"..."
"..."
Perhaps unable to withstand the atmosphere where they were staring at each other without speaking, Hua tentatively raised her hand and whispered, as if answering a question in class, "Cap... Lin, is there something you need from us?"
Lin had left the Seventh Squad, so Immer and Hua were no longer his squad members, but Hua habitually called him "Captain."
After all, in her eyes, Lin was treated as an elder despite not being much older. His sudden demotion, with a rank lower than hers, was utterly jarring. No matter what she called him, it felt inappropriate.
For instance, right now, she felt she had misspoke, as Lin gaze suddenly darkened a few degrees.
Was the title wrong?
In reality, Lin didn't feel anything wrong with what she said; the only wrong thing was that it was a question.
And a question that absolutely required a verbal answer.
But then again, why did Prometheus bring him here? Hua and Immer looked like they were waiting for him to explain, clearly meaning they hadn't asked Prometheus to bring him.
"Lin has something to say to you." But Prometheus completely brushed off the situation with a single sentence. She stood behind Lin, subtly pressing down on his shoulders with both hands, preventing him from standing up.
Vil-V had strengthened the output when making Prometheus's new body, and Lin was still recovering. He couldn't overpower Prometheus and was firmly pinned down.
Prometheus, what are you doing!
Facing the two people's questioning looks, Lin tried to reach out and push Prometheus's hands away, but she countered by pressing down on his shoulders.
To an outsider, it looked like he was intentionally reaching out to touch Prometheus's hands.
"Prometheus, what are you doing? Let go of me." Lin commanded coldly.
At this, both Immer's and Hua's faces changed color.
"Lin... there are others here." Prometheus turned her head, feigning embarrassment.
"..."
Lin turned to stare at the extremely abnormal Prometheus. After a moment, he looked back and, with a final sliver of hope, said to Hua: "Hua, can you understand what I'm saying?"
"Whoosh!"
The gray-haired girl was so startled she shot up from her chair, stumbling backward and knocking her chair over.
"Lin, Lin, Lin... Captain, what are you saying..."
Lin turned to Immer, who was equally shocked, and said: "Immer, there is a problem with my body right now."
"What! Captain, Captain!" Immer swallowed hard, his usually composed face showing agitation. "I really didn't realize that you..."
Had the Captain become so "thirsty" that he would say things like that? Could it be that his past frigid demeanor was just an act, and he had been suppressing his inner desires all along? And wait, was the Captain bisexual?
No, that couldn't be right. He could understand saying such things to Prometheus and Hua, but saying it to him was truly incomprehensible. He certainly wasn't in the "handsome" category in any way, was he?
...Wait, no. The Captain said his buttocks had a good curve. Could it be that he... actually had a fetish for buttocks?
Thinking this, Immer immediately cast a scrutinizing look at Hua's backside, then glanced at her chest, and drew a conclusion.
Could this be true...
"Captain! I understand! You've been suppressing yourself all this time! Unable to even release your natural desires! But it's alright! You don't need to worry so much now; just express yourself!" Immer stood up excitedly, walked to Lin, and met his eyes. "However, I don't think this is something Hua should be involved in. How about I..."
"Wait a minute, Immer, are you suggesting..."
"It's alright! If I can help relieve the Captain's worries, it means I haven't failed the Captain's guidance all these years!"
"..."
Lin stared silently at the farce he had caused. He couldn't even explain or stop the impending development. Fortunately, besides him, there was one other "person" who was unwilling to see what happened next.
"Wait, Lin has other things to do."
With that, Prometheus dragged Lin away without further explanation.
...
"Hello, MSA-079, will you go out with me?"
"No."
"Yes! I won!"
Lin was completely resigned by now. He didn't know how to solve the problem with himself or how to ward off the people coming because of that betting pool. At one point, nearly everyone at headquarters who had nothing better to do came running to confess to him.
While they would all show various degrees of fear when meeting Lin cold, sharp gaze, fueled by the incentive of a "wish," they would probably try even if Lin were a Herrscher.
Lin no longer used shaking his head to refuse. He simply said what he believed to be a rejection—calmly, peacefully, and resignedly—then watched each person celebrate wildly.
So, Lin would follow up with the sentence: "Can you understand what I'm saying?"
And the person who was celebrating would instantly freeze, then flee as fast as they could, as if they had seen a ghost.
Rumors that the Helmet Man accepted everyone's confession and equally distributed sexual harassment quickly dominated the internal network forum, growing more and more outlandish.
Some said the Helmet Man had fully awakened the beast inside him and was now choosing his prey.
Some said the Helmet Man had given up after the Sixth Eruption and was planning a big stunt.
Some said the Helmet Man had actually become intersex and was pursuing true pleasure, that he was the true human.
Others even said they really wanted to try things out with the Helmet Man... Fortunately, the pervert who posted that wasn't at the headquarters.
Rumors flew everywhere, enlivening the previously somber headquarters. Lin even saw Kosma and Dystopia, who had just been discharged from the hospital, accompanying each other to watch him accept confessions.
And all of this, besides his own problem and the betting pool, was due to Prometheus also meddling. No matter where Lin went, she followed, and whenever he tried to convey information about his problem to others, she stopped him.
Unable to communicate normally, Lin could only watch helplessly as people he considered potential saviors left with strange expressions.
"Oh, Lin, are you playing a game I don't know about?"
Soon, the person Lin least wanted to see—someone he was sure would collude with Prometheus—appeared.
She wore casual clothes, smiling as she walked past the person who had just confessed, and approached Lin, who was either calm or bewildered.
"I heard you've been quite active, but doing strange things... Can you tell me about it?"