Humans are ignorant, and thus, they are happy.
Humans seek knowledge, and thus, they are miserable.
The atmosphere of the meeting felt as if it had grim into a frozen wasteland. No one spoke first; everyone sat with their heads bowed, expressions dark and grim.
The reason was simple, yet incredibly complex.
"MSA-079."
One man slowly uttered the designation, causing the others to tense up.
"Wasn't his MANTIS surgery a failure? Will someone please explain to me why, over the past few months, he has been able to pinpoint every single base of the KY Plan? How is he destroying facilities while under siege by at least thirty MANTIS soldiers and countless mechs? The number of MANTIS soldiers he has critically injured is nearly approaching triple digits."
"..."
No one could answer.
How could one explain that a failed product of a project was beating the successful products so badly they couldn't strike back?
Another man spoke up slowly: "There is a traitor among us."
"..."
It was an undeniable fact, yet a truth none of them wanted to face.
Once could be a fluke, but the fact that Lin found the bases with unerring precision every single time meant someone with complete knowledge of the plan was feeding him information—even allowing him to time his raids perfectly. Otherwise, the losses wouldn't be this catastrophic.
Betrayal?
In the council, someone curled their lip in disdain.
"Speaking of which, I heard Ato say at the banquet that Lin 'type' is someone like Mobius." Vil-V was crunching on potato chips, her toes tapping away on the keyboard as she processed data at high speed. "Could it be that Lin likes the long tongue and the suffocating pleasure of a deep kiss reaching the throat? I have heard of people being obsessed with that sensation..."
"...To my knowledge, Adjutant Lin has never kissed Dr. Mobius," Prometheus responded in her mechanical tone while serving tea.
"I know. Neither have I."
Delta, who was playing an arcade game nearby, felt her eyelid twitch as she overheard their conversation.
During these past few months, she didn't know exactly what Lin had been doing. She only knew that her room had turned into a "Fetish Exchange Convention." Every day, she listened to Vil-V researching Lin potential kinks from various angles, waiting for Lin to return so she could put them into practice.
However, Lin never accepted. Every day, he returned looking heavy-hearted, staring blankly at his notebook or gazing out the window, lost in thought.
Every time, Delta felt that something within him was deepening. She couldn't put words to it, but it was certainly something dark.
Vil-V could see it too, but she never asked what was wrong. She stayed focused on manufacturing the Divine Key and... exploring Lin preferences.
Even the atmosphere in the 10th Branch felt off. More and more people from Headquarters were arriving. Unfamiliar faces were seen walking around the branch, looking as if they were searching for something—or perhaps sizing things up.
Even though only one Honkai eruption had occurred in nearly two years, the pressure overhead felt increasingly heavy, and this pressure wasn't coming from the outside.
Whenever Lin returned with eyes that grew progressively dimmer, Delta would clench her fists.
Even if she couldn't be sure at first, Delta now understood—even without being told—that something was wrong with Fire Moth, and Lin was trying to solve it alone.
He was doing it for the MANTIS soldiers born like Delta. Even if Fire Moth had promised them a lie, Lin would turn that lie into reality.
Delta practiced relentlessly, refining her combat techniques and tempering her will. She no longer knew if she was working hard because of her status as a MANTIS, or for something else she couldn't quite name.
Click.
The door pushed open, and Lin walked in, his clothes tattered and torn. Delta heart tightened.
He looked like he had endured even more attacks than yesterday or the day before. Nothing, including his helmet, was intact. However, Delta felt a small sense of relief; Lin rarely got injured. His equipment would be trashed, but he never came back covered in wounds.
"You're back?" Delta asked, just as she did every day.
"Yeah."
Lin nodded and walked into the room, throwing himself into a corner. He removed his helmet and rubbed his temples, closing his eyes to rest.
A head of hair, three-quarters of which had turned silver-white, was particularly striking in the room.
"How was... today?" Delta asked tentatively.
"...Fine," Lin answered. His face couldn't hide his exhaustion. He didn't feel physical pain, but mental fatigue couldn't be masked just because the body lacked sensation.
For a long time, Lin had been using Gray Serpent to find KY Plan bases and sabotage them. He always found the perfect opportunity, and ordinary MANTIS soldiers couldn't stop him.
But for every mech Lin destroyed, two more popped up. For every MANTIS he wounded, three more appeared wanting to kill him.
He had successfully delayed the higher-ups, but it was only a delay.
The day would eventually come when the leadership would loudly announce that everything in Fire Moth officially belonged to them. Before the Honkai even struck, mechs and MANTIS soldiers would have suppressed all opposing voices.
After that, they might face the Honkai more easily, but whether their primary enemy remained the Honkai would be a major question mark.
In the dead of night.
A man looked at the report in his hand, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and asked the person in front of him: "Still not ready?"
"You know it's difficult for me to take over everything alone. The preparation required is more than you imagine."
The man frowned, but soon let out a helpless sigh. "I understand."
"Their movements have become more frequent lately. It's better if we meet less often."
"...I know."
After the brief conversation ended, the man walked out of the room, the worry on his brow refusing to dissipate. He leaned against the wall, clutching a locket containing a photograph.
Lin, what are you doing right now?
He looked at the photo of his wife and daughter, and the anxiety in his eyes faded slightly.
Step.
"Who's there?"
The man alertly reached for his weapon and looked toward the far end of the corridor, which was shrouded in darkness.
He couldn't have been mistaken.
The man put the photo back in his pocket and stared intensely at the shadows. Someone was approaching.
In the pale moonlight, the man's pupils shrunk as the newcomer emerged. He was surprised that this person would appear in this place at this time—and right in front of him.
"Lin..."
The man wearing the helmet walked out empty-handed into the moonlight, calmly meeting his gaze.
"Ato, I have something to say to you."
This "traitor" stood there openly.
The man, upon hearing those words, let out a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted. He gave a hearty smile. "Okay."