"...Is it over?"
"Of course it's over."
That voice sneered: "The Herrscher of Corruption... once, to us... to humanity, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. But to me now, it is no longer an insurmountable nightmare. In fact... it is not even worth mentioning."
Hearing those words now, she felt no joy, only a sense of revulsion.
Even though they had worked together for a long time, she still felt an indescribable fear toward this... person.
Everything he once faced could now be easily overcome by the person standing before her.
But this also meant he was drifting further and further away from his former self. She no longer knew if the current him was a remnant of that man or an obsession that had crossed nearly infinite time.
"Then, all Herrschers and conditions before the descent of Finality have been gathered."
....
Mobius walked into the archives. She hadn't been here for a long time; the last time was several years ago.
She could check data in her own room, but many classified documents were stored in terminals with security protocols that required physical presence and biometric authentication.
"..."
Mobius wasn't very familiar with the archive's new system, but fortunately, her clearance was high enough that she could pass through most areas without hindrance. She didn't need to fumble around looking for clues in different places like Lin did.
"KY-00..."
Mobius quickly found this project under a sub-branch of the MANTIS project.
She narrowed her eyes at this unfamiliar project. The MANTIS project was led by her and Mei, yet she had no memory of this project—and Mei certainly wouldn't either.
Even more surprising... she didn't have high enough clearance to view it.
"Those old geezers..." Mobius shook her head, not particularly surprised. Her clearance was nominally the highest level, but she knew in her heart it was just for show. The people at the top needed her abilities but feared her, so they had their own exclusive clearance.
Initially, Mobius didn't care. All she needed was a place to conduct research and sufficient resources. she had thought she could research in isolation until her dream was realized. She never expected the day would come when she'd want to take back the clearance she deserved...
Mobius suddenly felt something was off.
Why was this happening?
Or rather, because of whom?
"Tsk, I would have investigated this even without that guy." Mobius muttered to herself as if to comfort herself. She continued searching for other data. "It's definitely not because of him..."
But as mentioned before, Mobius wasn't naturally skilled at these things, and the archive system confused her. After searching for half an hour with no results, she punched the screen in frustration and let out a sigh, preparing to leave.
Just then, her eyes caught another project.
"An Engineering Department project... wasn't that Vil-V responsibility?"
But Vil-V was still on "vacation." If the head of the Engineering Department was away, why was there an Engineering project active?
Since the Engineering and R&D Departments overlapped in some functions, most Engineering projects were transferred to R&D after Vil-V left. For instance, the sky base was completed by Mei. The remaining projects were minor ones to be resumed when Vil-V returned.
So why did an Engineering project suddenly pop up now?
"Start time... six months ago."
Six months ago...
Mobius remembered that was when she had just completed the first step of improving the MANTIS surgery based on her research of Project Soldier. It was also then that the Fire Moth high command had misappropriated her technology to launch the second phase of the MANTIS project prematurely.
Could it be such a coincidence? An Engineering project started six months ago, at almost the same time as the second phase of the MANTIS project, and it started after Vil-V left...
Mobius clicked on the project.
Inside were mostly reports on the transport and replenishment of building materials and construction progress. Mobius didn't understand the technical jargon, but she could roughly gather that they were building an extremely complex "cage."
A cage? This reminded Mobius of the Deep End. But since they already had one Deep End, why build another?
Likely due to clearance, the construction site was not specified, but the progress was visible.
It was completed a month ago.
A month ago...
A spark of insight flashed in Mobius mind. She located the "KY-00" project.
Fire Moth projects had a unique trait: while they strictly enforced hierarchy and confidentiality, for historical reasons, the start times of all projects were public.
The "KY-00" project had struck Mobius as odd from the start because it had two start dates.
One coincided with the start of the MANTIS project's second phase. The other was... as expected.
Mobius compared the completion date of the Engineering project with the second start date of KY-00. They were on the same day. In other words, as soon as the former ended, the latter was voted through and officially launched.
"Just what are you planning..." Mobius frowned deeply. "To you, is it already time to consider the aftermath of the 'human struggle' once Honkai ends? Truly... arrogant, you humans."
The Moon remains, Svatok 51, the Stargate attack, KY-00...
This series of events spanning decades seemed, at this moment, to be linked by an invisible dark web.
...
"Don't run too far, Sister!"
She seemed not to hear the words behind her, excitedly chasing the rolling swim ring. Blown by the sea breeze, it rolled faster and faster, and seeing her swim ring speed up, she also broke into a run to catch it.
It was close, almost within reach.
Children are always the most energetic. In the blink of an eye, she had run behind the swim ring. At this point, she only needed to reach out to stop it.
But...
Smack!
She kicked the swim ring, sending it flying further to continue rolling along the beach.
"Haha!"
The purest joy of a child.
She only wanted to chase the swim ring. What else was there to think about?