"You're here, Lin."
Kevin's appearance didn't surprise Lin much. Kevin was the one investigating last time, and it was no different this time.
"Where is the body?" Lin asked.
Kevin led Lin into the Spiral Workshop. Even if Lin couldn't smell it, he could guess that the air must be thick with the scent of blood.
Compared to Vil-V's body, which he had seen several hours later last time, this one was much "fresher."
Vil-V's expression of disbelief was frozen on her blood-stained face. She must have seen something that surprised her before she died. She lay face down in a pool of blood, appearing not to have struggled much.
A slit throat doesn't cause immediate death, but Vil-V clearly hadn't intended to let herself die too painfully; she had accepted it straightforwardly.
This also made the investigation not very difficult.
The cause of death was the same as last time. In fact, the body's positioning and the location of the wound were exactly the same. No change could be seen at all, meaning the killer this time was likely the same as last time.
Lin pondered why Vil-V still died, even though she should have been the one among them least likely to die.
Could it be that the time he left after chatting with Vil-V was exactly when the killer murdered her?
There was a certain possibility. Last time, PROMETHEUS had also brushed past the killer; the killer entered the Spiral Workshop and killed Vil-V right after she left.
The time point when Lin chatted with Vil-V this time might have been just before her death last time.
In other words... was it an accident?
But Lin hadn't given up yet. Just like last time, he found the backup measure Vil-V had left behind. He believed that this time, Vil-V would surely leave more clues!
Together with Kevin, Lin listened as PROMETHEUS played the message from the black box.
"You... actually... consciousness..."
"..."
Strange?
Lin had PROMETHEUS play it again. He had her slow it down by a full ten times, listening to every syllable clearly.
But this gave rise to the greatest sense of "bizarre" this time.
No change.
The message and the Morse code were exactly the same as last time!
Impossible! Hadn't Lin already told Vil-V about her end and the message she conveyed last time? Why did she still convey the same thing this time?
Not enough time? No, it wasn't a matter of whether there was enough time.
Lin puzzled gaze slowly moved from the playing Morse code to Vil-V's body. Her genuine "bewilderment" was reflected solidly on his retina.
The method of death, the appearance in death, the time, the message... everything was the same.
It was as if he were just re-watching a recording.
"Lin?" Kevin's call brought Lin back to his senses. He forced himself to calm down.
"What does 'consciousness pollution' mean?"
Kevin had also learned the intelligence Vil-V conveyed, but he too couldn't understand what it actually was.
Could it not be more straightforward?
"I don't know. Maybe it's telling us to be careful of people whose consciousness has become diseased."
Lin answered subconsciously.
So, whose consciousness would become diseased?
...
"Is Vil-V dead..."
After hearing Lin report, MEI closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her thoughts unknown.
The reason Lin was the one reporting was that Kevin was already leading others to start searching the Fire Moth headquarters.
Although, according to Lin "experience," there would surely be no result.
"Lin, what do you think the motive is?"
"..."
Before MEI posed this question to Lin, he had already thought about it.
As early as last time, he had wondered what the mastermind's goal was.
A person seeking change, like the Chairman? But seeking change shouldn't involve killing everyone at headquarters. Profit? Impossible. Fire Moth itself was the world's largest concentration of interests. If Fire Moth disappeared, those interests would collapse with it.
No matter how much he thought about it, he could only reach one conclusion in the end.
"There is no... motive."
Killing Erwin, killing Vil-V, killing everyone at headquarters... all Lin saw in it was a "lack of meaning."
Just like when Erwin died, the killer's method was like a madman who randomly picked someone to kill.
Therefore, the killer's sole purpose was meaningless murder.
"Herrscher..."
Clearly, after Lin and MEI spoke at the same time, their gazes met in the air, having arrived at the same possibility.
Indeed, only a Herrscher would eliminate humans without a purpose or reservation.
Their powers are mysterious and unpredictable. For instance, if the Third Herrscher wanted to kill someone without leaving a trace, she would only need to use her ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields to hack into Fire Moth's systems.
And they also fit the characteristics of the "consciousness erosion" information.
In the end, had it come back to considering Herrschers?
Lin thought continuously, but he was ultimately stumped by a difficult problem.
So, why would a Herrscher do this?
"If it were a Herrscher, they wouldn't make such 'small' moves." Mei analysis matched Lin thoughts. "No matter how much a Herrscher resembles a human, they are still a Herrscher. As long as she starts killing, it means her goal is to annihilate humanity. If she launched a surprise attack at this time, it would be difficult for headquarters to defend against her."
Exactly. No matter how cautious or human-like, once a Herrscher holds murderous intent, it's unlikely she would continue to disguise herself.
It's different from the Herrscher of Reason from the previous civilization.
In other words, this wasn't done by a Herrscher...
Contradiction, doubt, suspicion.
At this moment, the only thing that could be proven was Vil-V's innocence. The things she said to Lin could be confirmed as true.
Proven through her death.
"Among the things Vil-V made, one has gone missing—a long sword equipped with new technology." Additionally, MEI had some other speculations. "To seize Vil-V's inventions? But..."
Lin understood what MEI didn't say.
If it were for some novel technology or weapons, they shouldn't have attacked Vil-V, but the R&D department.
That is, they should have attacked MEI.
Ultimately, they still couldn't deduce the killer's motive.
...
"...Are you very sad, Lin?"
Prometheus voice reached Lin exhausted heart. He turned his head and saw Prometheus expressionless face.
"And you?"
"...I don't know." Prometheus seemingly emotionless face looked like a simple flat texture. "Dr. Vil-V created a body for me, she helped Lin, she had me test many strange inventions... she shouldn't have died."
This "emotionless" robot embraced Lin, trembling, yet unable to shed tears.