Starting Funds Secured!

Raven casually set the pot on the bed and put on her somewhat edgy black-and-red jacket.

When she turned around again—

An absurdly handsome man was holding her teapot and giving her an awkward yet polite smile.

"Um... hello?"

"Hello—put my teapot down right now." Raven's face immediately darkened.

"Your main concern is the teapot?"

"Oh... so this is an alien?"

In the dark, heavy-looking room, Mobius sat lazily in the seat of honor, propping up her head with one hand while repeatedly poking Liu Bai's face with a finger from the other.

Mobius?

Wait?

Why was World Serpent's Serpent Lord Mobius?

Shouldn't it have been Kevin?

Liu Bai, watched over by Raven, was a little dumbfounded.

Although Mobius had always been highly requested due to her popularity, how could she have been added as World Serpent's Serpent Lord?

What about Kevin's original storyline, then?

What the hell had this mod changed about the story?

Still... Mobius's mature form still had human pupils.

Did that mean Mobius wasn't a MANTIS yet?

Tsk... what a mess.

"Although he's very handsome, he doesn't look any different from a human at all." Mobius's eyes flickered with a light that was hard to tell whether it was disappointment or curiosity.

"There's no mistake. I saw him holding my teapot and sitting on my bed while I was changing."

"That's my teapot." Bai couldn't help correcting her.

"This is my trophy." Raven was expressionless, as though she were saying something perfectly serious.

"That's right. You're a prisoner now. You, and everything on you, belong to World Serpent."

After poking Liu Bai's face enough, Mobius lazily reclined in her chair and revealed a teasing smile.

"I can cooperate. I'll be your lab rat."

The moment Liu Bai said that, both the expressionless Raven and the teasing Mobius froze.

"Did this alien get water in his brain?" Raven muttered.

Was being the Serpent Lord's lab rat really that easy?

If Liu Bai knew what Raven was thinking, he would definitely answer—yes, it was. Very easy.

The counterintuitive thing was—the more valuable the research material, the more cautiously it would be handled.

Dissection?

What a joke. Who would start by dissecting someone?

Even dissection itself was a false premise.

He was an ordinary person through and through. Mobius was, at most, a mad scientist, not a homicidal lunatic. Once she got bored or failed to find anything through her research, she would just let him go.

Honestly, if Kevin had really been the Serpent Lord, Liu Bai would have had to give a long-winded speech. This was actually much easier to deal with.

"Mm-hmm...?"

Having recovered from her surprise, Mobius narrowed her eyes as she examined Liu Bai. The corners of her lips curled up slightly, forming a bewitching smile.

"Interesting. I like you very much. From today onward, you're my lab rat. Raven, return his teapot."

"...Yes."

Somewhat unwillingly, Raven returned Liu Bai's several thousand dollars.

"That pot isn't ordinary either, is it?" Mobius glanced at it and tilted her head. "Is your companion inside?"

Mobius had not forgotten that there had been two life signs among the visitors from beyond the stars.

"Guinaifen."

Liu Bai shook the pot and tipped it over. A red-haired girl rolled out with a scream.

"Ahhhhh!"

It looked like coming out of the pot had not been a very gentle experience.

"This is the bodyguard traveling with me, Guinaifen." Bai pulled up Guinaifen, whose eyes were still spinning.

"Ah... cough, right, right, right. My name is Guinaifen. I'm a bodyguard."

Having recovered, Guinaifen was a little unclear on the situation. But as an online streamer and street performer, Guinaifen had maxed out her ability to read the room.

It looked like her Boss's negotiations had gone quite smoothly?

Hadn't they already reached the stage of introducing themselves to one another?

"Why does she look human too..." Mobius looked even more disappointed as she watched Guinaifen.

However, Raven gave Mobius a look at that moment—this girl was no mere decorative bodyguard.

Though she was not a professional assassin or fighter, she definitely had some skills.

At the very least, Raven could sense a certain amount of threat.

...If the Serpent Lord were taken hostage at this distance, it would be troublesome.

Still, before that girl could take the Serpent Lord hostage, Raven could take this kid named Liu Bai hostage first.

Mobius did not know whether she had received Raven's signal, but she cast a somewhat melancholy glance at the two of them and the teapot in Liu Bai's hand.

The fact that they were nothing like the aliens she had imagined left her deeply bored.

That teapot... Mobius was interested in it, but she had played with it before. It felt like an ordinary teapot, and most likely only the man before her could use it.

...Perhaps it was something like biological encoding?

In any case, there was no point in forcibly taking it—she did not like doing that sort of thing either.

"Raven, from today onward, you'll be responsible for taking care of the two of them."

"...Huh?"

A trace of confusion finally appeared on Raven's cold face.

"Me?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Mobius propped up her head and lazily looked toward Raven.

"Wait, Highlord, I'm an assassin! Shouldn't you just keep lab rats in a cage or something?"

"Huh? What kind of strange nonsense are you talking about?"

Mobius's expression turned strange.

"Even if they're lab rats, you can't really treat them like lab rats. And do you think raising lab rats is easy?"

I already thought I was pretty inhumane for a scientist, but Raven, you're even less humane than I am?

"..."

Raven wanted to argue, but she felt that doing so might bring even harsher ridicule from her Highlord...

"Um... Highlord, to be honest, I'm not good at taking care of people. What about Jackal? Isn't she your capable assistant?"

"No. That woman will steal their food."

Mobius refused without even thinking.

"Anyway, Raven, you're the lab-rat caretaker now. If anything happens to those two, I'll hold you responsible."

"Guh..."

So unreasonable...

"Of course, I'll give you an extra ten thousand a month during this period, as compensation for your hard work and for the two of their living expenses."

"This subordinate will gladly give everything for Highlord!"

Starting Funds Secured!

Unlocked World Serpent Favorability. Current World Serpent Favorability: 10 (Neutral)

Unlocked Mobius Favorability. Current Favorability: 10

Unlocked Natasha Cioara Favorability. Current Favorability: 20

Successfully joined World Serpent. Current Position: Lab Rat (Next Position: Unknown. Promotion Requirements: Unknown)

What was this? Did lab rats have to dream of getting promoted too?

"Boss..."

"No, Little Gui, don't look at me like that."

Guinaifen's sympathetic expression made Liu Bai's skin crawl.

"Didn't you notice that you're a lab rat too?"

"Uh... I guess that's true..."

Guinaifen wanted to argue, but after thinking about it, it really was true.

Who told her to be this man's bodyguard?

"So you're Boss Liu? You look pretty rich, don't you?" Raven still seemed rather curious about Liu Bai.

"Yeah. Give me fifty now and let me out. Once I return to the interstellar world, I'll directly give you a planet."

"Heh heh."

Raven sneered twice, and Liu Bai calmly held out his hand toward her.

"...What are you doing?" Raven looked at his outstretched hand and immediately had a bad feeling.

"Guinaifen's and my living expenses."

Liu Bai wiggled his fingers, signaling for Raven to hurry up and pay.

"...Don't get so brazen just because you have a bit of good looks." Raven's cold face instantly darkened.

"What if the two of us starve to death? Right, Little Gui?"

Liu Bai looked toward Guinaifen, who immediately understood and cleared her throat.

"Ahem! Everyone... ptooey, ptooey, let me start over! Ahem! I hail from the court of Camelot beyond this realm, with twelve brothers and sisters~"

"Not that part." Bai had only wanted her to back him up and make them sound pitiful.

"Boss, you don't understand. You need buildup to sell a sob story—our days were peaceful and joyful, until the Calamity Scourge Ancestor brought the ravages of war. Our parents took up arms against the enemy for the nation, but the Legion was unstoppable, and our family lost its country and home~"

Guinaifen began singing at the top of her lungs.

Raven: "?"

It was quite moving, but... could someone translate for her?

Raven's head was full of question marks.

"Forget it, Little Gui. Do you have something more straightforward?"

Liu Bai looked at Raven's expression.

Okay, he got it. That had been the same expression he used to make while listening to advanced mathematics.