Pre-Collapse Civilization, My Wife is a Snake Oh

Uh, this time it's not some romantic phrase like "I love you until the end of the world," but... the actual end of the world!

Chapter 12: I don't feel safe holding this money, how about I take a bite?

"Oh right, where's the Doctor?"

Klein looked around the hall and found that Mobius wasn't here again. She guessed the Doctor was probably in her lab tinkering with something.

"She's in that lab over there."

Ling Xi pointed to the lab they had visited before and casually said, "The Doctor drew some blood from me earlier for a check-up, so she should still be analyzing my blood sample."

"Is that so..."

A look of "as expected" flashed across Klein's face. After all, the main reason Mobius had asked her to find Ling Xi was to study him. Whether it was the video from H City last time or the electrical current ability Ling Xi demonstrated last night, it was all worth researching.

"Ling Xi, let me show you around our work first..."

Since Mobius was busy with the blood sample, Klein didn't want to disturb her and decided to show Ling Xi around the lab instead.

"Okay, thank you."

Ling Xi nodded slightly, then suddenly thought of a question and asked, "By the way, Senior Sister Klein, your..."

"Hm?"

Klein looked at Ling Xi with a dazed expression, waiting for him to continue.

"Uh..."

Ling Xi asked quietly, "Is it okay to reveal it? How much is your salary? Of course, I'm just curious, it's fine if you can't say."

"Salary..."

Klein replied directly, "My base salary is five thousand, and the year-end bonus will be several months' salary depending on the situation."

Ling Xi "???"

Wait, if even a trusted confidante like Klein only earns five thousand, and he's getting eight thousand...

Ling Xi "..." How come holding this feels so unsafe? How about I take a bite... Uh, never mind, I won't.

"You don't have to look at me like that. I requested it intentionally."

Klein seemed to have read Ling Xi's mind and said, "Originally, in my previous lab, my base salary started at ten thousand. However, after coming to Doctor Mobius's lab, I voluntarily took a pay cut."

"Huh? Why?"

Hearing Klein's words, Ling Xi became even more curious. He even wondered if Klein was really out of her mind to voluntarily lower her salary...

"Because our lab is quite poor, and the budget for purchasing supplies and equipment is severely insufficient. When I first arrived, apart from the essential scientific instruments, the lab could be described as completely bare. There was only one chair, let alone sofas, TVs, water dispensers, refrigerators, or microwaves!"

Then, Klein continued, "So, I asked the Doctor to lower my salary and use the money to improve the lab environment. Although the Doctor always said the lab didn't need to be too fancy, as long as the research could be done, she eventually agreed to my request."

"Uh..."

Hearing this, Ling Xi looked at Klein with admiration. He didn't know whether to call this girl silly or stupid for using her own salary to buy public goods...

"But, our lab..."

Ling Xi corrected himself and asked, "Isn't Doctor Mobius a very brilliant scientist? Logically, the funding allocated to us shouldn't be small. How could there not even be enough money to purchase supplies and equipment?"

"Sigh, it's because of... the Doctor."

Klein said quietly, "Mobius is a once-in-a-century genius recognized worldwide. At your age, the Doctor was already a world-renowned scholar."

"But the Doctor only wants to focus on her research, completely disregarding her status and reputation. She doesn't put on airs with anyone, whether it's the higher-ups of Flame-Chasing Moths, the leaders of investors, or even the lab cleaners, the Doctor treats everyone equally and never changes her behavior based on their status."

Ling Xi "..." This character setting, I'm familiar with it...

"However, precisely because of this, the Doctor has offended many powerful people. But due to the Doctor's achievements, they couldn't do anything openly. Nevertheless, our lab's funding was repeatedly cut, eventually leading to the budget barely covering expenses, with a deficit almost every quarter..."

At this point, Klein sighed and said, "Fortunately, recently, with my persuasion, the Doctor has changed a little. At least... she's willing to attend some banquets or events now. So, our lab's funding has increased recently. While it's not exactly generous, at least we won't face situations like before where we couldn't even pay salaries due to insufficient funds, forcing everyone to eat instant noodles with pickles every day."

Ling Xi "..."

However, after hearing Klein's explanation, Ling Xi's understanding of Mobius deepened. He had initially thought of scientists like her as aloof existences, but now it seemed that wasn't the case at all. No wonder Mobius's voice in the game was so soft and cute, although... there was still quite a gap compared to now.

"Then... can I voluntarily take a pay cut?"

After learning about the lab's situation, Ling Xi had some thoughts. Indeed, he didn't need a high salary right now. After all, earning more money was useless. In the end, Finality would wipe everything clean, turning it all into nothingness!

Therefore, Ling Xi also hoped to reduce his salary a bit to make the lab's finances more comfortable. He considered it a small gesture of his own.

"There's no need. Didn't I just say it? We're not short on funds right now."

Seeing that Ling Xi had the same idea, Klein showed a slight smile. "Besides, the Doctor would never agree. I can guarantee that if you say this to the Doctor, she will be very angry."

"Uh... alright, I understand."

Ling Xi quickly nodded to show he understood. Perhaps, this was just Mobius.

Afterward, Klein began to familiarize Ling Xi with the lab's work. Since Ling Xi was a novice, Klein assigned him the simplest tasks, mainly organizing documents, observing materials, and recording logs...

Of course, today wasn't considered formal work yet, just familiarization.

As for the work schedule, it was the same as what Mobius had mentioned earlier. Unless there were special requests from Mobius, Ling Xi could come whenever he was free and skip it when he wasn't. It was quite flexible, as long as Ling Xi remembered he was part of the lab.

In short, starting today, Ling Xi officially became an assistant in Mobius's lab under the First Research Institute of Flame-Chasing Moths, a position with official status.

Ling Xi decided he would stick to clinging to Mobius's leg, no matter what. Not for any other reason than to survive until the new civilization era!

Chapter 13: Seele Seele Seele?

The next morning, Ling Xi went to Senba Academy for class as usual. However, he hadn't slept well the night before, so he was still a bit groggy. It couldn't be helped; he had been a little too excited after clinging to Mobius's leg yesterday.

"Haaahhh..."

After taking the subway to the academy entrance, Ling Xi couldn't help but yawn as soon as he got off the train. He continued walking forward with his eyes closed...

"Bang!"

"Yaaah..."

Suddenly, Ling Xi felt like he had bumped into something and quickly opened his eyes.

Then, Ling Xi saw a girl standing with her back to him. He seemed to have just bumped into her...

"Uh... sorry, are you okay..."

Since he was the one who bumped into her, Ling Xi immediately wanted to apologize. Then, he noticed a piece of bread with jam on the ground in front of the girl, but... the bread was already on the ground.

Ling Xi: "..."

At this moment, the girl he had bumped into turned around and looked at him with a resentful expression, her eyes even carrying a hint of... grief and indignation!

Yes, grief and indignation!

She felt utterly helpless. It was rare for her to buy a jam bread in the morning, and she had only taken one bite when someone suddenly bumped into her from behind. As for the result... she felt like ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through her mind!

"Uh, sorry... huh?"

Ling Xi was about to apologize and offer compensation, but when he saw the girl's face, he froze. Because...

Red eyes, black hair, and... that incredibly familiar appearance. This was...

Seele...

Ling Xi almost subconsciously called out her name, but he held back at the last moment. He knew very well that this was the Pre-Collapse world, not the Honkai world he was familiar with. Seele... couldn't possibly appear here.

So, this must be a girl who looked very much like Seele.

"Um, I'll pay for it."

Ling Xi quickly regained his senses. Seeing the jam bread on the ground, he immediately offered to compensate the other party, as it was indeed his fault.

"Hmph, no need."

The girl gave Ling Xi an annoyed look, then turned and left, huffing, "Clean up your own trash!"

Ling Xi: "..."

Ling Xi rubbed his forehead helplessly. He really didn't mean to...

Never mind, he'd apologize the next time he saw her. As for the topic of Seele...

Although this girl looked almost identical to Seele, aside from the difference in hair and eye color, their personalities were completely dissimilar. Because if the girl from just now was truly Seele, she would have said it was okay and accepted his apology, as Seele was very gentle.

In any case, the girl he just met was probably just a girl who looked like Seele. Yes...

This kind of situation didn't seem uncommon. After all, Mobius from the Pre-Collapse era and the "housewife" from the Honkai world, as well as the Flame-Chasing Herrscher from the Pre-Collapse era and Auntie Himeko, and an AI named Prometheus, were almost identical to Durandal. So...

The girl he met just now was likely in the same situation, looking like Seele but having no connection to the Seele he knew.

"Oh well, I'll apologize next time..."

The girl had already left, and Ling Xi could only deal with the trash on the ground. Since they were in the same school, they would meet again sooner or later. When she was less angry, he would apologize properly.

In the classroom, the teacher was still lecturing passionately. Ling Xi, on the other hand, was yawning and wanting to sleep. Although Ling Xi felt he didn't need to attend school anymore, considering that the Honkai outbreak in Changkong City was imminent, it was questionable how long Senba Academy would even exist.

Moreover, with his job as Mobius's assistant, his future life and survival were no longer problems.

If there was any use for him attending school now, it was only for one thing!

To find Mei and Kevin. However, it seemed like he didn't need to look for them at all. Mei was a beautiful, well-behaved girl, a genius whose academic performance ranked among the top in the entire school... no, the entire country. Anyone in Senba Academy could easily tell him where she was.

As for Kevin, wherever Mei was, Kevin was there too. He saw "Old Ancestor Kevin" almost every day on the activity field or the playground playing basketball, surrounded by a group of screaming fangirls...

Ugh, damn it. He hated guys with good family backgrounds and good looks the most. If he wasn't worried about Kiana ceasing to exist due to future timeline changes, he would have snatched Mei away and put the Bishop's hat on him.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking. After all, he was quite supportive of the Kevin and Mei pairing. It was a shame they never truly ended up together, and their only descendant was conceived via IVF. And Kevin was undoubtedly a great heroic warrior!

Well... of course, that was in the future. The current Kevin was just an attention-seeking, show-offy young man.

Speaking of which, with Mei's current knowledge level, she should already be qualified to join the Flame-Chasing Moths. After all, Klein had mentioned yesterday that Mobius was already a world-renowned figure around Mei's current age, so Mei shouldn't be far behind.

According to the normal plot, Mei would only join the Flame-Chasing Moths after the third Honkai outbreak in Changkong City. If he changed the timeline and let Mei join the Flame-Chasing Moths earlier, would humanity's technology advance further?

Even though the final outcome might still be destruction...

But then again, Mei didn't know the horrors of Honkai yet. If she hadn't personally experienced the terror of the third Honkai outbreak, perhaps her future would be different.

In short, it was best for him not to affect too much of the plot; letting things unfold naturally was the best course of action. After all, his only advantage now was knowing a little about the future. But if he changed too much and messed up the future plot, then...

What if he ruined the fire seed plan of the Pre-Collapse civilization? That would be truly disastrous.

Therefore, it was best for him to let things take their course. He would just quietly stay in Mobius's laboratory, waiting for Finality to arrive so he could head to the new era. It wasn't that he didn't want to change anything, but in the face of absolute power, he was simply too insignificant.

Unfortunately, my cheat was Sirin, not the legendary "lie flat" system. Otherwise, given my current situation, I could have totally coasted for fifty-five thousand years, which is barely the age of an immortal. By then, when the new civilization begins, I might have already become invincible through sheer endurance...

However, even if I don't plan to change anything, getting to know Mobius and Kevin early on wouldn't hurt. Especially since Mobius isn't a big shot yet, getting on her good side now is definitely the way to go!

When the time comes, I'll have the Snake's thigh in my left hand and Mobius's thigh in my right. Besides Finality, I'll dare to challenge anyone!

Chapter 14: I'm Seele, the real Seele!

"Ring ring ring..."

Finally, the dismissal bell rang. It was time for the noon break. Ling Xi planned to fill his stomach at the academy cafeteria first, then head to the laboratory to find Mobius. Moreover, he didn't have any classes in the afternoon, so he could spend more time in the lab.

Soon, Ling Xi arrived at the academy cafeteria, where a long queue had already formed...

Ling Xi: "..." Maybe I should eat out...

Looking at the line ahead, Ling Xi felt a bit intimidated. As expected, no matter which school it is, when it's mealtime, everyone turns into a foodie with a foodie soul!

Shaking his head, Ling Xi decided to eat out. After all, he had just received his salary for the year yesterday, and he wasn't short on money. So, Ling Xi decisively left the cafeteria, preparing to dine at a restaurant outside.

"Hmm? Is that her..."

However, just a few steps after leaving, Ling Xi spotted a girl standing by the window of a bakery.

"Mmmph..."

In front of the bakery, the girl was deep in thought while looking at the bread inside. Her current budget was enough to buy one pork floss bun, but...

One pork floss bun clearly wouldn't be enough. Because... some jerk had dropped her jam bread on the ground this morning, leaving her with only that one bite of bread for breakfast. After a morning of classes, her stomach was already growling.

So, how should she choose now? Should she buy one pork floss bun that she liked, or buy two cheaper plain white breads?