Obviously, most players were unsure what to make of the idea of "Fusion Summon Elysia."
So, they either posted "???" or "2333," brushing past it in discussion.
At this moment, Elysia was already controlling Mei to enter the Elysian Realm.
The time of the third memory segment: the night before Elysia's disappearance.
That night, Mei had a late-night conversation with Hua.
After Mei left, Hua did not return to rest.
She followed the lively crowds through the city streets until finally, she sat on a deserted staircase, facing the sea.
Staring up at the rapidly changing neon signs above—
As if gazing at a dream that she didn't want to break.
Pardofelis, seeing this, couldn't help but ask Mei, "Hua stayed like that all night? Was she waiting for someone?"
Mei quickly answered, "She was probably just feeling the peaceful atmosphere here."
If none of this had happened, this would have been the life she should have had.
[Hua's vibe here feels so lonely.]
[But if Hua spent the whole night alone, then she definitely had nothing to do with Elysia's disappearance.]
[Speaking of which, this image of Hua facing the sea reminds me of… a certain phrase.]
[What phrase? I'm curious.jpg]
[The Old Man and the Sea]
Player: ???
Just four simple words, yet they caused a huge stir in the stream chat.
And then…
They responded with great enthusiasm.
A flood of messages swept through the livestream:
[LOL, The Old Man and the Sea, seriously.]
[Old Hua and the Sea]
[Show care for empty-nest Hua, don't let her waiting end in regret.]
…
The viewers were once again creating strange memes.
Just then, the game screen was suddenly washed in white light.
The scene changed again—like melting snow, it turned dim and distorted.
At the same time, another image suddenly flashed before everyone's eyes as if it were struggling to break through.
When the formerly blurred scene gradually came into focus, the players finally recognized where this was:
Mobius' laboratory.
It looked as if a fierce battle had taken place here.
But now, the lab was left in utter silence. The data that once flowed endlessly across the holographic screens had devolved into garbled, unreadable code.
Seeing this ominous sight on the monitors, the players immediately stopped joking and turned pale.
No way!!
MiHoYo, don't mess with us!
"This is…"
Mei was stunned by the chaos before her and rushed forward.
"Mei-sis, wait for me!" Pardofelis shouted in a panic.
But Mei didn't have time to answer.
Then, three lines of narration flashed across the screen:
[Mei, as if sensing something, followed the memory's owner into the lab…]
[And there, in the depths of the lab…]
[They found Mobius.]
Seeing these three subtitles, many viewers finally let out a sigh of relief.
That scared them—they thought Mobius was gone for good.
But sometimes, "found" doesn't necessarily mean "still alive."
Alongside the next line of text…
A CG appeared—Mobius nearly reduced to a "Mobius-chan," her body flickering with a strange green light, as if glitched like a corrupted file.
The breath that players had just exhaled caught in their throats again.
Lines of game text continued to flash across the screen:
[Or rather… a form that once was Mobius.]
[Before them lay devastation. In the black mire floated fragments they all recognized.]
[In the flickering data currents, only a fading afterimage of Mobius remained.]
Hua: "Mobius, what happened?"
"Hua! Don't go any closer."
Su blocked Hua, who had rushed forward.
Seeing Hua and Su breaking into the lab, Mobius' lips curled into a mocking smile.
Her lips trembled faintly.
"..."
"..."
But no one could hear what she said clearly.
That last afterimage of Mobius blurred and faded like mist, dissolving into the air.
Trembling, Pardofelis clung to Mei.
"Mei-sis… what's going on… what the heck is going on…"
Mei and Pardofelis exchanged glances—both saw the same disbelief in each other's eyes.
"Mobius… is dead?!"
Mei murmured softly.
As if to confirm it,
the screen automatically switched once more—
To the familiar Flame-Chaser archive.
Just moments ago, players had clicked in there and felt relieved that Brother Kalpas hadn't shattered.
But now…
Brother Kalpas didn't shatter. The third one to shatter—turned out to be Mobius? Snake-sis?!
No one could have guessed it!
How could it be? Why her?
Wasn't Mobius supposed to be unkillable?
But, no matter how much they didn't understand—
What came next was clear.
Crack~~
Even though they'd already heard it twice, that sharp cracking sound still made their hearts skip a beat.
Players couldn't help but repeat themselves:
MiHoYo! Your archive system is insane! What the ***!
[The most unlikely character is the one who died?!]
[Snake—Snake—(in green text)]
[I get MiHoYo's pattern now: Elysia boards the ship → Elysia gone; Mobius boards the ship → Mobius gone… Board the ship, then get axed, right?]
[Kevin: ???]
…
"How could it be Mobius?"
Elysia stared blankly at the screen for quite a while before she barely recovered from the shock.
Even when she and Kevin shattered, she hadn't been this shaken.
(Of course, that's mainly because Kevin obviously had a backup plan.)
"There wasn't even the slightest hint. It's way too sudden and careless."
"Yeah," Kevin said quietly beside her. "Mobius being the third one to fall is way too abrupt. I thought if something were to happen to Mobius, it'd be at the end…"
"Like, when the real culprit is revealed and everyone's in panic, she'd step out with a shadowy grin—cough—and be the one with the key solution."
"But now… it ended just like that…"
"Hmph." Kevin's words were cut off by a snort.
Mobius' voice.
"Kevin, Elysia… can't you read the description just now properly?"
"Seeing Hua and Su break in, Mobius' lips curled into a mocking smile. Her lips trembled slightly."
Mobius repeated the description from the scene.
Then she asked, "Do you really think Mobius would die that easily?"
"Snake-sis, are you suggesting… the Mobius in the game faked her death to achieve something?" Pardofelis whispered.
"Mhm," Mobius responded.
"And…"
"If I recall correctly, Hua's recollection once described Mobius using the Herrscher of Corruption from the Previous Era for experiments."
"Now connecting that with the current Elysian Realm chaos possibly caused by the Herrscher of Corruption… Even though we don't know how it got into the Realm…"
Mobius suddenly paused.
But the pause didn't last long—she quickly continued her analysis.
"If you're saying that Mobius, who once experimented on the Herrscher of Corruption, now has no countermeasure and was easily killed by it—is that plausible?"
"Of course, we can also look at character setup—"
Mobius went on at length.
Listening to her analysis, Elysia gradually calmed down.
Indeed.
Mobius being defeated so easily didn't seem like something that would happen to her.
If anything, it felt too out of place.
Likewise, the viewers in the stream, hearing "Miss Snake-sis" herself break down the logic behind Mobius' actions, began to settle their emotions too.
[Now that you mention it, Mobius smiling before death really doesn't seem like she was really dead.]
[Mobius can't die. If she does, it must mean "death" benefits her.]
[And she hasn't even had her full arc yet—there's no way she's leaving this early. I strongly suspect she has a hidden card.]
[Hearing your analysis made me feel better… so this was a carefully placed emotional stab by the writer? Hmph, that's all? Didn't even hurt me! (inflated ego)(denial)]
…
The stream chat was still full of people voicing their opinions.
Elysia had already reopened the Flame-Chaser archives and continued the main story.
After the memory viewing ended, Pardofelis couldn't understand why someone like Mobius—who could revive—would be killed.
And after telling Mei the news of Mobius' death, Hua intended to notify the other Flame-Chasers.
After Hua left,
Mei conveyed everything she had seen in the memory to Vill-V.
After listening, Vill-V crossed her arms and looked down in silence.
"How could this be… I thought at the very least, she'd be safe for a while. This isn't a good sign."
"Although Mobius often did things that crossed the line, her capabilities were undeniable. Her disappearance… definitely weakens us."
"There's no time to hesitate. We must stop this before more sacrifices are made."
At this point,
Elysia couldn't help but pause for a moment.
"Vill-V, now that something happened to Mobius—
As her rival, someone who knows her best, who knows her strength—
Aren't you just a little bit nervous?"
Vill-V: …Yes, yes. Actually, I'm freaking out.
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