Time remaining until the Fifth Honkai Eruption: Twenty-four hours.
"Hina!"
The first thing Anna did after returning to the orphanage was find Hina in her room. With Hina looking bewildered, Anna said urgently: "You all must leave Turin quickly!"
"What's wrong, Anna?" Hina was still thinking about what the children would eat tomorrow. Anna rushing in and telling her to leave quickly confused her. "Didn't you go out to handle something with Mr. Lin?"
"I can't explain it clearly! Just leave here quickly. I'm going to tell others to leave quickly too. Where is the megaphone I bought last time?"
Anna rushed to get the children of the orphanage to pack their things and prepare to leave. Seeing their bewildered looks, Anna could only shout: "Hurry up!"
Hina walked out of the room, came to Anna's side, and saw that the rain on her body hadn't been wiped dry and she was out of breath. Hina took a dry towel to wipe her hair.
"Swish, swish, swish."
After Hina dried Anna's hair from behind, she seriously made her turn around and asked: "Anna, what exactly happened? You've been acting strangely lately, and so has Mr. Lin. Did you run into trouble?"
"Trouble?" Anna gave a wry smile. "It's super trouble indeed... There should be a notice soon, telling us to evacuate..."
"What do you mean..."
"Woo—"
A piercing siren cut through the hail-covered city, swallowing all of Hina's words.
She stared blankly out the window. The previously quiet city seemed to have stirred up.
What exactly was happening?
...
"The headquarters has issued an order for all civilians in Turin to evacuate. An alarm was sent out one minute ago. According to the calculations of the artificial intelligence developed by Dr. Mei, a large-scale Honkai Eruption will occur in twenty-four hours, and given the current situation, the epicenter is very likely to be Turin."
Heng stood in front of the densely packed crowd and said sternly.
"Reinforcements will arrive in about ten hours. Before that, due to the Seventh Squad Captain's inability to participate in the operation, and the temporary adjustment from the headquarters, there are changes in personnel allocation."
Elysia was by Ato side, her smiling appearance making it impossible to feel any pressure.
"From now on, everyone in Squad Three, Squad Seven, and Elysia's original squad will be under Elysia's command!"
"I will be reassigned to the temporary squad coming from the headquarters as support."
A temporary squad?
Why were they making such personnel adjustments at this time?
However, Ato did not provide further explanation. He said "dismiss for preparation" with a cold face and then walked with Elysia towards Lin's infirmary.
...
"Temporary squad... Ato, you know what that means, don't you." Elysia muttered the phrase, the smile in her eyes vanishing.
"...A squad entirely composed of recruits who aren't yet regular soldiers or are not useful for the main operation." Ato walked ahead and replied, "No need for coordination, just need to follow orders to..."
"Die."
Elysia followed behind Ato: "But Ato, didn't you just lament for Lin, a junior? Now you are personally leading those recruits who still have a future to their deaths. Doesn't that feel contradictory?"
"I feel regret for every one of them, but following orders is a soldier's fundamental duty."
Cherishing his juniors and obeying orders were not contradictory.
He looked at the juniors with the identity of a senior, and then executed orders with the identity of a soldier.
"You don't need to say anything, Elysia. I have my own plan."
Ato forcefully cut off the conversation because they had reached the door of Lin's infirmary. After a knowing glance at each other, they pushed the door open and walked in.
"..."
The helmeted man sat on the hospital bed. He didn't know how long it took him to adjust to this posture, allowing him to look at the mixture of snow and rain outside the window.
Lin seemed unaware of their entrance, or perhaps he knew, but didn't want to look.
"Lin, the operation will commence in fifteen hours. We will transfer you back to the headquarters in one hour. Your squad members will operate with others."
"..."
Lin nodded almost imperceptibly. Other than that, there was no other movement.
"Lin, do you have any objection to this arrangement?" Ato question made Lin turn his head slightly to look at them.
The gaze held an air of suffocation.
Surprisingly, Ato did not sense any lifelessness from Lin. On the contrary, he felt as if Lin was completely fine, still composed and calm.
This was different from the initial Lin.
"Have the city residents been evacuated?" Lin's hoarse voice uttered a question.
"The evacuation notice and alarm have been issued. It is estimated to take nine hours to complete the evacuation."
"There is one place I hope you pay attention to. It is highly likely to be the epicenter of the large-scale Honkai Eruption."
Lin's words surprised Ato, and he instinctively asked: "Where?"
"An orphanage."
Prometheus sent the coordinates of the orphanage to their communicators. After seeing the location, they looked up again at the increasingly cold Lin.
"During the search of the entire city, the only Honkai-infected I found was the handyman from this orphanage, and the time of his mutation likely coincides with the first detection of the abnormal surge in Honkai energy."
Lin spoke unhurriedly.
"After that Honkai fluctuation, Turin's temperature gradually rose, but that was not a sign of warming up, but a precursor to the Honkai Eruption."
"The Honkai energy did not suddenly rise and then suddenly drop. The drop was because the Honkai energy was gathered together."
The Honkai energy dropped, but the temperature rose instead. That meant the Honkai energy was focused in one place, reducing the Honkai energy affecting the temperature.
"So, the Honkai energy fluctuation detected that time should be the rising Honkai energy being concentrated, and the area around the concentration point would have a higher Honkai energy concentration. This is why the handyman was eroded by Honkai energy."
The Honkai energy did not disappear out of thin air; it was hidden.
"Is that so!" Ato looked at the marked location on the map in disbelief.
"Lin, that girl..." Elysia thought of another angle. Anna, whom Lin brought back, seemed to be informed of the inside story by Lin, making it difficult not to associate her with this Honkai Eruption.
Lin nodded: "She came from that orphanage. I had her transfer the people at the orphanage ahead of time."
"...It seems you haven't been thoroughly defeated yet, Lin."
Some light flickered in the black pupils under the helmet.
...
"Old Man, for a person about to die, it is destiny."
"But the way we approach that outcome is determined by ourselves."
"I love this world, because there are people like the Old Man, and people like Hina. I originally thought the world would only hurt me, that it was dim and hopeless."
"But at least you gave me light, so even if it's just for you, I'm willing to love the whole world."
The girl's smile flashed before his eyes.