Cellular Decay

Over here.

Now that Mobius was in a better mood, she couldn't help but start lecturing Xu Ziling. She said:

"Listen, Little Mouse, even though this is Elysia's responsibility, you're far too careless. You need to be wary of that woman from now on. You promised you'd be responsible for me, so you can't let her get her hands on you first, understand?"

Xu Ziling cupped his chin with one hand, thought for a moment, and then said:

"Um... Doctor, I was really just helping Miss Elysia make breakfast earlier."

"Ah, right, right, right."

Mobius didn't bother arguing with Xu Ziling any further. She grabbed his right hand and pointed at the heavily covered windows and doors inside the house, saying:

"You need to block the windows and doors like this just to cook? Otherwise, the pots and pans will explode if they encounter sunlight... right? Heh, I'm far too familiar with Elysia's little tricks to fool people."

"Mmm..."

Xu Ziling fell into thought. He wasn't sure if pots and pans would explode from sunlight, but he knew for sure that he couldn't see sunlight. Even a quick glance would cause his body to explode.

"But in a way, it's a bit unfair to you, encountering a dangerous woman like Elysia right after you've revived."

Mobius stopped by the bed in the small building and said, "You don't have to listen to her about everything. You can make your own decisions based on your own judgment. From your behavior, I can basically conclude that the 'Previous Civilization' you came from has a high degree of cultural similarity to our current era...

In terms you can understand, the cultural perceptions from your previous world can also be applied to our current era. After all, the laws of physics and biology don't disappear with the demise of a civilization. What do you think, Little Mouse?"

As if to prove that "utensils exposed to sunlight won't explode," Mobius casually pulled back the curtains by the bed.

"??!"

Wait, Doctor! You were talking fine, why are you suddenly pulling the curtains?? I! ... Woc!!

Mobius didn't notice Xu Ziling's reaction at first and continued talking to herself:

"So, Little Mouse, you see for yourself... Huh??"

After losing the thick curtains' obstruction, the morning sunlight unreservedly shone through the glass into the three-story building next to the school district. Mobius, who had spent years in research institutes, saw sunlight for the first time in a long while. Coupled with her recent victory over Elysia, she was in an exceptionally good mood.

However, the golden-haired beauty beside her didn't feel the same.

The moment Xu Ziling's body was hit by the sunlight, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins. Those grotesque blood vessels seemed to wash away the emerald green in his eyes, transforming them into a terrifying and bizarre red.

His body trembled uncontrollably. This body, capable of tearing Honkai Beasts apart with its bare hands, now felt a tremor from the depths of its bloodline.

Mobius wasn't foolish. Seeing that the situation seemed to be getting out of control, she, amidst her surprise, thought of the first solution: restore the scene to how it was before, and see if Xu Ziling would also revert.

Once the windows and doors were covered again, the trembling fear in Xu Ziling's heart gradually subsided. He let out a long sigh, then twisted his somewhat stiff and difficult-to-move body, saying:

"Phew... Doctor, don't play such pranks next time. You almost killed me just now."

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Mobius frowned slightly. Blanca, out of professional habit, took out a notebook and began to record.

After recalling the scene, Mobius looked at Xu Ziling and tentatively asked:

"So... it's because you fear the sun that Elysia helped you set up the room like this? But... why didn't you tell me earlier about a major biological defect like fearing the sun?"

"Doctor... I only just discovered this myself."

Xu Ziling spread his hands helplessly and said, "I was actually thinking just now about how to naturally tell you about this... but I didn't expect you to pull open the curtains before I could even say anything."

Absorbing the information, which was not much but definitely significant, that Xu Ziling was conveying, Mobius fell into a brief period of contemplation.

Indeed, for a creature buried underground for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, it was normal to experience some stress reaction upon suddenly seeing sunlight. It was like a night owl who always stayed up late suddenly being dragged outside during the day; they would also be uncomfortable, accompanied by some mental stinging sensation.

But Xu Ziling's situation... his pain had clearly shifted from mental stinging to physical trembling. Mobius had no doubt that if she had kept the curtains closed for even a moment less, she would be eating her own Little Mouse for dinner tomorrow.

However... a being who could, with his own power, break through the seal of stone statues that were at least fifty thousand years old, unleashing power and speed more terrifying than the world champion of Fire Moth, possessing a body with double A or even double S ratings for strength and speed, yet fearing the sun... saying this would be like telling a joke.

Mobius didn't believe in gods, so she didn't believe in vampires or zombies existing in the world. She only believed in the research data in her hands.

Photosensitivity to UV rays? Mental self-hypnosis? Or did Xu Ziling's skin tissue undergo a chemical reaction under sunlight?

For a moment, countless professional terms flashed through Mobius's mind, but none seemed to match Xu Ziling's symptoms.

Furthermore, Mobius realized that no matter how much she speculated, it wouldn't be as practical as directly asking Xu Ziling, the person involved. Therefore, she turned directly to Xu Ziling and asked:

"Little Mouse, I need to understand what's going on. Fearing the sun... is this a personal psychological reaction, or does your body truly undergo some immeasurable changes upon contact with sunlight?"

"This..."

Reminded by Mobius, Xu Ziling also realized that after being exposed to sunlight, he only felt a sense of deep weariness, and there didn't seem to be any direct physical damage.

Having an idea and not acting on it was not a good habit. Even if the possibility was extremely low, Xu Ziling didn't say he had to stand in the sunlight himself.

He scratched his golden hair that fell to his waist. Xu Ziling intended to casually pull out a strand as an experimental sample, but he didn't expect that the hair care for this body was better than he imagined. He scratched for a long time but not a single hair fell out. He had to pull one out with force and then hand it to Mobius.

Mobius understood. She took the brilliant gold strand Xu Ziling handed her and returned to the window, lifting a corner of the curtain.

The brilliant gold strand shone brilliantly under the sunlight, like golden threads meticulously drawn by a craftsman. With just a little more processing, it could transform into a million-dollar piece of art.

...At least, that's what Mobius initially thought.

"Hoo!"

"?! Ah!"

Mobius suddenly cried out, and an undeniable scent of blood instantly spread throughout the room. Xu Ziling's fingers trembled slightly before he swiftly moved forward to support Mobius, who was about to fall.

As he got closer, Xu Ziling could clearly see an extremely thin, new scar on Mobius's right wrist. The wound seemed to have cut a blood vessel, and blood was still flowing uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Xu Ziling's brow furrowed. As the blood flowed before him, a strange restlessness rose within him.

He shook his head abruptly, dispelling the distracting thoughts, and looked at Blanca, who was also startled, urging, "Senior Blanca... bandages!"

Prompted by Xu Ziling, Blanca snapped back to attention. With a hint of fear in her eyes, she took a few steps back, covering her mouth with her left hand while extending her still trembling right hand to point in a direction.

At this, Xu Ziling's strange sense of irritation intensified. He looked again at Mobius, who had suddenly been injured, and saw that Mobius's eyes were wide open. After a flicker of fear in her azure rainbow irises, an unprecedented sense of excitement surged through all of Mobius's emotions.

"Doctor, your injury..."

"Shh! Little Mouse, look!"

Mobius's lips curved upwards. She quickly reached out and covered Xu Ziling's mouth, then pointed towards a spot where sunlight was falling.

There was nothing else there.

Except for a blood-stained "golden thread."

There was no doubt that this strand of hair, which Xu Ziling had just pulled from his own body, had become the "culprit" that had injured Mobius.

And now, this strand of hair, separated from Xu Ziling's body and bathed in sunlight, seemed to have "come alive," twisting strangely like a slithering snake.

This golden strand of hair, about half a meter long, seemed to want to escape the area illuminated by the sun, but it was reluctant to leave entirely, as it still held some of the bloodstains left from its recent "attack" on Mobius.

It spread and twisted within the bloodstains, its body, composed of a single strand of hair, twitching incessantly. It sometimes folded into squares, sometimes into triangles... but its movements grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, under the sunlight, the strand of hair straightened itself, becoming rigid and forming an extremely thin "stone pestle."

Mobius blinked, then quickly leaned forward to examine the "stone pestle" formed from the hair up close. She then looked at the thin, terrifying marks left around it by the twisting hair, her smile deepening as she murmured to herself, "So that's how it is... So it was like this... Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

On the other side, Xu Ziling looked at the still bleeding wound on Mobius's right hand. The previously suppressed feeling of irritation surged back into his mind.

Something's wrong... This isn't like me... I wasn't even this agitated when the boss was late with my salary... Is there something wrong with this body?

And whether it was the strand of hair earlier or his current body... it seemed they both had a strange craving for "blood"?

Did I really become a vampire??

But if I had really become one, wouldn't I have already bloodbathed the research institute when Monkey King's Birth happened in the first chapter?

Why can I still maintain my sanity? Why does my body crave blood, yet only eat human food?

Looking at the blood Mobius had dripped onto the floor from her wrist earlier, Xu Ziling, as if possessed, half-crouched down and reached out a finger to touch the bloodstain.

Instantly, Xu Ziling felt a jolt like an electric arc flash through his mind. By the time he reacted, he had already put his blood-stained finger into his mouth.

Meanwhile.

"Doctor, bandages..."

Blanca, who had hastily retrieved bandages from the room's medical kit, handed the belated bandages to Mobius and asked, "Do you need me to help you wrap it?"

"Tsk, it's just a minor injury..."

Mobius clicked her tongue slightly, then took the bandages. She simply wrapped them around her injured right wrist a few times before turning to look at Xu Ziling and saying, "Heh heh... Little Mouse, your condition isn't ultraviolet allergies, but rather..."

"Cellular decay?"

Xu Ziling answered directly, his crisp and decisive manner stunning even Mobius.

A moment later, Mobius, having recovered, looked at Xu Ziling with suspicion and said, "Little Mouse, where... did you hear that word? It shouldn't have... originated in my mind as an adjective until two minutes ago?"

Xu Ziling was also stunned.