"That should be Felis's shop up ahead…"
After eliminating the last Honkai Beast, Mei looked at the illuminated anchor point and muttered with a frown.
It had been quite some time since she had naturally searched for clues in the Elysian Realm. She was constantly constrained by the issue of Lin, feeling as if he had planned every step she should take. Only with his permission could she continue to uncover the truth, and if he disallowed it, no one would divulge any information to her.
This gave Mei an incredible headache. Her fundamental reason for coming to the Elysian Realm was to seek the truth about Honkai and Herrschers. But here, perhaps due to some rule, visitors were required to play detective and participate in guessing games with them.
Fortunately, Pardo's presence was somewhat comforting to Mei. This cat-girl, who was the same age as Fu Hua but called her "Sister Mei," was completely different from the other Flame-Chasers, save for her tendency to cause a bit of trouble. She allowed Mei to feel a brief sense of relaxation.
After stepping into the anchor point, Mei saw Pardo's shop in the distance, but the person standing next to the shop made her expression change drastically.
Lin, whom she had rarely interacted with face-to-face since the last incident, was standing still like a pine tree, looking as if he had been anticipating and waiting for her for a long time.
Based on Mei's understanding of Lin, any seemingly normal behavior from him, much like Elysia's smile, meant that something significant was likely about to happen.
But having already entered, Mei had no choice but to steel herself and walk over with a grim expression.
"...You've arrived."
"Another riddle for me to guess?" Having gone through it so many times, Mei felt numb. Her countless exhaustive attempts at caution failed to fend off the Flame-Chasers, and the answers she sought through numerous probes were treated as mere solutions to a game to amuse her. She no longer expected Lin to say anything useful this time.
"I'm here to answer your question."
"Oh… huh?"
Mei was initially indifferent, but then she was startled by Lin's words.
"One."
This meant that Lin would only answer one question.
But this still made Mei feel quite good. It wasn't hard for her to recall her recent actions and figure out why Lin would appear here.
"Is it because I've already found part of the solution to the riddle?"
Lin neither confirmed nor denied it.
Lin was both giving her encouragement to continue exploring and affirming her partial results.
"I will only answer 'one' question, so think carefully about what exactly you want to ask."
Mei fell into contemplation again after hearing this.
Undoubtedly, the question Mei most wanted to know was what "Honkai" truly was. It was the deepest and biggest crisis of these two civilizations and the reason Mei entered the Elysian Realm.
But Lin's usual word games made her hesitate. What if Lin didn't know what Honkai was? What if that answer only existed within the Thirteen Flame-Chasers or the depths of the Elysian Realm? Lin had emphasized that he was "answering," not "providing the answer," and saying "I don't know" also counted as an answer.
The AI "Lin" was the best example. If asked a question that Lin deemed inappropriate for the current moment, he would definitely evade it.
Therefore, the question had to be one that could touch upon a part of the truth, yet wouldn't cross Lin's bottom line, and one whose answer he would definitely know.
The truth of the Elysian Realm, the traitor, "Lin," the Ashes Plan... several options flashed through her mind.
After pondering for a few minutes, Mei tapped her arm guard and asked respectfully: "What is the significance of your existence to the Elysian Realm?"
Not the Elysian Realm itself, nor Lin himself, but the relationship between the two.
She had asked others this question, and the answers were always ambiguous. It seemed to them that Lin was no different from them, but Mei always believed that Lin was the most special existence in the Elysian Realm, even more mysterious than Elysia.
Because his mere presence here was inherently contradictory.
Then there was only one possibility: the existence of Lin's Memory Clone was vital to the Elysian Realm.
However, after Mei felt she had asked a great question, Lin still didn't show any reaction. It seemed that... he had guessed she would ask this.
"If the Elysian Realm is viewed as a massive archive, then the most valuable data within it are the Memory Clones of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers." Lin's tone was slow and steady. His voice, coming from behind the helmet, spoke softly: "The maintainer is Klein, who is the only non-Memory Clone besides the visitor."
"Both the Signets and the Flame-Chaser Memory Clones hold immeasurable value for outsiders, but to the Flame-Chasers themselves, a Memory Clone is merely a projection storing memories. As long as they exist, the Memory Clones hold no further significance."
"The Fire Moth, on the other hand, considered the spontaneous creation of thirteen of humanity's strongest warriors, free from their control—even if they were Memory Clones—to be a significant hidden danger."
"The differing views on the Memory Clones between the two sides led to a dispute between the Fire Moth and the Flame-Chasers at the time. Of course, the center of the dispute was not actually the Realm itself... However, after Elysia negotiated with the Fire Moth, allowing a soldier who was not a Flame-Chaser to also store their memory in the Elysian Realm became the Flame-Chasers' 'compromise'."
Mei understood Lin's words. She said in astonishment: "So your Memory Clone was placed by the Fire Moth into the Elysian Realm to monitor the Thirteen Flame-Chasers?"
This truth was truly a shock to Mei.
All the Flame-Chasers she had met, even the most temperamental Kalpas, were exceptionally close to Lin. Others showed respect or understanding. So, she naturally assumed that Lin's bond with the Thirteen Flame-Chasers was the main reason for his existence in the Elysian Realm.
But now, was the reality far from her imagination? Was Lin the monitor? And also the administrator?
"But the Previous Era has already perished. Shouldn't you have been freed from your surveillance mission?"
"Yes, but that mission was only one of my duties. You have already seen that door, haven't you?"
"The door containing your 'confused memories'?"
"Precisely. That is a simulation of the Elysian Realm. You can even consider it to be a miniature, incomplete Elysian Realm, where all people and objects are created through memory." Lin said heavily. "At the same time, there is another 'Lin,' the one you call the 'A.I.' Memory, body, and consciousness—this is the complete existence of 'Lin' in the Elysian Realm."
"Only when the necessary moment arrives will we recombine to complete the Ashes Plan."
"...So, what is the necessary moment?" Mei asked impatiently.
Lin glanced at her faintly: "You have already asked one question."
"…"