No wonder the Pre-Collapse Civilization's Earth Herrscher had been so absurdly powerful. If the final "Einstein" of the Pre-Collapse Civilization hadn't activated the program and sunk part of the cities and land into the Quantum Sea, Mu Continent really would have been completely wiped out!
But even so, the area Mu Continent retained in the end was probably less than one percent, and it was land so severely corrupted by Honkai Energy that nothing could be grown there.
"What? Do you like it here?"
While they were out having lunch, Mobius looked at Ling Xi with a smile. "To be honest, I like this place too. The living conditions here are far better than in Changkong City, and its natural resources and human resources are the best in the world."
"Yeah. All I can say is, it truly lives up to Mu Continent's reputation..."
Ling Xi smiled and nodded as well. Setting aside the future for now, Mu Continent truly had excellent conditions.
"Then how about we move here?"
Mobius suddenly seemed to think of something and smiled. "Aren't we leaving Changkong City anyway? I was just worrying about where to go afterward, so why not come here? I can apply for funding and establish a new research team here, then..."
Mobius said with a longing expression, "Darling, how about we buy a villa on Mu Continent and get married?"
"Pfft..."
As soon as Mobius said that, Ling Xi sprayed the juice in his mouth everywhere. Fortunately, there was a trash can nearby.
What had his Doctor just said? Move here, and... buy a house?
How many times had he said it? Never buy property in the Honkai world, especially... a villa!
Ling Xi: "..."
All Ling Xi wanted to say was that if they encountered the Third Honkai Eruption in Changkong City, they might still have a chance to survive. But if they encountered the Ninth Honkai Eruption on Mu Continent, then...
They should just restart from scratch.
"What? Is that not okay?"
Seeing Ling Xi's reaction, Mobius looked at him curiously. In her eyes, settling down on Mu Continent was an extremely wise choice. The reason she had not lived on Mu Continent before was because...
Her research was always opposed by most scholars. If she lived on Mu Continent, critics would come after her every other day, so... she simply moved to Changkong City, which was less technologically advanced but not too backward either, and relatively prosperous.
As for her assistants, Klein had followed her here, while Cangxuan and Danzhu were international students she had recruited in Changkong City. Like Ling Xi, they had come from Shenzhou.
But now that Changkong City was about to disappear, she had begun considering life on Mu Continent.
"Mm... it's nothing. I think... it could work."
After a brief moment of thought, Ling Xi calmed down. True, Mu Continent would be destroyed so thoroughly by the Earth Herrscher in the future that not even scraps would remain, but...
That would only happen when the Ninth Honkai Eruption and the Earth Herrscher appeared. He only needed to take Doctor and the others away again after the Eighth Honkai Eruption.
Besides, although Mu Continent would eventually be completely destroyed, before the Ninth Honkai Eruption it was relatively safe. The frequency and intensity of Honkai outbreaks were the highest here, but... Mu Continent's technology was advanced, so it had more confidence when fighting the Honkai.
Therefore, after only a short consideration, Ling Xi felt that temporarily remaining on Mu Continent was a viable plan.
"Alright, then once the conference is over, we'll go into the city and take a look around."
Seeing that Ling Xi had no objections, Mobius became quite interested. Besides... this would count as a new home, and strictly speaking, it ought to be her first real home.
Afterward, the two wandered around the city some more before returning to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day's symposium...
"Mobius has arrived in the capital. She brought only one assistant. Based on current intelligence, that assistant possesses roughly B-rank strength. With the new weapon designed by Mobius, he can kill an Assault-class Honkai Beast. Threat level: moderate!"
At Flame-Chasing Moths headquarters, a man in black was reporting to three elderly men.
"Don't touch her for now. Just keep her under surveillance. If..."
The leading old man sighed. "If she still insists on going her own way at the conference, proceed according to the plan."
"I agree."
Another old man nodded. "Humanity's future in technological development is incredibly promising. We should not waste resources or take risks developing evolution and Honkai. Once the door to evolution is opened, it will... contaminate the entire human gene pool."
"Let's see what happens tomorrow."
The last old man also spoke. "Tomorrow, we'll hear everyone's opinions. I think... most people will oppose her. Then we can force her to abandon evolution."
Mobius's Technology and Evolution!
The next day, at the largest conference center in the capital of Mu Continent, over a hundred top scholars from around the world, along with the assistants they had brought, several Flame-Chasing Moths executives, high-ranking leaders from various regions, and talented individuals invited for their potential gathered together—nearly five hundred people in total.
Under the protection of several thousand heavily armed guards, they convened the world's highest-level and most authoritative symposium!
"Everyone, the content of this conference is simple: humanity's future development plan. The human population has now exceeded ten billion. Resource shortages and overcrowding are becoming increasingly severe, while frequent recent disasters have caused continual and massive losses. Therefore..."
The speaker was an old scientist of great status, and one of the Flame-Chasing Moths' senior executives. His voice was firm and powerful. "For humanity's future, we must make breakthroughs in new fields and formulate new measures. Otherwise, humanity will stagnate here."
With the old scientist's speech, the symposium officially began. First came exchanges regarding recent technological breakthroughs, followed by discussions on future research directions. Yet the atmosphere at this moment...
Nearly all the scholars were discussing breakthroughs within scientific fields. Some did not state their position or remained silent. Only Mobius was thinking about evolution.
"Honkai will definitely occur again. Will humanity of the future truly be able to resist it?"
As the symposium proceeded, Mobius began her speech. She first explained the characteristics of the Honkai and predicted that it would definitely occur again in the future. Unfortunately, she was met with fierce rebuttals.
"I do not agree with Doctor Mobius's opinion."
The person refuting Mobius was a middle-aged man. "No matter how powerful the Honkai may be, it is still vulnerable before humanity's weapons. That was true for the First Herrscher, and it was true for the Second Herrscher. Future Herrschers will likewise be vulnerable before humanity's advanced weapons. As for the evolution plan led by Doctor Mobius..."
"Doctor Mobius, may I ask what species in this world can withstand humanity's artillery fire? Therefore, genetic modification and evolution are of no use whatsoever apart from contaminating the human gene pool and introducing unknown risks to human genes."
"Heh..."
Faced with the rebuttal, Mobius merely gave a disdainful laugh and silently sat back down. After all... arguing with idiots would accomplish nothing except lower her own intelligence.
Mobius had always merely stated her own views and rarely argued with others. It was not only because she did not want to argue, but also because she disdained doing so.
"Doctor Mobius, even if your genetic plan succeeds, have you... considered a new issue?"
Another scholar spoke at that moment. "That is, fairness!"
"From ancient times until now, humanity has had only one truly fair thing: lifespan. Your breakthroughs in genetic research may make it possible to extend lifespan, or perhaps make people stronger and smarter, but how many people will be able to enjoy such technology?"
The scholar sighed and slowly continued, "Perhaps by then, ordinary humans and genetically modified new humans will no longer be the same species. New humans will look at us the way we look at apes in a zoo. Tell me, will humanity at that time still count as humanity?"
"Hehe. Evolution has always come with abandonment."
Faced with the question, Mobius smiled. "Every abandonment is merely in pursuit of greater potential. Humanity's natural rate of evolution can no longer keep pace with technological development, so what is wrong with accelerating evolution and turning humans into new humans? After all... a new era naturally cannot bring all of humanity along with it. So..."
Mobius smiled faintly. "Just like natural selection, abandon the majority and evolve a minority. Then that small minority becomes the majority. That is true evolution!"
"That's outrageous!"
"An anti-human statement!"
"Doctor Mobius, your title as a demon is indeed well deserved!"
As soon as Mobius said this, she was immediately opposed by almost everyone in the room, whether scholars or high-ranking officials. After all...
Making such remarks at a serious, public symposium could no longer simply be described as outrageous. It was completely anti-human!
One had to understand that humans did not fear scarcity so much as inequality. If all humanity could evolve together, perhaps no one—or only a few people—would object. But was that possible? Clearly not!
Earth's resources were limited, so even evolution could only be the privilege of a minority. And in the future...
The evolved new humans would naturally eliminate the old humans without question.
But who wanted to become one of those eliminated? Therefore...
Mobius's remarks would undoubtedly draw opposition from the vast majority. If the United Nations dared announce this plan, worldwide unrest would erupt that very day, without even waiting until tomorrow!
And... this was only a hypothetical scenario based on the premise that the technology succeeded. Right now, there was not even any sign of it.
In the end, the three-day symposium concluded. Ling Xi had thought Mobius would not receive any resource allocation, since nearly everyone had opposed her. Yet...
Those who had openly refuted or condemned Mobius during the conference, when the final choice was made, quite a few of them actually agreed to allocate part of the resources to her. Especially... scholars sponsored by wealthy people, as well as a small number of Flame-Chasing Moths executives. After all...
No one could resist the temptation of lifespan. If this technology truly succeeded, the benefits it brought them could not possibly be measured with money. So... how could anyone not be tempted? As for why they had continuously opposed Mobius that day, naturally, it had been for the public to see. After all...
People did not fear scarcity so much as inequality. Seeing everyone work so hard to denounce her, the public naturally would not need to worry about being left behind by evolution!
Thus, in the final future resource allocation plan, technology received eighty percent—nearly all the resources available to scientists around the world.
As for genetics, Mobius alone received roughly ten percent of the resources under the pretext of researching a cure for Honkai disease. Of course, it would not be granted all at once, but determined according to Mobius's yearly progress and performance.
The remaining portion was allocated to various other fields.
In short, the three-day symposium, which was also the future resource allocation conference, came to a successful conclusion...
After the symposium ended, Mobius did not leave immediately. Instead, she chose to meet Mei. As for Ling Xi, he was outside the venue handling some follow-up matters for Mobius.
"Hello, Ling Xi. Would you be interested in chatting?"
Suddenly, Ling Xi heard an unfamiliar voice calling to him, and he immediately turned around...
"Hm? You are?"
Behind him stood a girl who looked even younger than he was. Looking at her, Ling Xi thought of someone—a certain... blue-haired scientist.
Marriage? No, This Was the "Legacy" Plan!
"Hello. This is our first... ah, perhaps not our first meeting, Ling Xi. Nice to meet you. My name is Einstein."
A moment later, in a private meeting room, Einstein smiled and extended her hand toward Ling Xi.
"Mm, hello, Einstein. Nice to meet you."
By then, Ling Xi had already guessed her identity. Without a doubt, she was Einstein, the creator of the puppets from Mu Continent in the Pre-Collapse Civilization!
Honestly, she looked far too much like that naturally curly-haired Doctor from the Honkai main story. If he had to name the only difference, it was probably the lock of red hair on the left side of Einstein's forehead. Among all that blue hair, it was the sole lock of red!
Of course, this Einstein was not as old as she had been in the manga. She looked like a high school student, just like him. After all, she had just called him a fellow student.
"I hope my abrupt interruption hasn't delayed you?"
Einstein politely asked.
"Of course not. I was only helping Doctor organize some documents. It wasn't anything important."
Ling Xi smiled and shook his head. "Besides, getting to know Einstein is an honor for me."
"I think I should be the one saying that."
Einstein smiled as well. "Ling Xi, you are now Doctor Mobius's assistant, while I am merely a student."
"No, I've learned about you, Einstein. At the very least..."
Ling Xi smiled faintly. "The Einstein of the future will definitely make achievements that shock the world. I firmly believe that."
"Uh..."
Several black lines appeared over Einstein's head. "Alright, Ling Xi, let's stop flattering each other. I wanted to ask what you think of Doctor Mobius's research."
"Huh?"
Ling Xi was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Einstein, I am Doctor Mobius's assistant. Naturally, Doctor Mobius is my priority. So don't you think that question is unnecessary?"
"Mm..."
Einstein hesitated before saying, "Then what do you think the chances of success are?"
"It will definitely succeed."
Ling Xi gave an answer without the slightest hesitation. "I believe in my Doctor's abilities, and I believe Doctor's path is the right one, even if... scholars all over the world are basically opposing her right now."
"I think I understand why Doctor Mobius was willing to bring you here."
Einstein gave a helpless smile. No wonder Mobius had brought Ling Xi to such a conference. All she could say was that he truly was someone Mobius had chosen.
"If I remember correctly, Einstein, you're on the technology side, right?"
Ling Xi asked curiously.
"Well... hehe, aside from your Doctor, it seems everyone is on the technology side."
Einstein helplessly spread her hands. After all, this was an era where everyone worshipped technology. An evolutionary branch like Mobius's was truly heretical. But no matter how fierce academic disputes became, private relationships generally were not affected.
Of course, except for some haters...
"Uh... that's true."
Ling Xi nodded helplessly. There was no helping it—following his Doctor basically meant setting himself against the whole world!
This situation would probably only change after the Third Honkai Eruption, or perhaps after the Fourth Honkai Eruption, once humanity recognized the Honkai's strength. Mobius would go directly from being the enemy of the world to becoming everyone's last hope.
Before you continue