Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

When Himeko and Ato walked into the war room, they found that the heads of all departments, large and small, had arrived. From Elvin to Fuxi and Nuwa, to SPACY and Boron, and the Karabias siblings, almost everyone was waiting for them.

Of course, Vasak and Lezlun were also present.

"Where's Dr. Mei?"

Vasak asked with a frown, his face looking particularly ugly.

"Dr. Mei… with the firewall down, we can't access her lab using permission authentication unlock. She also seems unwilling to talk to us, and directly used mechanical locks to lock all channels."

Himeko's gaze bypassed Vasak, and looked at Lezlun, who looked indifferent and uninvolved.

"Oh? Why are you looking at me? Do you think I instigated this? Please, please—am I such a brainless person in your eyes? What good would doing this do me?"

Lezlun directly used a series of blatant rhetorical questions to rudely shove the question Himeko was about to blurt out back into her throat, and also invisibly tore off Fire Moth's last fig leaf.

Therefore, at least at this moment, everyone in the war room, whether they had realized it before or not, could now see the ever-widening rift between the higher-ups.

Ato quietly nudged Himeko with his elbow, and whispered a reminder, "He's right, he doesn't need to do that, and this low-level method doesn't seem like his style."

Ato seemed to want to make a last effort, trying to cover up the rift, so without waiting for Himeko to answer, he raised his head and continued to report:

"Captain Kevin's current situation is still unclear. According to Aldemir, Kevin seems to be…"

"Seems to be what?"

Vasak quickly realized that this was a pointless question. Fortunately, Ato also understood this, and gave an irrelevant answer:

"I have already had people take him to the confinement room, and temporarily prohibit outsiders from contacting him."

"So… Commander, what's next?"

As if touching a switch, Vasak's brain suddenly went blank.

Memories of the Fourth Honkai Eruption flooded into his mind, and he unconsciously turned his gaze to Lezlun, as if seeking help from this guy.

But Lezlun just sullenly drank red wine one gulp after another, which made him realize—the other party's mood was probably not as indifferent as he had always shown.

Alright, no one could help him now, or rather, since he had unpreparedly and painstakingly obtained this position, no one would help him anymore.

But, [if it were him, what would he do?]

Vasak still couldn't help but think about this question.

After a while, he finally spoke and made arrangements:

"Ato, while Captain Kevin's situation is unclear, please go back to the First Squad and serve as captain again."

"Yes!"

Ato habitually stood up straight to obey first, and then the emotion called "dismay" flashed through his mind.

[Vasak is giving orders in such a tone? So familiar… wait, isn't this…]

"First Squad, Second Squad, Third Squad, and Fifth Squad, immediately put the base under martial law. Fourth Squad, immediately go to the scene of the incident to investigate and collect evidence. Except for the personnel of the above five squads, and the relevant departments responsible for restoring network communication, all other personnel put down all work at hand and remain silent in place."

"At the same time, implement information contr… hehe, it seems this can't be done? In short, during martial law, if anyone attempts to spread rumors or shake morale, the martial law soldiers can execute them on the spot after one warning, no need to report!"

"It really is Phamas's style…"

Ato and Himeko exchanged silent glances.

In this arrangement, benevolence and severity went hand in hand, like some kind of tangled product.

And the selection of personnel was also very interesting. The First, Second, Third, and Fifth Squads were responsible for martial law, and the Fourth Squad was responsible for investigating the scene and collecting evidence.

This arrangement was undoubtedly wrong from a combat perspective. Since the other party could injure Kevin unknowingly, then the Fourth Squad's actions were obviously extremely dangerous. Comprehensively considering, it seemed more reasonable for Himeko (although injured), whose current strength was second only to Kevin, to go to the scene.

But this was just pure combat consideration. The reason for choosing the Fourth Squad was actually very particular—obviously, Vasak had also immediately locked the identity of the murderer on Mikael… perhaps not him, but he was the biggest suspect.

Then, to avoid suspicion, Himeko definitely couldn't go to investigate the scene. It would be better to send the Fourth Squad, which was currently the most "neutral."

Seriously, if it weren't for the hoarse voice and the terrifying scarred face of the man in front of him, Himeko would almost have called out Phamas's name.

"What? Is there a problem?"

"No."

"Then execute the order!"

"Yes!"

Himeko straightened up and saluted, and turned to leave.

After everything was restored to order again—at least, on the surface, it was orderly, Vasak rarely asked Lezlun in a calm tone:

"Do you think the murderer will really be Mikael?"

"Pfft…"

Lezlun directly laughed out loud.

Vasak was naturally not happy with such a response, but Lezlun obviously didn't intend to say more.

Therefore, in the end, he could only seek answers from himself.

He must first force himself to calm down and dispel the fear hidden deep in his heart.

Yes, fear.

Fear again!

The other party was actually able to be so close to Fire Moth headquarters base… or even in the base, without triggering any alarms, and without attracting anyone's attention, to at least seriously injure Kevin—what was the concept?

There were two possibilities: either the murderer was a Herrscher, which almost directly pointed to Mikael. But if it was him, it didn't make sense.

Thinking of Lezlun's previous words, Vasak finally became enlightened—if Mikael was the murderer, what was his purpose?

From a normal perspective, he had no reason to do so. Vasak even knew very well that if he really wanted to attack Fire Moth, he should unite with Kevin and Mei, and then…

Could it be out of control? Or did Mikael and Mei fall out during the conspiracy, and finally fight?

In theory, this was possible, but in practice, it still didn't make sense, because there was a lack of the most critical evidence—Honkai energy reaction.

Carefully calculating, the network hacking and Kevin's attack should have happened at the same time. Perhaps the attacker thought that hacking into the network could shield the Honkai energy monitoring equipment?

If it were before Fire Moth was invaded by Vill-V, it would be like this. But since then, especially after Vill-V reappeared and joined Anti-Entropy, many key facilities of Fire Moth were "retrograded," setting up mechanical controls and reaction methods.

For example, Dr. Mei's laboratory was currently isolated from the outside world by mechanical locks. And the Honkai energy reaction monitoring equipment, as Fire Moth's "eyes," naturally also had mechanical modification—what's more, the hacker's movements were a bit slow. The first wave of attacks failed to affect it, so Fire Moth still got a reading.

[87HW]

[Duration: 3 seconds]

That definitely couldn't be the reaction caused by a Herrscher-level battle.

It was more like assassination…

And the fact that only Kevin was seriously injured, and Mei seemed to be fine, also confirmed this point—it should be an assassination, and a long-range assassination.

Soulium bow and arrow? Anti-Honkai beast sniper rifle? In short, the murderer succeeded in one strike and hurriedly retreated, without finishing the job.

But assassination…

Sakura?

No, why does my train of thought always lead to Anti-Entropy?

Wait…

[No, it should be that I am selectively ignoring something!]

Vasak suddenly felt something was wrong.

If it wasn't an external enemy, then to be able to lurk in unknowingly and successfully assassinate Kevin, there must be a traitor within.

And within Fire Moth, those who had the ability to carry out this assassination mission…

Wasn't that his subordinates…

"Commander, Chief of Staff, the hacker's intrusion has been repelled, the firewall has been restored… wait a minute, Commander, it seems that some of your files have been… this… this is…"

Vasak had just wiped the cold sweat from his forehead when he heard a familiar voice sound in the war room's speakers:

"Yo yo yo, isn't this invincible Vasak? Long time no see."

[This is Mikael? Familiar words…]

He quickly found the corresponding memory. Unsurprisingly, his face began to turn pale as paper. Because his own highly recognizable voice soon sounded again in the speakers:

[It's over…]

That was the recording of his previous call with Mikael.

[Why… Immer clearly deleted all of these a long time ago!]

His scalp tingled, and then the darkness in his eyes gradually expanded, devouring the last trace of sanity.

Invincible Vasak fell again.

-----

So, about the name 勒兹伦 "Lezlun"...

When I translated it, "Lezlun" (Lēi zī lún) is what I got. But then checking the Chinese – 吕西安 (lǚ xī'ān) – and our Glossary for "Lucien" (勒兹伦), they don't line up.

This name thing is kinda weird, right? Makes you wonder if "Lezlun" is actually a new character, not the Lucien we know.

Or maybe where is Lucien? Is "Lezlun" like a replacement? He acts like Lucien, but the different name in Chinese is throwing me.

Could just be the author changed the Chinese name on purpose, to make him seem different somehow.

Because the Chinese name is different, even though he feels like he should be Lucien, I'm gonna play it safe and translate "Lezlun" and "Lucien" as different people for now.

Basically, think of "Lezlun" as, for now, maybe filling in for Lucien, or something like that. If we learn more, we can always change it later.