The Wasteland.
After the Honkai has raged through a place, no matter how prosperous, flourishing, or distinctive it once was, only this shared term remains.
The once-bustling streets are no longer filled with lively human voices, only pale-skinned walking corpses and grotesque, giant monsters, who wander all day through the territories they stole from humanity.
The helmeted man sheltered from the gale. After the high-rise buildings that used to block out the sun collapsed, the field of view had broadened, allowing him to take in the entire wasteland from a rooftop. The viewport scanned and analyzed the terrain and the distribution of Honkai Beasts in the area, then uploaded the data to the squad's public channel.
The dark-blue window on Lin's helmet dimmed after the scan was complete. He connected to the team communication: "Terrain survey complete. No High-Tier Honkai Beasts detected in the target area. Captain, please give instructions."
Upon hearing the report, a mature female voice spoke in the team channel: "No High-Tier Honkai Beasts... good. Lin, clear the eastern sector alone. Seele and I will clear the west. Report once finished."
"Understood."
"Eh, wait a moment, Captain... Won't it be too much to have Soldier Lin clear half the area alone..." A voice that sounded much weaker caused Lin, who was about to move, to pause. She sounded nervous and stammered, "He and I are both newcomers. Wouldn't it be better if we went together..."
The mature female voice responded with a tone of teasing: "Oh, my little Seele, you're worried about Lin? Don't worry, Lin had already carried out multiple Honkai Beast subjugation missions before you joined the squad."
The softer voice grew anxious, trying to explain: "Oh? No, I mean..."
"Soldier Seele."
Lin didn't want to listen to them argue about trivial things. He cut Seele off. After a single breath cycle, he exhaled and said, "I have experience executing missions alone multiple times. You, on the other hand, have no mission experience yet. Remaining with the Captain for training is the best course of action."
"..." Silence on the other end, faintly followed by the Captain's stifled chuckle.
Lin shook his head. Ever since he had met her, he found this colleague who joined slightly after him to be both weak-willed and exceptionally bothersome, always paying too much attention to matters outside the mission.
Especially the way she excessively cared about irrelevant things. She was exactly like that pink-haired woman who always "happened" to run into him, which made Lin annoyed enough to actively avoid her.
He dismissed the useless thoughts and focused on the mission. He grabbed the rifle on his back and cocked it. He pressed the button near his ear on the helmet, and a massive amount of information flooded the viewport.
[Jump Kit activated]
Lin leaped down from the high platform. The viewport had already locked onto the three closest Honkai Zombies. Before landing, he pulled the trigger, exploding their heads like watermelons amid the rifle's vibration.
"Mission start."
"Bang!"
After landing, Lin immediately drew the sonar detector from his waist and slammed it onto the wall behind him. His world gained several new lines of data. The movements of all surrounding Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies were instantly clear.
"Tack-tack-tack..."
He raised the muzzle that spat fire. The modified rifle thoroughly shredded the bodies of the ordinary Honkai Zombies. He systematically chose the order of elimination, trying to kill multiple Honkai Zombies at once, allowing him to save ammunition while processing targets with maximum efficiency.
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding Honkai Zombies fell down in swathes like mowed wheat. The commotion he caused quickly elicited a response from this monster nest.
During a moment of reloading, a data stream flashed across the screen. Lin glanced at it, then instinctively leaped. The grappling hook device on his right hand shot out, and coupled with the jet pack on his back, he instantly swung away as if flying.
The second after he flew away, the wall behind him was shattered with a loud crash by a Honkai Beast inside. A massive, foul-smelling mouth let out a deafening, distorted roar.
At the same time, a tide of winged, small Honkai Beasts poured out of the breach, charging rapidly toward Lin in mid-air.
Lin swung onto another wall. Using the jet pack, he ran nimbly along the wall, heading toward the Chariot-class Honkai Beast that was clearly the leader. In his tightly clenched left hand, the pin of a grenade was already pulled.
At times like this, Lin would involuntarily recall some of the useless discussions within the Moth of the Flame-Chasers.
Most Honkai Zombies and low-tier Honkai Beasts were transformed from humans. So, when they killed these "monsters," were they granting them release, or were they arbitrarily taking their lives?
Lin mentally labeled these discussions as boring.
No matter the moral, philosophical, or biological arguments, the moment they were about to take human lives, any debate about whether they deserved to live seemed utterly pointless.
And Lin never hesitated to pull the trigger on these things.
This was what he lived for.
"Boom!"
The carnage lasted until near dusk. Only after detecting that there were absolutely no Honkai Zombies or Honkai Beasts left in the entire quarantined area did Lin drag his empty rifle and his tactical knife, stained with blood and gore, back to the rendezvous point.
"A-rank area cleared. Logistics team, please take over. Fifth Squad, returning to base."
Lin sat down on the transport plane and closed his eyes for a short, weary nap.
Logistics personnel passing by the transport vehicle would glance at the unseen face of the man with a look that mixed reverence and fear.
Rumors had spread within the few months of Lin joining the Moth of the Flame-Chasers: a helmeted superhuman who hunted Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies night and day, and even solo-subjugated a High-Tier Honkai Beast during the Second Eruption.
His entire body was covered in specialized equipment that would likely cause an ordinary person to fall apart. Especially that helmet—most gear was designed to simplify complex information for soldiers to make combat easier, but his helmet crammed a massive amount of detailed information into him all at once, forcing him to analyze and process it personally.
This drastically increased his combat efficiency, but for anyone else, functioning normally, let alone processing the data, would be impossible.
He was also cold and aloof, never interacting with anyone outside of missions, as if he were just a robot programmed to fight the Honkai.
"Beep—"
A notification rang inside the helmet, connecting to his phone. Lin opened his eyes, looked at the name on the viewport, and silently answered.
"..."
"..."
A long, suffocating silence.
Lin had never imagined that there would be a day when he and his friend wouldn't know where to start talking on the phone.
Kevin hesitantly spoke first: "Lin, are you doing okay?"
"..."
Doing okay?
Lin glanced at the blood and bodily tissues, either from a Honkai Beast or a Honkai Zombie, stuck to the inside of his arm. Even after cleaning up upon his return, it still hadn't washed off. His entire being was exhausted, and his overtaxed brain was buzzing inside his head.
Pulling back his momentarily blurred vision, he looked at the name on the screen and said flatly, "I'm fine."
Just living on the line between life and death every day, that's all.
Hearing Lin reply, Kevin was relieved: "Is that so? That's good."
Lin asked, "...Is there something you needed?"
Kevin paused, then stammered, "No, nothing..."
He just wanted to check on his good friend, whom he hadn't contacted in a long time. He wanted to know how Lin was doing, where he went after dropping out, and what he was doing now.
But the words caught in his throat. Lin's eyes when he left were still vivid in his memory, making him realize that even if he asked, he wouldn't get an answer.
Lin was silent for a few seconds. Guessing Kevin's thoughts, he adjusted his voice, recalling his old tone, and asked as gently as possible, "How are you and Mei?"
Hearing Lin ask about this, Kevin became incredibly excited. He excitedly spilled everything like pouring beans: "Hehe, we go out together often now. She lets me tag along to her lectures and academic seminars, even though I don't understand any of it..."
"Is that so? That's great. Keep it up, Kevin." Lin's brow softened slightly. He offered his sincere best wishes.
Then, his tone became ice-cold and indifferent again: "I still have work to do, so I'm hanging up now."
"Eh? Wait, Lin—" The sudden change. Before Kevin could react, all he heard was the long dial tone of a disconnected call.
"..."
Lin silently looked up, meeting the gaze of the red-haired woman watching him with keen interest, and the inner-layer-dyed girl beside her who was flustered under Lin's stare.
The two must have been watching for a while.
The tall, red-haired woman was Himeko, Captain of the Fifth Squad, and Lin's commanding officer. Captain-level personnel in the Moth of the Flame-Chasers were top-tier combatants among soldiers, and she was no exception.
Actually, based on Lin's record of subjugating Emperor-class Honkai Beasts during the Second Eruption and his status as a mission ace, he should have been promoted directly to Squad Captain soon. However, since he was still technically a new recruit, he was temporarily placed in Himeko's squad after much consideration.
The girl with the black outer layer and blue-purple inner layer dyed hair was Seele. She joined the squad a little later than Lin, was quite timid and introverted, but also very talented.
"Hmm... 'That's great. Keep it up, Kevin~'." Himeko pinched her throat and used a thin voice to imitate Lin's encouragement. Seele awkwardly shifted her gaze back and forth between her teasing Captain and her silent senior, feeling at a loss.
Lin: "..."
"Hahaha, Lin, you can actually say things like that! I thought outside of missions, you only ever used interjections like 'Oh,' 'Ah,' or 'Mm' when talking to people." Himeko pointed at Lin and laughed so hard she nearly fell over. Lin's face inside his helmet was as dark as coal.
Seele, seeing that the Captain's unrestrained mockery seemed to displease Lin, explained faintly, "Um, Soldier Lin, we didn't mean to..."
"Who is that Kevin? Is he your good friend? Does our Headless Knight Mr. actually have good friends?" Himeko's laugh was as hearty as her personality. She hooked her arm around Lin's neck, pressing him with a mischievous smirk.
Lin twisted his body, escaping the Captain's broad embrace. He tilted his helmet coldly, not answering her question, and changed the subject: "Captain, outside of missions, besides interjections, I also say one word."
"Oh? What word?"
"It's often used when dealing with a woman, and I think it applies to the current situation."
Lin stared at the smiling Himeko, and spoke in a chilling, deep voice—
"Scram."