I'm not Yingjie

Anna walked into the ward timidly. She seemed to have lost her former vigor and looked at Lin lying on the bed with a hesitant look in her eyes.

He leaned weakly against the head of the bed like a dog with broken bones.

"Are you OK?"

Anna felt that her question was a bit stupid, because Lin didn't look like he was okay.

"It's okay." However, Lin's usual answer made the atmosphere extremely tense.

"..."

"..."

"Uncle, you said before what you would do if someone was about to die. Is that person... you?"

Chapter 71: Long time no see

"Imer, what's going on?"

Hua asked Yimer, who was deep in front of the computer screen, after entering the conference room.

"It's terrible." Imer's face was livid. "The Honkai energy contained in a single hailstone is not high. Even if the human body comes into contact with it, the Honkai energy will be expelled quickly. But the problem is that this is a 'Honkai rain' that spreads throughout the city. It doesn't matter what it is, but it has turned Telan into a place suitable for the birth of Honkai creatures."

This hailstorm increased the overall concentration of Honkai energy in Tran, making the environment close to an area where a small-scale Honkai energy had occurred. If someone has a lower resistance to Honkai energy, they will likely develop symptoms of Honkai energy erosion in this environment after a few hours.

"We need to evacuate immediately. I have already reported it to the headquarters, but the result has not yet been released."

"That's it..."

"..."

"..."

After discussing "business," it's time to discuss personal matters.

Neither Yimer nor Hua spoke, they seemed to not know where to start.

That person was in bad shape, worse than ever.

Every time he was injured or sent to the ward, he never gave them such a feeling.

Because by that time, his injury will heal sooner or later and he will stand up again.

But Lin, who had not been defeated by any powerful enemy, was now like an old man who was terminally ill, weakening little by little until he died completely.

Life is like a candle flickering in the rain.

……

"..."

The man walked slowly in the alley, wearing only a tattered black cloth to hide his body, and his entire face was wrapped in cloth.

His steps were steady. Although he was wearing only a piece of rag, he did not tremble at all under the double blessing of cold wind and hail. The skin exposed through some gaps was even rosy and shiny, and was not affected by any cold air currents.

After another hailstone hit his head, he stopped, squatted down and picked up a larger piece of hail.

"..." After his eyes swept over the hailstone, which looked normal, he let go of it and let it fall to the ground.

Incredibly, the hail around him melted faster, as if it was next to a heat source, quickly turning into ice water and flowing into the sewer.

He seemed to have no idea of ​​the current situation and was wandering around the city like a ghost.

……

"despair."

Lin walked in the dark secret passage. He had walked this road many times before. The structure was very different from what he remembered, but the dark scene and the atmosphere as if something was about to burst out from the depths remained unchanged.

I don't miss it that much. After all, the deepest place is not a good place.

But just as Dusk Street connects several people among the heroes, the Deepest Place is also a turning point for several of them. So every time Lin comes here, he will see this familiar yet unfamiliar scene again and again.

Lin came to the depths of darkness, neither fast nor slow. Perhaps for the owner here, the identity of the visitor determined the length of this dark corridor, and Lin's habit of looking deep into the darkness obviously made the man set a sufficient distance for him to see.

"Lin...long time no see..." A bass voice with some kind of magical power came from behind the iron railings.

After Lin finished looking at the last place, he hesitantly looked behind the railing: "..."

Long time no see... This phrase was not particularly appropriate to use as their opening words. Even Lin did not think that they had a friendly relationship where they could meet and greet each other.

And Lin never corrected her perception of herself.

"Aponya, what do you want from me?" Lin asked straight to the point.

"Lin... [Please]..."

"Aponia."

Lin's direct words with a stronger tone froze the person hiding on the other end.

He was not wearing a helmet. Aponia decided his attire when he entered this place. She had the power to govern this space, but when Lin's sad and joyless eyes fell on her, she really stopped using her abilities according to Lin's wishes.

After a long silence, Aponiya spoke again: "Lin... a new visitor to the paradise of the past... why did you give the 'key' to her..."

"I didn't give it to her. She wants to exchange it for the 'key' from me after she finds the answer." Lin said calmly, "If you just want to ask about this, I will leave immediately. No matter what you want to do to Raiden Mei, I will not stop you."

There was another long silence.

"...Lin." The sound of shackles rattling came from the front, and a pair of slender white jade hands stretched out from the railing, "Can you please come closer to me?"

Lin paused, and after confirming that Aponya had not used his abilities, he nodded.

Lin could accept Aponya's request, but he would not allow Aponya to force him to obey.

He knelt on one knee and approached the cell, and the hands gently held his head and stroked his hair lightly.

"Lin...your destiny...is still so clear..." Her voice, as comfortable as a whisper, rang softly in Lin's ears.

"...Do you still believe in the so-called guidance of fate?"

"...Lin...do you still remember...the first time we met..." Aponiya stroked Lin's cheek gently, "The thread of your fate...is so hopeless...but you...told me that fate...can be changed..."

"You clearly...you don't believe it...yet you still said it..."

"Did someone...change you..."

"Snapped."

Lin reached out and grabbed Aponya's hand.

He stood up, his face expressionless.

"Aponia, do you think the birth of our civilization is a kind of destiny or a coincidence?" Lin said slowly, "Is the birth of Raiden Mei's civilization a kind of destiny or a coincidence?"

"Lin... our meeting... our departure... are all destined by fate..."

"Fate determines the outcome." Lin exhaled a puff of white mist and looked down at Aponya who was kneeling. Half of her face was still hidden in the shadows. "But how to reach that outcome is decided by us."

"..."

"Aponya, I know that no matter who tells you not to care, you will not change. After you locked yourself in a cage, you have identified yourself as a sinner, so whatever I say, you will regard it as a charity to comfort a sinner."

"But you are one of the Thirteen Heroes, and you are the [Discipline] recognized by Alicia."

"So no matter when the next 'visit' is, I will come until you are free from this cage that 'protects' you."

Lin turned around and walked away.

Chapter 72 "Established"

Time remaining until the fifth Honkai outbreak: twenty-seven hours.

……

Lin tried to land, and the moment his toes touched the ground, his muscles went limp as if they were broken apart, and he fell off the bed like a torn doll.

"Cough cough..." Lin collapsed on the ground with his limbs weak. He wanted to get up unwillingly, but his hands were shaking so much that he could hardly lift them. There were some pink drops of blood in his saliva from continuous coughing.

Drowning on land - this is the best way to describe him now.

His physique made him susceptible to the worst kind of Honkai energy, which, along with the hidden disease in his nerve connections, cut off his control over his body.

In the pale room, tiny humans struggled on the floor, casting pitiful shadows under the icy rain of doomsday.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes...

After the floor beneath his body had become warm and Lin hadn't even crawled out ten centimeters, he finally stopped wasting his energy.

Lying on the ground, not moving anymore.

A person who has no adaptability to Honkai energy, a person who abuses his own body, a person who does not cherish his own life... is naturally also hated by life.

"Lin, I've called the nurse." Prometheus said mechanically after watching it all.

When the nurse carried him back to the bed, he had no reaction and looked like an ordinary corpse.

Like every person who was once full of vigor and vitality but was tortured by aging and illness in his later years...

On the eve of the collapse, Lin met the end of his destiny.

……

The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the stained windows of the orphanage, and the shadows on one side expanded as the sun set.

"Snapped."

The stone broke the glass bottle and it shattered on the ground.

The broken glass slid to the feet of little Anna who had thrown the stone. She weighed the remaining stones in her hand and aimed her calm eyes at the last bottle.

Pull your hand back, hold the corner of the stone with your fingers, concentrate your strength on one point, and throw—

"Snapped."

The broken stone hit the wall and fell to the ground.

Anna looked hatefully at the smiling nun who snatched the bottle away, and raised her hand to throw the stone at her face.

The nun quickly waved her hands and hid under the low wall: "Hey hey hey! Wait a minute, little Anna! Don't hit me!"

"...What's the matter?" After all, Anna had not done anything outrageous like smashing the nun's head with a stone. She put down the stone and asked weakly.

"Little Anna, why did you smash the bottle?"

Bina looked down at the debris under his feet, carefully avoided their remains, and walked to Anna's side.

Anna collected all the glass bottles from the garbage dump. It took her a week to collect them all, and she smashed them all in just over ten minutes.

Her brutal behavior further deepened the other children's impression of her. They did not dare to provoke her and could only tell Binet secretly.

"Because I have sadistic tendencies, isn't that okay?" Anna replied coldly, then raised her head and looked at Binet with contempt, "Why did you stop me from breaking the bottle?"

Binet's face straightened: "Because I want Anna to become a good girl. I can't let Anna vent her anger on the innocent bottle."

"...Are you sick?" Anna's fists creaked. She turned her head and bared her teeth in anger, "Even if I don't break this bottle, it will be blown down by a gust of wind, smashed by passers-by, or hit by a low-flying bird! Even if you can change it for a while, you can't change its ending! It will break sooner or later, it's just a matter of minutes or years!"

What is a destined fate?

If a person is destined to be a bad person, he will become a bad person regardless of whether he is born in a poor family or a rich family. The only difference is that in the former he will be a thief, robber, or murderer, while in the latter he will be a sanctimonious hypocrite, power manipulator, and traitor.

And Anna was only too aware of the burning evil in her heart.

She was happy when her parents died, and she was excited when she smashed the bottle.

All this is so natural.

"Because, it's just a bottle, and it's a bottle and it will break!"

"..."

Anna felt that there was nothing more to say to the silent Binet. From today on, this guy should not bother her anymore.

She snorted coldly and turned away.

"That's not right, little Anna."

"..."

A hand held Anna. The hand was not very strong, but the desire to keep her was definitely conveyed to her.

Binet looked at the ignorant child with loving eyes. She smiled and said, "Even if mom and dad are like that, isn't Anna a good child who doesn't want to vent her anger on others?"

"You..." Anna turned around in surprise and looked at Binet.