Atra, a city on the edge of the Mu continent, housed the Tenth Branch of Fire Moth. It was somewhat difficult to understand why Fire Moth would establish a branch in such a small city. Usually, branches were located in major cities with significant economic, transport, and political infrastructure to control various regions. Only the Tenth Branch was in Atra, and it was a rare branch that possessed substantial military force.
Usually, this meant... there was something here that needed guarding.
"What happened?" As Lin got off the transport plane, Ato walked toward him. Facing Lin question, Ato shook his head with a bitter smile: "It's a long story."
"Let me tell you the 'backstory' first."
"Backstory...?" Behind Lin, Elysia eyes flickered.
...
"Where should I start..." Ato leaned against the pale pink wall of the lounge, his expression solemn, his eyes reflecting his thoughts. Lin and Elysia sat on opposite sides, watching the lowered head of Ato, waiting patiently for him to speak.
After a moment, Ato finally seemed to organize his thoughts. He spoke slowly: "Perhaps you already know, but Fire Moth has a 'predecessor.' That is, before it became Fire Moth, a prototype already existed."
Lin did know this. For instance, the Chairman had been active long before Fire Moth was born; the organization was formed by a coalition of political bodies and organizations from many nations.
"To make it easier, I'll call the prototype organization 'Pre-Fire Moth.' Dr. Mobius and I were members of Pre-Fire Moth."
Mobius? It was a surprise to hear that name—not that she was part of the prototype, as she had mentioned being a veteran, but mentioning it now meant the story Ato was about to tell was related to her.
"You might be curious why Fire Moth responded so quickly during the 'Stellar Color' intrusion, and why we weren't surprised by the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. Actually, Pre-Fire Moth conducted investigations into outer space. To be precise, we investigated Earth's natural satellite and found some results."
The Moon? Ato's gaze darkened, his fingers tightening: "I was a member of the Lunar Investigation Team, and there, we found... 'remains'."
"Wait a moment." Lin gave Elysia a look. They cut off their communicators and the surveillance in the lounge. Something was wrong.
Lin had a premonition that he was about to touch the "truth." Ato had never told them these things, nor had Mobius. For Ato to speak of them now meant this was likely information that could not be made public—information that could shake the very foundations of Fire Moth.
"Remains? Remains of what?"
"...You really are cautious, Lin. But don't worry, this information should be made public to the inner circles of Fire Moth soon." Ato's smile lasted less than half a second. He looked solemnly into Lin helmet. "They were remains of a 'humanoid.' Judging by appearance, it was a female. It was there that we first captured a Honkai energy reaction."
This differed from the internal version circulated by Fire Moth. The previous claim was that the first Honkai reaction was captured during a small eruption prior to the First Honkai Eruption. Ato's words directly overturned the existing intelligence.
"After that, Pre-Fire Moth's operations were split into two groups: [Surface Guard] and [Lunar Probe]. Mobius and I were responsible for building the portal connecting Earth and the Moon—the [Stargate]."
"Wait, before the Second Herrscher was born, how could space technology with teleportation functions have been built?" Lin immediately countered. "The technological level shouldn't have been sufficient then."
"Exactly. That's why the [Stargate] is the only teleportation portal in the world."
"..." Lin was stunned, then understood the implication in Ato's words.
"Through our surveying, we found a spatial connection between the Lunar Ruins and the city of Atra on Earth. By amplifying this connection, Dr. Mobius created the [Stargate]. The ruins on the Moon were called 'Lunar Atra,' and Pre-Fire Moth began researching the remains there."
"However, due to improper operation, a portion of the remains separated and fell to Earth."
Lin stood up abruptly. He understood why this information had remained top-secret. If he guessed correctly, once this event was exposed, Fire Moth would not be seen as the savior organization protecting humanity from crisis, but rather...
Ato sighed at Lin uncharacteristic glare: "Lin, I know you're angry. But listen to me finish first. Besides... the cause of that accident has never been determined. There isn't even a definitive answer as to whether it really was an 'accident'."
Lin took a deep breath and sat back down. He glanced at Elysia, only to find her uncharacteristically silent, her head lowered as if lost in thought.
"From that moment on, Honkai energy began to appear on Earth. Mobius speculated that the accident caused the Honkai energy to leak."
In that case, humanity's crisis was caused by the hands of Pre-Fire Moth. But was it really that simple? Lin frowned. He thought of how the Honkai had existed in the Previous Era long before the current civilization was born. If Pre-Fire Moth caused the leak, how did the Previous Era's Honkai appear? Or were the remains on the Moon actually the Honkai sealed by the Previous Era?
"Eight years after the portion of the remains fell to Earth, Pre-Fire Moth determined the orbital path of the fall. The remains landed in a city called Vostok-51. Pre-Fire Moth searched Vostok-51, inspecting every 'eight-year-old child' in the city, but found nothing."
"Child?"
"Yes. Because when the remains fell, they took the shape of an infant."
An infant... could it be...
"The First... Herrscher?" At this moment, Lin finally connected the dots, and certain prior doubts were finally answered.
On that day, she fell from the heavens. The people on the ground looked up, and so, they saw the stars.
This was the nursery rhyme created by Aponia and circulated in Sundown Alley. This rhyme actually hid the Vostok-51 incident that Fire Moth wanted to cover up.
Why were the Fire Moth high-ranks so afraid of the remnants of the traitor Chairman's faction? It likely wasn't just fear of another rebellion, but fear that the Chairman, as a member of Pre-Fire Moth, would leak the Vostok-51 incident.
When Lin delayed the cleaning of the sanatorium, they sent Sakura to forcibly clean it, interrogated Aponia for creating the rhyme, and finally tried to silence her through the MANTIS surgery.
Even the reason for the Chairman's betrayal might be related to the Vostok-51 incident.
Everything, the beginning, the origin, started from that moment—from her fall.