The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

"There were people helping out at the time," Liu Bai sighed, but didn't completely refute it.

Yes, what he said was definitely a lie.

Once you figure something out the first time, the rest is easy, especially when it comes to God Key... Liu Bai seriously suspects that neither Mei nor Vil-V, the two founders, actually reached level 10 in their God Key crafting skills... Of course, this might be due to limitations in skill level, materials, or other considerations?

At least Liu Bai glanced at his own God Key crafting LV10 that he had casually activated along the way, and then looked at those God Key, and could sense some flaws.

Liu Bai felt that he might be able to find some time to optimize these things, although a few individual ones might not be necessary.

Like the belt Mei wears, although it's a terrible product with many problems, it's the most suitable model for Mei. It has objective flaws, but not for Mei.

Hmm... But then again, is it possible to repair it in the simulation?

Once the simulation ends and reality is loaded, everything will be optimized naturally, and I won't have to worry about anything now.

"Speaking of which, teacher, aren't you going to visit our senior sister?"

Mei asked in a very strange tone.

"I think she's the biggest source of instability, compared to me, isn't she?"

"... You really did know why I came here, didn't you?" Liu Bai glanced at Mei.

The aloof female scientist revealed a wronged expression that didn't match her persona. "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would go along with those young people's nonsense?"

"Hmm... about half and half."

Liu Bai hesitated for a moment, after all, Mei was indeed the kind of student who was well-behaved most of the time, and she didn't need to worry about her much except when it came to cooking.

"I'm not as free as they are," Mei pushed up her glasses. "I have specific experiments to conduct."

The members of the three major organizations of Schicksal are now severely polarized between the scientific research faction and the military faction.

The research team is constantly busy with various tasks, including but not limited to optimizing the Moonlight Throne, optimizing the Fusion Warrior Project, dealing with future Herrscher, researching Herrscher and Honkai Beast, and exploring the Sea of Quanta.

The martial arts faction, on the other hand, is bored out of their minds, doing nothing all day long. Their only urgent matter is the Herrscher of Domination... But to be honest, this thing can't be rushed at the moment. At least we have to wait until Wendy and Welt put some pressure on the Herrscher of Domination before we can solve it.

"...Too."

Liu Bai thought about it and felt that Mei's words made a lot of sense.

Especially Shibao, although she is now "living together" with Fu Hua may not be able to keep Shibao... or perhaps it is precisely because she wants to keep her that she cannot.

For anyone other than themselves, Shibao is like having a donkey that's been driven smoothly.

"Then I won't bother you any longer. I'll go check on that girl first."

As Liu Bai's figure gradually disappeared, Mei looked at the steaming cup of coffee on the table with a disappointed expression. "Was I disturbing you...?"

Mei shook her head.

If her teacher had actually drunk coffee, she would have immediately undressed and pinned her down, but unfortunately, Liu Bai didn't show any intention of materializing.

Liu Bai definitely has some time left to materialize, and besides, it's almost midnight. As long as Liu Bai materializes, Mei can just go along with it. Impulsiveness is just a fleeting impulse. As for this being a laboratory... well, no experiments have been conducted here, right? Besides, she's the highest-ranking person in charge of this laboratory. Even if someone finds out, who would dare say anything? Do they even want to leave the laboratory alive?

But unfortunately, Liu Bai really had no ideas whatsoever.

"I feel like I've been found out."

Mei pushed up her glasses and muttered to herself.

Since her teacher didn't have any such thoughts, Mei decisively found a reason to persuade Liu Bai to leave... Of course, this reason was indeed reasonable and well-founded, after all, Shibao was indeed a troublesome guy, a huge time bomb.

"However, I still have a slight edge."

The fact that my teacher came to me knowing that Shibao was even more unstable means that he anticipated or sensed that I would cause trouble.

However, I had anticipated that the teacher would have anticipated this as well, so I didn't leave the lab at all, and even prepared for what would happen when the teacher came... Unfortunately, it didn't work out, so I had to go back to the original plan.

"Making trouble? Scientists don't make trouble in such a crude way...and I can't be as crude as Mobius when necessary."

Mei checked the equipment in the lab one last time, then turned and left the lab, closing the door behind her.

"It should be about time by now..."

"Raiden Mei! Are you an idiot?!"

The World Serpent is temporarily staying at the inn, and a large group of people are lying in Raven's room from the inside to the door—including Raven, the room's owner, of course.

At this moment, even though Raven and Mei had a good relationship, Raven lay on the ground and cursed loudly as if they had torn off their mask.

"That's not right... I definitely held my breath..." Mei looked at the bottle in her hand, which was still releasing gas, with a puzzled expression.

She's not so bad that she can't hold her breath.

"Project Bunny, so heavy..." Bronya muttered to herself as she was pressed under Project Bunny, her connection with it essentially severed.

Well, the weight of the Project Bunny itself isn't outrageous, and it's not much of a burden for the Valkyrie, but the fact that it's pressing down on her chest makes Bronya even more worried about her future.

"Seele said we shouldn't have come..." Seele muttered as she shrank back, as if preparing to bury her head in the sand like an ostrich.

"Ah... Mei, you're really something. Don't ever say you're my student again." Himeko and Ragna stared at the ceiling, utterly dejected.

Taking advantage of this moment, Rita secretly gathered her remaining strength and began rolling into the house.

"Raiden Mei, what exactly is that thing in your hand?" Raven asked weakly and irritably.

"I got the Honkai inhibitor from Dr. Mei..." Mei said rather guiltily, "But I clearly didn't inhale it."

"You idiot..." Raven already understood what was happening. "Is it possible that, besides entering through the respiratory tract, this thing can also seep into the body through the skin?! You idiot!"

Chapter 344 The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

When Mei explained the effects of this thing, Raven understood what it was—wasn't this the same trick she used to trick Rita back when she was still in World Serpent?

The anti- Honkai potion distributed by Schicksal has been improved to be absorbed through the skin, ensuring that even if Rita notices something is wrong and holds her breath, she will still be killed.

But then... well, that's how it ended.

In a way, it was a turning point in my life, and incidentally, the beginning of my ill-fated relationship with Rita and the start of my good fortune...

But I never expected that I would personally experience this feeling. It was absolutely terrible... But Rita didn't escape this experience either.

Raven tried to twist its head to see what Rita was doing, but when it turned its head, it found that Rita had rolled under the table and was looking at it with a peaceful expression.

Ah, this guy's just giving up.

Raven's lips twitched. He was speechless at Rita's attitude, but then he thought that there was nothing else he could do but give up now. In fact, it was already pretty good that he could give up now.

There's a bunch of people lying on the ground here, all of them here to pick a fight with Rita. If they surround Rita... well, Rita's probably going to be paralyzed.

So, it seems like there's nothing wrong with giving up?

Raven thought for a moment, and realized that he was good at slacking off; he had already become a seasoned slacker.

Thinking of this, Raven stopped cursing Mei and gathered its strength to start rolling on the floor, preparing to move itself to a place where it would be invisible.

It's better not to stay with Rita. What kind of job did the adults give her? Is this even humanly possible? Can you believe that half of the elites from the three major organizations of the Schicksal Anti-Entropy World Serpent are lying in this house, inside and out?

Although she was the only elite World Serpent lying here...

This job is really not something a human can do.

"Things just didn't go as I expected." Raven had just moved herself under the curtains when she heard a voice that looked almost exactly like Mei's, but more mature.

"Dr. Mei! You tricked me!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Mei's face revealed an indignant expression.

"What do you mean by 'tricking you'?" Mei calmly pushed up her glasses, her gaze looking through the cold glint of the lenses at her younger "self". "I only said that this medicine is highly volatile and colorless and odorless, but I never said that it can only be ingested through the respiratory tract."

Mei frowned and thought for a moment, realizing that Mei hadn't actually explained how this thing worked.

But this made Mei's expression even uglier.

"So you knew all along that things would turn out this way?"

"Although this drug has not yet undergone clinical trials, as an excellent scientist, I can at least estimate its efficacy."

Mei glanced calmly at the several corpses lying around her, "But I didn't expect there to be so many people lying here."

"..."

People like Himeko Ragna, who have some sense of shame, are already covering their faces.

This is so embarrassing.

"Looks like I won tonight." Mei said with a matter-of-fact expression. "Where's Rita? Where is she?"

"... First, let me ask you, what are your plans for dealing with Rita?"

"Give her a strong inhibitor that will keep her in bed for a week."

Mei pulled out a syringe that she had prepared beforehand from her bosom.

However, at that moment, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed Mei's wrist.

"!?"

"Hmm~ The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind~"

Mei turned her head at the sound and found two women, one tall and one short, who were completely covered up and standing behind her. The one holding her wrist was the shorter one.

"... Li Sushang?"

"Well, Dr. Mei, you didn't expect that, did you?"

Even through the black cloth, Mei could still clearly hear Li Sushang's cheerful voice.

"You..." Mei frowned slightly.

"Although I'd also like to see Rita get acupuncture, I can't let Dr. Mei be so smug—by the way, is this considered a sneak attack?"

"Since it's just the two of you..."

Knowing that one of them is Li Sushang, it's obvious who the masked woman next to her with a flat chest is.

Cheng Lingshuang frowned; she sensed that this doctor was definitely not thinking anything good.

"So it's Su Mei?" Mei pushed up her glasses, and after a brief moment of thought, she understood the situation. "Tsk, that girl, I actually forgot about her. I made a mistake. I admit defeat."

Surrounded by two militant factions, Mei had no intention of struggling and immediately surrendered gracefully.

Upon hearing this, Li Sushang released her grip, allowing Mei to retract the syringe.

"You guys handle things here yourselves, I'm going back to do my experiments," Mei said coldly, clearly unhappy—no one would be happy to have their victory snatched away before they even win.

The mother and daughter had no intention of offending the great scientist, so they immediately made way for him, knowing who they could and could not offend.

"So... does that mean we won?"

Li Sushang looked at the departing Mei with a sense of bewilderment and disbelief.

"Stepmother, we won without doing anything?"

"We won."

Cheng Lingshuang sighed, "Susang, go and move everyone outside to get some fresh air—including Rita."

"Huh? Not beat her up?" Li Sushang was stunned for a moment, and Cheng Lingshuang immediately smacked Li Sushang on the head without any politeness.

"You have the nerve to hit someone who can't even stand up?"

"Um... it might be embarrassing, but it's so cool..." Li Sushang muttered to herself.

"..."

Okay, Cheng Lingshuang also felt good, but there was no need to do it anymore.

Her second senior sister had arranged things so clearly; she wasn't being unreasonable.

"This guy escaped again."

Cheng Lingshuang glanced at Rita, who was peacefully waiting to die under the table, then scooped the two of them up from the ground, carrying them out one in each hand.

"Su Mei, what do you think Ling Shuang will do?"

"Don't worry, Grandmaster, Ling Shuang isn't the kind of person to act rashly—you know that, don't you?"

In the Shibao room, Liu Bai, Su Mei, Fu Hua, Cheng Lixue, and Qin Suyi sat around the table. Su Mei answered calmly.

"Of the seven talents, Ling Shuang was the most clever and quick-witted. Being lazy and stupid are not the same thing."