Last night, in that cold apartment, after confirming that Rena had escaped with severe injuries and was safe for the moment.
The drained feeling of having survived a disaster had not lasted long.
In its place came a cold sense of crisis, enough to freeze the marrow.
Lynn slumped behind the door, but his mind raced at an almost insane speed.
Cassius knows.
The Sons of Medusa squad, the most threatening force on this Hive World right now, has set its sights on him and Rena.
Run? Where could they run?
The Hive World was sealed off layer by layer. The upper levels had nobles and the Adeptus Arbites, while the lower levels were a paradise for mutants and heretics. Leave the Hive City?
Without a ship or travel authorization, stepping beyond the protective shield meant lethal radiation and vacuum.
Hide? Rena's nest had already been discovered, and she needed time and resources to recover from her severe injuries.
And Cassius's squad had the most advanced detection equipment. In a relatively enclosed environment like the Hive City, finding them was only a matter of time.
Fight? With his and Rena's current strength, take on a well-equipped, experienced Clan Magara destruction squad born specifically for killing?
That was no different from suicide.
Despair felt like thick alloy walls on every side, silently closing in.
They would crush him along with the "secret" in his mind.
Just as despair surged like an icy tide, about to overwhelm the last embankment of his consciousness.
An absurd, insane thought, born from the depths of his soul as a galgame player in his previous life.
Like lightning in the darkness, it split apart his muddled thoughts.
Can the system bind a second romance target?
The instant that thought appeared, even he found it utterly ridiculous.
Other people's galgames were all about building harems of beautiful girls.
For him, the main girl was a Tyranid, and the side route he wanted to open was a bald "tin can."
But.
If the system really can bind a second one.
Lynn's heart gave a sudden leap.
He struggled to his feet and staggered over to the Dataslate. His trembling finger firmly opened that pink system interface, so utterly out of place in the dark, brutal surroundings.
He kept operating the system with his mind, opening all sorts of pages tucked away in corners.
Until he saw a line of text.
["Even in the 41st millennium, I want to fall in love!" Side quest~] Notice: given the host's current circumstances, forcibly binding a side-route character carries an extremely high risk.
Lynn stared at the flickering words on the screen, his breathing suddenly quickening.
It really is possible!
As Rena's affection and strength grew, the system's "side quest" function had actually unlocked!
Although there was currently only one slot, and binding carried an extremely high risk, this meant.
It meant he might not have to choose between "being exterminated by the Sons of Medusa" and "fleeing in panic with Rena, only to be killed by another faction in the end."
He could have a third path, a more insane, more dangerous, but potentially immensely rewarding unorthodox route!
"Cassius..." Lynn murmured the name, narrowing his eyes with ill intent and sticking out his tongue to lick his upper lip.
Rather than sit and wait for death, he would take a gamble.
"Let's fucking do this, boys!" All that remained in Lynn's eyes was a do-or-die resolve.
And so, when he walked toward the Sons of Medusa outpost the next morning, pale-faced and bloodshot-eyed.
There was no panic left inside him, only an almost cold calm, and a trace of excitement at the insane gamble he was about to begin.
Now, inside the warehouse.
Psychic Power chains dug deep into Cassius's consciousness as the system's binding protocol ran forcibly and brutally.
The violent backlash made Lynn bleed from all seven orifices. Half-kneeling on the floor, his vision kept going black, and he felt as though his very soul was about to be drained dry.
But he held on.
Because he "saw" it, beside the phantom of Cassius's consciousness, which was wrapped in Psychic Power chains and struggling violently.
A brand-new pink system sub-interface was slowly, laboriously "generating," bit by bit.
[Side-route binding in progress~~~] [Target: Sons of Medusa sergeant · Cassius (male)]
Before long, the system notified Lynn that the binding had succeeded!
"The first side route." He panted, his voice hoarse yet carrying an unquestionable certainty. "It starts with you, Cassius!"
Immediately afterward, the system interface blazed with light!
An eerie, pale-yellow warmth spread from some unknown source, coating the warehouse in a hazy, unreal filter.
Like the setting sun over a high school campus as classes ended.
The rusty pipes and metal walls blurred, and invisible cherry blossom petals seemed to drift through the air.
Under the influence of the system's power, the images of Lynn and Cassius, too.
Were generated into two distinctly styled "character sprites," floating above a dialogue interface on the level of consciousness.
Lynn's sprite depicted a black-haired young man with a pale face but determined eyes, blood at the corner of his mouth, and a damaged tax officer's uniform.
Behind him were the hazy neon lights of the Hive City, while pink heart effects faintly flickered around him.
Cassius's sprite showed him with his helmet removed-bald.
His face was as hard as carved stone, fury and confusion lingering in his dark-blue eyes, and he wore heavy emerald-green Power Armour.
The white marking of Clan Magara was clearly visible on his pauldron. His background was an abstract pattern of steel and flames, but pink light seeped into its edges as well.
The entire scene was suffused with an extremely eerie, absurd, even somewhat "romantic" atmosphere that neither could escape.
Lynn looked at the familiar galgame dialogue interface, feeling the "dating game" atmosphere the system had forcibly created.
Certain indescribable fragments of memories from Terra's 3K era in his previous life suddenly surged through his mind, beyond his control.
The soul of a drama queen instantly ignited in his mind.
Then, in a tone so sickeningly cheesy that even he got goosebumps, yet which eerily suited the current "scene's atmosphere," complete with strange verbal quirks, Lynn "spoke" the first line of dialogue:
[Lynn (sprite leaning slightly forward, eyes terrifyingly "sincere")]:
"Cassius-senpai, ano (um), watashi (I) have something I want to tell you!"
Cassius's sprite shook violently, as though it had suffered an immense mental blow.
His physical body remained bound by Psychic Power chains, unable to move, but his consciousness let out an enraged roar in the dialogue interface:
[Cassius] (the flames in his sprite's background seemed to burn even fiercer, and towering fury filled his dark-blue eyes):
"?"
A simple question mark, yet it held enough killing intent and confusion to tear a mortal soul apart.
However, the system's power forcibly "restricted" his actions.
[Lynn] (bowing at ninety degrees, tone earnest):
"Watashi, suki (like) you, senpai! From the first time I saw you, I was captivated by your powerful, calm, and efficient bearing!"
"Please let watashi interfere in your life! Please go out with me, Cassius-senpai!!!"