"Is it already over?"
Not long after Mobius left, Elysia peeked in through the doorway, poking her head around curiously as she entered.
"So, how did it go?"
Lin Wei had already guessed that this girl, who always gravitated towards the excitement, would definitely be back. So, he just gave a slight nod and said,
"Pretty smoothly."
His tone was so nonchalant, as if all he'd done was step out for a quick bite.
"Oh? Is that so~?"
Elysia drew out the sound, strolling over to Lin Wei's side with her hands clasped behind her back. A skeptical look on her face, she said,
"But I clearly saw Dr. Mobius leaving here just now, and her expression was absolutely terrible. It was like... hmm, like someone had just completely wrecked her lab!"
"...You sound way too familiar with that. Have you done something like that before?"
Lin Wei shot her a speechless look. She sounds like she speaks from experience!
"How could I? I've only ever seen Vill-V do that~"
Elysia blinked innocently, easily seeing through Lin Wei's 'attempt' to change the subject. She asked again, a hint of worry in her voice,
"But seriously, Mobius looked really upset when she left. Did things... not go well between you two?"
Although she had faith in Lin Wei, she couldn't help but worry, especially after seeing Mobius looking absolutely livid.
"Actually, it went quite well," Lin Wei replied. "Once you understand how she operates, Mobius is easier to talk to than I expected."
At least, she's easier to handle than you are, Lin Wei silently grumbled, before summarizing aloud with a slightly teasing tone,
"Of course, no matter what, the good Doctor will never admit defeat verbally, that's for sure."
"Hmm... Should I say something like, 'I really have to admire your bravery,' or something along those lines? After all, in my memory, no one has ever been bold enough to provoke Mobius like you just did!"
Elysia eyed Lin Wei strangely.
"Don't tell me that's how you made her so angry just now?"
"Oh, that wasn't it."
Lin Wei calmly delivered another, even more astonishing line:
"It's probably because I just got her to agree to a deal where she loses out?"
---||---
A short while earlier.
"...To ask me to exert such considerable effort," she purred, "what exactly are you prepared to offer in return, hmm? My dear little lab rat?"
Mobius swayed her snake-like body alluringly, her serpentine eyes fixed on Lin Wei with an ambiguous gaze—it would have been more effective if she didn't look like a little girl—and spoke in a tone reminiscent of a tempting devil,
"If you want to make a deal with a snake, you must pay a price, you know~"
"Besides, a clever person like you surely understands the simple principle that 'there's no such thing as a free lunch,' right?"
She was indeed intrigued by the young man before her, and quite curious about the little girl he mentioned—and, of course, Lin Wei himself—specifically their uniquely mutated bodies.
But that didn't mean she would agree to Lin Wei's request so easily.
Otherwise, just imagining his smug, triumphant expression was enough to make Mobius feel intensely irritated.
He needs to be taught a brutal little lesson!
Beneath Mobius's facade of "devilish temptation," her mind was grinding its teeth in frustration.
"You're right, Mobius."
Just getting Mobius to even consider it was a huge victory, so Lin Wei wasn't surprised by her stance.
"I've made similar deals with Grey Serpent more than once before, so I have some experience with this."
"Grey Serpent? Oh, right, him. Another one of my creations."
Mobius pretended to ponder for a moment, acting as if Grey Serpent's existence was as insignificant as trash she'd casually discarded. She chuckled,
"What, are you comparing him to me, his creator? How absurd!"
"Oh, no, that's not it."
He's far more insidious than you are, Lin Wei thought privately.
"I was just wondering what kind of terms could achieve my goal while also satisfying you."
"Hehehe, such a greedy little lab rat~"
Mobius said with a sarcastic, almost mocking tone.
"Too bad the world doesn't work that way. There's no such thing as 'getting the best of both worlds,' only 'choosing the lesser of two evils'..."
Hearing such cold words spoken from her small, child-like body, combined with that bizarre tone—an intentional yet flawed imitation of Elysia—created an incredibly eerie and sinister feeling.
"You're right. The lesser of two evils."
Lin Wei, naturally unaffected by Mobius's outward appearance, calmly followed her line of reasoning.
"Perhaps you, Doctor, as an entity within the Elysian Realm, cannot actually provide us beings in the real world with substantial help beyond Signets and 'unlocking potential.' But I still chose to come to the Elysian Realm seeking answers because I know those guys in reality are even less trustworthy."
Those organizations in the real world—aside from their unified stance against the ultimate enemy, the Honkai—were riddled with conflicting interests and deceit. Backstabbing was commonplace. How could Lin Wei possibly let his guard down around them?
"....."
Mobius wanted to retort with a few sharp remarks, but found she couldn't open her mouth. His words had struck a nerve—the insurmountable gap between data and reality was something even she couldn't bridge.
"Finding the answer and a concrete solution within the Elysian Realm, then returning to reality to make it happen—this path is troublesome, but it's the best option I have right now."
Lin Wei continued his explanation calmly, even deliberately flattering the green-haired girl before him a little.
"After all, when it comes to expertise in biology, even in the current era, it would be incredibly difficult to find a second scientist who has reached the heights Mobius has. Not to mention the fact that you are the creator of the MANTIS warriors and the Stigmata."
"Hmph, nonsense and irrelevant rambling. Ridiculous!"
Mobius clearly wasn't buying it, sniffing dismissively with considerable impatience.
"What's this? You yourself said you wanted my help, yet you're dragging your feet on paying the price? Hehehe... Perhaps I should just throw you out?"
Lin Wei pointing out her nature as a data-based "memory construct" so directly had made her extremely displeased. If not for the resonance she felt with the ideas expressed in his earlier words, she probably would have kicked him out on the spot.
Even now, her patience was wearing thin!
"Mobius... why is it that for fifty thousand years, almost every major plan has involved trying to let the Flame-Chasers in the Elysian Realm return to the real world?"
Seeing that the time was right, Lin Wei played his trump card.
"After all, some of you have been missing from reality for a very long time. Even considering it from a cold, pragmatic perspective, wouldn't it be a better choice to have you return to reality and continue contributing to the fight against the Honkai, rather than staying 'idle' here in the Elysian Realm?"
At this point, Lin Wei even added a reminder for good measure,
"Besides, when we first met, I clearly remember you telling Vill-V yourself that you also wanted to lead everyone back to reality..."
You said it yourself, Mobius. I'm not just making this up!
"....."
Mobius was silent for a rare half-moment, then suddenly flashed an extremely cruel smile, followed by an unsettling, snake-like hiss and cold laughter.
"Hsss..."
"Hehehe..."
"Hehehehehe..."
After laughing for quite a while, until she'd had her fill, Mobius finally began to mock him relentlessly.
"Oh my, little lab rat, are you trying to say that you can take me out of the Elysian Realm and back to reality?"
In her view, after all that talk, wasn't this what Lin Wei was getting at?
What a joke!
If it were really that simple, with her intellect, why would she still be trapped here for a whole fifty thousand years?
Fifty thousand years!
"Honestly, I actually did think about that before," Lin Wei admitted frankly, without beating around the bush. "But after looking into it carefully, I realized I probably can't do it."
"Oh, is that so? At least you have some self-awareness."
Mobius sounded seemingly relieved, but inwardly, she felt a sharp pang of disappointment, unable to stop herself from continuing her mockery.
"Research? Ha! An outsider like you, a pathetic creature who's only even been dealing with the Honkai for barely a year—what could you possibly research? Don't make me laugh!"
"Useless fool, get out!"
"Ah, you're right. Rather than 'research,' perhaps 'understanding' or 'conjecture' would be more appropriate," Lin Wei chuckled nonchalantly.
"Anyway, these are just my guesses. I don't know how much truth there is to them. Why don't I share them with you, Doctor?"
"....."
"Hmph, my time is precious. I have no interest in wasting it further with you here!"
Mobius fell silent for a second, then spoke with clear impatience, yet her feet didn't move an inch.
Seeing this, Lin Wei understood and smiled, feeling more confident.
"Allow me to digress slightly to Miss Yae Sakura, who came here with me. Do you remember her, Doctor?"
"Your somewhat special... companion? Of course, I know her. Part of the reason the Elysian Realm was turned upside down before was because of her!"
Although surprised by Lin Wei's sudden change of topic, Mobius didn't press him immediately, instead replying with her usual sarcastic tone.
"That little girl who looks like she was carved from the same mold as SAKURA is quite an interesting specimen. I've never seen a living Stigmata before! If SAKURA hadn't constantly interfered, I really would have wanted to bring her into my lab for some thorough research!"
As she spoke, a hint of excitement and eagerness crept into her voice before she abruptly remembered herself and snapped impatiently,
"What does any of this have to do with what we were just discussing?"
"Yae Sakura is currently training elsewhere in the Elysian Realm with the SAKURA here. She's not by my side."
The term she used felt a bit off, Lin Wei thought but didn't dwell on the minor detail. He continued in a serious tone,
"However, the Stigmata itself is still on my body, and it doesn't affect my ability to use its power as usual at all. Tell me, SAKURA... no, Yae Sakura, the Stigmata exists because of her, and now she exists because of the Stigmata. The two are mutually connected and extended..."
Mentioning Yae Sakura made Lin Wei inevitably think about the fact that she would one day cease to exist, and his mood soured.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Mobius demanded, growing increasingly irritated herself.
"Su and Elysia both told me that the Elysian Realm is woven from the memories of the thirteen Flame-Chasers, and nothing else," Lin Wei stated calmly.
"It's the same for the Elysian Realm itself—the memory constructs aren't just the self-aware Flame-Chasers, but also the interwoven memories that constitute this entire realm. The two are extensions of each other."
"In other words, if you compare the Elysian Realm to a grand building, then the thirteen Flame-Chaser memory constructs are the thirteen pillars supporting it. And because their memories are so deeply intertwined, they've long since become inseparable..."
The complete memory construct isn't just the consciousness of a Flame-Chaser, it is the Elysian Realm itself. This is also why, in the original timeline, even after all thirteen Flame-Chasers were corrupted, deleted, or self-destructed, Elysia could still reconstruct her companions from within the Herrscher of Corruption.
It's because even though the Herrscher consumed all the Flame-Chasers, it didn't destroy the Elysian Realm itself.
Thinking this, Lin Wei became even more convinced of his theory. He looked seriously into Mobius's emotionless, serpentine eyes and stated his conclusion word by word,
"If you were to forcibly remove one complete memory construct from the Elysian Realm, it would be like pulling out a support pillar. The resulting chain reaction would undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the entire Elysian Realm structure. This outcome is something neither the World Serpent outside nor the Flame-Chasers inside would ever agree to."
"Therefore, unless all thirteen Flame-Chasers unanimously agree to it, no one can leave. But..."
Lin Wei shrugged and didn't elaborate—besides Mobius, basically no one else even thought about getting out!
Unanimous agreement? A unanimous veto is more likely!
"...Heh, that certainly is an interesting theory."
Mobius didn't comment on whether it was right or wrong, but her expression became increasingly intrigued.
"Even assuming you're right," she countered, "what I wanted to do was just transfer my consciousness out. The Elysian Realm could perfectly well reload a new 'Mobius'—surely that's not impossible?"
"Theoretically, it's possible," Lin Wei conceded. "After all, transitioning from a 'digital lifeform' to a 'physical lifeform' isn't entirely impossible with this world's technology, but..."
Lin Wei looked up at the ceiling, suddenly chuckled, and said,
"But if someone placed a 'Discipline' on the entire Elysian Realm beforehand... then getting out truly becomes impossible, no matter what!"