Because a Snake Has Its Eyes on You! / The Doctor Has Invited You Over!

"Since that's the case, don't blame me."

Seeing that the other side had come with hostile intentions, Ling Xi had no intention of backing down. He flicked his right hand and activated the power of his Stigmata.

"Enhancement, Lightning Enchantment!"

As Ling Xi spoke, a mass of electricity wrapped around his right hand, and then he threw a punch!

"Bang!"

In an instant, the black-clad man wielding a katana was sent flying, crashing straight into the wall along the street.

"Cough, cough..."

The black-clad man coughed violently. Though he had not died on the spot, he had already lost his ability to fight. Setting aside his severe injuries, the main issue was that the electric current had paralyzed his body, leaving him unable to exert any strength at all.

"Hmm?"

Witnessing this, Mobius carefully scrutinized Ling Xi. More precisely, she was studying the electric current wrapped around his right hand. It looked... somewhat familiar.

"Who are you, sir? Why are you meddling in this?"

Seeing Ling Xi knock one of his companions down with a single punch, the leading man had no choice but to take him seriously. This was probably no ordinary passerby.

"Who I am isn't important. But I'm rather interested in who you people are!"

Ling Xi had no intention of revealing his identity. Although he was about to leave Changkong City, drawing too much attention was never a good thing.

"Save me..."

At that moment, Mobius suddenly sped up and threw herself onto Ling Xi, grabbing his arm tightly. With a terrified expression, she said, "They wanted to do bad things to me. Please, save me..."

"This..."

Seeing Mobius suddenly run to the other side, the remaining two men were left somewhat dumbfounded. This... had been careless of them.

"Uh..."

Ling Xi also felt rather speechless, but he had no intention of pushing her away. He merely reassured her, "Don't worry. I won't let them do that."

"I will remember your words, sir. Until we meet again!"

Seeing Mobius already pressed up against Ling Xi, the black-clad man decisively chose to abandon the mission. Whether the two of them could defeat Ling Xi aside, if they delayed any longer, they might be discovered by patrol officers. That would make things even more troublesome.

Thus, the two black-clad men supported their injured companion from either side and quickly vanished into the darkness. Of course, it was less that they cared about their companion's safety than that they were afraid he would be captured and reveal their secrets.

"Hmm?"

Ling Xi's first instinct was to chase after them, but after thinking it over... his task was only to save this girl and look after her until she sobered up. As for those three people, there did not seem to be any mission requirement concerning them.

More importantly, if he went after them, he obviously could not take this girl along. But if he left her here... uh, what if she ran into danger again?

At the same time, his energy was limited. He needed to save as much as he could, since the Honkai outbreak in Changkong City could happen at any moment.

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Ling Xi chose not to pursue them.

He looked at the woman hanging onto him, who was already about to fall asleep...

"Mmm... I can't afford a hotel..."

After thinking for a moment, Ling Xi decisively picked her up and prepared to take her back to his apartment first.

"Do you have any alcohol? I want to drink."

At Ling Xi's home, Mobius threw her arms around him and said drunkenly, "I can still drink..."

"..."

Looking at Mobius clinging around his neck like a koala, Ling Xi could even catch a trace of Mobius's unique scent. Of course, the smell of alcohol was far stronger. Judging from the intensity of that alcohol smell, hmm... she needed at least five years behind bars. Even Teacher Luo would not be able to reduce that sentence!

Besides, the street had been rather dimly lit earlier, so he had not gotten a proper look at Mobius. But now that he saw her up close, honestly, if beauty were scored out of a hundred, this girl would absolutely get a ninety-five.

So pretty, so drunk, and wandering around a place this deserted. No wonder someone had set their sights on her.

Green hair... it looked somewhat familiar. It was like he had seen it somewhere before...

"Give me alcohol!"

Mobius lightly punched his chest and huffed, "If you don't give me alcohol, I'll get angry. I won't play with you anymore."

Ling Xi: "..." For the supply card, I'll endure...

"The alcohol is sold out. There isn't any left today. How about drinking tomorrow?"

Helplessly, Ling Xi could only coax her as though she were a child. It could not be helped—his mission required him to look after her until she sobered up.

"Mmm?"

Mobius dazedly looked at Ling Xi and said, "Then... let's play finger guessing. If I win, you give me alcohol. If I lose... mmm... then the loser drinks!"

Ling Xi: "..."

"I don't know how to play finger guessing."

Ling Xi rubbed his forehead in frustration. This supply card was far too difficult to get.

"It's fine, it's fine. Come, I'll teach you..."

Mobius grinned, released Ling Xi, and began teaching him how to play finger guessing...

Well, there was no helping it. For the sake of his supply card, and to properly serve this lady, Ling Xi could only go along with her and play.

As for what they would drink without alcohol, Ling Xi decisively brought out some herbal tea. It tasted good and seemed to help sober people up too—killing two birds with one stone!

In the end, after being tormented by her for a full two hours, Ling Xi finally carried the now-sleeping Mobius back to his room sometime after one in the morning. He laid her on the bed and let her rest alone.

Because the Snake Has Already Set Her Sights on You!

Mission complete: Supply Card ×1!

The next day, Ling Xi woke up on the sofa and immediately received the mission completion notification.

Ah, that had not been easy. This supply card had been far too hard to earn!

He had been in this world for two months. He could occasionally trigger missions, but including the five cards he had received from completing a mission two months ago, he only had eight supply cards in total. That was not even enough for a ten-pull, so Ling Xi could not be bothered drawing cards. There was no point!

As for the Stigmata he currently possessed, they were four-star Tesla (Lower) and Aslaug (Upper). Tesla's effect gave him the power of electric currents while increasing the strength of lightning. It was probably enough to reach the level of a B-rank Valkyrie.

This level of combat strength was enough for now. At the very least, protecting himself would not be a problem. Unless he was especially unlucky and encountered a monster like a Honkai Emperor, even if he could not win, escaping would be easy.

That was why Ling Xi had not drawn any cards. He planned to save up for a ten-pull before drawing. After all, one ten-pull to graduate the set perfectly was a legendary tale of the jianghu.

"Right, where did she go?"

Only then did Ling Xi remember the woman he had picked up yesterday. He hurriedly looked toward his room. The door was already open, so Ling Xi went straight inside.

"Looks like she's already left."

Seeing the empty bed, Ling Xi knew she had probably gone. That was fine too.

"Hmm?"

When he returned to the living room, Ling Xi noticed a loaf of bread on the table, with a note tucked beneath it.

After picking up the note, he read the words written on it. Thank you for what happened last night, but don't tell anyone about it, okay? Oh, and you don't need to worry about not being able to find me, because... we will meet again.

"..."

Ling Xi silently crumpled the note into a ball and threw it into the trash. Meet again? Better not.

If it were not for the supply card, who would want to see her again?

Besides, they probably would not have another chance to meet anyway. After the Honkai outbreak in Changkong City, there might not even be one survivor out of a hundred thousand.

"Ling Xi, one of the survivors of the Honkai incident in H City two months ago. He is a citizen of Sky Dome City in Shenzhou. He came to Changkong City two years ago and is currently a third-year high school student at Qianyu Academy. Two months ago, he traveled to H City, encountered the Honkai incident, and was brought back to Changkong City by a Flame-Chasing Moths unit!"

After finishing the report, the green-haired girl raised her head to look at Mobius, who was seated in a chair. "Doctor, why did you suddenly investigate this person? Judging from his file, he is just an ordinary person."

"Hehe, an ordinary person..."

Mobius chuckled and asked, "Klein, do you think someone who can wield lightning with his bare hands and blast a C-rank assassin away with an electric current is an ordinary person?"

"Hmm?"

Klein was immediately startled. She glanced at the file in her hand and asked, "Doctor, are you saying..."

"Yes, that's right, Klein."

Mobius nodded and smiled. "I happened to meet him while taking a stroll last night. Don't you think... that kind of power feels familiar? And two months ago, he happened to be in H City..."

"Hmm... then what do you mean, Doctor?"

Klein looked up at her, suddenly feeling a bad premonition. People targeted by the Doctor often ended up becoming...

"It's simple. Isn't he about to graduate? He does not have much schoolwork now anyway, so... how about we recruit him into our laboratory first?"

Mobius looked at Klein with an enigmatic smile.

"Doctor, you should consider this... Hmm? Doctor, what did you say?"

Klein had been about to persuade Mobius to be kind, but it seemed... she had misheard?

Mobius said with a smile, "I said I've taken a liking to him, so how about recruiting him to work in our laboratory?"

"Hmm... whatever the Doctor says."

Klein had no objections to that. She also felt their laboratory was somewhat understaffed. Although they had the two interns, Danzhu and Cangxuan, they were... completely unreliable. Still, Klein did not think Mobius would succeed.

After all, their Doctor's notorious reputation was widespread. Normal people would run away the moment they heard her name, much less come work here.

"Then, Doctor, I wish you success!"

With that, Klein intended to return to work.

"Klein..."

Then Mobius suddenly grabbed her and smiled. "This person is very important to me, so... I hope Klein can recruit him personally. And... before bringing him here, don't tell him my name, much less tell him this is my laboratory..."

Klein: "..."

"Doctor, this is your own business, and besides..."

Klein looked at Mobius speechlessly. "Doctor Mobius, just saying your name is enough to scare away almost everyone. Not a single intern from last year was willing to come to our laboratory. Doctor, do you not know why?"

"Please, Klein..."

Mobius directly grabbed Klein's sleeve and looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please, Klein. You know that ordinary people refuse me as soon as they hear my name. If I recruit him myself, I definitely won't succeed. So... Klein, please help me."

Klein completely ignored her Doctor's words and prepared to leave...

"Klein..."

Mobius decisively hugged Klein and pleaded sweetly, "Just make the trip yourself. I know you treat me the best, Klein... waaah..."

Klein: "..."

"Sigh... I really can't do anything about the Doctor."

In the end, Klein could only agree to her Doctor's request. There was no helping it. If she refused, Mobius would cling to her for the entire morning.

Of course, even after agreeing, Klein still did not think the odds of success were high. Mobius's "notorious reputation" was known to everyone within the organization. Even if they were not part of the organization and could be tricked into coming at first, they would definitely run away again within a few days. After all, this had happened many times before.

My Doctor Invites You!

"The Honkai outbreak in Changkong City is about to occur. As things stand, Shenzhou is the safest place."

In the classroom, Ling Xi thought things over once more and decided where he would go. Based on the information currently available, Shenzhou was naturally the first choice. At the very least, Honkai outbreaks were less frequent there, and there had been no Herrscher-level Honkai incidents. That was enough.

Besides, although he had already crossed into this world, the regional settings of the two worlds were quite similar, so he still felt some sense of belonging toward Shenzhou in this world. At the same time, compared with those other places, he was more familiar with Shenzhou, so it should be a good choice.

Moreover, the Far East was not far from Shenzhou. By flight, it would take less than an hour to get there.

But going to Shenzhou would only bring temporary stability. Never mind the thirteen Herrschers before that—there would also be the Finality cleansing the world at the end. Unless...

He could build an underground base like those of the Pre-Collapse Civilization, then use Hibernation Pods to reach the future.

That method should be feasible, but there were many problems: funding, technology, research personnel, and more. None of them could be lacking, and time was tight.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

At that moment, the dismissal bell rang, and the morning classes came to an end.