A Detective? Better to Just Charge In

As battle after battle unfolded, Raiden Mei encountered several Flame-Chasers in The Past's Paradise.

However, most of her conversations with them only scratched the surface...

Su Nian had already briefly summarized Raiden Mei's first meetings with them.

The Flame-Chasers all had strange personalities. There was every kind of person among them, and when faced with a successor they had never met before—especially one who was a Herrscher...

Only Elysia was someone Mei could safely rely on.

Among the Flame-Chasers she faced through challenge after challenge, the one who left the deepest impression on Mei was a burly man wearing a mask.

His behavior differed greatly from the word "enthusiasm" Elysia had used.

Chijie—tough on the outside, soft on the inside. That was how he could be described.

Though his temper was indeed rather explosive.

There was also another Flame-Chaser, Mobius. Everyone warned Mei not to trust Mobius and not to approach her, yet no one was willing to talk about her.

Nearly everyone had reminded Mei to be especially wary of Mobius.

One of the mandatory readings in Moth of the Fire's survival handbook was One Hundred Questions on Chijie's Mask.

There was also one blunt piece of advice.

Never get on Mobius's operating table.

Only Hua's life was tough enough—and only because she had spent all her luck on staying alive—that she could endure being repeatedly studied by Mobius and still survive.

They had not told Mei much about Mobius, but Detective Mei still pieced together a rough picture of Mobius from the smallest clues.

Yet those speculations only made the situation clearer, while the questions in her heart only continued to multiply.

As a database, The Past's Paradise operated far too inefficiently. As a testing ground for inheritance, the cost it consumed was far too extravagant.

She knew nothing.

In search of the truth, Raiden Mei was still eager to press onward.

After fighting Elysia and then speaking heart-to-heart with her, Raiden Mei obtained... the meaning of The Past's Paradise, as well as the qualification to venture deeper and meet Mobius.

Elysium Everlasting recorded such a simple story.

It left hope for future generations, rather than loathing and hatred.

It gave all those who came after the beauty they themselves had never received.

Elysia earnestly told Raiden Mei all of her thoughts.

Mobius was waiting for Raiden Mei's visit, as the dark side of Moth of the Fire that Mei would encounter for the first time.

After gifting Mei a purple Crystal Flower, she departed. Raiden Mei crossed through the doorway and entered a deeper shadow.

Only, things became slightly horrifying after that.

Raiden Mei looked around. The scene was strange, but there was no one in sight.

"Oh my, what a rare guest..."

"Who?"

"Big Sister Herrscher, shall we do something interesting together?"

Raiden Mei abruptly raised her head. She saw... a gigantic "snake," several times larger than her own body... no, several times larger than Kurikara.

The green hill she had just seen was one of Mobius's fingernails. Raiden Mei was standing in her palm!

At first, Mobius seemed completely harmless, even friendly. But Mei quickly exposed her act.

Mobius had never been someone easy to deal with. Mei spoke with her without lowering her guard, and under Mobius's hints, Mei suddenly realized something—but... it was too late.

"Come... my cute little white mouse."

Shadows crawled across her skin, and seductive whispers seeped through the cracks of her thoughts like slithering snakes—

Good night. I successfully hit eight thousand words today.

The fifteen-chapter reward bounty has already reached its maximum debt. This is the seventh chapter I'm repaying.

Time to recommend a book, written by my friend.

One day, after Gu Jing released a Genshin fan game he had created, he unexpectedly transmigrated.

And the footage from that fan game was somehow broadcast to the entire world, while the protagonist was actually him!

Thus...

A scene from the game.

Amber: "Gu Jing, there won't be a me in your world from now on. It's okay, you need to be happy, Gu Jing. Gu Jing, how am I supposed to live without you?"

Arataki Itto: "Gu Jing, you're a damn xx. Remember what I said. I'll be cursing you out right in the streets of Inazuma. Come on, Shinobu, give him a performance."

Klee: "You think you're good at fighting? What the hell is fighting even good for? If you want to make it out there, you need influence and backing. Which gang are you from? Hmph, so you're just some nobody."

Thus...

Gradually, Gu Jing became a scumbag hunted by countless people and the root of all evil.

Detective? Better to Charge In

Raiden Mei's first meeting with Mobius had indeed not been particularly pleasant.

The memory version of Mobius seemed a little too extreme, and she truly harbored malicious intentions.

But clearly, Mei could not possibly die here.

She was someone capable of soberly controlling all the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder.

And with her identity as a "camera," Raiden Mei could never simply be killed by Mobius like this.

Besides, if anything went wrong, Elysia was still here.

But Su Nian cut the chapter off.

Right here.

Mobius narrowed her eyes, and her pupils, gleaming blue and red, rapidly contracted.

It was finally her turn—the scenes contained within those words.

She seemed to see... this wonderful sensation...

So this was what Kevin and Ai Li had experienced before?

A remarkable power was contained within Mobius's memory body as well. Even merely tasting it, she had already become somewhat addicted.

But before she had experienced enough of that mysterious power, her consciousness was suddenly pulled out.

There was simply too little Mobius-related plot written by Su Nian. She had only just begun to experience it when the lack of relevant content prevented the scenes from generating automatically, interrupting the experience.

Stopped right at the edge!

Originally, Mobius had felt no ripples in her heart while reading this plot. She had even thought it was a waste of time.

She might as well return to Mu Continent and continue exchanging ideas and studying.

Her poor assistant Klein was still there working overtime, representing Mobius in dealing with the other experts.

But now Mobius had experienced this feeling.

She instantly could not remain calm.

Research... was not actually that important.

After experiencing the mysterious unknown event, Mobius became extremely concerned with it.

For a researcher like her, what could be more attractive than the unknown?

Probably nothing.

As a researcher, Mobius firmly believed that no extraordinary power existed in this world.

But that belief had now been shattered.

Everything before her was absolutely not an illusion. It was real beyond belief.

"Did Dr. Mobius see it too?"

"Quiet. I'm thinking."

"What are you thinking about? Another version of yourself from another world?"

"..."

Mobius put away her dangerous thoughts. Just now, she had considered capturing Su Nian and torturing him for answers.

Why write about The Past's Paradise? Hurry up and publish a Mobius biography!

Only after she went through everything related to Mobius could she better research the related matters.

Things were definitely not as simple as they appeared to Mobius.

But that idea was not particularly feasible.

Su Nian was now a public figure. Kidnapping him into a little dark room and forcing him to write custom chapters was obviously too risky.

Given Mobius's style, she ought to be like a snake in the shadows, slowly devouring her prey.

She would wait and see what else Su Nian wrote. In any case, the flawless Klein was handling things over in Mu.

At that moment, Su Nian stopped what he was doing and tiredly rubbed his brow.

This plot about getting to know the Flame-Chasers was necessary groundwork.

Only then would the emotional blows later cut deep enough.

Handing out emotional blows was not about killing characters at random.

If it were just random slaughter, players would not have tolerated thirteen people dying over and over more than forty times without raging.

It was precisely because players empathized with and loved the characters that their deaths became even more unforgettable.

Still, having to introduce every Flame-Chaser like this did make the story somewhat too long.

Everything was for the sake of establishing their characterizations.

Even if he wanted to fast-forward to the Paradise Ice Cube section, he could not omit this part.

For some reason, after Raiden Mei fainted and woke up again, she had returned to the main hall of The Past's Paradise.

The end point she thought she could reach was actually the starting point from which she had set out?

Mobius had not given Raiden Mei a Mark. Instead, she continued tempting Mei here, until Elysia arrived in time and cut her off.

But the name Mobius used for her was rather concerning... "traitor."

That title aroused Raiden Mei's suspicions. Players who already had the stereotype that pink-haired anime girls always had a hidden dark side began suspecting this inexplicably enthusiastic guide at this point.

Characters like Yuno Gasai existed in this world as well.

Seeing this, the audience could not help becoming suspicious.

Elysia's beautiful personality was simply too beautiful, so beautiful that it did not seem real.

How could anyone possibly be born with such a pure and wonderful nature?

Everyone had been beaten down by society. Beautiful and kind qualities seemed to exist, but no one had ever seen them. Finding such a person was harder than finding a needle in the ocean.

It was as though such people existed only in humanity's ideals.

Mobius warned Mei never to trust Elysia. Elysia was always the least trustworthy person of all, not even by the slightest bit.

Yet everyone warned Mei not to trust Mobius.

And now... two world-famous images were born.

"Raiden Mei caught in a jealous standoff between Miss Pink Fairy and the green Snake Spirit lady."

And... "Kiana at Anti-Entropy."

Should she trust one of them, or trust neither?