I'm not Yingjie

Lin shook his head: "…This is different."

"But your life is no different from theirs. All human lives are equal, Lin, this is what you told me."

"..."

"The way humans exist is to pass on life to the next generation, so Delta is undoubtedly a qualified human being."

That’s right, the reason why humans can survive for so long in the world is that they can continuously pass on life, and Delta has done it.

When Lin thought of this, he stopped talking and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Lin, you are my hope."

In a trance, he saw Delta saying this to him.

……

It was that gloomy meeting again, with everyone sitting in their seats, waiting silently for explanations.

"MSA-079 sent a message stating that the Fourth Herrscher had been killed by him."

After a while, after gently tapping the edge of the table, a piece of information was delivered to everyone.

The content recorded above made some people exclaim in shock and others frown.

"..." In the silence mixed with various emotions, a person stood up and said in a skeptical tone, "Everyone, I think we need to re-evaluate the threat level of the Herrscher."

The person who gave the information sat at the very end, put his hands under his nose, and looked at him: "Member, what do you mean?"

"We have long believed that the Herrscher is the highest-level threat to Honkai, so we have always invested a lot of resources to fight against the Herrscher without reservation." He picked up the information and seriously flicked the fonts on it, which seemed a bit ridiculous to him. "But now you tell me that it only takes one soldier and a newly developed robot to defeat the Herrscher, and this soldier is equivalent to defeating the third Herrscher alone in the third Honkai."

"From the First Herrscher to the Fourth Herrscher, the total casualties caused are not as many as those of the higher-level Honkai beasts born around the world. Just by comparing the numbers, we can feel that the so-called Herrscher is not as powerful and terrifying as we worry about."

This kind of irrelevant talk made the other person unable to hold back: "Are you talking nonsense? Isn't this the credit of MSA-079? Did he defeat the Herrscher alone to prevent greater casualties? Does that prove that the Herrscher is nothing big?"

"Haha, Mr. Star, are you trying to promote your 'human individual enhancement' plan again?" The congressman glanced disdainfully at the person who jumped out to refute. After seeing that it was a familiar face, he sneered again and again, "Even if we take a step back, according to intelligence, the MSA-079 was able to kill the Third and Fourth Herrschers, all thanks to the scientific achievements of the headquarters' R&D department. Unfortunately, the director of the R&D department who developed the MSA-079 equipment has just received news that he has died in the line of duty."

"Died in the line of duty?" The man called Star frowned. It was obvious that he didn't know the relevant information.

"Yes, Sigma from the command center once tried to stop him from acting recklessly, but unfortunately, the genius was too impulsive and died trying to save soldiers who were worthless compared to him." The congressman couldn't help but sigh, "It's really... such a pity."

Sigma...Star recalled that Sigma seemed to be from the faction of this congressman?

The congressman wiped away the sad tears from his eyes and proposed to the people present: "At this point, Dr. Delta has used his talent and life to prove to us that what humans need is more powerful technology, technology that can easily kill the Herrscher, rather than a 'transformation experiment' that turns humans into monsters."

"Is this really what you were thinking?" Seeing him showing his true colors, Star couldn't help but sneer.

As expected, that damn sadness was just a show for his ideals.

Ignoring him, the councillor continued, "Besides, didn't MSA-079 prove to us that ordinary humans are strong enough?"

"...So, do you want to abolish Dr. Mei's research?" The person who had listened to the whole process without saying a word, now stared at him with a calm look on his face.

"Yes."

The MP bowed deeply to them.

"Humans are supposed to be humans, not... monsters."

Chapter 12: Weeping

The fourth collapse ended quietly.

Only three teams participated in this operation, but the number of casualties was only one, which can be called a miracle. However, most of the people who participated in the battle did not have any deep feelings about this operation.

It's just... they kept fighting Honkai beasts, and then while they were fighting, a robot cleared the monsters and killed the Emperor-level Honkai beast. Then after a while, the wind field was lifted, telling them that the Herrscher had been killed.

There is no sense of reality at all.

And after learning that it was the helmeted man who defeated the Herrscher, an inexplicable sense of "it's natural" lingered in everyone's mind.

……

"The body is very healthy. Apart from some unexplained endometrial rupture and internal organ overload, no internal or external injuries were found." The medical staff of the medical department put down the physical examination report with a strange look on their faces, "But..."

"What's wrong?" The pink-haired girl secretly flipped through the report and asked curiously when she saw the medical staff hesitating.

"But his current condition may be more serious than a serious injury."

"Why? Isn't Lin not injured?"

"Uh..." The medical staff wiped the sweat off his forehead, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Even with the development of medical technology to this stage, there are still many unsolved mysteries about human nerves. Moreover, the technology of nerve connection is inherently dangerous, and we don't fully understand what kind of damage it will cause to human consciousness and spirit."

The medical staff thought for a moment, and then said to the still confused Alicia: "I've watched some combat videos, and I speculate that the neural connection is equivalent to using the Titan as your own body, so it can allow that person to perform extraordinary movements, but would you treat yourself as a robot?"

Alicia understood: "In other words, Lin is still immersed in the illusion that he is a robot?"

"Not entirely. It's more like his nerves are deceiving him into thinking he's driving the Titan, while his consciousness is awake. This cognitive contradiction has caused him to lose control of his body. Furthermore, his nerves have been connected for too long. The duration of this contradiction is proportional to the time he has used the nerve connection, so it is likely to last for a long time. I'm not sure how long this time will be."

"…Is it difficult to move?"

"It's paralysis."

The medical staff scratched their heads helplessly.

……

The sun shone on the head of the bed. Lin stared at the ceiling with his eyes open, his face wrapped in gauze.

He was paralyzed from the neck down.

It was even more serious than the last muscle atrophy, and because there was no cure this time, he had to lie in bed and not move until he got better.

After the nerve connection was severed, he lost consciousness, and then when he recovered he was lying on a hospital bed in this state. He was told that his body was paralyzed and the cause of the disease was still being investigated, but nothing could be found.

It is still unknown whether he can recover. If the situation is serious, he may become bedridden for the rest of his life.

The doctors all looked ashamed as if they were ready to push him into the crematorium, with their hands folded in front of them, and they were just about to bow before covering him with a white cloth. Lin, on the other hand, accepted it all calmly and naturally.

These days, Fire Moth has been busy with the Fourth Honkai Impact. Kevin, Hua and Imer have visited him several times, but the Fifth Team has been busy on the front line and has no time to come. Mobius sent a new assistant to check his physical condition and write an observation report.

Weiwei also came once, but she just came to visit Lin. She mainly took Prometheus away and has not returned him yet.

Tranquility is the atmosphere in the ward most of the time, but Lin hasn't seen the most important person in the past few days, so he thinks this retirement atmosphere will soon be broken.

Counting on my fingers, it's time for that person to come and make trouble.

"Good morning, Lin!"

"..."

as predicted.

When the pink-haired girl appeared at the door, Lin subconsciously closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"Huh? Are you sleeping?" Soon, Lin felt a warm and moist breath on his face, as well as a pleasant fragrance. "Are you really sleeping?"

"..."

"Hmm..." After a while, when Lin didn't open his eyes, the girl tapped her lower lip and shrugged indifferently, "Okay, let's do it next time."

The footsteps faded away. Lin waited for a while before opening his eyes. He glanced at the empty door and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ding ding ding~ Hehe, you can't hide it from my eyes even if you pretend to sleep~"

However, when Alicia crawled out from under the bed, Lin's heart skipped a beat.

Didn’t this guy go far away?

Seeing Lin's gloomy eyes, Alicia pouted and reached out to rub his face: "You are still angry, it was Lin's fault in the first place, you can't resist me now."

"..."That's right, now even if Alicia draws a turtle forest on his face, she can't stop her.

With no other options, Lin could only make his eyes a little friendlier.

"Hmm~" Alicia touched Lin's head, took out a wreath and put it around Lin's neck with a smile, "Lin was particularly obedient today, so I'll reward you with a wreath."

"..."

Did she really know what garlands and wreaths meant?

"Really? You were already very withdrawn, and now you can't move and don't like to talk. It feels like you're not paralyzed, but a vegetable."

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Alicia means what she says unintentionally or is just being sarcastic, but this ambiguous way of speaking often does achieve her goals.

"Is there anything wrong?" Lin held it in for a long time before finally uttering this sentence.

"It's okay." Alicia said confidently.

"..."

"But I want to hear what you have to say."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to hear Lin talk about what happened during this collapse."

Alicia looked at him tenderly.

"…There's nothing much to say." Lin looked away.

"But someone died, right? I know that person, and Lin also knows him."

Did you actually notice it?

In order to boost morale, the sacrifice of Delta was downplayed, creating an atmosphere that the Fourth Honkai Impact was basically equivalent to zero damage, so that not many people noticed that the person who died was actually the director of the R&D department.

"He died a worthy death."

"No one dies for a good reason. Everyone is unique. Sacrifice is just sacrifice and cannot be measured by value." Alicia propped up her chin, leaned against the bed and smiled, "Lin, this is what you told me, so you can't hide it from me."

Lin Moran didn't move for a long time. Then he turned his head and looked into Alicia's eyes.

His deep black pupils were fixed in his eye sockets, calm and still.

"...Do I look like I'm crying?" he asked a strange question.

Alicia brushed her palm across his forehead and chuckled softly, "You're crying."

"is it?"

Lin still kept his dry eyes open, without any tears flowing out.

Chapter 13: On the Journey

"Lin, why are you dressed like this?"

Prometheus asked Lin, who was lying on the bed unable to move.

"What kind of outfit?" Lin asked expressionlessly.

"She looked like she had just woken up from dancing hula in South Africa and then passed out after drinking too much and having cerebellar palsy."

Lin's appearance on the hospital bed can only be described as a sea of ​​flowers. He wore colorful wreaths around his neck and head, and even a bright red flower on his ear. The bright colors matched his mummy-like appearance, as if he was about to be buried.

“…Who taught you the parable?”

"Vilvi." Prometheus said in her emotionless mechanical voice, "Who dressed you?"

"Alicia."

"..."

"..."

Lin twisted his neck, then... looked at Prometheus.

Yes, he saw Prometheus, literally.

"What are you wearing?"

There was a little girl who could be called a "loli" standing beside his bed, with short grey hair tied into a side ponytail on the right. Her overly red eyes, her expression colder than Lin's, and the ball-shaped joints of her hands and feet all showed that she was not human.

Judging from the shape of the earrings and hair accessories, they are very much in the style of Velvet.

In his hand was Lin's helmet.

Lin remembered that he was informing Weiwei to return Prometheus as he had some things to deal with.

Now I am back...

"Hey, look who is that little girl?"

"Shh, keep your voice down, that guy is not easy to mess with, don't bother with him."