"I'll be taking my leave then, Little Lin, Little Yama~"
The man in the suit stood at the doorway with his characteristic, enigmatic smile, waving to the family. He gave a slight nod to the man standing behind Lin, then turned and departed.
The harmonious atmosphere gradually cooled with the Speaker's departure, returning to the normal rhythm of the family's life.
After entering the bedroom and locking the door, the silver-haired young girl stood by the window, turning her head to stare solemnly at Lin.
"Three hours."
It had been exactly twelve hours since they arrived in this Bubble Universe. The clock faithfully recorded the time, accurate down to the second. However, nothing had happened during these twelve hours; it was as if the clock were something only the two of them could see.
The "three hours" Yama mentioned referred to their plan to sneak out and investigate the clock once their parents were asleep.
"Is that man very important to you?" Yama asked pointedly during the wait. She was referring to the Speaker, the man whose smile made one's skin crawl.
Was it that obvious?
Lin had indeed been secretly observing the Speaker. Compared to his parents, whose images were completely blurred in his memory, the Speaker felt entirely different from the man he knew.
That man also smiled frequently, but it wasn't a smile filled with schemes. It was a simple, genuine smile directed at friends and juniors. He didn't speak in riddles, and his movements lacked that sense of deliberate, calculated politeness.
If one had to use a word to describe him, this Speaker was more "natural."
"...I'm not sure."
It was difficult for Lin to define his relationship with the Speaker, or what kind of emotions he should harbor for this person who had both harmed and saved him.
Yama didn't press him, offering only a faint "Oh."
Lin recalled this person who claimed to be from a future timeline: "In your world, did the Great Purge event happen as well?"
"It did. During the early stages of the Sixth Honkai Eruption. It should be the same as your world."
Yama attitude toward him was poor; she often glared at him with eyes full of a hatred so intense it seemed she wanted to chop him into seventeen pieces. Yet, strangely, she answered almost every question he asked, seemingly unconcerned if Lin learned information about the future ahead of time.
This might be related to her past attempts to send information back to the past, only to find that the established future remained unchanged.
"The Speaker's influence lasted until the end of the Tenth Honkai Eruption. There were both good and bad effects. At least it allowed the MANTIS to be 'heroes who volunteered for humanity' rather than 'monsters created through forced human experimentation.'"
"...You care about him a lot?"
Lin detected a different tone in Yama voice. But according to her, she wasn't even in the MOTH during the Sixth Honkai Eruption.
"Certain things only reveal their true faces after being tempered by time. Repeatedly thinking about an event allows one's views and insights to gradually mature. It is neither purely good nor purely evil; it is simply that the event happened, and then it had an impact."
"Just like history."
Lin gazed silently at Yama exquisite profile, which looked almost sculpted. She was lost in memory.
Just like history...
Whenever one flips through a history book, all one sees are historical records. All the grand passions, national sentiments, and personal grievances are reduced to cold entries in black and white. Even emperors reaching the pinnacle of power are nothing more than a few lines for people of the present to look back upon.
Was it the same for her?
Even the sorrow he witnessed with his own eyes would, in a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, become nothing more than insignificant historical dust.
"Don't get too sentimental. Who do you think you are?" Lin thoughts were rudely interrupted by Yama. She still looked at him with those cold eyes. "It won't be too late to consider such things once you actually have the weight to influence so-called history."
"..."
"How is your current relationship with Mobius?"
"...?"
Lin didn't quite understand why Yama suddenly shifted the topic to this. However, she truly was someone who had encountered many versions of Lin; she knew his affairs like the back of her hand.
"During the Tenth Honkai Eruption, was Mobius still around?" Lin asked, choosing his words carefully.
In truth, it was unlikely for Mobius to die. She always stayed in the safer rear areas, and based on his understanding of her, her will to survive was exceptionally strong. As long as she didn't want to die, she would always find a way to live.
"My Project Soldier surgery was performed by Dr. Mobius," Yama said casually.
Project Soldier surgery?
Wait, Lin had overlooked a very important question.
He had always assumed Yama was a Herrscher. But after several encounters, she neither behaved like a mindless Herrscher nor like the Sixth Herrscher, who possessed consciousness but lacked humanity. Instead, she claimed she chose to hunt him down to save people.
A Herrscher could retain the host's memories, but no Herrscher would ever consider themselves the original human—not even the Sixth.
"You are a... MANTIS? You're not a Herrscher?"
"..." Just as Lin thought it was a stupid question—since Yama had said she underwent surgery, she could only be a MANTIS—she fell silent for a moment and gave an unexpected answer:
"I am a Herrscher."
"..."
"You don't need to speculate if I'm a 'special' Herrscher. In fact, I was just an ordinary Herrscher. In the beginning, I possessed maximum hostility toward humanity, having lost my self-awareness and human nature. I was just 'ordinary'."
"Have you regained your self-awareness now?"
Lin felt a sudden surge of emotion. If people who became Herrschers could regain their consciousness, did that mean those who had turned could be saved?
"I didn't regain it on my own." But then, Yama poured cold water on him. She replied frostily, "Someone helped me find it."
But Lin did not lose heart. He pressed urgently, "Who?"
"...The 'special' one."
"What do you mean?"
But Yama did not answer him further. Instead, she returned to the original topic: "Mobius was still alive during the Tenth Honkai Eruption, but she died right after it ended. That was also because of you."
"..."
"I'll say it again: if you don't want everything to become irrevokable, you'd best have the resolve to take your own life. And... don't make them wait too long."
The moon emerged from the clouds at some unknown moment, illuminating the silent city. Only a few desolate sounds echoed.
"Let's go."