Secret Anecdote II: Instant Noodles / Secret Anecdote III: The Smell of Unwashed Clothes

"...mustard."

"Why squeeze out such a small amount? This kind of bland food needs the strongest flavor from the seasonings."

Before Lin could say anything, Mobius snatched the Wasabi Paste from his hand and squeezed half of it into the dish, turning the entire soy sauce dish into a sticky consistency.

She has a special fondness for green.

Anyway, that's how we eat it.

Lin, who was about to say something, shut his mouth. He silently watched as Mobius picked up a piece of sashimi with his chopsticks, dipped it into the sauce dish, let the indescribably sticky sauce stick to it, then licked his lips and put it in his mouth.

Lin closed his eyes and turned off the helmet's microphone system.

Chapter Twenty-One: Secrets Part Two: Instant Noodles

"Ugh..."

Mobius, clutching his head and groaning in pain, was held by Lin and had his temples, head, and throat massaged for half an hour before the burning pain that felt like the cold air had penetrated his skull and his throat finally subsided. He slumped in Lin's arms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"...How long are you going to hold me? Let go of me." Mobius gently shook himself and broke free from Lin's embrace. "Are you out of your mind? You're using the same way you're coaxing a child and giving me a massage."

"...That's what I did when Kevin was drunk at school." Lin shrugged.

Mobius tossed her long hair, pouted, and said, "Then Mebius hasn't misunderstood you all; she's truly magnanimous."

"Want some more?"

Mobius shuddered, glancing with a hint of fear at the sashimi and the dish of condiments that looked like they came from hell, and shook his head like a bell. "Wasabi... I'll remember that, I'll never eat that stuff again."

"... Then wait a moment."

Lin picked up the sashimi and walked out of the private office. Mobius vaguely heard Danzhu and Cangxuan cheering, and then he walked back empty-handed.

"What to eat? Instant noodles?" Actually, there was no other choice. Mobius had nothing to eat except instant noodles, unless they were willing to try the Honkai Beast organs that were packaged in glass containers.

Mobius opened his treasure trove of instant noodles. "What flavor do you want?"

"Whatever." Lin pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "Actually, instant noodles taste better when boiled."

"You know this too?" Mobius glanced at him with surprise.

This guy's cooking skills are superb. You could say that even without joining the Fire Moth, he could live a pretty good life with his skills. How could someone like him know the secret that "instant noodles are actually better when cooked"—a secret known only to fast food enthusiasts?

"Kevin told me this before."

"No wonder." Mobius was unsurprised when he heard it was Kevin who said it. "But unfortunately, I don't have anywhere here to cook instant noodles for you."

"Have."

"Um?"

Lin searched around in the office and found two alcohol lamps, an asbestos mesh, and a bowl-shaped container for heating, which was just big enough to hold two packets of flour.

"Using what's available...heh, not bad." Mobius's lips curled up as she took the items and placed them on the table. She pushed aside the pile of documents next to her and pushed them into a corner. She lit the alcohol lamp and placed the container filled with water from the water dispenser on the asbestos mesh.

"Let's cook it."

"I won't."

"...What?"

"I've never cooked instant noodles before. Kevin used to cook them for me when I went to his house."

Mobius remained silent for a while, then casually picked up two packets of instant noodles. "Tch, useless guy."

An eerie silence fell over the room. Mobius waited for the water to boil completely. It wouldn't take long for the alcohol lamp to heat the already warm water. As she watched the bubbles rise little by little from the bottom of the vessel, she glanced subtly at Lin, who was sitting quietly to the side, while holding the flatbread.

The viewing window on his helmet remained unlit.

You seem to have changed a bit.

Perhaps out of boredom, perhaps because she had wanted to ask for a long time, or perhaps simply because something in her mind went wrong, Mobius started talking to Lin without her even realizing it.

"... Many people have said that."

Who are they?

"Kevin, Vill-V, Elysia..."

"..."

I have a strange feeling of irritability.

Mobius had realized that lately, when she was with Lin, she would feel a little restless from somewhere, as if a tiny, light paper doll was dancing on her heart, a feeling she had never experienced before.

In the past, Lin could only be sensed by a faint aura of death; she seemed to care about everything yet was indifferent to everything.

He seems more relaxed now, but in reality, he is gradually integrating into the life that was once so close yet so far, experiencing the life he was meant to have.

Is this wrong? Mobius certainly thinks it is right. She hates Lin's old ways, which seem to be always ready to die, preparing for their sacrifice 24 hours a day. That doesn't fit her philosophy, and she doesn't think that person is even a "human being".

But where does this feeling of aversion come from?

Mobius thought he probably knew the answer.

No matter how much Lin pretended to have changed, she could still sense that faint, lingering feeling in his words. Perhaps he had changed in some ways, but some deeply ingrained things could never leave him. What bothered her was perhaps this sense of contradiction.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

While Mobius was lost in thought, the water had already boiled. The sound of bubbles pulled her back to reality. She threw the dough into the "pot" and watched as the white noodles gradually dispersed, her thoughts drifting away.

"But you can tell from the fact that you teamed up with that female assassin that you have indeed changed a lot." Mobius lowered her head, her bangs covering her emerald green eyes, her earrings swaying in the light. "You can tolerate teaming up with an assassin... no, you can tolerate being treated like a servant by me. Should I say you keep your promise, or that you have great patience?"

"To you, I must be the type you hate the most. After all, the scientists who made you the way you were before were similar to me, your parents, and the Speaker's subordinate researchers. Moreover, in many ways, I am even more... fanatical than them."

A cruel smile crept onto Mobius's lips.

"..."

Ke Lin remained completely still for a long time.

He seemed to be asleep inside the helmet, completely still.

Mobius gave a cold twitch of his lips, making a sarcastic, half-smile that only he knew.

"Feel sorry."

Just when she thought the conversation was about to end in this deliberately mischievous atmosphere, Lin suddenly said something she hadn't expected.

"... Why are you apologizing?"

After regaining her senses, she asked, both annoyed and angry.

"When someone died during the Sixth Honkai War, I didn't see what he looked like before he died, but when I woke up, I saw a smile on his body. I think that was probably his most genuine smile." Lin recalled the unusual corpse under the broken dome in the ruins of the Fifth Branch. "Under the premise of 'for humanity,' you scientists, who were seen by others as having abandoned humanity, were forced to bear the infamy in exchange for the progress of humanity."

"I may have just been commenting on you from a moral high ground before. So, I'm sorry."

Mobius suddenly turned around, glaring at Lin through gritted teeth. "Don't apologize to me, I don't need it. You're right, I'm right, I don't need anyone to understand me, do you understand!"

"..."

"..."

"Eat noodles."

Mobius angrily placed the beaker containing the flour in front of Lin, and she picked up another beaker and began to eat it in large mouthfuls.

"Slurp..."

The sound of eating noodles made Mobius turn his head slightly to look at Lin. At this moment, Lin's helmet was raised, revealing his mouth. He was holding a beaker and chewing noodles. After a while, he calmly said, "Delicious."

Even without superb culinary skills and top-quality ingredients, the food can still taste delicious.

They just do things differently.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Secrets Part Three: The Smell of Unwashed Clothes

To be honest, Mobius doesn't think instant noodles have anything to offer in terms of taste. They have a strong industrial production line smell and the rough texture of frying inferior food. The only advantage they have is convenience, but whether convenience is an advantage or a disadvantage for food is not something that can be definitively said.

After trying countless instant noodles, Mobius found that whether they were boiled or soaked made little difference; the only differences were the exact amount and the same seasoning packet flavor. The texture was unremarkable, and they were barely edible.

But seeing the guy in front of her, whose culinary skills were unparalleled, enjoying the instant noodles she cooked, her appetite increased slightly.

Speaking of which, it's unclear whether it was because the private office had been closed off for a long time without ventilation, or because the aroma of instant noodles made certain smells stand out, but some... indescribable smells began to enter Mobius's nostrils, and Lin, who had moved his helmet above his nostrils and thus lost the air filtration system, also smelled it.

"..."

"..."

The awkward atmosphere meant that the two of them, silently eating their instant noodles, tacitly avoided mentioning the source of the smell.

Mobius, on the other hand, was trying to recall what exactly was emitting the odor.

Could it be... her clothes?

Mobius was very clean—only when it came to what he wore.

Lin had once helped her clean up the clutter in her private office, and Mobius had kept the entire office tidy for a long time. However, under the pressure of work, even if she wanted to tidy up, she would inevitably put things down and go to do something else.

Over time, I didn't even know when the office had returned to its original state.

Klein would occasionally try to help her with the cleaning, but Klein his own work to have time for cleaning.

When he was busy, Mobius changed clothes more hastily than adding reagents to a beaker; it was common for his stockings and underwear to be stuffed into some crevice and never be found.

However, her room is usually filled with various pungent-smelling reagents, and those irritating smells are more effective at masking than any perfume. Recently, she has been stopping what she is doing half an hour before mealtime in order to avoid those smells that affect her sense of smell and taste while eating.

It's probably just an illusion; perhaps some similar smells haven't dissipated yet.

In an increasingly eerie atmosphere, they finished their simple meal. Lin almost instinctively wanted to clean up the beakers and chopsticks, but was stopped by Mobius.

"...I can do it myself." Her barely perceptible nervousness made her clench her fingers slightly.

"... Then I'll tidy up the room..."

"Need not."

Mobius and Lin looked at each other subtly through their helmets.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Lin said slowly. "I know you're busy, and it's normal not to do laundry..."

"I didn't." Mobius's stockinged thighs gradually came closer.

"..."

"..."

As the atmosphere grew increasingly somber, Mobius turned his gaze. "This room only looks messy. I actually know where everything is. It was arranged this way on purpose. Don't touch anything. There are no unwashed clothes here."

"What did it taste like just now?"

"..."

Seeing that Mobius did not answer, Lin's gaze gradually shifted from the chaotic surroundings to her, and finally locked onto the stockings under her white robe.

Mobius said coldly, his face grim, "You don't actually think it's my scent, do you?"

Lin didn't speak, but judging from his continued gaze, he seemed to be noncommittal.

"Impossible."

"You should know better than me the harm to your health from not changing your clothes for a long time."

"I already said it's impossible."

I don't believe it.

"You..." Mobius's words all seemed pale and powerless under this blunt "I don't believe you." She gritted her teeth, making a clicking sound, "Why did it take you so long to believe me?"

Lin spread his hands, throwing the question back at him, "How can you prove it?"

On a whim, Mobius immediately retorted without hesitation, "Why don't you just smell it and you'll know?"

Lin remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "Isn't that unnecessary?"

"What do you mean? I told you to smell it, so you smell it! Do you remember what you told me?" Mobius slammed her hands on the table as if she had been provoked, and Lin's seemingly disgusted look was a blatant mockery of her.

Does he really think she would wear clothes that haven't been washed in a long time?

Lin Jing remained silent for a long while, staring at Mobius's stubborn expression, before finally nodding.

"The work is finally finished. By the way, Cangxuan, what are your plans for your upcoming vacation?"