"Next, what are we going to do?"
Erwin lay on the table with a sigh. Across from him, someone with an appetite as good as her energy was eating heartily. He somewhat envied how Pardo could eat so much, as if every worry could be solved with food. His investigation had ultimately been useless. Most of the information regarding this incident came from others, leaving them with nothing to do.
"Mmph, mmph..." Pardo tore a piece of meat from a chicken leg with her small teeth and spoke indistinctly while chewing. "Isn't it good to have nothing to do? We don't have to run around or fight for our lives."
"That's true, but I feel... I'm so useless," Erwin whispered dejectedly. He always had to wait for others to lead the way; he could only stay in place like an unnoticed stone, waiting to be kicked aside.
"So what? Aren't I even more useless?" Pardo smiled dismissively, as if she were proud of it.
"Didn't Vice-Adjutant Lin ever demand anything of you?"
"Hmm... he only told me to lose weight."
Erwin's mood improved slightly. His friend Nuwa once said: one person slacking off is just slacking off, but having someone slack off with you is called 'risking one's life to accompany a gentleman.' So he wasn't doing too poorly... right?
"Hmm? What's wrong with you two?" Hua walked in from outside. Seeing Erwin's listless look, she asked in confusion.
Hua was one of the reinforcements sent out to investigate the meme-pollution incident. To ensure the stability of the investigation area, they were temporarily stationed here.
"Hua... don't you think we're too idle right now?"
"Really?" Hua didn't have much to say. Even here, she trained every day and did her own things; it was just a change of environment. She still had things she wanted to do, so she couldn't die before then. Also... she had to become stronger.
"Speaking of which, very few people came to the canteen today. Is everyone cooking in their rooms?"
"Eh? How can you tell? I feel it's no different from yesterday," Erwin looked around. It was sparse, but it wasn't mealtime, so it was normal for people to be few.
Pardo spat out a clean bone and patted her stomach with satisfaction. "There's a difference. Some people in this branch always eat at the canteen, but those people didn't show up for breakfast or lunch." Pardo's observation skills were surprisingly sharp. She hadn't paid special attention, but she still remembered these small details.
" I also feel it's a bit too quiet today. People only came to the gym this morning." Hua bought a sports drink from the vending machine, unscrewed it, and looked around.
"Hasn't this branch always been deserted..."
"No." Hua was much more sensitive to danger than the other two. Such seemingly normal yet abnormal phenomena were often the start of a crisis. Before every Honkai eruption, there were always some eerie events that seemed like nothing. "Erwin, Pardo, get your weapons."
Hua led the two of them silently to the canteen's serving window. They looked inside but didn't see the person who had been serving food just now. The door to the back kitchen was still open. Hua nimbly slipped through the window and reached the door. With one hand on her weapon, she opened the door and saw...
Bang!
Hua's hand holding the weapon punched the palm reaching out toward her. She released the weapon and nimbly twisted the hand behind the attacker's back. Looking closely, she saw it was the middle-aged man who served food. The phone she had knocked away landed face-down. Hua glanced at it, her expression turning grave as she knocked the man unconscious. Even without seeing the screen, she had guessed what it was. If this person had been polluted, then today's abnormality...
"We must leave here immediately." Hua dropped the unconscious man and returned outside, her face slightly pale as she spoke to the two. "The pollution may have already penetrated this branch. Do not look at any screens."
"This..." Erwin didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. He thought for a few seconds and swapped the bullets in his pistol for non-lethal soft-tip rounds. These people weren't attacking of their own will, so he couldn't use lethal force.
Pardo also realized the gravity of the situation. Adapting to the situation and reading the room were essential skills for a merchant and survivor. Although she couldn't fight, she put on her gauntlet-like weapons for self-protection. Hua cleared the way, Erwin brought up the rear, and Pardo used her excellent scouting skills to monitor their surroundings.
Zhing!
Someone rushed out with a weapon. A cold light flashed in Hua's eyes as she punched him in the gut and knocked him down with an elbow strike. Like a signal, one branch member after another rushed out, all wearing the same uniform smile that looked copy-pasted. Some even held devices playing the recording. Hua closed her eyes, using her martial arts-honed sense of position to detect the flow of Qi, knocking everyone down without needing to look.
There were combat members in the branch, but as members of HQ, even Erwin was a level above them. Thus, they couldn't block the way out.
"The exit is just ahead!" Hua rushed around a corner. Seeing a broadcast screen, she threw a dagger and pierced it.
The three finally burst out of the branch gate. Erwin knocked down someone rushing toward him from behind, and then the three ducked into a nearby corner.
"Huff, huff... so tired..." Pardo looked slightly lacking in stamina, but perhaps Lin training was effective; she didn't fall behind.
"Is everyone okay?" Erwin asked the two, mostly directed at Pardo.
"Why did it fall so suddenly..." Hua leaned against the wall, thinking deeply. But thinking wasn't her strong suit; such situations were usually left to the squad's analyst, while she was just the muscle. This fall had no precursor; it was as if it erupted suddenly at a specific point in time.
Erwin was also thinking. Everything looked normal yesterday, but today was entirely different. He knew polluted people would act as they normally did, but had this large-scale pollution already seeped into the branch? Had the number of polluted reached a threshold where they began attacking the unpolluted? But how could Fire Moth be polluted from the out...
Out... side?
"..."
An event from a certain point in time flashed through Erwin's mind. He suddenly looked up at someone whose back was toward him.
Bang!
Blood sprayed out. Erwin's eyes widened in disbelief. He slowly collapsed to his knees, looking in bewilderment at Pardo, who was holding a pistol and grinning.
It wasn't external pollution; someone inside must have uploaded the polluting recording, causing it to spread from within. When Pardo was attacked, her terminal had fallen to the ground. He had thought it was an accident, but the attacker had already transmitted the "pollution" into Pardo's terminal at that time. The person creating the pollution must be someone inside Fire Moth; only an internal member would know how to use the terminal. Then they only had to detonate the pollution today after everyone put on their terminals...
And Erwin happened not to be wearing his terminal today because he didn't need to go out. Hua looked coldly at Erwin as he fell to the ground, the terminal in her eyes flashing a red "Error" light.