A Moth to the Flame—

In Cocolia's Orphanage, a group of children sat gathered around their mother, all of them staring intently at the giant screen on the wall.

"Why hasn't the MOTH's show started yet...?" Rosaliya whined, listlessly resting her head on Liliya's lap.

"Idiot Rosaliya, it's not a show," Liliya deadpanned. Every comment between them required a response; it was just how they interacted.

"But we've been waiting for hours!" Rosaliya complained, tilting her head up. "We've been sitting here ever since breakfast! Didn't Cocolia-mama say the MOTH would... uh..."

"Begin their operation," Seele added in a small voice.

"Right! They were supposed to begin their operation this morning, and now it's almost noon! We're about to have lunch..."

Rosaliya let out a long sigh, looking as if all the energy had been drained from her. "Sitting here all day, and Sin won't even let us go out and play... Bronya isn't here, is there anyone who can handle Sin...?"

"Hmm?!" Sin Mal, who had been crouching in front of the screen, whipped her head around. The limp Rosaliya suddenly shot up with a jolt.

"Who did you say could handle me?! Bronya?! What makes you think that girl could ever control me?!" Sin Mal's face was a mask of defiance and disdain as she stomped over and aggressively yanked Rosaliya off Liliya's lap.

"Ah, Sin's embarrassed," Liliya noted with a slight raise of her eyebrows, making no move to intervene.

"AHH!! SIN'S GONNA KILL ME!!" Rosaliya let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"Sin..." Seele started, wanting to stop them in a panic, but Sin's murderous aura made her just raise her hands helplessly.

Anyway... Sin wouldn't actually kill Rosaliya, right? Even if Rosaliya was the one who stole Sin's cherry cookies yesterday, and broke Sin's HOMU doll the day before, and three days ago...

Seele silently lowered her hands and closed her eyes, unable to watch.

Sorry, Rosaliya. Your sins run too deep.

"It's starting!" Just as Sin Mal's one-sided reckoning was about to begin, Sophia suddenly cried out, drawing everyone's attention.

They all turned to look. The screen, once black, now flickered to life.

The sound of wind and the faint whir of propellers came from the speakers. The view was from high above the city, looking down. For a moment, the gray, dreary city seemed to show a flicker of life.

But then, a close-up shot appeared, instantly dispelling any notion of life on the streets.

The screen was filled with the snarling, terrifying faces of zombies. Their faces were covered in pixelated patches, like some kind of grotesque blemish, with some having their entire faces mosaiced out.

Otto was once again directing the broadcast. With the help of Heliopolis's computer cluster, censoring the parts too graphic for broadcast wasn't a difficult task.

Otto's goal wasn't to instill fear. There was no need to make people feel the gravity of the situation anymore; three entire months of doomsday living had made everyone fully aware of their plight.

Moreover, this time was different from Shu's operation. This wasn't some Hollywood-style savior story, but something closer to a Chinese-style "community of shared destiny."

So Otto deliberately framed the content like a program, a documentary-style film. The world had enough fear. Now, the MOTH would bring hope and light.

[11:00 AM. Sixty minutes until the commencement of "Operation Jiao Long."]

A line of large, red text appeared in the center of the screen. Then, the sixty-minute timer began to count down, second by second, as the entire line of text shrank to the bottom-right corner.

"Why is it called 'Operation Jiao Long'?" Rosaliya, having been released, was idle for only a moment before speaking up again.

"Liliya doesn't know. Maybe because it sounds cool," Liliya said, risking Sin Mal's glare to play the straight man in their comedic duo.

"Perhaps because the location is Sapphire City, in China." A mature voice came from the doorway. Cocolia entered briskly, peeling off a pair of blood-splattered gloves as she walked.

Her heavy coat swirled with her movements. After tossing the gloves into a nearby trash can, Cocolia finally noticed the group of young children staring at her, frozen in place.

"Cocolia-mama..." Sin Mal's voice was low, like the purr of an angry kitten. "Everyone is here..."

Cocolia quickly scanned the room, then broke into a gentle smile, her pace slowing.

She walked up to Sin Mal and stroked the head of the little girl who looked like an angry kitten. "Yes, you did a good job. We can have meat tonight. I just bought half a pig from someone."

"Yay!" Rosaliya burst out in a cheer. Liliya also raised a hand and let out a deadpan "Ohhh."

One was ecstatic, the other emotionless. The two were truly polar opposites.

Sin Mal also relaxed. Cocolia knew what had made her act that way just now and couldn't help but stroke her head a few more times.

"Cocolia-mama..." Seele began timidly, bringing the topic back to the original question. "Why does it have to be called 'Operation Jiao Long' if it's in Sapphire City...?"

"That's because China's first deep-sea submersible was named Jiao Long. This operation is taking place in the heart of Sapphire City. Heh, a very Chinese-style name indeed..." [Jiao Long is a mythical flood dragon in Chinese folklore.]

Cocolia's final remark was tinged with a deeper meaning. Seele nodded, her gaze returning to the screen.

The broadcast team didn't linger on the zombies for long. The focus of the camera quickly shifted to the soldiers, who had completed all preparations and were assembling for their final briefing before moving out.

With immaculate equipment and soaring morale, the soldiers were displayed before everyone in a stunning parade-ground formation. Order—something that had long been absent from their lives in the apocalypse—was finally before their eyes again.

Across the various shelters in China, some people who saw the formation—a familiar sight from the parades of years past—couldn't help but tear up.

They believed it... The MOTH really did have official backing!

Though it was a battle with fewer than a hundred participants, the close-up, circling shots from the drones made the assembled soldiers look like an entire legion.

The hour-long silent countdown finally ended. The camera settled on a woman in a black battlesuit.

"We have no other choice," Natasha said, looking up toward their destination.

The unified voices of the soldiers followed.

"We embrace death to find life!!"

"We are the moths that chase the flame—for the light of a new dawn!"

"Begin the operation!"