Chapter 156

"I don't feel anything,"

Mobius shrugged, then couldn't help glancing at the profile of the person next to him. "But it definitely gave this guy a good time."

Tonight, she was no different from any other passerby, after all, she had to give the entire stage to someone to perform. In fact, Mobius doubted whether the people present would remember tomorrow that, in addition to 198, there was another person with the serial number 199 who had also joined the Seeker's Cult at the same time.

However, she didn't really care about such things, so it didn't bother her.

"So happy!"

Ai Yue couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "Wow, is this what it feels like to be dressed in fine clothes and not go out at night? It's so awesome! I want to do this a few more times!"

"That's enough, isn't it?"

Mobius rolled his eyes. "What's the difference between your behavior and a college student challenging an elementary school student to a mental arithmetic contest?"

"What are you saying? What are you saying?!"

Ai Yue's eyes widened. "I'm contributing to the development of human technology, okay?!"

Mobius pursed his lips, but finally couldn't help asking, "So, what you're saying is true?"

Ai Yue was taken aback. "What do you mean, real or fake?"

"It's that last thing you said to Einstein,"

Mobius looked at Ai Yue, "You don't actually think of yourself as a god, do you?"

"No, I'm not that arrogant, am I?"

Ai Yue couldn't help but retort, "Do I look like the kind of lunatic who would call himself a god?"

"Picture."

Mobius said seriously, "Most importantly, I think you do have the right to call yourself a god."

This left Ai Yue speechless. "Are you praising me?"

"Certainly,"

Mobius smiled slightly, then turned his head away. "However, you'd better not become a god."

The flickering lights outside the car window illuminated Mobius's face, making her expression unpredictable.

The price of becoming a god is very heavy.

Twenty four

Chapter Twenty-Four: Those who understand first will guide those who understand later.

Ai Yue didn't pay much attention to what Mobius said, and Mobius didn't intend to continue on the topic either, since discussing whether Ai Yue could become a god felt very strange.

"By the way, Eden,"

As if he had thought of something, Ai Yue looked at Eden in front of him again, "If possible, I hope you can have more contact with Einstein and help her manage the affairs of the Seeker's Cult. She will probably be quite busy next."

Although tonight's events were an unspoken understanding among everyone and were not explicitly stated, Ai Yue knew very well that his presence in the Seeker's Cult would likely spread quickly within Atra City and attract more scholars to join.

At that time, how to maintain this sect will become a problem that everyone must pay attention to. Now, because there are relatively few people, it can be maintained by the self-discipline of the members. However, as more and more people join, a professional management team will naturally be necessary.

"It sounds like you have a high opinion of this sect?"

Eden also understood the unspoken meaning in Ai Yue's words. "It's really unexpected. I thought you would be more disgusted by organizations that act under your name."

"Let's stick to the facts. If someone is using my name to do bad things, then I certainly won't let them get away with it."

Ai Yue said with a smile, "But it wouldn't be right not to help an organization that can promote scientific progress, would it?"

To be fair, although it felt strange to be worshipped as a god, the doctrines and ideas of the Seeker's Cult were very much to Ai Yue's liking.

Therefore, provided that the organization does not change its nature, he is willing to lend a helping hand to ensure that scholars can have an environment where they can exchange and communicate on an equal footing.

If possible, he even hopes to spread the sect's ideology to a wider area and get more people to join.

In an era of conflict between nations, knowledge, as an extremely important resource, was held in the hands of different forces, making its circulation and dissemination extremely difficult.

This situation has led to many scientific and technological projects that could have developed rapidly by involving more scholars being used as weapons to threaten other forces for various reasons. This phenomenon is clearly unhealthy.

With the establishment of the United Earth Government, the barriers between nations have finally begun to loosen, and the prerequisite for the flow of knowledge has been quietly achieved.

Imagine if scholars around the world could set aside things like background and talent, and instead exchange ideas and make progress together, then the world's technology would surely enter a period of rapid development.

Although this growth rate is theoretically far less than the impact of Ai Yue's individual contribution to the advancement of human technology, it can comprehensively change every corner of human life, something that Ai Yue alone could not achieve.

In order to defeat the Honkai, the technology tree he has mastered is actually quite distorted. Such development may solve the threat of the Honkai, but it cannot allow human civilization to grow healthily.

As the savior of this world, Ai Yue believes it is necessary for him to consider the future of all mankind, and the Seeker's Cult is clearly a good point of intervention.

"I see."

Eden responded with a smile, "I don't have anything urgent to do lately, so leave the Seeker's Cult's problems to me."

Ai Yue nodded and said nothing more.

He was quite confident in Eden's way of doing things. It could be said that among the Fused Warrior, Eden was the one who understood human nature the most, so entrusting this matter to her was the most reasonable choice.

The three of them quickly returned to Eden's residence in Atra City, which, unsurprisingly, was a luxurious detached villa. Two maids dressed as young girls greeted them at the door, an unusual sight that made Ai Yue take a second look.

He had just looked away when he was met with Mobius's intrigued expression. "What, you like this kind?"

"It's just that it's very rare."

Ai Yue offered an explanation, then quickly changed the subject, "But Eden, I didn't expect you to own a mansion of this caliber in Atra City."

"It was a gift from a friend. If it weren't for entertaining guests, I probably wouldn't have used this place so easily."

Eden said casually, "Do you like it? If you do, you can stay here permanently."

"Then forget it, I'm still not used to this kind of life."

Ai Yue shook his head, then glanced around the room. "Where are Aponia and Pardo?"

"Nia is probably choosing the fine wines to be tasted at tonight's party,"

Eden replied, "As for Little Pardo, I gave her the key to the collection room. Is she still inside?"

Ai Yue was immediately shocked. "You let Pardo into your collection room?"

What's the difference between this and putting wolves into a sheep pen?

"Precious jewels only have value in the hands of those who appreciate them. In my possession, they are nothing more than dusty collectibles."

Eden smiled and shook his head, clearly not caring about the matter. "Perhaps it's because I promised Pardo she could choose something she liked to take away, which made her suffer from decision paralysis?"

Isn't her problem not indecisiveness, but rather insatiable greed?

Ai Yue was about to say something when he saw Pardofelis reluctantly walking up the stairs connecting to the underground, "Sister Eden, I've made my choice... Oh, Brother Yue, you're back?"

Seeing Ai Yue sitting in the living room, the cat-eared girl excitedly pounced over, lay down on Ai Yue's lap, and held up a carefully carved gemstone in her hand to show him. "This is what Sister Eden promised to give me—uh, Sister Eden, is it okay if I choose this one?"

She felt a little guilty halfway through her sentence and couldn't help but look at Eden beside her, afraid that she wouldn't agree.

"Of course you can,"

Eden smiled and nodded. "Little Pardo has a good eye. This is the rarest ruby in the collection room."

Pardofelis could only chuckle awkwardly and remain silent—having been a homeless child herself, she had no discernment whatsoever. Her only criterion was that the gem had to be expensive enough, which is why she ultimately chose the largest and most beautiful gem in the collection.

Fortunately, the value of gemstones is generally linked to their size and clarity, so her choice was not wrong.

A moment later, Aponia came downstairs, carrying several bottles of wine. "Eden, I've made my choice... Ah, you're back?"

She placed what she was carrying on the table, then sat down next to Eden: "So, it seems the party can begin?"

Ai Yue blinked immediately. "What, is there something else about me?"

25

Chapter Twenty-Five: What happened to the saying that alcohol emboldens cowards?

Ai Yue ultimately skipped the party, since he really didn't like drinking.

However, Mobius was not so lucky. Having let Ai Yue go, there was no reason for Eden to let her go as well. So he used some unknown conditions to bribe her and keep Mobius.

Meanwhile, Pardofelis had also wanted to run away, decided to stay and taste the wine after hearing Eden say that the value of this bottle of wine exceeded that of the ruby she had just received, and became the fourth member of the party.

As a result, Ai Yue ended up all alone.

Of course, Ai Yue didn't really care about this kind of thing. Rather, he could use this private time to do some things that were inconvenient to be seen by others.

For example, check if your cheat program is working diligently.

Ai Yue lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and the system interface reappeared in his mind.

Research on the Stigmata Project has yielded results. It is certain that the phenomenon appearing on Mobius is indeed the result of the perfect fusion of mind and body.

Unfortunately, this was not a result of the Stigmata Project, but rather a miracle that occurred by chance after the Stigmata Project was combined with Mobius's own abilities.

In other words, if the person who completed the Stigmata Project had not been Mobius, it might have led to a different outcome.

Even so, Ai Yue obtained enough data from Mobius. As long as he continues to verify along this direction, he will one day find a way to stably integrate the mind and body.

In addition, the system also presented the results of the Stigmata Project. This plan reduced the difficulty of awakening Stigmata and could effectively improve humanity's resistance to Honkai Energy. However, similarly, those who awaken Stigmata through this plan cannot activate their own Stigmata Space from the beginning.

This is also Ai Yue's consistent style: to achieve a compromise by using a compromise method. Although the results obtained in this way are relatively limited, they are safe enough and will not cause any problems.

As for the Stigmata Space, it can be completely compensated for through other means later. If one patch is not enough, then add two. It will eventually take effect.

As he browsed through the contents of his mind, Ai Yue also became a little restless—he hadn't spent several days properly in the lab, and now he had been given a project that urgently needed to be verified. He felt uncomfortable all over.

Why don't we just cancel the trip and go back to work?

Ai Yue thought about it and finally gave up the idea—although it was indeed impossible to travel to every corner of the world, it would be too anticlimactic to go home after only visiting two places.

At the very least, we should go to a place that most people can't get to at the end.

Ai Yue was still planning his next trip when he heard a knock on the door. "Ai Yue, are you asleep?"

Ai Yue walked over and opened the door, only to see Eden supporting Pardofelis under her armpits, barely managing to keep her in place. "Great, so you weren't asleep. Then you can take care of Little Pardo, shall we?"

At this moment, Pardofelis's eyes were blurry and her face was flushed. She was only able to stay upright because of Eden's support. She was obviously drunk. Even Ai Yue was seeing her like this for the first time.

"Ah, Brother Yue..."

Seemingly recognizing the person standing opposite her, Pardofelis subconsciously reached out, but only groped around Ai Yue haphazardly. "Hehe, two Brother Yue... three Brother Yue? This way I can have one, right?"

"What's going on?"

Ai Yue took Pardofelis from Eden's hands, a subtle expression appearing on his face. "Do you even force children to drink alcohol?"

"This is truly a miscarriage of justice,"

Hearing this, Eden looked troubled. "Actually, we only poured half a glass of wine for Little Pardo, but even with just half a glass, she's like this... Maybe she drank too much?"

Recalling how Pardofelis had boldly downed her drink in one gulp, Eden couldn't help but smile helplessly.

"Looks like he's still too young,"

Ai Yue recalled seeing the label on the bottle Aponia had brought over and shook his head. "But there's nothing to worry about, it'll be fine in a bit."

Pardofelis is Fused Warrior after all, and half a cup of wine can only have a temporary impact on her; she can recover after a rest.

"Then it's up to you."

Hearing Ai Yue's reply, Eden nodded. "I originally wanted to ask the maids for help, but she kept calling your name, so I had no choice but to come to you."

"Is there?"

Ai Yue was stunned for a moment, then looked down at the girl who was curled up in his arms. "But she's already asleep."

"It seems she really depends on you,"

Eden smiled and said, "Only when I'm with someone I can trust can I fall asleep so peacefully."

Clearly, Eden was aware of Pardofelis's past experiences. She knew very well that people who grew up in that kind of environment would find it difficult to settle down in an unfamiliar atmosphere. The only way was to have familiar people by their side.

"You're overestimating her vulnerability."

Hearing this, Ai Yue shook his head instead, "Pardo's courage may far exceed your imagination - and between the two of us, it's hard to say who is more dependent on whom."

"That was a really unexpected answer,"

Eden paused for a moment in response to Ai Yue's words, then revealed a subtle expression. "However, I'm quite good at judging people, you know."

Leaving behind these profound words, Eden took his leave.