"[Lecturer], I'm not dead yet."
[Lecturer] responded with a tone long accustomed to this kind of nonsense. The card robot gave a soft beep.
"Connection established."
"Not dead doesn't mean connected! Please act like a human!"
The laboratory screen displayed the chat interface of a group called [Mad Hatter Party].
The interface was nothing like the clean, simple layout of ordinary instant messaging software.
Instead, it adopted a complex and magnificent Baroque design.
A deep crimson background was adorned with intricate golden patterns, like something torn from an ancient grimoire.
The members' avatars were not photographs, but strange symbols and sigils that radiated a mysterious aura.
They sat around a long table, waiting for the head seat's Mad Hatter V to speak.
Intelligence Officer Huck: That idiot has already been brought to judicial trial, and he still thinks he can whitewash himself with a lawyer. Does he not realize how airtight the evidence we gathered is?
Infiltrator Newton: MOTH[1] hasn't responded yet, but he was, after all, one of their senior spokespersons. They'll likely send someone to investigate soon. By the way, when can I come back?
Intelligence Officer Huck: Don't worry. The little gadget Mr. Mad Hatter gave us works perfectly. They won't get a single clue—unless they can reverse time.
Mad Hatter V: Mm. Well done, Huck. I've seen the news.
Intelligence Officer Huck: Mr. Mad Hatter, you're here! It's all thanks to that all-knowing God statue you gave me. He really believed it, hahaha.
Infiltrator Newton: Let's hope Huck's personality doesn't leave organizational traces for MOTH's intelligence officers to collect.
Intelligence Officer Huck: I am absolutely loyal to the boss. If I'm caught, I'll bite down and end myself immediately!
Intelligence Officer Kirsch: Endurance will eventually bring change.
Intelligence Officer Huck: What Kirsch means is—even if we're caught, don't give up on surviving.
Mad Hatter V: Enough of that. Are all the Gears present?
Intelligence Officer Ido: Gear Three reporting!
Intelligence Officer Huck: Gear One reporting!
Performer Zofia: Gear Ten reporting!
Intelligence Officer Kirsch: Gear Two reporting!
Infiltrator Newton: Gear Five reporting!
Infiltrator Michael: Gear Twelve reporting!
For confidentiality, the members' real names were visible only on Vill-V's side. Among themselves, they could see only symbols, and even their forms of address were aliases.
For example, Newton was nicknamed "Niu-Niu."
Vill-V waited for a moment, watching the blinking cursor on the screen. When no one else reported in, she paused and let out a low sigh.
Mad Hatter V: The party meeting begins.
When this line lit up, Huck understood immediately. He sighed. "So that's it. Gear Four, Maria, and Gear Seven, Isabella—they're not coming back."
As one of the veteran members of the Mad Hatter organization, Huck had interacted with nearly everyone except Mr. Mad Hatter himself. To him, Four and Seven were almost like apprentices.
"Which means that place truly is one of MOTH's strongholds—and a core one at that. Otherwise, even with Mr. Mad Hatter's 'stage props,' they would at least have managed to escape or send a message."
"It's been a month. They haven't attended the Mad Hatter Party once. They've likely been captured... or already taken their own lives. Given MOTH's darkness and cruelty, most don't survive."
Mr. Mad Hatter maintained strict control over intelligence security. When members first joined the organization, they were issued various secrecy tools.
The final tool was a poison capsule disguised as a false tooth.
Huck did not resent Mr. Mad Hatter. He believed none of the party members would.
To them, Mr. Mad Hatter was akin to a reborn parent, the one who had rescued them from a living hell.
Before they joined, all these requirements had been made clear. Every member had entered the Party prepared to give their life for him.
Mad Hatter V: Isabella. Maria. May you rest in peace. The Gears endure. Thank you for your dedication.
Mad Hatter V: We have now confirmed that "Mystic Isle" is an artificial island where MOTH conducts extreme human experiments. Those glamorous skyscrapers and luxury cruise ships are merely a facade to conceal its darkness.
Mad Hatter V: The missing persons from the Third World we previously investigated are closely tied to it. The underground complex in Nizhny Novgorod was only bait—meant to divert the attention of British MI6 and other intelligence agencies.
Mad Hatter V: Therefore, our next performance will be "Breaking the Game" at Mystic Isle.
"Breaking the Game" at MOTH's Mystic Isle.
Reading Mad Hatter V's words one by one, Huck's hand holding his cigarette trembled slightly. A surge of fervor rose in his chest.
What kind of organization was MOTH?
According to their intelligence, it was a global organization—not some furtive underground group, but a superstructure deeply entangled with the upper echelons of nations across the First, Second, and Third Worlds.
Its true scale likely surpassed even the United Nations.
No... perhaps the United Nations itself was merely a pawn on its surface. The forces behind it were beyond imagination.
And they—the Mad Hatter Party—just over a dozen members pieced together by passion and circumstance, were preparing to challenge such a behemoth.
Just as Mr. Mad Hatter had once saved them, they would now rescue innocent people from the evil claws of MOTH.
To say he wasn't nervous would be a lie.
Huck took a hard drag on his cigarette, trying to steady himself. Before his emotions could settle, Mr. Mad Hatter's next words made his heart pound even harder.
Mad Hatter V: Given the unprecedented difficulty of this operation, Gear One, Gear Two, and I will act personally. Await further instructions via wristwatch communication.
Only when the cigarette burned down to his fingers did Huck snap out of it. He tossed it away, gulped down two mouthfuls of water, then let out a bitter laugh and began typing.
Intelligence Officer Huck: I believe Mr. Mad Hatter will bring us a miracle.
Intelligence Officer Kirsch: Gear Two received.
Intelligence Officer Ido: Mm— Mr. Mad Hatter never lets me join the fun.
Infiltrator Newton: Miss Ido, you're too impulsive. You'd disrupt Mr. Mad Hatter's plan. Leaving you out ensures the mission's success.
Intelligence Officer Ido: Oh really, Uncle Newton? So steady and reliable, aren't you? Who was it that almost failed MOTH's screening and needed Mr. Mad Hatter's remote assistance to pass?
Mad Hatter V: Next, we move to the infiltration plan regarding MOTH. Newton, please give your report.
Infiltrator Newton: First, the plan for the [Heavy Particle Cannon]. I've submitted it.
After the Mad Hatter Party concluded, Vill-V immediately instructed the quantum computer Lecturer to record and encrypt everything.
"It really does feel like being some kind of villainous final boss," Conductor Vill-V evaluated her own performance. "Hehe... does this count as another personality of mine, in a sense?"
It was amusing—but she did not truly enjoy treating people that way.
As if viewing the other members as tools.
For the sake of organizational discipline and obedience, [Mad Hatter] had to be mysterious, cold, and strict.
But Mei was right.
Only by hardening oneself could one preserve their own gentleness.
That was precisely why [Conductor] had been born—to protect the purest [Id].
And when facing MOTH—the Previous Era organization dedicated to fighting Honkai—this level of rigor was indispensable.
Any complacency born from underestimating MOTH would result in irreversible failure.
That was how terrifying MOTH was.
Given time and opportunity, it could even drag a god from its throne.
Even in its early stages, it was not to be underestimated.
As for why Vill-V, who also bore the goal of combating Honkai, had not joined MOTH early on like the original Vill-V, but instead opposed it—
Originally, she had thought the same way.
Until her investigation revealed that MOTH was far from a monolithic entity.
Certain members within MOTH were not merely experimenting on innocent people.
They were even deploying modified, out-of-control test subjects onto battlefields as biological weapons to slaughter civilians.
The director of Laboratory B-3 even tortured experimental subjects for amusement—under the pretense that the experiments concerned humanity's survival.
With their amateurish techniques, even if they experimented for three more centuries, they would not reach the threshold of MANTIS research.
Time becomes a monument. It smooths edges and blurs shapes.
Vill-V had transformed from someone among the multitudes into someone driven by desire.
As a veteran otaku and shameless connoisseur of two-dimensional beauties in her past life, she would first bring justice to those who had harmed beautiful girls.
And moreover—
Vill-V would not easily abandon any member of the Party.
This operation was also meant to confirm the final fate of the two missing members.
[1] Myrmidons of Taskforce Honkai (AKA: Fire Moth)