Mobius slowly turned around, her gaze locking onto Kevin, the corners of her lips curving into a meaningful smile.
"Kevin Kaslana, MANTIS of Fire Moth, bearer of Signet of Deliverance. Am I correct?"
Kevin's expression did not change. His voice was as cold and hard as ice. "What are you trying to say?"
"Don't be so tense. I'm just confirming." Mobius spoke lightly, a trace of teasing hidden in her tone. "After all, some parallel worlds are like unofficial histories—anything bizarre can happen."
She looked him up and down, her eyes appraising him as though evaluating an object. "But judging by that icy demeanor of yours, this should be a world not much different from the 'predestined timeline.' How... pitiful."
Su's brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of doubt rising in his heart. There was something beneath Mobius' words.
Kevin's gaze grew colder still, and the air pressure around him seemed to drop. "My affairs are not yours to comment on."
"I have no interest in evaluating a savior who is destined to fail." Mobius' tone was calm, yet every word struck like a blade.
"My, my, Mobius, your tongue is as sharp as ever," Elysia sighed helplessly.
Kevin's expression darkened completely, frost almost condensing in the air around him. "Mobius, what exactly do you want?"
"How about making a deal with me?" Mobius walked toward him slowly, the depths of her serpentine eyes gleaming with a seductive light.
"A deal?" Kevin frowned, vigilance rising within him. "Let's hear it."
"I can preserve your current memories and send you back fifty thousand years, giving you another chance to save humanity." She deliberately emphasized her next words. "Take note—not a parallel world."
The moment those words fell, Su's expression shifted subtly. She could even accomplish something like that?
Elysia looked somewhat surprised as well. "Honestly, Mobius, if that had come from my Mom, I might believe it. But coming from you..."
Mobius shot her a glance before explaining, "Sending an entire person back to the past is indeed beyond me right now. But if it's only consciousness and memories, that is still possible."
Kevin's heart jolted. Return to the past... If it were truly possible, he might be able to change many things. But why would she help him? There had to be a catch.
He crossed his arms, his gaze sharp as an eagle's. "What's the price?"
Mobius tapped her chin lightly, her smile enigmatic. "As for the price... once you succeed, I'll naturally tell you."
Watching Kevin lower his head in contemplation, Su understood. He was tempted.
But based on Su's understanding of Mobius—even one from another world—he could be certain this was a massive trap.
Setting aside the potential catastrophe that forcibly interfering with time might bring, from this conversation alone Su had already keenly sensed that Kevin would likely only repeat the same mistakes.
"Dr. Mobius, may I ask you three questions?" Su stepped forward and spoke.
"Go ahead." Mobius looked at him with interest, a finger idly twirling a strand of hair.
"First question. You said earlier that Kevin is a 'savior destined to fail.' What is that based on?"
"That?" Mobius replied casually. "Very simple. Because I have never seen him successfully save the world."
"Second question. If Kevin truly succeeds in changing the past, what will happen to this current Honkai world?"
"The world may correct itself. As for what exactly would happen, I do not know either."
"Third question." Su's gaze grew serious. "From the very beginning, did you already believe Kevin could not succeed? Or rather, even if humanity of our era overcame the Honkai, would we still ultimately walk toward destruction?"
"Hey, that is two questions," Mobius raised a brow.
"Then please answer the first."
"He might succeed. The probability is not zero, after all." Mobius' tone carried a hint of perfunctory indifference.
"When you say 'not zero probability,' are you referring to the possible emergence of a variable?" Su pressed.
Mobius fell silent.
Kevin instantly understood—Mobius' words could not be trusted.
This was practically the consensus among everyone in Fire Moth.
If a salvation destined to fail was attempted again, would it truly become better? This was nothing but a complete fraud!
She simply wanted to use him as an experiment!
At that moment, the previously silent Melin spoke, her voice calm. "For our world, the Honkai is both a disaster and a form of protection. Without the Cocoon of Finality, the solar system would be directly exposed to the universe and discovered by those 'Aeons.'"
She paused before continuing, "I do not believe that the humans of your Previous Era could, within a limited time, invent technology capable of traversing multiple universes to avoid the immense calamities that come from the cosmos."
Melin understood well the importance of the inter-universal navigation and webway construction technologies mastered by Will of Ruler and the Finality Empire.
But according to the analyses of the scientists under her command, even if the complete technical data were placed before them, it would still take thousands of years to fully comprehend.
Not to mention developing it independently.
The Finality Empire and Will of Ruler had been able to master it so swiftly most likely because they themselves were Final Herrschers, not only controlling the authorities of all Herrschers but also possessing intelligence far beyond humanity, capable of directly analyzing the laws of the universe and then creating whatever they desired through their authority.
After integrating intelligence from across the Finality Empire, Melin had confirmed that this claim was highly likely to be true.
The entire technological tree of the Finality Empire had almost been established single-handedly by that Divine Emperor.
Although most technologies were collected and researched by Divine Mechanism Isla, that godlike mechanical intelligence had itself originated from her design.
"Without the ability to leave the Honkai universe, even if humanity endures the Honkai, it will ultimately be destroyed by cosmic disasters triggered by the Aeons," Melin concluded.
"Cosmic disasters of the Honkai universe..." Mobius turned to look at Melin. "You seem to know quite a bit."
"Only fragments," Melin replied with a faint smile, neither confirming nor denying.
Mobius did not pursue the matter. Her attention returned to Kevin, her tone carrying a trace of strange pity. "Recently, I learned of someone very similar to you. He too bore the burden of saving the entire world. To accomplish that, he reincarnated more than thirty million times."
Her cool voice was as light as a feather, yet it struck heavily against everyone's hearts. "Every single time, he personally killed his comrades, gathered so-called 'embers,' and attempted through endless cycles of reincarnation to prevent the success of 're-creation,' waiting for a slim and distant variable to descend."
Kevin, Su, Hua—everyone fell silent.
With just those few sentences, the bone-deep despair and agony were already enough for them to feel it as if it were their own.