"There are brake marks. The driver tried to control the speed but was too late."
Imar, wearing gloves, stood behind the cordon, crouching down to carefully observe the remaining traces.
"This was indeed an accident. At least the driver's mental state was fine."
"So it's unrelated to the Honkai…" Hua, wearing a somewhat old-fashioned blue coat, followed him. "May they rest in peace."
After the baptism of the Fourth Herrscher, Fire Moth became alert to anomalous natural phenomena. After all, the Fourth Herrscher had broken their inherent belief that "large-scale Honkai Eruptions must occur in densely populated areas." Who knew if the next Herrscher would be even more cunning, hiding to accumulate strength and catch them completely off guard?
This global low temperature clearly belonged to the category of anomalous natural phenomena, and the continent of Mu was particularly affected. The average temperature was nearly five degrees Celsius lower than the lowest recorded temperature in previous years—a terrifying cold that could completely halt societal activities.
Multiple small teams and researchers were dispatched to investigate the low-temperature phenomenon in Mu, but so far, no conclusion has been reached as to what is causing this terrifying, continuously dropping temperature.
The Seventh Squad was assigned to the central city of Mu, Trant. After discussion, they decided to start the investigation from the most recent strange phenomena in the city. The first case was a major accident in a residential area where a truck crashed into a civilian house.
Honkai Energy erosion would gradually cause people to lose their sanity and control over their bodies, so it was possible for the accident to have been caused by an infected individual.
"Where is the captain?" Hua and Immer had been investigating outside for some time. Now that they knew it was a simple accident, they were preparing to report to Lin, but they didn't see him.
immer walked towards the smashed wall. "He should be inside."
Lin was indeed inside the house. He was also wearing gloves, confirming the bloodstains on the ground.
The bodies had been taken away, leaving only bloodstains that couldn't be cleaned up. It was said that the three bodies were gruesome. The driver hadn't worn a seatbelt, and his head was deformed from the impact. The two residents were crushed into minced flesh; all died instantly.
The scene resembled a human purgatory.
immer spoke to the squatting Lin: "Captain, we've completed the external confirmation. The preliminary conclusion is a typical traffic accident."
"..." Lin also understood what had happened. It was a traffic accident entirely the driver's fault, but the accident suggested that the current temperature had reached a level where even ordinary life was becoming dangerous.
The external temperature displayed on his visor had reached an exaggerated degree. Even the physically excellent Immer and Hua were slightly shivering.
Lin let out a breath. Unable to obtain more information, he stood up and said, "We're pulling out."
...
"What a Accidental, Lin, you're resting here too?"
During the break in the cafeteria of Trant's Third Branch, Elysia returned from outside with her squad.
As it was an entire city, one small squad was far from enough manpower. Therefore, along with the Branch personnel, Headquarters dispatched two or more squads to all cities in Mu for investigation. Lin's group was teamed up with Elysia's Fourteenth Squad.
She expertly walked over to Lin, who was searching for city information, to greet him. Her words made her teammates' expressions a bit strange.
A Accidental... it seemed there was no other place for them to rest besides here?
But their Captain's eccentric behavior wasn't new, so they decided to ignore it.
At least it was better than the guy from the Seventh Squad.
That's what they all thought when they saw the terrifying helmeted man.
"Yes." What was even more surprising was that Lin actually gave a serious answer. "Processing today's information."
"Did you come to any conclusion?"
"...Abnormal."
Lin pressed a button on his helmet, and a small device beside his visor projected the image from his screen onto the wall.
The screen showed two linear statistical charts. One was the typhoon wind-speed chart caused by the Fourth Herrscher, and the other was Trant's temperature rise and fall chart, or rather, a cooling chart, as there had been no rise in the past month, only a drop.
Everyone gathered around, and Lin slowly began to explain.
"The curve for the strengthening of the typhoon wind speed caused by the Fourth Herrscher shows a distinct upward slope. I speculate this is a phenomenon of her adapting to her authority, with her control gradually strengthening."
The chart on the first diagram was simple and easy to understand. Anyone could see what the situation was then.
"So, Herrschers also have a certain period of adaptation after their birth. They likely adapt to their authority by manipulating natural phenomena." Lin's gaze controlled the patterns on the screen, shrinking the first chart and enlarging the second one. "In addition to the Fourth Herrscher, the Second and Third Herrschers showed similar situations. Their rising curves were smooth, the difference being in their length."
"But this time is different."
The pattern on the second chart, which Lin had enlarged, was vastly different from the first. Many cliff-like temperature drops were completely unlike the smoothness of the first chart.
"After removing the variable of seasonal temperature change, the resulting statistical chart does not show an abnormal, steady temperature drop, but rather instances of sudden drops after a period of constant temperature."
"Doesn't that mean no Herrscher has been born?" A female member of the Fourteenth Squad asked in confusion. "Doesn't that mean it's a good thing?"
"..."
A good thing?
Lin said calmly, "In the past month, the temperature has never been higher on the second day than on the first."
"Ah..." She understood now. "That means it's still a continuous decline, which is an extremely abnormal phenomenon... But what does that tell us?"
"This is the electromagnetic fluctuation chart of Nagazora City one month before the Third Herrscher's birth."
Upon seeing this chart, everyone's expression changed.
"This is... chaos? It existed even before the Herrscher's birth?" Hua murmured.
"The authorities of the First and Second Herrschers are unique, making it impossible to detect valuable data. The reference samples for the Third and Fourth Herrschers are also very few." Lin switched to the wind-field distribution map before the Fourth Herrscher's birth. "But there is already reason to suspect that this is an 'omen'."
An omen of a Herrscher's birth.
Lin didn't say it explicitly, but his meaning was already clear.
This low temperature was global, meaning the Herrscher to be born would likely be even more terrifying than previous ones. The thought of a horrific enemy appearing in this city of thirty-two million people made them shudder.
Elysia, after seeing Lin's deduction, said nothing, but simply turned back and said faintly, "Contact Headquarters."