Chapter 44: Entangled

The embrace didn't last long. Mobius quickly released him, her face once again wearing that bewitching expression, showing no trace of the vulnerability displayed moments before. However, if one ignored the damp patch on Xin Yu's shoulder, Mobius's act might have salvaged some dignity. Noticing the wet spot on Xin Yu's shoulder, Mobius's charming smile froze for an instant. Then, feigning indifference, she continued, "That just now was merely because I got too excited encountering a special existence like you, so I hugged you. Don't overthink it." "...Even someone like me who's lost memories can see through that lie." Xin Yu shook his head, a helpless look on his face. "...Hmph!" Mobius snorted coldly. However, she now noticed that speech was somehow transmitting sound here. "I modified the environment around me, filling it with air. Although I can only alter the space within a 500-meter radius of myself, it's enough for us to communicate." "...What exactly happened here?" Xin Yu's question made Mobius's expression turn solemn again. She glanced slightly at the surrounding devastation and said in a very cold tone: "This... was the final battlefield where the human civilization of this era made its last stand against the Honkai. And the result of that war was our defeat." Mobius began to explain the existence of the Honkai, recounting many events that had transpired in this civilization. Herrschers, Honkai, Finality. Under the onslaught of Honkai disasters, humanity dwindled, habitable land shrunk, and an entire continent was even destroyed due to a Herrscher's existence. And in the end, when the Herrscher of Finality, symbolizing the ultimate end, descended, the strongest remaining warriors of this civilization went forth to challenge her... They died, and human civilization ended with them. Although humanity preserved a final spark, a fire seed ensuring the species wouldn't go extinct, the human civilization of this era had reached its conclusion. "...According to the original plan, I should have perfected the final plan before they went to challenge the Herrscher of Finality, and paid the price with my life, ending myself... [Infinite]." "But while carrying out the plan, I kept feeling this urge to wait longer, as if waiting for someone, someone from the distant past." "I didn't understand who I was waiting for, but that feeling was incredibly strong, so I decided to try. I waited... I waited until my companions perished, waited until the end of civilization, waited until the twilight of this generation. Originally, I planned to come to the Moon to collect the last relics, or any potential remains, and then meet my own end." "But my wait wasn't in vain. The moment I saw you, I knew who I was waiting for. The moment I saw you, I knew why I had waited." "Xin Yu... Can I beg you, please, save me? Save us?" Mobius shed the femme fatale persona she usually projected. At this moment, she displayed her most fragile state, using this perhaps contemptible tactic to implore the help of the person before her. She wanted her assistant back. She didn't want to see Eden die alongside the end of civilization, didn't want to see those comrades march onto a battlefield of certain death. She also didn't want to see a child sent far from home on an unknown journey from which she might never return. She desperately wanted to be with her companions again, even if it meant just eating instant noodles with that fellow Kevin. And... Elysia. That pink idiot. Mobius looked at Xin Yu. If Elysia was the sliver of hope granted to human civilization by the heavens... then the man before her was a descended god, a true miracle. An existence who could freely traverse time, who could rewrite all tragedies if he so wished. Mobius didn't know if he would be willing to help her. She had already made it clear: the Herrscher of Finality's power was unimaginable. Would he truly be willing to face such a powerful enemy to save them, people whose relationship with him wasn't even particularly close? So, Mobius could only display her vulnerable side as much as possible, trying to evoke sympathy and pity in this self-proclaimed "good person." She knew doing so was despicable... but if it could bring those comrades back, she was willing. "Of course. I'll save you all." Xin Yu agreed without hesitation, which made Mobius's expression turn slightly stunned. "...The Herrscher of Finality is incomparable to ordinary Herrschers. The power she possesses is utterly unimaginable... That was an enemy before whom the final collective strength of an entire civilization seemed insignificant. Do you really want to face that?" "You're the one begging me, yet now you sound like you want me to give up?" "I just don't want you to underestimate the enemy's strength and then die ridiculously." "...Mobius, actually, that night you crawled into my quilt, I was awake." "That was just my younger self, taken advantage of by you when I was vulnerable, seeking a sense of security, that's all." "Aren't you the same now? Looking at you, you don't seem much different from back then." "Are you implying I'm very childish right now?" "No. You right now look exactly the same as when you were walking alone on the street. No one offering a hand, putting on a brave face, using a precocious, cold shell to package the fragility within your heart." "..." "Do you know the biggest reason why I'm willing to help you?" "What?" "Before meeting you, my home, my disciple – all gone because of Honkai disasters. My disciple was even eroded by Honkai and killed by my own hand. Then, I fought a Herrscher. Because that Herrscher was someone a friend of mine liked, I put my life on the line, beat that Herrscher down, suppressed the Herrscher consciousness, allowed the human consciousness to re-emerge, and returned her whole to my friend." "At the handover, I saw my friend embracing the other person. At that moment, I actually felt quite envious... I thought then, how nice it would be if there was an embrace meant for me too." "Because back then, I truly had nothing left... I can even tell you, I didn't originally belong to this universe, this existence filled with Honkai and superpowers. The original me, due to loneliness, due to Nihility, due to fear, chose to commit suicide. I am a brand-new consciousness born upon that corpse." "I knew nothing, understood nothing. I could only stumble along, trying to live in this unfamiliar world." "Everything was going well originally. My new life was slowly unfolding. I was starting to try and accept this world, but everything was destroyed..." "By the time I crawled back from the edge of death to reality, I was already in that small town where you originally lived." "My plan was to take you with me for a while until you could live independently, then find a reliable person to look after you until adulthood." "But I didn't expect that, on that night, you crawled into my quilt and hugged me. That was the first hug someone gave me in this world." "So cunning, Mobius. That hug of yours truly bound me like a snake." Mobius looked at the person rambling before her. That bewitching and charming expression reappeared on her face. She approached Xin Yu, pressing her entire body against him, her arms wrapping around his neck. "That's right. I've entangled you."