"Su… Su…"
An ethereal, distant voice woke Su from the cold desk. He sat up with a start, shaking his head vigorously to dispel the sleepiness in his mind.
This caused the others to turn and look at him. After looking around in confusion, he sat down blankly.
"Sorry, I…"
Spaciel stepped forward and patted his shoulder.
"Su, you haven't rested in a long time." Spaciel's face also bore a look of deep exhaustion. They weren't like the MANTIS; they didn't even have the stamina of ordinary soldiers. "Take a break for a while now."
"…No, it's fine."
Su sat back down, drenched in cold sweat. He covered his face, listening to Vil-V nearby continuing to instruct Dystopia, who was reaching her limit, to conduct the twenty-first consciousness world observation. The gaze leaking through his fingers was incredibly weak.
Then, his peripheral vision caught the temporary hospital bed placed in the Spiral Workshop. A petite figure was lying upon it.
"Su, what do you want to do in the future?"
Su raised his head and looked at Kevin, who stood in the corner without a word. Coldness and determination coexisted on Kevin face, as if he were no longer the boy who would confusedly seek the future.
…Now, who was the one standing still?
He sat blankly in his "position," and the path ahead seemed to be covered in thick fog, hiding the road he was to take.
To cure Honkai sickness, he had graduated early to become a doctor and joined Fire Moth for that purpose.
But Honkai sickness had not been completely cured. Only one in ten thousand people could survive; it was an unimaginable "luxury" measured in lives.
And now, how much of a price would they have to pay to cure these contaminated people?
Had he become a doctor to measure life with life?
"Static… Headquarters, please respond…"
Prometheus's mechanical voice appeared in the communicator. Mei signaled Vil-V and Dystopia to pause for a moment, then responded to Prometheus's intermittent communication: "This is Mei. Primary, please report."
"Static… We encountered… Emperor-class… Beast… Lin… heavily wounded… nerve…"
"Primary, use signals to transmit information," Mei commanded calmly.
An Emperor-class Honkai Beast?
Even through just a few short words, they understood the situation. This made everyone's mood even worse, and after Mei received the information from Primary, her expression became even more somber.
"…They encountered an Emperor-class Honkai Beast that, like the Eighth Herrscher, can perform mental attacks. It is preliminarily inferred that it injects Honkai energy in the form of a neurotoxin into the human body, causing damage to the nerves and brain."
"Lin has been injected with a large amount of neurotoxin… he is unconscious and heavily wounded."
"What… heavily wounded?"
At that moment, a voice that hadn't been heard for a long time entered several people's ears. Even Mei didn't react for a moment.
"Mobius?!"
…
"Ugh…"
Mobius slowly stood up. The prolonged unconsciousness had left her body and brain somewhat numb. The sense of temporal dislocation added to this wooden feeling.
What time is it now…
The electronic clock on the floor emitted a ticking sound, like drops of time falling into the river of time.
…That frivolous man, what exactly did he do?
Mobius only remembered the moment she saw that recording; then her consciousness sank into darkness.
Then there was…
"Bastard…" Mobius muttered through gritted teeth, feeling both shamed and resentful.
She had sunk into a dream like the other contaminated victims, except her dream had been pre-set, and the content…
…
"So now Lin and Ato went to seek the help of that completely uncontrollable woman, only to be attacked by an Emperor-class Honkai Beast on the way, and Lin is dying from neurotoxins?"
Mobius took some time to reach the Spiral Workshop. She guessed roughly what had happened just from the ruined scenes she saw on the way. After hearing Mei's explanation of the situation, she frowned and walked to the hospital bed on the side.
On the bed was… Griseo.
The innocent, childlike face was filled with indescribable pain. Unlike the other contaminated victims, her brainwaves were chaotic and continued to drop.
Mobius quickly examined Griseo body and nerves, and her face gradually turned grim: "Griseo body cannot withstand the Honkai contamination."
The news transmitted by Prometheus allowed them to understand that the Eighth Herrscher's method of attack was likely converting Honkai energy into a neurotoxin-like substance to attack humans, while the memetic contamination of the recording might be something only a higher-level Herrscher authority could achieve.
The fundamental reason Griseo situation was different from the others was that her body was still developing and lacked the physical quality of an adult; furthermore, the Honkai contamination would cause her already incomplete nerves to deteriorate further.
This wasn't a disease that could be cured with Honkai serum, because while the attack on the nerves was indeed Honkai energy, the final effect wasn't ordinary Honkai erosion of the body.
These were two different situations.
"…Brainwaves will enter the danger zone in four hours. Surgery must be performed immediately."
"Surgery?" Su asked blankly. "Do you know how to save her?"
Right, since Mobius was someone who had woken up from the contamination, she must know how to save people, right?
"How to save her? Heh… if you're willing to use the word 'save,' it doesn't matter." Mobius curled her lips into a cold, unkind sneer. "Since it's the body's strength that can't withstand it, then just increase the body's strength."
"Don't tell me!" Su's face changed abruptly. He looked at the unconscious and agonizing Griseo, then at Mobius.
There was only one type of surgery that could increase physical strength in the short term.
The Project Soldier surgery that fused Honkai Beast genes into the human body.
And the others, including Spaciel, didn't speak. They just watched all of this in silence.
After all, they were in extraordinary times. Allowing their already scarce personnel to perform a Project Soldier surgery to save a little girl who wasn't significantly related to this incident was already the maximum concession.
"I'm going back to my lab. I still have an unused material there."
Mobius understood this too. She directly pushed Griseo bed toward the exit.
"Wait a moment."
"..."
Su spoke up to stop Mobius, but Mobius didn't stop.
"I'll go with you. It will be difficult to perform the Project Soldier surgery alone, right?"
"…What is your name?"
Mobius had seen Su at the last banquet, but she didn't know who he was.
At this moment, Mobius turned her head and seriously sized up this stranger, a young man about the same age as Lin.
"Su."
"Very well, Su. Then come and be my assistant."
"Also…" Su hesitated for a moment. "What about Lin?"
"…Don't worry. That guy—even I can't poison him to death."