The other side.
The moment Professor Mobius cried out after being ambushed by the "Golden Thread," Elysia had already finished adjusting the heat for the fire and tiptoed out of the kitchen. At this moment, she was embracing Blanca, who had also just come out of the living room of the small building, as they eavesdropped by the wall.
But after hearing the conversation between the two people on the other side of the wall, she was completely bewildered.
"Little Blanca... what do you think... Professor Mobius and Little Ziling were talking about just now?"
Elysia lowered her voice and asked Blanca in her arms.
Because they were eavesdropping, they had only heard Mobius and Xu Ziling's conversation without seeing what was actually happening, which had led to their crucial confusion.
"Uh..."
Blanca scratched his cheek and said in a low voice,
"Miss Elysia, as for what DNA Mimicry specifically means... I'm sorry, but I've never heard the Doctor mention this term before, nor have I seen it in any literature. I really don't know what it is..."
Perhaps Elysia and Blanca could both guess something from the name, but just as Mobius had said, this ability was too absurd—so absurd that humans simply refused to face it. They subconsciously ignored that possibility, and with it, the "real answer."
"Um... Miss Elysia, actually, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
"Hm? What is it? Little Blanca, you don't need to be nervous. I'm always happy to listen to my friends' troubles, you know?~"
"Ah, oh... It's nothing major. I just wanted to tell you... the European-style breakfast method you developed in Fire Moth can't be applied directly to Chinese-style breakfast... If you don't get back to the kitchen right now, breakfast looks like it's going to burn..."
"!!!"
Xu Ziling and Mobius took the small building's elevator to the underground research facility connected to it.
After casually locking the main entrance from the inside, Mobius looked at Xu Ziling. No one knew what was going through those green-rainbow snake eyes of hers. After a long while, she spoke,
"I suppose I should be grateful... Elysia interrupted my research on your cells yesterday. Otherwise, after obtaining the results last night, I probably would have gone completely insane, wouldn't I?
"DNA Mimicry... That's actually a rather apt description. Still, I wish you were truly only mimicking DNA... At least then I wouldn't have to bear such immense mental pressure."
"You can't hide the truth forever, Doctor."
Xu Ziling shook his head.
"There's no point concealing things that are bound to be exposed... Besides, I truly only realized that my body possessed this additional ability just now, after coming into contact with your blood."
"So..."
Mobius propped up her chin with one hand. Her green-rainbow snake eyes met Xu Ziling's jade-green eyes as she asked,
"You can truly perfectly replicate another person's memories, thoughts, knowledge, and even habits of daily life with nothing but a drop of blood?"
"Correct, Doctor, but it's not that exaggerated..."
Xu Ziling shook his head slightly.
"DNA Mimicry only allows me to copy the other person's appearance and thought patterns... Calling it memory would be a stretch. Just now, I subconsciously copied your DNA, then used your habitual thought patterns to make this body 'unconsciously' spout all those professional terms."
"So the reason you knew what I was thinking was that you simulated my habitual thought patterns and placed your own consciousness in my perspective?"
Mobius asked again.
"Yes."
After Xu Ziling answered, the two once again fell silent.
There were not many people in this world who could leave Mobius utterly speechless. Now, Xu Ziling counted as one of them.
However, from Mobius's perspective, it was not difficult for Xu Ziling to guess what she was wary of.
With a controlled experimental subject who was willing to obey, the Doctor would prioritize researching him;
With a controlled experimental subject who refused to obey, the Doctor would take a keen interest in him;
With an uncontrolled experimental subject who possessed an especially terrifying ability, Mobius might even be willing to risk everything, gambling her own life for a chance to research a Higher Organism.
But Mobius was a doctor of biology, not a blind gambler. She could not keep wagering on those infinitesimal odds.
Because she truly did not want—or wish—to wake up one day and discover that she or someone close to her had been silently replaced by another person.
In short, Mobius, who had yet to encounter an existence known as a "Herrscher," lacked any sense of security toward the almost unreasonable supernatural ability Xu Ziling had displayed. She lacked the security needed to let her research Xu Ziling without worry.
It was damn frustrating, but this was indeed the normal development that logically followed under the circumstances.
As for this power within his body, Xu Ziling himself was actually rather helpless.
He should have figured it out sooner. Vampires, the Pillar Men, overwhelming strength, and precise movements—in that hot-blooded anime series where they looked through keyholes to watch their mothers, he should have realized long ago that this body would also possess the ability to simulate the powers of other life-forms through blood. Instead of waiting until blood splashed onto his hands before belatedly realizing what this power was, he could have thought of a hundred ways to prevent the current situation from happening.
Still, fortunately, it was not too late to confess everything to Mobius now.
Mobius lacked a sense of security, so he would give her one.
With that thought, Xu Ziling looked at the silent Mobius and said:
"Doctor, I deeply understand what you're thinking right now. My power is indeed extraordinary and terrifying—terrifying enough to silently replace another person completely... An ordinary person would feel fear after witnessing my power, but Doctor, I don't believe that the person who rescued me from the stone statue is an ordinary person."
Hearing this, Mobius crossed her arms and looked at Xu Ziling without saying a word, signaling for him to continue.
Xu Ziling shrugged.
"First, Doctor, as you can see, although my power is astonishing and terrifying, it remains firmly under my control. The possibility of it slipping out of control is negligible. The fact that I can still speak with you properly like this instead of becoming 'another you' immediately after mimicking your DNA isn't the best proof?
"My power won't change me simply because I use it. The only difference is that when I activate DNA Mimicry, I take on some of another person's thought habits. Once the mimicked DNA is removed, I'll still be me—and I can only be me. The fact that I can still speak with you properly like this isn't the best proof?"
Mobius raised her eyebrows.
"But if I want to study you... human experimentation will be unavoidable. What if you run wild during an experiment? Who will bear the consequences?"
"Of course you will, Doctor. After all, a doctor should be responsible for her own research creations."
Xu Ziling answered without hesitation, then added,
"But Professor Mobius, as the most cutting-edge and most insane biologist of this era, I don't believe you're unwilling to shoulder even this small amount of responsibility. You're only concerned about my inhuman power... But rest assured, I won't forget the favor of you rescuing me from underground. As long as you take responsibility for me, I'll certainly take responsibility for you as well. Do you understand what I mean, Professor Mobius?"
"Of course I understand... But I need time, Little Mouse."
Mobius shook her head slightly, then casually picked up an empty test tube from the lab bench behind her.
"Also, Little Mouse, I don't know why, but why do you always label me as 'absolute evil'... You just mimicked my behavioral habits, so you should understand even better that all my experiments are conducted only with the consent of the subjects. I don't think I can be called 'absolute evil' right now. At most, I'm a little obsessive...
"Although it's ironic, I'm still only a weak human being right now... I don't possess the 'absolute evil' you speak of, something that would drive me to immediately accept your heaven-defying abilities... I need time.
"Little Mouse, wait a little longer. I'll give you a definite answer in a few days."
Xu Ziling shook his head helplessly. Compared to Serpent in the later Paradise, the Serpent of this era clearly possessed more "humanity." That was both her strength and her weakness.
Xu Ziling and Mobius had known each other for far too short a time. If he had spent as long with Mobius as Elysia had, he probably would not have needed to say anything at all. Mobius herself could have come up with a reason to overcome her hesitation in an extremely short time.
At present, although Mobius regarded Xu Ziling as the most precious research data, she still retained quite a bit of wariness deep down. Xu Ziling knew that nothing he said now could change her mind, so all he could do was give her time to slowly adapt.
But adapting was one thing. Xu Ziling definitely could not stand by and watch Mobius plant the "in a few days" flag. After thinking for a moment, he stepped forward and took Mobius's hand.
"Doctor, if this is your choice, then I respect it. I won't say anything more. I only want to tell you one more thing—a phrase widely circulated in my era... Whenever you have the chance to make a choice, remember not to make yourself regret it."
Don't make herself... regret it?
Mobius suddenly smiled. Sometimes, she truly felt that this Little Mouse had some inexplicable expectation of her. The intensity of that expectation was so great that Mobius, who at that time still regarded herself as "human," could barely breathe beneath it.
But Mobius discovered that whenever she wanted to reject Xu Ziling's expectations, a feeling of dejection would always surface in her heart... It was the same now. It was almost as if she really would, in the future, reach the height Xu Ziling expected of her...
Under this fateful psychological suggestion, Mobius figured many things out. But for now, she was still missing one "leash"—a leash harder than a "forced kiss," hard enough that even if Xu Ziling erupted during some future experiment, she could rely on it to firmly restrain the human morality in his heart.
Then what kind of "material" should this even harder "leash" be made of...
Mobius suddenly raised her head, as if she had thought of something. A trace of unnaturalness flashed through her green-rainbow eyes, but it was quickly replaced by resolve.
Thus, she looked at Xu Ziling, gave two deliberately staged coughs, then waved at him.
"...Little Mouse, come closer."
"Hm?"
Xu Ziling was somewhat puzzled, but he did as she asked.
"Ahem, ahem."
Mobius gave two more deliberately staged coughs, rose onto her tiptoes, leaned close to Xu Ziling's ear, and whispered,
"Little Mouse, you don't have a girlfriend right now, do you... What do you think of me?"
Before you continue