Mobius: Elysia, I'm Too Far Ahead of You

The next day.

[Ding~ Daily quests have been refreshed, please check, host.]

[Daily Quest: Shake hands with any Valkyrie/Flame-Chaser for more than five minutes.]

Xu Ziling stared at the floating panel that popped up from the low-profile system and fell into deep thought.

This mission... wasn't too difficult, it could even be considered a piece of cake. He could finish it by just telling Elysia now.

However, just like yesterday's daily quest, "Have physical contact with any Valkyrie for more than three minutes," these not-so-difficult missions always gave Xu Ziling a strange feeling, as if the system was intentionally or unintentionally guiding him in a peculiar direction.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Ziling asked in his mind:

System, are these missions... proper?

[Ding~ System updating, current progress: 78%...]

?

[Ding~ The mission system is an independent module that refreshes daily at a fixed time. System updates do not affect the release of daily quests.]

??

Then why did you say that to me?

[Ah, this... You didn't hear anything just now... You heard nothing...]

"..."

There weren't many people in this world who could make Xu Ziling fall silent, but the system was one of them.

Shaking his head slightly, Xu Ziling chose to give up pursuing the matter further, as it wouldn't benefit him. Beneath his brilliant gold hair, his emerald green eyes flickered, shifting his attention to the pink figure who had gotten up early, finished washing up, and then slipped into the small kitchen to busy herself.

Complaining about things was enough once; saying more would only add to the allure of his current body, which was already a source of national disaster.

Therefore, Xu Ziling decided to see if there was anything he could do to help Elysia, to offer her a helping hand, so that when he later made his strange request for a five-minute handshake, it would be easier.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

In the research institute's lounge area.

Mobius, who had fainted from Elysia's teasing, slowly woke up. She rubbed her still somewhat groggy azure rainbow eyes and immediately noticed Blanca beside her.

"Doctor, you're awake."

Seeing that Mobius had woken up, Blanca was about to hand her the resignation letter she had already written. But at that moment, she noticed Mobius's tired expression. After a moment of stunned silence, she changed her words:

"Doctor, are you feeling unwell anywhere else?"

Thinking that Blanca had been taking care of her while she was unconscious, Mobius felt a warmth in her heart. However, she also thought of the "pink demon" that had caused her to faint and couldn't truly be happy. Waving a hand at Blanca, she said:

"Never mind me for now... Blanca, has Elysia left yet? Go and call the Little Mouse over. I need to tell him a few things. He absolutely cannot come into contact with that pink demon, otherwise, he'll definitely be completely consumed by that pink demon."

"Uh..."

Seeing Blanca's slightly awkward expression, Mobius's face changed. She then tentatively asked:

"Elysia has already left... right?"

"Uh..."

"The Little Mouse isn't with her right now... right?"

"Uh..."

"...The Little Mouse has already been taken by her?"

"Mm..."

"..."

"E !!! LY !!! SI !!! YA !!!"

Furious, Mobius, with Blanca in tow, stormed over and directly saw the tightly shut door of the small building and the windows completely covered by thick curtains.

The room's setup, which allowed no light to escape, made Mobius frown. Seeing the two figures chatting and laughing in the kitchen, she seemed to understand something and immediately trembled with anger.

However, when truly pushed to the extreme of her anger, Mobius instead let out a cold laugh.

After all, barging in directly now and physically interrupting Elysia would be too out of character for her. Being outsmarted by Elysia yesterday and looking flustered was enough. She, Mobius, would not fall into the same trap twice.

Mobius's cold laughter made Blanca behind her shiver. The crumpled resignation letter in her arms seemed to lose its courage to be handed over again.

Wait a little longer... There will be opportunities later. The Doctor can't leave me yet...

Thinking this, Blanca refolded the resignation letter in her hand and tucked it into her inner pocket.

At this moment, Mobius also thought of something. With a cold smile, she took out her phone from her white coat pocket, brought up the surveillance footage, took a screenshot of a certain scene that had happened yesterday, and narrowed her eyes at the kitchen, which was only a wall away from them.

Heh... It's really thanks to the Little Mouse being disoriented when he first woke up. Now, with just this photo, the Little Mouse is destined to be experimental data belonging only to me, Mobius... Heh heh, Elysia, I will be far ahead of you.

Elysia, when you see this photo of me and the Little Mouse, your expression will surely be priceless, won't it? Haha~ It's really fun just thinking about it.

This time... I, this Serpent, will definitely make you understand what a gap is!

Mobius, lost in thought, didn't notice that in the kitchen of the small building, Xu Ziling, despite chatting enthusiastically with Elysia, had never once voluntarily stepped within half a step of her.

She could be good friends with Elysia.

But, only good friends.

This was Xu Ziling's true inner thought after being infected by her purity.

Of course, if given the chance, who wouldn't want to turn a flawless maiden into a wife solely for themselves? It's likely that any Captain who had served on the Hyperion and met Elysia would have had this thought.

But while calling her "wife" and joking around was one thing, if you were actually to try and tarnish her purity, setting aside whether Elysia herself would agree, you yourself might not be able to bring yourself to do it.

This wasn't a matter of being heartless or weak, but rather a normal reaction from anyone who had personally experienced Elysia's purity.

She was simply too beautiful, too pure, so pure that everyone who came into contact with her couldn't bear to claim her as their own.

Her purity, her perfection, her flawlessness, all destined her to deeply love everyone in this world, not just one person.

Therefore, Xu Ziling was very willing to be her friend, but he would absolutely not do anything that overstepped the boundaries of friendship. Otherwise... it would be a disservice to the title of this book.

"Little Ziling, help me crack four eggs, thanks~"

"Okay, just a moment."

"Can Little Ziling fry eggs? Why not give it a try yourself? Remember to use that heart-shaped mold over there! If you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me anytime?~"

"Mhm..."

Actually, in Xu Ziling's opinion, let alone frying eggs, if you just let him alone in the kitchen, he could still whip up one or two dishes that would earn thunderous applause.

Before his transmigration, he was a corporate slave, but unfortunately, his dog boss, surnamed Tian, was always bored and would initiate "private employee interviews," ostensibly to care about his employees' well-being, but in reality, just to freeload meals at their homes!

Whose house he'd visit was determined by a random lottery among the employees. Judging by Xu Ziling's current cooking skills, it was clear he'd been chosen as the lucky (or unlucky) recipient more than once.

After all, if your cooking wasn't good enough, the boss would give you a dirty look before leaving, and then say something like, "Little Xu~" when handing out your salary, which was truly a pain in the neck.

Over time, Xu Ziling actually developed decent cooking skills, and his dog boss, surnamed Tian, had even considered hiring him as a personal chef for his own home.

But Xu Ziling wasn't stupid. If you could exploit employees like that at the company, wouldn't you drain him dry if he worked at your house? Was he out of his mind?

After transmigrating, the dog boss vanished, but the cooking skills forced out of him remained.

If it were in front of anyone else, Xu Ziling might have given up the idea of showing off his culinary skills under the guise of not wanting to be too flashy since he had just appeared... but in front of Elysia, he didn't need to worry so much.

"Mhm..."

Having already quickly fried four heart-shaped eggs, Xu Ziling pondered for a moment, looked at Elysia beside him, and said, "Miss Elysia, do you trust my cooking skills?"

"Hm? Little Ziling, are you planning to cook yourself?"

As if recalling some past experience, Elysia smiled and then said, "Mmm... Just like Miss Elf always trusts cute humans, of course I trust you, Little Ziling. However... Little Ziling, I must also remind you that you can start with European cuisine, you don't have to learn Eastern dishes like I do...

Shenzhou, as the oldest Eastern country in this world, has many dining customs that are hard to understand. For example, these... 'chopsticks.' Miss Elf spent half a day learning how to use them yesterday! It's okay if you don't know how, Little Ziling, you can start with simpler Western dishes!"

Indeed, compared to Eastern cuisine, Western dishes were as simple as cutting vegetables into chunks and mixing them with a sauce; even the most basic Chinese fried dough sticks required mastering the proper oil and heat temperatures. Beginners had a very high chance of failure.

But... Xu Ziling's hometown before transmigration was a place highly similar to Shenzhou.

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said to Elysia, "It's fine, Miss Elysia. I've mastered a kind of 'cooking magic.' As long as I write down the recipe on a piece of paper, put on an eye mask, and wait for 5-30 minutes, the meal will prepare itself."

"Hmm? Really?"

Elysia blinked her big eyes, full of disbelief.

Xu Ziling also smiled and then said, "If you don't believe me, Miss Elysia, you can try putting on the eye mask first."

"Mhm hm?~"

As it turned out, the simpler and more childlike things were, the more Elysia liked them. After Xu Ziling proposed this "cooking magic," she didn't find him childish at all; instead, she felt a rare joy of finding a kindred spirit.

Of course... the "kindred spirit" here was from Elysia's perspective.

On the other side, Mobius, watching Elysia about to put on an eye mask, had a face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

As expected, Elysia, cooking is just your lie. Luring my little mouse is your true intention, right?

She was cooking just fine a moment ago, and now she's about to put on an eye mask? Huh? With all these preparations, what new game is she planning? Will she take off her clothes next?

So angry she's trembling!

No, I can't stand for this any longer!

With that, Mobius, her face dark, like a giant serpent that had been lurking in the darkness for a long time, quickly charged towards Elysia in the kitchen.

"Mmm hm?~"

Please ignore the question of why Elysia had an eye mask on her person. She smiled and nodded at Xu Ziling, preparing to witness the magical "cooking magic" as he requested.

"Slap!"

However, at this moment, Elysia's wrist was tightly gripped by a pair of hands that had turned white.

"Hm?"

Elysia turned around and saw Mobius's sinister, wicked grin. She also saw the extremely stimulating surveillance footage from the early morning of the night before displayed on the phone Mobius was holding in her left hand