Players were laughing at the antics of the plot while roasting it in their hearts.

In the game.

Mobius, who actually understood each of the Flame-Chasers very well, would never believe Su would say something like that.

"You really can't lie, little white mouse. Don't bother me unless it's necessary. I'm not like the rest of you."

Seeing this, Mei had no choice but to explain her earlier experience in the Archives.

Especially that entire room full of "Elysia is dead."

Mobius listened, her usual sarcastic tone returning—yet her voice couldn't hide a touch of displeasure and faint sorrow.

"Hmph. This was all a waste of time to begin with. Is Su still here? Let him listen carefully—"

"You're all just regretting it now, aren't you? If you'd done what I said earlier instead of obstructing me again and again… things never would've turned out like this."

"That woman… she got herself killed. Otherwise, I could've had all of you basking in the sun back in the real world long ago."

Only then did the players have an epiphany.

So Mobius's consciousness-transfer experiments… were just her way of bringing everyone back to reality so they could "bask in the sun" together?

That's…

[I feel like Mobius is the least likely one to backstab Elysia.]

[Snake-sis' mouth… is officially the hardest thing in the Elysian Realm. She's seriously that stubborn.]

[Actually… what if Mobius's plan had succeeded? When Kevin meets "Kevin," or Fu Hua meets "Hua," what kind of conversation would they have?]

["Noodles with egg?" "Let's go."]

[Concise and clean—whoever said that is a genius.]

...

"Mobius, what do you think?" Elysia suddenly asked softly.

"Hmph, just some in-game lines. What's there to think about?" Mobius scoffed. Google seaʀᴄh novęlfire.net

"Oh~~"

"What's with the 'oh'?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Elysia continued tapping the screen.

In the game, Mobius launched into a sarcastic tirade about how the Flame-Chasers not only refused to support her plan, they actively sabotaged it behind her back—

Which was why she ended up in this almost irreversible situation.

Then, with a look of someone preparing for something big, she turned and left.

Mei sighed, "No progress at all…"

Su: "The situation was sudden and unprecedented."

Su: Even… mutual concealment...

He didn't say the last part out loud.

Mei gave it serious thought, then finally made up her mind to return to reality and seek help.

She bid Su farewell and stepped into the corridor back to reality.

Her figure vanished into the persistent darkness of the corridor, waiting for light to rise again.

Residual effects from the psychic-type MANTIS lingered in her consciousness, causing fragments of unrelated memories to surface.

She remembered a line her father used to read to her in childhood—from an unknown source—

'Those we love will one day return, back to a new world. On that righteous and glorious morning, we must take good care of them.'

The sudden flashback stirred speculation among viewers.

[Is this a hint? A foreshadowing?]

[Those we love? A new world? Are you saying… maybe Elysia will resurrect in reality as the Thirteenth Herrscher?]

[And then, we the players, say Mei, will personally have to kill her? The final boss fight designed that way?]

[??? Bro, you're even more savage than the writers.]

Some players were deep in theory-crafting, while others took it in a... much darker direction.

[Honestly, I feel like the twisted one might actually be right.]

[You're not alone, man.]

As ridiculous as their theories were, the players weren't entirely wrong—they did guess part of it.

Before they could discuss further—

They were distracted by a new twist in the game.

Mei reached the end of the corridor but found she hadn't returned to reality.

Instead, she arrived at a trial zone in the Elysian Realm.

Then, wave after wave of Honkai beasts began attacking Mei.

Attempts to return to the Realm's hall or log out and return to reality all failed.

Controlling the character, Elysia gradually realized something.

"Mei can't log out of the Elysian Realm? She's trapped in here for good?"

[So this is basically like Mei's logout button got yanked off?]

[She's trapped inside the game? Creepy.]

[Honestly, this could be a novel setup… let's call it…]

[It's just the Snowstorm Manor trope—murder mystery in an isolated space…]

...

Elysia controlled the character to finish another wave.

But the battle was far from over.

No matter how many Honkai beasts she defeated, more kept appearing.

Eventually, the endless onslaught exhausted Mei.

"Damn it, Elysia is missing, I can't contact anyone outside… if I die now…"

Her body felt unnaturally heavy.

Her consciousness blurred.

"No… not yet…"

Mei forced herself to hold on, but a wave of dizziness surged.

"That's… the thing from before…"

Before losing consciousness, she saw a familiar monster enter her field of vision.

"Why…"

She fainted with that final question.

[Hang in there, Mei!!]

[They're not gonna kill off Mei, right?!]

[Mei——!!]

Though it wasn't her first time being knocked out in the Realm, or fainting in it.

This time clearly felt different.

Something malicious was nearby.

This world didn't give Mei a post-Honkai "get-out-of-death-free" card.

Naturally, players were worried.

Unlike the nervous players, those who knew how long the story still had to go—like Elysia—weren't panicking.

They cared more about...

"Isn't this the monster Mei and Felis chased before? The Faded Monster?"

Elysia remembered it well. She even joked then about turning it into a real "Faded Miss Fairy."

"That's definitely the one..."

Pardofelis agreed, then added, "Also, Elysia, did you notice? Its eyes look a lot like the interface from that anonymous chatroom."

"Really? I didn't notice."

Elysia blinked. "But Felis, I'm surprised you remember what the anonymous chatroom looked like."

"Mm, probably because I've been checking it a lot lately?" Pardofelis said after some thought.

"Eh??" Elysia was puzzled.

"You didn't know?" Pardofelis was surprised. "If you type that chatroom's site address into a browser... you'll actually open a real anonymous chatroom."

"For real?"

Elysia was genuinely amazed.

"Mm… if it's MiHoYo, adding that kind of detail isn't surprising."

But then again, if it was MiHoYo, it'd be perfectly normal to go that far.

She got the link from Pardofelis and opened it in her browser.

There, she found not only the chat content shown in the plot—but a lot more that hadn't appeared yet.

A bunch of anonymous users were posting all kinds of comments.

Elysia read through it carefully from beginning to end.

"The users in this chatroom are supposedly the Flame-Chasers… but it doesn't feel like them."

She guessed, then quickly refuted herself.

"You're that sure?" Mobius suddenly chimed in.

"Of course~~ I've memorized everyone well~~ If you don't believe me, Mobius, I can prove it..."

"...Don't bother."

"Aww, I still wanted to say… like how Mobius usually talks like there's always something left even if the Realm disappears."

Elysia said, somewhat regretfully.

"Elysia, you still don't know how to use proper metaphors," Mobius gritted out each word.

"Do I?"

"..."

Mobius didn't reply—clearly not willing to continue the conversation.

Seeing that, Elysia didn't press on. They were still live, after all.

She tapped the screen and resumed progressing through the story.

Mei had collapsed in the Elysian Realm after a fierce battle. But Su sensed she had already left.

At the same time—

Kevin arrived at the deepest depths.

The game switched to player perspective.

To Elysia's surprise—she could now control Kevin.

Up ahead, a few different types of imaginary specters appeared.

But before she could even think of attacking—

Kevin casually strolled forward with his usual god-tier composure.

Ice spread in silence across the enemies, freezing them where they stood.

It was as if his sheer presence alone had crushed them before he even exerted effort.

Once again, Kevin's invincible strength came across clearly.

With Kevin—this pillar of power—around, the situation might seem dire, but it also felt like…

"Doesn't matter, the ancestor will step in."

Let alone when Kevin reached Aponia—

In response to her question: "Those [creations]… they didn't even slow you down?"

He calmly replied: "Because they dared not look at me, whether I live or die."

What confidence.

Perhaps… this is the might of Flame-Chaser Number One.

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