"You're going to die soon."
The one-armed man spoke to Lín bluntly.
Lín calmly looked at Spaciel. This man remained the leader after the reconstruction of the Fifth Branch. Today, headquarters had convened a meeting of the leaders of the various branches, and the first sentence Spaciel said to Lín in his hospital room after the meeting was this one.
"Think I'm kidding?" Spaciel sneered when he saw Lín unmoved.
"No."
"Hmph…" Spaciel tapped his device, and a physical examination report appeared inside Lín's helmet. He stared blankly at Lín. "The inhibitor's effect on you has been greatly reduced. Coupled with your almost self-destructive use of your body, you are arguably the only person I have ever seen who is being Honkai-corroded so quickly, even with the technological assistance of the Moth of the Flame."
Lín opened the report. His various physical indicators were still balanced, except for the section related to Honkai energy, which displayed an alarming number.
A Honkai energy corrosion rate of 13%.
Mobius once said that a Honkai energy corrosion rate above 15% would start to show obvious physical discomfort symptoms, such as nausea, itching, and loss of composure, indicating that the Honkai energy had spread from the outside to the inside.
"If you refrain from any combat starting now and peacefully live out the rest of your life, you should be able to survive for two or three years. Three years is the most ideal state; the most likely is two years."
"…"
"Heh heh, although I fantasized about seeing you panic, it seems you've already known your days are numbered." Spaciel took a stack of protocols from his folder and handed them to Lín. "But I can still tell you some 'good news,' which is that the serum to cure Honkai sickness is showing promise."
Lín lowered his head to look at the words on the protocol—
Body Donation Agreement.
"I think you should know the common sense that the human body naturally produces antibodies to fight diseases, yes? Heh heh… Right, you know what I'm going to say next."
"Honkai sickness also causes the human body to produce antibody-like substances."
Spaciel looked down at Lín, a grin playing on his lips: "The longer a person resists after being infected with Honkai sickness, the more antibodies they produce. Although a single person's antibodies are insufficient for self-healing, when the antibodies are extracted from patients who have succumbed to the corrosion, and the quantity reaches a certain level, causing a qualitative change, it may be possible to cure Honkai sickness."
"Initially, we didn't discover it, but by chance, I found nearly undetectable antibodies in the corpse of a Honkai patient who had been corroded for nearly a year, and that's how we determined the direction for serum production."
"So you should understand what I mean."
He suddenly leaned closer and whispered—
"It takes thousands of lives to produce one dose of this serum. Even at the fastest rate, it will take nearly three years, by which time you will already be a corpse."
"And to produce antibodies, you must stop using the inhibitor and endure the rampant Honkai energy corrosion until you die a painful death."
"So, will you use your remaining, limited life, through painful agony and the approaching death, to contribute to saving another person you don't even know?"
After speaking, Spaciel stepped back, looking at Lín with a cold smile, letting him make his own choice.
Lín was now the captain of the Seventh Squad. His remains would not be used arbitrarily like those of ordinary soldiers and Honkai patients, so any use of his remains required him to sign the Body Donation Agreement while alive.
Lín looked at the agreement in his hand.
If he stopped participating in combat and continued to use the inhibitor, he could safely live for up to three more years, and perhaps, with luck, he might get the first dose of the Honkai sickness serum.
If he signed this agreement, it meant he could no longer use the inhibitor. The Honkai energy corrosion rate would accelerate, and he would die in one year at the earliest, two years at the latest, and the Honkai sickness serum would not be available for him to use.
Wait for others to sacrifice, or sacrifice himself for others.
Lín flipped through the agreement several times. This almost-hesitant behavior prompted a cynical laugh from Spaciel.
This guy—was he finally starting to consider himself and the people around him?
After flipping through it one more time, Lín looked up at Spaciel: "Where's the pen?"
"…What?" Spaciel's smile froze.
"I didn't find a pen."
"…"
Lín lifted and shook the agreement, looking at Spaciel, indicating that he hadn't found the pen for signing inside the document.
Was he… looking for a pen just now?
"You intend to sign?"
"Otherwise?"
Lín retorted casually.
Spaciel dumbfoundedly offered the pen. Lín took it, found the signature line, and quickly signed his name.
After completing everything, he handed the agreement back to Spaciel and asked: "Anything else?"
…
"Is Lin… back?"
The girl with the inner-dyed hair sitting on the transport plane clutched her communicator, asking in an almost whisper.
"Seele, what's wrong?" The blonde girl sitting next to her saw her looking somewhat lost and waved her hand in front of her eyes.
"Ah!"
Seele was startled. When she saw who it was, she sighed with relief: "Dystopia, don't scare me."
The blonde girl teased with a smile: "I clearly didn't scare you. You were the one spacing out~ Are you thinking about someone?"
"It goes without saying, it's her Lín~ T-E-A-M-M-A-T-E~"
Himeko, returning from the front cabin carrying two cans of beer, pinched her throat and cheesily uttered Lín's name, giving both girls goosebumps while Seele's fair cheeks visibly flushed.
Seeing this, Seele could only point at the beer in Himeko's hand, finding fault with her in displeasure: "Captain, you're drinking again right after a mission!"
"I'm an adult, of course I'm going to drink. Don't change the subject, oh." Himeko wiggled her eyebrows, speaking intimately to a confused Dystopia in a rather vulgar manner, "That Lín, he's the Seventh Squad's…"
"Aahhh! Stop it!"
"Haha! Did you recover your vitality just because you heard Lín-boy is back? You've been like a different person these past two months. He's more effective, isn't he?"
After Lín left headquarters, Seele had completely changed.
Smiles rarely appeared on her face. Her strikes during sorties were fierce, a stark contrast to the gentle girl she once was, and occasionally, one could find her quietly letting out a low chuckle after mincing a Honkai beast.
A cruel smile, devoid of any humor.
It was as if seeing those monsters dismembered made her feel slightly better.
Frequent sorties, frequent campaigns—she spent more time on missions than resting, becoming a tireless killing machine.
While her combat abilities rose, the formerly gentle 'human touch' on her also vanished.
Now that Lín was back, the gentle and kind girl had also returned.
"Captain, if you keep this up, I won't let you drink anymore."
"Hahaha, just leave me alone. Hurry and go see your Lín-teammate later, lest that brat quietly run away again."
Seele nodded, smiling reassuringly.
That's good… Lín hasn't…