The rain fell pattering down. In Sundown Alley, even the weather was volatile and chaotic. The irritating rainy days and sleet constantly eroded the residents' spirits.
A booted foot stepped into a pool of water, splashing water. The man looked up at the continuous rain, tightened his gear, and stepped into the dark corners of Sundown Alley.
"..."
Even if it had been said a thousand times, it needed to be emphasized: once the concentration of Honkai energy exceeds a certain limit, it triggers an eruption. Honkai energy can be stored in the human body; those infected with the disease are like mobile virus sources. Once they gather, the concentration rises, infecting even more people in a vicious cycle.
Part of the reason so many Honkai patients gathered at the sanitarium was that the nun took in those with nowhere else to go, which caused the overall Honkai concentration in Sundown Alley to rise. The fact that she could stay safe in the sanitarium for so long was clearly due to her own extremely high Honkai adaptability.
What about those outside the sanitarium? Those who didn't seek help there? Where were they?
The man picked up a syringe at his feet. According to the helmet's analysis, the remaining solvent was a rabies vaccine.
Not far away, a man leaning against a wall was covered in familiar pink-purple stripes. He hung his head lifelessly, the patterns glowing and fading with his breath. Clearly, he was in the late stages of Honkai syndrome.
The chaos of Sundown Alley and the lack of Fire-Moth intervention meant there was no effective prevention of Honkai. Now, even if all patients in the sanitarium were moved, the concentration here wouldn't change. There were far more patients outside the sanitarium...
The nun's kindness was futile.
"Human life is as fragile as a candle flickering in a blizzard. Even if you reach out, you cannot block the cold wind from blowing it out."
A peculiar synthesized voice rang out from the darkness. The man turned his head and saw a "person" wrapped in a cloak slowly walking from the shadows into the light.
Despite standing in a clear, well-lit area, "he" gave off no sense of being human.
That was natural, because he wasn't human at all.
"It is a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lin. We haven't met for half a year since you gave me a second life."
A pair of crimson eyes lit up under the hood.
"..."
Meeting him here was indeed a bit of a surprise for the man.
And seeing this once-dying "person" again, the formality of his speech surprised the man once more.
He was a "thing" discarded by Mobius—a byproduct of an experiment, a piece of waste handed to the man to dispose of. He was what one would call an artificial life form.
When the man found him with a single breath left, he hadn't discarded him as Mobius requested. Instead, he brought him back to his room. After a two-day struggle, his strong will to live allowed him to survive.
Afterward, he left headquarters.
The man had chosen not to care what he did next. Whether his appearance in Sundown Alley was a coincidence or intentional, the man did not know.
"Why are you here?" the man asked.
"I simply followed the chaos here." He spread his hands to show his "sincerity." "Are you here on a mission, Mr. Lin?"
"Mhm." This was not a secret worth hiding.
"In that case, allow me to introduce the situation in Sundown Alley to you." He paused and said politely, "I haven't told you my name. After leaving Fire-Moth, I took the name 'Gray Serpent,' taken from my mistress, Dr. Mobius..."
The man nodded, walked over to the person slumped against the wall, and knelt down, saying gently, "Do you need my help?"
"..."
Perhaps hearing the man's voice, a spark of life returned to the person's dim eyes. He nodded with difficulty.
The man rolled up his sleeve. A needle popped out from the armor on his wrist. He plunged the needle into the striped neck of the person, and a medicinal solution immediately flowed into the body.
Soon, under the gaze of the man and Gray Serpent, the person fell into a deep sleep, his eyes carrying the relief of having survived a disaster.
The man retracted the needle and covered the armor with his sleeve, walking ahead. Gray Serpent followed a step behind him.
"Mr. Lin, you only injected him with a sedative. It won't save him from dying of erosion today." Gray Serpent's tone was steady. He occasionally looked back at the person slowly walking toward death in his dreams.
"I know," the man replied firmly.
One could tell from the fact that the man had injected himself with a rabies vaccine that he was still searching for a way to save himself. He was willing to try as long as there was a sliver of hope.
But Honkai syndrome was not something a rabies vaccine could cure.
Sometimes, the man even suspected that the disease was not a sickness, but a curse.
The man had been saved by the deaths of countless people, yet he was powerless to save more people like him. Doing this was merely a psychological comfort, allowing the man to die peacefully in his sleep.
"I see. Even if hope is an illusion, it is indeed genuine hope." Gray Serpent nodded slowly, following behind the man. "And that is exactly what humans need."
"..."
It was clear Gray Serpent was learning. After entering human society, he had begun the process of learning from humans. Now, he had finished learning conventional human knowledge and had reached the level of "philosophy."
Should one expect anything less from an artificial life form created by Mobius? His learning ability far surpassed that of humans.
"My apologies, Mr. Lin. I hope my talking to myself hasn't troubled you."
Perhaps because the man gave him a second life, or perhaps Gray Serpent had learned this noble-like elegance, he apologized and began his explanation: "The general distribution of Sundown Alley is no different from conventional settlements. There are no class distinctions here. Because it is an ungoverned zone, there is much hidden darkness."
"However, no large-scale violence has occurred here. Most people do not possess firearms. Small-scale brawls are frequent, but they always end before an actual murder occurs."
Because those who can survive in Sundown Alley know when to stop. Fatal incidents were actually rare.
"And now, regarding the most unique location in Sundown Alley: the sanitarium."
The man suddenly stopped. He turned his head and stared at Gray Serpent.