The h took Mobius’ wrist was pletely natural. The tter was also quick to read pyed along with him.

  Whewo reached the baly, Aleph swiftly apologized.

  “I’m sorry about that. Vill-V is… you know, she ’t be stopped.”

  “Tsk. Of course that girl’s stubborn. Who in their right mind would attack MOTH alone?”

  “Teically, she’s not alone.”

  “...She nearly turned aire isnd into a monkeys’ ir.”

  “...”

  The two of them knew about Vill-V’s character very well. She was the “unstoppable force” iH. The only thing that could currently stomp her was budget cuts.

  “Anyways, I got the feeling she’ll make another mess.”

  Aleph told Mobius about the phantom thief he used to talk about with Vill-V. Knowihere’s a high ce she’ll pull that impersonation off.

  “Why did you even tell her that?” She asked.

  “I didn’t have any idea back then.”

  “So you didn’t believe my words at first?”

  Seeing her raise her eyebroh felt a vague threat from her.

  “She wasn’t that chaotic before.” He replied helplessly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. I didn’t expect you’ll e here.”

  During the past eight months, Aleph heard a lot of things from Klein. One of them being Mobius not wanting to attend high-profile parties. Her retionship with the higher-ups are sour enough. If she attended, it’s akin to pying a game of pretend—something she thought to be useless.

  Giveime, she will most likely choose to tinue in her researstead.

  “Am I not wele?”

  “No. It’s just that you’ve ged.”

  “...”

  These words stunned her.

  ‘I ged..?’

  All this time, her only trustworthy friend is Klein. Aleph unknowingly rose up to be her sed friend, no matter how much she de.

  To that, she couldn’t help but let out a smile.

  “Maybe.”

  It h’s turn to be surprised. He nearly fot what he was going to tell her .

  On weekdays, Mobius is either snarky or serious. When she smiles, it was due to a somewhat malevolent pn or her twisted humor. In short, it was all resulted by sarcasm.

  It was his first time seeing her smile without any of those vibes.

  Mobius was quick to notice his rea, therefore reverting back to her previous expression.

  “Um. That’s right. I want to show you something.”

  Aleph took out a folded phone in his pocket. It was simir to a flip pho imbued with a modern design. Soon, it became a normal phone onfolded.

  Mobius took it from it without thinking much. Although, after a while, her expression became still.

  “When did you start this?”

  “Several weeks ago. I obtained a fresh sample from that time.”

  Her shock was not unfouhe tents of the dot ihe phone was a breakthrough point of her research.

  Eight months ago, Aleph’s participation sped up the progress of her biological research regarding Honkai, internally called by them as the ‘Meta-Morph Project’. In MOTH’s official dots, it was the Project Soldier that aimed to empower an individual through selected honkai genes.

  That research has been going on for years without results. In the eyes of the cilors, Mobius was no different from Vill-V—wasting funds for useless things.

  It wasn’t until Aleph arrived that it saw visible progress. His blood samples demonstrated high honkai resistance.

  What her research did was to i honkai genes on a live subject. It will trigger a ‘response’ from the humans’ body, thus creating an induced mutation that will allow the body to adapt the honkai genes as one of its own.

  Aleph’s blood samples became the shield that prevented all sorts of destru. However, the main reason behind its failure lies in the subjects’ reas themselves.

  Aleph’s blood samples could protect the body from the honkai, but as to whether the body itself goes hysterical mode and sends out all sorts of messy signals—including instinctively killing itself—it couldn’t do anything.

  “The Herrscher’s body doesn’t have that problem. It accepted honkai energy pletely.”

  “Weakening of the honkai gehen there’s the equilibrium… Was this the difference of a live sample?”

  ‘Great Sage helped with this…’

  From the momeained [Great Sage], it held enormous processing capabilities. It put up aire list of MANTIS’ potential strengths and weaknesses. Aleph used it to recall the data from the night he killed the Herrscher.

  Mobius took some time to process this information. She handed over the phone ba. She grasped the handrails and stared at the starry sky in a daze.

  “Do you still recall our first meeting?”

  Mobius suddenly asked him this question.

  “You asked me for some samples.”

  “Then you suddenly ged it to us w together.” She asked him again. “Why did you do it?”

  Aleph felt Mobius’ seriousness. One wrong answer and everything might as well ght to hell.

  Out of them all, there was only one way out—

  “Because I felt you were alone.”

  —siy.

  “I felt that I’ll end up in your situation too… being ostracized. It happens to those who stand out.”

  Aleph’s strength made numerous people wary. At the same time, Mobius’ absurd talents were also something that prompted people to be on guard.

  “I was thinking of some hypothetical sarios... and in no way they are good. That’s why when I predicted you would e over, I made that decision.”

  “..Empathy. I see.”

  All this time, Mobius set her eyes on one goal. She did not wish for any pany, yet there were people who truly helped her pave the way. She was determio pay them ba some way.

  Now, it seems like she’ll add one more person with her.

  “I didn’t think you were that seal.”

  Mobius was back to her sarcasm-bsp;words.

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with it. I would rather be like that than to bee aionless mae.”

  “It’ll e back to bite you someday.”

  “Then it’s a problem for me iure.”

  The two began bantering again.

  *****

  The Night soon ended. Aside from Vill-V’s pompous magic show, there wasn’t anything big that occurred in the event.

  “Huh… I failed again.”

  Hua wasn’t the introvert type at first. She still had expectations when it es to socializing with others.

  Unfortunately, the cruel reality left her in the dust. Since she hadn’t joined any of the f cliches in the , she was left out aloracized, even.

  Hua aowledged she wasn’t just good at talking with others. She thought it’d be fine for her not to talk with others.

  Although she entered Carole, that decision bit her back at this time.

  “I couldn’t even talk to him.”

  Tap.

  Tap.

  The sound of approag footsteps came from her back.

  “It’s you, Hua.”

  She suddenly jolted out of surprise.

  “Sir Aleph?”

  The familiar acquaintance presented himself to her eyes.

  “Are you free now?”

  “Wh… Yes, I am.”

  “Do you want to take a stroll outside? It’s been a while since we talked properly.”

  “...Sure.”

  Fag the pie that fell from the sky, Hua became dazed.