MGSFV?! Chapter 390. Fifteen Versions—Fifteen! / Ancestral Love
Let's set aside the ever-growing collection of hell jokes from players.
After all, come on—
There's no way the Hyperion would be using... questionable materials.
That was clearly just a joke.
Nowadays, the Hyperion has proper supply channels. No need for any... dubious sources.
Back to the story.
Despite Theresa and Einstein still being unable to pinpoint the exact issue with the Hyperion,
they ultimately decided to play it safe and return to base.
But just then—
An unexpected event occurred.
As Theresa rose from the captain's chair to relay her command to Ai-chan,
a sudden wave of dizziness hit her.
A crushing fatigue struck without warning—
—and she quickly lost consciousness.
[???] *n
Players were confused.
And the screen quickly faded—
Obviously, it was time for a little cliffhanger.
Players: ...
Players: Whatever. At this point, we're kind of used to it.
However—
What appeared next instantly reignited their excitement.
Because two completely unexpected people showed up.
Vil-V and Mobius?!
[Wha-wha-WHAT???]
[Mobius and Vil-V in the interlude??]
[Sudden hype.jpg]
[The science duo! It's been so long!]
[Are they playing Othello? Is this set in the Elysium?]
Elysium?
Not quite.
This was fifty thousand years ago,
Back when Vil-V and Mobius were still alive.
"...Tch."
"I'm done. There's no way to win against you."
Mobius placed her game piece down, visibly annoyed.
"Hmm, is that so?"
Vil-V saw it differently.
"I think... if you really wanted to win, you'd have a thousand ways to do it, Mobius."
"For example—
You could implant a chip in your brain just for winning at Othello."
A very... Vil-V response.
Or rather, instead of suggesting it,
she was probably just stating what she herself would've done to win.
Indeed—
The Magician: Winning games is simply more fun.
Stargazer: Merging machine and biology—is this the future of human evolution? Worth exploring.
Conductor: Let's do it.
Expert: No problem. I'll personally ensure the safety standards.
Palate: Wait—who in their right mind would put something like that in their brain? Be normal.
After a short mental roleplay,
she decided on a new "surprise project."
Everyone knew by now:
Vil-V was absolutely the kind of person who would actually do that.
Mobius thought the same.
She snorted:
"Hmph, that's just the kind of thing you would do, Vil-V."
Vil-V didn't deny it.
"Fair enough."
"But on the other hand...
You really do hate losing, Mobius.
Even though your Stigmata Project has already been scrapped and redone so many times."
"That's not my project,"
Mobius retorted sharply.
"The only reason it stalled is because Mei kept redefining what it meant to 'defeat Honkai.' That's all."
"She loves defining things, don't you think?
Like that one report with the five parallel truths—
I seriously doubt anyone in the audience understood what she was talking about."
Her speech could be summed up as:
It looked like a public lecture,
but really it was Mei v2v Mobius in a private chat in front of everyone...
They were just not on the same channel.
"What matters is—you understood it."
The voice wasn't Vil-V.
It came from a third person.
Elysia, who had been watching intently, blinked in surprise.
Wait—
Is this where the girlfriend shows up~?
In-game, Mobius hadn't noticed the newcomer yet.
She was still busy mocking the way everyone at the "full project report meeting" had reacted—
Like they were hearing gibberish.
Using phrases like
"like trying to understand calculus with elementary math" and the like...
Even Elysia was tempted to jot those metaphors down.
"Why insist on defining Honkai?
Why not treat it as a primal concept, and define humanity instead?"
Mobius finished venting—
And finally sensed something was off.
She froze.
"...Huh? Vil-V, that wasn't you just now?"
"Pfft~~"
The scheming illusionist shrugged silently, gesturing behind Mobius.
Mobius frowned and turned around.
The camera shifted—
Zooming in slowly.
Until Mei's image was centered on the screen.
[Mei?]
["Mei" speaks.]
[Okay but seriously, Mei's model is gorgeous.]
[I wouldn't mind if Dr. Mei joined the Hyperion.]
[She's a non-combatant though.]
[Just make her summon Kevin like Griseo's knight—control both Mei and Kevin, double the fandom power.]
Players were already spinning off into wild headcanons.
"Right? Right?"
Elysia agreed wholeheartedly.
She nodded over and over.
"Kevin, Mei is so pretty~"
"?"
Mei—guest-starring in the stream—looked visibly conflicted.
Elysia's comment sounded... strange.
Was it just her imagination?
She couldn't figure it out,
so she said nothing.
Meanwhile, Elysia moved the story along.
She was really curious what would happen next.
After all—
Mei, Mobius, and Vil-V had never appeared together in a scene before.
——
Mei stepped up to Mobius.
"I'm not asking Elvin and the others to understand things like mathematical functions.
Even someone like Su needs time to grasp unfamiliar fields."
[So Su's really that strong? Mei speaks highly of him.]
[Mobius once said if Su abandoned morality, he could surpass her.]
[Don't underestimate the Awakened.]
Vil-V waved:
"Hi, good evening, Dr. Mei."
"Good evening, Conductor."
Mei sniffed the air.
"This smell...
You two had instant noodles for dinner again?"
Mobius shot back:
"Hmph. What, no one in your house likes instant noodles?"
[HAHAHAHA, "your house," so sweet. So sweet.]
[Kevin does love instant noodles.]
[Mobius really knows how to land a punchline.]
[Kevin: Will this joke ever end.]
[Wait—Mobius and Kevin were that close?]
[If you didn't read the manga or Legacy, Kevin and Mei are canonically a couple.]
(Note: In this world, not all manga content is presented as manga.)
Mei's reply was sharp yet subtle:
"He does, but he promised me he wouldn't eat it when there are better options."
Slam dunk.
Mobius scowled:
"...Tch. Quit showing off."
Those few lines—
The more players chewed on them, the more they smiled.
Even Elysia gave high praise.
"Mei's so elegant. I love her~"
"...Elysia, is there anyone you don't love?"
"Hmm..."
Elysia thought seriously, then replied with pride:
"Nope!"
Mei: "..."
She knew she shouldn't have asked.
——
Back to the story.
"You're here for the fifteenth version of the plan, right?
I just uploaded it—go check it yourself."
Mobius eyed Mei's weird aura and tried to shoo her off.
But Mei didn't move.
A tense silence fell.
"Forget it. Arguing is a waste of time."
Mobius' voice turned sour.
"Since you're both here—
Let's talk.
About this damn Stigmata Project, now on its fifteenth iteration."
"Seriously, Mei.
You owe us an explanation.
What are you really trying to achieve with this plan?"
"...So that's it," Mei murmured.
"You believe I have an unusual obsession with this plan."
Mobius practically shouted:
"Damn right I do!
You've made me revise it fifteen times!
Fifteen!!"
Her anger was understandable.
Anyone forced to redo a proposal fifteen times would be livid.
If the client then said,
"I actually prefer the first version,"
it would be instant war.
[The wrath of a contractor.]
[Flashbacks to bad memories.]
["The Herrscher of Domination: Rainbow Black.jpg"]
[Mobius has more patience than I expected. If it were my colleague, the client would be met with complete radio silence.]
[What's 'radio silence'?]
[*****. Just like that.]
Still—
Mei didn't seem fazed by Mobius' complaints.
"It's the most viable solution.
It deserves serious consideration.
The more entry points we leave for the future, the better."
[So... which version is Kevin implementing right now?]
[Maybe all 15 versions are viable depending on the situation? Kevin doesn't have to commit to just one.]
[That means Kevin has to memorize all 15, right?]
[Now I'm imagining Mei forcing Kevin to memorize them word for word...]
[Poor ancestor. Fifteen full plans—each probably hundreds of thousands of words... (Saving the world is no easy task.jpg)]
Mobius wasn't convinced.
"Is that really true?
That beloved Flame-Chaser Project of yours doesn't even have a single page of documentation."
Mei remained calm:
"You know its nature.
It requires a different kind of execution."
One page vs. 15 full iterations?
It was barely more than a "New Folder." Just barely.
[No wonder the Flame-Chaser Plan failed so quickly with such minimal prep.]
[If the one Mei mentioned was the one Hua carried out—
Sorry, but its execution wasn't special at all.
Even I can think of five better ways to do it.]
The stream's chat shifted from meme spam to actual analysis.
Elysia read along while pushing the story forward.
She didn't seem lost at all.
In-game—
Mobius still didn't buy Mei's reasoning.
"Maybe so.
But the contrast is so stark—
How could anyone not suspect you treat all the other plans as mere decoration for the Stigmata Plan?"
Vil-V interjected, "Hmm, there's one thing I've never understood."
"Even if things are as you say...
Wasn't the Stigmata Plan originally proposed by you, Mobius?"
Mobius:
"I never expected anyone to treat it as the only hope."
[Mobius: I never thought someone would make me rewrite it 15 times.]
[That's what she really meant.]
Even so—
Despite the jokes,
The mood in-game was deadly serious.
Because—
Mei, in her calmest voice and gentlest tone,
said something that made everyone uneasy.
"Dr. Mobius...
Humanity is merely the foundation upon which civilization is born."
"Surely you wouldn't deny—
At its core, humankind is nothing more than a slightly intelligent survival machine,
fundamentally no different from plants, animals, or microbes."
...
[Wow. Turns out Mei is the most morally gray of the three.]
[These three together probably can't form a single moral compass.]
[To say "humanity is just a tool for civilization" so calmly... Mei's kind of terrifying.]
[Is this... mechanical materialism?]
[Mechanical materialism? Who here actually understands that??]
[This chat has some real intellectuals.jpg]
[Feeling out of place with the big brains.jpg]
The debate didn't last long,
but Vil-V helpfully stepped in to "translate" the two geniuses.
If you didn't understand them—
Just say:
Thank you, Vil-V.
Thanks to her help—
Players understood at least this:
Mei believed that as long as civilization survived, humanity itself didn't matter.
Mobius believed the opposite:
Humanity must come first.
Players: ...
Mei's worldview was even colder than they'd imagined.
As they wrestled with those emotions,
the scene faded again.
——
The next cutscene began—
Now featuring Theresa and... Himeko?!
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