"I killed your parents. It wasn't because someone coerced me or ordered me to; I actively killed them."
"I was not conflicted then. Humans are eager to create monsters, and I, along with the Fire Moth, have always been dedicated to fighting monsters, so I pulled the trigger without hesitation."
The handwriting here became somewhat messy, but quickly returned to a neat style, showing that the letter's author's emotions had fluctuated. Overall, the person was mature and composed.
She could imagine him sitting under the dim light, holding an old fountain pen, contemplating his words while writing a complex confession on the letter.
"To protect humanity, we will do anything, even if the people we must kill are compatriots who shared our ideals but took a different path."
"I believed my conviction was unshakable. I am a demon with blood on my hands. Those I killed directly and those I indirectly harmed—I don't believe they have souls, but I will remember every single one of them."
"I was right... that's what I thought until I met you."
"The first time I saw you, you were standing in front of your burning house. I expected you to feel grief for your parents' death or to hate me, because that is what normal humans do."
"But you didn't. You were just a rag doll, fitted with limbs that didn't belong to you by your parents, and then stitched with a monster's name."
"You are Frankenstein. You don't even have a heart."
"Did you think I would be grateful to have saved you from that devilish couple? That my sense of justice would be even more certain?"
"In the beginning, I did think that."
She suddenly pressed her hand to her head.
She realized the feelings of the person who wrote this letter.
This wasn't an atonement, nor a farewell, but a... strange and complex form of care?
A certain emotion was entrusted to this letter, and the reader would discover that emotion within it.
But this letter... damn it... this letter wasn't meant for her, it was meant for Lin!
At this point, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue reading.
"Then I arranged for the experiments. Yes, a large part of the inhumane experimental procedures you experienced were personally arranged by me."
"It was also through these experiments that I discovered you were actually just an ordinary child."
"You occasionally go to bed early, generally feel sleepy when it rains, unconsciously count the patterns on the floor you walk over, and like to look up at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle..."
"It's ridiculous, isn't it? Only then did I realize this fact. Then I realized that even if I am a devil, I should not do those things to an ordinary child. We shouldn't have taken that step; it applies to all of humanity."
"So I wanted to raise you to be a normal person. I wanted to cultivate your interests and hobbies, and let you return to a normal life."
"But one day, while loading a gun, I suddenly recalled the look in your parents' eyes before they died."
"They turned their child into a monster, a monster dedicated to all of humanity. I naturally assumed they no longer held any love for you."
"But perhaps I just couldn't understand. They still retained the love of parents for their child."
"Do you know how I found out?"
The tone of the letter was filled with self-mockery.
"I found that I was the same as them. I also held that kind of twisted affection for you."
"So, the idea of making you a normal person was impossible from the start, because I had already taken your parents away, all for my 'justice' and 'what was right'."
"We are not righteous. We never were from the beginning."
"We are just a group of arrogant bastards who stand in high places, weighing human lives on a scale and calling it 'choice'."
"The sad thing is, humanity needs these bastards."
"So, when they planned to turn you into a bastard like me, I backed down."
"What parent wants to see their child follow their own mistaken path?"
"Heh heh... I'm sorry. You are not my child, and I am not anyone to you."
"It's just... I really, really wanted to see you grow up, get married, and have children... Even if I just watched from afar, without saying a word, how wonderful that would be..."
"Why can't that kind of world come to pass? Why must I always do the wrong thing? Why is all of this happening..."
"But, someone has to do it."
"I will become what humanity needs me to be."
When Lin woke up again, he didn't know how much time had passed; it seemed like a full day since his last waking moment.
Spassy was injecting some medication into his treatment pod. Lin felt a slight ease in his body; perhaps it was the effect of the drugs.
"Yo, awake already?" Spassy knocked on the glass of the treatment pod. "It looks like you're recovering well. At least there are no more hallucinations or abnormal reactions, and your Honkai energy corrosion rate is temporarily stable."
"...What's the situation at headquarters now?"
"You're almost dead yourself, and you're still worrying about others?"
"..."
"How about we talk about something else?"
Spassy paused, seemingly considering where to start. He looked at Lin's calm eyes, and after a long time, he finally spoke: "Lin, I met a very promising young man at that hospital. He is full of love for life, shows great compassion for his patients, and is very talented."
"He reminds me of you, but he's clearly unlike either of us. If I were to give him the choice you faced, he would probably hesitate until Kallen completely pounced on me and bit through my throat."
"...Su?" Lin asked.
"Huh? You know him?" Spassy was surprised for a moment, then realized, "I see. You were the Fire Moth member he mentioned meeting."
"He is Kevin's friend. I saw him heading to the perimeter of Nagazora City's quarantine zone that night. He told me he wanted to know the truth."
"Is that so... I pay attention to him because an old friend of mine is at that hospital..." Spassy's moment of nostalgia lasted less than a second. He rarely reminisced about the past he couldn't return to. "Do you think he is qualified to join the Fire Moth?"
"...For what purpose?"
The truth or saving people?
Recalling Su's compassionate eyes, Lin already had his answer.
"I think he knows what he is striving for, but he is not mature enough yet. He is a qualified 'doctor,' but not a qualified 'Fire Moth' member."
"...A qualified 'Fire Moth' member, huh?"
Lin murmured the phrase, his gaze falling on the pistol placed on the table outside the treatment pod.