MGSFV?! Chapter 518. Prison Comes with Free Meals, So No Panic; Tulips and Rays—A Blessing Is Coming
This is miHoYo's Schrödinger's detail.
Pink glow? Nothing special. Spatial rift? Also nothing special. But the moment these two are combined, a mysterious chemical reaction is triggered—
An uncontrollable desire to charge forward wells up in the heart.
It can be called a qualitative leap created by a combination of details. miHoYo clearly understands the players' psychology very well.
Clearly, they usually... do a lot of market research.
[Hurry! Charge in!!]
[I think there's still something behind Mei? The mission marker's pointing there.]
[That's Gold Serpent's 'corpse'...]
[At this point, who still cares about Gold Serpent? Do you? Well, I don't! I'm going straight in!]
Although many players noticed the prompt indicating there was still a branch plotline behind Mei, they still charged into the spatial rift without hesitation.
No time for anything else! Not even a single second to spare! Turn back? Never.
However...
When they actually controlled the character to charge into the spatial rift and triggered the story—
"Ding dong—λ Special Broadcast, limited-time transmission~"
[Why is it Ai Yi?! Where's Elysia like we expected?!]
[Ai Yi is still Ai…]
[Slightly disappointed.jpg]
But they quickly realized this segment had nothing to do with Mei—it was just Ai Yi giving a brief explanation for Gold Serpent's sudden collapse.
Clearly, someone already anticipated that players would recklessly charge straight into the rift, so they deliberately laid this trap...
Even this is within your expectations?
"Although I don't know in which future the Gray Serpents will find rebirth, I think... it must be one that won't disappoint them."
"Yes, I foresaw the Gray Serpents' civil war..."
Civil war among the Gray Serpents?
Ai Yi's words immediately sparked intense curiosity.
What exactly happened between the Gray Serpents?
Uh... maybe they shouldn't have rushed in so fast just now?
Players: ...
...
Fortunately—
Even though many players following the story with the stream rushed ahead, Elysia turned back to check on Gold Serpent's situation.
Letting them pause their own gameplay progress and focus on the livestream.
Elysia controlled the character to return to Gold Serpent's 'corpse.'
She found strange arcs of electricity flickering around his body—pulsing in a very regular rhythm, as if transmitting some kind of signal.
[Use the Herrscher of Thunder's power to read the electrical data?]
[Read Data]
[Leave Now]
You've come this far—how could you possibly "leave now"?
She gently tapped the first option—[Read Data].
Then a line of text appeared:
[No useful data retrieved. Retry?]
You can fail to read it?
Then try again.
And this time, Mei finally extracted some useful information.
The screen flickered momentarily, and a visual sequence began.
Not long ago, in a plain of data, two nearly identical artificial beings stood face to face.
One of them bore the distinctive dull tones of an Imaginary God-Shell—seemingly the very same one who had just collapsed silently before Mei.
At this moment, he was silently facing off against his twin, and for some reason, everyone could sense a strange anger from that expressionless metal mask.
"Heh~~1904."
Standing opposite Gold Serpent was none other than Gray Serpent 1904.
And as for Gray Serpent 1904?
They were actually quite familiar with him—at the very least, they knew such a Gray Serpent existed.
He had once made contact with the first-generation Mistelin and had struck a deal with her. Earlier in the lunar side story, he also connected with Hare and Jackal...
In short, he'd always been shady—just the type to plan something big.
And now...
Had he actually pulled off a major betrayal? Backstabbed Gold Serpent?
As they wondered, Gold Serpent's voice continued:
"If your interference causes my duel with the target to deviate... then I don't mind erasing you here and now."
"There's no duel anymore," 1904 shook his head. "To be precise, if you insist—then there will be only death, and no battle afterward."
[Mei just finished talking to herself, and now the Gray Serpent's talking to himself too. Next, is Kiana going to have a self-dialogue arc too?]
[Wait—could the Queen be up for a revival match?]
[You all have such uniquely odd perspectives. Shouldn't the real question be—why does 1904 sound so confident? What's his trump card?]
[Tying in earlier plotlines, it's almost certainly related to Hare and Jackal.]
For players who had seriously followed Elysia through every moon-based side story, it wasn't hard to guess what was fueling Gray Serpent 1904's confidence.
In fact, within the story, the "assistance" 1904 refers to does indeed include those players guessed.
...
"Of course, I actually don't want to be your enemy."
Gray Serpent 1904's tone shifted: "Quite the opposite—I want to liberate you. Liberate us."
In plain terms—he wanted to teach Gold Serpent how to be human (literally).
"...What do you mean?"
But Gold Serpent, clearly lacking in humanity, didn't understand.
Before he could finish—
The vast data space he was linked to suddenly trembled.
"What did you do?"
"Not me—it was an old acquaintance of ours, the one on the moon..."
"...Jackal? You turned her?"
[Gold Serpent: Woke up and found World Serpent full of traitors.]
[No worries—we still have the Sovereign of World Serpent. The other cadres are small fry anyway (dog head emoji)]
[As long as Kevin takes action, everything will be fine.]
But actually, Jackal wasn't really "turned." Rather, she and 1904 were just a natural fit.
She had been very unhappy with the current Stigmata Project.
Some might ask—wasn't Jackal the one most committed to the Stigmata Project in World Serpent? Why would she be dissatisfied?
Because the version she supported was the first edition of the Stigmata Project.
She was a fanatic for the original plan—and precisely because of that, she harbored deep bias and even disdain for any alternative versions.
So much so—
She was willing to burn her own Stigmata to help other Gray Serpents forge admin credentials in the Gray Serpent Network, enabling them to fight against Gold Serpent.
That was... a Stigma.
Even though in players' hands they seemed common—
Just think of how rare Stigma Awakeners are. In Honkai Impact's world, Stigmata are incredibly precious.
All we can say is—Jackal really is a little unhinged.
[Brutal. Doctor Dog-head!]
[Jackal is truly a wolf—one step beyond even the fiercest people.]
Everyone marveled at Jackal's choice.
By burning her Stigma, it was clear—she had also given up on eternal life.
[This proves: don't bully your workplace programmers with cold violence, or they might really wipe the servers (serious tone)]
[In real life, that'd land you in prison.]
[Come on—prison gives free meals. What's the panic? (dog head emoji)]
[...Why are your corporate metaphors so on point? Is your sarcasm bottomless?]
As they joked around, the story continued.
1904 didn't seek control over the Gray Serpent Network—his aim was destruction.
In the next moment—
The entire Gray Serpent Network began collapsing irreversibly.
Both 1904 and Gold Serpent, within it, were naturally dragged down.
As for what future awaited them—no one would witness it.
.....
"..."
Now understanding the reasons behind Gold Serpent's sudden death,
Mei quietly paused for a moment, then slowly exhaled.
"Let's go."
She turned without hesitation toward the spatial rift glowing pink.
And in her heart, she softly whispered a name.
Elysia...
The screen went dark, but soon lit up again.
And Mei... appeared in another place.
A place no longer unfamiliar to her.
The station labeled Eternity, Destiny, and Hope.
Mei had returned here.
She stood silently—as if paying tribute to a certain existence, and also reorganizing her thoughts.
This deserted station remained eternally tranquil, as though all past expectations and disappointments, schemes and battles... had never happened.
In this place where time had ceased to flow, a mysterious power was quietly budding.
"..."
"You won't say anything else now, huh... Vill-V."
Mei looked down at the compass.
"..."
As expected—no response.
Or rather... no response was needed.
The gift left to her by Elysia and the Flame-Chasers had long since taken root in her heart.
Beautiful things do not vanish entirely.
Now Mei—who shared Elysia's same "faith," who had even experienced something akin to a "return to origin"—had actually synchronized on some frequency with Origin.
Mei was searching for Origin, but what it meant to become Origin didn't actually require meeting that longed-for pink-haired fairy.
The reason she misunderstood that...
Misunderstanding? That's a familiar term, isn't it?
A certain "fraudster" could be considered a habitual offender in this regard.
Back in Elysium, she'd executed a meticulous scheme against the Herrscher of Corruption.
All for delivering a long letter into Elysia's hands—Vill-V had indeed used many tactics...
Ahem—employed a bit of verbal artistry, let's put it that way.
Of course... that too was part of helping Mei.
Remember what Vill-V said when Mei first picked up the compass?
"The principle behind it is hard to explain, but for now, just remember this—"
"If I can create illusions with truth, then I can also pave truth with illusions."
The beacon she left behind couldn't truly guide Mei to Origin, but that illusion would become a road to truth.
As long as Mei chose to believe her—
To believe the beacon would lead her to Origin—
Then a miracle would occur.
As for the principle behind that miracle?
Unimportant... ahem. Anyone who can receive this beacon must already carry the seed of Origin.
Vill-V's role was just to water it a little, fertilize it a little—help it grow.
Similar abilities attract each other. Or rather, due to the special nature of Origin's power, it would guide Mei to her wish fulfilled.
Everything would fall into place.
However, she likely underestimated the signal-jamming capabilities of the now-iterated Version 16 Stigmata Project.
...The courier couldn't find the mailbox.
Which added quite a few twists and turns.
...
Back to the story.
In any case, Mei had, through her own strength, weathered all those added complications.
So, surely there'd be no more surprises now?
Even if there were, Mei wouldn't be afraid—but having her emotions constantly interrupted was unpleasant.
And just then—
In the air—or "ether"—a faint floral scent drifted from an unknown place.
Tulips!
Tulip scent!
Trigger words activated.
Immediately, players recalled many past story moments.
[Elysia's final scene in the short film was standing in a sea of pink tulips, smiling at the camera.]
[Yes—and because of that moment, I'll never forget the flower language of pink tulips: "eternal love."]
[So...!!!]
Players' emotions surged.
And right on cue—came the cry of a ray in the distance.
A phantom ray swam past the end of the corridor, tail swaying—
Its form drenched in magical girl colors—clearly visible to all.
Everything, everything, seemed to imply—
Something good was about to happen.
[The ray!!]
[E! L! Y! S! I! A! Go go go!!]
Eager? No—this mood could no longer be called mere eagerness.
This was one hundred, one thousand times more desperate than "eager."
They practically—no, not practically—they literally had zero hesitation.
They rushed with Mei down the long yet short corridor, into that field of pink romance.
As if reaching the very end of time.
At that moment—
They remembered when Mei had painstakingly restored Elysia's memory module.
Was it going to be like that again?
Would a girl of birds and falling petals, flawless and true, turn around and smile in this dreamlike setting?
And say:
"Hi~♪ Miss me?"
It had to be, right? It would be, right? It must be, right?
...And yet, it wasn't.
What appeared before them—
Was a white door.
Players: ?
Like this story Leave a review ; it would really help me out a lot.
Want to Read Ahead in Advance?
Join my Patreon!
+75 Chapters
Support me in
Patreon.com/BestElysium