Lin tucked a small piece of paper into his mobile unit, plunged the medicine Mobius gave him into his neck, and injected it all in one go. He then walked towards his room, needing to organize his equipment to face the upcoming problem.
From a distance, a person leaning against the door turned their head when they heard Lin's footsteps.
A head of vibrant red hair was the unique sign of vitality in the Moth of the Fire Chasers. It drifted like a bright flame, vaguely reflected on the matte metal wall.
Himeko had been waiting by Lin's room for a long time.
Lin's pace slowed, then quickened a bit, as he walked up next to Himeko.
"Seele is in a bad state. Her psyche was impacted, and it might take a long time for her to recover." Himeko handed the medical report to Lin.
Lin opened the report with Seele ID number. Some glaring words inside made him purse his lips.
"Lin, what did you see back then? Why was the announcement like that?"
"...It's as the announcement states. I was executing another mission at the time and just missed the attack." Lin handed the report back. "I have another mission to execute right away. Take good care of Hun."
Himeko's eyes were shadowed, staring at Lin: "Now? A mission? Are you sure?"
"...Yes."
"Lin, Seele needs you." Himeko tightened her coat around herself. She felt cold, perhaps a chill from something else. "She has lost her parents. You are her last anchor."
"You have her, too, Cap... Himeko."
"Your significance to her is different. Being by her side right now, only you can help her pull herself together."
Seeing Himeko's sincere expression, Lin realized that he had unknowingly become a support for others.
The area of Honkai energy erosion on his back subtly throbbed with pain.
Lin unconsciously looked away. Even though Himeko couldn't see the look inside his helmet, he instinctively did so.
"I will," he added before Himeko could let out a sigh of relief, "after this mission is over."
Himeko clenched her fists: "What mission is it?"
"A private mission."
"..."
Lin walked past Himeko and entered his room. He felt like he was running away.
Inside the room, he took off his helmet and looked at the photo on the desk.
The girl's brilliant smile beside him was forever frozen in that distant past.
"Graveyard, laboratory, ritual site..." Mei had a rare moment of leisure to sort out the information she had gathered. She manipulated fine electrical currents to sketch some patterns in the air.
Lin's graveyard, Mobius's laboratory, Kalpas's ritual site... So far, Mei had seen several special spaces in the Elysian Realm that were formed by the memories of the Flame-Chasers—more strictly, Lin and the Flame-Chasers. These were all abstract scenes made concrete by their overly intense memories.
This seemed to confirm what Elysia had said about the influence on the Elysian Realm. Similar influences included the types of monsters and spatial changes.
Were there other ways to influence the Elysian Realm besides these?
The deeper she delved into this miracle left behind by the Previous Era, the more Mei was surrounded by mysteries.
"Perhaps I could ask Elysia... No, Kevin? ...Not him either... Lin? Forget it."
A few candidates flashed through her mind. There were also Flame-Chasers who weren't very knowledgeable about the Elysian Realm itself. Based on her impression, Mei thought these three were the most knowledgeable about the Realm, but the communication methods of all three were quite puzzling to her. Recently, even Lin had started to communicate with her using silence and light signals.
Mei just couldn't understand. Was talking normally that exhausting? Why did they all want her to play guessing games?
"Mei, is something the matter?"
A voice, not gentle but not sharp either, interrupted Mei's thoughts. A hint of cherry pink and a pair of long ears appeared before Mei's eyes.
"Sakura, you're here?" Mei had a good impression of this girl whose childhood experiences were similar to her own in the Previous Era, though the way she spoke was also bewildering. "No, nothing. I was thinking about how to ask those three."
"Three people?" Sakura looked confused.
"Elysia, Kevin, and Lin. They seem to know the Elysian Realm more deeply. I have some questions I want to ask them."
"Isn't Doctor Mobius the owner of the Realm? Why don't you ask her?"
"Her?" Mei actually knew about this long ago, but she subconsciously excluded Mobius. "It's no use asking her."
"Then... Elysia?"
"I don't find her reliable."
"Kevin?"
"He won't say anything."
Sakura shook her head, "Then perhaps you need to find the answer yourself. The help I can offer in non-combat areas is limited."
Mei made a questioning sound, looking up in confusion: "Why did you skip over Lin?"
"Lin..." Faced with Mei's question, Sakura's eyes darted away. "You're right. You can ask Lin. If he thinks it's something he can say, he will."
Seeing Sakura's unusual demeanor, Mei suddenly had a peculiar premonition: "Speaking of which, Sakura, you never seem to appear with Lin. Only you and Mobius won't show up when Lin is present, and every time Lin is about to arrive, you conveniently leave. Are you... avoiding him?"
"...It's nothing, just something from the past." Seeing she was exposed, Sakura no longer avoided her gaze. "Lin probably really hates me, so to prevent any conflict between us, I try my best not to meet him."
"Lin gets into conflicts with people? Do you mind telling me about it?" Mei smelled a clue in the air and immediately asked Sakura.
"..." Mei's direct question caught Sakura off guard. She hesitantly fiddled with her sword sheath and sighed, "Mei, you already know about the nature and composition of the Cocoon's work, right?"
"The unsanctioned team within the Moth of the Fire Chasers primarily dealing with clandestine work. As far as I know, both you and Kalpas were members of the Cocoon."
"That's right, but that was after the Cocoon was reorganized. Before the reorganization, the missions we executed were all targeting human beings."
"Assassins?"
"You could say that. I was also a member of the first generation of the Cocoon, and what I did then was mostly... taking lives."
"I can roughly understand why you say Lin hates you."
Although Mei still didn't fully trust Lin, many people spoke of him as a fighter for humanity. His public persona was more protective of humanity than most of the Flame-Chasers.
To make an analogy, he was like an indulgent father. No matter what mistakes his children made, he would be tolerant and continue to protect them without wavering.
What Sakura did was completely different from Mobius. She genuinely acted with the purpose of killing humans, which placed her almost directly in opposition to Lin.
"But it's not entirely like that. Actually, before I executed that mission, there was an incident involving Lin in the Cocoon."
"The Fifth Branch Incident."