"Captain, I'm back."
Ato yawned as he entered the conference room, sat down next to the busy Dystopia, and listlessly picked up an orange.
Himeko was uncharacteristically not drinking during her free time, instead viewing recent external data on her computer.
The longer the interval between the Fifth Honkai Eruption and the Fourth Honkai Eruption, the more uneasy the members of Moth of the Flame became. Who knew what kind of trouble this Eruption and its Herrscher would cause this time.
This was why the squads still stationed at Moth of the Flame were closely monitoring external intelligence.
"Seele, you've been on too many external missions. It's better to rest up recently." Himeko focused on the situation in Turin. "Go get a physical checkup later."
"Actually, the number of missions assigned to me has increased. I can't possibly not go," Seele popped two orange segments into his mouth, smiling contentedly.
"Assignments? Then perhaps your excellent performance has been noticed. After all, you're trying just as hard as that guy."
"Team member Lin? That's great."
After typing the last word, Dystopia also picked up an orange. Her delicate fingers peeled the skin, revealing the flesh, and she chuckled playfully: "Seele is still so concerned about Captain Lin."
"Don't mention that... Doesn't Dystopia also frequently go out shopping as if she's buying gifts for someone?"
"Oh, that. Actually, I plan to get everyone some things," Dystopia said indistinctly with an orange in her mouth. "Didn't Captain Lin host a gathering last time? I felt like something was missing. Afterwards, I thought it was a pity for a gathering not to have a souvenir, so I decided to buy everyone some things."
"Really? Have you decided what they are?"
"Oh, gifts are only surprising when they are given to the person concerned."
Dystopia chuckled expectantly: "It's something to look forward to, a warm gathering."
...
"Gaa—"
The slow-moving Honkai beast scratched at the rain-soaked wall, its movements comically like a drunkard. Meaningless low growls came from its mouth, and rainwater poured into it.
"Thump!"
A black shadow descended from the sky, stepping on its head, instantly pressing it to the ground. Using its weight and impact, the shadow easily crushed the beast's head like a balloon.
The Honkai beast, having lost the ability to move, remained motionless, without even twitching, because it had lost the normal reflexes of a human. Filling this grotesque body was the foul, decaying flesh corroded by Honkai energy.
Lin bent down, picking up the ID tag dropped by the Honkai beast. Scanning the picture on the document revealed that it was the orphanage's handyman before death.
This made Lin's brow under the helmet twitch.
Orphanage, handyman, illness...
It seemed the handyman's illness was Honkai energy erosion. The initial symptoms indeed resembled a common flu, so he probably ignored it and was subsequently corrupted into a Honkai beast.
But why... was it so fast?
If he had only accidentally come into contact with a small amount of Honkai energy, it would take at least several days to completely turn into a Honkai beast from the point of erosion. Although the host's will, emotion, and physical constitution could affect the erosion speed, it was impossible for it to become a Honkai beast in just two days.
Unless he was exposed to a high-concentration Honkai energy environment without any protection, which would accelerate the Honkai erosion rate.
In other words, this handyman had encountered a high-Honkai energy environment recently?
"Prometheus, pull up his recent itinerary."
Lin decided to survey the areas of his recent movements. If his guess was right, the sharp rise in Honkai energy the day before yesterday was very likely not an accident.
"Old man~ Where are you~"
Anna's voice appeared from the corner behind. Lin looked up and shouted: "Don't come over!"
"Eh?"
But he was one step too late. The moment Anna's clueless face appeared around the corner, it twisted upon seeing the corpse on the ground.
"Waaah!"
"Shh."
Lin's cold gaze instantly brought her back from her state of panic. She swallowed, looked at the corpse on the ground, glanced left and right to make sure no one else was there, and then carefully walked over.
She was visibly trembling while stepping over the Honkai beast's corpse.
She asked Lin with a pale face: "Old man, this can't be..."
"Yes, a Honkai beast." Lin's simple answer made Anna's face even paler, as if painted with a layer of white paint.
The appearance of a Honkai beast meant that Honkai energy had indeed surfaced in this city, and Lin's suspicion was very likely to come true.
Having heard Lin explain the whole situation, Anna turned around in confusion, wanting to rush back to the orphanage: "N-no... I have to get Hina and the others to leave right away... Wait! Everyone in this city must leave! I'll go now..."
"Calm down, Anna."
"B-but..."
"It's not confirmed yet, and we can't go anywhere right now."
Lin understood the evacuation mechanism all too well. There must be a disaster before evacuation can happen. Before a disaster, no shelter would open to the public unless there was solid evidence to prove a disaster would occur.
So, where could they go if they wanted to leave the city now? What kind of chaos would the mass departure of an entire city of people cause to the Honkai intelligence under Moth of the Flame's jurisdiction?
Moreover, even if Anna went around promoting the existence of Honkai, how many people would believe her?
"Old man..." Anna bit her lip, forcing herself to ignore the corpse on the ground, and asked Lin, "Is there anything I can help with?"
"No."
"You're really undermining my confidence..."
"...Come with me."
After notifying the Third Branch to handle the corpse, Lin took Anna and left the area, tracing the handyman's route backward.
"Old man, you're so calm," Anna secretly peeked at Lin's profile on the way.
"...You will be calm too, if you see enough of it."
Mountains of corpses and seas of blood under a major Honkai Eruption, an entire city turned into a monster cage, all of this was routine for Lin.
"You are very good," Lin said solemnly, seeing the color gradually return to her face. "Better than many people I've seen."
Many new recruits did not have Anna's mental fortitude; when facing Honkai beasts that were once human and looked human, and their demise, they would often experience a mental breakdown.
It was genuinely rare for Anna to be able to quickly regulate her mindset after witnessing the head-exploded Honkai beast corpse.
"Because I told you before, Old Man..." Anna said in a deliberately relaxed tone, "I love this world, so I must learn to be strong, or I will be left behind."
"..."
"Old man, do you love this world too?"