[Although you all have many bold ideas, what I'm actually more curious about is whether Kalpas's "Get lost" came from this big sister here.]

...

[Get lost] was indeed learned by Kalpas from Aponia.

According to Aponia's recollection [From the Extreme Cold]—

During the battle with the 5th Herrscher, Kalpas was frostbitten and escaped to the sanatorium on Twilight where Aponia resided, and then was picked up by her.

That day, Kalpas was enlightened by Aponia.

He successfully opened the door to a new world.

He learned the "Get lost" he would use the most in his life, and the "Please" he would use the least.

It added heavily to his barren vocabulary.

The mysterious woman who first came into contact with Mei did not do anything "excessive."

She merely had a "harmonious" conversation with Mei, then sent her consciousness back to her body.

Mei awakened from her coma.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Pardo's anxious, almost tearful voice rang by her ear.

"Mei-sis, you finally woke up!"

"Wuwuwu, Mei-sis, I thought you would never wake up again... when you suddenly fainted, I was so scared that all the fur on my tail stood on end!"

Hearing Pardo's painfully real crying voice, not only was Mei a little moved, but even Kiana, who was playing the game, was touched.

Just a moment ago, she was thinking the same as the chat barrage, suspecting Pardo might not be a good kitty. But now, seeing this, Pardo actually seemed pretty nice.

Only—Pardo's next words immediately made her feel that her earlier moment of sentiment was wasted on a cat.

"Sorry, I didn't faint on purpose, but... thank you for worrying about me, Pardo."

"O-of course! You still haven't paid me for the pendant!"

Mei: ???

Players: ???

A second ago, they were moved by Pardo. The next second, it was all about money.

The Flame-Chasers of Elysian Realm were truly unique.

Each one with their own quirks.

Even Mei was thrown off by Pardo.

She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end said nothing—just waved her hand and bid farewell.

That segment ended, and the game entered free control mode.

This time, Kiana did not rush to push the next plotline.

"I'll first check out Pardo's Reminiscence, see what kind of person Pardo really is."

She said while operating her character to the Vessel of Reminiscence.

The Reminiscence of the Mortal had been unlocked.

"Reminiscence of the Mortal?"

That's the name of Pardo's reminiscence? She's one of the Flame-Chasers, yet... a mortal?

She thought while clicking in, upgrading Pardo's Vessel of Reminiscence.

And indeed—the Reminiscence of the Mortal was exactly that.

Unlike Kevin, who constantly bore heavy responsibility, standing at the frontline against Honkai, the strongest warrior of humanity in the apocalypse.

Unlike Ely, brimming with a lively, mischievous cuteness—just from her file you couldn't even tell she had lived in an apocalypse.

It was ordinary, but real...

Living as an orphan in the apocalypse, she wandered since childhood.

To the point she didn't even have a photo of her childhood... oh, actually, she did.

Pardo had collected a bounty poster printed with her own portrait.

["Haha, a toast to you, Twilight's righteous thief. But... why do you keep this bounty poster? To commemorate that time of life?"]

["Ah, not really."

Pardofelis spread out the yellowed, wrinkled bounty poster. Some of the writing was already blurred.

But in the photo, the girl stared wide-eyed at the lens, as if she had long since noticed the gaze behind it.

"Hehe, it's because I don't have any childhood photos of myself. This is the only one."]

Just this short dialogue made everyone's hearts tremble softly.

Was it sympathy? Or something else?

Hard to describe.

But indeed, [Mortal] was the most resonant Reminiscence.

Though wandering since childhood, her life hardly smooth, Pardo always maintained an optimistic mindset.

[I actually lived quite comfortably wandering the streets. Not wealthy, but filling my stomach wasn't a problem.]

[Strolling for "goods" by day, finding a place to nap at noon, sneaking into an empty hotel at night for a bath—that's how every day went. Pretty happy, really.]

But her optimism made it hard for players to smile.

Even though Pardo never once displayed sadness in her Reminiscence—quite the opposite, she always appeared cheerful, as if she never knew what worry meant.

Still, her Reminiscence was filled with knives.

They saw openness, but also helplessness. In such an apocalypse, what could a [Mortal] do besides being optimistic?

Even her simple life goals—finding a place to bask in the sun every day, finding a place where food and clothing weren't a worry—

Were almost impossible to achieve.

Perhaps, enjoying each day happily, then calmly facing death when the end came—was the only thing a [Mortal] could do.

The future was pitch-black, so the only choice was to live the present well.

Thinking about it closely—it was filled with despair.

"So Pardo's obsession with saving money comes from her past?"

After reading the file, Kiana suddenly understood why Pardo was so fixated on hoarding.

For Pardo, it was more like a way to gain security.

After all, she had once gone without meals. She had lived through that. Even if she survived it before with optimism, that didn't mean she could face it again without fear.

[So Pardo was just scared of poverty. Poor kitty, I was wrong, I shouldn't have doubted her.]

[Kitty must be a good kitty, I believe in her!]

[I'm starting to like Pardo.]

Later reminiscences showed—

Pardo sneaked into Fire Moth to "get goods," but by chance ended up on the operating table, and through sheer luck became a MANTIS. This only made everyone laugh and cry even more.

[So that's how Pardo became a MANTIS? Both exasperating and adorable.]

[I've been converted by kitty.]

[Converted by kitty +1]

After suspicion, then reversal, again and again—

Players' affection for kitty was undoubtedly heartfelt.

Though their lively chatter about being converted by kitty felt more like they were stacking vulnerability debuffs onto themselves.

"That's it?"

Kiana, after finishing this portion of kitty's Reminiscence, still felt unsatisfied, clicking several more times. Somehow Pardo's Reminiscence felt especially interesting.

But since there was no more, she could only continue the main story.

Controlling Mei to find Eden in the lounge, she learned that the mysterious woman she had met earlier was [Disciplinary Perdition · Aponia].

To find her, she had to go to the [Depths] of the Realm.

But to enter, she needed Elysia's help.

Thus—

When Mei, impatient to reach the Depths and catch Aponia, confronted her—

Elysia made a request.

"Go to the Depths, huh... even for me, that's a very difficult thing."

"Maybe... I'll need a little help from Mei."

Unaware of the severity, Mei asked back with doubt.

"My help? If it's something I can do, then of cour—"

Her words stopped.

She noticed Elysia's gaze, as usual, falling on her.

Then, slowly, moving upward, upward... until stopping at just the right angle.

There was nothing there—except her horns.

"???"

Everyone recalled not long ago when Elysia played a broadcast recording:

[Ah... I really want to touch her horns... I care so much, so much!]

Surely... not?

Mei looked at Elysia with questioning eyes.

"Mm-hmm~"

Elysia answered with a playful smile.

"You..."

Mei wanted to say, "You can't be serious, right?"

Elysia put on a cute face and said:

"Let's see, this should count as... [Chekhov's Gun]?"

The screen transitioned.

Clearly hinting at something.

[No way, no way, is Mei really going to...]

[As they say, when two tops meet, one must bottom—looks like Miss Pink Elf wins this round.]

[Mei lost to the Realm's fairy (tragic).]

[Damn, as a pure Kiana x Mei fan I can't accept this! I'm going to farm pink mats with Flamescion for three days straight!]

Meanwhile, as the audience debated—

Elysia had already placed her hand on Mei's horn.

With a tone of appraisal, she mused: "Mm..."

Mei clenched her teeth, but still couldn't suppress the strange sounds escaping.

Elysia seemed to have discovered something unexpected: "Mm...?"

Whatever she touched, Mei's breathing instantly grew chaotic.

"Ohhh~~?"

"Mm~~"

Just those few shallow moans of a girl were enough to inspire extremely vivid associations.

[World masterpiece: "Elysia Touches Mei's Horn!"]

[Hiss~~ so thrilling! Forget farming for Ely, Kiana, sorry—(delighted sigh).]

["Kiana in Anti-Entropy"]

["Kiana on Stream"]

Kiana: ???

Watching the audience drag her into the joke during the stream, Kiana felt helpless.

Didn't they understand—game is game, reality is reality, you can't confuse them.

Just because game-Mei's horn was touched didn't mean real-Mei would ever experience that.

"Everyone, don't tease real-life Kiana like this~~" Elysia spoke to rein things in.

"Exactly, it's not like real-life Mei had her horn touched."

Mei: "..."

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