Who's the Fake? / Beyond the Elysian Realm.

"Um?"

The Herrscher of Erosion saw Lin sit down seriously opposite her, then remove her heavy helmet, revealing her jet-black hair and eyes.

"I want to know why you would want to do these things. You are not doing what a Herrscher should do, nor are you like the real Elysia."

Lin asked the girl softly.

"No, this is what the real Elysia wants to do."

The Herrscher of Erosion stubbornly corrected, "It's just that she can't abandon others, but I can."

"..."

Under Lin Mo's gaze, the Herrscher of Erosion clenched her fist, then relaxed it.

"Because Lin Cong the protagonist in a happy story, I want you to be a happy person once, even if we are not real and are just playing house in a phantom called Imaginary Tree."

The Herrscher of Erosion turned her head away, whether out of fear of continuing to meet Lin's gaze or because she was thinking about something else, "Is blindly giving always the right thing to do?"

But there are other people here.

"None of that matters."

The girl revealed a cold look in her eyes that she had never seen before.

"In the end, Lin only cares about them and sacrifices for humanity, which is why he suffers. You can live a better life without them."

Lin sighed helplessly, "And how do I feel?"

"... Does Lin still feel anything?"

What kind of tyrannical thinking is this?

"Just kidding."

The Herrscher of Erosion playfully stuck out her tongue. "Since Lin has already endured so much, why don't you endure it for my sake this time too? We can't be biased, can we?"

She lowered her head, her red eyes flickering with unusual emotions.

"You give everything to the world, so why can't the world give back to you once?"

Lin exhaled again.

He has figured out what the Herrscher of Erosion is all about.

He now fully understood the source of these thoughts and feelings.

"Okay, let's begin."

He nodded almost imperceptibly, put the helmet on, and turned on the display window.

"So, there are still some problems that haven't been solved."

"There are two Lins in the current Imaginary Tree of the Past. One is traveling with the Herrscher of Erosion, and the other is Lin with the highest authority. What is going on? Even Lin himself does not know what happened. The Herrscher of Erosion has invaded the Imaginary Tree and corrupted Lin's memory. I think the most urgent task is to rescue him."

"I have investigated this matter. The eroded part you mentioned is inaccessible, and the data related to the forest also seems to be problematic, but apart from that, there are no other anomalies."

"Because I don't need data from outside Lin."

Just then, a voice, both playful and eerie, rang out behind them.

She has long, blue-purple gradient hair, orange-red eyes, and her signature elf ears.

A faded "Elysia" and Lin, wearing a helmet, appeared before them.

Lin calmly looked at Mei, who was utterly shocked, Kevin, who remained calm, and Vill-V, who was secretly gesturing to him.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Who is the Counterfeit?

Why are you helping her?

Having already experienced all sorts of strange and bizarre events in the Imaginary Tree, Mei took a deep breath. To this day, she is still wondering if there was any misunderstanding, such as if Lin and Elysia teamed up to prank her.

But it turned out she was wrong.

"Because I'm tired of it."

Lin crossed his arms and said calmly.

Mei stared at him with a low gaze, waiting for the next sentence she didn't want to hear.

"For the past 50,000 years, I have been thinking about whether what I did back then was meaningful. Whether it was me or others, we all gave everything, but our civilization ended without any surprise. What's even more ridiculous is that it wasn't just because of the Honkai, but also because humanity itself has been harming its own kind for decades."

"What happened to me is being repeated in Moths of Flame more than a decade later."

"A rebellion that had occurred before happened again a few years later."

"Reluctantly using the power of Honkai to save humanity only resulted in discrimination from others."

"Noble people must pay the price for the base."

"A hero must die for others."

"I'm tired of this endless cycle. Rather than being trapped in the sinful Mobius Ring, I'd rather create a paradise that's just for me."

The pressure emanating from the faceless helmet made Mei grit her teeth.

"You have indeed been corrupted by the Herrscher of Erosion. You wouldn't have said something like this before."

The Herrscher of Erosion seemed quite pleased with Mei's words. She curled the corners of her lips and narrowed her red eyes. "So, we're here to negotiate, Mei."

"...What's the meaning?"

Kevin and Vill-V remained silent, while Mei watched the Herrscher of Erosion speak with extreme vigilance.

"Simply put, as long as you return Lin's mark, we won't do anything to you."

The Herrscher of Erosion pointed at Mei's head and chuckled, "Anyway, everything in the Imaginary Tree is just data. Here, you are the only real person. After you leave, you don't need to care about what happens here."

Seeing Mei Lin remained unmoved, Mei sneered, "Didn't you want to laugh when you said it yourselves?"

"I've been laughing the whole time~ Oh dear, it looks like you're not planning to give it to me, that's fine too."

The light red light in her eyes gradually deepened, revealing a dangerous glint. "Then let's make Mei into a toy for Lin."

Mei was caught off guard by the Herrscher of Erosion's unexpected response. "What...?"

"Hmm? Mei hasn't seen a similar plot before? It's about making your consciousness addicted to Lin, so that your body and mind can no longer leave him, and you even start calling him 'master'..."

"Shameless!"

Despite being the Herrscher of Thunder, Mei was still a young girl, and upon hearing such provocative words, she immediately blushed and stopped them.

The blue-purple-haired girl stroked her smooth face and smiled charmingly, "Hehe, it's easy for me to do. Although I'll have to share the forest with Mei, you're the only real one after all, so I don't mind."

"Um, can I join?"

Vill-V raised her hand.

Lin and the Herrscher of Erosion said in unison, "No."

The thought that she might have to call Lin Master in the future and spend all her time snuggling up to him and doing this and that made Mei shudder.

"Since Mei doesn't agree, there's nothing we can do. Let's get rid of these troublesome guys one by one, and then make Mei completely submit."

Mei stood coldly in front of Lin and the Herrscher of Erosion, drawing her sword and holding it horizontally. "You don't actually intend to leave, do you?"

"Um?"

The Herrscher of Erosion tilted her head. "Mei, do you think I'm just like any other Herrscher, that everything will be over once you defeat me?"

"Are these your last words?"

"You might want to take a look at Kevin and Vill-V's attitudes."

Hearing what the Herrscher of Erosion said, Mei noticed that Vill-V and Kevin had no intention of making a move and were just watching the show.

"She's telling the truth."

When Mei turned her gaze towards Mei, Vill-V helplessly spread her hands. "The Herrscher of Erosion is different from other Herrscher. Her mode of existence is data. Tell me, apart from antivirus software and formatting, how can someone outside the screen do anything to a bunch of data? Are you going to take a knife and stab the data in the computer to death?"

"..."

Hearing what Vill-V said, Mei also realized the problem. Since the Herrscher of Erosion had swaggered in front of them, it meant that she was not afraid of their attack at all.

"Then let's go~ Should Mei wear black stockings or white stockings from now on? Hehe..."

The Herrscher of Erosion snapped her fingers, and Lin and she vanished from the spot.

jiuliuliuqijiuyaolingerwu

"Wait a minute..."

Before Mei could react, there was no one in front of her. She angrily clenched her fingers.

The Imaginary Tree has now become a locked-room mystery from a detective novel, a place where you can neither get in nor out. What follows will be the Herrscher of Erosion thriving in this environment. If we add some suspense elements, then...

"Everyone's here, that makes things easier."

Under Mei's watchful eye, another Vill-V stepped out of the anchor point, waved to the three people present, and Mobius and Eden followed closely behind.

Mei silently glanced at Vill-V in front of her, then at Vill-V in the distance.

With the two Vill-V explaining back and forth, Mei understood the current situation: not only had the Herrscher of Erosion attacked, but the Imaginary Tree itself had also encountered problems, with some "dummy people" appearing.

Mei clutched her head in exasperation. She watched as two girls in top hats touched each other's bodies without a care for others, and then, as if struck by a sudden thought, they let out a horrifying laugh.

"Mei, do you think using your breasts and butt at the same time..."

"I don't think so."

So far, the people present are Mei, Kevin, Mobius, Eden, and two Vill-V.

Mei didn't believe they could reach a conclusion by getting together. Having dealt with this group for so long, she knew that the thirteen Flame-Chaser known as the Thirteen Heroes were not all of one mind, and there were indeed cases of mutual dislike.

But on certain subtle matters or rather, subtle people, their attitudes are surprisingly consistent.

That's Lin.

"I really can't tell the difference."

Mei observed the two Vill-V, but even with her meticulous observation skills, she couldn't tell which one was the real Vill-V.

"My suggestion is to find everyone, including the fake ones, first."

Mobius coldly suggested, "Then interrogating them one by one or finding a way to catch them all at once would be much more efficient."

"But the problem is, we don't know if you are really Möbius. If you are not really Mobius, such advice may be a trap."

Mei retorted to Mobius, which earned her a glare.

"Tsk, why is there no one around... hmm?"

At that moment, a figure arrived at the rest area through the anchor point. She looked up with a complaint and saw someone who looked exactly like her staring at her in a daze.

Mobius pointed at Mobius and said, "She's fake!"

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Beyond the Elysian Realm

Mobius then realized what was happening and pointed at themselves, exclaiming in unison, "I really am!"

The man on the right Mobius, glared at the Mobius on the left through gritted teeth. "Shameless bastard."

"Are you talking about yourself? Then you're really telling the truth."

Mobius on the left sneered.

I don't know if it's because they've gotten used to it, but Vill-V can get along peacefully with another Vill-V, but Mobius can't get along peacefully with another version of herself. The two of them stared at each other in front of everyone, full of tension, as if they were about to fight at any moment.

Kevin shook his head and instructed, "Let's find everyone first, as many as we can."

After all, Kevin was the leader of the Thirteen Heroes, and it was indeed better to gather everyone together at the moment. So the two Mobius could only temporarily cease fighting, glare at each other, and then walk into the anchor point in opposite directions.

Then, the result of the search surprised everyone.

Looking at the unprecedentedly large number of people in the rest area of Imaginary Tree, Mei felt a sense of impending doom.

They found two of each of the following people: Mobius, Vill-V, Eden, Pardo, Chrono, Su, Ying, and Kosma. Only a few people had only one. Even more surprisingly, they did not find the most crucial person.

Elysia.

"Lin's state of consciousness is very strange. Currently, only a part of his consciousness is maintaining his physiological signs in this body, and the other part is nowhere to be found."