Long Time No See, Hua

Although Elysia had boundless interest in Mobius, who bore a striking resemblance to Dr. Mobius, it seemed… Miss Snake's patience couldn't endure playing along with this annoying woman any longer.

Therefore, under a casually fabricated pretext, Mobius slipped away – although she really wanted to drop the act and directly kick this annoying woman out, due to various considerations, the snake still had to choose this humiliating way to get rid of her.

After leaving, she went straight to the Flame-Chaser's resting area and immediately spotted Elysian Realm Ellie huddled next to Aponia, looking at something with great interest.

The exceptional eyesight granted by the Śeṣa made Mobius's blood pressure soar after a single glance – it was clearly a picture of her being 'tormented' by that annoying woman, forced to wear a small dress.

"Oh my, Mobius, you're here?" Elysian Realm Ellie feigned surprise, as if she had just noticed – this made the snake even angrier.

Do you really not know why I'm here?!

The fuming snake grabbed a glass of wine from the table and gulped it down – her face flushed slightly after just one glass.

Elysian Realm Ellie scratched her cheek; that was her glass… Of course, this wasn't something worth worrying about. Compared to who used the glass, perhaps Mobius, whose cheeks were already slightly flushed, was more noteworthy.

— Mobius's alcohol tolerance, like her behavior when drunk, was concerning.

"Hic… That original self of yours… is a big problem."

Mobius, holding the glass and leaning against the sofa, hiccuped, her tone slightly unsteady.

Although the process of accompanying that annoying woman was unbearable, the information she extracted was certainly satisfying.

— Elysia was indeed Elysia's original self, but not the true Ego Flame-Chaser, but… a past version of Flame-Chaser Ellie.

And some of the information Elysia inadvertently revealed also refuted some of Mobius's initial speculations – she had initially thought that this Elysia's original self must have been resurrected, or appeared through some similar means.

Although it sounded far-fetched, and Mobius wasn't present at that banquet, no one could be certain that Elysia couldn't return after her departure, even Elysia herself couldn't be sure.

After all, her very existence was a miracle.

If that were the case, it was indeed possible that Elysia's 'factory settings' were reset after her revival, leading to her current state.

But from what she had gleaned from that annoying woman – Mobius discovered her own traces, discovered Fire Moth… This was clearly abnormal.

It couldn't be that this era's development was aligned with the Previous Era, although Prometheus would indeed ensure similarities between the two. But Mobius, who had always maintained contact with the outside world – through World Serpent, a vast intelligence network hidden in the shadows – already knew the differences between this world and their Previous Era.

A parallel world? Although this possibility existed, unfortunately – the Previous Era had already attempted to explore this when creating the [Cosmic Juggernaut' Anchor].

Perhaps Mobius, Kevin… the Flame-Chasers could all find corresponding existences on the Imaginary Tree, but only Elysia… MEI had once commented that the probability of her appearing was one in a billion. At least as far as they knew, 'she' was unique.

"Jiang Qiao…"

Mobius narrowed her serpentine eyes, pondering this name that Jackal had mentioned before.

The biggest anomaly clearly lay with this person.

Before she could speculate further, Aponia said softly:

"Mobius, in fact…"

As her slender, jade-like hand gently swept across, a fragmented, blurry image appeared.

It vaguely showed the pink-haired girl holding Aponia's hands.

Elysian Realm Ellie blinked, somewhat puzzled:

"Eh, did something like this happen between us?"

She had indeed done something similar when Aponia first joined Fire Moth, but Aponia shouldn't have been wearing this outfit back then, right?

The Elysian Realm 'fat lady' tried to search her memory – that was the advantage of being a memory body; if she wanted to know something, she just needed to search for the desired 'book' in the 'library', without worrying about forgetting… But with a timescale of 50,000 years, it was quite time-consuming, and Elysian Realm Ellie rarely did this.

"No need to search, Elysia, I was wearing that outfit when I was still in Twilight Street."

Aponia sighed. She was brought back to Fire Moth as a 'criminal' captured by Sakura, so there was no time to pack – except for the clothes she was wearing, all her other clothes were left in Twilight Street, including the one in this image.

Elysian Realm Ellie looked adorably clueless, then suddenly realized:

"Ah… Oh, so that's it, no wonder I don't remember."

"Ellie, haven't you noticed a problem with this image?"

"What?"

"The clothes."

Eden raised a delicate eyebrow, looking at the blurry 'Elysia' in the image, her slender index finger pointing at her attire.

Perhaps Elysia had worn that Flame-Chaser outfit for too long and overlooked a key point, but how could Eden, as the designer of that outfit, miss it?

— The Flame-Chaser outfit.

"I joined Fire Moth after the Seventh Eruption, and the Flame-Chaser outfits were designed even later…"

Something was wrong, very wrong.

Although the person looked correct, both the clothing and the background were clearly wrong.

Flame-Chaser Elysia meeting Aponia in Twilight Street.

Normally, they would have dismissed it as some kind of edited image.

But Aponia wasn't the type to play such pranks; what she presented wasn't a fabricated image, but her own 'memory'.

"How did this memory come about?"

Faced with Mobius's question, Aponia shook her head.

"It appeared out of nowhere."

"I also checked the Elysian Realm's records, but there were no records of additions or deletions – it's no different from my other memories."

If it weren't for the fact that this memory clashed significantly with her existing memories, and that Aponia was reminiscing about the past due to 'Elysia's' appearance, even she might not have noticed this unusual memory mixed in with the past.

"Has anyone else experienced something similar?"

"I haven't specifically investigated."

Aponia shook her head.

Although, as the Elysian Realm administrator, she had the ability to view the memories of other Flame-Chasers, out of respect for her companions, she wouldn't do such a thing unless necessary.

— None of the three present found anything similar in their own memories.

If the other Flame-Chasers didn't have it either, and this peculiarity was limited to 'Aponia', then the only possible reason might be… Aponia was the only Flame-Chaser 'alive' in this Elysian Realm.

Although, in Vill-V's view, Aponia's decision to merge with the Elysian Realm was no different from being dead – in reality, Aponia had coexisted with the Elysian Realm for these 50,000 years.

The other Flame-Chasers might just be memory bodies left behind by the original Flame-Chasers, but Aponia—

She was both a memory body and the original self.

While the Elysian Realm leaders were discussing this change, Jiang Qiao, who had brought Aponia back to Fire Moth headquarters in the Previous Era, sat on the sofa, looking at the intellectual girl pondering over the examination report, and smiled:

"How is it? Is Aponia's ability particularly effective?"

"I have to admit, her arrival has indeed brought us a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect that such a special individual could exist among humans, even if they're not a Herrscher…"

Dr. MEI looked at Aponia's various physical examination data and the assessment of her 'Discipline' ability, sighing in admiration.

Being able to influence a person's vital signs and behavior with just 'words', this ability wasn't just amazing, it was practically supernatural.

"With her help, many things will indeed become much easier."

In the original timeline, the Fire Moth higher-ups were extremely wary of Aponia's ability. After all, if it was used on them, they could truly experience what it meant to be 'powerless'.

Therefore, after Aponia was captured, she was interrogated, then thrown onto the operating table in an attempt to eliminate her, which instead resulted in a power boost.

In the end, the apprehensive higher-ups could only send her to the 'Deepest Depths' – a special prison built by Vill-V in the Previous Era, where the most heinous criminals were held. To even enter, one had to undergo layers of scrutiny, showing their fear of Aponia.

But MEI was different.

Although she also found this ability somewhat dangerous, as someone known for 'absolute rationality', her first thought upon learning about Aponia's ability was how to utilize this power effectively.

The current her wasn't the Dr. MEI who was suppressed by Fire Moth and the higher-ups of various nations.

She, invited by Jiang Qiao and on his side, only considered how to save humanity and defeat the Honkai. As for the various taboos… they might have been a problem originally, as she needed to consider the public reaction, but after Aponia arrived – who cared!

Under Discipline, those who cooperated were fine, those who didn't could become dogs!

This was even more useful than Sakura wielding the Key of Corruption!

MEI, absolutely rational during work, and already tired of arguing with those trash higher-ups, just wanted to say to Aponia – You came at the perfect time, sister!

"Although Aponia's ability is indeed powerful, it's also very dangerous. You have to use it cautiously, MEI."

Seeing MEI's excitement, Jiang Qiao warned her seriously.

The effect of Discipline could push people towards extremes.

In the original timeline, Aponia hardly achieved any good results with this ability.

Even an extremely simple Discipline eventually led to Rin's tragedy.

The weakened version of Discipline – [SWARA] – also had extremely undesirable outcomes. Although it significantly boosted her combat power, it also turned the Divine Land tablet into a fanatic, eventually being 'filially' killed by her good disciples.

MEI nodded slightly.

As a being of absolute rationality, how could she not understand the consequences of abusing this ability that could 'push people to extremes'? Moreover, Jiang Qiao had already told her some stories.

But this didn't matter, as long as they figured out the upper limit of 'Discipline' and standardized its application.

As the pinnacle of intelligence in the Previous Era, MEI, with her good judgment, could make full use of this ability.

"With 'Discipline', the rising global 'crime rate' can be suppressed to some extent." MEI breathed a sigh of relief.

Although only Aponia possessed Discipline, they could develop similar abilities by studying her – just like the [SWARA] system that appeared later in the original timeline.

However, even so, it still seemed a bit slow…

Thinking of this, MEI recalled the inspiration she had when considering developing an AI to assist with her work.

— The Avalon system.

Creating a connector that could link the consciousness of all mankind and integrate it through AI, which was – global connection.

Through this, Fire Moth could more quickly consolidate the resources of all mankind and address the social crisis caused by the 'new Herrscher of Dominance'.

MEI initially only intended to use this to monitor those with a higher probability of committing crimes to curb the unrest caused by the new Herrscher of Dominance, but the appearance of Discipline further improved this initially conceptual plan.

By rapidly spreading Discipline through global connection, the root of evil could be directly severed in a very short time…

From a rational perspective, doing so would indeed be very helpful in humanity's fight against the Honkai.

She hesitated for a moment before telling 'Elysia' about this idea.

But as expected, the latter fell into a brief silence.

"…"

Jiang Qiao sighed.

Familiar, very familiar.

First came little Wendy, then the Church of Apocalypse and Otto's traces were discovered in Twilight Street, and now she was planning to implement the 'Avalon' plan.

As expected of MEI, her thought process was directly connected to that big villain MEI from that other game.

— Global connection, a system designed by that other game's MEI to fight against the Honkai. The initial purpose of the system was to consolidate the computing power of all mankind and forcibly control their consciousness, clearly an evil plan.

It only got better after the 'Divine Wisdom Protocol' (connecting the thoughts and wisdom of all mankind – equivalent to the sacred [Kara]) was added.

This current MEI was quite restrained, only thinking about a monitoring system – and Discipline was something she delivered herself.

But this thing did have some feasibility.

With global connection, the Previous Era's fight against the Honkai could undoubtedly reduce a lot of resistance…

The only problem was—

"Have you forgotten about Sakura's sword?"

He pointed out the most fatal obstacle to MEI's idea.

— The Herrscher of Corruption.

With this thing's existence, the risk of global connection was too high. If the Herrscher of Corruption decided to do something drastic, all of humanity could be wiped out through the global connection.

Of course, MEI couldn't ignore such a major threat, and she calmly stated her idea:

"I know, so I plan to use the core of the Key of Corruption as the main component."

If the Key of Corruption served as the protective measure for global connection, then this problem would be easily solved.

As the ultimate consciousness virus – even another Herrscher of Corruption could only be evenly matched against it, and that was under equal conditions.

But if the Key of Corruption was fully activated within the global connection first… then even if a living Herrscher was stronger than a Divine Key, they would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

As for the Herrscher of Corruption evolving like the Herrscher of Dominance… Did they understand what 'ultimate' meant? Without changing its category, as long as it remained within this domain, it could crush its opponent without any explanation!

"Alright."

The pink-haired girl sighed with resignation.

There was no need for her to object.

If it were the initial version of 'global connection', Jiang Qiao might have opposed it – although she trusted MEI not to do anything reckless, forcibly controlling human consciousness… Elysia definitely wouldn't want to see that future.

And the resistance would be too great.

This current version… was acceptable.

Hearing this, MEI breathed a sigh of relief.

She hesitated because she felt 'Elysia' wouldn't approve of this plan.

Although she could force it through regardless of her wishes, MEI's emotions still made her consider Elysia's feelings.

After some thought, Jiang Qiao gave her opinion:

"Since we're doing it, let's do it properly."

"?"

"Let me help you accelerate this plan~"

The girl smiled.

Global connection involved the consciousness level, so using 'Corruption' as the main component seemed somewhat inappropriate, didn't it?

There were more suitable things than the ultimate consciousness virus.

For example…

The Eighth Divine Key, the Key of Sentience, [Fenghuang Down].

…

Since being dispatched by Otto to Nagazora City last time, life seemed to have returned to normal – she was supposed to be a student at St. Freya High School with the mission of being a spy, but the target she was supposed to monitor hadn't even shown up yet… Well, if Otto wasn't reliable, she couldn't blame herself.

Fu Hua organized her history textbook, sighing as she thought about her spy career.

The history teacher on the podium was unfamiliar because the previous one had resigned – it was said that they left without even collecting their salary, in a great hurry.

The students didn't have any particular opinion on this, but the principal seemed quite happy.

Yay, saved another salary.

Fu Hua, accustomed to farewells, packed her textbooks and returned to the Valkyrie dormitory – St. Freya was truly generous in this aspect, the accommodation was ridiculously spacious.

But she didn't have any particular feelings about it – having lived in the 'straw huts' of Taixu Mountain, she, with her rather indifferent attitude towards material needs, didn't care much about these things… It's not as fun as games!

— Hannah (B), Hannah (A), Hannah (S).

Lightly touching her phone, looking at the Hannah gatcha set that popped up, the usually calm girl revealed a hint of frustration… This game's drop rates are so low.

The only thing Fu Hua, who had no pursuit of material possessions, liked might be games, especially gatcha games – the thrill of pulling a desired character was one of the few things that could stir her emotions.

Unfortunately, the drop rates set by game developers were always too low. Fu Hua had repeatedly complained about this issue through customer service, only to be told – The drop rates are normal, dear.

How could they be normal!

Biting her lip in dissatisfaction, Fu Hua put down her phone, tied up her hair, and cooked a bowl of wonton noodles.

Having made them countless times, her culinary skills in this aspect were exceptional, and with a touch of spring onion, it was simply perfect – of course, the main reason she liked eating wonton noodles was because it always brought a sense of nostalgia.

This was perhaps her way of remembering after losing so many memories.

"Click"

The sound of the door opening didn't surprise Fu Hua – because she was a transfer student arranged by Otto, without prior arrangements, for convenience, she shared a dormitory with Himeko Murata… the latter, needless to say, as an old drunkard, although Himeko appeared very serious and responsible as a teacher in class, privately, she often drank herself silly, a true alcoholic.

"You drank so much again."

Fu Hua sighed, poured a glass of water, and planned to check on Himeko, who had already climbed onto the sofa, her face flushed red, her consciousness clouded, muttering, "Another glass, hehe~"

There seemed to be another person on the sofa, mm… probably a kind soul who saw Himeko drunk and helped her, right?

This was common in St. Freya.

"Thank you for bringing Himeko back, cla…"

She habitually wanted to thank them, but when she saw that pink hair, the delicate, fairy-like face, and the custom-made outfit, the moment her eyes met those blue eyes with hints of pink, the usually calm Fu Hua froze, the word 'classmate' stuck in her throat.

The glass of water in her hand slipped unconsciously.

But the girl sitting on the sofa caught it with remarkable dexterity, using the top of her booted foot.

'She' gave a helpless expression:

"You can't be distracted when holding things, Hua."

"But I understand."

"So, let's start again."

"Hi~ Shouldn't I say – long time no see, Hua?"