How Could a Little Kitty Get Fat?

Mei's talent lies in weighing the value of everything on a scale and then deciding what to keep and what to discard.

This is why Liu Bai let Mei lead the Previous Era —as a leader, Mei has no shortcomings except for not being able to lead from the front.

Cold-blooded enough, decisive enough, and wise enough.

In ancient times, Mei might have been a tyrant whose merits and demerits were difficult to judge, but in this era, Mei can be called a chosen savior.

With this protagonist-like setup, plus any "savior system" or "black technology system," Mei might be able to save the world entirely on her own.

Liu Bai could read the cold, unwavering determination in his student's eyes, and could only sigh, "Sorry, your teacher is really useless in this regard."

"No, without you, I wouldn't be who I am today." Mei paused for a moment, a hint of warmth appearing on her cold face.

"Don't underestimate your talent. Even without me, it would just take you a little longer. This position isn't difficult for you."

Liu Bai gave Mei a deep look.

Mei smiled at Liu Bai upon hearing this, "Teacher, I'll return those words verbatim—don't be so self-deprecating, you've already done enough, you've changed more than just me... Do you need me to repeat Miss Sakura's favorite sentiment?"

Mei cleared her throat and, mimicking Sakura's tone, said, "If it weren't for the BOSS, my sister and I might not have survived the disaster. Even if we had, I'm afraid I would have only been..."

"Stop, stop, stop! Mei, how could you remember something like this?!"

Sakura, who was standing nearby, blushed deeply and quickly rushed over to cover Mei's mouth.

"It's all because Sakura likes to make these sentimental remarks all the time. I'm sick of hearing them. Give me some time to prepare, and I can recite them backwards."

Mei tilted her head slightly and said, half-jokingly.

Then, Mei looked at Liu Bai.

"So, teacher, you've already done enough. If we fail, it's just because we're incompetent, it has nothing to do with you. You've already done enough."

Kalpas gave Mei a deep look, seemingly agreeing with her statement—to him, if he failed to protect his "home," it was simply because he was too weak.

"The word 'we' should include me as well."

Liu Bai sighed, "Forget it, we've clearly returned victorious, let's not talk about such heavy topics... What fun things have happened these past few hours?"

"What kind of fun do you want?" Mei asked with a half-smile. "Or, you could go to Mobius or someone else and create some fun for them."

Mobius is relatively free, after all, his biggest project has been resolved, but Mei hasn't even been shipped yet.

However, with a scientist like Cangxuan, who specializes in computers, as his assistant, the complete version... or rather, version 1.0 of Prometheus is about to be shipped.

"Looking for Mobius... I might as well go find Eden or Pardo."

Liu Bai sighed.

"Alright, we won't bother you anymore. We're leaving, Sakura, Kalpas."

"Hmm... Mobius, what is this device?"

"A vibrational resonance device used to decompose the body tissues of Honkai Beast."

Is it valuable?

"Do you think any of the equipment I have here is worthless? — Of course, I'm talking about money in the normal sense. Eden, you should probably give up."

Mobius glanced helplessly at Eden, who was asking all sorts of questions in the laboratory.

Eden had almost asked about all the equipment in her lab.

Moreover, after asking each question, he would ask again, "Is it worth anything?"

Honestly, if anyone else had asked him that, Mobius would have just rolled his eyes at them, but since it was someone like Eden, a "wealthy landowner," who asked him, Mobius would at least patiently answer.

After all... having money really does allow you to do whatever you want.

Mobius, who had wandered with Liu Bai back then, was by no means lacking in financial acumen.

Although she could just take money from Liu Bai's pocket if she needed it, well... taking money from her husband is never as satisfying as taking money from her love rival.

—Although in essence, it was all Eden's profit,

"What's wrong, Eden? Why are you suddenly interested in science? But let me tell you beforehand, you don't have much talent in this area, and you're getting old."

"The last sentence is redundant." Eden smoothed his hair. "I was just assessing the value of your lab."

"Hmm... If Mei hadn't said that, I'd be starting to suspect that he's planning to fire me first and then conscript me into his army."

Mobius gave Eden a strange look.

"But if you say that... can I take it as you wanting to invest in me?"

Mobius's words were partly a joke, but to everyone's surprise, Eden nodded in agreement.

"Although I'm the head of the household and manage the money, I still have some spare cash," Eden said, looking at the strange and wonderful experimental instruments in the Mobius Laboratory. "Anyway, the money is just sitting there, so I was thinking about whether I could do something useful with it."

Just leaving it there is pointless... what do you mean?

Mobius said he couldn't understand the wealthy dog's view of money at all. However, Mobius then thought of something else, "Eden, how much money did you deposit with Liu Bai?"

"Have no idea."

Eden shook his head cleanly and decisively, then looked at Mobius's incomprehensible expression with an air of self-assurance.

"I'm not in charge of the money at home, so why should I keep track of this? Anyway, Liu Bai has never shortchanged me on expenses."

Mobius was horrified after hearing this. Eden's "good woman" aura was so dazzling it was almost blinding. If you listened to her words without context, people might think that Liu Bai had made the money.

The feeling of "I feel sorry for him" that I had when I first met Eden resurfaced in Mobius's mind. To be honest, she would feel guilty if Liu Bai treated Eden badly.

Pah! Why would she feel pity for a woman in her thirties who is her peer?

Wait, isn't that insulting myself as well?

Or did he commit suicide at eighteen...? Mobius looked at Eden's beautiful face, which looked just like it did back then, and fell silent.

It seems... even if someone commits suicide and stays until they're eighteen, there won't be much difference?

Mobius rubbed his forehead, a depressed expression on his face.

"...If I were Liu Bai, I would definitely dump you and run away," Mobius said defiantly.

"Yes, I understand. After all, the head of the household left you and came to my side." Eden expressed his understanding kindly.

Upon hearing this, Mobius silently turned around and began searching for a scalpel.

Eden, you bastard, you're exposing my weaknesses, aren't you?! I'm going to expose you today!

"Doctor! Calm down! Calm down! Impulsiveness is the devil!"

Danzhu and Klein embraced Mobius around the waist.

Eden remained nonchalant. "By the way, Mobius, how much do you think it would cost to upgrade all this equipment? And isn't this lab a bit cramped? Vil-V's lab at ELM is three or four times bigger than this."

"What impulse?" Mobius shoved the two people off his waist with an annoyance, then smiled at Eden. "Do you think I'm that kind of impulsive little girl?"

"You were just knocked unconscious, weren't you?" Klein, as her close assistant, bluntly stated the truth.

"Ahem, don't talk nonsense." Mobius turned to look at Eden. "The equipment here is basically the most advanced, but... I think the laboratory could indeed be expanded a bit."

There's no particular reason why anyone wouldn't like a bigger lab.

Moreover, she can also bring over some somewhat useless experimental equipment, not for any particular reason, just because it looks nice.

"That's what I meant too."

Eden nodded. She didn't understand anything about scientific Honkai, but she did know a bit about interior design.

"I feel that the entire Moth Chasers to Fire laboratory is quite cramped right now. Since Mei has so much autonomy, should I invest in a super-large-scale, top-level experimental base for you?"

"...Why do I see golden light on Eden?" Mobius rubbed his eyes.

Danzhu nodded in agreement. "If my sister knew about this, wouldn't she publicly acknowledge Sister Eden as her godmother?"

Chapter 406 How could a kitten get so fat?

"Speaking of which, Eden, are you serious?" Mobius was somewhat worried that Eden was making fun of him.

"Don't let my appearance fool you, I take money quite seriously."

"Seriously, this is just reckless spending, right?"

Mobius said rather irritably, because she simply couldn't understand Eden's huge annual expenditure on gems; when it came to buying gems, Eden could cut off his hands without hesitation.

And while you might say he really likes it, he's also given away gems quite a few times. Now everyone knows that Eden, when slightly drunk, likes to pull people aside and talk about gems, and then give them away after the conversation.

Shameless girls like Aili and Pardo frequently show their faces in front of Eden, so they probably have quite a bit of money in their pockets—unfortunately, Mobius is concerned about his reputation.

"I just like the beauty of the gemstone itself." Eden was completely unconcerned about Mobius's displeasure, speaking as if she could understand Mobius's scientific fanaticism. "Anyway, just tell me if you want it or not."

"Want!"

Mobius nodded without even thinking about it.

She was a fool not to take advantage of the opportunity, and she didn't care even though she knew that her agreement meant a further split between her side and the Moth Chasers to Fire organization.

It's as if there's no division now.

Moreover, she had long been fed up with those seemingly intelligent but actually foolish people in the Moth Chasers to Fire. She wasn't naive; she simply had no desire to interact with them.

So be it! She couldn't be happier if the family split up!

Mobius even thought that Mei had long wanted to separate, but it was difficult to do so because she needed to leverage the status and reputation of the Moth Chasers to Fire itself.

After all, in the eyes of most people, having an official logo always carries more weight than other organizations.

Hmm... Actually, following this line of thought, Mobius suddenly understood the political struggles between Mei and those in the upper echelons.

To maintain their position, the upper echelons need to be able to legitimately use the prestige accumulated by the Moth Chasers to Fire —after all, most people won't know who the specific commander is, they'll only know that the Moth Chasers to Fire saved them.

Although those guys held their positions without contributing much in the fight against the Honkai, their accumulated prestige was not to be underestimated...

No one knows better than those seasoned veterans in high positions how to take credit for themselves and shift blame onto others.

Success was due to their wise decision-making; failure was due to the team's incompetence.

If you expose the truth, it seems foolish, but once you add a long, tearful, half-truthful, and evasive explanation, many people will believe it.

(I guess the only thing Mei isn't good at is manipulating people's hearts?)

Mobius thought that, in fact, after figuring this out, even Mobius felt that something was amiss.

After all, if this "parasitic relationship" continues, those people may use their prestige to disgust Mei in some places in the future. Of course, it's just disgust; there may not be any real obstacles.

Well, from this perspective alone, the price Mei paid is nothing. After all, those people have lost the right to overturn the table, and they don't even have the ability to stop Mei from overturning the table. In this respect, these people have long lost the right to be pawns. Annoying people is the greatest resistance they can make.

Mei doesn't overturn the table and can even tolerate them, simply because these people are more useful as living mascots than as dead people.

The benefits of their deaths far outweigh the losses to the overall situation caused by killing them, and this leniency may well be a case of "spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones."

With his current power, it wouldn't be difficult for Möbius to kill a few incompetent officials who only have honors left—in fact, Mobius himself has plenty of ways to do so.

(Actually, I still think it would be better to kill him...) A cold glint flashed in Mobius's eyes.

She hates it even more when people try to disgust her.

"Mobius? Why did he suddenly make such a scary face?" Eden tilted his head.

"... I just suddenly realized that Mei is really something. He's almost a full cycle younger than us, yet he's ahead of us."

Mobius sighed.

"I think it's great that you're willing to invest, but I don't know what Mei thinks."

"She should agree," Eden thought for a moment. "Actually, Moth Chasers to Fire almost out of money, isn't it?"

"That depends on what aspect you're referring to. There's a lot of lucrative business, but the actual amount you get is quite small."

The logistics department was one of the places where those old guys had a significant influence, and the reasons are self-evident.

"In that case, Mei shouldn't refuse my proposal." Eden smiled. "I plan to have Liu Bai convert all the money into supplies as much as possible."

"Huh?" Mobius was completely taken aback by Eden's words.

Although she didn't have a detailed understanding of the amount of money Eden had earned over the years, she knew it was an enormous sum! It might even be a fortune comparable to that of a nation!

And now they're saying they want to replace everything with supplies?!

"Because in the end times, money will gradually lose its meaning," Eden smiled. "Giving a piece of gold to someone who is about to starve to death is meaningless— Mobius, you haven't thought about economics at all, have you?"

"Well... it's undeniable."