I am a hero of the former civilization.

Two steaming bowls of noodles were quickly served. Ryan chatted with the owner for a bit and heard him say that he would go to Songcheng to stay with relatives in a while and use the compensation he received to open another noodle shop.

"What can we do? Life goes on. Just consider it a loss from doing business in Canghai for the past ten years. We men can't just cry and whine and contemplate suicide every time something happens. At least we're still alive, which is much luckier than those who have died or lost limbs."

Ryan nodded. Since everyone else had come to terms with it, there was no need for him to offer any advice. When he picked up his chopsticks, he saw that Alicia had already started eating.

Suck.

A few strands of noodles disappeared into her mouth along with the chili oil. Seeing her satisfied expression, Ryan also took a bite, only to find that the taste wasn't very good. It turned out that the noodles were made with frozen meat.

"You really aren't a picky eater."

“It’s already delicious, but seeing everyone facing life so positively makes it taste even better,” Alicia replied earnestly, gently shaking her head. “If you observe carefully, you can always see beautiful things and be happy anytime.”

Cheer up? It seems that Alicia never despaired in the end, which is also a skill.

Ryan smiled, as if he had been infected by the smile, and found the bland noodles delicious. Then he heard Alicia ask a question out of the blue.

"Hua is your junior?"

"To be precise, she's my junior sister. Oh, how do you know about her?"

"Because I was the one who did her induction training."

Ryan immediately became alert, squinting at the girl in front of him, and hesitated, "You...you didn't instill some strange theories in her, did you?"

Hua has joined the Fire Moth and is currently undergoing basic training.

"Seriously, how can you say that about me? There's nothing strange about it at all. I'm too lazy to repeat all of the grand visions of the Firemoth. I just taught her some particularly useful techniques to deal with a certain idiot."

Alicia was very interested, but she resisted the urge to reveal the answer.

"I feel like you're subtly criticizing me. Besides, Hua is a bit too honest, so don't bully her, and definitely don't end up like Mebius..."

"So what if you're like me?"

Ryan paused, then slowly turned his head. What came into view was a pair of long, straight, and perfectly fitted legs in black stockings. Above that were a short skirt and a shirt, and beyond that, a beautiful face.

The woman squinted, her gold earrings with infinity patterns reflecting the light, and a faint smile played on her lips.

"Mebius, what brings you here?" Ryan frowned immediately. Not only had Mebius come, but his expression was also strange. He seemed to be smiling, but he was actually a little angry.

“Why can’t I come?” Mebius’s smile widened, and he snorted at Alicia, who was waving at him. “I’m waiting for you to report for duty. You two seem to be having a pretty good time.”

A report? Oh, you mean that?

Ryan remembered that he had originally planned to cooperate with the research on the Fusion Warrior project, but after experiencing the intensity of Mebius's work, he needed to relax first.

However, the way Mebius seemed to be taking the lead made him wary; he knew he had to pin this woman down for them to cooperate fully.

"You didn't mention the reporting time, so I'm not taking the blame for this. Since you're already here, why don't you have a bowl?"

“Great, it’s rare to see you being so generous.” Möbius pulled over a plastic stool and called out to Klein, “Klein, you come and eat too.”

The green-haired assistant stood by the car, glancing at the group of people around the folding table. Mebius was full of fighting spirit, Ryan was expressionless, and Alicia was holding her head in her hands, looking like she was watching a good show.

"Doctor, I'm not hungry yet." She quickly shook her head like a rattle-drum, her survival instinct kicking in.

"If you don't want to eat, that's fine too." Mebius didn't insist, casually ordering a bowl and glancing around at it.

Ryan remained indifferent, while Alicia's spectator-like expression was infuriating.

She couldn't quite figure out either of them; she had no idea what they were up to.

"You two...are on a date?"

what?

Ryan choked on his food. He hadn't expected that after observing for so long, Mebius would start with such vulgar and offensive language. He had been prepared to accept such sarcastic remarks.

"Nonsense, your imagination is truly..."

“Yes, after all, I like Ryan a lot too. Even among my countless friends, he is a very special one.” Alicia answered first, adding in her heart with a happy smile.

Well, at least until now, no one has joined me in fighting the Herrscher.

Is Alicia serious?

Mebius frowned. The two were not exactly best friends who could talk about anything, and he could never quite figure out what she was thinking. Looking more closely at the smiling face opposite him, he realized that she didn't seem to be lying at all.

Ryan also turned his head, but he couldn't see anything amiss either. However, he knew Alicia's true nature, and his bright purple eyes were filled with interest.

She's being mischievous again. No, wait, it seems she really wants me to be Möbius's scabbard, to keep this woman from going mad.

Ryan rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, "Alice, stop joking around and don't say things that could be misunderstood."

"A joke? Isn't my expression serious enough?" Alicia turned her head, looking heartbroken. "Ryan, you said you liked me a lot when you visited me in the hospital."

I mean I don't dislike you, and no one would dislike you, right?

Ryan's lips twitched, and his head swelled up as well. Sometimes Alicia was really hard to deal with. He glanced at Mebius with a slight movement of his eyes.

The woman's smile gradually cooled, and her expression became visibly complex, showing a mixture of anger and doubt. She seemed to regret that a talented person had been abducted, but it also seemed to be more than that.

Mebius said nothing, but his gaze gradually sharpened, a stark contrast to the smiling Alicia, leaving Ryan completely bewildered, yet his instincts told him not to stay.

These two women are both difficult to deal with. Sitting here will only make me a target, and I'll get riddled with holes. I might as well jump out and watch them have their fun.

Aha, the greatest!

He seemed to have shifted from a life of pioneering to a life of pleasure, and he got up with a smile.

"I'll go pay the bill, you two enjoy your meal."

“Okay, thank you for your hospitality today.” Alicia nodded slightly, then lowered her voice: “Mebius, you scared Ryan away.”

"It's his guilty conscience, what does it have to do with me?"

"Hehe, so where does the ghost in your heart come from? You shouldn't be so free as to come here to eat noodles in the middle of the night."

The girl was still smiling, but Mebius stopped smiling; she found herself unable to answer the question.

"You can't answer that, can you? You were unexpectedly nervous when Ryan had that cardiac arrest."

"Because he is very valuable, it would be a big problem if he died."

"Really? Then why did you rush here tonight? Could it be—" Alicia covered her mouth, looking surprised, "You don't think I'm going to steal your assistant, do you?"

"Can't I be hungry? His personal life has nothing to do with his worth, I don't care, and it's none of your business to care."

“Well said, then I’ll go pester him.” Alicia immediately stood up.

"and many more!"

Mebius blurted out, then saw Alicia turn her head with a smile on her face, and immediately gritted his teeth.

"Ari-shia!"

“My dear Mebius, you’re so cute when you’re being stubborn. Ryan is a magical person; even you have become interesting.”

I still can't figure her out. What exactly is she trying to do?

Möbius rubbed his throbbing temples and muttered, "You really enjoy playing games with me like that?"

"On the contrary, I'm concerned about you. Didn't you notice a detail? After your application was rejected by the higher-ups, you didn't mention the Third Herrscher at all. You would have been secretly researching it long ago." Alicia was very serious, and this rare appearance made Mebius's expression freeze.

She hadn't noticed this detail before, because when she was the Second Herrscher, Alicia had also tried to persuade her, and she had been quite dismissive of it back then, which made her feel a little ironic.

"So you're playing him? To trap me?"

"No, I genuinely like Ryan."

"What kind of liking?"

"Does liking someone have to be categorized by type? To me, all love is equally passionate."

"That's why you're the problem, you're unpredictable!"

Haha, why don't they say now that personal life has nothing to do with values?

Alicia tilted her head and smiled, "Take a guess?"

As the lights dimmed, Mebius's snake-like eyes gradually sharpened. She disdained others' good intentions and scorned their attempts to control her.

Few dare to meet that gaze, but Alicia remained gentle, as if she couldn't sense the anger.

“I know you haven’t thought it through, and a conflicted girl is adorable, isn’t she? But dear Möbius, tell me what you truly want to say.”

A lump formed in his throat, and as if under some kind of spell, Möbius ceased his self-doubt, his assumptions and denials, and his considerations of reason and emotion, answering firmly:

"Ryan, he's mine!"

Chapter Sixty-Seven: You're the toad!

As the business jet flew from Shenzhou to Mu Continent, Ryan looked up from a thick stack of research documents, glanced at the vast sea of ​​clouds outside the window, and couldn't help but yawn.

It's a shame the fun ended before we even got to see it.

Last night, right after settling the bill, Mebius dragged him to the airport without saying a word, not wanting to waste a second, as if he were going to kidnap him.

Without explaining, she simply pressed the man into the seat, fastened his seatbelt, stuffed the thick stack of documents into his lap, and then sat down next to him to catch up on her sleep.

'It's a shame that someone with this level of exploitation isn't a capitalist; they're just destined to become streetlights soon enough.' Ryan gritted his teeth. Even Alicia was somewhat bewildered, not only not stopping them but also adding fuel to the fire, waving goodbye with a grin.

'Alicia, what is she thinking? She wouldn't really want to use me to control Möbius, would she?'

Ryan wasn't stupid; he guessed Alicia's intention and turned his head slightly to look to the side.

The green-haired mature woman was fast asleep, her head tilted to the side, her chest rising and falling, her long, straight legs draped over the front seat, and her dainty toes visible through her black stockings. People say that a loli's white-stockinged feet are like ice cream, then this one is like a chocolate-flavored Magnum.

Looking further up, the short skirt had ridden back due to her sleeping position, and you could vaguely see the marks left by her panties.

She looks quite pretty when she's asleep, with a kind of languid charm.

Ryan nodded slightly. Actually, even without Alicia saying so, he would have stopped Mebius from falling into a mad state. After what happened with the Third Herrscher, they were friends, after all.

Of course, this couldn't be said aloud, otherwise Mebius would definitely take advantage of it and would never be moved to obediently listen.

"Speaking of which, she truly deserves to be called a genius. She has only been back in Mu Continent for a short time, yet she has already made such a significant progress in her research."

Ryan continued flipping through the documents, a smile gradually spreading across his face. Möbius had extracted the genes from the successful samples, then modified them to make them more stable and controllable, and had conducted more than a hundred animal experiments.

"With a mortality rate of 64%, a distortion rate of 30%, and a failure rate of 2%, can we say that less than 3% of the samples can be considered successful?"

What kind of murderous surgery is this? Even considering the difference between humans and animals, the success rate is less than 3%. Add to that the varying strengths of individuals with Honkai energy adaptability, and it's at most around 5%.

Thinking of this, Ryan paused for a moment, then realized he had been tricked.