"We've been discovered?"
Rit murmured, stunned, watching a floating, squid-like Honkai Beast drift toward him, extending sharp tentacles, intending to pierce his brain.
"Bang!"
Lin pulled Rit away, dodging the Honkai Beast's attack. He drew his handgun and fired, but the gun was not a specialized anti-Honkai weapon. The bullet pierced the Honkai Beast's body, but the wound was shallow, nowhere near the core, and caused no substantial damage.
"Lin, there are thirteen Honkai Beasts, all special low-level Honkai Beasts."
To avoid interfering with Lin's information gathering, Prometheus switched to voice broadcast. The mechanical voice of the girl entered Lin's ear.
Lin raised his foot and pinned the small Honkai Beast to the ground, pressing his handgun against the center of its tentacles, and fired again.
"Bang!"
A hit on the core.
Lin tossed the empty handgun, embracing Rit, and rapidly retreated backward.
The remaining twelve Honkai Beasts were still in their just-released state. After a brief pause, they began surging toward the visible prey—the two short humans.
Lin retreated and said, "You have a monitoring device on you."
The statement struck Rit like lightning.
At that moment, two Honkai Beasts dashed toward the exit. Lin's pupils contracted. He immediately ordered Prometheus: "Prometheus, lock the gate!"
[Unable to control the detention gate]
"The A-3 Sector door! Lock all of them!"
Rit shuddered, grabbing Lin's collar: "Are you insane! Locking A-3 will kill us both!"
But not locking A-3 would lead to far greater casualties, so Lin repeated without hesitation: "Lock A-3!"
[Affirmative]
Following Prometheus's response, the indicator lights for the A-3 Sector doors all turned red. Isolation walls dropped from above, blocking the Honkai Beasts' path.
"Howl—"
Seeing their path blocked, the Honkai Beasts angrily searched for the visible prey—the two short humans.
Then, all the Honkai Beasts rushed toward the unarmed Lin and Rit.
"You... really are crazy."
"I'm not crazy." Lin put Rit down, letting him lean against the wall, while he stood forward, blocking Rit with his body. "You are the same. All humans are like this."
"..."
Rit stared intently at the back of the young man, who was the same age as his daughter. His hands dropped to his sides.
"You're still here, Herrscher. That's surprising."
"Oh? Should I expect to be chased out or something?"
If Mei had to name the Flame-Chaser she least wanted to encounter, Kalpas would probably be firmly in the top spot. The most volatile temper, the most malicious attitude, and... the most abusive language.
The white-haired, masked man sat on the discussion table, staring at her like a demon with his arms crossed.
Mei seriously questioned whether some of the customs of the Previous Era were different from the present. For example, was the discussion table actually a kind of chair rather than a place for meetings or placing objects? She remembered Mobius and Kalpas often using the table as a bed or a chair. Mobius even sprawled on it.
Hopefully, it was just to show off their overly pronounced personalities.
"Hahaha... Chased out? You probably don't have the ability to leave before you're taken care of." Kalpas laughed wildly, looking up with interest. "But I am quite curious why Lin didn't deal with you directly 'there'."
Mei said with calm provocation: "It seems he was unable to deal with me."
The Elysian Realm was ultimately just a device carrying memories. Mei could not genuinely die here.
But there had been exceptions, and the white-haired, volatile man in front of her was responsible for a few of them.
"Oh? So you've already fought him?" Kalpas sneered. "Fought a defective product? Hahahaha..."
"Hmph, Kalpas, you're so confident in your own strength, yet you hold Lin in such high regard?"
Lin's unique status was fully demonstrated among the few Flame-Chasers who had appeared. He was not one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, yet he was inextricably linked to them: the friendship of Kevin and Hua; the subtle feelings of Elysia and Mobius; the respect of Su and Eden; Sakura's inexplicable guilt... Even Kalpas showed an emotion towards Lin, a seemingly ordinary person who wasn't a Fusion Warrior, that was similar to his feelings for Kevin.
Coupled with the "core" she saw in the Realm—that "Lin" who wielded the Black Abyss and Black Abyss White Flower and could use abilities similar to the Herrscher of Reason—Mei was even more curious about Lin's identity and past. She had begun to suspect that the secret of the Realm was somehow related to Lin.
"You don't need to provoke me, Herrscher. I know Lin's capabilities better than you." Kalpas snorted coldly. "If his Meta-Morph Surgery had succeeded, Kevin might not be his match... No, even if it failed, it might be even better."
Mei had already learned about Lin's failed Meta-Morph Surgery from Elysia, but why would Kalpas say that failure was better? And that tone... did it imply that more than just failure occurred?
"What happened back then?"
"Are you a fly! Flying around all day, buzzing non-stop, and then catching a random person to ask your questions?"
"...You were the one who started talking to me."
Kalpas sneered: "Yes. So now, I'm annoyed. Can you get lost?"
"What if I say no?" Fine threads of lightning began to flicker on Mei's hair tips.
"Then it won't be Lin. I'll take care of you first!"
The conflicting auras were ready to ignite, with heat and lightning bursting forth in the confined space.
"Kalpas."
Lin stood behind Kalpas at some unknown point, coldly uttering his name, which made Kalpas pause.
Naturally, he was Kalpas: "Oh? Lin? Aren't you always tinkering with those useless files in the Realm all day long?"
"My purpose for coming is precisely that."
Lin walked up to Mei and held out his hand.
"Where are the files from last time?"
"...Here."
Mei handed over the documents while observing Kalpas's reaction out of the corner of her eye.
How to put it... Although Kalpas's tone was no less challenging than Lin's, he showed no resentment toward Lin's behavior, not even a grunt. It gave Mei the strange impression of a mother calling her son's full name to subdue a hyperactive child.
Indeed, what a subtle relationship.
Lin weighed the documents, then opened and quickly scanned the parts that Sakura had translated. He nodded: "Good. Ask whatever you want to ask."
"What happened with your Meta-Morph Surgery?"
"You don't need to know."
"Didn't you tell me to ask anything?"
"I didn't say I'd answer everything."
"..."
Mei pondered for a moment, then asked: "What happened between you and Sakura?"
This question made Kalpas look over as well.
"...Cocoon."
"What?"
"That's all I can tell you. Ask Sakura for the rest."
Mei watched as Lin took the documents and left. It was only then that she realized what had happened.
Was she just taken for a ride?