The black-haired girl, still in her Herrscher state, stood before the coldly smiling Mobius, whose clothes were torn to shreds: "I assume you wouldn't go back on your word."
"That's not certain." Mobius knew her rhetoric was useless against Mei. "I am the most evil, most wretched, most terrifying Mobius~ Do you think I'm incapable of going back on my word~"
"Lin told me you keep your promises."
"What good is what he said? What is he to me?" Mentioning that name made Mobius grind her teeth in hatred; being schemed against by Lin was still fresh in her mind. "According to our agreement, he's still my pet."
"…I don't know about your relationship, but based on one thing, he is indeed different to you."
Mei pulled out the ultra-concentrated wasabi she always carried. The bottle, which looked like some kind of medicine, evoked a burning phantom pain in one's mouth just by being presented.
"…" Seeing this object appear before her again, Mobius's expression subtly changed.
"You two have repeatedly mentioned Lin's Superevolution Surgery. There are two questionable points about his surgery: one is that you tried to prevent him from having the surgery before the operation, and the other is whether the surgery brought about any side effects to Lin afterward."
"Judging from the data recorded in the Elysian Realm, ninety percent of those who fail the surgery die, and most of the lucky survivors spend the remainder of their short lives in a confused state with physical deformities and sequelae."
Mei pinched the wasabi, her eyes fixed on Mobius: "The first question point has very little data, and the parties involved are unwilling to speak. It is also less relevant to my current question, so I won't pursue the reason. As for the second question point… I think I already know what Lin's post-operative sequelae is."
"…"
"…"
Mobius raised her eyes contemptuously: "Is that all you want to say? What does it prove?"
"It proves that…"
"You can ask me what you want to know right now, but it has nothing to do with that guy." Mobius flipped onto her bizarre machine, revealing her usual slightly malicious smile. "I suddenly find you more interesting than I thought, so I might as well give you little guinea pigs some feed."
"If you had done this earlier, we might have had less trouble." Mei couldn't help but sigh with relief inwardly, seeing Mobius finally cooperating.
However…
She glanced at the wasabi in her hand, her thoughts churning.
Was this what he had predicted all along?
Mei, who had already defined Lin's nature, once again began to speculate about his purpose.
"You better hurry up." Mobius's face showed displeasure. She glanced at her torn clothes several times, her expression clearly telling Mei what a mess she had caused.
Mei didn't waste any words. After organizing the questions she wanted to ask, she began: "Excluding the Thirteen Flame-Chasers and the Visitors, only two people in the Elysian Realm are not part of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers but still exist here. Klein is the maintenance administrator of the Elysian Realm. So, what is the significance of Lin's memory construct to the Elysian Realm and to the Thirteen Flame-Chasers?"
The appearance of "Lin" gave her a faint conjecture.
"Don't you already have the answer in your heart?" Mobius said, "A person who is inextricably linked to the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, a person who participated in more than half of the Herrscher subjugation battles in the Previous Era, a person who has an Ego but is not a Flame-Chaser. If you are confined to his individual person, you will not see the complete picture of him."
"…Could you rephrase that in a more common way?"
Mobius looked at Mei with surprise, an expression so genuine that it made Mei feel somewhat ashamed. After pondering, Mobius rephrased: "Then, have you ever considered why we are the 'Thirteen Flame-Chasers' and not the 'Fourteen Flame-Chasers'?"
"Isn't it because only thirteen MANTIS survived after the tragedy of the Constraint that you formed the special group of Thirteen Flame-Chasers?" Mei frowned and asked, "And since Lin's Superevolution Surgery failed, he naturally wasn't a member of this group."
"Heh heh…" Mobius seemed to enjoy mocking her opponents with vague laughter. "Do you think, besides me, that the others, especially Elysia, would not want Lin to be a member of the Flame-Chasers?"
Mei's eyes widened in surprise at this statement.
Why hadn't she thought of this before?
Although Lin wasn't a MANTIS, he certainly possessed the qualities to become a Flame-Chaser. He also had a MANTIS number. Judging from the reactions of the others towards Lin, most wouldn't be averse to him becoming a Flame-Chaser.
Furthermore, Lin possessed the [Unknown] Ego.
What did this represent?
"But you still haven't answered me, Lin…"
"You are truly troublesome. Do you know why Lin asked you those three questions?" Mobius interrupted Mei impatiently. "His meaning is already clear. None of us will directly answer you anything about Lin. The only one who can answer is himself."
"…" Mei's eyes narrowed. Since it was impossible to pry all the information out of Mobius, and based on the lesson learned from "Lin," Mei cut to the chase: "Then, who do I go to to find out the answers to those three questions?"
Hearing Mei ask the question she most wanted to know, Mobius retracted her impatient expression and stared at Mei with a sinister smile, a cold glare spinning in her eye sockets.
After a moment, Mobius said, "The three questions are: 'Lin's appearance,' 'Lin's age,' and 'Lin's cause of death.' You must have asked a few people, so you should know their reactions to these questions."
"They only agreed to answer 'age' and 'appearance'."
Some wouldn't even discuss his appearance.
"Is that so? Then I, too, will only agree to answer 'age'."
"What do you mean?" Mei glared unhappily at the unflinching Mobius, electricity crackling in her hair. "Are you actually…"
"This is what you wanted to know. Honestly, I'm surprised Lin gave you such simple questions, but seeing you still look bewildered, I'm not entirely surprised."
Mobius's tone was always full of sarcasm and pretense, and this time was no exception.
"Lin has already given you a hint this time. The key to the three questions is not the ones everyone is unwilling to answer, but the ones everyone is willing to answer. The reaction of everyone, including me, is actually the best answer."
"Because Lin didn't ask you what the answers to the three questions were, but who knew the answers."
Mei knitted her brows, pondering Mobius's words.
Not the answers to the questions, but the people who knew the answers…
Wait a minute…
"Then I, too, will only agree to answer 'age'."
Only…
What exactly did this mean?