Honkai Impact 3rd: The Girl Who Chases the Flame

"Yes. Leaving aside Qianjie and Ying, Alicia can't really turn against Mei completely... It's not that she's afraid, but with the disaster of Honkai imminent, neither of them wants humanity to fight amongst themselves."

Mebius nodded without hesitation.

"That woman was determined that Mei wouldn't turn against her because of this, so she dared to do anything... Tsk, I wonder if Melutina was corrupted during the years she worked under her."

"So, why are we going to see Miss Wilvi?"

"She is the builder of the deepest place... Why do you think Alicia texted me? Isn't it to force me to negotiate with Velvi?"

Mebius curled his lip.

"Mei's condition for compromise is that we have already kidnapped the person. If we haven't, we'll all be in trouble."

"But can we really convince Miss Wilwy?"

"It's easy to convince her; Mei has already cut her budget so much that she can't even afford a microwave."

Chapter Thirty-Five: I, Wilvi, am devoted to May.

After the Eighth Honkai Impact, humanity ushered in a period of peace that surprised even themselves.

For several years, no further disasters occurred, and some overly optimistic people even believed that the cataclysmic disasters had ended.

However, naturally, the Fire Moth, which was now completely under Mei's leadership and control, did not think so. While suppressing conflicts between countries with absolute force, she also developed anti-Honkai weapons and greatly increased the number of fusion warriors.

The large number of nuclear bombs manufactured by Vervier was also part of May's plan... However, May clearly hadn't forgotten the "tragedies" caused by excessive funding, such as "satellites" and "castles".

So after building the nuclear bomb, they immediately kicked her out.

This typical "crossing the river and burning the bridge" behavior naturally made Wilvi very unhappy, but after May listed the huge amount of resources and money she had "wasted" before, she could only go back dejectedly.

Fortunately, Mei didn't mistreat this great scientist. All her food, clothing, and daily necessities were reimbursed, even if she wanted to stay in the world's best hotels and eat the most luxurious food every day.

However, they won't even cover the cost of a microwave oven for anything involving scientific research. They can only work on the plans devised by "Moth to a Flame," and for anything else, they have to find their own funding.

But the problem is...

Have you ever heard of a genius who would be satisfied just because they can enjoy luxury?

Would Mebius be happy if you let her go shopping and buy bags every day?

That's impossible!

So Vilvi was unhappy too.

Every day, she would sit in her workshop, eating instant noodles and sighing deeply.

Then she finally met Mebius.

...............

"Ten million."

"Although I have a close relationship with junior student Melutina, my heart is only for Melutina!"

"Fifty million."

"...Assisting Mei in fighting the Honkai is my duty. In this world overrun by Honkai, the power of the Moths is indispensable!"

"One hundred million."

"Möbius, we're like family! Protecting my junior is my inescapable duty as her senior! Here, the blueprints for the Deepest Aspect are right here, take them!"

…………

Klein stared in disbelief at the flexible moral boundaries of the two people in front of him.

Is shamelessness a necessary condition for becoming a great scientist?

No matter what, the two people in front of me are leading figures in the modern scientific community, yet they have no bottom line when it comes to money transactions!

Are those intricate design plans something that can be sold so easily?

"Oh dear, I've been waiting for you... cough cough, no, Mebius, it's really unexpected that you would come to see me."

Velvi almost let it slip; she glanced at Klein, coughed twice,

"Where did you get the money? I saw you eating instant noodles last week."

“Alicia has many jewels that Eden gave her; they were in my mailbox as soon as I woke up.”

Mebius shrugged.

"...Wait, weren't you the one who went to rescue them?"

"How could a researcher like me, who is powerless to even kill a chicken, do such a thing?"

Mebius said matter-of-factly.

"Alicia, along with Senja and Sakura, went to cause trouble."

"Hey, seriously? My great scientist, are you really going to turn against Mei?"

Velvi was somewhat surprised.

"No matter what, the Moths are the organization that manages the world and are almost irreplaceable. If we want to fight against the Honkai, we must compromise with them most of the time."

“This shouldn’t have come from the mouth of the ‘someone’ who handed me the design.”

Mebius curled his lip.

"No one wants to really break ties with Mei. Although the Fire Moth is annoying, losing it will lead humanity to face the disaster of collapse. Without a unified organization and structure, all the fighting forces will become a disorganized mess."

But that depends on whether you have enough leverage. Just as we don't want to confront Mei Zhen, Mei doesn't want us to be on the opposite side of her. When we have enough leverage, she will have no choice but to sit down and negotiate with us.

"The premise is that both sides have reservations, right?"

Velvi shrugged.

"You've really dragged me onto this pirate ship. Now Mei's got her eye on me too?"

"You were already on the blacklist."

Mebius curled his lip.

"There are definitely some concerns... except for Qianjie. Anyway, if we can't reach an agreement, we can just let Sakura and Qianjie run away with Meltina."

"As expected of Qianjie, wow, he really loves my junior so deeply. Do you think they might actually be having an affair all along?"

Vilvi laughed heartily; actually, what were her concerns...?

She doesn't have much either.

"It's Sakura."

"kindness?"

“Sakura took Qianjie with her.”

"..."

These things truly surprised Vervière.

"No way? That Sakura? She and Mei have been friends for a long time."

"Yes... our old friendship of always helping Mei take the blame."

Möbius shrugged.

"So I estimate that even Mei will have nothing to say this time... pushing her own 'scapegoat' out to be executed?"

Mei is rational, not cold-blooded; in fact, she might even have a higher moral compass than me. But this only adds unnecessary pressure and pain to her.

"Oh, when it comes to morality, the three of us combined can't even come up with a positive one, so don't worry about it too much."

"Of course, I never paid attention to it."

"..."

Seeing the two scoundrels who hit it off so well, Klein suddenly felt sorry for May.

How exactly did she manage to maintain this partnership with these two individuals until now?

.........

Moth Chasing Fire Headquarters

会议 室

"Ah!"

"Dr. Mei, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Mei, who was in the middle of a meeting, suddenly sneezed, and her secretary asked her with concern.

"Ah, oh, nothing... Where were we?"

Mei pulled out a tissue and shook her head.

"Oh right, it's about Velvi's budget, isn't it? Last time it was cut too much, let's give her a raise this time, and also Mebius."

.........

Mu Continent

coastal

"Mebius's intelligence has arrived."

Alicia said, looking at the picture on her phone.

Each of these individuals has a specially provided mobile phone from Vilvi for communication, which is highly confidential and virtually eliminates the possibility of eavesdropping or leaks.

This was something May had specially commissioned Virvi to make because she was worried about the organization's intelligence being leaked.

However, it seems to have had the opposite effect now.

"This is... a design by Velvi?"

Sakura leaned closer, looking completely bewildered.

"It seems I overestimated that woman's integrity."

Qianjie curled his lip.

"A flexible moral compass is a necessary condition for becoming a great scientist!"