Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

Mobius returned to the lab, excitedly chewing on her nails.

Although the "Soulium Project" and the "Honkai Energy Warrior Project" were both ruthlessly rejected by that old fogey Phamas, it didn't matter.

Those plans were just smokescreens she had released. The "Honkai Energy Warrior Project," in particular, was nothing more than a list of names.

And all of this was just to conceal her most insane idea.

After the Second Honkai ended, she had undeniably received the Herrscher's corpse, but... like most biological research, dead specimens were never as valuable as living samples...

Just as she was thinking this, the doorbell to the lab rang.

"Hehe, my little lab rat, he really didn't break his promise."

The door opened automatically. Just like last time, Michael was still fully armed, not a single inch of his skin exposed to the air. His purpose was still to conceal his identity, but this time the target was no longer Mobius, but the Fire Moth.

Mobius didn't even turn around, pointing to the door on the right side, signaling for Michael to enter.

"Take off that ridiculous outfit of yours. There's no one else here."

A faint blue light flashed, and the hazmat suit and mask all disappeared.

"Dr. Mobius..."

"What is it, little lab rat? Do you want to go back on your word?"

"No, I just wanted to remind you of two things, Doctor."

"Oh?" Mobius finally stopped chewing on her nails and turned to look at Michael behind her.

None of the lights in the lab were on, only the faint glow of the computer on her desk, intertwined with her green hair.

The darkness made it impossible for Michael to see her features, but her voice was undoubtedly lower.

"Get to the point!"

"The first thing... Dr. Mobius, you should know that with you and me in the same room, as a Herrscher, I have the means to kill you before the Fire Moth discovers it." Michael's voice was calm and indifferent, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"What, are you threatening me?" Mobius's tone became playful. "Don't worry, I've said before that a special and obedient lab rat like you is hard to find. Before I lose interest in you, I can't bear to destroy you, this perfect specimen."

"Mm." Michael nodded, "I do believe that, but..."

"Dr. Mobius, can you put away the Second Herrscher's corpse?"

Mobius frowned and got up to take a look. In the room she had pointed to Michael, the Second Herrscher's corpse, which had been half dissected, was indeed being stored there.

Whether it was because the Herrscher's body was special, or because the Fire Moth's preservation technology was so advanced, even though almost two days had passed, there was neither a foul odor nor a fishy smell in the lab.

So much so that even though Mobius had been back in the lab for a while, she hadn't noticed the problem.

"That damned Blanka, all she thinks about is men... Huff, whatever, I can save her bonus next month and use it for research expenses..."

Mobius decisively blamed Blanka in her heart, not caring that she had also forgotten about it.

"What, are you feeling a bit of sympathy now?" Mobius mocked, her eyes fixed on Michael's expression, her fingers behind her back groping on the desk, resting on a small red button.

Who knew that Michael would actually nod very frankly: "Perhaps... perhaps it's sympathy, perhaps it's something else, but it's undeniable that I feel a bit uncomfortable."

Mobius slowly exhaled, pressed a button, closed the door to the right lab, and opened the left lab instead.

Michael's mouth twitched...

Is this what it means to be a tycoon...

But the strange feeling in his heart did slowly calm down.

"What do I need to do?"

He looked at the pile of familiar but unidentifiable instruments in the lab, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Mobius stood behind him, saying without thinking, "Take off your clothes first."

The lab became eerily quiet.

"Cough cough!" Michael coughed lightly, but saw that Mobius had already turned around consciously.

"Stand inside the instrument three steps to your left front, and close the hatch."

Mobius commanded without turning her head.

After hearing the sound of the hatch closing, she walked to the console and quickly found the corresponding buttons to press among the dense array of buttons.

A few seconds later, Michael's full-body data appeared on the computer screen next to the console.

Ignoring meaningless data such as height and weight, Mobius first looked at his full-body scan image.

"As expected... there's a gemstone on his chest? Is that the Herrscher core, like the Second Herrscher..."

"Come out, put your clothes back on yourself, then turn left seven steps, then turn right thirteen steps, do you see that instrument?"

"Thud!", "Ouch!" What answered her was the sound of Michael falling over.

"Dr. Mobius, can you turn on the lights?"

Mobius covered her chest, took a deep breath, and two seconds later, all the lights in the lab turned on.

"Achoo!"

"Achoo!"

Under the intense light, both of them sneezed almost simultaneously.

Michael untied the data cable wrapped around his foot, walked to the instrument that Mobius had mentioned, and then...

"Pfft... um, sorry Doctor, I didn't mean anything!"

Mobius, who had appeared beside him at some point, took down the large headshot of Phamas that was stuck on the instrument target, her face not even slightly red.

"Punch this, with all your strength."

She said concisely, her face gloomy.

"Don't worry, it's normal for a bit of Honkai energy reaction to be released in my lab. The Fire Moth should be used to it. I've also upgraded the instrument to handle your body's strength to the max..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Michael casually threw a punch, and the numbers on the instrument began to rise rapidly, finally stopping at 999 pounds.

"Perfect, 999 in one hit. If you're a brother, come and chop me!" Looking at the magical number he had casually punched out, Michael couldn't help but laugh, muttering words that only he understood.

Mobius's breathing was clearly a bit heavier. Under her wide white coat, her slender fingers gradually clenched into fists...

"Michael..."

"What is it, Doctor?"

"You need to be serious! The measurement limit of the instrument is 9999 pounds!"

What followed were nothing more than normal physical examination items. Even if there were occasional abnormal ones—such as the tolerance for spicy foods, or how many pounds of potatoes he could eat in one go...

These items, at least in Mobius's lab, were absolutely normal items, so normal that they felt abnormal.

"Okay... today's experiment is over, you can scram... you can leave."

Michael blinked, "Doctor, did you just want to tell me to scram..."

Mobius was too lazy to pay attention to the person who had eaten ten pounds of potatoes in one go and then released eight consecutive farts in her small lab.

What was even more infuriating was that he had constructed a nose plug for himself in time, but never thought to give her one!

Michael laughed awkwardly twice, waving his hand as if saying goodbye.

"Wait."

Just as he was about to step out of the lab, Mobius stopped him.

She quickly swallowed the compressed biscuit in her mouth, her sitting posture seemed a little uncomfortable, which made her unconsciously shift her butt.

"Pfft..."

Michael had just turned around when he heard this insignificant sound. His expression quickly became interesting, the corners of his mouth twitching constantly, as if he was forcibly suppressing something.

"Pfft!"

Finally, he couldn't hold back...

Under the light, Mobius's petite face gradually turned red, as if if you poked it with your finger, blood would drip out.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, she picked up the only hard object on the table and threw it at Michael.

A golden light flashed, and Michael caught it smoothly, his expression becoming playful.

He tossed the golden gemstone in his hand, then covered his nose and walked forward, returning it to Mobius.

Throughout the entire process, Mobius didn't say another word.

Until he was about to step out of the lab for the second time...

"Let me remind my little lab rat one last time... if you overload your brain like that again, I can't guarantee that you won't turn into an idiot when you wake up..."

"I appreciate the Doctor's kindness."

Michael turned around and left the lab, quickly running back to his empty dorm. It wasn't until he leaned against the cold door that he let out the breath he had been holding.

"Mobius doesn't seem as dangerous as I thought... but her last words... were they intentional or unintentional?"

There used to be another member of Squad Five in the dorm, but now...

But this also meant that he no longer had to worry about being observed by others.

In the silence and darkness, Michael opened his right hand, and a golden gemstone slowly condensed in his hand, the light it emitted dispelling the darkness.

Although he didn't have a heaven-defying talent like Joyce, he seemed to have a particularly special understanding of Honkai creations. Almost the moment he touched it, Michael understood the structure of the Second Herrscher's core, and it wasn't difficult to restore it.

But having the core alone wasn't enough. Michael tried to control the power within, but the surrounding space didn't react at all. No wonder both Otto and Welt chose to create pseudo-Keys of God rather than Herrscher cores...

But.

"Dr. Mobius, your bet is a bit big... even I don't dare to believe in myself."

And that night, Mobius couldn't fall asleep in bed, so she simply pulled out Michael's data and studied it carefully for half the night.

In the silent night, she could feel the sound of her heartbeat more clearly.

In fact, everything she did to Michael tonight was impromptu. After all...

"Compared to obtaining cold data from a cold experiment, allowing a Herrscher to grow up alive is the most perfect experiment in my heart..."

"If all Herrschers... no, if all humans could evolve to be like Michael..."

She held two scan images in her hand, which revealed a seemingly impossible fact—

The core of the First Herrscher and the core of the Second Herrscher seemed to have a fundamental difference.