Within a Previous Era bubble world.
"Ahhh~ so comfortable~" x3
Cangxuan, Danzhu, and Klein.
The three of them were currently lying on the grass in a park, enjoying this unprecedented super-long vacation.
Four months—an entire four months!!
They had gone a full four months without being exploited by Mobius. Every single day, they could do whatever they wanted without a single worry. Cangxuan and Danzhu were so moved they nearly cried, and Klein declared that she had never rested for this long in her entire life!!
"This bubble world is heaven!"
Klein stared at the blue sky and white clouds, speaking with absolute conviction.
Danzhu: "Exactly! A world without Dr. Mobius exploiting us is just too wonderful!"
Cangxuan: "I've decided. I'm staying in this bubble world for the rest of my life! Farewell to work~"
Since the residents of the Elysian Realm consisted only of the fifteen Flame-Chasers of Fire Moth and the ELFs, Klein and the other two had only entered the Previous Era bubble world back then. At first, they had even felt a little reluctant to part with Mobius.
But after discovering that in this bubble world, they no longer needed to work twenty-four hours a day...
"Doctor, let's just never contact each other again!" x3
The three of them decisively chose to abandon Mobius.
At present, the Previous Era bubble world was still under construction. After all, migrating an entire civilization of seven to eight billion people—even with all scientific, cultural, and technological achievements preserved, and with abundant resources—
There was no way to restore the civilization to it's peak level within a mere four months. However, the extremely optimistic situation was that there was no Honkai in this world bubble!
Because this bubble world existed within Elias' body, in a certain sense, the white-haired savior was the god of this world. When he created it, he had forbidden Honkai from interfering.
Therefore, the Previous Era could safely recuperate within this bubble world, slowly rebuilding its strength and even continuing to grow and expand without worrying about Honkai seeking them out.
Although everything had to start from scratch,
If other civilizations on the Imaginary Tree, those tormented by Honkai, were to learn of this, they would surely envy it to the point of madness!
A world without Honkai invasions—
It was simply the utopia countless civilizations dreamed of!
But for Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu, the most crucial thing was that this world had no Mobius. They could indulge in laziness to their hearts' content!
"This is so nice. I hope days like this can last forever. Where should we go play this afternoon~"
"Doctor, we'll miss you—but please, absolutely do not miss us. It's best if you just forget the three of us~"
"As Eden would say, may time remain forever at this moment—and may Doctor never return!"
However, just as Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu were wholeheartedly enjoying this leisure whose end was unknown, the very next second, a green figure blocked out the sun. A dark shadow enveloped the three of them.
"Oh? Danzhu, what was that you just said?"
"I said, may Doctor never—"
Before she could finish, the three of them felt their hearts skip a beat. Cold sweat instantly poured down their backs. An instinct branded into their DNA issued a severe warning, telling them that the devil had arrived!
Green hair. Rainbow-colored serpent eyes. A bewitching figure. And that sweet tone deliberately imitating Elysia.
"Gulp!" x3
Klein and the other two swallowed simultaneously.
"It must be a hallucination. Definitely a hallucination. I'm actually seeing Dr. Mobius—ah haha... haha..."
"Danzhu, I see her too. Scientifically speaking, the probability of two people experiencing the same hallucination and seeing the same image is less than one in ten million." Klein was trembling all over.
"W-What are you talking about? There's still a one in ten million chance! Then it must be a hallucination! Sister, don't shake our morale at a time like this!" Danzhu's forehead was covered in cold sweat.
"My little sister, no matter how much you try to escape reality, you cannot change the fact that Doctor is right in front of us. Perhaps... we should retreat quickly." Cangxuan's face was pale.
Although they desperately wanted to run, fear rooted them to the spot. The psychological shadow from years of exploitation was not so easily overcome. And, to put it bluntly—
Mobius was not only their superior and someone they respected.
She was also their slave master!!
"It has been a full fifty thousand years since we last met, Klein, Cangxuan, Danzhu. Did you miss me?" Mobius narrowed her eyes with a smile, but it looked like a predator locking onto prey.
"M-M-M-Dr. Mobius?! Why are you here?!" Danzhu was already stuttering.
"That trivial matter isn't important. What's important is that your vacation is over. Come back to the lab with me and start working~" Mobius revealed a cruel smile.
No—!!! x3
The three of them let out despairing screams in their hearts.
On this day.
Heaven flipped into hell. Paradise became a lost Eden.
At this moment.
The three of them once again recalled the fear of being dominated by Mobius.
Mobius: "You've already rested for fifty thousand years. And I'm not some devil, so let's simply multiply that by ten. For the next five hundred thousand years, you won't have any vacations."
The three: "...Why don't you just kill us instead! And haven't we only rested for four months?!"
Mobius: "For me, it's been fifty thousand years. Now move briskly! Otherwise, don't blame me for whipping you with my tail. I have a very important plan next."
Danzhu: "Waaah! Goodbye, beautiful tomorrow! Damn overtime hell, I'm back!!"
Cangxuan: "Happy times are always so short..."
Klein: "Work, work, endless work... is this truly my fate?"
Sensing that she was about to revert to being the "Flawless One" again, Klein's eyes had already gone lifeless.
If things continued like this, perhaps in this era she might once again be chosen by Honkai to become one of the Herrscher of Dominance.
At this moment, Mobius herself still had no idea what kind of powerful backstab awaited her in the future.
As the saying goes, all evil will eventually be brought to justice. The day this unscrupulous black-hearted Snake would be hung from a streetlamp for public display was, in fact, not so far away.
...
Dragging the three of them back to the main world, Snake immediately restarted the Mobius Laboratory.
To welcome her arrival, Elias had specially used his authority to construct a research building near St. Freya Academy.
As for why it wasn't built inside the academy—well, those who understood, understood. St. Freya Academy already had Herrschers practically everywhere. If they added a laboratory run by Dr. Mobius, whose expertise in human experimentation was so extreme that even the luckiest gacha player would feel inferior—
Putting aside the obvious negative impact, the academy's title as the "Herrscher Academy" would probably never be removed until the destruction of the Current Era.
"D-Doctor, this plan of yours... you're serious, right?" Mobius handed them a proposal. After reading it, the three nearly had their eyeballs fall out.
"Of course I'm serious. Do I look like I'm joking?"
"If only you were joking..." x3
Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu trembled as they stared at the research proposal in their hands. Sweat had already soaked through their clothes. Their faces were filled with fear and shock.
This was absolutely not a plan a normal person could come up with!
Nor was it something a mere genius or a mere madman could conceive. Only someone who had simultaneously reached the very pinnacle of both genius and madness could devise such a scheme—so outrageous that even calling it a fantasy was far from enough!
What arrogance!
What madness!
What reckless defiance of heaven itself!
Even after following Mobius for so long, Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu still felt their hair stand on end as they stared at Snake in horror, marveling that this person truly dared to do anything!
Compared to the plan in their hands, even the original MANTIS project seemed trivial!
How could she dare?!
She actually intended to artificially create a pseudo–Sea of Quanta!!
And most importantly, the subject of this experiment was Elias!!
"Doctor, what exactly do you want Elias to become?"
Klein asked while trembling all over, her voice shaking. Though she prided herself on being the one who understood Mobius best, at this moment she realized she could no longer comprehend this woman's thoughts.
She had read the proposal several times. The only conclusion she could draw was that Mobius wanted Elias to become the Sea of Quanta—or at least an existence similar to it!
"Klein, you should already know the answer to that question. What do I want Elias to become? Of course, I want him to become my ideal!"
Madness and obsession surged within Mobius' serpent eyes.
"I want him to become absolute eternity! To become an indestructible existence! To become... true infinity!"
During these fifty thousand years, Infinite Ouroboros Mobius had not merely slumbered inside a hibernation pod. She had researched the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta together with Vill-V and MEI.
And these three scientists who stood at the pinnacle of human intellect each harbored their own mad ambitions. One day, Mobius had suddenly realized that the Sea of Quanta and the [Infinity] she pursued were astonishingly similar!
If someone in this world could exist in a form akin to the Sea of Quanta—or to be even bolder, become an existence of the same nature—
Then that person might even surpass her long-held definition of "god." And the first person Mobius thought of was her most, most, most beloved little white mouse—Elias.
She hoped Elias could become such an existence, and she firmly believed that this white-haired boy had the potential to achieve it.
"Don't look so shocked. No matter how mad I am, I wouldn't recklessly risk Elias' life. In fact, you can tell yourselves—this proposal is still only at the conceptual stage."
Mobius shrugged.
"Even for me, after spending several hundred years, this is as far as I've managed to refine the plan. But if it succeeds, then my little white mouse might truly become an eternal and undying existence~"
Excitement gleamed within those dangerous serpent eyes.
"D-Doctor, I don't quite understand," Danzhu raised her hand timidly.
These four months she had played a little too wildly and forgotten quite a bit of what she had learned before. The reason she had been so shocked earlier was simply because she could tell how heaven-defying the proposal was.
But she had yet to grasp its deeper implications.
"..." x2
Klein and Cangxuan looked at her speechlessly.
The two of them seriously wondered how this person had ever earned her current academic degree. She was clearly a genius scientist as well, yet why did her temperament resemble Pardofelis, who had never attended school?
Mobius pressed a hand to her forehead and looked at Danzhu as if she were an idiot before beginning to explain.
"Fine. Let me give you a refresher course. First, confirm something for me. You know what the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta are, correct?"
"Mm-hm! I know those two!"
The Imaginary Tree possesses the concept of the imaginary, symbolizing order and law—an infinitely vast existence. If compared to a colossal tree, time flows along its trunk, and civilizations are its branches and leaves.
The Sea of Quanta possesses the concept of the quantum, symbolizing chaos and nothingness—an equally infinite existence. Though born alongside the Imaginary Tree, the two stand in opposition.
The Tree draws energy from the Sea through its roots, while the Sea draws energy from the leaves that fall from the Tree—bubble worlds.
"If someone could accomplish what the Sea of Quanta does—using their own body as a vessel to store an infinite number of bubble worlds, and then erode and decompose those worlds, turning them into nourishment for themselves..."
"!!!" x3
The three women simultaneously sucked in a sharp breath.
They could hardly imagine what kind of existence that would be.
Turning bubble worlds themselves into one's nourishment was entirely different from merely extracting energy from within them. The two were not remotely the same concept. The former meant eternal growth. The latter was only a temporary borrowing of power.
Moreover, not just anyone could contain a bubble world within their body. At present, in the entire Current Era, only Elias and Durandal were capable of such a feat.
But the latter had stated that containing even a single bubble world was already close to her limit. Therefore, the only person in the world capable of containing multiple bubble worlds was Elias alone.
"I've already observed that Valkyrie called Durandal. Although she possesses talent and potential surpassing even Kevin, she ultimately still cannot fulfill my expectations."
Mobius shook her head with regret. Durandal's talent was beyond doubt—after all, she was a [Palatinus] individual. But accomplishing something like turning bubble worlds into nourishment for one's own evolution required the devouring ability of a Chimera MANTIS.
Thus, the candidate was obvious.
A Chimera MANTIS who could contain multiple bubble worlds within his body, and who also possessed adaptability to the Sea of Quanta.
Other than Elias, there was no second choice.
"Although it is still in its infancy, this is my plan! Let Elias contain a vast number of bubble worlds within his body like the Sea of Quanta, then devour them to evolve himself! In that process, Elias' own level of existence will inevitably leap forward, and in the end... he may even become an existence that surpasses the gods!"
To turn countless worlds into fuel for one's own evolution—a humanoid pseudo–Sea of Quanta—was a growth method far more efficient and terrifying than that of a [Palatinus] or even a Chimera.
One could only say that Mobius truly deserved the title "Infinite Ouroboros." The plan she conceived was, as always, utterly insane.