Chapter 208
[After explaining everything to Mei, Klein made a request for her help in dealing with these abnormal phenomena. But Mei had come here with her own objectives, not to do this kind of work.
Klein showed strong incomprehension towards Mei's refusal:
"...Refused? Why? Why... can you refuse someone's needs?"
"Isn't it... supposed to be that you accept it first, then complete it on time?"
"Even if the other party completely overturns their previous ideas and wants to start over from scratch... you shouldn't refuse, right?"
Klein felt utterly bewildered, then looked at Mei in confusion. Mei's mouth twitched: "...Do you live in hell?"]
[Stelle]:"I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked."
[Scott]:"This... is just amazing! What a chosen worker!!! If I had an employee like Klein, why worry about not getting promoted and getting a raise!"
[Guinaifen]:"Be human, will you! And Mobius too!"
[Qingque]:"Now I understand why Klein is like this. You need to learn to slack off appropriately too."
[March 7th]:"Klein is Mobius's assistant, right? What kind of hell laboratory is this, so good at exploiting people."
[Klein]:"It's no problem, Dr. Mobius is no problem. The ones who increased my workload were two other people, the creators of the Book of Cangxuan."
[Book of Cangxuan]:"Cangxuan and Danzhu couldn't possibly be such people!!"
[Herrscher of Sentience]:"Little Xuan, what Klein says is true."
[However, Klein told Mei that if she wanted to explore deeper into the Elysian Realm, repairing the abnormal areas was essential. To go deeper, Mei had no choice but to become free labor in Klein's hands.
Then, under Klein's instructions, Mei began cleaning up the abnormalities here. After several repair tasks, Klein told Mei that someone had come to see her. Mei came to the lounge and saw a very familiar person. "Last time I came here, it wasn't Eden's portrait hanging here. Change always happens when you least expect it, right?"
"...Why are you here?"
Suddenly, Mei pretended to be surprised: "Wait... could it be that you're also a memory construct? Raven, did you die in the line of duty?"
Raven retorted irritably at Mei's joke, saying she was just here as a World Snake senior to check on her junior's trial. After the two chatted familiarly for a while, Raven directly assumed a combat stance. Her real purpose in coming here was to stop Mei from continuing to explore the Elysian Realm. Someone believed Mei had already crossed the line. Mei also drew her sword. Having grown through the trials in the Elysian Realm, Mei easily defeated Raven.
Because of this, Raven decided to take a good official holiday in the Elysian Realm. "...Do whatever you want, just don't get in my way."
Raven laughed wryly: "Yes, yes, whatever you say, Miss Mei."]
[Raven]:"It seems I get along quite well with my future colleague."
[HuoHuo]:"Kiana~ Now that you know Mei will have so many good friends in the future~ Do you feel a little sense of crisis~"
[Kiana]:"Hmph! I'll always be Mei's best friend!"
[Shush]:"Mei and Kiana are good friends because Kiana and Mei are homophones, making it amusing."
[HSR·Himeko]:"Shush!"
[Stelle]:"What a cold joke, what kind of thing is this!"
[Shush]:"Hello, Passenger Stelle, I am the beverage machine robot on the Astral Express."
[March 7th]:"We have this thing on our train?"
[In her conversation with Raven, Raven also told Mei that she had once reached the end of the Elysian Realm and passed the test, but at the final moment she gave up the reward.
Because she wanted to remain human, and this reward turned people into monsters. Having personally witnessed Kevin devouring the Judgment-class Honkai beast Chiyou in reality made this desire particularly strong.
After the small interlude of Raven's arrival, Mei still wanted to seek the truth. But before facing Mobius directly, she decided to first investigate Mobius's past through other Flame-Chasers in the Elysian Realm.
From various indirect inquiries, Mei didn't get many clues, but she did learn from Kevin and Elysia what kind of power MANTISes truly possessed, and learned about the existence of [Artificial Corruption].
Then from Klein, the maintainer of the Elysian Realm, she learned that throughout these tens of thousands of years, Klein had been engaged in important work assigned by Mobius.
Afterwards, she found one of the few non-enigmatic existences in the Elysian Realm—Hua! Facing Hua, Mei felt close not just because of Fu Hua, but also because she was one of the few Flame-Chasers who wasn't enigmatic! So Mei asked Hua about the outcomes of various Flame-Chasers and other matters. However, although Hua wanted to tell Mei everything, the honest Hua truly knew nothing.]
[Stelle]:"Can there really be a memory construct without memories?"
[Herrscher of Sentience]:"See, you all know the old fossil often loses her memory now and can't remember anything, but you'd never guess she actually had hyperthymesia back then, which is why she frequently used Fenghuang Down to erase memories."
[Raven]:"MANTISes huh..."
[Elysia]:"Hmm~ Kevin, your image scared your cute subordinate♪"
[Raven]:"No, it has nothing to do with Lord Kevin. I just want to remain human."
[Boothill]:"Quite interesting, but's human modifications should have some side effects, right!"
[Although everyone was enigmatic, during Mei's investigation she still discovered something, such as... the true founder of World Serpent was Mobius, and Gray Serpent's creator was also Dr. Mobius.
Then she learned about the most important event in Mobius's past—the death of Klein, the Herrscher of Thousand.
From Su, she learned that Klein, who had become the Herrscher of Thousand, killed Mobius, but Mobius's own instinct for [resurrection after death] directly consumed Klein instead. Su, who came to rescue, witnessed everything, but this matter was too cruel for Mobius. Su chose to attribute Klein's death to himself. That's why Mobius never treated Su well.]
[March 7th]:"Heavens, so this is the truth of what happened..."
[Kiana]:"Oh no, doesn't this mean Mobius knows everything now?!"
[Su]:"Mobius, you..."
[Mobius]:"Shut up! Keep your useless pity to yourselves!"