Salary Interview!

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in."

The villa's main door was pushed open, and Er walked in with a grim expression.

Stepping over the threshold, he glanced around the living room and saw only Elysia, which surprised him.

"Where's Lin Li?"

"Xiao Li is resting, don't disturb her," Elysia said, pointing to the bedroom door.

"Is something wrong? You can sit down and tell me." She sat on the sofa herself and gestured for him to join her.

"..."

Er pursed his lips, walked over, and sat on a single sofa on the other side.

Elysia turned on the TV, about to put on SpongeBob SquarePants, when Er stopped her.

"Elysia, what were you thinking?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Elysia tilted her head and asked.

"Don't play dumb. Why did you let Vill-V join Flame-Moth?"

"Oh, so that's what this is about? You all were silent all day yesterday, I thought you had agreed," Elysia said, clicking on an episode and engrossed in the SpongeBob SquarePants opening.

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea~"

"Sponge~Bob!"

"Turn it off!" Er shouted, his face showing impatient anger.

"Mmm..."

Elysia turned off the cartoon and lowered her head, looking greatly wronged.

Seeing this, Er knew she was faking it, but he had to admit it was effective and had significantly calmed him down.

However, he didn't expect Elysia's next words:

"Keep your voice down, or you'll wake Xiao Li. She has a terrible temper when woken up, and I won't be able to stop her if she gets angry..."

"?"

She's going to take her morning temper out on me? Er thought to himself.

He took a deep breath and tried to soften his tone. "Elysia, we at Flame-Moth gave you the position of Special Squad Captain, not so you could bring in someone who attacked Flame-Moth."

"But shouldn't you have known about this yesterday?"

"That's because... we were observing her in secret yesterday to see if she posed a threat to Flame-Moth."

"So... your conclusion is...?" Elysia asked, crossing her arms and looking at Er.

After that, she took out her phone, opened a chat log with someone, and read it out word for word.

"Vill-V was being followed the entire time she was entering Flame-Moth. They even sent a female soldier to follow her to the restroom. No one spoke a word to her, and everything she did was forbidden..."

"Is this your observation?"

"..."

Er was speechless.

"Besides, you just said yourself that I'm the captain of the Special Squad and have the right to recruit people. So why are you questioning me like this after I've brought her in?"

"..."

"Don't worry, Er, my judgment is never wrong. Vill-V is a very capable person."

Elysia's tone suddenly changed. Her previous demeanor had felt aggressive to Er, but now she was suddenly gentle.

She was even gentler than the Elysia he knew before.

He followed Elysia's gaze and saw Lin Li standing at the bedroom door.

She was only wearing a light pink pajama set and looked at them expressionlessly. When her eyes fell on Er, they even flickered with a dangerous glint.

This made Er feel as if she would rush over and hit him if he said another word.

"Good morning, Xiao Li~" Elysia greeted sweetly. "Er and I were just discussing some matters, sorry if we disturbed your sleep."

She pushed aside the pink hair falling onto her face, stood up, walked over, and pulled Lin Li back into the bedroom. She then quickly came back out and closed the door.

Sitting back on the sofa, she put a finger to her lips and gestured for Er to be quiet. "I'm not kidding, you know. Xiao Li really would hit you."

"..."

Er was already feeling cold sweat break out on his back.

"Alright, you can trust me. It'll be fine," Elysia said, as if to comfort Er seeing his reaction. "Actually... instead of telling me all this here, it would be better to focus on discovering Vill-V's strengths. Perhaps she can really bring many incredible things to Flame-Moth... or maybe even earth-shattering changes?"

"..."

Er didn't answer, his face still grim.

"Would you like a cup of tea? I just made some myself," Elysia said, picking up a teapot.

"No, thank you."

Er finished speaking, stood up, and turned to leave.

"..." Elysia jiggled her teapot.

There wasn't actually any tea inside.

She put down her other things and walked into the bedroom.

Lin Li was lying on the bed, looking at her phone. When she saw Elysia enter, she asked, "Did you solve it?"

"Mhm? Doesn't Xiao Li trust me? I even predicted that Er would come over," Elysia said with a smile, pouncing onto the bed and caressing Lin Li's cheek.

Lin Li pushed her away.

"...I'm going to cry, you know?" Elysia puffed out her cheeks.

"Pay me first, then cry," Lin Li said expressionlessly.

"...You're not cute at all when you're so cold," Elysia rolled her eyes and said, "Are you feeling better now? Do you need to rest a bit longer?"

"No, my hands are just a little sore now. Nothing else is wrong," Lin Li replied, stretching her shoulders.

"Mm, that's good. But you should still lie down for a while longer."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to make breakfast, you idiot. What else would you eat in the morning?"

Elysia pinched Lin Li's cheek and, before the latter could react, quickly ran out of the room.

If she had been a moment slower, she might not have been able to get away...

Lin Li glanced at her, rubbed her face, and went back to playing on her phone.

Right now, the Flame-Moth official website was mostly discussing the matter of Vill-V, and Lin Li had learned a lot.

Anyway... how to put it, it had everything to do with Elysia.

Of course, that wasn't what she was focused on. She hadn't wanted to deal with this matter at all.

But, damn it, she saw a forum post titled: "On how Vill-V was arrested - Captain Elysia's little girlfriend teammate."

Damn it, everyone on Flame-Moth used their real names online. This poster, named Immer, would just wait.

Last night, Elysia had been happy about this for a long time. Lin Li didn't know what Elysia was so happy about.

It was just something someone had casually fabricated, yet it could make her laugh for so long.

"Xiao Li, come out for breakfast," Elysia's voice sounded from outside the door.

"Coming."

Lin Li nimbly got out of bed, tidied her clothes and hair, and walked out of the bedroom.

It was the same white congee, but perhaps fearing Lin Li would find it bland, a small jar of white sugar was placed on the side.

Lin Li used to like adding a lot of white sugar to her congee when she drank it. She could even finish a bowl of congee in a few seconds if it was sweet enough.

That wasn't a joke.

Although Lin Li didn't usually eat congee for breakfast, except when she returned to her hometown.

Elysia watched Lin Li keep adding white sugar and was a little shocked. She grabbed Lin Li's hand and said with concern:

"Xiao Li, you can't add too much, or cavities will be a problem."

"I won't get cavities," Lin Li broke free from her hand and continued adding sugar.

Just as mentioned before, as long as she added it to a certain point, she could...

Elysia picked up the sugar jar and placed it somewhere else.

She was a little scared. It was just a small bowl of congee. If Xiao Li kept adding sugar like this, the weight of the sugar would be more than the congee.

Then it wouldn't be eating congee, but eating sugar!

"..."

Lin Li looked at Elysia with confusion, then looked down at her bowl, only to realize that the white sugar piled on top of the congee was already higher than the entire bowl.

Looks like I added too much? Lin Li thought.

So she scooped a few spoonfuls of the white sugar from her bowl into Elysia's bowl. Feeling satisfied, she stirred it.

To outsiders, it looked like she had simply added too much sugar and was moving some of it elsewhere.

But in Elysia's eyes, it was different.

So Xiao Li added so much sugar just to share some with me!

So happy o(￣▽￣)b

After a round of monetary negotiation, Elysia naturally took Lin Li's hand and left the villa.

There were very few places that could be visited within Flame-Moth, mostly consisting of various training grounds and soldier dormitories and apartments.

The entire Flame-Moth main base had only two truly important locations.

These were Dr. Mobius's First Research Institute and the Flame-Moth high command's conference room.

Elysia had brought Lin Li to both of these places before.

However, because the base was so vast, even after visiting once or twice, Lin Li couldn't quite remember the specific locations.

So, for this trip to the First Research Institute, Elysia still led the way.

Although... even if Lin Li had known the way, Elysia would have insisted on holding her hand to go anyway.

That's right, after three days of careful consideration, our Xiao Li had decided to take up a part-time job at Mobius's place.

She believed that with Elysia's negotiation skills, her salary would definitely increase!

And so, the two of them arrived at the institute.

Compared to their last visit, the lush green cultivation pods seemed to contain some new, strange things.

For example, a giant eyeball, or perhaps dismembered limbs and body parts that didn't belong to humans, all appearing particularly eerie under the lab's stark white lights.

"Hi~ Dr. Mobius, we're here!"

Elysia greeted her, but Mobius was intently focused on something under the microscope and didn't acknowledge them.

After a long while, she let out a sigh and finally looked at the two of them, asking, "What? Come to waste my time again?"

"Uh, how could we? Dear Doctor." Elysia felt a bit awkward and changed the subject, "Where's Bianca? I don't see her."

"She went out for something," Mobius said plainly, leaning back in her restraint chair with her arms crossed, as if preparing to watch a show. "Since you're not here to amuse me, what are you here for?"

"It's about Xiao Li's job, of course."

"Oh? Have you decided? Didn't you think my salary here was too low?"

"..."

Elysia looked at Lin Li, who was also looking at her, frantically signaling with her eyes.

Mobius noticed Lin Li's gaze and said mockingly, "I've just developed a new medicine that can treat eyes. If your eyes have problems, you can try it."

"...Alright, Doctor. To be frank, we're here to discuss salary with you."

"How much?"

"What...?"

"What is your expected salary?"

"Hmm... How about, Doctor, you tell us Bianca's salary first? That way, we can compare," Elysia said after thinking for a moment.

Upon hearing this, Mobius chuckled and pointed to the two large cabinets placed at the entrance of the institute behind them. "That's her salary."

"Huh? Why would her salary be stored in a place like this?" Elysia asked, puzzled, but she walked over anyway.

The cabinet handles were designed somewhat inconveniently, and Elysia tried many methods to open them without success. However, Lin Li immediately knew how to do it and stepped forward to pull one open.

But the next moment, Elysia, sensing danger, quickly pulled Lin Li away.

Just as Lin Li was confused, the cabinet was fully opened, and a torrent of instant noodle cups poured out, pooling at their feet.

It was fortunate they were unopened new cups, otherwise, she might have died right there.

"..."

The two of them turned back to look at Mobius, recalling her earlier mischievous smile, and immediately understood what was going on.

"Uh, Doctor, you're not going to say... that Bianca's salary is all these instant noodles, are you?" Elysia's eyes twitched as she asked.

"Why else? How much salary can a researcher get? The research funds are all used to buy experimental materials and equipment," Mobius said. "Compared to cooking meals, which takes time and money, instant noodles are cheap and quick. Aren't they the most cost-effective option?"

"Then what about Xiao Li? Her salary won't be these, will it?" Elysia asked.

"If Lin Li wants it to be, then of course it can be," Mobius replied with a smile. "Oh, right, Bianca just stuffed these instant noodles in there a few days ago, so they'll fall out when you open the cabinet. If you don't mind, could you help me tidy them up? That way... during our salary negotiation later, you might have a slight advantage."

"..." Elysia wanted to say that the salary was determined by the Doctor, so how could there be an advantage?

But she didn't dare say it, as Lin Li was already tidying up the instant noodles.

Honestly, in all her travels around the world, Elysia had never seen such a wide variety of instant noodle flavors.

Spicy and braised, she could understand, but this... wasabi-flavored instant noodles? Who invented that?

Could people actually eat it? Elysia wondered doubtfully, starting to worry about Mobius's health.

Could a person's body really handle eating all these instant noodles every day? Besides, wasn't research work supposed to be very tiring?

Maybe when Xiao Li came back for meals, she could bring some for Dr. Mobius? That might even increase their favorability with the Doctor.

Yes, that's it!

Elysia thought as she tidied, and soon finished.

All the instant noodles were neatly arranged in the cabinet, bringing a sense of extreme comfort to Lin Li, who had a touch of OCD.

From her chair behind them, Mobius nodded in satisfaction.