Mobius didn't understand Loki's words, he just looked at her worrisomely, asking, "Do you think our director will come back?"
After saying that, he pursed his lips, lowered his head, and with deep worry said, "Before he left, he specifically instructed us to take good care of that little girl and asked to have the answer he wanted when he returned. But we've already let her go. If the director comes back and finds her gone, we're dead!"
After speaking, he covered his mouth with his hand, gritting his teeth, "No, maybe, death would be the best outcome. In a place where you can control the speed of time, all your pain can be prolonged into... eternity."
Seeing the fearful look on the face of Mobius, Loki let out a sigh, consoling him with a calm but firm voice:
"Didn't you say, he hasn't returned up until now?"
"Indeed, in the past, he was always punctual. It's impossible for someone with time-traveling abilities to be not punctual." Mobius shrugged, saying, "Even if he was trapped, he could return to the past by rewinding time and thus escape."
"But this time, he really is late. This suggests that there might have been something that made him not want to return, or maybe he can't come back. However, the latter is less likely."
But Loki shook her head, expressing a different opinion. She said, "You mentioned that he can travel across time. Even if something hindered his return, he could completely rewind time to avoid the trouble and hence arrive on time. For a person who has the ability to travel through time and cosmos, arriving late can only be forced."
"Although, I can't tell you the truth or rather, I don't fully understand the entire truth, but something indeed happened in our cosmos. free travel as they used to, let alone you or your director."
Mobius suddenly widened his eyes and stared at Loki, full of hope, questioned: "So, the director won't be able to return?"
"You can only say that there is a high probability that this is the case." Loki nodded but soon, she spoke: "But no one can guarantee anything. If your director is as powerful as you said, then chances are that he might return one day."
The look on Mobius' face was not good all along. Obviously, all those who participated in this case during this period were under great pressure. Loki also noticed this, thinking that this could potentially be their breakthrough in their conversation.
"I have already answered your questions, wouldn't you do the same and answer mine?" Loki opened her mouth to speak.
"You can ask…" Mobius looked absent-minded.
"About the other female Loki, the little girl you guys let go of... what's so special about her? What does your director want to know from her?"
Mobius's expression stiffened for a moment, he glanced at Loki's face but didn't notice any other emotions from her expression, only mild curiosity.
Thinking that he had already told her so much and continuing to keep it secret would be pointless, Mobius opened his mouth to speak: "Actually, he asked us to torture the little girl but he never told us what he wanted to ask."
Seeing the confused look on Loki's face, Mobius let out a sigh and said, "That's exactly why we didn't want to do it. It seemed that he just wanted to torture the little girl and didn't really want to get any important information from her. This is completely meaningless."
"However…" Mobius hesitated a bit, adding, "Before the director left, Ravona, who was most favored by him and held a relatively high position among the civil officers, heard some rumors, but they were just rumors, not necessarily true…"
"You can talk about it. Maybe there are some clues that you haven't noticed?" Loki encouraged Mobius to speak, then she gently tapped the table with her finger and said: "You know, this matter has to be resolved sooner or later, either the director comes back to deal with you, or you guys deal with the director…"
"The director you mentioned is very strong, but he might have his weaknesses. He cares so much about this little girl, perhaps, the key lies within her."
Mobius put his hands on his face and said, "We are mortal enemies with the director. If he knows what we did, he will not let us go, so…"
"According to what Ravona said, on one of his trips outside our cosmos, the director received a prophecy that a special female existence in our cosmos had broken one-side wall."
"...Huh???" Loki let out a short syllable of confusion. Mobius shook his head, saying, "I don't understand it either but later. I and Ravona speculated that the director wanted to acquire this ability."
"What is the 'one-side wall'?" Loki asked again.
"No one knows, but, when the Director was drunk, he occasionally shouted a few times, saying that we are all false, everything is false, no matter how many cosmos he ruled, no matter how great a leader he became, it was all false. He wants to find reality, conquer reality, but he doesn't know where reality lies..."
"Perhaps, he believed that the barrier between falsehood and reality is what he termed as 'one side wall', and he sought to find a person, supposedly capable of breaking this barrier, to acquire this ability from her and conquer the truth," said the speaker.
"He thought that person was the little girl?" Loki leaned slightly forward, asking.
Mobius gently nodded, reflecting, "Yeah, that little girl is pretty special. Oh, of course, she was special until your arrival. Among all the cosmos, she's the only female Loki."
Loki remembered for a moment and found it to be true. Above the cosmos, in the countless stories about her, there seemed to indeed be only one named Female Loki.
Of course, his transformation into Female Loki was a recent occurrence, a late bloomer, so to speak. When the young girl was arrested, he was still a male, so at that time, there was only this young girl Loki who was female.
"Truth, falsehood, 'one side wall'..." Loki muttered these words while squinting, feeling as though she understood something but unable to grasp the key point.
"But actually, we haven't seen that young girl make use of any powers beyond those of Loki," Mobius sighed softly, "We all believe the so-called 'one side wall', and the person who can break it, are nothing but the fantasies of a drunk Officer."
"He caught Little Loki not for some illusory power but probably just to satisfy his wicked hobbies. That's why we collectively decided to betray him."
"After all, if he could carry out such an outrageous act, who knows if the next one to be unlucky wouldn't be us?" Mobius appeared slightly indignant, "We are indeed working for the Time Management Bureau and we truly believe we maintain the stability of the cosmos."
"If a time offender truly threatens the cosmos, no matter his age or how adorable he is, we will certainly put him on trial."
"But that little girl is completely innocent. She committed no crime, did nothing wrong. She was taken away from her parents and can never reunite with them. She even has to endure terrifying nightmares. This is simply... absolute..."
Mobius searched for a suitable word to express his feelings for a while, but couldn't find one. Eventually, he just murmured, "If such a tragedy were to take place before my eyes, I would rather be killed..."
"You are a kind person." Loki spoke, "All of you are."
"Thank you..." Mobius replied with a lack of enthusiasm, "You are the first Loki to compliment me. In the past, the Princes of Asgard who came here wanted nothing less than to devour me alive..."
"But, this isn't being kind, it's simply my instinctive feeling that such a thing is absurd. She's so young..."
Mobius sat in place, appearing somewhat disheartened. Shaking his head, he said, "Your daughter is the same. Don't get involved in this nightmare. I don't want the tragedy to happen again."
"I've planned to persuade Ravona, have you serve your 20-day detention and leave quickly. No matter what, children are innocent. If the Officer returns, you won't be able to leave."
"Although Ravona seems very serious, she is actually soft-hearted. If B15 and I persuade her together, she might let you go for the sake of the child. Why do you need to get involved?"
Seeing no change in Loki's expression, Mobius sighed and continued speaking.
"Perhaps, you feel that, we saved a girl. But you don't know how many Lokis have been executed here."
"Not just Loki, during the Officer's tenure, many who committed lesser offenses, those who simply didn't cooperate with the investigation, were also executed."
"But at that time, you all had no choice, did you?" Loki looked at him and said, "All the deaths are on the Officer's head, but your kindness at least saved one person."
Mobius bowed his head, deeply sighed, and said, "Perhaps when you came here, you already noticed that we never intended to keep on living."
"We all know the Officer will return one day. When that time comes, what awaits us is something more terrifying than death. We had prepared that as soon as the Officer's return was detected, we would blow everything up here, including ourselves..."
"But, do you really want to die?"