"Mo Bai, is that everything you think about Rover?"
After hearing his answer, Aemeath asked him one more question.
Mo Bai nodded without hesitation.
"I know that sounds a little disloyal, like I'm not much of a friend..."
As he spoke, Mo Bai glanced down at his feet.
This land had been built upon the Tunneler's sacrifice and the body of the Threnodian Aleph-1.
Once Aleph-1 emerged, Lahai Luo would be its first target.
And that was where he stood.
Humanity yearned for the cosmos, but the cosmos was no calm sea.
Collisions and conflicts raged there constantly. Even as he stood thinking, something momentous might have been happening somewhere in the universe.
Perhaps a black hole had swallowed another planet, or a planet's Threnodian had conquered its entire civilization.
And Aleph-1 was a Threnodian that had come to Solaris from that dark universe.
Facing an opponent like that, Mo Bai didn't think he could win or offer any crucial help to those who would bear the brunt of the fight.
The only reason he was still here was that his friends were here.
It was the same answer he had given Gabriella.
Even if he joined the fight, he felt he could, at best, offer Rover a little help.
At a time like this, he felt less like Rover's friend and more like someone lucky enough to rely on her.
He was no different from an "NPC" in a traditional game, standing in place and doing nothing but asking the protagonist for help.
"Is that how you truly feel?"
Aemeath asked again after listening.
"I..."
Mo Bai looked up and found that the curiosity had vanished from her eyes.
She gazed at him gently, her eyes full of compassion.
"I don't think you've found what's truly in your heart