After tying the two people up, Lin threw them directly into the walk-in closet.
"This confirms it, right?" Elysia watched him finish before walking to the window again. "Someone inside the branch has been infected as well."
"Yeah." Lin pulled the curtains shut, blocking out the city's night lights.
At the school, they had tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible, choosing a secluded corner of the garden, yet those infected people still found them. Moreover, they clearly knew Lin and Elysia were investigating.
Lin didn't believe something could spread over the network without leaving a single trace—to the point even Prometheus couldn't find it. If it were just a simple recording spreading on the internet, it would eventually be found.
Therefore, this so-called urban legend was very likely being operated by someone—or even a group—behind the scenes.
Combining the known information: those infected after watching the recording could behave exactly like their original personalities, intentionally hiding the truth of the incident and obstructing or even killing those investigating...
"The weapon models are all common on the market." Lin pushed the bullets out of the magazines one by one, scattering them on the table along with the spare ammo. They fell like golden rain.
"A little clever... but not enough~" Elysia took a bullet into her palm. "They just didn't want us to link them to the branch through the weapon models. But did they never consider that the only ones who could confirm our terminal locations are Fire Moth? And how would ordinary people find it so easy to buy guns and grenades?"
If the mastermind was someone from Fire Moth, then the lack of clues could be explained. After all, only Fire Moth possessed the technology to achieve this level of sophistication.
"So what do we do now?" Even though it was a question, Elysia seemed to lack any sense of tension, still wearing her playful smile. "Do we charge back immediately, grab whoever we see, and subdue everyone?"
Of course not. In reality, Lin and the others only used this method to determine if anyone in the branch was infected. If they returned directly to the branch, the infected people only had to act normally, and Lin would have no way to find them. They certainly wouldn't take action inside the branch.
This had moved beyond the scope of "moles." They were being controlled, rather than betraying of their own free will. The standard methods for finding traitors wouldn't work.
What... should we do...
Lin continued to think actively. The original consciousness of these infected people was just sleeping, meaning they could still be saved. What he wanted to do was protect every one of their lives, which meant he had to uncover what the true nature of this "1:15 AM Video" was.
Videos, consciousness, Fire Moth, the internet...
These scattered pieces connected into lines in his mind, weaving into a net...
"Give me your terminal."
Lin reached out his hand toward Elysia.
Elysia looked at him with confusion but still removed the terminal from her eye and placed it in his hand.
Lin took them and, with a casual flick of his wrist, tossed them—along with his own terminal—out the window. They were swept away by a gust of wind and disappeared.
"Sleep."
Lin promptly crawled under the covers, leaving Elysia stunned. "Wait a minute, are we sleeping in one bed?"
"...True." Lin also felt it was inappropriate. He poked his head out from under the covers and said to Elysia, "You go sleep in the bathtub."
With that, he pulled his head back in.
"Pardofelis? Wake up..."
Pardo, who had been drooling and dreaming of eating her fill, was shaken awake. She blearily raised her head, which wasn't quite clear yet, and saw an anxious face.
"Uh... Er... what was it?" She felt her head hurting a bit, as if she had been hit with a club. She had once been hit with a pipe while fighting over a trash pile in Sundown Alley; she had been out for a whole day and woke up feeling like her head was going to explode.
"It's Erwin." Seeing Pardo finally wake up, Erwin breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought Pardo might have fallen into a coma like those who watched the recording. "How do you feel? Are you alright?"
"My head hurts so much..."
"It must be a sedative."
Erwin had found a handkerchief soaked in sedative from the pocket of the student who tried to kidnap Pardo. It seemed they were prepared.
This student was exactly one of the people he wanted to find—the one whose friend had fallen into a coma after watching the recording. He was one of the witnesses.
But why would this person kidnap Pardo?
Erwin had subdued him easily. Even if he couldn't compare to the top Fire Moth warriors, he was still a professionally trained soldier; he could take ten of these ordinary students at once.
But when he tried to ask the student why he did it, the boy only gave a smile that sent shivers down his spine and then passed out.
"Where is your terminal?" Erwin noticed Pardo's pupil color was different than before, indicating the terminal had fallen out of her eye.
They searched and found it in the nearby grass. It seemed the person had accidentally knocked it out during the kidnapping.
"Here."
Erwin handed the terminal to Pardo, his expression grave as he stood up. The mission had run into this immediately; it wouldn't be simple.
Furthermore, the important clue was cut off. He could only wait for this person to wake up and then interrogate him...
But to Erwin's surprise, after falling unconscious, the person never woke up again.
"Various reports of attacks?"
The person in the command room heard the report and raised an eyebrow. "Civilians attacking soldiers? Casualties?"
"No major damage for now, just..."
"Just what?"
"Just that the connections to the terminals of the Captain and Vice-Adjutant of the 13th Squad have been severed. We cannot confirm their locations. Also, another soldier was nearly kidnapped."
The commander silently typed something on the keyboard, remaining silent for a long time before speaking. "The Captain of the 13th Squad... is a MANTIS, right? She should have her own judgment. Dispatch two more squads to join the investigation. This incident is upgraded to Grade A. Besides the original mission, the cause of civilians attacking Fire Moth must be uncovered."
"Yes, sir."
With the escalation of the situation and the increase in manpower, the matter should surely be resolved quickly.
After giving the order, the commander rubbed his temples. Lately, there had only been minor incidents; even small-scale Honkai eruptions were rare, making him feel as if his body were rusting from sitting too long.
"Commanding a large-scale Honkai campaign... it should be coming soon."
No one heard his whisper. Of course, no one noticed the eerie smile that flashed across his face.