"Teacher, did we do something wrong?"
Facing Daniela's question, the man remained silent for a long time. He looked at the receding figure ahead, then back at Daniela's innocent, childish face.
He shook his head decisively.
He whispered to Daniela: "The more someone cares about you, the more they want to catch your attention. Therefore, the beginning of love is often about attracting the other person's attention—whether it's through good means or bad. We were very successful."
"Really? That's great!" Daniela's eyes sparkled with adoration as she looked at the man.
When the man raised his head, the nun's gaze was practically murderous.
"Mr. Ultraman, I hope you can explain what you are teaching these children, and why?" The nun was rarely thin-lipped with anger. She stared at the incredibly calm man, wanting to interrogate him for his actions.
Compared to the nun, the man's reaction was flat, but that didn't mean his words were equally mundane: "I believe that early relationship education is beneficial and harmless to a child's growth."
"R-Relationship education?" The nun was stunned.
"Yes."
"But that's still not right! The view of love you are teaching them is wrong!" The nun snapped back to her senses to refute him, nearly having been fooled by his righteous demeanor. "How can you..."
"Wrong?!"
The man's gaze, sharp as a blade, broke through the oval eyes of the mask. His overwhelming presence made the nun freeze.
"Although you do not belong to any specific sect, the role of a 'nun' is traditionally associated with Catholicism. And Catholicism does not allow nuns to marry. Since you are not permitted to marry, how could you possibly know whether a concept of love is correct or not?"
"This..."
Seeing the man overwhelm the nun with his sheer presence, the starlight in Daniela's eyes grew even brighter.
"As for me, the number of my female friends is nearly in double digits. Among my male friends, the one I am closest to is in a long-term, stable relationship. I have years of experience observing what real love looks like."
"I... this..."
The nun had never been so thoroughly cornered by a logic that, while sophistical, felt strangely coherent. She was indeed good at persuading others, but once the conversation entered a field she was unfamiliar with, where was she supposed to even begin?
The man lowered his head and said to Daniela: "When she cannot refute you, that is when she begins to accept your viewpoint. And accepting your viewpoint means that next, she will accept you as a person."
Daniela nodded seriously to remember his words, then blurted out—
"But isn't Teacher dating Sister Aponia? Why is Sister Aponia still arguing with Teacher? And Teacher said Sister Aponia is a nun and can't get married, so why are you dating her?"
"..."
"..."
The nun stared dumbfoundedly at the man who had his head lowered. He looked like a dog that had lost a fight, tucking its tail and not daring to look her in the eye.
When on earth was she "dating" this man?
"Huh? Teacher?"
"Daniela, I..."
"Even in a relationship, there will be disagreements; it's perfectly normal." The man, in the instant the nun opened her mouth to explain, flashed to her side. Before she could react, one arm was around her waist while his other hand adjusted his mask. "So I think we should have a good discussion about our differences. Daniela, you go back first."
The nun hadn't reacted at all; she only managed to weakly reach out toward an envious Daniela: "Wait a moment..."
"Do you know that the number of stars and moons you can see in the night sky actually depends on the number of people you meet in your lifetime?" At this moment, the man placed a gloved finger against her lips. "Those stars in the sky all look the same; only the moon can move the tides. Can I be your moon, and the moonlight that shines upon you?"
How could a sister who had always led a life of pure heart and few desires have ever heard such romantic words? When she thought about how this man likely wanted to teach those children this kind of flowery language, she bit her lip and said angrily: "How many people have you deceived with those words?"
"I just made it up."
"..."
"So, are you willing to be the only person deceived by this sentence?"
Daniela couldn't help but applaud—not just for the lovely blush on the nun's face, but for the man's scumbag-like declaration.
Then, she obediently left to review the knowledge the man had taught her, determined to become a "love master" like him.
"...Are we done?" the nun asked coldly. The blush on her face hadn't faded, but her expression had completely cooled.
The man promptly let go of the nun, stepping back two paces to a nuanced distance.
"Mr. Ultraman, I am very grateful for your help with the sanatorium, and for looking after the children and Kalpas. I believe you are not a bad person." The nun's tone was always thin, even now. "But I hope these children can grow up in a healthy and normal direction. You were once a child too, weren't you? Your childhood happiness can become their happiness, rather than being so... nonsensical, right?"
"..." The man was silent for a long while before nodding: "Yes."
...
"Lin? What made you think to call me?" Spaciel took off his surgical mask, teasing the person on the other end of the comms.
He made a gesture for the others to continue while he stepped outside to handle a matter, eventually walking out of the operating room and into the hallway.
"...Dr. Spaciel, how is the improvement of the Honkai Sickness serum going?"
"Lin, I've already told you," Spaciel spoke seriously. "This isn't something you should worry about. The serum itself has no room for further improvement. Its effectiveness has determined that the quantity required for extraction is both massive and fixed."
This sentence was met with a long silence from the other end. If Spaciel hadn't been able to hear the man's steady breathing, he might have thought the connection had dropped.
"How much serum do you have right now?"
"...Lin, what are you planning to do?"
"..."
"Fifty-seven doses. No more, no less. That is the total amount of serum extracted from all the Honkai Sickness victims' corpses found by Fire-Moth globally. Currently, only individuals at captain-rank or above can apply for it, and it can only be used after approval."
Fifty-seven. Behind this number was the death of five hundred and seventy thousand Honkai Sickness patients.
They would be used in crucial places. In the vast sea of humanity, out of six billion humans worldwide, only fifty-seven people could use these serums—those fifty-seven people who bore the mission of saving humanity.
So, by comparison, some ordinary children in a sanatorium sounded so... insignificant.
"Lin?"
This time, the connection really was cut.