She liked it far too much.
As they spoke,
Kiana discreetly observed Bianca and Mobius.
Her distant younger cousin had the look of someone who had just graduated from university. Her familiar light-blue, medium-short hair made her resemble an older Griseo, though she carried a few more traces of gentleness. She looked every bit the part, truly possessing the air of an intellectual researcher.
Don't think that because Bianca had spent years as an assistant in Mobius's laboratory, she was actually incompetent.
Kiana remembered that this cousin of hers had graduated with dual master's degrees from a prestigious university. In her early twenties, she had completed her studies years ahead of schedule. She was already considered a minor genius.
And as for Miss Snake, everyone understood.
Even if her research institute recruited people all year round, if someone lacked the ability or couldn't keep up with her pace, she would not treat them as an assistant, much less take them seriously.
Looking across the storyline of the Previous Civilization,
the only people Mobius truly cared about, aside from Bianca, were Mei and Klein.
And Mei had been someone too different from her to work together with. Mobius had willingly let her go.
Only Bianca had been snatched away by Kosma, leaving her so furious she gnashed her teeth in hatred.
That was enough to show just how highly Mobius regarded Bianca's usefulness.
Today, Bianca was not wearing a lab coat.
Though that might have been a bit of a stereotype.
In reality,
even Mobius, who wore that outfit year-round, knew that when coming to meet Kiana today, she should dress a little more casually.
Bianca had put on a little makeup.
Her lovely face appeared very gentle.
Her figure was excellent.
One only had to look at Griseo to know that.
It was all inherited.
But compared to Miss Snake beside her, she still fell a little short.
Today, Miss Snake wore a women's suit and a fitted pencil skirt. Black stockings wrapped around her long, beautiful legs, making it impossible to look away.
Kiana knew very well that the little Snake in the Original Work had become that way due to the side effects of being a Fusion Warrior, as well as being killed by Kalpas.
Reviving again and again, shrinking again and again.
What a pity.
This grown-up Snake was a true mature beauty, curvy in all the right places, with an incredible hip line as well.
Though it felt like she did not exercise much,
so she might have had a little softness around her stomach.
But it was nowhere near enough to be called fat.
Although Kiana was somewhat interested in Bianca, she was more interested in Griseo. So, as she sat here with Mobius, Kiana spent more time sneaking glances at Mobius.
Naturally, Mobius could sense Kiana's gaze assessing her.
At the same time, she was assessing Kiana as well.
She had silver-white hair draped over her shoulders and a slender figure, but unlike her frame, her assets and bust were anything but small.
Perhaps noticing that Kiana was stealing glances at her legs,
Mobius casually crossed her legs, even shifting into another pose so Kiana could see them more clearly.
The corners of her lips kept rising.
In the end, only Bianca tirelessly introduced the purpose of her visit with Doctor Mobius. This did not surprise Kiana at all; several parties had already come to speak with her from the very beginning.
Therefore,
she had not been listening at all.
When Bianca saw that Doctor Mobius was distracted as well,
she could not help but sigh.
She became even more depressed.
Seeing her purse her lips and fall silent, Mobius finally let out a soft laugh and looked at Kiana with narrowed, smiling eyes.
"How do you feel right now?"
"What feeling?" Kiana seemed genuinely not to understand, or perhaps she was pretending not to.
Her confused expression made Mobius's smile deepen.
"Being exposed as Schicksal's savior, the future Herrscher of the End... How does that feel?"
Mobius was exceedingly patient with Kiana. "Oh, right. You shouldn't be like those ordinary people and not know that Honkai exists in this world, should you?"
"No, I know."
Kiana shook her head slightly.
She glanced at Mobius and Bianca.
Then she spoke thoughtfully.
"I feel like it's just that... at least to me, I'm still myself. Whatever my future self becomes is something for the future..."
Her mother was not by her side.
As if she were avoiding something.
Thus,
there were only the three of them in this living room.
Clearly,
Mobius was not satisfied with Kiana's formulaic answer.
She narrowed her eyes slightly. "I'm asking how you feel right now. Tell big sister, will you?"
In truth,
that was how people at the top were.
They wanted reassurance, yet could never truly rest easy.
They wanted to preserve the status quo, yet they also wanted to seize every uncontrollable factor completely in their hands.
Mobius had come not only for her own purposes. The higher-ups also hoped she could interact with Kiana more and assess, from an expert's perspective, Kiana's current mental state.
Whether she was controllable.
Whether other measures needed to be considered.
Kiana understood this perfectly.
Even if some believed that a gentler approach was better, there would always be others who favored more forceful methods.
It was like the Naruto story she had watched in her past life.
Naruto had successfully been trained into a dog by the Third Hokage, yet Danzo still could not rest easy about him.
Leaving aside whether the Third Hokage had truly been smiling while hiding a knife, or whether his limited ability and compromises with various factions had resulted in Naruto's miserable childhood.
Everyone thought differently.
Even if she told them that making Kiana sense hostility would cause her to darken a little more,
and if the degree of that darkening grew too high,
then even in the end, she would still become the world-ending Herrscher of the End.
But after the first few days had passed, they had suddenly slapped their foreheads and decided that perhaps they could handle it after all.
A little probing would be fine, wouldn't it?
They could test the waters and find her bottom line. As long as they did not cross it, that would be fine too, right?
Kiana saw it all clearly.
Even Mobius looked down on it with disdain.
Mobius had never planned to seriously complete the mission assigned from above.
So no matter what Kiana said, she had already prepared her report.
The reason she asked was mainly out of personal interest.
A future End, a destined Herrscher vessel—what changes would occur after she became aware of her identity?
She was very curious.
PS1: Here's the second update. We'll keep going tomorrow—let's keep it up~~
Kiana Teases Snake.
If she had to put it into words!
Mobius desperately wanted to know whether Kiana had truly changed in advance because her identity had been exposed, yet had never told anyone and continued to hide it silently.
She did not need Kiana to actually tell the truth.
She only needed to look at Kiana's expression to understand.
All right...
So that was it.
The microexpressions Kiana deliberately made
convinced Mobius that she really had changed.
The next moment, Mobius grew even more excited and boldly questioned Kiana about the changes in her body. Bianca watched, wanting to speak yet hesitating, hesitating yet wanting to speak. She opened her mouth, intending to say something.
In the end,
she still could not say it.
To be frank!
Kiana was not someone particularly skilled at scheming against others.
But she knew she did not need to hide anything, nor was there any need to.
She really had undergone some changes.
Because of the celestial screen's exposure, more people were half-convinced and half-doubtful. But as long as there was even a little belief, fate had already begun moving forward.
She was indeed a vessel.
But she had also gradually begun to awaken.
This awakening was not something that happened all at once. It proceeded gradually, little by little.
Even if it was only one percent,
it was enough to grant her some special power.
What's more!
That was not all.
"Can I trust you?" Kiana put on a troubled expression, as though finding it difficult to speak. After thinking for a moment, she looked at Mobius.
"You can trust me completely!" Mobius said excitedly.
No!
Bianca wanted to stop her.
But Mobius had already pinched her thigh.
Before you continue