric.

His steps were steady, and although his clothes were just a tattered piece of cloth, they didn't even tremble under the combined force of the cold wind and hail. The skin that was exposed through some gaps was even rosy and shiny, unaffected by any cold air currents.

After another hailstone hit his head, he stopped, squatted down, and picked up a larger hailstone.

"..." After glancing at the seemingly ordinary hailstone, he released it and let it fall to the ground.

Incredibly, the hailstones around him melted even faster, as if they were near a heat source, quickly turning into ice water and flowing into the sewers.

He wandered through the city like a ghost, seemingly oblivious to the situation.

"Despair."

Lin walked along the dark passage. He had walked this path many times before. Its structure was very different from what he remembered, but the dark scene and the atmosphere of something about to jump out from the depths remained unchanged.

I wouldn't say I miss it that much, since the Deepest Place isn't exactly a pleasant place.

But just as Dusk Street connects several people among the Flame-Chasers, the Deepest Place is also a turning point for some of them. So every time Lin comes here, he looks at this familiar yet unfamiliar scene again and again.

Lin arrived at the depths of darkness, neither too fast nor too slow. Perhaps the length of this dark corridor was determined by the identity of the visitor, and Lin's habit of peering into the Deepest Place the corridor was clearly a way of ensuring that person had set a sufficient distance for him to see.

"Lin... long time no see..." A deep voice with a certain magic came from behind the iron railing.

After looking at the last spot, Lin hesitantly turned his gaze to what was behind the railing. "..."

"Long time no see..." This phrase wasn't particularly appropriate as their opening line, and even Lin didn't think they had a friendly relationship where they could greet each other upon meeting.

Lin, too, never tried to correct her self-perception.

"Aponia, what do you want with me?" Lin asked directly.

"Lin... please..."

"Aponia".

Lin's emphasis on his direct address froze the person hiding there.

He wasn't wearing a helmet. Aponia had decided on his attire when he entered this place. She essentially had the power to govern this space, but when Lin's emotionless gaze fell on her, she actually complied with Lin's wishes and stopped using her abilities.

After a long silence, Aponia spoke again, her voice low and hesitant. "Lin... a new visitor to the Imaginary Tree... why did you entrust the 'key' to her..."

"I didn't give it to her. She wants to exchange it for the 'key' after she finds the answer," Lin said calmly. "If you just want to ask about this, I'll leave immediately. I won't stop you from doing whatever you want to Raiden Mei."

Another long silence followed.

"...Lin." The clanking of shackles came from ahead, and a pair of slender, fair hands reached out from behind the railings. "Could you please come a little closer to me?"

Lin paused for a moment, and after confirming that Aponia was not using her abilities, he nodded.

Lin can accept Aponia's demands, but he will not allow Aponia to force him to obey.

He knelt on one knee, approached the cell, and gently embraced his head with those hands, softly stroking his hair.

"Lin... your fate... is still so clear..." Her comforting voice, like a whisper, rang softly in Lin's ear.

"... Do you still believe in the so-called guidance of fate?"

"... Lin... do you still remember... the first time we met..." Aponia gently stroked Lin's cheek, "Your destiny... is so hopeless... but you... told me that destiny... can be changed..."

"You clearly... didn't even believe it yourself... yet you still said it..."

"Did someone... change you...?"

"Smack."

Lin reached out and grabbed Aponia's hand.

He stood up, his face expressionless.

"Aponia, do you think the birth of our civilization was a matter of fate or chance?" Lin asked slowly. "And was the birth of Raiden Mei's civilization also a matter of fate or chance?"

"Lin... our meeting... our departure... were all ordained by fate..."

"Fate determines the outcome." Lin exhaled a puff of white mist, looking down at Aponia, who was kneeling, half of her face still hidden in shadow. "But how we arrive at that outcome is up to us."

"..."

"Aponia, I know that no matter who tells you not to care, you won't change. Once you locked yourself in your cage, you accepted your identity as a sinner, so whatever I say will be taken as a consolation from a benefactor to a sinner."

"But you are one of the Thirteen Heroes, and you are the [Commandment] recognized by Elysia."

"So no matter when the next 'prison visit' is, I will come until you get out of this cage that 'protects' you."

Lin turned around and walked away into the distance.

Chapter Seventy-Two: "The Decided"

Time remaining until the Fifth Honkai War: 27 hours.

Lin tried to land, but the moment his toes touched the ground, his muscles went limp as if they were falling apart, like a ripped doll falling from the hospital bed to the ground.

"Cough cough..." Lin collapsed to the ground, his limbs weak. He tried to get up, but his hands trembled so much that he could barely lift them. His saliva, which he coughed up, contained some drops of pink blood.

Drowning on land—that phrase could be most fitting to describe him now.

His constitution meant that the Honkai Energy he encountered was the worst, severing his control over his body along with a hidden ailment affecting his Neural Connection.

In the stark white room, tiny humans struggle on the floor, their pitiful shadows reflected in the icy rain of the apocalypse.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes...

The floor beneath him had been warmed up, but Lin hadn't even crawled ten centimeters out. Finally, he stopped wasting his energy.

He lay on the ground, no longer moving.

A person without Honkai Energy Adaptability, a person who abuses their body, a person who doesn't cherish their life... is naturally hated by life itself.

"Lin, I've called a nurse," Prometheus said mechanically after witnessing everything.

When the nurses carried him back to the bed, he did not react at all, just like an ordinary corpse.

Like everyone who was once full of vigor but is tormented by old age and illness in their later years...

On the eve of the Honkai, Lin met the end of his fate.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the stained-glass windows of the orphanage, and the shadow on one side of the window widened as the sun went down.

"Smack."

The stone smashed the glass bottle, and it shattered on the ground.

The shards of glass slid to Anna's feet, where she had thrown the stones. She weighed the remaining stones in her hand, her calm eyes fixed on the last bottle.

Pull your hand back, grip the edge of the stone with your fingers, concentrate your strength on one point, and throw—

"Smack."

The stone, having missed its target, hit the wall and fell to the ground.

Anna glared at the smiling Nun who had snatched the bottle, and raised her hand as if to smash a stone into her face.

The Nun quickly waved her hands and hid behind the low wall. "Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute, little Anna! Don't hit me!"

"... What is it?" Anna ultimately didn't do something as outrageous as breaking the Nun's head with a stone. She put down the stone and asked listlessly.

"Little Anna, why did you smash the bottle?"

Binai looked down at the fragments at her feet, carefully avoiding their debris, and walked over to Anna.

Anna collected all these glass bottles from the garbage dump, spending a week on them, and then smashed them all in just over ten minutes.

Her brutal behavior deepened the other children's impression of her, and none of them dared to provoke her, so they could only secretly tell Binai.

"Is it wrong for me to have sadistic tendencies?" Anna replied coldly, then looked up at Binai with disdain. "And you, why did you stop me from breaking the bottle?"

Binai's expression turned serious. "Because I want Anna to become a good girl, and I can't let Anna take her anger out on an innocent bottle."

"... Are you crazy?" Anna's fists cracked as she turned her head and bared her teeth menacingly. "Even if I don't break this bottle, it will be blown away by the wind and smashed, broken by a passerby, or smashed by a low-flying bird! Even if you can change it for a while, you can't change its fate! It will break sooner or later, it's just a matter of minutes or years!"

What is destiny?

If a person is destined to be a bad person from birth, he will become a bad person whether he is born into a poor family or a rich family. However, if he is born into a poor family, he will be a thief, robber, or murderer, while if he is born into a rich family, he will be a hypocrite, a power holder, or a traitor.

Anna was acutely aware of the burning evil within her own heart.

She was happy when her parents died, and excited when she smashed the bottle.

All of this is so perfectly natural.

"Because it's just a bottle, and a bottle will break!"

"..."

Anna felt there was nothing more to say to the silent Binai; from today onwards, he shouldn't bother her anymore.

She snorted coldly and turned to leave.

"No, little Anna."

"..."

A hand took Anna's hand; it wasn't very strong, but the desire to keep her there was definitely conveyed.

Binai looked at the bewildered child with loving eyes and smiled, "Even if your parents are like that, isn't Anna still a good child who doesn't take her anger out on others?"

"You..." Anna turned around in surprise and looked at Binai.