"..."
"..."
The moment their eyes met, Sakura body stiffened for an instant.
Lin walked past her as if nothing had happened and entered Mobius lab. Sakura only slowly walked away after hearing the door close behind her.
She felt the gazes of the people around her directed at the inhuman ears on her head. She returned to her room in silence.
Sakura sat on the bed, staring at the photo of her and Rin on the desk.
She couldn't go back now.
Sakura reached out to touch the ears on her head. They weren't just useless organs like extra fingers; they were real fox ears. Nerves connected them to her senses, making her sharper... and also making her look no different from a monster.
Was it painful?
This was her own choice.
...
"Sakura just left, and here you come. You really like giving me unnecessary trouble."
Mobius casually tossed aside the recording of her conversation with Sakura. She looked at Lin with dissatisfaction. "Is my place a mental health clinic or a lab?"
"...How is she?" Lin looked back at the door and asked.
"Nothing, just normal Project Soldier surgery aftereffects, similar to sensory resonance," Mobius said. "She might see some memories of the Honkai Beast and experience some emotions contained in the genes. Since Honkai Beasts and humans are very different, this emotional gap can be uncomfortable."
"..."
"I know what you want to ask. Your surgery failed, so you don't have that situation. But Kevin and I both do. Only Elysia... Tsk, that girl is even weirder than you."
After venting, Mobius looked at Lin. "Well? What is it? If it's nothing, I'm going to perform the next surgery."
"...Can I observe this surgery?"
"Huh?" Mobius gave Lin a strange look. "What's wrong with you now?"
"..."
"Oh... You were the one who brought her back, so you can't ignore her being sent to the chopping block. Same as before, doing the 'thought work' for her." Mobius narrowed her eyes. "If you ask me... why do you care about her? You're just doing your job. The ones who want her dead are others. Or... can you not even accept this much?"
"...Yeah, I can't accept it."
Lin slowly nodded and admitted it.
...
Bound by restraint straps, she was pushed toward the unknown ahead in a hallway smelling of formalin under bright lights.
Aponia gazed flatly at the empty ceiling. She didn't need anyone else to remind her of what would happen next.
This was her first time leaving Sundown Alley—that place of chaos, filth, and isolation. She had wondered many times what the outside was like.
Civilized, beautiful, orderly... if Sundown Alley was the gathering place of the world's darkness, then the outside should be its antonym.
But in reality, she had only entered another dark cage.
Anesthesia was pushed into her vein—the final mercy Fire-Moth gave her. If it was a death sentence, she could at least pass away peacefully in a dream.
With a few minutes left for the drug to take effect, doctors in full gear stood around her. In a restraint chamber nearby, there seemed to be a trapped... colorful moth?
It seemed dead, yet its wings were as colorful and bright as stained-glass windows in a cathedral.
At this moment, Aponia thought of many things. Some say people review their lives before they die, replaying a few important events. But all she thought of were trivial matters.
Perhaps because since birth, she had lived an ordinary life in Sundown Alley, without even a single "important" event.
The life she spent with those children might be worth remembering.
But in Aponia mind, other images appeared.
Guns, letters, moonlight, masks, barbecue, flames, collapse...
She smiled sorrowfully.
At this very moment, she actually felt that the time she met Lin was the most important period of her life.
Truly an irredeemable fool, a blasphemer who had strayed from her pure faith.
The drug began to affect her whole body. She couldn't stop her eyes from closing, and her consciousness began to blur. Her calm heart was finally broken by herself.
Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. She no longer knew if she feared death or something else.
Was all of this fate?
"Tears? Ah... honestly, nine out of ten in Project Soldier surgery do that..." An impatient female voice came from the lead surgeon. She tossed her green hair and looked at someone in the corner.
Aponia dull gaze followed hers and stopped on that person.
Then, their eyes met.
"..."
"..."
As expected, she was still so stupid... even after being lied to...
She closed her eyes peacefully and fell into a deep sleep.
...
"...Heh, you actually dare appear before me again."
The "Beast" with messy white hair covered in filth opened his fierce, violent eyes in the darkness, staring at the helmeted man standing outside the "cage."
"What? Do you want to die once?!"
In an instant, a completely different, burning killing intent surged from the cage directly toward Lin face. Kalpas bloodshot eyes were only a few centimeters away, and his heavy breathing hit Lin helmet.
"...I'm sorry."
"Apologize? You? Hahahaha..." Kalpas laughed in rage. "Do you know? If a person truly felt regret, they wouldn't have done the things they need to apologize for in the first place! What are you doing here now? Showing your hypocritical face? To ask me to spare your miserable life after I leave here?"
"Or..."
His gaze slowly shifted from Lin to what was behind him.
"Are you going to kill me here, just like that helper you brought last time?"
A smiling pink-haired girl stood behind Lin with her arms crossed, nodding as if satisfied with Kalpas explosive rage.
"Hmm... Just like Lin said, a very energetic and straightforward boy. Completely different from the three members of the 'Gloom Squad'."
"...Huh?"
Kalpas glared at this woman. Her smile made him extremely annoyed, as if... he were being treated like a child.
"Your name is... um... Ka..." The pink-haired girl looked at Lin awkwardly. "Sorry, I don't usually forget names. Lin?"
Lin said slowly: "His name is..."
Then, Lin also paused.
Then, he spoke smoothly: " Qianzhi." (TL note: a pun on "Qianzhi" ( Thousands of papers ) vs 'Kalpas ( "Qianjie ") ( Thousands of tribulations )
"Do you really want to die!" Kalpas grabbed Lin collar through the bars.