"So all these traces were left by her?"
The moment Kaito said that, Ningguang immediately voiced the same question.
She couldn't imagine that someone called Mobius would have nothing better to do than leave behind traces this obvious — signs of a battle between two people — all on her own. So she assumed it had to be someone who'd fought Mobius here.
"Not just her."
Kaito knew Ningguang wouldn't think these marks had been left by Mobius alone, so he confirmed it: not just her.
"Then who was the other person?"
Before he'd even finished speaking, Yelan had already asked.
"That I don't know." Kaito answered honestly enough.
Whatever the truth was, he absolutely wasn't going to bring up Childe. That man was his collaborator — even if Childe himself had no idea that was what he was.
He continued, "But anyone who could actually trade blows with Mobius... they can't be simple. Assuming they walked away in one piece."
"If that's the case, then things are even worse than before."
Yelan was staring at the marks on the ground when she said it.
One Mobius was already terrifying enough. Another existence at the same level would only make things worse.
Sure, the enemy of your enemy is your friend — but that only held if you were actually in a position to call yourself their friend.
"Not necessarily," Ningguang said, clearly disagreeing. "The enemy of our enemy might just be our ally."
Though she also understood that an enemy's enemy wasn't obligated to become anyone's friend — that would depend entirely on the circumstances. Still, if there was someone else out there opposing Mobius, that was a good thing.
Or, of course, it could make everything worse.
"That depends on whether they'd be willing to be our friend in the first place," Yelan added.
I think he'd actually be very willing to be your friend...
If you were willing, that is...
Listening to the two of them, Kaito was quietly thinking exactly that.
He knew Childe would absolutely be up for it — but once they found out it was Childe, they'd probably want nothing to do with him.
"There's actually one more possibility," Kaito said.
"Oh? Go on."
Yelan's interest was immediately piqued.
She was curious what this other possibility could be.
"She may have been field-testing her research."
Since the traces here weren't left by Mobius personally, but rather by her modified Hilichurls and Childe, Kaito offered them a different angle entirely.
"Research?"
Ningguang didn't quite follow at first.
But a moment later, she recalled everything Kaito had just told her about Mobius.
"The Hilichurls? Hilichurls that she's... experimented on?" The thought clicked, and Ningguang voiced her guess immediately.
"Exactly."
Kaito nodded as she landed on the right answer.
"Hilichurls can actually cause this kind of destruction?"
Hearing that it might be Hilichurls, Yelan couldn't help muttering that to herself.
She couldn't help it — looking at the devastation around them, Hilichurls were simply the last thing that came to mind.
She didn't deal with them often, but she knew perfectly well that no ordinary Hilichurl could leave damage on this scale — not even the strongest among them.
Which meant it could only be the handiwork of this person called Mobius.
"She sounds quite a lot like the Fatui's Dottore," Ningguang remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them had some kind of connection."
From everything Kaito had described, this Mobius bore a striking resemblance to what she knew of the Fatui's Dottore.
Though going purely by Kaito's account, Dottore fell far short of Mobius.
Of course, she'd never actually met either of them — she was only speculating.
"The Fatui's Dottore?" Kaito knew the name, but he said it anyway. "That really is a strange thing to call yourself."
Honestly, he'd been wanting to make that joke for a long time.
Though in fairness, Childe wasn't much better.
"Oh? Kaito doesn't know the Fatui's Dottore?" Ningguang looked slightly surprised. "Given how close you seem to be with their Childe, I assumed you'd know all about them."
For anyone else, she'd have found it perfectly normal. But Kaito was different.
Between his various peculiarities and the obvious familiarity he had with the Fatui's Childe, she'd instinctively assumed he'd at least know of Dottore's existence.
"I only know Childe personally. We almost never talk about Fatui business." Kaito replied.
And that was the simple truth — he and Childe had almost never discussed the Fatui's affairs.
Not that he had any reason to get that kind of information from Childe anyway.
"I see." Ningguang gave a small nod.
"Dottore is also someone who lives for his research," Yelan remarked, almost out of nowhere. "I imagine the two of them would get along famously."
She knew a thing or two about the Fatui's Dottore.
Though she'd never imagined she'd one day be hearing about another one.
Get along famously, huh...
If I get the chance, I really should arrange a meeting between those two...
The thought flitted through Kaito's mind as he listened.
He filed it away for later — he didn't know where Dottore currently was, so there was nothing to act on for now.
He did know, from the story, that Dottore would eventually appear in Sumeru — but whether Dottore was already there at this point was another question entirely.
"That said, would Dottore even be in Liyue right now?"
Kaito honestly didn't think so, but he played along with Yelan's train of thought and tossed the question out.
"Probably not — though as for where he actually is, I doubt many people could tell you."
Ningguang suspected Dottore was almost certainly not in Liyue, but out of caution, she didn't say it with certainty — just probably.
She genuinely had no idea where that man was. This was the best she could offer.
"People obsessed with their research always seem to vanish into thin air," Kaito remarked.
Oh, right...
I don't think I've told them what Mobius actually looks like.
The thought hit him suddenly, and he considered bringing it up.
But then he realized neither of them had asked — so he let it go.
They'd meet her eventually. When they did, they'd find out for themselves.
____
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