Listening to Pardo's words, the smile that always graced Elysia's face was replaced by a look of almost solidified astonishment.
Her pink eyes widened slightly, locking tightly onto the petite and quiet figure in Pardo's arms, as if confirming that this was not a cruel dream.
"...Rin?"
This time, her voice was very soft, carrying a cautiousness as if she were afraid of disturbing something.
That name, for every Flame-Chaser present, represented an indelible pain and regret.
"Did the Doctor and the others' plan succeed?" Elysia watched them. She knew that Mobius and Vill-V had turned Rin's Core into a Black Box, but they hadn't completed the final design.
From a utilitarian perspective, the Key of Corruption provided no obvious enhancement to their combat capabilities. From an emotional perspective, the matter of Rin, and the events that followed, left them all harboring guilt toward both Sakura and Rin.
Since the Key of Corruption didn't significantly boost their fighting power, they preserved the Black Box and saved Rin's consciousness within it.
Furthermore, they set a condition for the Black Box: if it detected that the subjective will of Rin's consciousness leaned toward humanity, it would release Rin.
As for how probable that was... perhaps at that time, such a setting was merely to leave a glimmer of hope.
"It was Sister Irene who helped Rin." Pardo held the now-tiny Rin with one hand and pointed to Irene with the other. "If not for Sister Irene, there would have been no way to save Rin."
"Mm, I see." Elysia nodded, a bright smile returning to her face. "Wait a moment, let me call everyone over first."
Elysia turned to look at Klein. "Klein, could you make a trip? Call everyone over, okay? Mm, including Kalpas and Aponia."
"Okay, I understand." Klein nodded, then hugged her tablet, turned around, and disappeared into the teleportation gate.
After giving instructions to Klein, Elysia turned back to Irene. "Mm, Miss Irene, can you tell me first what exactly happened back then?"
"I'm really so curious, so curious."
"Of course, this was one of my purposes for coming here." Irene nodded. Just as she was about to speak, the teleportation gate suddenly erupted with a massive amount of light.
A swift shadow, moving fast enough to almost tear through space, flashed out from the gate!
Subsequently, a figure appeared in front of Pardo, snatching Rin into her arms with a gesture that bordered on robbery yet was incomparably gentle.
Sakura's usually calm face was now filled with disbelief, excitement, and the cautiousness of someone who had regained a lost treasure. Her slightly trembling fingers gently brushed over Rin's cheek, as if confirming this wasn't another torturous dream.
Her usually cool voice now carried a sob that was almost imperceptible, softly calling out the name etched into her soul:
"Rin..."
Merely a name, yet it seemed to carry fifty thousand years of longing and regret. Because of the nature of the consciousness upload synchronization, the Sakura within the Realm did not know how she and Rin had ultimately died.
Just then, the teleportation gate fluctuated again. Figures appeared one after another: Kevin, Eden, Su, Kalpas, and Mobius all arrived on the scene.
When they saw the familiar yet strange petite figure in Sakura's arms, the entire hall fell into a singular silence. Even the explosive Kalpas calmed down, a rare occurrence for him at this moment.
"It seems we need an explanation, Elysia." Kevin's voice was as gentle as possible; even he didn't want to disturb the reunion of Sakura and Rin right now.
Kalpas, meanwhile, looked around. After confirming that a certain someone wasn't among those who had arrived, he let out a cold snort. "Hmph! Did that fellow Aponia not even dare to come? At least she has some self-awareness."
The light and shadow in the teleportation gate flickered again. Kosma walked out holding Griseo's hand. Just as Griseo wanted to say something, she saw Rin being embraced.
Klein also jumped out of the teleportation gate and looked at Elysia. "Aponia didn't let me in."
"Hmph! She didn't dare to come because of her guilt." Kalpas crossed his arms, clearly disdainful of Aponia's refusal to appear. "That woman simply has no face to face Rin."
Griseo turned to look at Kosma beside her. Kosma shook his head at Griseo. "It's better if we don't speak for now."
Although he also wanted to say something, the current atmosphere really wasn't suitable. The sisters were reuniting. Although Rin's condition didn't look great, it was better for them not to disturb the mood.
Throughout the entire Realm, except for Sakura, everyone knew what had happened back then. It was just out of consideration for her that no one had told Sakura.
Sakura herself hadn't asked them, so they knew just how precious and rare this meeting between the sisters was.
"Oh my, it looks like everyone is here~" Elysia clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention, then smiled and looked at Irene.
"Then, could we trouble our beautiful and cute Miss Irene to reveal the answer for everyone? We are all very curious how this scene, which can be called a 'miracle', actually happened."
Instantly, the gazes of all the Flame-Chasers focused on Irene. Irene took a deep breath and began speaking, starting from how Theresa obtained Yae Sakura's Stigmata due to special reasons.
However, she only skimmed over this part quickly, fast-forwarding to using technological means to enter the Stigmata Space to figure out a way to save Theresa and resolve the Herrscher of Corruption.
After finishing the preamble, Irene glossed over the battles on the way, recounting how they encountered Higokumaru and some of Higokumaru's words. Finally, she spoke of being thrown into the dark side of the Stigmata and meeting Rin there.
"...Finally, in order to completely eliminate the 'Herrscher personality Higokumaru' born from negative emotions, Rin chose... to use all her own power to fight Corruption with Corruption, performing a self-formatting. She perished together with Higokumaru's consciousness within the Core, and the Herrscher Core was reset as a result."
One could hear a pin drop in the hall. Sakura unconsciously tightened her grip on Rin, her eyes filled with heartache.
"Wait, Little White..." Mobius suddenly spoke up, but before she could finish her habitual address, she felt a burning gaze from behind her.
"Tsk... Irene, right?" Mobius looked at Irene. "According to what you said, if the Corruption virus and the Corruption virus eroded and countered each other, the final result should be both returning to zero. Neither side would have the final say."
"Then what is going on with that Rin over there?"
Mobius had researched the Corruption virus. Of course, she had conducted experiments—she had done plenty of 'corruption on corruption' research—but the final result was always that neither side won; both would be cleared.
So what was the deal with Rin?
"Mm, correct. Rin's consciousness should have also completely dissipated in that collision." Irene looked at Mobius and nodded. "But before that happened, I captured and preserved a bit of Rin's final 'Source'."
"And I brought Rin into my own mental world to prevent her from being assimilated by the Core. The final result is what you see now."
Irene pointed to Rin, who was sleeping in Sakura's arms, and continued to explain, "Because the Core is still in a formatting state, Rin has no way to receive support directly from the Core."
"Even though I have been using my ability to accelerate the process simultaneously, the recovery speed is still unsatisfactory. Even though Rin's soul is complete now, there is actually too little virus, so aside from being unable to wake up, her physical form is also relatively small."
"It doesn't matter. I will take care of her." Sakura held Rin and bowed solemnly toward Irene. For nothing else, just the fact that she saved her sister, this bow was owed.
As for needing a lot of time to recover, that didn't matter. She had waited for fifty thousand years. As long as Rin truly had a chance to wake up, Sakura was willing to wait another fifty thousand years.
Sakura hugged Rin tightly. She failed to protect Rin fifty thousand years ago; she failed to fulfill her duty as an elder sister. So now, no matter what happened, she would definitely protect her sister.
This was her duty as an elder sister.
"You don't need to be so pessimistic. Actually, I met Mr. Su before coming here." Irene looked at Sakura and smiled. "Mr. Su had no way to help Rin because Rin's symptoms are not something a psychic-type MANTIS can solve."
"However, Mr. Su still gave me some guidance. He told me that after coming to the Realm..."
Irene's gaze turned toward Mobius, who was leaning on her floating chair.
"Dr. Mobius might have a way to help Rin."
Swish—!
Almost the instant Irene's voice fell, the gazes of everyone present shot toward Mobius in unison.
Being stared at by so many people in an instant, even the corners of Mobius's mouth couldn't help but twitch. "What a difficult job. It's not like the Corruption virus and the virus are the same thing."
"Mobius—!" Kalpas's voice, suppressing his rage, was like the rumble before a volcanic eruption. He suddenly stepped forward, his scorching aura seemingly raising the temperature of the hall by several degrees.
"Don't change the subject! If that blind man said you have a way, then there must be a reason. And seeing how well you understood it just now, do you dare say you know nothing?!"
Kalpas had a violent temper, but that didn't mean Kalpas had a bad brain. He had heard the doubt Mobius raised just moments ago. If Mobius didn't understand the Corruption virus, she wouldn't have raised such a question.
Original silent and standing to the side, Kevin also looked at Mobius. "Dr. Mobius, Su wouldn't shoot without a target. If you have a way..."
"Alright, alright, Kevin, Kalpas, don't be so aggressive." Elysia clapped her hands, then looked at Mobius with a trusting gaze. "After all, Professor Mobius didn't say she wouldn't help Rin, right?"
"Kalpas, Kevin, this is my own affair." Sakura's voice remained cool but carried an unquestionable firmness. She held Rin, but her gaze was locked tightly on Mobius.
"Doctor, please... help Rin."
Under everyone's gaze, Mobius sighed lightly. Her snake-like pupils swept over the comatose Rin in Sakura's arms, and the corners of her mouth curled into an elusive arc.
"Heh... Su really knows how to cause trouble for me." Mobius sneered softly. "However... I indeed have a way. If Rin's state is due to a lack of Corruption virus, then just replenishing her with Corruption virus will do."
"It just so happens that I do have some Corruption virus left behind by the Rin of the past on hand."
She floated in front of Sakura and extended a slender finger, seeming to want to touch Rin, but stopped at Sakura's subconscious movement to turn her body slightly in protection.
Mobius didn't mind Sakura's action. "However, after all, those are Corruption viruses left behind by the former Rin. Although they are copies, I am not clear if there will be any other dangers."
She had used those viruses to perform corruption surgery on Hua and herself, but those viruses were taken from the Black Box after all. Whether those viruses contained Rin's resentment or even a Herrscher personality... she hadn't researched that at the time.
"It doesn't matter. I will conduct the research together with the Doctor." Sakura looked at Mobius. "If there is anything you need me to do, you can say it. I only hope Rin can get better quickly."
"Hmph, suit yourself." Mobius gave a light snort, then sat back on her floating chair and floated toward the teleportation gate. Just as she was about to step into the gate, she suddenly turned her head to look at Nuwa and Fuxi, who were hiding behind the crowd.
"What are you two doing hiding there? Come over quickly. There's a pile of work waiting for you to do later, you know?"
Singled out by Mobius, Nuwa and Fuxi walked out from behind the crowd. A slightly awkward smile was on Nuwa's face. "Um, Doctor, we haven't engaged in research work for a long time. Our hands are rusty; we might not be of much help."
"Surely you haven't lost your basic skills, have you?" The smile remained on Mobius's face. "You just need to do some basic work."
"After all, to resolve Rin's matter, I have to clear out some time to conduct research. As for the other experiments... can you not even record data now?"
"Uh, if it's just recording data." Nuwa scratched her head, her face still showing some difficulty. In those years in the primitive tribe, she had only focused on teaching people basic knowledge.
The only relatively serious research work at that time might have been the period when they were making the Book of Fuxi.
She wondered if they could even understand the experimental data displays now?
Fuxi, on the other hand, sighed as if resigning herself to fate. She had known long ago that after coming to the Realm, Dr. Mobius definitely wouldn't let the two of them off.
As for escaping? Dr. Mobius would always find a time to catch them. It was better to just accept their fate now, while Dr. Mobius only needed them to record experimental data.
Obediently accepting it might actually be a bit easier. Besides, Klein should also help out a bit; surely they wouldn't have to face a mountain of documents right from the start.
"Sigh..." Nuwa sighed, also understanding that accepting it now was the best outcome, and walked out of the crowd with her older sister to stand beside Mobius.
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