The losses grew greater each time, and the casualties became more tragic. Fire Moth should have entered another round of depression, yet it radiated a different kind of vitality.
Because humanity had finally found their hero—a warrior capable of defeating a Herrscher.
Music played and people danced, as if humanity had already secured victory.
As if those tragedies had never existed.
...
Sakura strides were short, a habit formed over a long time. As she walked through Fire Moth Headquarters, she moved like a silent ghost, passing through the crowds.
She glanced at the people engaged in heated discussions and the decorations overflowing with a joyous atmosphere, then paid them no more attention.
Without stopping anywhere, she arrived at her destination.
Mobius laboratory.
Since the success of the MANTIS project, Mobius lab seemed to have become livelier. As one of the primary participants, Dr. Mobius faced an increasing number of projects and plans to refine the MANTIS program, leading to more people coming and going.
Today, however, was destined to be an unusual day... at least for the laboratory and its owner.
Mobius unique voice could be heard from the doorway: "I said, he still needs time to rest. Anyone else in his situation would have gone insane long ago."
"But the message he returned to Prometheus II said he has mostly recovered," another calm voice replied—it sounded like Dr. Mei.
"Tch..."
"Dr. Mobius, even if you have a good relationship with Lin, you shouldn't act like this. You are only delaying the MANTIS project and Lin himself..."
"Who has a good relationship with him? It's simply that the poor state of a test subject affects the experimental results. Even when choosing lab rats, one usually picks the strongest ones."
"Hmph... fine. We will temporarily shelve the research on Lin. I hope Dr. Mobius can produce the plan we discussed as soon as possible."
"If you hadn't kept making me revise it, it would have been out long ago."
It wasn't quite an argument, but sparks flew between the wording of their dialogue. The conversation finally ended with Mei concession, barely reining in the discussion regarding a certain individual.
Sakura thought for a moment and decided not to enter. It was better to wait for Mei to come out on her own.
When Mei walked out the door and saw Sakura in her formal attire, she gave a faint nod: "Miss Sakura, you've arrived."
...
The staff in Mobius lab collectively swallowed hard and lowered their heads, stealing glances at the dark-faced Mobius.
No matter how bad Mobius temper usually was—cold words and sharp remarks—she had never looked this terrifying. It was as if she were looking at worthless experimental waste, an ominous cold light flickering in her eyes.
After standing still for a moment, Mobius retracted that expression. She seemed oblivious to the gazes of Nuwa and the others. After a moment of contemplation, she walked toward the lab door.
"Eh? Doctor..." Klein spoke up hesitantly.
Mobius paused and looked back at her: "What is it?"
"No, it's nothing."
Mobius gave her a puzzled look but didn't press further, exiting the lab and heading toward the direction she remembered.
What Klein actually wanted to say was that Mobius never walked out of the lab door alone. Usually, asking her to go to the cafeteria by herself was like asking for her life; most tasks were handled by Klein.
So, seeing her walk out today without the usual hesitation of a socially anxious shut-in was quite surprising to Klein.
"The Doctor seems a bit different today." As soon as Mobius left, Nuwa began her grand mission of slacking off. After peeking around to confirm Mobius was truly gone, she took her cup to the water dispenser to make milk tea, saying to Fuxi, "That's the first time I've seen her so agitated."
"The Doctor was also very agitated when she found out Nuwa filled out the data sheet wrong," Fuxi remarked while organizing paper documents, offering a dry retort.
"Th-that's different! The Doctor mocks and ridicules me, but she never raises her volume."
Fuxi spread her hands and turned to Klein: "Senior Klein, what do you think?"
"...What do I think?" Klein usually didn't want to engage in these two's chatter, but today she also felt Mobius was acting strangely. "The Doctor seems particularly... resistant regarding Mr. Lin matters. Do you remember those experimental data sets she had us process yesterday?"
"I don't remember clearly," Nuwa gave the expected answer as expected.
"Hmm... the ones about the Project Soldier surgery?" Fuxi still had some memory of it. She frowned and said, "Because there was a lot of useless data during the surgery process, she had us organize them after discarding a portion?"
"Later, when the Doctor asked me for the organized data, I saw her pick some out and modify them slightly. I suspect those were Mr. Lin experimental data."
"...But doesn't the Doctor always pursue the authenticity of data?"
"I don't know. Perhaps that data isn't a good thing for her, or for Mr. Lin." Klein shook her head and whispered worriedly, "Mobius doesn't quite seem like herself either."
...
Regardless of what others discussed, Mobius didn't care. She chose a path with few people and arrived at Lin room.
This was her second time here; the first had been not long ago.
Without knocking, she used an identification card to open Lin door, walked in, and locked it behind her.
The room was quiet. She smelled a hint of mold, but she didn't know what it was.
Clothes? Food? Or... a person?
She reached back and flipped the light switch. Her blue eyes immediately spotted Lin sitting at the desk, holding a pen.
He wasn't wearing his helmet, nor was he hiding his face. Although his fair face lacked the dejection of unshaven stubble, the black hair at the back of his head was longer than before—unmanaged, like scattered down.
"..."
Lin acted as if he hadn't heard Mobius enter. He remained focused, holding the pen and writing something on a piece of paper with intense concentration.
But Mobius knew he must have heard her arrival. It was just that now, he had returned to his former attitude of being utterly indifferent to everyone.
As if he didn't want to hurt anyone; as if he didn't want to hurt himself.
Mobius stepped forward and glanced at the crooked characters on the paper. None were legible; they looked like the scribbles of a small child doodling randomly.
It was hard to imagine this was written by the same Lin who once had excellent calligraphy.
She said nothing, sitting by the table and staring down at Lin hand as it slowly moved the pen across the paper.
"..."
"..."
After a long, long time, Lin finished a page, looked up, and met Mobius gaze.