The Fire Moth headquarters was shrouded in silence late at night, most areas plunged into slumber, save for the persistent light emanating from the Commander's office, an isolated island within a dark ocean.
Ling Che sat behind the expansive desk, a mountain of reports, tactical simulations, and screens displaying complex data before him. He processed documents with extreme speed, his gaze focused and icy, his fingertips tapping a steady, monotonous rhythm on the keyboard, like a tireless, precise machine. Only his slightly pale complexion and the almost imperceptible bloodshot veins deep within his eyes betrayed the toll this high-intensity, continuous operation took on his body.
Outside the window, moonlight cascaded like water, casting a silver sheen over the cold office.
Until a streak of pink, like a gnat flitting by in the moonlight, silently "slid" in.
Elysia tiptoed, a mischievous smile on her face, akin to a cat preparing for a prank. She had intended to tease him with a few words, perhaps, "Yo, still haven't been buried by paperwork, workaholic?" or "Can your ice-cold face freeze data just by staring at a screen?" But as she caught sight of Ling Che's profile, the witty remarks she had prepared suddenly stuck in her throat.
The moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, outlining his stern features with a soft silver edge. The faint glow of the screen reflected in his deep pupils, a cascade of cold data dancing within, yet strangely forming a captivating focus. As he frowned slightly in thought, the usual unapproachable chill seemed to melt away, revealing an almost pure will, burning for some grand objective.
And Elysia's heart inexplicably skipped a beat.
As if compelled by an unknown force, she softened her breath, making no sound, and quietly, like a curious yet timid kitten, slipped onto the sofa beside Ling Che's desk and curled up.
Ling Che's senses were incredibly keen. The moment Elysia entered the office, he had already detected her. However, at this very moment, an urgent report on the residual energy analysis of the Fourth Herrscher required his immediate attention.
Efficiency first.
He instantly analyzed:
- Elysia poses no offensive threat at this time.
- No intention of interference (at least not currently).
- Her presence does not compromise the priority of the current task (processing the report).
Therefore, the optimal solution: ignore.
He didn't even shift his gaze, his keystrokes maintaining the same speed, as if the pink figure who had suddenly appeared in his private space were merely an innocuous wisp of air.
And Elysia, unusually, remained silent.
She didn't speak, didn't play any tricks, just hugged her knees, tilted her head, and silently watched him. The moonlight and the screen light intertwined, outlining his tall, solitary figure.
She watched his slender fingers rapidly flip through documents, his thin lips pressed together in concentration, the faint fatigue in his eyes she could barely detect...
A ineffable, soft emotion, like a stream in early spring, quietly flowed and gathered in the depths of her heart.
Time drifted by amidst the clatter of the keyboard and the peculiar stillness between them. The darkness outside the window gradually receded, the sky on the horizon turning a fish-belly white. The first rays of golden dawn pierced the clouds, gently spilling into the office, landing precisely on Ling Che's profile and the mountain of documents before him.
Elysia watched, lost in thought.
Her pink eyes, usually filled with cunning and laughter, were now like honey-dipped. They filled with an unconscious, almost tender affection. She didn't even realize the corners of her lips were turning up, forming an incredibly gentle curve.
At this moment, there was no defiance, no mockery, only a pure heart-fluttering attraction to this focused, aloof figure who also possessed a hint of vulnerability (as she perceived it).
...
It wasn't until Ling Che finally finished processing the urgent report, his fingertips leaving the keyboard, his body relaxing infinitesimally, that he finally looked up, his gaze precisely landing on Elysia on the sofa.
"Had your fill?"
His voice was still level and calm, devoid of any discernible emotion, as if inquiring about the status of an object.
Elysia snapped back to reality, her face instantly flushed crimson, like clouds blushed by the morning sun. She abruptly stood up, trying to cover her embarrassment:
"Who, who was looking at you! I... I was just supervising to make sure you weren't slacking off! Hmph! It's daylight, I... I'm leaving!"
Like a startled rabbit, she bolted out of the office without looking back, leaving behind only a faint, lingering fragrance and the man, bathed in the morning light, still as cold as ever.
Ling Che watched the closed door, his expression unchanged.
In his logical analysis:
- Elysia's brief silence – classified as "no clear objective."
- Her final flustered reaction – classified as "abnormal emotional fluctuation (reason unknown)."
- Overall behavior – categorized as a ignorable "low-priority event."
He stood up, walked to the window, bathed in the nascent sunlight, and began to plan the task sequence for the new day.
— The momentary "anomaly" brought by the streak of pink dissipated like morning dew under the absolute rationality of the sunlight.
Mobius's laboratory was always filled with the low hum of instruments and the flickering light of data streams.
At this moment, she was staring intently at the massive holographic screen before her, displaying the detailed test reports of Kevin and Sakura as the first Fusion Warriors, along with the real-time playback of their first high-difficulty extermination mission.
The images on the screen were stunning—
Kevin wielded the blue greatsword "Judgment of Winter," an improvement upon "Grip of Winter." The ice-blue energy no longer simply enveloped, but formed a domain! With a single swing, his extreme cold breath instantly froze half a city block of rampaging Honkai Beasts, coating buildings and the ground with a thick layer of ice as hard as steel. Every move unleashed a blizzard, its power more than ten times greater than before! That power, carrying an inhuman, almost-natural-disaster-like might.
Sakura's figure was like a phantom, leaving streaks of pink afterimages on the battlefield. Her speed, reaction time, and strength had reached an unbelievable level. Even more astonishing was her perception, as if she could predict every attack from the Honkai Beasts. In the footage, she even closed her eyes, relying solely on her senses to precisely sever the cores of several Honkai Beasts attacking from her blind spots! Her occasional pink beast ears, revealed during intense combat, now appeared to Mobius not as cute byproducts, but as concrete manifestations of her supernatural senses.
"S-rank... Is this the power of S-rank Adaptability plus 'optimization'..."
Mobius's voice carried a near-trembling fervor, but more so, a kind of... cold suffocation.
She looked at the frozen domain of Kevin on the screen, Sakura's attacks exceeding all limits, and then compared it to the data from her modified subjects in the lab, whose levels could only reach that of A-rank warriors... The immense disparity lay before her like an abyss. Her pride in bio-technology seemed so... insignificant! So... limited before the "Fusion Warriors" promoted by Ling Che!
She clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
The cold numbers on the report and the world-destroying power in the images struck her pride as a top scientist like a heavy hammer.
"Human limits... are so fragile..."
"He saw it long ago... that's why he pushed this Plan so ruthlessly..."
"Because he knew, only by transcending the shackles of 'humanity' could we fight the Honkai..."
A never-before-felt emotion, a mixture of unwillingness, jealousy, shock, and... understanding, churned within her. She understood Ling Che's determination, why he disregarded his own injuries, why he could utilize everything (including her and Mei) so efficiently. Because in his eyes, there were only "results," only "power," only that transcendent power capable of rewriting destiny!
"KD-0213, Lone Blade, Ling Che..."
Mobius whispered this name, a gambit of flame igniting in her serpentine eyes.
"You think... only you can wield this power? You think... only you can transcend the boundaries of 'humanity'?"
She turned abruptly and headed towards a specially sectioned-off area deep within the lab, shielded by multiple layers of encryption and physical isolation. There lay her most crucial, most dangerous, and most forbidden research achievement—a "Fusion Warrior" surgical plan meticulously tailored for herself, based on her analysis of Ling Che's "Chaos" trait and countless Honkai Beast gene samples!
This plan was far more radical and perilous than those given to Kevin and Sakura—
Failure rate… unknown!
Side effects… unknown!
But if successful, its potential... equally unknown!
"I won't ask anything from you!"
Mobius declared, her voice hoarsely resolute, as if speaking to the absent man amidst the cold instruments.
"I will obtain it myself! With my own hands, my own intellect, my own body... I will touch the boundary of 'infinity's'!"
"I will make you see... Mobius's value is far more than just a recipient of 'compensation's'!!"
"I will make you... be shocked by my 'masterpiece'!!"
She began to frantically mobilize resources, activate the highest level of security protocols, and even planned to personally hunt and subdue a Honkai Beast she desired—Seshath, the companion Honkai Beast of the Third Herrscher. Even her closest assistant, Klein, was unaware of her intentions.
She was preparing for an unprecedented, insane gamble with herself as the experimental subject.
She carelessly tossed aside the report on Kevin and Sakura; the despair-inducing power gap within it now became her greatest motivation for this all-or-nothing endeavor.
She wanted to stun the world.
Not for Fire Moth, not even entirely to fight the Honkai...
But to prove to that cold, all-controlling man—
Mobius, too, can step into a realm beyond humanity!