Snake-Snake, Who Can Go to Jail but Can't Be Locked Up / Mei Lived to See the Post-Honkai Era, After All

Raiden Mei: "But Kiana, didn't you once swallow an uncooked dumpling whole?"

Kiana: "That was an accident! I was so hungry that I didn't notice and just ate it raw. My stomach hurt for a long time afterward."

Everyone suddenly felt that Theresa's suggestion was not entirely unreasonable.

After all, a normal person probably would not swallow an uncooked dumpling whole.

The quiz began.

What did Mobius's Memory Body in the Previous Era Elysian Realm want to do to Mei?

[A: Make Mei stay in the Previous Era Elysian Realm and cook.]

[B: Put Mei on an operating table and make her the newest lab rat.]

[C: Take over Mei's body and use it to leave the Previous Era Elysian Realm.]

[D: Mobius wanted to touch Mei's horns.]

Raiden Mei: "..."

Seeing the new question, Raiden Mei felt a herd of alpacas stampeding through her heart, shattering her originally heavy mood.

Then she instinctively touched the top of her head.

Unfortunately, there was still nothing there for the moment.

Kiana: "Are all the people in your Previous Era Elysian Realm perverts? Why is every single one of them interested in Mei's horns? I haven't even touched them yet!"

Pardofelis: "Wait, don't include me in that! I haven't touched them either!"

Raiden Mei: "So, Pardo, you have that kind of thought too?"

Pardofelis: "No, Sister Mei, you misunderstand me. I'm only interested in stocking goods and making deals... Of course, if one day you change your mind and want to sell your horns to me, I'll buy them back at a high price."

Raiden Mei: "Don't worry. That day will never come."

That Pardo had not even become the Herrscher of Thunder yet, and her horns had not even grown in, but she was already thinking about buying Mei's horns.

Sure enough, you were no proper kitty either!

Pardofelis: "Sister Mei, shouldn't you be more concerned about what Sister Snake wants to do to you than about your horns? Some of those answers are horrifying just to look at."

Raiden Mei: "Huh? Wasn't she going to touch my horns?"

Perhaps because of Elysia, Raiden Mei had subconsciously assumed that every Memory Body in the Elysian Realm cared deeply about her horns.

Only after Pardo asked did she realize it.

Compared to having her horns touched, she should have been more concerned about her own safety!

Bronya: "After ruling out the most unreliable option, cooking, one answer involves using Sister Mei as a lab rat, while the other involves leaving the Previous Era Elysian Realm. We are not familiar with Mobius. Can any of you analyze this?"

Eden: "Mobius... I had a fairly good relationship with her, so I won't comment. But Pardo has an especially deep impression of Mobius. You can ask her."

After all, Pardofelis was one of the few lab rats whom Mobius still remembered after experimenting on her and wanted to research again.

Pardofelis: "Don't look at me. Would you call that being familiar with Sister Snake? Forget entering her laboratory—I'd climb over a wall to get away if I ran into her on the road."

Kiana: "Pardo, didn't you say before that you had an unyielding backbone?"

Pardofelis: "That depends on who I'm facing! To me, Sister Snake's danger level far surpasses even Brother Jie's!"

Even if she angered Chakravartin, Pardofelis figured that at most, he would throw her out, and she could take the chance to escape.

But if she fell into Sister Snake's hands, there would probably be two Pardos and Felises by the next day!

Elysia: "I can talk to her a little, but unfortunately, I can't analyze the answer you want."

Raiden Mei: "Why?"

Elysia: "Because whether it is tying Mei to an operating table for research or taking over her body, both fit Mobius's style perfectly."

If the system had not said otherwise, Elysia would have suspected this was a multiple-choice question.

The Snake Beyond Prison or Punishment

Theresa: "Putting people on operating tables or taking over their bodies... Is this Mobius you keep talking about some kind of pervert?"

Elysia: "In general terms, that would be called a mad scientist."

Eden: "Though I find Mobius's scientific philosophy somewhat difficult to accept, I can vouch for the level of her scientific knowledge."

Bronya: "She sounds impressive."

Pardofelis: "Of course! If you can survive Sister Snake's surgery, you must be an exceptionally rare talent!"

But she could not guarantee the survival rate.

After all, Pardofelis herself had become a Fusion Warrior in a muddle back then.

The quick-answer countdown has ended. A lucky audience member will now be selected at random.

Congratulations to Eden for becoming the lucky audience member. Please answer promptly, or you will be punished as if you answered incorrectly.

Kiana: "Ha, that scared the life out of me. Good thing it wasn't me."

Bronya: "Luckily it wasn't Sister Mei. Otherwise, we would have had to cook for ourselves again for several days."

Raiden Mei: "Uh, even if it had been me, it wouldn't necessarily mean I'd get punished for answering wrong twice, right?"

For a quiz that was entirely based on guessing, Mei did not think her luck was particularly good.

After all, she was not Kiana, who guessed her way through every multiple-choice question.

Eden: "Since the lucky audience member was chosen at random, there is nothing to be done."

Elysia: "So which one are you going to choose, Eden?"

Eden: "Naturally, I'll borrow a little luck from [Gold]. Heads for B, tails for C."

Eden took a gold coin engraved with patterns on both sides from her pocket and tossed it high into the air.

When the coin landed, its crisp ring sounded like thunder on level ground. Then it spun along Eden's feet until it finally stopped, revealing the side facing upward.

Tails!

Eden: "I choose C!"

Correct answer.

Pardofelis: "Wow, wow, wow! Sister Eden, what kind of amazing trick was that? It's even better than my signature skill! Teach me, you have to teach me!"

The flashy move left the kitty staring wide-eyed.

Although Pardofelis could often get close to achieving her goals through instinct and luck, how could that compare with Eden's stylish and classy coin-tossing technique?

Eden: "It was only an ordinary coin toss. If you like it, Pardo, you can have this coin to play with."

Pardofelis: "Thank you, Sister Eden! Thank you, Sister Eden!"

Kiana: "I want one too, I want one too! Next time I have multiple-choice questions on a test, I'll use a gold coin to decide!"

Damn it.

This person was way too rich, actually using a gold coin.

Normally, when Kiana did multiple-choice questions, she only used an eraser with four letters written on it. How could she possibly be so extravagant?

Himeko Murata: "Kiana, shut up. When we get back, you're going to review your lessons! In the last exam, aside from the multiple-choice questions, you didn't even write a single solution!"

Kiana: "Ehehe!"

Congratulations to Eden for obtaining the reward: Life Coin.

Pardofelis: "A Life Coin? That's a good thing, Sister Eden."

Eden: "Unfortunately, there is nothing in particular that I want to do right now, and I do not know which point in time I should return to. I'll keep it for now."

Eden put the Life Coin into her pocket, temporarily making it one of her collectibles, one of her treasures.

When she raised her head, however, a familiar figure appeared on the screen. Yet this Mobius was very different from the one in Eden's memories.

On the screen, Mobius, in her three-years-and-up form, stood opposite Mei and gave her an adorable expression.

"What big sister wants is for you to take me away from here."

"Don't joke around, Mobius. You're the master of this place yourself. You don't need me to..."

Halfway through her sentence, Mei seemed to suddenly understand something. "Wait, what you want to leave is the Previous Era Elysian Realm? That's impossible. After all, you're only..."

Before she could say the words "Memory Body," Mei noticed the clue she had been missing and the truth Mobius had long since laid before her.

And now, Mobius was about to succeed.

"The experiment you conducted on Gray Serpent—the technique you believed could bring Klein back—was consciousness transfer, right?" Mei asked.

"Hehe, that's right. Big sister has been waiting for you to notice. But well, it's a little too late for regrets now."

"A living Herrscher, such a perfect body... This is the most precious gift I have ever received."

Mobius's laughter fell across Mei's skin in waves, like shadows of fear slowly seeping into her nerves.

"Tell me, after I leave the Previous Era Elysian Realm, should I thank Kevin?"

Mobius spoke as if victory were already in her grasp, as though she could pluck its fruits the very next moment.

"I see. Giving me the Signet of Infinity was not to help me. It was to let my body adapt to your consciousness sooner."

Mei thought for a moment before continuing.

"If that is your entire plan, then I can only say that you picked the wrong person."

Mei was not inexperienced when it came to fighting another consciousness inside her body for control.

She was confident that Mobius would be the one to lose.

"Fighting for control? What are you talking about, big sister?"

Mobius seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world, then slowly bared her fangs.

"I have no interest in sharing the same body with you. The experiment will end soon. Only one person will be able to leave this place."

An indescribable green liquid spread beneath Mobius's feet until it swallowed her whole.

A massive Queen Serpent rose in twisting coils. Her lower body was serpentine, while her upper body wore the crown of [Infinity] and held a scepter.

Mobius's Honkai Beast transformation.

Pardofelis: "Strange. Sister Snake in my memories should not have been this tiny. Why does Sister Snake in the Elysian Realm look like this?"

Elysia: "Did you forget the rumor about Mobius and Chakravartin having an illegitimate daughter? Mobius needs energy to revive, and she becomes smaller."

Pardofelis: "But the Elysian Realm was made by Sister Snake. When she saved her Memory Body, why didn't she use her original appearance?"

A bold guess emerged in Pardo's mind.

Could it be that Mobius preferred to act young, presenting herself as weak before waiting for prey to take the bait?

The more she thought about it, the more possible it seemed!

Elysia: "How could we possibly guess what Mobius is thinking? You should know that she is Mobius of the Infinity."

Himeko Murata: "I've heard you all talking about Infinity this whole time. What exactly does it mean?"

Pardofelis: "It means that Sister Snake can revive after dying, but it requires an enormous amount of energy, and her body becomes smaller."

Theresa: "Infinite revival? Wouldn't that make her invincible?"

Eden: "It is not quite that powerful. After all, if she does not have enough energy when reviving, no one knows what she might turn into."

This version of Mobius was already three-years-and-up.

If she got any smaller, she would truly become a Mobius beyond prison or punishment.

Mei Lived into After Honkai

Bronya: "I just heard Mobius mention consciousness transfer. Could a technology that only exists in theory really be achieved?"

Kiana: "No way. If it really could be achieved, wouldn't someone be able to live forever just by switching bodies?"

Mobius's infinite reincarnation at least required enough energy, but a technology like consciousness transfer was simply unreasonable.

In theory, as long as someone who mastered this technology did not want to die, they would have all kinds of ways to extend their life.