"Australia?"
Lin frowned slightly in confusion when Sakura informed him of the Chrysalis Squad's first mission.
The Chrysalis Squad, which was originally a covert unit, only had Sakura left after its reorganization, but its nature hadn't changed much. It still undertook missions that couldn't be done in the open.
After Lin joined, since he would absolutely not participate in assassination missions, the nature of the target missions had changed.
And now, their first mission was to go to Australia to investigate a hacker.
The betting pool on the internal network was closed after the nearly absurd series of confessions. Mei personally came out and explained it was the work of a hacker, then summarily dismissed the promised rewards. The resulting public reaction was no longer within her jurisdiction.
It is worth mentioning that Lin never bothered to explain anything throughout the whole ordeal. He completely ignored the pervasive rumors. For him, the hostile looks surrounding him had simply changed into another kind of fearful gaze.
The hacker they were now tasked to investigate and apprehend was clearly the one who had successfully invaded the Fire Moth's internal network.
"After the next two months of observation, we will be leaving to execute the mission. Please be prepared." After Sakura finished explaining, she prepared to leave, but her curious gaze constantly lingered on Lin chest.
It even contained a hint of longing.
"Uncle Lin, can you please put me down now?"
A childish, high-pitched voice followed Sakura last words.
A blue-haired girl wearing a beret was being held by Lin, lifted by his armpits with both hands, like a cat held in mid-air. Her small legs, clad in slippers, kicked nervously. She looked to be only five or six years old and seemed a little scared of this "aerial" world.
"Wait a minute. I'll put you down after Mobius locks the Honkai Beast away." Lin said impassively. The sight of his rigid posture and the small girl in his hands was somewhat awkward, making even Sakura unable to help but ask—
"Um, Lin..."
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
But Sakura thought about her not-so-close relationship with Lin and ultimately refrained from asking what she wanted to. She shook her head and left the laboratory.
"Heh, finally gone? The Fire Moth is getting more and more strange people. That woman is an assassin, right?" Mobius walked out of her private office, holding a milk tea leisurely. "You can actually tolerate teaming up with an assassin. You've definitely changed a lot."
Although, she herself wasn't really qualified to say that...
"By the way, how long are you going to carry Griseo? I've locked the Honkai Beast back up. You can put her down now." Mobius abruptly changed the subject, complaining about Lin bizarre posture and the scene.
"..."
After being put down, Griseo didn't show any dissatisfaction or distress. She simply pattered off to an empty spot in the lab and began drawing on an easel.
"Hmph, you look quite surprised, right? That's fair, since you've only met Griseo twice. You left the Fire Moth after the first meeting, and then disappeared later. Her being so much older now, able to talk and walk, must have startled you."
"...No, being able to talk and walk is normal."
"You..." Mobius held her head helplessly, unsure what to say. "Never mind. Stay in my lab until you leave for your next mission. I'm your supervisor now... well, I'm still more interested in the consciousness transfer."
"This is the milk tea Klein bought for you. She didn't know what flavor you like, so she added all the toppings. Tsk... she respects you for some reason."
"Mhm, thank you."
"Don't thank me. I'm too lazy to convey your gratitude."
Lin calmly took the milk tea and, under Mobius's suspicious gaze, began drinking it with a placid expression.
Gone was the hurried impatience he used to have for doing everything. Mobius even felt... he seemed to be... enjoying life now?
...
"It's time to eat... What flavor instant noodles should I have today... Ugh, did I buy this many of this flavor?" Mobius stretched. Her graceful figure was fully displayed in the light. She languidly searched through her instant noodle reserve. A flavor she was tired of inexplicably took up most of the space.
She thought she had bought a lot of it because she liked it at the time...
She regretted it a little.
Instant noodles, as fast food, were an exquisite pleasure for the taste buds when eating the first package while hungry. She wanted to savor every strand as it slid down her throat. But when still hungry and moving on to the second package, the taste was like adding foot-washing water to a hot pot...
This wasn't just true for the same meal; it also happened when eating the same flavor of instant noodles repeatedly.
Clearly, Mobius was ahead of the curve in the path of tasting foot-washing water.
"Forget it..." Mobius sighed, casually picking up a package.
"Snap."
However, before she could tear open the package, another hand seized the noodles at just the right moment.
"..."
She raised an eyebrow, wanting to see which person was audacious enough to steal food from her, Mobius.
But when Lin unchanging helmet appeared before her, her expression was like she had swallowed a fly.
She almost forgot this guy was also in the lab.
"What are you doing? I don't have time to wait for you to cook again." Mobius impatiently tried to snatch the instant noodles back from Lin hand, but he took a subtle step back, causing her to miss.
Her frustrated gaze rested on Lin cold visor.
Mobius was the tallest woman Lin knew, but she was still significantly shorter than Lin height of nearly six feet three. As soon as he raised his hand, Mobius couldn't reach his palm even on her tiptoes.
"I've already made dinner."
"...Huh?"
Lin pointed to a thermos placed nearby.
"...When?" Mobius opened the thermos with a strange expression. The generous array of dishes inside immediately captivated her attention.
"You usually eat at this time, so I prepared it in advance and waited for you." Lin returned the instant noodles to their original spot. He wouldn't eat this, but he wouldn't waste it either. "Given your workload, instant noodles can hardly provide the nutrition you need."
"Tsk... meddling." It wasn't entirely a bad thing to eat Lin cooking after a long time, but Mobius was filled with irritation. "I only eat instant noodles to save time... Besides, there are many flavors of instant noodles. You probably only cook a few signature dishes, and I'll easily get tired of them. Don't always waste time doing this."
Just like the noodles she liked, she would grow tired of the taste after eating them twice.
Lin change gave her an indescribable sense of annoyance.
She could communicate using Elysia manner of speech to achieve a passive-aggressive effect, but only this guy, Lin, forced her to express her truest feelings, like painting on a clown face for a play.
"It's fine. I can rotate the dishes."
"Tch, how many cuisines do you know?"
"Fourteen international cuisines."
"..."