"Cellular Decay..."
Xu Ziling muttered to himself. He found a stream of technical terms and patterns of thought continuously pouring into his mind, making his brows knit tightly as he murmured,
"First, the 'decay' here isn't the widely known 'elemental decay' in physics. It's only because 'I' like to call it that. It was also 'my' discovery in the first place, so that's what it should be called.
Second, you may think 'my' hypothesis is absurd beyond belief, but the existence known as 'Xu Ziling' is itself an unreasonable phenomenon. To understand this, 'I' had no choice but to overturn the existing 'edifice of physics' and reduce certain things to their origins. Otherwise, if one remains confined within a single circle, it's impossible to ever find answers 'outside the circle.'
Let's skip the tedious explanations and go straight to the result. The existence known as 'Xu Ziling' has a bodily structure entirely different from the 'human' form we know. He's more like some kind of... unknown creature with a 'human-shaped outline'? In any case, after this unknown creature's body comes into contact with sunlight, the flesh and blood tissues that should perhaps be called 'skin' undergo an intense reaction with the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, though it differs from a chemical reaction. For now, I'll call this unknown reaction 'Cellular Decay.'
Under 'Cellular Decay,' the bodily structure of the being known as 'Xu Ziling' continuously releases an enormous amount of 'energy.' This energy is so vast that it's difficult to estimate. It allows every aspect of 'Xu Ziling's' physical capabilities to undergo a further explosive leap in a short period of time. At the same time, as time passes, the 'energy' released by Cellular Decay gradually wraps around every cell in 'Xu Ziling's' body. Once the 'energy' has completely enveloped the 'cells,' it rapidly hardens, causing the cells within to lose their vitality in the blink of an eye... That's the explanation from a microscopic perspective.
From an intuitive perspective, the changes that 'Cellular Decay' brings to 'Xu Ziling' should be a rapid increase in strength over a short period. However, if he remains unable to avoid prolonged direct exposure to sunlight, the existence known as 'Xu Ziling' will once again be sealed into a stone statue by the 'energy' released from his own body... Does this mean that 'my' previous revival experiment, which awakened him from the stone statue, was purely a coincidence? After all, I don't believe that after gaining such tremendous power, the price 'Xu Ziling' had to pay was merely a petrification that could be reversed again.
Conclusion: more precise experiments are needed."
...These had originally been Mobius's thoughts after seeing that strand of 'Golden Thread' twist into a stone pestle beneath the sunlight.
But now, Xu Ziling had conveyed these words to Mobius in reverse, in a way that defied understanding. As the person involved, Mobius felt an indescribably strange sensation.
Blanca was completely baffled. He could understand the few technical terms Xu Ziling had just used, but once those terms were strung together, he couldn't understand them at all.
But his inability to understand them didn't mean Mobius couldn't.
After all, Mobius was the 'person involved.'
As matters reached this point, Mobius's gaze at Xu Ziling had completely changed. After forcibly suppressing the shock in her heart, she gestured for Blanca to leave first.
Blanca hurriedly did as he was told.
Mobius composed herself again. Xu Ziling had remained where he was after finishing those words, seemingly deep in thought. She smiled at him, doing her best to make herself appear friendlier, and said:
"Little Mouse... There's no one else here now. Can you tell me why those theories that should exist only in my mind came out of your mouth word for word?"
Xu Ziling fell into deep thought. He supported his chin with one hand, occasionally glanced at his own body, and rubbed his brilliant golden hair. His gaze drifted uncertainly.
The person facing him whose gaze was equally uncertain was Mobius.
Heaven only knew what kind of mental pressure she was under at that moment. The theoretical ideas that had only just been born in her mind had been spoken by someone she had known for less than two days, someone who had only just revived from a stone statue underground. The incident could no longer be described as merely strange. Even Mobius's mind had gone blank for a moment after hearing Xu Ziling finish speaking.
Xu Ziling remained silent as he looked at his own hands.
With a movement of his will, these slender hands, already extremely feminine, gradually became even fairer. Their bone structure also began to change imperceptibly.
It wasn't just his hands. Xu Ziling's features, hair, and every inch of his body changed along with them.
His brilliant golden hair, which reached his waist, slowly faded away, replaced by a head of long emerald-green hair. His jade-colored pupils were replaced by cyan-rainbow snake pupils. His height decreased slightly, yet a sinisterly charming smile appeared on his face—the kind Mobius was more familiar with than anything.
Because it was the smile Mobius often wore herself.
And the sinisterly charming smile Xu Ziling now possessed was precisely Mobius's.
Mobius stared at the "Mobius" standing before her. Her cyan-rainbow pupils narrowed slightly. She wanted to say something, but her mind felt like a tangled mess. What was happening before her had overturned everything she knew, and for a moment, she stood there in an eerie stupor.
Fortunately, this bizarre scene didn't last long.
After roughly two or three minutes, Xu Ziling's body began to writhe. The identical face before Mobius quickly faded with the rippling of his muscles, like seawater receding with the tide. His waist-length golden hair and jade-colored pupils reappeared, returning him to the form he had possessed at the beginning.
"Doctor."
After frowning in thought for a moment, Xu Ziling looked at Mobius and said,
"I think we need to have a proper talk."
Seeing this, Mobius swallowed to steady herself. A complicated look flashed through her eyes as she gazed at Xu Ziling.
Xu Ziling, as though he had already completely seen through Mobius's thoughts, let out a helpless sigh and said:
"Don't be nervous, Doctor. I completely understand your shock and fear after having your understanding overturned... After deducing this result, I also sensed the danger hidden within this power.
"But I don't think this should affect the relationship between us... After all, if I harbored malicious intentions toward you, I would have slaughtered the entire research institute the moment I awoke, wouldn't I?"
Mobius swallowed again. After weighing her words for a moment, she looked at Xu Ziling and said:
"So... is everything really as I imagined?"
"Yes."
Xu Ziling answered without hesitation,
"So I chose to tell you everything, Doctor, rather than conceal the truth from you. After all... once I mimicked your DNA, I realized just how extraordinary you are. You're absolutely the most cutting-edge and most insane biologist in the world. If even your 'insanity' cannot accommodate my existence, then I imagine there's no one in this world who can."
"DNA Mimicry... Just by relying on blood, you can perfectly replicate another person's face, thoughts, and even their personal consciousness, behavior, and knowledge... You call this heaven-defying ability DNA Mimicry?"
Mobius gave Xu Ziling a deep look before letting out a long sigh.
"This is too absurd... Let's discuss this somewhere else, Little Mouse... Or should I say, Mr. Xu Ziling? We really need to have a proper talk."
Before you continue