Had that dream again...
Delta opened her eyes to see a flawless white ceiling. Her brain throbbed because she had been dreaming so much lately. She wanted to ask the medical department for some medicine so she could sleep through the night.
By the way, where was she?
"Are you awake?"
A voice as clear as water. After Delta applied some "lubricant" to her stalled brain and thought for a few seconds, she remembered who it was.
"Sakura?"
The cool assassin closed the book in her hand. Delta struggled to turn her stiff neck and saw Sakura let out a helpless sigh.
"What happened to me?"
"Nothing much. Just a brief shock. It's nothing for a MANTIS."
"Oh..."
...Shock?
Why did she go into shock?
Delta couldn't remember what happened before she passed out. It felt as if her brain was actively preventing her from remembering something terrifying.
"It seems my training method is still too early for you. We'll use Lin method from now on," Sakura said with a hint of apology on her face. "He is more gentle."
"He's more gentle? That's not right. He shows absolutely no mercy..."
Delta had a deep impression of that battle, which had defined her first impression of Lin.
Sakura glanced at Delta indignant face, wondering if she should tell her that if Lin were truly "sparring" with her seriously, she probably wouldn't have gotten off with just shock.
"Let's not train today. I'll stay here and rest with you." Sakura felt this was her responsibility. Lin had entrusted the newcomer to her, yet she had been too heavy-handed. It was shameful.
Though Delta was puzzled, she didn't ask further. Instead, she became curious about the relationship between Sakura and Lin. "Were you and Lieutenant Lin teammates before? You're not in the 13th Squad, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh... then what kind of person do you think he is?"
Vindictive, lacking gentlemanly manners, poor taste, a sadist... Delta felt she didn't have a single positive view of Lin. Yet, she couldn't help but think of the times after training ended, when they sat together in the quiet room, eating the food Lin cooked, under the tranquil moonlight, with Lin calm profile...
When asked this question, Sakura thought for a while and revealed a faint smile. "A gentle person, I suppose."
Seeing the smile on her face, Delta remained silent, not knowing what to say.
A communicator beeped. Sakura took out her communicator in confusion. She knew very few people, and besides Rin, almost no one sent her messages.
"Sakura, can you COS a ninja? The kind that shows their armpits." — Lin.
"..."
...
After sending the message, Lin put his communicator away. He needed to send messages to Sakura occasionally to prove he hadn't lost contact, since Sakura current identity was somewhat special. As for the content, it wasn't very important... he really wasn't in it for the armpits.
After entering the city, he randomly found a shop to walk into and asked the kind-looking owner, "Hello, sir."
"Hello, young man."
The owner thought this man, who was wrapped up so tightly, was very strange, but he still spoke with Lin politely.
"Could I ask, do you know..."
Lin suddenly paused.
He abruptly realized he had no idea where to start looking. He didn't even know what the person suspected to be the first Herrscher looked like. Was he supposed to ask where all the children from decades ago were?
The problem was that in the documents left by the former Fire Moth, he hadn't yet found the list of eight-year-old children from the Svatok 51 investigation.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"...Sir, do you happen to know if a meteor fell into this city nearly twenty years ago?"
"A meteor? No idea. I've only been here ten years. How would I know about things twenty years ago?"
"..."
As expected, the passage of time would be an obstacle to the investigation.
Lin bought a drink and walked out of the store. He looked up at the white, heavy snow.
Snow...
He thought of many things, like a girl's smile. This caused those whispers to reappear in his ears. He could only shake his head to fling those voices out of his mind.
Where should the investigation go next?
...
Erwin breathed in the clean air that lacked the smell of medicine, moved to tears that he finally didn't have to go back to the medical department for follow-ups.
A year. For an entire year, he had to go to the medical department almost every week. Even the doctors mocked him, saying his constitution was among the worst of all Fire Moth soldiers. An injury that would take other soldiers two months to heal took forever for him out of fear of permanent side effects.
Fortunately, there hadn't been many missions in the 10th Branch this past year. There wasn't even a single combat mission. It was so peaceful one might wonder if Honkai had disappeared.
However, he hoped Honkai would never come again... though he knew in his heart that was impossible.
"Sigh, surviving time and again purely on luck." Erwin laughed self-deprecatingly. "Erwin the Lucky? Well, it's fine. I've survived so many large-scale Honkai outbreaks; maybe I really do have a luck buff that keeps me from dying."
He walked listlessly toward his room, thinking about what to eat for a late-night snack and whether he should play games with Nuwa...
"Huh?"
As Erwin passed a corner, someone suddenly covered his mouth from behind and dragged him into a nearby room. He struggled in panic, but the strength in the hands was incredible, rendering him immobile as he was dragged inside.
"Shh."
After the room was locked, he was still struggling, but the person turned and made a shushing gesture. Erwin recognized who it was and immediately calmed down.
Einstein was satisfied with Erwin's attitude. She had her three Armed Puppets release him. The lifelike puppets with various expressions let go of Erwin, allowing him to breathe freely.
"Dr. Einstein..."
"Shh."
Einstein made another shushing gesture. Erwin consciously covered his mouth and lowered his volume. "Dr. Einstein, why did you grab me?"
"Keep your voice down first. This room has no bugs, but the hallway does. Don't be too loud during our conversation, and don't let anyone notice." Einstein first explained the precautions, then said seriously: "I need you to do something for me."
"Me? What can I do?"
"You aren't easily noticed, and you are close to Lin and Elysia. That's why I'm looking for you."
Sounds like you're saying I'm expendable.
"Then... what do I need to do?" Erwin scratched the back of his head.
"Help me steal something."