It was hard for Lin to describe his own mood. He wasn't the type to have large emotional swings; he couldn't manage to either cry or laugh. Upon hearing a corpse had appeared at Headquarters, he believed his face under the helmet remained a deadpan, expressionless mask. Whether the deceased was an acquaintance or a stranger wouldn't change a single line on that face.
Yes, a cold-blooded doll who could neither cry nor laugh was a wise choice to investigate the dead.
...
"Four hours had passed since the time of death when the body was discovered." Prometheus reported some basic info. No autopsy was needed; her analytical ability easily identified the cause and time of death. "The body was found at 9:11 AM by a passerby."
Meaning, death occurred around 5 AM. To facilitate the investigation, the scene was maintained in its original state. This was nothing for Fire Moth's technology; if they wanted, they could keep a crime scene preserved for a year without it being disturbed.
Erwin's body was found on the deck. According to the first witness, the blood on the deck had already solidified when he saw the body. The "inconspicuous fatal wound" prevented him from immediately recognizing it as a corpse; he only realized the young man's pupils had dilated after walking closer.
Prometheus hadn't reported the cause of death. Lin understood why after seeing the body—he understood what the witness meant by an "inconspicuous fatal wound." Erwin's stiff expression after death revealed a trace of confusion, as if he hadn't expected to die so suddenly. There was no farewell before death; everything came so quickly, discarding romance and extinguishing life.
Lin silently moved his gaze from the face to the neck of Erwin's corpse. The moment he stepped onto the deck, he had seen the "black spring" occupying his vision—in his colorless world, it was a deep, rich black.
A ruptured carotid artery; death by hemorrhagic shock. The killer's strike was clean, precisely cutting the trachea and artery without even a millimeter to spare. This wasn't an accidental killing, but a premeditated murder. One could imagine Erwin standing on the deck watching the sunrise, and the moment he turned, his life was erased by a blade from the darkness.
Aside from that, no other clues could be found. Fingerprints, footprints, murder weapon, surveillance... all meaningless. Fire Moth possessed the most advanced technology; these standard investigations didn't need Lin. To be able to kill at Fire Moth Headquarters meant the killer was confident no trace would be found. Even without profiling, one could tell this was a calm, rational, and cold-blooded killer.
"A revenge killing?" Prometheus offered the most likely guess.
The ambitious people who tried to launch a coup were already dead. It was almost impossible for someone else to try and change Fire Moth's system again so soon. Moreover, Lin couldn't see any connection between Erwin's death and Fire Moth. But a revenge killing also seemed impossible.
"The body and wounds are very clean." Lin mimicked the killer's movements. They walked up with their head down, a dagger naturally held in their hand—no hiding, just walking boldly to Erwin's side. Then, before Erwin could react, a clean slash across his throat. Stepping aside to avoid the blood spraying from the artery, they walked slowly back into the darkness without a second look at Erwin, who knelt on the ground clutching his neck.
No hatred, no emotion, not even a motive. Erwin was standing here, so he died. If it were revenge, one usually couldn't be so calm, killing a human as if slaughtering livestock. Even the most indifferent person, seeing their enemy about to die, would stand back and watch them slowly breathe their last.
The lack of motive was the hardest part of finding the true culprit. It couldn't even be determined if the person who killed him had ever met him.
"Who did Erwin see last night?" As he looked at that frozen young face, Lin realized his sense of taste seemed to have returned. A bitter taste seemed to be on the tip of his tongue. He thought he had bitten his tongue, so he stuck it out and pulled up the helmet's internal monitor to check.
None. A perfectly intact tongue. Like rotten meat, emitting a stench to attract flies—a meaningless hunk of flesh.
...
"..."
When Lin delivered the news to her, he watched her expression turn from a smile to a moment of blankness, finally turning stiff and motionless. It was as if she had died along with Erwin. He hadn't expected the first person he saw would be Elysia, just as she hadn't expected him to come looking for her to investigate Erwin's death.
"Why?"
What answer could Lin give? Why was Erwin killed? He was also investigating that. But he thought what Elysia wanted to ask wasn't that. She wanted to ask why Erwin had to die. Why would a youth who survived three Large-Scale Honkai Eruptions die in humanity's place of hope? There was no suffocating reason to be found.
No, one couldn't look for reasons.
"So you two just talked for a bit and then parted ways." Lin finished listening to Elysia account. She no longer showed her usual smile, standing silent like a shadow of Lin.
No clues. Lin had expected this. At 5 AM, there was no one on the deck. Erwin might have just wanted to see the sunrise on a whim, and the killer just happened to see him on a whim and killed him. Headquarters at that time was as quiet as a graveyard; Erwin's groans were choked by his own blood, and after a silent struggle, he ceased to move.
So, what was the point of asking? He didn't know. Perhaps Lin just wanted to try his luck; having no place to start, he used every method he could think of. Or perhaps, he didn't actually expect to hear anything useful.
"Lin, what will you do after you find the killer?" Elysia seemed to love asking these questions, and Lin usually answered them all.
"What will you do." According to standard procedure, the perpetrator would be held in the Deep End, and severe cases might be executed. But no matter the punishment, it wasn't Lin place to decide; he would only follow regulations. He didn't represent his own will; he couldn't say what "he" would do.
However, Lin never kills. He simply had such a principle, and he was certain he wouldn't do anything he shouldn't.
"I will do what I must," he replied.
As Lin turned to leave, he heard a sneer. A crisp, clearly mocking laugh came from behind him. But when he turned his head, he only saw Elysia with her head down, looking spiritless.