"The Moth of the Flame is responsible for killing monsters, not creating them."
"That's just human enhancement! It's a necessary journey for humanity's future!"
"Humanity?! Merging humans and Honkai Beasts—are they still human? How are they any different from Zombies, Honkai Beasts, or Herrschers!"
"Then should we just sit back and await death!"
"The Moth of the Flame exists for humanity! If we self-destruct before the Honkai destroys us, what is the meaning of the Moth of the Flame's existence! Just to create more monsters!"
...
After the meeting, which was nothing but constant arguing, Kevin and Mei returned to the office. Mei picked up a cooled glass of water and took a sip.
She hadn't spoken a word throughout the entire meeting, yet all the arguments revolved around her. It was as if her mere presence was enough to spark controversy.
This kind of situation was reminiscent of the heretic debates in the Middle Ages.
"Mei." Kevin looked at Mei with some concern. For the past two and a half months, she had been constantly shuttling between the meetings and the R&D department. The pressure she was under was imaginable.
"It's fine. It's completely normal for humans to argue over opinions. Self-criticism and progress aren't bad things," Mei put down the glass of water, took off her glasses, and wiped the fog from them. "Humanity hasn't reached the point where we need to put all our bets on one person."
"Speaking of which, Kevin, I heard you made a new recruit cry. What's that about?"
When Mei brought up the topic, Kevin's expression became slightly awkward: "How should I put it... That was a civilian child who assisted me during the Fourth Eruption, named Kosma. After the Eruption, he actively responded to the Moth of the Flame's call for conscription, but for some reason, it took a full two months for him to officially join the squad. His childhood friend, a girl, was officially assigned to the Fifth Squad much earlier."
"Then, on the first day of the collective simulation training, he started acting like a hero."
Mei leaned back against the desk, interested in the child he mentioned: "Acting like a hero?"
"He left the squad without permission, disobeyed orders, fired arbitrarily... His combat ability is excellent, but in terms of following commands, he's even greener than a rookie. He constantly fantasizes about accomplishing great things all by himself, so I had to discipline him."
"Is he imitating you?" Mei said with a barely suppressed smile. "Imitative behavior, perhaps because you saved him during the Fourth Eruption, so he intends to learn from you."
"I think he's more like Lin," Kevin sighed heavily, his head aching.
Mei tapped on her computer. She still hadn't received communication from Prometheus: "Lin, huh... He probably isn't having a great time either."
"He will definitely return." Kevin's gaze was firm. "We promised each other."
If Lin said he would return, he would definitely return.
"Hmph hmph." Mei gave a knowing smile.
"Cough... Anyway, I believe him." Kevin seemed to feel his image as the steady captain was crumbling recently, so he coughed twice to ease the tension.
"Belief, huh..."
These two words seemed to run through the entirety of the three of them.
Just as Mei was about to say something more, an encrypted message suddenly popped up on her computer.
"..." Mei lowered her head, tapping the keyboard a few times, and a large block of information appeared.
Her pupils reflected the code that occupied the entire screen as it scrolled down. Her expression became cold.
"What's wrong?" Kevin, sensing Mei's change in state, asked quickly.
"Kevin... are you free tonight?"
"What are you planning?"
"A date."
...
Another half month passed. The weather started to turn colder, and the flowers in the courtyard began to wither.
The helmeted man sat in front of the fallen petals.
Lin closed his eyes, attempting to lift the fingers of his right hand, focusing all his consciousness on controlling his body, simulating the actions he used to perform naturally.
The idiom "the boy who forgot how to walk" perfectly described Lin's current situation. He was essentially learning the instinctive movements that even a baby could perform. This sense of dissonance was the root cause preventing his recovery.
He didn't need too much force. Just enough to lift his finger naturally was sufficient.
Lin's index finger trembled slightly. After a minute, it laboriously lifted and hovered unstably above the ground.
After lifting his index finger, he began to try with his other fingers. It took him nearly ten minutes to lift them all and maintain the posture before he stopped to rest.
Good. Now, try the entire palm.
"Lin."
Prometheus interrupted Lin.
He opened his eyes. Prometheus was scooping up a pile of fallen petals and putting them back into the flowerbed. Then she said to him, "Sakura has left."
"Where did she go?"
"I don't know, but she left with a weapon. This is the intersection surveillance footage."
A camera view of an intersection popped up on his visor. He saw Sakura walking across the street with a golf bag slung over her shoulder, carrying something. What was inside was obvious.
"After that, she disappeared. I couldn't find her on any other surveillance."
"...Prometheus, zoom in on the object in Sakura's hand."
Lin stared at Sakura in the footage. Due to the low resolution, he couldn't see clearly, but Sakura clearly made a motion of looking down at her hand, which should be holding something.
"Restoring pixel quality." A red light flashed across her pupils. The image in front of Lin cleared up from blurry to sharp, as if washed clean, and continuously zoomed in, finally freezing on a frame where Sakura was looking down at her hand.
Prometheus scanned the circular image, then compared it with the data in the database, searching for a match, which resulted in thousands of possibilities.
"Lin, I cannot confirm what Sakura is holding in her hand."
Lin's neck slowly leaned back against the wheelchair. He closed his eyes, feeling the oxygen escaping from his lungs. After a long time, he said faintly, "...It's a badge of the Moth of the Flame. Compare the two."
"Comparing... After comparison, the probability of the object Sakura is holding being a Moth of the Flame soldier's badge is 93%."
After completing this, Prometheus fell silent.
Her logical thought process was faster than Lin's, so the moment she confirmed it was a Moth of the Flame badge, she understood where Sakura was going.
There was a unit within the Moth of the Flame that specifically needed assassin talent like Sakura's.
Chrysalis.
"Lin, what should we do?"
What should he do?
He was just a cripple now, unable to contact Mei, and even unable to access the Moth of the Flame's intranet.
In this situation, what could he do?
Helplessness?
Or should he fulfill his promise?
Then, how could he stand up? How could he immediately change from a paralyzed person back to normal?
"The self-deception of the neural link and the conflict with the conscious mind caused the paralysis." Lin muttered this sentence, then said coldly, "Prometheus, initiate the neural link again."
"Lin, without the Titan, an aerial link will cause your load to overload."
Delta died from load overload. For a pure human without Prometheus's assistance, initiating a neural link without a machine was absolute suicide.
"Prometheus."
The cold black eyes, from behind the visor, looked at the mechanical girl.
With a colder gaze than hers.
"That is an order."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Yes."