"F*ck!"
The moment Xu Ziling saw the blonde beauty reflected in Mobius's phone, he could no longer sit still. He snatched the phone from Mobius and stared in disbelief at the "self" displayed by the camera.
When Mobius had shown Xu Ziling the surveillance footage earlier, he had only caught a fleeting glimpse and had not paid close attention. But now that he could clearly see the "self" reflected in the phone's camera, the roar in Xu Ziling's mind was no less intense than when he had discovered that he was naked...
The person in the reflection possessed an almost flawless human body and a pair of emerald eyes that were impossible to read. Since Xu Ziling had just been resurrected from the stone statue beneath the Chasm, his long golden hair was still slightly disheveled... Yet his current looks had forcibly transformed that dishevelment into an aura of pitiful vulnerability!
But that still was not the main point!
The main point was... the main point was! Why were the curves of his current body so subtle?!
His figure was not exactly voluptuous, but it was still quite attractive. And the muscle on his chest... seemed a little too well-developed??
This... this could not be right, could it?
It was twenty-five points of wrongness out of ten!
A terrifying possibility suddenly occurred to Xu Ziling. He hurriedly touched his own neck.
Hmm... He had an Adam's apple. At least his male identity was safe.
But every sign indicated that his current body had far more feminine elements than masculine ones!
What was this called??
The ultimate femboy???
"Little Mouse?"
Seeing Xu Ziling, who had been perfectly fine just moments ago, suddenly grow tense, Mobius slightly furrowed her brows and asked,
"Your emotions have been fluctuating violently ever since you saw the phone. Is your current appearance very different from the one in your memories?"
For fuck's sake...
Was this a question of whether the difference was big or not?! This was a matter of them having absolutely nothing to do with each other!
Xu Ziling nearly cursed when he heard that. Before transmigrating, he had merely been an utterly ordinary office drone, but Nicholas Wei had once said that tech nerds would save the world! Though that seemed to have nothing to do with what Xu Ziling was about to think, but, but, but... no matter what, Xu Ziling was still a full-grown man!
Although he still retained a male body, his physique and appearance had undergone earth-shaking changes. This figure... and this face! "Exquisite" was no longer enough to describe them. Only the phrase "a beauty capable of bringing a nation to ruin" could describe his current appearance!
Xu Ziling had no doubt that if he were left alone in a room with a mirror, he could become addicted to admiring himself!
What was this supposed to be?! This... seemingly... perhaps... was actually pretty great?
After his initial excitement passed, Xu Ziling stared at his "self" reflected in the phone. The gentlemanly heart buried deep within him rose once more, and he could not help reaching out to pinch his current cheek.
...It was incredibly soft, with a touch that was absolutely sublime. No wonder Mobius had not shown any intention of avoiding him when he had been naked earlier.
After thinking for a while, Xu Ziling decided that he needed some time alone to adapt to everything about himself now.
Thus, he looked at Mobius and asked:
"Doctor, I think I might need a mirror... No, I think I might need some time alone to adapt to the changes in my body. Would you mind giving me some space?"
"Some time alone."
Mobius raised an eyebrow, but she quickly thought of something. Pointing at a small door in the laboratory, she said,
"There's a private bathroom over there. Go in there."
"Okay."
Xu Ziling did not object. Although his motives might not have been entirely pure, he really did need a private space to sort out the condition of his current body.
After watching Xu Ziling enter the bathroom, Mobius stood there thinking for a moment before tiptoeing over after him. She glanced through the glass in the bathroom door. After confirming that Xu Ziling was still inside the laboratory, a feverish light flashed through her eyes.
As everyone knew, energy could not disappear out of thin air. Xu Ziling had eaten so many instant noodles, yet his figure remained a perfect body that completely conformed to human aesthetics. The physical volumes of the two simply did not match. The only explanation was that the energy from those instant noodles had been compressed and completely absorbed by Xu Ziling's body.
Although Mobius still cared very much about her instant noodles... she had to admit that Xu Ziling's nearly monstrous energy-absorption efficiency alone was already enough to justify the hundreds of cups of noodles she had spent on him!
There was also the strength, intelligence, and vaguely revealed background he had displayed while speaking with her...
Thinking of this, and with Xu Ziling absent, Mobius could no longer suppress the restlessness in her heart. She pounced at the laboratory computer and rapidly entered one string of information after another.
[Victim (strikeout) experimental subject: Xu Ziling]
[Capable of tearing apart an alloy tank with his bare hands. Conservative estimate for single-fist strength: 12,000 kilograms (unverified).]
[Capable of freely adjusting the arrangement of his bones and using it to compress his body volume to an extreme degree. Cellular elasticity cannot currently be measured.]
[Conservative estimate of movement speed: 225 km/h.]
After briefly organizing Xu Ziling's information, Mobius did not even need any additional data to know that Xu Ziling, the "super-ancient organism" resurrected from a stone statue, surpassed the pinnacle of modern humanity in every physical statistic. If not for the wisdom and communicability he had displayed during their conversation, Mobius would have thought she was holding experimental data on a super Honkai Beast just by looking at this concise research report!
She simply did not know how Xu Ziling's control over Honkai would compare, considering how monstrously abnormal all his physical statistics were...
If possible... No! It had to be possible!
At this thought, a madness and extremity unique to Mobius flashed through her eyes.
She had already bet everything she had on Xu Ziling, hoping that his physical data could become the key to opening the door to human evolution.
Now, she had already seen hope in Xu Ziling. To talk about the probability of the research failing at this point... would that not just be needlessly tormenting herself?
Even if Xu Ziling truly had no resistance to Honkai energy, she would help him obtain it!
Because she was Mobius! Doctor Mobius, the greatest authority in the biological sciences of the present age. If even she could not accomplish this research... then no human could.
So at a time like this, she had to trust herself a little more. After all, she was Mobius, destined to become the one who held the "Key" and opened the door to the evolution of all humanity!
After saving the file, Mobius reached the final step of naming the folder. With an excited heart and trembling hands, she thought for a moment before entering a simple and easy-to-understand name:
Ideal Ultimate (strikeout) Perfect Human: The Man Born from a Stone Statue
Abbreviation: Pillar Men
Meanwhile, inside the bathroom.
After calming down, Xu Ziling looked at the figure reflected in the mirror and found himself unsure whether he should be happy or sorrowful.
The reflection showed a Western European seductress... No, it showed a golden-haired, green-eyed man. But because his appearance was too handsome, anyone who saw him at first glance would always take him for a woman.
And Xu Ziling knew this man.
Otto Apocalypse, the former Overseer of Schicksal in the post-civilization era of Honkai Impact 3rd.
(Image)
The happy part was that Otto's looks were truly heaven-defying. The title of Schicksal's most handsome man was no exaggeration. Moreover, Xu Ziling could not tell whether it was merely his imagination, but this body, which resembled Otto's after his transmigration, seemed even more handsome than the one from the game's story.
Xu Ziling had no doubt that if he wished, he could walk into the street right now, shout, "Everyone, look at me! Look at me!" and then start begging on the spot—and someone would be willing to keep him.
The sorrowful part was that compared to Otto himself, this body that resembled him, while still retaining its male form, clearly contained a greater proportion of feminine elements! If he encountered an expert later—Miss Elf, for example—and was killed, then even if Xu Ziling were a man, the other party would probably use Elf's Magic to turn him into a woman.
This was truly...
...too awesome!
Come on, before transmigrating, Xu Ziling himself had been a fan of the Otto-Lian pairing. After all, the beautiful girls had already paired off with each other—what use was there for men like them?
Now that he had finally obtained the Overseer's body, calling it a blessing earned through eight lifetimes of insanity would not be an exaggeration. Most importantly, Xu Ziling had transmigrated into the era of the Previous Civilization, not the era of the main story. The face's hateful, punchable trait could be removed entirely, because in this era, it was impossible for anyone to know a man named Otto!
As long as he stayed cautious, possessing the Overseer's highly deceptive face would absolutely bring Xu Ziling more benefits than drawbacks.
The only question was, why would a stone statue possessing Otto's face appear during the Previous Civilization of Honkai?
Could it have been something that appeared alongside his transmigration?
But had he not transmigrated as a soul?
Just as Xu Ziling was racking his brains over this, a crisp sound appeared beside his ear—
[Ping~ Star Rail Cultivation System activated]
After hearing the inconspicuous voice, Xu Ziling himself was stunned for a moment. Then he waved his hand with a quiet laugh. That was right, he was a transmigrator with a system. With this golden finger, why should he waste his own brainpower?
When in doubt, ask the system!
Thus, Xu Ziling swept out his hand and said with a grin:
"System, open the panel. Doubts, be slain!"
Before you continue