"Meow~"
The perpetually black statue reached out from the darkness, taking a piece of paper covered in code from the Can's mouth. He stroked its head and gave it a pouch of silver coins and a small dried fish.
"Tell Pardo I'll go find her in a bit."
"Meow~"
With a dexterity completely disproportionate to its size, the Can hopped away and disappeared into the entrance of the Elysian Realm.
"You can talk to a cat?"
Mei walked over from a distance, looking at the direction the Can had disappeared, then back at Lin, who was observing the document.
"No, but the Can understands what I say. That's enough." Lin's finger tapped on a few distorted characters. His sapphire-blue visual display lit up, indicating he had begun the deciphering process.
"Speaking of which..."
"Raiden Mei, if you have something to ask, don't beat around the bush. I will tell you what I should, and what I shouldn't, you won't get out of me even if you try to pry."
"..."
On the bright side, at least Lin wouldn't mock or get angry at her like Kalpas did.
"Pardofelis is also one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, your comrade. From my observation, you treat her much better than the others, even more so than Elysia..."
"Oh my? Did I hear someone calling my cute name?"
Elysia appeared out of nowhere. Mei was already accustomed to her sudden appearances.
She sat next to Lin with a grin, crossing her curvy legs and leaning back on the sofa: "You're so naughty, Mei, gossiping about Lin and me behind our backs."
"I wasn't..."
"You could have just asked me directly."
"..."
Mei didn't know whether to believe Elysia, but seeing Lin, the person concerned, remain completely silent, she figured Elysia probably wasn't lying.
She continued her previous question: "Lin's attitude toward the Flame-Chaser named Pardofelis is distinctly different from how he treats others. Is there a history there?"
"Before we discuss that, Mei, how did you figure out Lin's attitude toward Pardo is unusual?" Elysia smiled charmingly. "After all, Lin and I are also very close~"
"..." Lin glanced at her but said nothing.
"Name." Mei stated her observation. "Lin uses your full name, and mine, even when a shorter version would be more convenient, like Raiden or Elysia. He only uses the more formal full name. Only Pardofelis is referred to by her affectionate nickname, Pardo."
Furthermore, Lin used a remarkably gentle gesture, completely unlike his usual demeanor, when teasing Pardofelis's pet, the Can.
"As expected of Mei! You even noticed that."
Elysia nodded, turning to Lin: "Lin, can I tell her?"
"...Suit yourself."
Under the faint light, Elysia's smile became intriguing.
"How should I put this? It's kind of a historical issue. Lin is generally gentler toward younger female comrades."
"...Elysia," Lin reminded her. Her phrasing was a little too... ambiguous, to the point where Mei's scornful gaze became somewhat stinging.
"Oops, I misspoke." Elysia's expression showed no regret; she still laughed cheerfully. "Lin treats everyone pretty much the same, but he is just a little more caring toward Pardo."
"Sigh..." Lin shook his head and put the document away. "Raiden Mei, why are you asking about this?"
"I came here to find the truth about the Honkai, but after arriving in the Elysian Realm, I found that things are far more complicated than I imagined," Mei stared at the two most inscrutable people in the Realm. The mysteries surrounding them were greater than she thought. "Especially you. You're not a MANTIS, yet others assess your strength as... 'powerful'."
Lin occasionally gave her a sense of pressure comparable to the other Flame-Chasers. Even Kalpas's arrogant tone was slightly subdued when he mentioned Lin.
"I am not powerful," Lin's usual self-assessment remained, but his words were different this time. "But I am not weak either. I am always the first to appear before a successor to assess what kind of person they are."
"I thought it was because I am a Herrscher."
"That's part of the reason. If you were a genuine Herrscher standing with the Honkai..." Lin said plainly, "I would have killed you before you could act."
The statement was made lightly, as if killing a Herrscher was nothing to him.
But Mei subconsciously believed that this so-called "ordinary human" had the ability to follow through.
Elysia patted Lin's head: "Alright, alright. Why make the atmosphere so tense? Mei, I hope he didn't scare you."
"I won't be frightened by this level of intimidation."
But from now on, I need to be even warier of Lin. None of the people in the Elysian Realm are easy to deal with.
"By the way, Lin, is that document you're holding from the Moth of the Flame?"
"Yes."
Lin opened the document again. The densely packed cipher text gave no clue to its original meaning. The Moth of the Flame had hundreds of encryption methods, and Lin only knew a handful of them. However, he now had virtually limitless time to decipher it.
"This is..." Elysia looked at the document number, which seemed familiar. "The file for the Fifth Branch Incident? Did you ask Pardo to find it for you?"
"Yes. Raiden Mei's arrival has caused new changes in the Elysian Realm. Some things that should have been there but weren't have emerged. So I asked Pardo to find this document."
"I remember the Fifth Branch Incident was concluded as an attack by an unknown force," Elysia recalled the widely known incident within the Moth of the Flame.
"If that were true, this document wouldn't need to be encrypted."
Lin's fingers gradually tightened, crumpling the document slightly.
Everything started with that "accident," including Spaciel, Mei, Kevin, and... Seele.
The sky-high fire became the most glaring scene in the city.
Lin rushed back to the Fifth Branch at his fastest speed. Even so, when he reached the base of the building, all he could see was the fire in the main body of the Fifth Branch, which was immediately sealed off by layers of metal plates from the fire-containment system.
A large crowd gathered below, watching the accident unfold above, which prevented Lin from entering through the main door.
He landed on a nearby rooftop to assess the situation, and an abnormal figure immediately caught his attention.
A man was completely ignoring the incident, walking toward a secluded area.
And the direction he was walking was away from the site of the accident at the Fifth Branch.
As the moonlight was obscured, Lin vanished from his position.