As Long as It Doesn't Kill Anyone, It's a Success!

"Regarding your appearance... Dr. Mobius is nothing special; I wasn't even born twenty-eight years ago, but my senior sister..."

Mei pushed up her glasses, a look of inquiry on her face.

"Theoretically speaking, the time you spent on me and on Senior Sister Hua should conflict, right? Is that alright?"

"As long as you can't observe your own existence, there's no problem—of course, you also need to avoid other aspects, but they are minor compared to directly observing yourself."

"Observation..."

Mei fell into deep thought, while Mobius looked at her speechlessly.

This guy actually started thinking about this kind of thing in this atmosphere—although Mobius had to admit that she was also very concerned about it.

"Doctor, may I make an assumption that you exist in different spaces and at different points in time in this world, but for some reason, you cannot observe or interfere with them... No, may I make another assumption that your timeline is not the same as ours?"

Mei recalled that when she attended the academic seminar on the Mu Continent, Liu Bai had no intention of acknowledging Meibius, but now he suddenly did.

There must be a reason for this.

"May I make a bold assumption... based on the current intelligence, the first person in your timeline should be Dr. Mobius, the second is Senior Sister Hua, and the third is me and Kevin —right?"

That's an absolutely divine deduction.

"...right."

Liu Bai's answer did not trigger any system warnings.

Since Mei deduced all of this herself, it doesn't matter much whether Liu Bai is right or wrong; Mei already has a pretty good idea in her heart.

While not entirely accurate, based on the information currently available to Mei, this is indeed the case.

Mei nodded, a "I knew it" expression on her face.

"If we continue with this line of reasoning... there must be some kind of limitation on you... I'm sorry, but what comes next is beyond my easy comprehension."

Mei gave up halfway through her reasoning. She was confident in the correctness of her earlier reasoning, but when it came to the limitations of this inexplicable phenomenon, Mei completely lost confidence.

"That's right, so avoiding potential conflicts is very important to me."

Mei nodded knowingly.

Mobius exclaimed in surprise, "You're even more monstrous than I imagined!"

"No, this has nothing to do with monsters. The contradiction is too obvious. If we make assumptions within a reasonable range, it will be easy to find that what I said is the most likely one."

Mei said calmly.

"Moreover, this kind of research is actually meaningless to us, since this kind of power that can wander in different times and spaces is beyond our comprehension."

"Well, if you put it that way...indeed, your deduction is the most likely—but I thought you'd be quite the fanatic when it comes to this kind of thing," Mobius remarked.

This girl was even more enchanting than she had imagined.

"I fully understand where my limits are, and this phenomenon can no longer be explained by current science—although the existence of the Doctor himself cannot be explained by current science."

Mei said expressionlessly, "For us, whose limit is only 10, don't try to study things that are 100 or 1000. If you really can't understand it, you can temporarily put this matter on the Honkai."

"Do you think Honkai is some kind of dumping ground?"

Although Mei's words made a lot of sense—it's always right to Honkai for things that can't be explained in this world— Liu Bai still wanted to complain.

As for the system... Although Liu Bai himself was also puzzled about the origin of this thing, just like Mei said, if the limit is only 10, don't try to study things that are 100 or 1000.

Anyway, things aren't too bad as they are for now.

"Trash can? That's a good analogy."

Before Mei could say anything, Mobius nodded in agreement.

"But since this research is meaningless, let's get back to the main topic—how's the offensive-defensive alliance coming along?"

"... I couldn't find a reason to refuse."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Mei grasped the hand that Mobius had extended.

"... You guys actually did this right in front of me?"

Liu Bai twitched the corner of his mouth, and suddenly a wicked idea popped into his head.

"By the way, Mei, you can ask Hua to form an alliance against Mobius. I believe Hua won't refuse, considering you're my junior sister."

"???"

Mobius looked at Liu Bai with a resentful expression.

You betrayed me?

"Find my senior sister... that's a good idea."

Come to think of it, as long as it's under the guise of "protecting the teacher," my senior sister probably won't refuse.

"Mei, you actually believe such an obvious attempt to sow discord?"

"I believe you," Mei answered without hesitation.

"..."

The so-called alliance between offense and defense may dissolve in less than ten seconds.

Mobius stared blankly at Mei, unable to think of anything to say.

After all, although she was Mei's introducer, in matters of the heart, this identity was obviously not as useful as that of her fellow disciples.

It's more accurate to say it's all this guy's fault!

Mobius glared fiercely at Liu Bai.

"... Don't keep looking at me with such a resentful expression, it makes it seem like I started something and then abandoned it."

"If you don't start something and then abandon it, then there's no such thing as a true start-and-abandon relationship."

Ah... in a certain sense, there's absolutely no way to refute that.

"You're putting me in a difficult position..." Liu Bai's gaze shifted.

"Let's skip that for now... Doctor doesn't want our relationship to deteriorate, you can understand that, right?"

Mei said to Mobius.

"Furthermore, I don't understand why you're in such a hurry, Dr. Mobius."

"..."

None of you understand, right?

Mobius said irritably, "Mei, how old are you this year?"

"Sixteen."

"I'm twenty-eight! In two years I'll be thirty!"

Mobius said, somewhat frantically.

... It feels really strange to see a calm and strong woman like Mobius go crazy like this.

"You have no idea what it's like to be a single woman in your late twenties! There's a saying, 'faded beauty,' you know?"

"That word has absolutely nothing to do with you, Dr. Mobius..."

In that sense, Mei still feels some sympathy for Mobius.

"But then again, as long as you don't say it, no one would think you're almost thirty, right? You're probably only twenty-four or twenty-five at most."

Although she knew that the other party was her senior in the scientific research field, Mei would not have realized that the green-haired beauty in front of her was actually twelve years older than her unless it was specifically mentioned.

"... Hmm, that's true."

Putting everything else aside, Mobius is quite confident in his face.

"But what's the use of that... What if someone just looks as beautiful as you and is even younger than you comes along someday?"

Mobius spoke while staring at Mei.

"..."

That's something you can't completely refute...

No, in fact, Mobius's words directly gave Mei mild anxiety.

This situation is absolutely terrible, isn't it?

You are just as beautiful as someone younger than you.

"They might even have a more likable personality than you."

Seeing the expression on Mei's face, Mobius silently added insult to injury.

"Tell me, what would you do in this situation? Don't tell me you're going to just raise your hands and surrender?"

"... That's really quite anxiety-inducing."

Mei was convinced. She would also feel anxious in this situation.

In particular, Mobius's last words were the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Mei knows very well that her personality is not the likable kind.

Or rather, the word "likable" has absolutely nothing to do with her, a quiet and reserved female researcher most of the time.

To be honest, from childhood to adulthood, Mei has only had three people she can talk to, not counting her parents.

Liu Bai, Kevin, Su.

She didn't lock her up. Although Kevin and Sue were a bit afraid of her, they were still senior and junior classmates, so they got along quite well and talked a lot.

Okay, now we have to add another one, Mobius.

If someone with a likable personality were to emerge someday... well, like that Miss Elysia.

... This is so anxiety-inducing!

Chapter 127 If it doesn't kill anyone, then it's a success!

"Hey hey hey? Dr. Mobius, Dr. Mei, how's your chat going? I want to come in... eh?"

The Pink Elf Miss who pushed open the door was a little stunned by the scene in front of her in the office.

A small induction cooker had appeared in Mobius's office sometime during the night, with a small iron pot burning on it. Mobius was stirring the contents of the pot with chopsticks.

Mei, on the other hand, was sitting on the other side flipping through a book, seemingly completely oblivious to what Mobius was doing.

"It's a perfectly normal scene, but why does it feel inexplicably creepy..."

Elysia couldn't help but mutter to herself.

At this moment, Mobius also noticed Elysia.

"Elysia, you've come at the right time. Come and try my cooking!"

"This..."

Why did I develop a strange sense of crisis?

"Um... Dr. Mobius, you can cook?"

"Cooking? Isn't that obvious? It's lunchtime, you must be hungry too, come and have a taste."

Mobius turned off the induction cooker and called out to Elysia, while also tucking a strand of hair behind his ear to project a mature image and make his words sound more convincing.

However, Elysia silently took a step back. Dr. Mobius's sudden enthusiasm must be part of a conspiracy!

Normally, wouldn't they just ask you what you're doing here with a blank expression, and then send you away?

Sensing that something was wrong, Elysia immediately refused.

"Um, I've already eaten at the cafeteria, I'm not hungry. Doctor, why don't you eat with Dr. Mei?"

"I dare not," Mei said, raising her head with a blank expression.

"Dr. Mei, you're really quite frank..."

Elysia then looked at Mobius.

Mobius then turned his head away somewhat guiltily.

"I wouldn't dare."