"Of course." Ai Yue hurriedly changed the subject. "In any case, we'll have plenty of time in the future. If you don't trust me, you can observe me for a while longer."
"I have my own ideas." Mobius snorted coldly. "So, can we end things here today?"
To be fair, Mobius did not actually believe that Ai Yue would do anything harmful to humanity. From a scholar's perspective, Ai Yue seemed completely different from every other scholar, including Mobius herself.
Some scholars treated knowledge as a stepping stone to wealth and status. Such scholars made few contributions and caused little harm. Others wanted to make the world and humanity better. People like that might become great scientists whose names would go down in history, or civilization's sinners whose names would stink for ten thousand years. Still others walked along the edge of extremes, relying on creeds or certain attachments to ensure they would not harm humanity. Such scholars were extremely dangerous, yet they might also change the future of all human civilization.
Mobius believed that she and Mei both belonged to the third type.
But Ai Yue—honestly, if he had not been able to produce results at the drop of a hat that propelled human technology forward in a quantum leap, Mobius would have found it difficult to believe that this fellow was involved in scientific research.
Rather than a scholar or scientist, Mobius felt that he was more like a... charlatan.
The sort who made a few hand gestures, muttered a few words, took a couple of steps, and then directly came up with a solution to a problem—only to tell you that "the secrets of heaven cannot be revealed" when you asked him why.
The more Mobius thought about it, the more irritated she became. At this point, she only hoped that Ai Yue would hurry up and disappear from in front of her so that her blood pressure could come down a little.
"There's one more thing." Ai Yue said, "Is the Second Herrscher's corpse with you? I want a genetic sample."
"What are you planning to do?" Mobius froze for a moment and looked at him strangely. "This is one of Moth to Fire's highest-level secrets. Without an authorization signed by those people above, no one is allowed to touch it. Not even me."
"But you definitely have one stashed away." Ai Yue spoke with absolute certainty. "Give me a sample. I have a use for it."
"You want to study a Herrscher?" Mobius's expression grew even stranger. "Can't you just chant a spell or something and research the Second Herrscher's abilities?"
"What do you take me for, a mage?" Ai Yue rolled his eyes. "Without a basic sample, what am I supposed to research with?"
"Then what about that gun just now?" Mobius was still hung up on it. "That was obviously the Third Herrscher's power, wasn't it? If you need samples, how did you create something like that?"
"I got it from Vill-V... I mean, I happened to get it." Ai Yue nearly let the cat out of the bag, but fortunately, Mobius did not seem to care. "So, are you giving it to me or not? I can trade you something else."
"What kind of thing?" Mobius asked curiously, indirectly admitting that she really did have one. "Don't try to fob me off with something random."
"This." Ai Yue pulled several crumpled sheets of paper from his pocket. "I think you'll be interested."
Mobius took the papers from Ai Yue and unfolded them. They were a report in an extremely casual format.
The cover read: "On the Possibility of Reproducing Simulated Herrscher Authority in Fused Warriors Through Genome Editing."
Although the lousy title was barely comprehensible, it did not stop Mobius from understanding it. She gave Ai Yue a horrified look, then hurriedly flipped through the pages.
It was only three simple pages, yet its contents were enough to shock the entire Moth to Fire.
This was a theory built upon the Fusion Warrior Project, but even more radical and dangerous. In the report, Ai Yue wrote that by analyzing the energy waveforms left behind by Herrscher authority, they had discovered that it was a method of specially manipulating Honkai Energy, allowing it to interfere with reality.
If this special method of manipulating Honkai Energy could be analyzed in reverse, then the genomes of Fused Warriors could be edited to give them the ability to change the nature of Honkai Energy, thereby simulating Herrscher authority.
The specific method of operation was...
Mobius flipped to the next page and discovered that there was nothing beneath it.
What the hell? Wasn't this just an introduction?
"What happens next? What happens next!?" Mobius's blood pressure rose another notch. She threw dignity to the winds, climbed over the operating table with both hands and feet, rushed in front of Ai Yue, and grabbed him by the collar. "Give me the rest!"
Mobius had plenty of momentum, but Ai Yue was more than a head taller than her. As a result, Mobius instead looked like a child demanding candy.
"The free content ends here." Ai Yue calmly held out one hand toward Mobius. "To view the paid content, purchase VIP service to unlock it."
So he was using these few pages as bait!
Mobius had naturally realized Ai Yue's sinister scheme, but she could no longer stop herself.
She released his collar and took several deep breaths before finally managing to calm down.
"Come with me." She put the few sheets of paper away, shot Ai Yue another look, and finally walked outside the operating room.
Ai Yue said nothing and quietly followed behind her.
The two of them left the operating room, only for Mobius to discover that the Sōgen Sisters were standing not far away, looking as if they were about to leave.
Something was wrong. These two slackers seized every opportunity to slack off and would never approach the operating room unless necessary. Why had they not left today?
"Stop." Mobius immediately called out to the two in front of her. "What are you two sneaking around here for?"
"D-Doctor Mobius!" Danzhu was so frightened that her entire body stiffened. "We, we, we really weren't eavesdropping..."
"We were only standing by outside the operating room, Doctor Mobius!" Sōgen hurriedly cut off Danzhu's unintentional confession. "What if you and Doctor Ai Yue still needed our help?"
"Hm?" Mobius gave a meaningful little snort. "Forget it. This has nothing to do with you anymore. Go."
She did not have time to deal with these two fools now.
"Thank you, Doctor!"
Sōgen quickly pulled Danzhu against the wall and stood properly, leaving room for Mobius and the others to pass. Yet when Ai Yue walked by, she began waggling her eyebrows at him.
Her expression was incredibly animated, and she even gave him a thumbs-up.
Was she... saying I did a good job? What did I even do?
Ai Yue stared strangely at the two mischievous girls, unable to understand why they had suddenly praised him.
Only after the two people had disappeared far around the corner did Sōgen and Danzhu finally let out a long breath.
Then their expressions became excited. "Danzhu, are you sure you heard correctly?"
Just as Danzhu had nearly blurted out, the two slackers had indeed been trying to eavesdrop outside.
"Absolutely!" Danzhu nodded firmly. "Doctor Mobius really did shout something about giving her the thing underneath!"
"Whoa~~~" Sōgen immediately covered her face in a see-no-evil gesture. "That was the operating room! That's way too bold, isn't it?"
She had known that Mobius would not casually let unrelated people into the operating room, but this development had truly exceeded their imagination.
Still, there was a volunteer's corpse on the operating table. Could anyone really get excited in such an environment?
Sōgen hesitated for a moment, then suddenly understood. Someone who could hit it off with Doctor Mobius—what kind of good person could he be? Perhaps an environment like this was their idea of romance!
"Big Sis, Big Sis," Danzhu looked curiously at Sōgen's constantly changing expression. "Is this what Imor called... that big piece of gossip?"
"Yes, Danzhu. This is big gossip, or 'big melon' for short." Sōgen nodded, then shuddered and looked sternly at Danzhu. "But we absolutely cannot tell anyone about this. Only the two of us can know, understand?"
If Doctor Mobius found out that they had spread gossip about her, wouldn't the next person lying on the operating table be her?
Seeing Sōgen's frightened expression, Danzhu nodded as if she understood.
But it was obvious that she did not have Sōgen's shrewdness and could not imagine all that.
Meanwhile, Mobius, unaware that she had taken on a completely different image in the minds of her two assistants, brought Ai Yue to another corner of the research institute.
"Your research institute is huge." Ai Yue could not help sighing. "Compared to this, my place is practically a log cabin."
"You'll have one someday too. It might even be bigger than this." Mobius stood before a door and unlocked it with a key. "We're here. This is the place."
Inside was a simple, plain bedroom: a bed, a wardrobe, a table and chairs, and no excessive decorations. The only exception was a pink rabbit plushie on the bed.
"This is where you usually live?" Ai Yue was not surprised. Mobius clearly looked like the kind of mad scientist who might not even return here every day. "I didn't expect you to like rabbits."
"I don't, but Elysia insisted on giving it to me. What could I do?" Mobius sounded somewhat helpless, with a hint of another emotion mixed in. "Wait here."
She walked to the wardrobe and opened it. After rummaging around inside for a long while, she finally took out a small box. "This is it."
Ai Yue was just about to reach for it when she hid the box behind her back. "Where's the thing you promised me?"
Ai Yue then took another folded report from his pocket. The two of them reached out at the same time and took what they needed from each other's hands.
The trade was complete.
"Genetic Sample: Second Herrscher (Rare): Usable Value 100%."
"Using this material will directly activate research projects related to the Second Herrscher."
When Ai Yue gripped the item Mobius had handed him, the information that appeared before his eyes made him smile.
"You really are easy to fool." Seeing his expression, a wicked thought suddenly crossed Mobius's mind. "Aren't you afraid I just gave you some random thing to deceive you with?"
"I have my own methods of verification." Ai Yue put the box away, then waved his hand and showed her his glove. "It seems you're quite trustworthy, Doctor Mobius."
"Hmph." Seeing that he could actually distinguish whether an item was genuine, Mobius let out an ambiguous snort. She then lowered her head and began studying the report Ai Yue had given her.
After quickly reading through the remaining content, Mobius raised her head and said to Ai Yue, who had not left yet, "The content isn't complete. Don't tell me there's some super-VIP paid content too?"
"How could there be? What do you take me for, a penguin?" Ai Yue waved his hand. "That's all the actual content."
The reason it was not a complete version was not that Ai Yue intended to conceal anything. It was because the report's contents had not come from a research project completed through the system's deductions.
It was something Ai Yue had worked out himself over the past two days, based on the knowledge he had gained from two Herrscher technologies and the Fusion Warrior Project. Because his knowledge was limited, the contents were incomplete. Compared to the entire project, it could only be said to be a beginning.
That was also why he had chosen to give the report to Mobius.
As Ai Yue had said, all the scholars in the world combined could not compare to the system. But humanity was not entirely useless, and the system was not omnipotent either. Since the system could currently deduce only one research project at a time, its efficiency meant that Ai Yue had to rank his research projects by importance and handle them one by one.
Since some projects would be difficult to reach a conclusion on even in his hands, why not hand them over to a top scholar like Mobius? Perhaps they could help shoulder some of the burden.
"In other words, you took a half-finished product—no, something not even half-finished—and used it to trade with me?" Mobius glared fiercely at Ai Yue. "Do you think that's appropriate?"
Ai Yue instead asked indifferently, "Do you think it isn't worth it?"
Mobius and Ai Yue stared at each other for a long time. In the end, she was the one who looked away. "It's worth it."
As a scholar, Mobius could not lie about a research project. Although Ai Yue's report could only be called an outline, perhaps not even that—it was merely an embryo—it was still an embryo capable of giving birth to infinite possibilities.
Mobius knew better than anyone how valuable such an embryo was.
Let alone a genetic sample of the Second Herrscher—even if Ai Yue had asked for the Second Herrscher's corpse, Mobius would have found a way to obtain it for him.
And yet he had handed over something like this so casually. Did he really not know how precious it was?
Oh, it wasn't worth much to him? Then never mind.
As the saying went, once the thought of giving up arose, the world suddenly felt much broader. After Mobius calmly accepted the gap between herself and Ai Yue, some string in her head seemed to snap, making her feel much more relaxed.
"Anyway, it belongs to me now." Mobius stuffed the entire report into her pocket without ceremony. "Even if I achieve results later, I absolutely won't put your name on them!"
"Suit yourself." Ai Yue waved indifferently, then began studying the various documents on the bookshelf beside Mobius's desk. "If there's anything you don't understand, you can come ask me anytime."
Those words, sounding exactly like a teacher instructing a student, made Mobius glare at him again. She was always the one who said that to others.
Forget it. Out of sight, out of mind. Everything would be fine once this fellow left.
Mobius consoled herself inwardly while preparing to go to the laboratory and carefully analyze the details of the report.
Yet by the time she reached the door, Ai Yue still showed no sign of leaving. He had even pulled out a book and sat down in her chair to read it!
"What are you doing?" Mobius finally lost her patience and spoke first. "You've just obtained a new material. Aren't you going back to conduct experiments?"
"Huh?" Ai Yue looked up at her, then glanced at the words "Artificial Imaginary Space Stabilizer: In Development" floating in the upper-left corner of his vision. He shrugged. "There's no rush. Elysia has something going on tonight, and it's closer to go there from here."
Since the system was doing the work for him, what difference did it make where it trained?
"So you..." Mobius felt that her blood pressure had never stabilized since meeting Ai Yue. "Do you really count as a scholar?"
Mobius still remembered how excited and impatient she had been the first time she obtained a precious research sample. She had not wasted a moment, immediately rushing back to her laboratory to begin her research. Unlike this fellow, who was actually thinking about having somewhere to go tonight and saving a little travel time from her place.
"What could be more important than researching the Second Herrscher's genetic sample?" Mobius thought for a moment. "Elysia... What has she been doing lately?"
"Preparing Kevin's birthday party. Tonight is the rehearsal." Ai Yue glanced at Mobius. "She should have invited you too, right?"
"Oh, so that's what it was." Mobius finally found the corresponding memory in a corner of her mind. "Is something like that really important?"
"It's not that important." Ai Yue did not think much of it. He knew perfectly well that Mobius could not possibly be interested in such a thing. "Regardless, I'm going."
"Hmm..." Mobius looked at Ai Yue, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, she closed the door again and returned inside. "Then I'll go take a look too."
"Huh?" This time, Ai Yue was the surprised one. He turned his head and looked at Mobius, who had already lain down on the bed. "You're going?"
"What's wrong? Can't I?" Mobius smiled slyly, apparently pleased with Ai Yue's reaction. "Elysia invited me before too, you know. I just didn't accept at the time."
Ai Yue naturally did not try to stop her. He could only shrug. "All right, then. Hopefully she won't mind."
"When has she ever minded?" Mobius shook her head. "Instead of worrying about her, you should worry about everyone else."
"I hope they'll still be able to eat when they see me."
The facts proved that Mobius understood herself very clearly.
When Elysia learned that Mobius was coming too, she looked delighted. "Mobius is coming too? That's wonderful! The more people, the merrier!"
But then she changed the subject. "However, Mobius, you should pay more attention to your relationships with other people too, okay?"
Before you continue