I was transported to a broken world, yet my dreams are connected to Star Iron?

　Lingmo's words seemed to remind customer service representative Xiaoqi of a memorable first playthrough.

　Although I don't know if God knows, I do know what would happen if that happened... All I can say is that the basement of Paradise in the afterlife is quite nice.

　By the way, the drainage system there is also very well-developed.

　"Did your words hint at a terrible ending...?"

　Lingmo blushed slightly: "Also, please emphasize the meaning of the second half of the sentence!"

　It's nothing. I'm just increasingly convinced that the saying "a person's destiny is their character" is so true.

　"What do you mean by 'makes sense'?"

　[Even though I didn't interfere at all, you still almost inexplicably ended up in the basement like you did in the first playthrough... I have to say, that's definitely a talent.]

　"Who would want such a strange talent!"

　Seeing the gloating customer service representative Xiaoqi, Lingmo forced herself to calm down and then asked another crucial question.

　So, Xiaoqi...

　[Do I have any special relationship with Möbius?]

　Chapter 149 Lingmo: So I really do have such a strange relationship with Snake.

　What, you're starting to have doubts yourself?

　Customer service representative Xiaoqi asked with a half-smile.

　"Well, mainly because I thought about it carefully..."

　Lingmo meticulously listed the suspicious points about herself: "While some things may indeed be just coincidences, the sheer number of similar coincidences is making me a little suspicious..."

　"Most importantly, since Snake is so certain, she must have her own reasons, right? Otherwise, I find it hard to imagine that someone like Snake would treat me so well just because of one possibility..."

　"so……"

　Well... actually, the answer to this question isn't complicated at all.

　Customer service representative Xiaoqi's voice carried a hint of nostalgia.

　[First, let's talk about your relationship... well, it's probably the kind of relationship where you'd be locked in the basement and turned into a fountain.]

　"Seriously, be serious!"

　Lingmo blushed and said, "That's not what I wanted to ask!"

　[Ahem, don't rush me... This question is indeed a bit difficult to explain. Mainly because of certain reasons, I can't reveal too much detail about the first timeline, so I'm thinking of a less cryptic way to answer you.]

　Xiaoqi thought for a moment and then said.

　To put it simply, setting aside the ages and lifestyles of the heroes, if we only consider the relationship between creator and created... whether it's the first or second playthrough, Möbius can indeed be considered your creator. Of course, not in the way of giving birth to you; I mean, your body was indeed created for you by Möbius.

　"?"

　[Don't rush to ask questions. I know what you're going to ask. It's true that you're a transmigrator, not Möbius's daughter. However, when you first arrived in this world in your first timeline, you were in a state without a physical body.]

　[If we were to turn your adventure into a game, the first chapter would be about Jizo's Soul, the second about the Origin Land, the third about the Paradise of the Past... and then we'd reach St. Freya. Do you understand what I'm saying?]

　"I think I understand..."

　[Well, putting that process aside, you'll probably understand the rest. Because during your first playthrough, the methods for using your Erosion Authority, Stigmata, and other abilities were also taught by Mebius. And the body she created for you naturally provided some adaptability and convenience for these abilities. To draw an analogy, your relationship is roughly equivalent to that of Star and Kafka on Star Iron's side.]

　I think you once made me a picture to complain about your complicated relationship with Möbius. Let me find it...

　A moment later, Xiaoqi transmitted a picture into Lingmo's memory.

　The picture roughly means...

　Lingmo: Snake, I can't be your daughter, student, partner, experimental subject, research assistant, confidante, bedding, instant noodle tool, and shield when you're being teased by Alicia all at the same time.

　Möbius: Why not? .jpg

　"Okay...that's a very vivid description, I understood it right away."

　Upon seeing this picture, Lingmo's lips twitched involuntarily.

　I know your personality. Before you realized why Möbius was so kind to you, you could accept his kindness without a second thought. But after learning the reason, you inevitably feel guilty, as if you've deceived him.

　Xiaoqi said earnestly.

　So, the reason I've been telling you all this is to tell you that you can actually accept Möbius's favoritism towards you without feeling guilty. Based on your relationship in the first timeline, there's really no need for such a distant relationship.

　"Understood!"

　Lingmo immediately replied energetically, "I'm going out to tease Snake right now!"

　【…】

　Xiaoqi paused for a moment, then said.

　[You're already so eager to give yourself away after just finding out your identity? Interesting.]

　"That's not it!"

　……

　Although she said she was going out to tease Snake, when Lingmo returned to reality, she found that Snake didn't give her the chance at all.

　What awaited the girl was only a snake bracelet that emitted a faint green light.

　"This is……"

　"Little pink mouse~"

　Just as Lingmo put on the bracelet, a shadowy green figure suddenly appeared behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her neck. Naturally, the girl, feeling guilty, was so frightened that she shuddered.

　"Don't be so surprised. The real me has already returned to the paradise of the past. What's in this bracelet is just a one-time, pre-recorded video."

　As if he had anticipated Lingmo's performance, Mebius's phantom chuckled and leaned close to Lingmo's ear.

　"Although I had some idea of ​​this beforehand, I really didn't expect that you would encounter a life-threatening danger so soon... I don't know whether to say that you are as prone to attracting trouble as that woman Alicia, or that you just don't pay attention to your safety."

　As expected of Snake, even at a time like this, she doesn't forget to mention Airi... Lingmo thought with a cold sweat breaking out.

　Although she had previously boasted about teasing Snake, Lingmo was actually quite aware of her own abilities. Being able to bully someone like Xingbao was already an exceptional performance, let alone someone like Snake, a "bad woman" of her caliber. And judging from the "gentle" tone of Snake's comment…

　Lingmo felt that she was definitely doomed.

　"but……"

　At this moment, the phantom of Mebius spoke again: "About you... let's talk about it when you come back to Paradise. I'll teach you a lesson then. As for now, considering the limited duration of the phantom, let's get down to business first."

　"First, the World Serpent will most likely not dare to attack you again before Kevin returns. However, don't take advantage of this to cause trouble for the World Serpent. After I kill the Jackal, their verification of the Stigmata Project should be more lenient. At least, before the Stigmata Project is completed, your paths will not conflict... You know the importance of the Stigmata Project, so I won't say more."

　"Secondly, I saw from Wendy's memories that you wanted to learn about Jackal's memories... Although I don't know what you want to see, it's probably related to the verification of the Stigmata Project."

　"I asked Gray Serpent, and she was just a smokescreen from beginning to end. What she was in charge of was just a disguised Stigmata Project, which had no real value. Plus, those things were extremely gory. For your mental health, it's best not to watch them."

　"However, I did find some good things for you from the jackal. Take a close look at the bracelet on your wrist, and you'll find something on it that you should be very familiar with."

　"This is……"

　Lingmo immediately followed her instructions and attached her mental energy to the bracelet. Then, she sensed something...

　“That’s right, an entrance that can connect to the Sacred Mark space.”

　Snake's voice rang out again: "Although Jackal is incredibly stupid, I have to admit that sometimes, fate may indeed favor fools."

　"The stigmata on her body is extremely rare, possessing the ability to connect and disguise. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to use it very well. Therefore, to prevent her from wasting its potential, I specially preserved this stigmatata separately."

　"In special circumstances, if you urgently need to intrude into a certain stigma space, you can choose to activate this bracelet. The device I left behind will use her stigma as fuel to help you connect to the stigma space you need to reach."

　"Of course, since it's said to burn, this thing can't be used indefinitely. As for how many times it can be used, that depends on your luck. However... based on my previous experimental results, jackals should be quite durable."

　"Okay, that's all I have to say."

　After explaining both matters, the snake's phantom began to dissipate automatically.

　"Oh, right……"

　The phantom seemed to suddenly turn around, looking at Lingmo with a "gentle" smile.

　"You can't stay away from Paradise on Earth just because you're afraid of 'punishment,' otherwise, I... no, I mean Alicia, will definitely be very sad."

　"puff……"

　Looking at the scattered specks of light in the air, Lingmo couldn't help but laugh out loud.

　"Even at the very end, you couldn't resist being stubborn one last time? Hagi Snake, you bastard..."

　"but……"

　Lingmo couldn't help but shrink her neck: "Snake shouldn't do anything too outrageous to me, right?"

　"Forget it, let's deal with the aftermath first. Let me think... First, we need to find Wendy, who's nowhere to be found. We also need to check on Cecilia, and Ragnar. She's probably come to her senses by now, and I guess I'll have to go and explain things to her..."

　Following the traces of erosion left by Mebius, Lingmo quickly found Wendy sleeping peacefully in a corner. Whether it was because the snake used too much medicine or because of some other concerns, Wendy was sleeping much more deeply than Lingmo had imagined. Even when Lingmo repeatedly teased a certain sensitive spot of Wendy, the sleeping girl only murmured a few times with a flushed face, showing no intention of waking up.

　Helpless, Lingmo could only carry Wendy back to the dormitory and take a quick look at the branch's helipad.

　"Ragnar's private aircraft hasn't returned yet. It seems they're still dealing with the aftermath of the Honkai Beast riot... But that shouldn't be the case. I remember Wendy should have already checked all the large Honkai Beasts on their side. Could it be that Gray Serpent has pulled some other trick to buy time?"

　"But looking at it this way... first I destroyed a bunch of Otto's soul steel bodies, and this time I killed more than a dozen of Gray Serpent's bodies. My role as an eroder really wasn't for nothing..."

　Since Ragnar had not returned, Suzumo did not wait any longer and quickly headed towards the nearby arcade.

　From the moment she and Wendy engaged the enemy, Cecilia's signal disappeared, seemingly pulled into some kind of QQ space by the enemy. Although Cecilia's current form of existence is somewhat similar to Otto's, where her body can be created at will, Suzuma is still a little worried about her situation, considering that she and Yuto have not yet determined a winner after so long.

　So, what is Cecilia doing at this moment?

　The answer is, deep within the Sacred Mark Space, in a place undetectable by anyone…

　Ahem, actually there is no Hime-tou-si, but it is true that no one can detect her. For some reason, Yu-tou is still a little shy about her situation, so she doesn't want to be interrupted by others during this hard-won conversation.

　Just over ten minutes ago, when Yu Tu had pulled Cecilia into the Stigmata Space, she had tried to defeat Cecilia by force. Unfortunately, Yu Tu underestimated Cecilia's strength and the "spirituality" of the Stigmata Space.

　It turns out that the Stigmata Space doesn't really recognize the body, but rather the more ethereal soul. When Cecilia entered Shaniat's Stigmata Space, Yutu immediately felt that her control over the Stigmata Space had decreased.

　What's even more heartbreaking is that, after only a short time of fighting, Yuto had to admit another unfortunate fact—she was completely helpless against Cecilia.

　In terms of martial arts skills and strength, Cecilia, who had regained her peak condition, was by no means weaker than Misterin, who was born from her. After all, Misterin regarded herself as a calamity during the period of her birth, and spent her days thinking about how to kill herself. Her daily life was all about G-type daily routines, and she never trained her strength.

　After the transcription, Yuto focused on training her mental strength, becoming the World Serpent's only mental perception-type warrior, and at a level that the World Serpent could send to deal with Xiaoshi.

　But the problem is...

　Cecilia isn't afraid of mental abilities (laughs).

　During the Second Honkai Impact, Cecilia told Sirin that since only Fu Hua could be her opponent in Schicksal, Cecilia, through daily practice, managed to figure out a way to resist mental abilities. As a result, Fu Hua's Feathered Dust became basically ineffective against her. And our Feathered Rabbit, her mental abilities were no exception.

　So, after trying for a while, due to her doubts about Cecilia's identity and the reality that she really couldn't beat her, Yuto decisively... gave up.

　As the saying goes, while my colleagues are at work, I'm on vacation; while the boss is working hard, I'm doing odd jobs. I can't even compete with him, and I'm just an outsourced employee of World Snake. It would be an injustice not to complain.

　Of course, the most important reason is... Cecilia, she smells so good.

　As a senior succubus of the Destiny level, Cecilia actually had no intention of fighting Yuto. Especially after chatting with Yuto for a while and successfully getting the question that Yuto wanted to ask Suzuma from the reclusive "homebody" with little social experience, Cecilia showed a gentle smile.

　"So... you just wanted to know if you could still call yourself 'Shaniat'..."

　Chapter 150 What? So my disguise was seen through all along?

　"Ah, so... actually, Cecilia-senpai, you and Yuto basically didn't fight?"

　"Yes."

　Cecilia smiled and nodded: "Yutu... no, Mistelin, she's actually a very good child too."

　"Rather than that, she went to all this trouble to find you just to ask a very simple question—"

　"Can a being devoid of any noble qualities, and who can even be described as selfish, earn the right to call herself [Shaniat] by making the right choices?"

　"So this is it... "

　Lingmo was slightly surprised, as this phrase was not unfamiliar to her.

　After all, the question that Hato asked was an important plot point in Part 1.5. However, compared to obtaining the answer through his own actions in the original work, Hato seems to want Cecilia's approval more while Cecilia is still alive.

　"So... what was your answer to her, senior?"

　"Hum..."

　Cecilia smiled slightly.