Civilization's Last Retreat

"I'm just telling the truth, I won't hold it against her."

Eden shook her head as she poured herself a drink. She wasn't Mobius; she considered herself a high-level player, but she was easily distracted by low-level noobs.

To her, a fishpond is just a fishpond. Even if some of those small fry have slept with Liu Bai, Eden can still keep her composure.

What era are we living in? Do people still think that sleeping with someone equals winning?

What's the point of having a nobody in bed? When I get serious, I can tear them apart in a heartbeat, okay?

What's the point of winning a round? As long as I win in the end, all those philandering vixens will have to obediently grovel before me!

However... that's only true for fish ponds. When facing a player of equal caliber like Elysia, Eden has to be serious.

Eden is nearly ten years older than Mei and is also the sugar daddy of Moth Chasers to Fire, making him one of the most emotionally powerful.

How idle must she be to argue with Mei?

How desperate must Mei be to provoke her?

If someone else said Eden's words, they would call it stirring up trouble, but what Eden said was really just a reasonable statement.

"By the way, this is why you can't be a leader, Aili."

Eden pushed the glass toward Aili and said in a half-joking tone.

She didn't doubt Elysia's competence. As for Elysia... although she usually seemed eccentric and unreliable, so far, apart from the mission with Liu Bai, all her other missions could be described as impeccable.

Their impressions of each other are completely different.

Therefore, Eden believed that Elysia was definitely capable of getting things done, but because of this general impression... although it brought joy, it also gave people a somewhat "unreliable" impression.

If Elysia could put on a stern face at times, then Aili, with her combination of rationality and humanity, might be more suitable for the position of leader than Mei... Unfortunately, if Elysia could put on a stern face, then she wouldn't be Elysia.

"Waaaah! Eden! That's so hurtful! The captain's approval rating is 100%!"

Can I say that Kevin's approval rating is also 100%?

"...Never mind then." Elysia turned her head away, reluctantly admitting that a 100% approval rating wasn't something to be proud of.

After all, being compared to Kevin is a bit of a stretch... Even though Kevin is reliable when it comes to serious matters, there's still something off about him.

"On another note, now everyone... has become Fusion Warrior, right?"

Kosma and Kalpas also became Fusion Warrior this month, and were both harassed several times by Mobius was keen on collecting data.

However, what surprised everyone was that despite Mobius's provocation of the Kalpas, his death rate was still zero.

Aponia, upon learning of this, showed a relieved expression—although Kalpas almost attacked Aponia upon seeing her relieved expression.

It has to be said that the innate compatibility between Kalpas and Aponia is extremely poor.

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up?" Eden looked at Elysia with surprise. "And your definition of 'everyone' is far too broad."

If we're really going to talk about it, Einstein, Danzhu Cangxuan were also "masters."

"Just kidding—but Eden, don't you think we could form a super team or something?"

"That sounds like something Kosma would say."

Eden offered a very objective assessment.

"I don't think it makes any sense."

"Alright~ Eden, you've become boring too." Elysia sighed helplessly, looking very disappointed.

Eden remained unmoved. Why bring her into something so shameful?

As an elegant and mature woman, Eden sincerely avoids anything that might cause her shame—especially since this matter involves Elysia.

"Fine, I'll go find Dr. Mobius then!" After downing her drink in one gulp, Elysia pushed the glass aside and got up to leave.

Watching Elysia leave, Eden put away his cup and stared at her Elysia figure with a thoughtful expression.

"So... this guy's just been really bored lately, right?"

This guy seems to be starting to cause trouble for no reason. Eden knows his best friend's character very well; he likes to bother others when he has nothing better to do.

However... as long as they don't bother me, that's fine.

Eden drank another glass of wine by himself.

Better to die for your fellow Daoist than for yourself...

"Hmm~?"

Elysia skipped and hopped happily down the corridor when she suddenly saw Blanca leading a man dressed entirely in black robes toward her.

"Hello! Blanca!"

"Ah! Aili? Good afternoon." Blanca was taken aback for a moment when she saw the person greeting her, then she gave a teasing look. "Are you planning to harass the Doctor?"

"It's not harassment! It's just a tea party between my best girlfriends!"

"Say what you will." Blanca remained unmoved, clearly convinced that Elysia was there to cause trouble. "But the Doctor is in a good mood today, so he probably won't mind if you cause trouble."

"Huh? In a good mood? Weren't you in a terrible mood yesterday because of the failed experiment?" Elysia's eyes widened, revealing a curious expression.

"Um... that experiment wasn't exactly a failure. The technology was feasible, but there were some bottlenecks that were hard to overcome. However, there were some unexpected gains." Blanca subconsciously glanced at the black-robed man behind her.

Elysia naturally wouldn't miss this little move, and she also turned her gaze to look at the black-robed man in front of her.

She hadn't really paid much attention to him before, after all, wasn't it normal for Mobius to occasionally do something strange?

Elysia's strongest feeling about the man in black was, "Has Mobius finally done something shameful?"

"Hello?" Since the other person looked like a human being, Elysia tried to greet them, but the other person didn't seem to be paying any attention to her.

Um...

Elysia looked at the silent man in black robes in front of her and quickly started thinking.

"I remember Mobius said yesterday that his experiment had failed and the results had been thrown into the disposal pool..."

"I'll say it again, there was no failure... but Aili, you really remember things like this very clearly."

Blanca never expected that Elysia would actually remember these things.

"Wow, Blanca, you're really prejudiced."

Elysia crossed her arms, but her gaze remained fixed on the black-robed figure beside Blanca.

"On another note, the surprise that Mobius didn't discover yesterday but found today must have gone through some kind of selection process... perhaps a destruction pool?"

Elysia revealed a confident smile as if she had seen through the truth, but then her expression turned to surprise as she looked at the man in black.

"Um... according to this reasoning, it... it stayed in the destruction pool for a day?"

Elysia's face showed disbelief. That was the Destruction Pool, Mobius's personal Destruction Pool. A Honkai Beast would melt in a day if you put it in there. This person... well, he still looks like a human?

Seemingly sensing the surprise on Elysia's face, Blanca couldn't help but give a wry smile.

Although Elysia seems to do nothing all day, she truly memorizes the knowledge—even though it's almost impossible for her to use it.

It would have been better not to mention the little tidbits about their own doctor, because once they brought them up, it was clear that Elysia couldn't hide them from her.

"I really couldn't hide it from you." Blanca tore off the large black robe from the black-robed man beside her, revealing a large expanse of mechanically modified body and face underneath.

"This..."

"The android born from the Doctor's artificial body experiment was soaked in the destruction pool for a day, and 80 percent of its body was ruined. Fortunately, Gray Serpent —the name Dr. Mobius gave him—precisely preserved all the parts that could sustain life and showed a strong will to survive, so Dr. Mobius fished him out and rescued him."

Blanca's tone also carried a hint of admiration, after all, the other party's luck and patience were truly unmatched, and it had nothing to do with whether he was an artificial human or not, it was simply a miracle.

"That's something Mobius would do." Elysia's tone was also filled with amazement. Even as a layman, she could tell it was a miracle, but...

Where are you taking him?

Elysia looked the Gray Serpent over again.

This person's body is more than 80% gone, meaning that 80% of his body is now mechanical, and he can no longer be seen as human at all; he looks more like a mechanical guard.

Of course, that's not the point. The real point is... you can't possibly not know which is more suspicious, a mechanical guard or a mysterious person wrapped in a black robe!

If Gray Serpent hadn't been wearing a black robe, Elysia probably wouldn't have even mentioned Gray Serpent, or at most asked about his model.

But you dressed someone in a black robe, are you really afraid people won't ask questions?

So Elysia became suspicious. Although this move was so stupid that it didn't seem like something Mobius would do, maybe Mobius was deliberately doing the opposite?

In short, you doing this in broad daylight doesn't make you seem like a good person.

"Um... Doctor means to release him." Blanca's expression was also a little awkward. "The reason is that Doctor saw a possibility of life in him."

"Oh, did you report it to Mei?"

Elysia got straight to the point.

Blanca replied without hesitation, "No."

Are you kidding me? Would a PhD student ask me to do something like this when writing a report?

What a joke...

Elysia was taken aback by Blanca's decisive answer. After looking Blanca up and down, she realized that Blanca didn't really want to get involved in something that seemed so unreliable.

Elysia was looking at the memory. Blanca really didn't want to do this. Her doctor's actions were too reckless. What if Gray Serpent caused some trouble?

Oh, well, Blanca roughly understands the current doctors' rules for causing trouble—anyway, the losses from a failed attempt won't be greater than those from Herrscher, and success is a huge profit, so what's there to say? Let's do it!

However, to be fair, this kind of thinking carries a sense of "what's the use of trying" or "what's the point of trying?"

Throughout the entire process, the Gray Serpent remained silent, simply listening to the conversation between the two, seemingly indifferent to its own fate—but this was an illusion.

As an android struggling to survive, he cares deeply about his fate, but he knows that his fate is not currently in his own hands.

Elysia, looking at the Gray Serpent, also fell into deep thought.

"... Let's ask Mei for her opinion."

Elysia acknowledged the potential of the Gray Serpent and decisively chose to consult Mei's opinion instead of Liu Bai's.

Well, Elysia had also realized that Liu Bai was more conservative in his strategy than Mei, and some radical proposals might not be approved by Liu Bai.

On the contrary, Mei... at this moment, Mei's adventurous spirit is almost overflowing.

Chapter 436 Civilization's Last Way Out

"Approved, but before you can leave, you must undergo a certain period of observation. Also, have Mobius submit a report to me."

Just as Elysia had expected, Blanca only brought the Gray Serpent to explain the situation, and Mei agreed to it.

"By the way, where's Liu Bai?" Elysia realized she couldn't find Liu Bai.

In addition, Blanca didn't mention Liu Bai when she talked about the Gray Serpent, so Liu Bai probably isn't in Mobius's office either—after all, there's not much difference between Liu Bai agreeing and Mei agreeing.

In addition, since it was work time, Elysia was really curious about where Liu Bai was.

"Huh? Aili, didn't you know? Liu Bai went to research the Fifth Divine Key." Vil-V, who had been pulled over for a lecture, sat back down, her cheerful demeanor making it impossible to tell whether her budget had been cut or not. "Oh dear, is someone already starting to be disliked?"

"No matter what, I think he's better than you, Dr. Vil-V ..." Elysia retorted naturally, but then Vil-V expression turned puzzled. "The Fifth Divine Key? The All Things Dormant? What's he researching that for?"

"Leave a way out." Mei said calmly. "After all, we are all somewhat pessimistic about the current situation... But the teacher is probably the most pessimistic? No, it's also possible that the teacher has seen a more distant and cruel reality."

How could it not be cruel and unsustainable?

The power level of the Previous Era's Finality is undoubtedly excessive, much like in an RPG game where you only reach level 60 after completing the main storyline, while the final boss is level 100.

The Moonlight Throne took away about 32% of the Herrscher of Finality, and it took Kevin's full-force attack to stop her from Finality. To put it optimistically, the total damage output probably only accounted for 40%, or even less in reality.

Even if Liu Bai could provide an amplification, how much could it be? Even considering that the increase in combat power resulting from a comprehensive enhancement of physical attributes is exponential rather than linear, how much use would it actually be?

It's no use, the multiplier isn't enough. Kevin a three-fold increase, and Elysia only gets a little over five times, which is the limit for a normal person— Otto's is clearly not a normal person.

Moreover, it only lasts ten seconds, which is exactly the time it takes to deliver a full-force attack.

If it can't be resolved, this is without considering the maximum output of the God Key. If we consider the maximum output, then only Elysia can deliver a calculated attack on her own – but unfortunately, even if she is stronger, it is roughly equivalent to another shot from the Moonlight Throne.

Moreover, Liu Bai hadn't considered the butterfly effect he brought about. Basically, all the calculations were biased towards the civilized side, but the chance of winning was nonexistent.

Many people may think that the most terrifying thing about the Herrscher of Finality is that even with the full power of civilization, it was only barely able to stop the Herrscher of Finality.

However, in reality, the most terrifying performance of the Herrscher of Finality in the original timeline was that after being stopped, neither Su, who was in command, nor Eden, Hua, Kevin, who still had a certain fighting power, chose to pursue, but instead retreated to take care of the aftermath for civilization.

It stopped the Herrscher of Finality for a full 12 hours, and this data was probably calculated after the hit - after all, you can't just leave a big boss who could wake up at any time and turn around to go home and deal with the aftermath.