"A meteor? There have been many meteors in the last twenty years. Who knows which one you're talking about, kid?"
"The one that fell into the city..."
"What? I can't hear you. Speak up!"
"THE—ONE—THAT—FELL—INTO—THE—CITY—!"
"Ouch! Are you trying to yell me to death!?"
"..."
Lin stood under the eaves with his arms crossed, pondering where it would be best to go next. Should he continue visiting the elderly residents of the city? This method seemed too inefficient, and he didn't have much time.
This was where everything began, yet he couldn't find a single trace related to it.
"Hey! Kid, come in and take shelter from the snow. Wearing so little in such heavy snow, you'll freeze."
An old man in a small house greeted Lin warmly. The stove in the room was roaring, turning his wrinkled face a bright red.
Lin stopped his mental calculations and shook his head peacefully. "No thanks, I'm not cold."
"Oh, you kids just like to look cool without wearing enough clothes! If your body catches a cold, your parents will be heartbroken!" The old man grabbed Lin shoulder without another word and dragged him into the house. The force wasn't great, but Lin went along with it for fear of causing the man to fall.
"Wait until the snow stops before you leave. Just sit by the fire with this old man for a bit."
Since he was already inside, there was no point in refusing. Lin walked to the stove. "Alright."
The old man's life was simple. Apart from some daily necessities, there was only an old tobacco pipe. He lived alone.
"Kid, you should take that black veil off your face. Don't you know the principle of internal cold?" The old man went into the inner room for a moment and came out with a thick padded coat that looked very warm. He walked behind Lin and draped it over him, making sure the fire warmed him while protecting his back from the cold draft.
Lin silently looked at the coat on his shoulders.
"This was my son's coat, but he didn't need it later."
A son? Looking at this man who was at least seventy, his son would be at least thirty or forty. Did his son move out?
"He passed away in a car accident on a snowy day four years ago." The old man calmly tapped his unlit pipe, gazing at the heavy snow outside the window. "I heard others say it was... the coldest winter for humanity. My wife didn't make it through either."
Four years ago... the Fifth Eruption...
The old man used the fire tongs to turn the coals in the stove, his tone level. "I originally had a grandson too, but my daughter-in-law took him away after my son died. I don't know where they are now."
Lin listened to him quietly. Sometimes old people just want someone to listen, and he was quite good at being that listener.
"Kid, why do you think people live so long? I've lived seventy-six years, yet I don't have a single relative left by my side. We come into this world with a bang, and we leave it all alone. We leave nothing behind while alive, and we can take nothing with us when we die."
"Do people live just to die?"
Perhaps feeling the topic was too deep and meaningless to discuss with a young person, the old man smiled and shook his head, answering himself: "If not to die, then what else..."
Lin had different thoughts than the old man, but he didn't argue.
Their experiences were different, so their views on life and the world were naturally different. There was no need to fuss over who was right or wrong.
The old man lit his pipe. After taking a puff, he glanced at the silent Lin. "Kid, why haven't you taken off that black veil yet?"
Black veil? He meant the mask.
Lin stared at the old man for a moment, then reached out and removed everything from his face.
"Oh? You're quite a handsome lad." The old man was very surprised to see Lin face, which was as calm as water. "You have no scars on your face, so why hide it?"
Lin, when will your helmet finally be taken off for good?
"...Because of some things." Lin answered casually. "And I'm already twenty-eight. I'm not a kid."
"Twenty-eight? Can't tell from your looks or your voice." The old man looked at Lin strangely. "Rare."
"..."
If the old man were to meet Mobius, who was several years older than him, his eyes would probably pop out of his head.
Silence followed for a while as they sat in the house warming themselves by the fire. After the old man smoked for a bit, he muttered, "A meteor... I'm not sure, but twenty-some years ago there was a group of people who seemed to be talking about a meteor and came to the city looking for a kid."
"Tell me more."
"How could I remember clearly after so long? It's just that back then, someone said there was a very pretty kid..."
It was mostly useless information, but one thing was certain: the object that separated from the Moon remains did indeed fall into Svatok 51 and grew up in a human form.
"The snow has mostly stopped. I should go." Lin stood up, took off the thick padded coat, folded it, and placed it on the chair.
"Not going to stay a bit longer?"
Lin stepped outside and sighed, wrapping his face up again. Before he had taken two steps, the sound of hurried footsteps came from behind.
"Wait a minute, young man."
He switched to "young man" after learning his age.
"Why did you stuff this inside the coat!" The old man ran up to Lin—his stride surprisingly vigorous for his age—and angrily stuffed several bills back into Lin hand. "Am I missing hands or legs, or am I unable to clean myself?"
"..." Lin hadn't expected the old man to find it so quickly or to react so strongly.
"I know you're kind-hearted, kid, but can you help everyone? Do you help every person you see? Hmph, I don't think many people would want your help."
After muttering his piece, the old man revealed a proud smile—looking just as he might have in his youth—and walked back into the house.
Lin stood in the snow, gazing at the small house for a long time. It was only after a while that he turned and walked away.
...
Erwin silently crouched and used the clearance card Einstein gave him to open a door. He was nervous, which was normal. After all... stealing from high-level officials, who wouldn't be nervous?
In the beginning, Erwin had refused. He had no reason to steal from his own people; that would be betrayal. But one sentence from Einstein changed his mind.
"Who exactly is betraying humanity? Do you want to know?"
Is there another traitor?
Erwin had lived through the Great Purge; the tragedy of that time was still fresh in his memory. Einstein told him that it didn't matter even if he was unwilling because she couldn't prove herself either, but she would stop him from reporting her.
He walked into the office and searched through the files in the drawers. And just then...
Click.
The lights were turned on.