"No, nothing...? Lynelle, Lynelle?"
Bronya blinked.
"Seems Lynelle's consciousness has already fallen asleep within Bronya's body... But this feeling, what is it? My lower abdomen feels all warm and cozy..."
"No, no, Lynelle's abilities were always meant to be comforting, that's not the point. The point is, what exactly did Lynelle mean by those unfinished words?"
"What did she want Seele to tell that person called Mobius? Her panicked look at the end... this must be important. 'No...' What could come after that? 'No problem'? 'Nothing left'? 'Not dead'?"
"Hmm... If she and that person were close enough, the other should already know Lynelle can come back to life."
"Almost dozens in Anti-Entropy know about it by now; her resurrection during the Second Honkai Impact is on record..."
"So, 'not dead' definitely can't be it. If they were that close, it'd be redundant."
"If not close enough, and they didn't know about her resurrection, then specifically emphasizing 'not dead' seems completely unnecessary."
"Then... could it be that Lynelle wanted to inform the other party of her own death?"
Bronya's eyes suddenly widened. She just remembered—before saying that, Lynelle seemed to have exclaimed something else.
"Right, right! Lynelle cried out earlier that the ability was stored within her own body. Could it be... Mobius was the provider of that ability?"
"That makes sense! It all lines up! If Mobius doesn't know Lynelle died and keeps supplying power to her, that transmitted energy would either be wasted or exploited by the Herrscher of Domination—judging by its earlier performance, that power must be significant. That's why Lynelle was so frantic!"
A look of sudden understanding dawned on Bronya's face.
"So, what Lynelle wanted to say was: Tell Mobius that Lynelle is gone, she must stop supplying her with power immediately!"
"This... this is so important... I need to get back to the main world right away."
"Wait, Lynelle projected the 2nd Divine Key using my body before. I can recreate it by following the projection process she left behind..."
Fueled by Lynelle's "last words," Bronya's eyes blazed with determination.
She wished she could instantly become Otto, the foremost expert on the 2nd Divine Key, project that locomotive right now, return to reality, and report Lynelle's death to the mysterious Mobius.
--+--
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
"Oh no, it's all over! Completely over!"
Lynelle, who had bolted upright from her bed in the train room, clutched her head.
"Why is the Corruption virus Snake gave me so weird?! Why are its permissions etched into the Stigmata, but the carriers are all in my body?!"
"So when my body self-destructed, didn't all the Corruption virus inside get destroyed too? Snake is gonna go crazy!"
"Eek!"
Imagining the possible future—Snake's black tentacles, those cyan-green electric currents, all sorts of strange drugs in Snake's lab—Lynelle shuddered, wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, and let out a mournful wail as she rolled around on her large bed.
"At this point, I can only hope Bronya understood what I meant... Duckie's been with me for so long, we have the best synergy in co-op games, she even cleared the hardest co-op boss in that clunkiest 18+ game... She must understand..."
"Probably... right?"
Lynelle shot up again.
"Crap, why do I feel less and less confident... No, I need to find a way to verify this."
"Oh, right, also need to make time to return to the space station."
"I originally thought if Otto wanted the Domination core, he could have it, but this modified Herrscher of Domination is so strong, I definitely can't slack off either..."
"Gotta find a way to snatch part of the core. Not aiming to take it all from Otto, but at least control a portion."
"Otherwise, when things kick off in Kolosten, Otto could just use the Domination authority to disable all our Herrschers. Then what's the point?"
"As for how to grab the core... Hmm, maybe ask Herta to borrow the Herta network to substitute for the Thousand?"
"But that'd definitely require using Herta's character card once, and I still haven't pulled it... Is there still time to stick to Herta every day now?"
With that, the girl hurriedly jumped off the bed, put on her shoes, planning to wander the train cars first, then head to the space station to discuss countermeasures with the kind and beautiful Madam Herta.
However, before Lynelle could leave, her room door was knocked on first.
"Huh? Lynelle, you're awake?"
Seeing Lynelle open the door, March 7th asked curiously, "I thought you said you were gonna sleep for a long time this time..."
"Th-this..." Lynelle scratched her head. "Probably... didn't sleep too well?"
"It's fine, then wanna have some ice cream together?" March pulled a large tub of ice cream from the room's fridge.
"My room's fridge is too small, so I stored it here with you and Stelle. I bought this last time I went to the mobile bubble tea flagship!"
"Sure... Wait, March!" Lynelle's eyes suddenly lit up.
She seemed to have thought of someone she could use to verify her guess.
"Hmm?"
"Ahem, just imagine this scenario..."
Then, while sharing the ice cream with March, Lynelle recounted the situation she faced in the dream, adapting it into a game plot that little March could understand, and roughly explained it.
"So, what do you think... in the game's story, would my companion understand what I meant?"
Lynelle looked at March 7th with eager anticipation.
"Hearing you describe it, this game sounds pretty fun..."
"As for your plot question, although I'd like to say yes..." March bit her spoon, a thoughtful look on her face.
"But usually in these situations, the chance of misunderstanding is higher, isn't it?"
"Eh, wait, Lynelle, why do your eyes suddenly look lifeless?!"
--+--
"So that's the situation, Seele..."
An hour after Lynelle's self-destruction, having successfully recreated the 2nd Divine Key and achieved the feat of speeding through the Imaginary Space, Bronya finally found the Imaginary node back to the Salt Lake Base.
However, the Salt Lake Base was now under full lockdown.
Setting aside Lynelle and Bronya's disappearance, just the massive explosion in the Imaginary Space that nearly affected the main world was enough to put everyone on edge.
After briefing Einstein and the others on the current situation, Bronya immediately returned to her room and took out the communicator Lynelle had specially reserved for her to contact Seele.
"Um... Bronya-nee, are you sure Lynelle-nee wanted to tell Dr. Mobius about this?"
On the other end of the call, after listening to Bronya's account, Seele fell silent for several seconds before asking, sounding rather puzzled.
"Bronya isn't certain either, but based on the earlier context, Bronya's guess should be pretty close."
Bronya spoke urgently, "Anyway, please handle this, Seele. Bronya has to undergo a physical check-up soon. Since Lynelle's soul is still inside Bronya's body, the doctors need to assess Lynelle's condition, see if she needs treatment or something..."
Hearing Bronya hurriedly hang up again, Seele blinked, looking up somewhat lost.
"What's wrong, Seele? Did your sister tell you something troubling?"
Across from Seele, Su's voice was gentle.
This communication line Lynelle set up was largely established with Su's assistance.
While Aponia could also achieve something similar, her psychic abilities were too overwhelming for those without mental resistance, easily causing other issues.
So, Lynelle ultimately chose the gentler Su as the communication node.
"Mhm, it's about Lynelle-nee..." Seele nodded.
"Lynelle...?" Su's voice paused. "Related to the sudden commotion from Mobius's side earlier?"
"Bronya-nee told Seele that to protect her from the current era's Herrscher of Domination's authority attack, Lynelle-nee voluntarily abandoned her body, merged into Bronya's, and engaged in an authority clash with the Thousand."
"And Lynelle-nee's body... she self-destructed it, blowing up the entire Theater of Domination at the cost of self-destruction…"
"But due to biological death and excessive energy drain, Lynelle-nee is now dormant within Bronya-nee's body, unsure when she'll wake up..."
Seele nodded again, explaining to Su. She felt somewhat at a loss about the situation.
"..."
"You're saying..."
Su's voice also held a note of hesitation. "Lynelle's death was caused by the Thousand?"
"Mhm..."
"Sigh..." Su let out a long sigh. "This is truly... why did it have to be the Thousand again?"
"Again?" Seele blinked. "Senior Su, you mean Dr. Mobius has... history with the Thousand before?"
"A troubled history, to be precise... You know Klein, right? The E.L.F. maintaining the Elysian Realm servers."
"Klein was Mobius's most important confidant, assistant, and partner. But when the Thousand descended in the Previous Era... she was chosen as one of the Herrscher hosts."
"You likely know about the Herrscher situation in the Previous Era. Becoming a Herrscher meant losing everything from the past."
"So, when Mobius was caught off guard, the Herrscherized Klein killed her, and then..."
Su's voice halted briefly. "Then, I arrived at the scene and killed Klein."
"I won't dwell on the details of that incident. In short... in Mobius's eyes, the Herrscher of Domination has once again taken someone most important from her—even if Lynelle isn't truly dead and will resurrect after a while."
"For Mobius, this isn't something easily brushed aside."
"In her view, due to her resurrection ability, her own body is a disposable consumable. The reason her current form is so young is because she's constantly experimenting on her own body."
"However, she would never accept the death of someone important to her... Honestly, what happens next isn't hard to guess."
"But, Lynelle-nee seems to think similarly..." Seele tilted her head. "Is this... similarity between mother and daughter?"
"So, Senior Su... should Seele tell Dr. Mobius about this or not..."
"Hmm..." Looking at the timid Seele, Su remained silent for a moment.
"I'll go, Seele. You stay here... No, you should go to Kevin... Hmm, that might not work either."
"Forget it. You should find Hua and have her guide you to leave the Elysian Realm temporarily."
"If I guess correctly, due to Lynelle's death, Mobius might mobilize the Realm's vast data and computational power to breed 'that thing.'"
"That thing?"
"The power your sister mentioned, provided by Mobius to Lynelle." Su sighed.
"It's a virus developed in imitation of our era's Herrscher of Corruption, capable of simulating nearly 100% of the Herrscher of Corruption's authority…"
"Before Lynelle appeared, the virus likely wasn't as perfected as it is now. But with Lynelle's assistance, the Corruption virus is nearly indistinguishable from the Corruption authority itself."
"So I suspect... Mobius might very well use that to leave the Elysian Realm."
"I understand... Thank you, Senior Su."
Following Su's instructions, Seele quickly found the utterly clueless and confused Hua, and with the latter's help, used the Fenghuang Down to forcefully exit the Elysian Realm.
Not half an hour after Seele left...
"Senior Kevin...?"
At the entrance of the Elysian Realm, Seele, noticing Kevin who had appeared beside her at some point, jumped like a startled rabbit.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not here for you."
Kevin's words were as concise as ever.
However, compared to his usually emotionless tone, Seele detected a trace of... bemusement? in his voice this time.
"I came here merely to... meet an old friend."
"Heh... little follower, just 'meet'?"
Then, a voice all too familiar to Seele slowly echoed from deep within the Elysian Realm corridor.
"You're not going to tell me that after learning of Lynelle's death, and knowing the culprit is the Thousand again, I should just stay in the Elysian Realm and watch my daughter get bullied outside, are you?"
"I won't stop you from acting against the Thousand..." Kevin paused briefly.
"But, Mobius, I hope you understand we are merely remnants of the Previous Era. With Project Ember progressed to this point, I don't want you interfering excessively with the current civilization."
"So, you're going to stop me?" Mobius's voice rose slightly.
"No." Kevin stepped aside, making a gesture of invitation. "I'm coming with you."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.