Restaurant Tragedy

"This was the city center, and the place most worth visiting in the entire city. It used to be City Hall, but it had recently been converted into Fire Moth's temporary administrative headquarters." Kevin introduced the city to Qin Su while using the PAD in his hand to explain.

The near-future architectural style gave the entire city a surreal sheen. Fire Moth's emblem scrolled across enormous holographic screens, shifting black-and-white light reflecting off the people below. Patrol drones occasionally hovered overhead, broadcasting the regulations of martial law one by one.

People struggled against an ever-worsening tomorrow. Many had completely given up on themselves, with indulgence becoming their only goal—haunting entertainment venues day and night. If Fire Moth had not imposed wartime restrictions requiring such venues to close promptly at 19:00, then "amusing ourselves to death" would no longer have been an exaggeration.

Cyberpunk referred to a human society with an extremely high level of technology but a lack of humanistic spirit. War lacked everything, but what it lacked most was survival. Without survival, where could concern for others come from?

Cyberpunk had originally been nothing more than a cruel fantasy. Yet here, he truly experienced what a cyber city was. Years of war had devastated the fruits of human civilization's labor, and even eating one's fill had become an extravagant hope for ordinary people.

Ragged children gathered in dark alleys, their eyes fixed tightly on everyone passing the alley entrance. Well-dressed people were often targets for the homeless to beg from, such as Qin Su. The children had wanted to approach, but the cold air surrounding Kevin inadvertently drove them away. Trembling, they returned to where they had been.

Kevin smiled helplessly, while Qin Su shrugged to show he did not mind. Kevin took two coins from his pocket and accurately tossed them at the children's feet. Smiling, Kevin gave the children a thumbs-up.

The children were pleasantly surprised and loudly thanked Kevin one after another.

"You may be able to give these children a wonderful day today, but what about tomorrow?"

"That is why I fight Honkai. I want every child to have a wonderful today and tomorrow."

"Protecting humanity has always been your lifelong wish, hasn't it?" Qin Su looked at Kevin's back. The setting sun shone upon him, and icy mist slowly rose around his body.

"That's right." Kevin did not understand why Qin Su was asking something he already knew.

But the strongest human warrior whose wish was "to protect humanity" would one day fall into incomprehensible obsession. Qin Su tried to plant a small seed in his heart.

"I want you to answer a question."

"If sacrificing yourself could eliminate Honkai, would you do it?"

Kevin answered without hesitation, "I would."

"What if sacrificing a group of people could eliminate Honkai?"

"I would be honored to be one of them."

"What if it required sacrificing the vast majority of people?"

Kevin fell silent. After a while, he said, "If possible..."

Qin Su interrupted him. "Great power has never been a reason for you to decide the lives of others. Does the Trolley Problem only have the option of pulling the lever? The ridiculous thing is that real life has no options. Humans always like to imagine choices that are divided into opposing sides."

"If Honkai demanded that you kill one person in exchange for sparing a hundred, your thought should be to make it stop, not to meet Its demands. Humanity's spirit of struggle demands that you press forward, not bow your head. If Honkai is irresistible, then what is the point of Fire Moth existing?"

"..."

The two fell silent for a while. At last, Qin Su patted Kevin on the shoulder. "Even if you fail, people of high moral character will still praise you, rather than blame the deaths of a hundred people on you. Perhaps you want to say that the world has never had such perfect outcomes. That is true. But we should not begin denying perfection and choose imperfect outcomes, because there is not nothing between zero and one."

The colors of the sunset lit up half his body. His ice-blue eyes stared into the distance, where firefighters who had rushed over were putting out the blaze. The flames consuming the entire building gradually subsided, while soldiers dispersed the violent demonstrators.

Kevin did not know what he was thinking. After a long time, he finally said, "I'll remember that, my friend."

"Let's go." Qin Su patted his shoulder again, pulling him out of his world of thoughts. Kevin came back to himself and continued walking and talking, though he spoke far less than before.

"This complex is the largest research center in the city. You'll be working here in the future too, right? You're a scientist as well, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Huh? Kevin? And... who is this beside you?"

By coincidence, a female scientist walked out through the main entrance. Beneath her white lab coat, she wore a sailor uniform. It was a strange combination, yet it suited her temperament and gave a refreshing impression. In truth, beautiful girls looked good in anything.

The girl who looked like Raiden Mei stared at Qin Su and Kevin in surprise.

Qin Su knew that she was the genius Dr. Mei, so he deliberately cleared his throat and began introducing himself. "Hello, Dr. Mei. I am a Fire Moth researcher who escaped from the Mu Continent. As for why I managed to escape, it was probably because I can run faster than light."

Dr. Mei was amused by his cold joke. The corners of her lips curved, and she laughed. Kevin did not understand it, but when Dr. Mei laughed, he laughed along with her. Happiness was contagious, and besides, he had not seen Mei smile in a long time.

Dr. Mei smiled. "But you still haven't told me your name." Before Qin Su could answer, Kevin answered for him.

"John Connor." Qin Su had never told Kevin his name. He must have seen it when Qin Su showed his identification earlier.

"Mei, we're just about to eat. Come with us." Kevin extended his hand to her as he invited her.

Qin Su nodded silently. In theory, robots did not need to eat, so going would only waste time. However, through the act of dining together, he could collect personality data from the two of them—or perhaps something hidden even deeper.

Mei nodded and took Kevin's hand.

Qin Su was surprised by her courage. Kevin's body temperature was maintained at minus thirty degrees. If it were Qin Su, he would not hold it. He glanced at Mei. Although the T-800's electronic eyes could not convey a look and its control over microexpressions was not precise enough, Dr. Mei understood what he meant.

Mei saw Qin Su's "surprised" gaze and smiled. "Holding hands for a few seconds is fine." Kevin also scratched his head sheepishly at him.

Perhaps he had underestimated the power of love.

Yet this kind of power could allow the two of them to strive together for a grand dream. He truly had underestimated it.

The sunset gradually vanished beneath the horizon, replaced by the silver moon in the sky. After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the restaurant. Eating was not difficult; the T-800 could eat like a normal person, but what it consumed brought it no benefit and would even require wasting time to clean it out afterward.

"Ha, you've been on the run for so long. You must not have had a proper meal in ages, right?" Kevin heartily patted his shoulder.

After Kevin patted his shoulder, the T-800 immediately became a little unsteady. "Yes. I haven't eaten properly since escaping the Mu Continent."

30 minutes later

"I'm getting a little impatient." Qin Su rested his hand on the table and propped up his chin in boredom. His time was precious; not a moment of an Infiltrator's time could be wasted. If Qin Su had enough subunits, letting this T-800 sit idle for a while would not have been difficult, but there were no ifs.

He stood up and said to the two who were showing off their affection, "I'll go hurry them along."

Kevin nodded to Qin Su, then returned to their little world of two. The entire air was filled with a sweet-and-sour scent.

He walked straight to the cashier counter and wrote a conclusion in his consciousness: "Humans in love experience a significant increase in patience." He entered this observation into the data storage center.

Standing before the counter, Qin Su asked the owner, who was seated there copying account books, "Why hasn't our food been served after half an hour?"

The gray-haired owner looked up, adjusted his glasses, and hurriedly stood to apologize. "I'm sorry, sir. You're at Dr. Mei and Lord Kevin's table, correct? I'll immediately go urge the kitchen to serve your food."

Hearing that, Qin Su politely said, "I'll do it myself. It may be more efficient if the customer personally goes to hurry them."

The owner thanked him with an apologetic expression. "Then I'll have to trouble you."

"It's nothing."

He waved his hand and headed toward the kitchen. When he opened the kitchen's iron door, the cold gleam of a blade appeared in his eyes. A dining knife floating in midair "shot" toward his eye. Though Qin Su had countless words in his heart, they only became a muffled groan: "Urgh!"

His body then fell backward, entering a state of feigned death.

PS: Personally, I think Dr. Mei's physical constitution was extremely formidable. Dr. Mei could continuously activate three gems with the Key of Blankness—she was practically half a Sirin.

Light cannot escape a black hole's gravity, so why did he joke that he was a man who could run faster than light?