Falling in Love with the World / Realization in the Cold Wind

Anna's parents saved their child from the brink of death; they are a responsible and loving couple, a fact known to everyone.

They only saw Anna's parents push Anna away, but they didn't see that at the last moment they were humiliating their child, blaming each other, and even that the car accident was caused by their impending divorce and their failure to watch where they were going.

"I'm sorry, Anna, I had someone investigate your family because I think a child's personality is closely related to her family environment." Binai looked at her apologetically and affectionately. "Actually, you've been very angry, Anna, but you've been holding back, and you're still suppressing it even now."

Anna's pupils dilated and then suddenly contracted, as she brushed away Binai's hand. "Don't think you know me!"

"So what if you know! Yes, I hate those two! They're neither good parents nor a good couple! My arrival was the fuse that ignited their conflict! Because I'm a menace! Now, and I will be when I grow up!"

"I was never meant to be! My only purpose in living in this world is to prove them right! My rudeness, cruelty, and ruthlessness prove that their so-called 'destiny' is true!"

Does family influence personality? Yes, that's right. No matter how much she disliked those two people, their blood still flowed in her veins, and their personalities were inherited by her. But was that what she wanted? From the moment she was born into that family, her fate was no longer in her own hands.

"Smack!"

A sharp cracking sound rang out.

"Tick-tock".

Blood fell on the grass, sliding from the tips of the blades into the soil.

Anna's hysterical roar was stuck in her throat, and she stared wide-eyed at the Nun in front of her, her face covered in blood.

"Ouch... that hurts." Binai swayed and dropped the broken bottle in her hand, barely able to stand, but still managed a forced smile. "Anna, you're right, this bottle was destined to break."

"But it didn't break in your hands, it broke on my head, which you can't believe."

The Nun reached out and touched the head of the stunned child.

"We can't escape fate, but at least we can face it with integrity and grace. And isn't little Anna also trying to change her own destiny?"

"You don't want your personality to affect others, so you vent by smashing bottles."

"Heh... She's clearly a Nun, yet she says such blasphemous things. I hope the convent doesn't find out."

Before she knew it, tears welled up in Anna's eyes. She looked at the Nun in front of her, her head covered in blood, and the crying she had long forgotten appeared on her face with genuine emotion.

"Ughhhh!"

The girl threw herself into the Nun's arms, venting the resentment and pain she had felt since birth.

The Nun simply stroked her hair gently, without saying a word.

Fate determines the outcome, but how one arrives at that outcome is up to oneself.

Chapter Seventy-Three: Falling in Love with the World

Time remaining until the Fifth Honkai War: 24 hours.

"Binai!"

Upon returning to the orphanage, Anna immediately went to find Binai in her room and anxiously told her, under Bine's bewildered gaze, "You all need to leave Trant right now!"

"What's wrong, Anna?" Binai was still thinking about what the children would eat tomorrow when Anna rushed in and told her to hurry up and leave. "Weren't you out with Mr. Lin to take care of some business?"

"I can't explain it! Anyway, you all need to leave here quickly. I'm also going to tell the others to leave quickly too. Where's the loudspeaker I bought last time?"

Anna hurriedly told the children at the orphanage to pack their things and prepare to leave. Amidst their bewildered gazes, Anna could only shout, "Go quickly!"

Binai walked out of the room and came to Anna's side. Seeing that Anna was still wet from the rain and panting, she got a dry towel to dry her hair.

"Swish, swish, swish."

After drying Anna's hair from behind, Binai made her turn around seriously and asked, "Anna, what happened? You've been acting strangely lately, and Mr. Lin has been acting strangely too. Are you in trouble?"

"Troublesome?" Anna smiled wryly. "It is indeed extremely troublesome... We should receive notification to evacuate soon..."

"What's the meaning..."

"Waaah—"

A piercing alarm ripped through the hail-covered city, silencing all of Binai's words.

She stared blankly out the window; the once quiet city seemed to have come to life.

What exactly happened?

"Headquarters has ordered the evacuation of all civilians in Tran. An alert was sent a minute ago. According to Doctor Mei's Artificial Intelligence calculations, a massive Honkai will occur in 24 hours. Based on the current situation, the location of the collapse is very likely to be Tran."

Hen stood in front of the densely packed crowd and said sternly.

"Support will arrive in about ten hours. Before that, the personnel structure has changed due to the Squad Seven leader's inability to participate in the operation and temporary adjustments made by headquarters."

Elysia was right next to Hen, and her smiling face made people feel no sense of oppression at all.

"From now on, everyone in the third, seventh, and Elysia's original squads will be under Elysia's command!"

"I will be assigned to the temporary team that has been sent from headquarters."

Temporary team?

Why make such personnel adjustments at this time?

However, Hen did not elaborate further. He coldly dismissed the preparations and then went to Lin's ward with Elysia.

"A temporary team... Hen, you know what that means, right?" Elysia muttered these words, the smile in her eyes disappearing.

"... a team entirely composed of recruits who aren't even regular soldiers yet, or are simply useless," Hen replied, walking ahead. "No need for adjustment, just follow orders..."

"Sending them to their deaths."

Elysia followed behind Hen: "But Hen, weren't you just feeling sorry for Lin, this junior? Now you're going to personally lead those new recruits with a future to their deaths. Don't you think that's contradictory?"

"I feel sorry for each of them, but following orders is a soldier's job."

Cherishing younger generations and obeying orders are not contradictory.

He viewed the younger generation as a senior, and then carried out orders as a soldier.

"You don't need to say anything, Elysia, I have my own plans."

Hen abruptly ended the conversation, as they had already arrived at Lin's hospital room. After exchanging a knowing glance, they pushed open the door and went inside.

"..."

The man wearing a helmet sat on the hospital bed. He didn't know how much time he had spent adjusting himself to this position so that he could look out the window at the snow and rain.

Lin seemed not to notice them coming in, or perhaps he knew but didn't want to look.

"Lin, the operation will begin in fifteen hours. We will transfer you back to headquarters in one hour, and your team will operate with the others."

"..."

Lin nodded almost imperceptibly, and made no other move.

"Lin, do you have any objections to this arrangement?" Hen's question made Lin turn his head slightly to look at them.

A suffocating eye contact.

Surprisingly, Hen did not sense any deathly aura from Lin. On the contrary, he felt that Lin was still calm and composed, as if there was nothing wrong with him.

This is different from the Lin we knew at the beginning.

"Have the city's residents been evacuated?" Lin asked in a hoarse voice.

"Evacuation notices and alerts have been issued, and the evacuation is expected to take nine hours to complete."

"There's a place I want you to pay attention to; it could very well be the epicenter of a massive Honkai."

Lin's words surprised Hen, who then subconsciously asked, "Where?"

"An orphanage."

Prometheus sent the coordinates of the orphanage to the two's communication channel. After seeing the location, they looked up at the increasingly cold-hearted Lin.

"During the search of the entire city, the only Honkai zombie I found was the orphanage's handyman, and the time when he mutated was likely when the abnormal rise in Honkai Energy was first detected."

Lin said slowly and deliberately.

"After that Honkai fluctuation, the temperature in Tran gradually rose, but that was not a sign of warming up, but a harbinger of Honkai outbreak."

"The Honkai Energy didn't suddenly rise and then suddenly fall; the reason it fell was that the Honkai Energy gathered together."

The Honkai Energy decreased, but the temperature increased. This is because the Honkai Energy was concentrated, thus reducing the Honkai Energy affecting the temperature.

"So the Honkai Energy fluctuations detected that time should be the rising Honkai Energy being concentrated together, and the Honkai Energy concentration around the location where it is concentrated will be higher, which is why the janitor was corrupted by Honkai Energy."

The Honkai Energy didn't just disappear into thin air; it was hidden away.

"So that's how it is!" Hen stared incredulously at the marked locations on the map.

"Lin, that girl..." Elysia thought of another layer. Anna, whom Lin brought back, seemed to have learned the inside story through Lin. It was hard not to think of her connection with the Honkai.

Lin nodded. "She came from that orphanage. I asked her to go ahead and relocate the people from the orphanage."

"... Looks like you haven't been completely defeated yet, Lin."

A glint of light flickered in the black pupils beneath the helmet.

"Uncle, when a person is about to die, it is their destiny."

"But the way we move toward that outcome is up to us."

"I love this world because there are people like Uncle and people Binai. I used to think that the world was dark and hopeless because it only hurt me."

"But at least you gave me light, so even just for you, I am willing to love the whole world."

The girl's smile flickered before my eyes.

Chapter Seventy-Four: Awakening in the Cold Wind

One person's sadness can't change anything.

Even enlightenment born in the course of an era can be extinguished in the torrent of change.

Time remaining until the Fifth Honkai War: 23 hours.

The headquarters' transport planes landed on the tarmac. After the Delta Flight Device was made more widely used, these transport planes were the first to be used, which greatly increased transport efficiency and safety, and made combat support more flexible.

Teams emerged from the transport planes. After experiencing five Honkai, the Fire Moths were finally well-prepared to deal with the large-scale Honkai and the arrival of the Herrscher. Even the original order to have Lin pilot the Titan was canceled.

However, even if it's not canceled, Lin won't be able to fight.

"Where's Lin...?" Kevin looked somewhat dazed as he stepped off the transport plane.

When the hidden truth comes to light, the emotional backlash will be amplified.

When the news of Lin's complete physical failure reached his ears, he was dealing with the temporary reassignment of Kosma. He didn't even notice the pen falling from his fingertips to the ground; he was just staring blankly at the information on the communicator.

Honkai Energy and eroded?

The word "severe" means that Lin was not recently infected with the Honkai Sickness, and that he was completely unaware of the suffering his friends were enduring.

The same thing happened to Himiko. She, who was always carefree and could even laugh during battle, silently walked off the transport plane with Kon.

But she didn't do what Kevin did, because there were other people around her who needed comfort more.

"Soul, are you alright?" Himiko asked softly.

Soul held a giant scythe disproportionate to her size in one hand, her head bowed and her hair covering her eyes. After hearing Himiko, she raised her head slightly but said nothing.

Hen spotted them from afar, and after a moment's thought, slowly walked up to Himiko and said under her questioning gaze, "Lin is already on the transport plane back to headquarters."

"...I see. Well then, he should rest too." Himiko.

"Captain, for now, let's focus on the Honkai." Soul, carrying his weapon, hurried towards the exit with his head down, causing the bewildered Himiko reach out her hand, but nothing came out.

After experiencing a push-back sensation, the transport aircraft stabilized between the stratosphere and troposphere.

Lin leaned against the cushion with his eyes closed, his helmet functioning normally, and rested quietly in the darkness.

Without thinking, there was nothing Lin could do anymore.

"Thirty-two minutes, four seconds, and three seconds, Mr. Lin, your brainwaves did not fluctuate much, but you remained conscious. In other words, you did not think about anything or fall asleep during this half hour, and you were able to maintain your consciousness."