"Location of Death: Fire MOTH Headquarters Conference Room."
"Time of Death: Approximately 10 PM last night."
"Cause of Death…"
Mei looked at the old man on the conference table—eyes wide open in death, his body already stiff, his chest seemingly ripped open by a beast's massive claw—the cause of death was evident.
"The surveillance shows no abnormalities." Prometheus II mechanically stated the conclusion in her earpiece.
The conference room was intentionally not equipped with any surveillance equipment, a unanimous decision to prevent the contents of high-level meetings from leaking outside. Unexpectedly, this now aided the murderer in escaping the law.
Mei looked indifferently at the people handling the corpse, "Have all the surveillance feeds within the headquarters been searched?"
"Yes."
"…"
Mei was not overly surprised by this result. Daring to commit a crime at the headquarters meant having the confidence not to be caught.
"This is truly tragic." Kevin stood behind Mei with a stern expression. "Killed from behind, when they could have let him die with more dignity, yet they went to great lengths to abuse the corpse."
The corpse was almost torn in half by the large hole in the chest and had been forcibly slammed onto the conference table, spraying blood in a circle, like a blood-sucking mosquito swatted dead on a wall.
There was no compassion, as if butchering livestock.
"This is a demonstration." Mei walked over to one of the blood splatters and pointed to a smear on the wall, saying, "The bloodstain here is unnaturally missing a section. Someone was standing there at the time; they weren't the executioner but an observer, which means at least three people were present, including the deceased."
"First, have people conduct a carpet search of the entire headquarters base to see if there are any deliberate traces… though I don't think that will be of much use."
A heinous murder occurring at the headquarters was an unprecedented, shocking case—it was practically a slap in the face to all these saviors of humanity.
With such a major incident, things would clearly not be peaceful for a while. Kevin stayed close to Mei's side, preventing anything similar to what happened with Sakura from occurring again.
"A provocation to all of us, isn't it?" The Chairman's face was extremely solemn. Leaning on a gentleman's cane, he walked in and spoke to Mei, "Is there any progress on the murderer?"
When Kevin saw him, he subtly leaned closer to Mei, his hand already resting outside his holster.
Mei, however, shook her head normally, "We can only confirm that there were three people present who witnessed the entire process. The person who acted was likely an assassin or a soldier; it's impossible for an ordinary person to inflict such a terrifying wound."
"Can you confirm the type of weapon?"
"A kind of… claw, a massive claw similar to that of a Claw Honkai Beast." Mei had spent some time in the research department and was familiar with weapon types. "There is no one among the soldiers at the headquarters who uses a similar weapon."
"We must investigate this thoroughly. We cannot allow such an uncertain factor to affect the stability of Fire MOTH." The Chairman's fingers nervously tapped on his cane. "Disagreement has already caused us to fracture; Fire MOTH cannot afford for more people to die."
"…"
After the Chairman left, Mei and Kevin moved to a private corner. Kevin said directly, "Could it have been him?"
"Sakura mentioned an assassin who used a heavy weapon and had interfered with her mission, but based on the description, the weapons used do not match… No conclusion can be drawn."
Because he was the former leader of the Poison Chrysalis, the Chairman was a major suspect, but his behavior so far had been normal, with no evidence pointing to him.
Just then, the Deputy Director of the R&D Department sent Mei a message.
"Director, I found something. It's an encrypted file in the former Director's database."
After reading the content of the file, Mei looked expressionlessly at the large hole in the corpse's chest.
Dark and cavernous, with the conference table visible behind it.
"Captain, what happened?"
Seele, fully armed, stood at the end of the corridor with Himeko and Dystopia, realizing something major had occurred after seeing countless people rushing past her. She asked the solemn Himeko.
"Someone from the upper echelons was killed in the conference room."
"Someone… killed in the headquarters?" Seele repeated, confused.
"That's right, and the murderer is very likely among the soldiers. The headquarters will enter an alert state starting now, and there will be no more missions outside. You all need to be cautious of others."
"Understood."
"Then, what about Squad Seven?" Seele thought of Squad Seven, which had no commander since Lin's disappearance, and internal adjustments had not yet begun because the reconstruction work after the 5th Eruption was incomplete.
Himeko sighed, "Someone will take charge."
"A rare guest."
Mobius leaned against her desk, blowing on the hot contents of her cup, and spoke to the blue-haired woman who entered her private office.
"Dr. Mobius, long time no see." Einstein held some documents, which she placed on the table after entering. "The last time we met was at the academic symposium in Mu, I believe."
"Indeed. I didn't expect that after joining the same organization, we would never have met." Mobius's polite words were unlike others; her tone was full of probing intent and deliberately made so that people could hear it.
"Our research directions are different, so opportunities for contact are naturally few. Isn't this a good opportunity to get in touch now?"
"…Haven't you noticed what happened at the headquarters today?"
"I regret the passing of that old gentleman." Einstein observed a few moments of silence, then continued under Mobius's cold smirk, "But I think the birth of the Armed Puppets should effectively prevent such incidents from happening again."
"To be honest, I'm not interested in your so-called 'Armed Puppets.' Implanting a consciousness into a pile of mechanical creations—a consciousness similar to but fundamentally different from that of a human—is this a way to substitute for someone?" Mobius was best at pouring cold water. She waved her hand, "Besides, you shouldn't have come to me; you should go to Vil-V. She's more interested. You two can continue your 'Mad Girl Party.'"
"However, as far as I know, your interest in 'creating life' is no less than mine."
"…"
"…"
"Tap."
The green-haired woman took a sip of her bitter coffee.
Mobius put down the cup, her earrings swaying. She said casually, "I am indeed very interested in adjusting the genes of a life form and creating a more perfect successor. But recently, I discovered that someone had already done something similar more than twenty years ago."
"However, I am not very willing to share my insights with you."
After issuing the dismissal, Einstein tactfully left. She had long heard of Mobius's temperament and hadn't expected to gain anything from her, though both Vil-V and Mei had suggested she come to Mobius to discuss the issues concerning the autonomy of the Armed Puppets.
"Can someone be burdened with hopes that don't belong to them even before they are born?"
Mobius looked calmly at Lin's gene testing results on the screen, subconsciously touching the earring that had been with her since birth.
"If so, did the person who created him truly want him to be a 'human'?"