Chapter 181

"You can check it."

Seemingly anticipating the questioning, Vill-V unhesitatingly spread her arms wide, adopting a "can anyone else do that?" attitude. "Anyone affected by the mutated energy will have residue left in their body, even Elysia is no exception—but I definitely don't have any!"

Mobius frowned immediately, because she suddenly realized that she seemed to have unconsciously become the villain responsible for playing the straight man.

Damn it, I came out to change my mood, but now I feel even worse!

Although it was clear from Vill-V's attitude that she was telling the truth, Ai Yue and Mobius still conducted a thorough examination of her.

And as Vill-V said, her body was exceptionally clean, with no trace of the abnormal energy that had ever affected her.

"How?"

After completing the examination, Vill-V beamed, "Now you can prove my worth, right?"

"...really."

Mobius gritted his teeth, still trying to be defiant one last time, "The test results show that you are indeed not affected by the aberration, but is it possible that you isolated the infection route by relying on the Spiral Workshop?"

"No,"

Vill-V raised her index finger and shook it, giving a "I knew you were going to ask this" look. "What do you think I've been doing all this time? I confirmed this by studying other aberrant Fused Warrior and helped them recover from their aberrant state. It's all documented."

As she spoke, she took out a document that she had prepared beforehand and handed it to Mobius.

After taking the document, Mobius finally accepted the matter completely, but she still glanced at Ai Yue as if to say, "You're just going to watch like this?"

Ai Yue was still engrossed in his report, seemingly oblivious to Mobius's gaze. This only fueled Vill-V's smugness. She leaned back in her chair, arrogantly crossing her legs and propping them on the table. "Want to know how I did it? Beg me and I'll..."

"I see."

Ai Yue suddenly spoke up, a thoughtful expression on his face. He then activated a particular item in the data and highlighted it, "By using an artificially synthesized element to neutralize the effects of the distortion, and by fusing this element into your own Mutated Weapon, you can achieve immunity to distortion... But it seems that you are not yet able to synthesize this element stably."

He raised his head again, looked at the dumbfounded Vill-V, and smiled, "So you've been searching for a way to stably synthesize new elements for so long, but it seems you haven't found one yet?"

With a loud bang, Vill-V lost her balance and tumbled off the chair, falling to the ground.

But the commotion also jolted Vill-V back to reality. She jumped up and rushed to Ai Yue: "How did you find out?! Do you know how long it took me to confirm this?"

The shock of having obtained the answer through every possible means and countless hardships, only to have it casually uttered by someone else, is something that Vill-V will likely never forget for the rest of her life.

"It sounds like you didn't finally confirm the existence of this new element at the last minute, did you?"

Ai Yue patted her shoulder, revealing a condescending expression, "So it seems the naming rights to this new element don't completely belong to you yet?"

Vill-V leaned against the lab table, looking somewhat lost, muttering things like, "I was the one who discovered it first," "How could it have turned out like this," and "Why is he so skilled at it?" She seemed to have suffered a severe blow.

Mobius, no longer dwelling on his earlier emotions, walked over and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. "You'll get used to it, or just stay away from this guy in the future."

As a fellow scholar, she could fully imagine Vill-V's mental journey. First, she discovered that she was completely unaffected by the aberration. In order to find the reason, she secluded herself in the Spiral Workshop to study it. She worked hard for dozens of days until the moment before she was captured. She finally found the reason through Dr. Mei. She confirmed that no one had discovered this matter yet. As soon as she found someone to brag about, she was directly surpassed by the other party. The whole process took less than five minutes.

The psychological gap is so huge that most people simply cannot bear it.

"Vill-V... are you alright?"

Elysia also leaned closer with some concern, "She looks a little scary."

"It's just that I haven't been stimulated by Ai Yue enough, it's nothing serious."

Having been through it all, Mobius was very experienced in this matter, and simply waved his hand, "Either stay away from Ai Yue from now on, or get closer to him and be stimulated to develop antibodies, and you'll basically be fine."

"That sounds weird,"

Elysia's expression was strange, then she looked at Ai Yue, who was busy not far away, and said, "Ai Yue, aren't you going to comfort Vill-V?"

"Hold on."

After fiddling around for a while, Ai Yue finally came over with a small box and handed it to Vill-V. "Here, this is your new discovery. Give it a name."

Looking at the tiny crystals in the small box in front of Vill-V, a glimmer of life seemed to return to her eyes. She glanced at the box, then looked up at Ai Yue, who was looking down at her. Her lips trembled slightly, and then—

"Hey, Vill-V, Vill-V?"

Elysia supported Vill-V's limp body, then looked at Ai Yue with a helpless expression, "You, I asked you to comfort her, not to provoke her!"

"Well,"

Ai Yue scratched his head. "Isn't it enough to give her the new element synthesis formula she wanted as a reward?"

What's the difference between what you're doing and stabbing her in the heart?

Upon hearing this, Elysia could only shake her head. "Never mind, I'll take Vill-V to rest. You guys continue with your work."

After Elysia helped Vill-V leave the laboratory, Ai Yue turned around and exchanged a glance with Mobius.

In the instant their eyes met, they both burst into laughter.

"Feeling good now, huh?"

Ai Yue said with a smile, "Look at you just now, your eyebrows were all furrowed together."

"It's all because that guy's attitude is so infuriating, he's almost as bad as you."

Mobius rolled his eyes, then suddenly sighed, "But isn't this a bit too much of a blow to Vill-V?"

Mobius and Vill-V were both geniuses and admired each other greatly. However, their styles of doing things and their ideas were in conflict, which caused some contradictions. But those things were just trivial matters in the face of the enemy that humanity was facing.

If Ai Yue were to completely destroy a person's self-confidence, it would undoubtedly be a loss for humanity.

"Don't worry, that guy is much tougher than you think."

Ai Yue simply shook his head, revealing a meaningful smile, "How do you think she grew up?"

As it turned out, Ai Yue's view was correct. Two hours later, Vill-V reappeared in the two of them's laboratory.

"Well, here's the new element I've discovered!"

She pushed open the laboratory door and rushed in excitedly, "I've got it! This brand new element will be called 'Helix'!"

"The name is too long, making it inconvenient to remember and summarize."

Without looking up, Ai Yue said, "To put it simply, let's call it 'Luminous Element'."

"Huh? No way! This is way too perfunctory!"

Upon hearing this, Vill-V protested loudly, "This is a new element that I discovered after countless efforts, time, sweat, and money. You can't do this!"

Is it difficult?

Ai Yue finally raised his head and smiled at Vill-V, "Isn't this something you can do with your hands?"

"You bastard!"

Vill-V gritted her teeth in anger, but couldn't refute it. "I don't care, I'm going to call it Spiral!"

"Anyway, I've already submitted the application, so you can call me whatever you want in private."

Ai Yue shrugged. "Instead of worrying about these things, we should hurry up and come help. Maybe we can find another 'Whirlwind Element' and make a pair."

"That seems alright."

Vill-V understood the grim situation and didn't dwell on it any longer. "What are you doing now?"

"To artificially synthesize new elements and attempt to use them to create a protective system."

Ai Yue tossed her a thick plan, saying, "In the worst-case scenario, we would need to install this protective system on every Fortress City to ensure that humanity does not degenerate to the level of monkeys due to the power of the mutation."

"This sounds like a huge project. Remember to approve a larger budget."

Vill-V took the plan and carefully looked through it. "But you said this is the worst-case scenario, so what about the best-case scenario?"

"The best-case scenario is to mix the new elements with third-generation Soul Steel to make a small box."

As Ai Yue spoke, a cruel smile appeared on his face. "Then stuff that Herrscher in there."

"This solution sounds very convenient, I like it!"

Vill-V's eyes lit up upon hearing this, but then she noticed the key point, "Wait, third-generation Soul Steel? How come I didn't know there was a third-generation Soul Steel? When did this happen?"

"Huh, didn't anyone tell you?"

Ai Yue turned to look at her with some surprise, "I went to the moon before and made it there."

"Damn it, they actually developed the third-generation Soul Steel behind my back!"

Vill-V angrily pulled a metal ingot from her pocket and slammed it on the table. "Then what is this thing I've been researching?"

Clearly, she wasn't idle behind the scenes either, always trying to surpass Ai Yue.

Ai Yue took the metal and examined it for a moment, then put it back with some disdain. "This thing of yours can only be considered Youth Edition Soul Steel."

"Then what about the money I burned for this!"

"Uh, so you're being extravagant?"

"You two, if you keep causing trouble, get out of here!"

Chapter Sixty-Two: Now everyone is really showing off their unique abilities.

It turns out that the number of people doing the work does affect efficiency.

When Ai Yue was all alone, even if he worked 20 hours a day, he always felt that there wasn't enough time—and that was pure working time, with the other four hours just for short breaks.

But once Mobius and Vill-V returned, he could simply leave those tedious tasks behind and free himself up to focus on how to deal with the Herrscher of Aberration.

Although Ai Yue had previously used Vill-V's shining moments as a substitute for his own shoes, he also had to admit that the appearance of "Luminous Element" had indeed saved him a lot of work and had also led him to many new discoveries that he had not been aware of before.

For example, before this, although Ai Yue used the Mutated Weapon to restore the Fused Warrior from their distorted state, there were still residual reactions of distorted energy in their bodies. This reaction could not be eradicated and instead showed a tendency to increase over time.

If this situation continues, even if the Herrscher does not have any further impact on these Fused Warriors, they are very likely to experience the symptoms of mutation again after a period of time.

However, with the new element discovered by Vill-V, this residual distortion can be completely eliminated, thus preventing future problems.

This stuff is even beneficial to the human body. In just preliminary research, Mobius found that it can effectively reduce the risk of many diseases. If the synthesis threshold can be lowered, it could even greatly promote the development of the existing medical system.

"So you discovered this element by accident?"

Mobius glanced at Vill-V beside him, a hint of jealousy in his eyes. "You really got lucky, Vill-V."

"What are you talking about? Luck is also a part of ability!"

Vill-V immediately widened her eyes and retorted defiantly, "This is the result I got after trying many times on my own. You can't be envious of it!"

Thinking back to her previous attempt at the Mutated Weapon surgery, Vill-V still felt lingering fear—the pain and torment were truly unbearable for most people.

"That's just a basic skill, what's there to envy?"

Mobius simply shook his head slightly, showing disdain for the young man who couldn't endure hardship. "Oh, I almost forgot you only recently entered this field. Never mind then."

"Alright, don't forget you two are here to report on your work."

Dr. Mei, sitting opposite them, rubbed her temples with a headache. "Have you all resolved the tasks I assigned you?"

"Of course, it's all here."

Vill-V placed the portable storage device on the desk. "I've even thoughtfully provided three different plans. It all depends on when you approve the funding."

"Given the current situation, let's focus on gathering enough manpower first,"

Dr. Mei could only sigh, "Mobius, what about you over there?"

"It's resolved too."

Mobius nodded in agreement. "Speaking of which, where's Ai Yue?"

After being assigned their respective jobs, the group never saw each other again.

"He took care of everything yesterday and set off for Shenzhou."

Dr. Mei said, "Judging by the time, it should be time by now... Why, didn't he say goodbye before he left?"

Mobius pursed his lips and remained silent, clearly acquiescing.

"Fine, you're dumping the work on us and going to slack off in Shenzhou, huh?"

Vill-V, standing nearby, couldn't help but complain, "I want to go play too!"

"He's not going there for fun; there are still over 25,000 Fused Warrior back in Shenzhou who need medical attention,"

Dr. Mei shook her head, then gave a mischievous smile. "But you do have similar plans—I remember you're quite familiar with Africa, aren't you?"

"That's right, the starting point of the Hundred Cities Project was in Africa!"

Vill-V nodded, then realized, "Wait, you're not going to make me treat the aberrations too, are you? I'm just an engineer... no, I'm just a house builder, I can't do this kind of work!"

"With manpower so tight right now, how can we worry about so many other things?"